He Lin grabbed Old Meng and used Wind Wings to dash far away. Ji Rong and Shi Chong charged toward Xiao Hen’s off-road vehicle and crashed through the barricades, following them into Rong City.
By the time Yin Cheng’s men crawled out of the vine hell, their traces were long gone.
Yin Cheng was furious at the heavy losses of his subordinates, and he kept yelling, “I will kill you all!”
The off-road vehicle rushed into Rong City, where He Lin and Meng Lao were already waiting. They got in the vehicle, and it continued to drive further in.
Meng Lao was almost scared to death by the series of incidents. He was gasping for air and asked, “Where are you taking me?”
Rong City was full of zombies, but Ji Rong drove crazily toward the city center. Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any zombies along the way. When they were close to the city center, the off-road vehicle stopped, and Wen Qingling and Xiao Hen were waiting for them.
Wen Qingling couldn’t help but look at Xiao Hen’s chest again and said, “Even if you blocked the bullet for me, I won’t go to the human base with you.”
Xiao Hen replied helplessly, “I didn’t mean that.”
Wen Qingling looked at him and asked, “Then what do you mean? Do you want to commit suicide?”
Xiao Hen didn’t know why he did it either. When he saw that the earth shield couldn’t stop the bullet, he didn’t think of anything and just blocked it.
Xiao Hen: “I didn’t intend to commit suicide.”
Wen Qingling stared at him for a while, then suddenly realized, “You want me to owe you a favor?”
Xiao Hen felt a headache, “No.”
Wen Qingling asked, “Then why?”
Xiao Hen tried to think, “To repay you.”
Wen Qingling was confused, “???”
Xiao Hen explained, “You saved me many times before, and I want to repay you for that.”
Although he still caused injury to Wen Qingling this time, he wanted to make up for it somehow.
Wen Qingling accepted the explanation, “Then we are even.”
What else could Xiao Hen do but accept it?
As soon as they got out of the car, Meng Lao began to complain, “What are you guys doing? You were just chatting and now it’s turned into this mess!”
Xiao Hen said, “Meng Lao, we need to take you back, it’s not safe here.”
Meng Lao glared, “I’m not going back! I came here to study, and if I leave with nothing accomplished and with fewer people, then what was the point? I’m not going back no matter what you say!”
Wen Qingling said coldly, “Then you can just die here.”
Meng Lao glared at him, “I won’t go back even if I die!”
Xiao Hen tried to persuade him, “Meng Lao, Yin Cheng is crazy and will do anything to achieve his goals. When he goes crazy, he won’t care about your safety. There are only four of us here, and we can’t protect you. You have to go back.”
Meng Lao continued to glare, “I’m not going back!”
Wen Qingling thought for a moment, “Or, you can take the four people from the Rong City base back with you. They have been treated by me and have developed antibodies, so they are immune to the zombie virus. You can go back and unlock the secrets in their bodies.”
Meng Lao’s eyes lit up, “Really?”
Wen Qingling said, “Yes, you studied Fang Zhen’s blood sample and found that there were antibodies inside, but those were results after treatment. There are no natural antibodies, only antibodies left after treatment.”
Meng Lao took advantage of the situation, “But I still want to see the little monsters that can treat infected people.”
Wen Qingling said, “No.”
Meng Lao said, “Then I won’t go.”
Wen Qingling replied, “Do whatever you want. Your life and death have nothing to do with me.”
Meng Lao said, “Then I’ll go to Ling City and let the zombies you raised eat me.”Wen Qingling snorted and summoned a zombie, throwing it at Meng Lao, “You don’t have to wait until you get to Ling City, you can die now.”
The zombie roared and pounced toward Meng Lao!
Xiao Hen and the others didn’t expect it. When Wen Qingling became unhappy, he directly threw a zombie at Meng Lao!
The zombie was so decayed that it was unrecognizable, but its teeth were still sharp and its mouth was full of black slime. It bit towards Meng Lao in one go.
Everything happened too quickly. Even Xiao Hen was half a second too slow. By the time he appeared next to Meng Lao, the zombie had already bitten Ji Rong’s arm. Ji Rong took the bite for Meng Lao.
Ji Rong cursed in pain and kicked the zombie that was biting his arm away.
After taking a bite of flesh and blood and receiving instructions from Wen Qingling, the zombie quickly got up and ran away, not confronting Ji Rong and the others head-on.
No one was not afraid of death, and Meng Lao was quite scared this time.
In just a few seconds, Ji Rong’s arm had turned dark and black, and the zombie virus was spreading rapidly.
Xiao Hen was a bit angry. “You went too far.”
Xiao Hen could feel that Wen Qingling was not indifferent to his words; otherwise, the Vine Hell would not only attack Yin Cheng but spare the others. If it weren’t for his persuasion, there would probably be corpses all over the Rong City Base now.
However, Wen Qingling’s approach was unexpected. He had just persuaded them to spare those people, but then he threw a zombie at Meng Lao. It was too dangerous, and Meng Lao was already quite old and couldn’t withstand too much.
Wen Qingling said lightly, “Doesn’t he want to die? Why not grant him his wish? Why should so many young lives be sacrificed for an old man? If he dies, perhaps people like you can avoid a few deaths.”
This old man had always been protected by many people and was safe and sound. He didn’t know how much sacrifice others had made to protect him from the threat of death.
If someone has status and value, they can do as they please and let others sacrifice their lives for them. Such people might as well just die, as they cannot develop a vaccine themselves. What use is there in keeping them alive?
If you act recklessly in front of Wen Qingling, then the only outcome is being thrown into a zombie.
What Wen Qingling said was the truth, but Xiao Hen and the others couldn’t say that. They could only obey orders and protect him, even if it meant sacrificing their lives for him.
Meng Lao was not unaware of the hardships of others. In his opinion, sacrifices were inevitable for the sake of developing a vaccine. Even if he sacrificed himself for a vaccine, he would not hesitate.
Wen Qingling said, “Old man, stop dreaming. Your research facility cannot be reopened, and I don’t want you to reopen it. No matter what you do, it’s useless. The best way is to go back where you came from and not make any more reckless sacrifices.”
Meng Lao fell silent.
In his heart, Ji Rong thinks of Wen Qingling as highly as his thumb, but he’s in so much pain that he’s going crazy. “City Lord Wen, Boss Wen, can you please save me first? I feel like I’m about to die.”
Wen Qingling glances at him. “Crystal nucleus.”
Ji Rong looks pitifully at his boss.
Xiao Hen hands a first-level evolved crystal nucleus to Wen Qingling.
Wen Qingling turns around and walks towards a shopping mall. “Come.”
Ji Rong hurriedly follows.
Without looking back, Wen Qingling says, “When I come back and if I see him, I’ll throw him directly into the zombie horde.”
Many zombies are hiding in the mall, all scared stiff by Wen Qingling and standing against the wall without moving.
Wen Qingling does not bother them and finds a clean resting area to sit down, gesturing for Ji Rong to extend his arm.
Ji Rong obediently does so, and by now his entire arm has turned black.
Wen Qingling takes out a newly grown small blood mandrake and asks Ji Rong, “Does it hurt?”
Ji Rong grits his teeth. “A piece of my flesh was torn off, and the virus is spreading. Do you think it hurts or not?”
Wen Qingling says, “You are quite brave. I thought you guys weren’t afraid of pain.”
Ji Rong is speechless.
Wen Qingling hands the small blood mandrake to Ji Rong and tells him to do it himself.
Ji Rong says, “…”Is he really this cruel? It already hurts so much, and he still has to do it himself.
When the tentacles of the small blood mandrake pierce into the wound, Ji Rong is in so much pain that he trembles and keeps gasping. “Brother Wen, Boss Wen, can I make a suggestion?”
Wen Qingling says, “No.”
Ji Rong says, “Just let me say one thing.”
Wen Qingling says, “I’m not listening.”
Ji Rong can’t hold it in. “It’s too painful. Before the treatment, can’t you give the patient local anesthesia?”
Wen Qingling says, “Don’t waste anesthesia.”
Ji Rong says, “Then, do you think using a tentacle to take drugs is a good idea?”
It’s like using a circle of holes to solve a problem that could be solved with one, it hurts, big brother!
Wen Qingling said, “You can feel pain, which means the zombie virus has spread too little. When your whole body is invaded by the zombie virus, you won’t feel pain anymore.”
Wen Qingling added, “You should be glad that you can still feel pain.”
Ji Rong zipped his mouth shut to indicate that he would stop talking.
After the treatment was over, Ji Rong unzipped his mouth again and said, “Can you also treat my wound and the blood holes around it?”
Wen Qingling replied, “Crystal nucleus.”
Ji Rong was speechless.
Ji Rong said, “I’ll give it to you later. Our little treasury is with our boss.”
Wen Qingling was not worried about him not paying and treated him generously.
For some unknown reason, Meng Lao didn’t insist on staying here any longer. Maybe he had no other choice and could only agree to take those four people back with him.
The Rong City training base had a helicopter, and they could take the helicopter back.
Meng Lao was still concerned about his assistant. “Ye Ziqiong and the others are leaving with me.”
Xiao Hen said, “They are with Yin Cheng. Yin Cheng won’t hand them over to me. If there is a chance, I will save them.”
In other words, if there is no chance to save them, they can only fend for themselves.
After Wen Qingling and Xiao Hen left, Yin Cheng immediately gathered his men and chased after them into Rong City. Xiao Hen used his space ability to reappear in the Rong City base.
The previous battle scared the people in the base, and now everyone was hiding inside and not daring to come out. The four people who were excluded were still hiding in the mud house.
Xiao Hen explained their purpose to them and promised that they could bring their families with them to a bigger human base where they could live, but they needed to cooperate with the research in the future.
They could not refuse the opportunity to go to a larger base. Small bases like the Rong City base didn’t even need a zombie tide. Maybe a group of zombies would swarm here, and they would all be doomed.
The four people brought their families and followed Xiao Hen into Rong City from another path, with Wen Qingling clearing the way. They arrived at the training ground smoothly.
Outside the training ground were countless zombies, and the survivors’ legs were weak at the sight of so many zombies.
Humans couldn’t enter here, but Wen Qingling could easily let them in.
They found an intact helicopter and were sent back by He Lin and Shi Chong again.
Seeing the helicopter flying over their heads, Yin Cheng knew that Xiao Hen and the others had already arrived at the air force training base, but it was full of corpses. They knew that Wen Qingling and Xiao Hen were there, but they couldn’t get over there. Yin Cheng was furious and just wanted to kill.
Yin Cheng dragged the remaining three assistants over and pointed to the flying helicopter, saying, “See, you have been abandoned. You are not even worth being taken away, and I have no obligation to protect you anymore.”
Ye Ziqiong gritted his teeth and said, “We are Meng Lao’s research assistants. You can’t treat us like this.”
Yin Chengrui angrily said, “I don’t care whose assistants you are! Now, in my eyes, you are just a burden!”
The gentle Mu Yi spoke up, “Colonel Yin, are you going to disobey orders?”
Yin Cheng replied, “To hell with orders! I almost got killed! My men are dead or injured, and I still care about the damn orders? Even if I disobey orders, who can do anything to me?!”
Yin Cheng ordered, “Guards! Throw them out and feed them to the zombies!”
Wen Qingling withdrew his mental power, accustomed to such results.
In the end times, those who were deemed to have no value were often abandoned. In the end times, physical strength was often valued more than intelligence, and even one’s life could not be guaranteed. Even if one’s intelligence was highly valued, it was of no use.