Chu Yian's heart pounded as she listened to the footsteps closing in outside. Her eyes flicked down to the white medical case in her hands—and in that moment, she made a bold decision.
Take off her clothes.
More precisely: the hazmat suit.
It was far too conspicuous. Anyone would recognize it at a glance. Normally, it was her first line of defense against infection—but now she had the cure. If she got infected, she could use it on herself. And if it turned out to be fake, she still had enough fever reducers stashed away to keep her alive until the end of the game.
With that twofold safety net, Chu Yian stripped off the hazmat suit without hesitation. Then she hurriedly pulled out her golden treasure box, stuffed the cure inside, and resealed it just as the box transformed into its dormant form—an icon in her palm.
She let out a long breath.
BANG—!
The door burst open.
A group of infected patients, bodies slick with yellow mucus, stormed inside.
She hadn't even finished hiding the suit. She had no time to disguise herself. Their eyes locked on her.
"The cure!"
"Give me the cure!"
They surged forward like a pack of starving wolves, terrifying in their frenzy.
"You want the cure? I've got it right here—catch!"
Chu Yian flung her hand forward, and the treasure box suddenly expanded at her command. The people in front instinctively reached out to catch it—
But this thing weighed hundreds of pounds. It was solid gold.
As it dropped, someone was crushed on the spot. Blood and gore splattered everywhere, the stench spreading rapidly through the cramped room.
She quickly recalled the box, took advantage of the chaos, and bolted out of the utility room.
As she ran, she shouted back over her shoulder:
"He went up to the fifth floor! The guy with the cure ran to the fifth floor!"
In chaotic mobs, reason doesn't exist.
The crowd instantly believed her and stampeded upstairs.
Chu Yian flattened herself against the wall, letting the stampede pass. Once the hallway cleared, she spun around and sprinted downstairs.
The lobby was now eerily empty—but there were more corpses by the front door.
Lu Qingyuan was nowhere in sight.
She froze, tense, scanning the blood-soaked bodies one by one…
None of them were him.
A wave of relief washed over her—but she was alone, her phone lost during the chaos.
And now, more people were approaching the building. It wasn't safe to stay.
She had no choice but to leave. Once she got outside, she'd find a way to reunite with him.
Following their original route, she ran through the underground shopping street, through the mall, all the way back to where they'd parked. But when she arrived, the car was wrecked—the windshield shattered, the doors dented.
The only thing missing… was a small bottle of hand sanitizer that had been sitting in the front seat.
All that damage, just for a bottle of sanitizer?
She didn't dwell on it. Pulling out a pen and scrap of paper, she scrawled a quick note and tucked it into the broken window frame:
"I'm heading back. If you see this, come home."
Driving here had taken twenty minutes.
Walking would take two hours, maybe more.
Chu Yian ran the whole way, eyes scanning the road for a vehicle she could use.
But hotwiring a car wasn't her skill set. She wasn't some action movie protagonist—she could only hope for a miracle: an unlocked car with the keys still inside.
Like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Half an hour later, she was drenched in sweat, still running.
"Cough… cough cough cough!"
A sharp bout of coughing. Early symptoms of infection.
She'd been face-to-face with infected patients, no protection. It would've been a miracle if she hadn't caught it.
She leaned against a car hood, gasping for breath.
Just as she paused to catch herself, she noticed something—
A body slumped across the windshield.
Rashes, yellow mucus—clearly infected, maybe even dead.
If the person died in the car… maybe the keys were still inside.
"Sorry, bro," she muttered and smashed the window.
She unlocked the doors, dragged the body out with grim efficiency, and—yes—the keys were still in the ignition.
Just as she climbed into the driver's seat, her ankle was grabbed.
The man wasn't dead.
He gripped her tightly, pleading:
"Help me…"
"I can't even help myself," Chu Yian muttered, yanking at her leg. "How am I supposed to save you?"
But the man's grip was iron. He looked like he was about to collapse, but his will to survive burned fiercely in his eyes.
She paused. Cursed under her breath.
She hated this kind of thing.
Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, she ducked back into the car, opened her treasure box, and pulled out two packs of fever meds.
Then she crouched down and tucked them quietly into the man's shirt.
"This is the best I can do. If you can make it, then hang in there. If not… then it's fate. I'm just an ordinary person. I've got no miracles."
She let out another rough cough.
She was infected too—still helping others.
If she hadn't stockpiled enough meds for the next five days, she wouldn't have dared.
But flashing her wealth was dangerous.
After suffering for it too many times, Chu Yian wasn't about to linger. She yanked her leg free, slammed the door, and drove off.
Behind her, the man slowly opened his clouded eyes, just in time to see the car disappearing into the distance.
He fumbled inside his shirt, pulled out the fever meds, and swallowed two pills dry.
It took nearly three hours before she made it back to Lu Qingyuan's house.
The moment she stepped out of the car, a harsh cough wracked her body. Her arms and calves were covered in red rashes. Her body was starting to shut down.
The game was almost over—now she finally understood how brutal this virus really was.
She stopped at the door, not going inside.
Lu Qingyuan had already come out.
Reflexively, Chu Yian raised a hand to cover her mouth.
"Teacher Lu, go put on a hazmat suit before you come near me!"
Lu Qingyuan froze mid-step.
"You're infected."
"Yeah."
His brow furrowed slightly. He looked at her empty hands.
"You lost the cure?"
"No, I've got it."
Chu Yian turned, using the car to shield her as she pulled the cure from her treasure box.
"But we don't even know if it's real. So you should keep your dist—ah!"
She didn't even finish saying "distance" before Lu Qingyuan was already beside her.
"You've still got the cure. What's there to be afraid of?"
Expression unreadable, Lu Qingyuan took the case from her hands.
"Come inside."