IABI – Chapter 97 The Truth of the Jungle (10)

Chi Xin repeated the term she had just heard, a little uncertain: “Half-werewolf?”

When Sero heard the word again, she seemed to fall into immense pain. Her delicate brows knitted tightly, and she gave a low hum. “I still remember that day. Because there was a lack of clean experimental subjects, my father almost went mad. He grabbed me and was about to inject me with the virus. Albert stood in front of me and held me in his arms to protect me.”

Then Dr. Hughes injected the syringe into Albert’s body.

Even without Sero saying it, Chi Xin could guess the outcome that followed.

She straightened up and looked at this pitiable yet detestable woman, her emotions complicated.

Calling her pitiable—she had been Dr. Hughes’s accomplice, carrying out so many cruel, inhumane experiments over the years. Calling her detestable—she had grown up receiving this kind of education; in her worldview, there was probably no clear distinction between right and wrong.

Speaking so pitifully now was merely because her own interests had been harmed. If Dr. Hughes had never done what he did to her and to Albert, would she still have helped them?

Chi Xin’s mind was clear. She was soft-hearted, but not so much that she could be easily deceived.

“If the one you’re looking for is the half-werewolf on the fifth floor, then he probably isn’t dead,” she said.

Sero jerked her head up, her eyes wide, staring straight at Chi Xin.

Her lips trembled twice. After a long moment, she asked cautiously, “What did you say?”

“Your husband didn’t die. He escaped at the very end,” Jing Xiubai said. “If you can get your emotions under control and continue the conversation, we can give you more information.”

Of course, Jing Xiubai was not someone who could be easily fooled either.

Sero sat there blankly for a few seconds, as if suddenly realizing what she had heard. She immediately wiped her face roughly with both hands, then sat upright in the chair, prim and proper.

Her expression was a mix of expectation and anxiety, her hands twisted together. This outwardly capable female doctor looked utterly flustered.

“I—I can continue,” Sero said, opening her mouth. “What else do you want to ask?”

At this point, the initiative was completely back in Chi Xin and Jing Xiubai’s hands.

The two exchanged a glance, then turned and sat down on the chairs opposite Sero.

Between the three of them lay Lou Chen’s thick files, yet they couldn’t block the longing in Sero’s eyes.

Jing Xiubai tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop—his signature gesture when thinking. “Just now, you didn’t know that Albert was still alive. Why did you help us?”

“I…”

Sero hesitated, then lifted her head and met their gaze directly.

“I’m sick of it. I never went to a proper school growing up. My father personally trained me the whole time. He never treated me as a daughter, or even as a person, but as a tool—one that could speak and think. My life consisted of nothing but him and his experiments. I wasn’t allowed to have things I liked, or things I wanted to do. Even marrying Albert was like my father tossing me a reward, like a doll, on a whim.”

It did indeed sound like something Dr. Hughes would do. Chi Xin wasn’t surprised.

“It was Albert.” When she said his name, light appeared in Sero’s eyes. “He told me what kind of life a normal person should live. He told me that everything we were doing now was built on self-deception and self-satisfaction, and that once what happened here got out, we would be condemned by everyone.”

“Even so, you still chose to stay here?” Chi Xin frowned.

“We had no choice,” Sero said bitterly. “Albert planned to take me away, but in the early days of the apocalypse, my father’s influence was far beyond anything you can imagine. At that time, Raphael was even his beloved student. With the two of them together, we had nowhere to run.”

“Just an excuse,” Jing Xiubai said coldly. Chi Xin gently patted his arm.

“I don’t deny it.” Sero took a deep breath. “I was cowardly. I’d never been outside. I grew up as my father’s tool, learning only what he wanted me to learn. I didn’t know how I could survive out there. Without me, Albert would have left long ago. It was my cowardice and hesitation that ruined him. I was the one who harmed him…”

Her voice choked again as she spoke. She buried her face deeply in her palms, her shoulders trembling.

“You underestimate yourself,” Chi Xin said softly. “You’re a PhD. Even without Albert, you could become a world-renowned scientist. You were afraid of your father and chose to submit to him, but clearly, you could have made a better choice.”

“That’s the truth I only realized after Albert became like that,” Sero said, lowering her hands, her face pale. “Albert taught me the moral values a person should have. Gradually, I found the screams in the lab unbearable, and holding a syringe became harder and harder. I couldn’t help imagining what kind of lives those experimental subjects would have lived if they’d never been sent here… I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to go on. Your arrival gave me hope.”

She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Hiding you was an open act of defiance against my father. It might be the most outrageous thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Chi Xin and Jing Xiubai exchanged a look. She gave him a signal with her eyes.

“You want us to take you away?” Jing Xiubai asked. After receiving Sero’s affirmative nod, he continued, “Where do you want to go?”

Sero froze.

“Where…” she murmured, then suddenly gave a bitter laugh. “If you can get me out from under my father’s watch, anywhere he can’t find would be fine… That was my original plan.”

“Original?” Chi Xin asked. “So you don’t want to leave anymore?”

“I originally thought Albert was already dead. Without him, I had no attachment to this place at all.” Gentle light flowed through Sero’s eyes, filled with regretlessness and resolve. “Now I know he’s still here. He’s still alive. As long as he lives—no matter what he looks like, whether he still recognizes me or not—I will not leave him.”

Chi Xin said, “You yourself said that your father is gradually losing his sanity. Aren’t you afraid that one day he’ll completely lose his mind and turn you into one of those experimental subjects too?”

Sero shuddered. “I am. But… I’m even more afraid of abandoning Albert. That way, even if I go to hell and meet him, I’ll be able to speak to him without any guilt.”

“So what do you plan to do now?” Jing Xiubai asked. “You don’t want to leave anymore—are you going to hand me over to your father?”

“Of course not.” Sero shook her head with a bitter smile. “I know you’re still willing to trust me… but asking me to personally harm two more innocent people—I can’t do that anymore.”

Having obtained the answer she wanted, Chi Xin turned to look at Jing Xiubai.

Jing Xiubai looked back at her.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Chi Xin asked.

“Maybe,” Jing Xiubai said. “I don’t think I’ve misunderstood your meaning.”

A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of Chi Xin’s lips. Just as she was about to turn back and say something, she met Sero’s dazed gaze.

“You two… are really good together,” Sero said softly, her eyes full of nostalgia. “Back then, Albert and I also had the same kind of tacit understanding you have.”

Chi Xin suddenly felt a rush of heat surge from her chest up to her neck, even her ears warming.

“What nonsense are you talking about?” she said coldly.

Sero smiled. She looked at Chi Xin with the gaze of an elder watching a junior, her tone softening. “There are so many people in this world. To have someone who understands you so well—it’s a very rare thing.”

She didn’t look at the expressions on the two young people’s faces. She stood up, her face carrying the look of someone who had finally put something down and felt relieved.

“You stay here a little longer. I’ll go check where my father and the others are. If nothing’s wrong, I’ll send you out.”

She took a few steps toward the door, then stopped again. “I’ll give you a few doses of serum, but the effect it can have is very limited.” She turned back, hesitating. “…I know Lou Chen has always been with you. I don’t know what your relationship with him is, but from a researcher’s standpoint, I have to remind you—my father isn’t wrong. The three of you are indeed the key to developing a vaccine, especially Lou Chen. The so-called serum is just his blood. There are too many interests tied to him. Only by persuading him to cooperate will the apocalypse truly have a chance of being resolved.”

After saying that, Sero turned and was about to open the door.

“Sero,” Chi Xin called out.

Sero’s hand paused on the door. She slightly turned her face to look at Chi Xin.

Chi Xin stood up, her voice calm, laced with a barely perceptible hint of anticipation. “You just said that in the later stages, almost all of your father’s data passed through your hands.”

Sero didn’t quite understand, but nodded.

Chi Xin pressed her slightly dry lips together. “Then do you have confidence that, without your father, you can develop a vaccine for the zombie virus?”

Sero turned around in surprise and stared at Chi Xin for several seconds. In the near-silence where the two of them were almost holding their breath, she gently nodded.

“If you can persuade Lou Chen to cooperate, I can.”

Chi Xin suddenly let out a breath. In just those few seconds, she felt a fatigue and joy heavier than after any great battle she had ever experienced.

“How can you guarantee you won’t become another version of your father?” Her voice wavered slightly.

“I don’t have the ambition that my father and Raphael have. They want to stand at the top of the world and use science to define everything. But under Albert’s influence, I now see science only as a tool used by humanity. I don’t want it to override human values.” Sero’s expression was sincere, and then a trace of self-mockery crept into her tone. “But there’s no point asking these things anymore. I won’t go with you, and Albert also—”

“I can bring Albert back.”

Sero’s entire body trembled violently.

“What did you say?” she asked reflexively.

Chi Xin looked straight into her eyes and slowly took out, from her spatial storage, the drug she had snatched on impulse at the market auction earlier—one that could restore rationality to those who had undergone beastification. “Take a guess—what do you think this is?”

The moment Chi Xin said it, Sero realized what it was.

How could she not know? At twenty-two, her father had acknowledged her, saying that even if she were sent to one of the world’s top universities, she could still earn a PhD. With something so obvious, how could she not understand what Chi Xin was referring to?

Yet under the sudden shock and joy, her brilliant mind seemed to stop working altogether.

“You… you…”

Sero took two steps forward, her eyes greedily fixed on the vial in Chi Xin’s hand. “…Are you sure this really works?”

Chi Xin wasn’t afraid of her trying to snatch it, but she still put it away. As expected, the light in Sero’s eyes instantly dimmed, yet her gaze remained locked on Chi Xin’s hand.

“I took it from Raphael,” Chi Xin said, revealing another layer of the truth—after all, she hadn’t traded anything at the market. “Do you think that makes it credible?”

“Has Raphael really already come this far?” Sero murmured.

“We find Albert, you come back with us, and this will be yours,” Chi Xin said.

Chi Xin knew that even if she went on about how terrifying the world would become once Raphael truly developed what he wanted, it would mean nothing to someone whose heart was already dead.

So she grabbed onto the sore spot—and stepped on it precisely.

Sure enough, Sero almost immediately switched sides.

She bit down hard, a look of resolve appearing in her eyes. “Alright. I agree.”

Done.

Chi Xin and Jing Xiubai exchanged a glance, revealing similar smiles.

Sero wasn’t someone who dragged her feet. Since she had made her decision, she didn’t hesitate any further. She opened the door directly and led Chi Xin and Jing Xiubai out with her.

From the surveillance footage, they discovered that only a very small number of people were still wandering around inside the building. Most of the others had been sent out to search.

“Father thinks you’ve already escaped. That works in our favor.” Sero raised her head to look at them. “I can take you to get the serum, but how are you going to find Albert?”

Chi Xin’s gaze swept over the various surveillance screens, finally settling on a zombie that had inexplicably entered the building and even gone upstairs.

This zombie’s clothes were relatively intact, and its body wasn’t too badly mutilated. Although its movements were still jerky, it was clearly distinguishable from a normal person.

“Is this a high-tier zombie?” Chi Xin pointed at it and asked.

Sero glanced at it. “This used to be a mercenary who came here before. Maybe because his physical condition was better, he didn’t turn into a low-tier zombie. But he’s not high-tier either—just has a bit of intelligence. We named him Farr. No one was watching him, so he probably wandered into the building on his own.”

“Got it.” Chi Xin nodded. “You take Jing Xiubai to get the serum. I’ll make sure Albert is brought back to you.”

Sero hesitated. “What about you?”

Chi Xin lifted her eyes and smiled at her—a smile that carried an inexplicable hint of mischief and wickedness.

“I have my own ways.”

She said this in C-language. Sero didn’t understand, but she froze for a moment when she saw Chi Xin’s smile, suddenly gaining some inexplicable confidence. She stopped asking questions, simply gestured to Jing Xiubai, turned around, and headed for the door.

“Be careful,” Jing Xiubai reminded her before leaving.

“With me, what’s there to worry about?” Chi Xin laughed and punched his shoulder lightly.

Jing Xiubai opened his mouth as if to say something, but time was tight, so he said nothing more—only gave Chi Xin a helpless look before turning to follow Sero.

“Watch out for that zombie!” Chi Xin called after him.

After receiving Jing Xiubai’s OK hand signal, Chi Xin pulled her neck back and scratched her face for no reason.

“When did I become someone people worry about?” she muttered softly, then turned back to the surveillance screens.

On the screen, Jing Xiubai and Sero were passing through the corridor beside the zombie Farr, heading for the stairwell. Farr was still moving slowly, and judging by his direction, he was coming this way.

Exactly what Chi Xin wanted.

She moved quietly to the door and lay in wait behind it.

The moment Farr passed by the doorway and entered her peripheral vision, Chi Xin shot out an arm—fast, ruthless, and precise—and yanked him inside.

“Grr—!”

Caught off guard, Farr let out a threatening growl and tried to bite the attacker.

But just as he lunged forward, a hand clamped hard around his neck and slammed him against the wall behind him.

“Your name is Farr, right?” Chi Xin restrained him with ease, staring into his bluish-white, muddled eyes. “I’m giving you a task. Help me find a half-werewolf.”

Farr was no ordinary zombie. He could sense the danger emanating from the girl before him. He stopped struggling and looked back at her. A low, slow voice echoed inside Chi Xin’s mind.

“Why…?”

Chi Xin raised a brow in surprise. “You can even ask why?” She dismissed it almost immediately. “Forget it. Don’t waste time answering. Are you going to do it or not?”

As she spoke, the grip of her hand tightened bit by bit, drawing suppressed, rasping sounds from the throat of a creature that didn’t even need to breathe.

Under the threat, Farr stiffly nodded.

“Good.” Chi Xin released him, then added, “You know Lou Chen, right? If you fail, I’ll have him pay you a visit on my behalf.”

Farr’s already rigid face turned even more wooden.

With Lou Chen’s name backing her up, Chi Xin wasn’t worried in the slightest about Farr causing trouble. Satisfied, she watched him shuffle out stiffly—probably to find his fellow zombies for help.

For zombies, Lou Chen’s name really was an effective calling card.

As she thought this, Chi Xin’s expression darkened slightly.

She tried calling Lou Chen’s name again, but as in recent times, she received only emptiness in response.

“Where did this kid run off to…” Chi Xin sighed. “Wasn’t he saying out on the sea that I should keep calling his name so he could find us? And now he’s vanished again.”

Muttering things like “men’s mouths are lying ghosts” and “men are about as trustworthy as pigs climbing trees,” Chi Xin left the surveillance room.

It was unclear whether she was talking about Lou Chen—or taking a jab at someone else.

“Jing Xiubai?” Chi Xin opened a single-line channel. “We’ll meet up at the front entrance on the first floor.”

“Roger,” Jing Xiubai replied quickly. “I’ve got it. Heading to the first floor with Sero now.”

Chi Xin hung up and hurried toward the stairwell.

This trip hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but it had yielded the greatest possible gain.

With Sero on their side, the vaccine would eventually be developed. No matter how you looked at it, from this moment on, the future was bright.

Chi Xin practically flew down the stairs. Since coming to this world, she had never felt so lighthearted.

She was a bit faster than Jing Xiubai and the others. After reaching the first floor, she scouted ahead, spotted a bodyguard, and knocked him out by choking him from behind. About a minute later, Jing Xiubai appeared.

Sero followed behind him, panting.

“Let’s go.”

Jing Xiubai tossed the code-locked case in his hand to Chi Xin. She caught it and immediately stored it away.

“Wait!” Sero grabbed Chi Xin’s arm tightly. “Albert, he—”

“Don’t worry. Someone will bring him over.”

As Chi Xin spoke, she was about to pull Sero along to run when a surge of danger washed over her. Her whole body snapped into alert mode. In the very next second, when she sensed the faint sound of something tearing through the air, she decisively shoved Sero aside.

But bullets are unforgivingly fast. Chi Xin managed to push Sero away, but had no time to dodge herself. Just as she braced for taking a shot, a transparent wall of ice formed in front of her.

Clang.

The bullet struck the ice wall. As it shattered, the bullet dropped at Chi Xin’s feet.

Chi Xin lifted her head and narrowed her eyes at the man emerging from the stairwell, gun raised, his expression wicked and unrestrained.

Sero stumbled and fell to the ground. Hearing the noise, she looked up—and was equally shocked. “Han Zimo?”

Jing Xiubai rushed to Chi Xin’s side, scanning her from head to toe with a cold face. “Still saying there’s no need for people to worry?”

Chi Xin hadn’t expected him to remember that offhand remark. She pulled an awkward grin. “Well… that was an accident.”

The two of them chatting as if no one else existed drew a soft scoff from Han Zimo.

He walked forward slowly, first greeting Sero with a show of respect that barely hid his disdain. “Well, well. Dr. Sero.”

Then he looked at Chi Xin and Jing Xiubai. “I knew I hadn’t picked the wrong people. One grab, and it’s you two.”

“Han Zimo, you’re still under our employment, aren’t you?” Sero got up and carefully retreated to Chi Xin’s side. “I order you—pretend you didn’t see anything and go do what you’re supposed to do.”

“The thing I’m supposed to do is follow your father’s orders and capture them,” Han Zimo said mockingly as he watched her move. “What, Dr. Sero? Are you planning to betray Dr. Hughes?”

Sero fell silent for a moment. “I’ll explain everything to my father myself. This has nothing to do with you. Let us leave now.”

“Tsk.” Han Zimo’s peach-blossom eyes swept over Sero. “Dr. Sero, perhaps you’ve misunderstood something.”

He raised his gun and aimed at the three of them.

“I’m not employed by you—I’m employed by your father. So, I’m afraid I can’t comply.”

“Oh?”

Chi Xin let out a cold laugh. At the instant he pressed the trigger again, her figure turned into a blur of afterimages.

“—Then do your worst!”