Chapter 26: Then We’ll Die Together
Chapter 26: Then We’ll Die Together
Anran doesn’t know what use these shiny things—let’s call them diamonds for now—have, but she picks one up and puts it in her pocket. She continues to climb the stairs, this time holding the knife in her hand instead of putting it away..
By the time she reaches the emergency stairwell outside the 5th floor, Anran is completely exhausted. To better prepare herself for entering the neonatal department, she sits on the ground to rest for a moment.
The floor is cold, and the chill makes her back ache terribly. Technically, it has been less than 24 hours since she gave birth, so she really shouldn’t be putting herself through this kind of torture. But given the situation, there is no choice. The idea of a proper postpartum recovery is a luxury she can’t afford.
Leaning her head weakly against the door, Anran quietly begins to cry again. At that moment, she misses her ex-husband so much. Although Zhan Lian probably wouldn’t have been able to help her much, he had appeared in her life for a brief time, and they had been family for a year. For at least one year, she had dreamed of growing old together with him, and then dying together.
Unconsciously, her tears blur her vision. She raises her hand, still holding the knife, and wipes her face with the back of it. But the moment her hand touches her tears, a sharp pain almost makes her cry out loud. It is too dark in the stairwell for Anran to see the extent of the injury to her hand, but after the pain subsides, an unbearable itchiness takes over. She resists the urge to scratch, fearing it will only make it worse.
Enduring the burning itch in her arms, Anran sits up and peers through the small window in the emergency door, where she sees several fully evolved zombies inside the neonatal department.
The people inside the department are all gathered in the hallway. In the darkness, the hallway lights flicker as if they are about to go out. At one end of the hallway is the blue light therapy room, and at the other end is the intensive care unit. There are also some doctors' offices, located directly opposite the emergency door. Except for the doctors’ offices and the hallway, no other areas in the neonatal department are accessible to family members.
Many relatives are packed into this area, driven by their concern for their children. The result is that the 5th floor is now almost overrun with zombies. But one good thing is that the doors to the neonatal department are not ordinary doors—they are thick, metal sliding doors.
Just a few hours after Anran gave birth, her daughter developed high bilirubin levels and a mild fever, just like all the other babies in the ward. They had all been taken to the neonatal department. Anran once followed the nurse carrying her daughter and took the elevator up here. After paying the hospital fees, the doctor told her that she had wrapped her daughter too warmly, which could have contributed to the mild fever.
The doctor suggested placing the baby under blue light therapy for 10 hours and monitoring her condition.
So Anran’s daughter is probably in the blue light therapy room right now.
Anran gently pushes the emergency door open, and the quiet hallway is suddenly interrupted by a soft “creak,” which sounds alarmingly loud. A few nearby zombies are immediately drawn to the noise. Anran freezes, stopping with the door barely cracked open, watching as the closest zombie approaches, now only a few steps away.
Standing in the emergency stairwell, Anran carefully shifts her body to the side. When the zombie reaches the door and tries to squeeze through the crack, half its body manages to get inside. As soon as it does, Anran quickly slams the heavy emergency door shut, pinning the zombie in place. Pressing her body against the thick door, she raises her knife and begins stabbing furiously at the zombie’s head.