Chapter 031 Chu Mufan

　　“Alright, I’ll leave this to you!” Qin Yong turned to the others and shouted:

　　“Alright, you heard him! We need to search carefully before the power dies. Grab anything usable — especially weapons and ammo! That’ll make our First Team even stronger! No more talking! Check your weapons and comms. Once you’re inside, stay sharp! You hear me?!”

　　“Yes!”

　　“Got it!”

　　“Understood!” The team replied in unison. They were clearly tight-knit and got along well. Everyone began checking their gear. Their smooth, professional movements showed they were highly skilled with firearms!

　　Once ready, the groups formed up in tactical formation and entered the white doors one by one.

　　……

　　Qin Yong and his four teammates went in last.

　　After the other groups had chosen their doors, they approached the remaining one and prepared to enter. Before entering, Qin Yong headed back and gave Zhang Ruicai an OK gesture, who’s watching him from the far behind. Zhang Ruicai nodded back. Then Qin Yong led his team inside the gate...

　　The corridor was fairly wide, with nothing but clean white walls and lights all around. After walking for a while, the path sloped gently downward. They moved cautiously for about ten minutes and reached a smaller white door.

　　The door was already open—just as Zhang Ruicai had said, he’d unlocked every door in the lab...

　　Qin Yong peeked inside. The room was spacious. From where he stood, he could see various pieces of equipment, including one that looked like an MRI scanner from a hospital. But it had been split cleanly down the middle by some sharp weapon. Judging by how smooth the cut was, it had been done in a single strike. The men wondered what kind of expert could slice through solid steel like that.

　　They gathered around the machine, murmuring among themselves. Qin Yong raised his assault rifle, stepped forward, and scanned the room. Something felt off.

　　In the corner stood a gurney covered with a white sheet. Seeing no other exits, Qin Yong said: “This is a dead end. Search the area carefully.”

　　“Yes, sir!” The team stopped talking and began inspecting the equipment.

　　Qin Yong walked straight to the gurney in the corner and observed carefully. It looked just like a normal hospital gurney—except there was no patient on it.

　　Wait…

　　Qin Yong frowned and started searching near the gurney. The others noticed his odd behavior and gathered around. One middle-aged man asked: “Captain Qin, what’s wrong? Did you find something?”

　　“I’m not sure. But this wall feels strange. Take a close look. A gurney’s supposed to have a patient. An empty one like this… it doesn’t make sense.” hearing this, the team began searching around the gurney...

　　“Click.” Someone triggered something. The sharp electronic sound made everyone jump, looking around and hoping to find anything strange.

　　A sharp-eyed member shouted: “Over here!”

　　On the wall where the gurney had been leaning, a faint, fist-sized glow appeared, matching the wall’s color, pulsing like a heartbeat.

　　Qin Yong leaned in. There were symbols inside, but they weren’t Chinese or English. He pressed it with his finger, testing to see if it was a switch.

　　“Beep.” His touch had activated a hidden mechanism.

　　Whoosh! The wall beside the glow instantly turned transparent, and a “skeleton” wearing a breathing mask appeared right in front of them!

　　“Holy shit!!!” A young man’s legs gave out from the shock. He collapsed to the ground, yelling. At almost the same moment, the other four veterans all leaped back a step, faces pale with fright. But years of surviving the apocalypse had honed their instincts—they instantly raised their weapons and aimed at the skeleton.

　　Everyone had been leaning close, staring at the symbols in the glow. The sudden shift in the wall, combined with the skeleton’s terrifying “appearance”, had genuinely startled even these battle-hardened men.

　　Five guns locked onto the “skeleton” at once,

　　and they all opened fire! But the glass in the wall was far stronger than it looked. Bullets struck it, yet barely left a crack.

　　They watched for a long while, but the skeleton remained motionless, eyes still closed. Normal zombies reacted sharply to noise—they would’ve snapped awake and flailed around already. Qin Yong gestured for them to lower their guns, stepped forward, and peered through the transparent wall.

　　Their first thought was that this skeleton was a zombie. But he was different. Though emaciated, his skin still held a faint, healthy flush—like a newborn’s. Through the glass, they could even see the larger veins under his skin. He didn’t have the ashen, dead complexion of a zombie.

　　No wounds, no signs of mutation anywhere on his body. The only abnormality was how thin he was—bone-skinny. He looked like someone who’d suffered complete muscle atrophy from severe malnutrition or anorexia. Yet this man was even worse...

　　The “skeleton” man was naked, with a breathing mask over his nose and mouth. If not for his body, Qin Yong couldn’t have told if it was male or female. Inside the transparent chamber set into the wall, there was nothing but the man and his mask.

　　The five men stared, baffled.

　　“Captain Qin… is this thing human… or a ghost?” the terrified young team member asked, looking up at the vice-captain.

　　“He’s still human. Not a zombie, no mutation. Just… no idea how he ended up like this.

　　Check the area—find a way to open this thing!” Qin Yong spoke as he searched.