Chapter Thirty-Six: Laboratory Charter

The pounding on the door grew louder with each strike, like the roar of a wild beast, hammering against Jiang Qiyu’s nerves.

Lu Yao and Shi Chao braced themselves against the door, one on each side, their feet dug firmly into the floor as the immense impact threatened to force them backward. Their teeth were clenched, and fine beads of cold sweat broke out across their foreheads. Though they were clearly giving their all, they could not hide the growing pallor and grim tension on their faces.

Outside, Deng Diao’s screams were short and sharp, like a rat with its tail crushed. The excited snarling of the mutant lizard darted back and forth between them, a sound that made one’s skin crawl.

Jiang Qiyu forced herself to remain calm, rapidly scanning the room’s furnishings. Empty metal shelves coated in dust stood bare, devoid of anything of value. Several locked iron cabinets appeared to have been vandalized; their doors were twisted and deformed, their contents long since looted.

"There's nothing here!" Jiang Qiyu kicked a pile of paper scraps in frustration.

As she pulled her foot back, she glanced down. Some of the scattered scraps seemed to shimmer with a faint blue light. She crouched and carefully picked up a larger piece. Holding it close to the light, she realized the surface was covered in a near-transparent coating, within which were embedded dense, microscopic characters and patterns.

"This is..." Jiang Qiyu frowned. She quickly gathered the glowing fragments and attempted to piece them together. However, because the scraps were incomplete, she could not reconstruct the full content. The remaining words, "Regulations of Laboratory No. 38," radiated an inexplicable sense of menace.

The back of the sheet was completely blank. The moment she flipped it over, it felt like looking at a story torn apart midway; the truncated confession was chilling.

"This laboratory seems to be conducting some unspeakable experiments," Jiang Qiyu murmured, clutching the paper, her brow furrowed. She recalled previous conversations between Deng Diao and Zhao Zi, which seemed to link Lu Yao to Laboratory No. 38.

Her thoughts drifted back a few days to when she had accidentally hijacked a transport truck besieged by zombies while fleeing the docks. The cargo hold had been filled with chaotic equipment and storage crates, and in the corner, curled up like a discarded experiment, lay a dying man—maimed, bloodied, and broken. That man was Lu Yao.

On the side of the transport truck, a line of small text was stenciled: "Property of Laboratory No. 38," accompanied by a faint, specialized seal on the rear.

***

Fragments of conversation between Deng Diao and Zhao Zi also began to surface in her memory. Zhao Zi had sneered, "You’re just one of those things designed by the labs, aren't you? Tsk, those guys are really desperate. They haven't figured out the zombies, but they’ve managed to churn out some freakish abominations." Although the remark was vague and casual, the unprovoked hostility and exclusion in his tone had left Lu Yao looking displeased, though he remained silent.

Jiang Qiyu was about to ask Lu Yao about Laboratory No. 38 when she noticed his face suddenly turn deathly pale, as if all his blood had been drained away.

A stifled groan escaped his throat, like a silent scream erupting from the depths of his chest, and he collapsed to the floor as if all support had been ripped from his body. He clutched his head tightly, his knuckles turning white from the strain, his body curling into a ball and trembling as if suffocating under the weight of some invisible, agonizing pain.

"Lu Yao, what’s wrong?" Jiang Qiyu’s heart tightened, and she quickly crouched down to check on him.

Meanwhile, the pounding on the door intensified. The wooden frame groaned under the strain, clearly on the verge of giving way. Unable to hold it alone, Shi Chao shouted anxiously, "Boss, we need a plan, fast!"

Jiang Qiyu didn't hesitate. She darted toward the heavy metal cabinet, gripped its edges, and braced her feet, gritting her teeth as she poured all her strength into moving it. With a harsh, grating screech against the floor, she ignored the aching in her arms and the stinging in her palms, shoving the cabinet until it slammed against the door, temporarily blocking the zombies' advance.

Time seemed to freeze as the seconds ticked by. The suffocating impacts and roars gradually faded, finally sinking into a dead silence. The thick dust on the metal shelves seemed to have been shaken loose, drifting in the dim light like wandering spirits.

The air was heavy with the scent of dust—a stillness like the calm after a storm, yet one that felt fraught with hidden danger.

Jiang Qiyu gently tapped Lu Yao on the shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Lu Yao slowly lifted his head. His face was drenched in cold sweat, beads of it rolling down his cheekbones, giving him an air of fragile, helpless vulnerability. His usually dark, sharp eyes had lost their luster, now shimmering with a hint of moisture. He looked like a wounded beast, gazing up at Jiang Qiyu with a pitiable, pleading expression that begged for comfort.

"Big sister..." his voice was hoarse and trembling.

***

Jiang Qiyu felt a gentle tug at her heart. Subconsciously, she reached out to stroke his hair, soothing him softly, "It's alright, it's alright now..."

Lu Yao swayed on his weak legs, moving closer to Jiang Qiyu. He wrapped his arms around her waist, his movements feeble yet desperate, burying his face into the crook of her shoulder as if it were the only sanctuary where he could catch his breath. His breathing was ragged, interspersed with almost imperceptible sobs, like a child lost in a long nightmare, seeking a source of safety.

His warm breath against her neck made Jiang Qiyu feel slightly uncomfortable, yet she couldn't bring herself to push him away.

Lu Yao nuzzled into her shoulder, much like a large dog. His voice was muffled, thick with nasal congestion. "Big sister."

His arms tightened around her waist, as if he wanted to meld her into his very bones. Though the force wasn't aggressive, it carried an indescribable sense of dependence and possessiveness.

Jiang Qiyu found herself struggling to breathe, so she gave his back a light pat. "It's okay. It’s all over now."

Lu Yao’s body continued to tremble, as if he had been deeply traumatized, and it took a long while for him to steady himself. When he finally looked up, his eyes were red-rimmed and damp at the corners, making him look truly pathetic.

Shi Chao stood to the side, watching this somewhat "intimate" scene with a cold gaze. Lu Yao’s behavior made him feel uneasy. Seeing him nuzzling into Jiang Qiyu’s shoulder like a spoiled, oversized dog, an indescribable sense of revulsion rose in his chest.

His lip twitched in a silent protest before he finally turned his head away, choosing to look at anything but the scene before him.