Blood covered the MRI room floor. The machine kept humming.
Cheng Du limped into the room.
Seeing Su Jin and Gao Tianfang lying inside the scanner amid the blood, Cheng Du hurried over in panic.
Blood pooled beneath Gao Tianfang and continued to trickle from him.
Having endured Su Jin's frenzied, piston-like knee strikes, his organs hung out near the opening of the machine.
The room smelled of blood and burned flesh.
"Boss! Boss, talk to me!" Cheng Du's hands trembled violently as he reached in, desperately prying Su Jin out of Gao Tianfang's arms.
Seeing Su Jin's eyes closed and his mouth full of blood, pure terror spiked through Cheng Du's veins.
"Boss! Hang in there!"
Fueled by pure adrenaline, Cheng Du hoisted Su Jin into his arms and practically lunged across the hall toward the opposite room.
Sunlight!
There was sunlight! As long as Su Jin was in the sun, he would recover.
He laid Su Jin near the window. Cheng Du bent down and listened for a heartbeat.
Seconds passed. He heard nothing.
Cheng Du's jaw went slack, his eyes darting around the empty room in utter disbelief.
Snapping out of his stupor, he locked his hands together and slammed them down into chest compressions, screaming at the top of his lungs, "Boss! You can't die! We have so many people relying on you! How the hell is everyone supposed to survive without you?! You can't be this selfish!"
"Boss.. Boss!" Cheng Du pumped the chest, tears streaming down his grimy face, openly sobbing now. "Boss.. You can't just wither away like a delicate flower! Boss!"
"Hrk..!" The previously comatose Su Jin sucked in a violent gasp of air. He sat up suddenly, eyes wide, then sank back to the floor.
"Boss!" Cheng Du was overcome with relief.
"Get out of the way.." Su Jin weakly swatted at the air, glaring up at him.
"Huh? Go where?"
"You're blocking my damn sunlight."
Cheng Du hurried aside, wiped away his tears, and asked, "How bad is it?"
"Quite a few ribs are broken. It's going to take a minute to knit back together. But I'm not dead, and I can walk." Su Jin wheezed, his breath rattling in his chest. "Give me a second to stabilize, then we find a car. The convoy is waiting, we can't leave them exposed."
"Boss, you practically gave me a heart attack. Your pulse was completely gone."
"Ugh.. I never thought I'd live to hear the phrase 'wither away like a delicate flower' directed at my own corpse." Su Jin stared blankly at the ceiling. "If you say anything that disgusting again, I will not be polite."
"Hey, I wasn't born a bottom, but I gave you my first time. Don't be so rough on me."
"Shut your mouth! Go grab my bag and the gun."
...
After a short rest, they helped each other downstairs.
Many of Su Jin's ribs were broken.
Cheng Du wasn't faring much better, sporting his own collection of fractured bones.
Gao Tianfang's kick had injured his ankle badly before Cheng Du tackled him.
The hundred floors of stairs hurt with every step.
At last they reached the ground floor and felt a surge of relief.
"Stay alert. Zombies might have wandered over. I have the gun; cover me from behind." Su Jin brought the firearm up, sweeping the muzzle left and right.
Fortunately, the battlefield was relatively clear. There were only two or three zombies shambling aimlessly near the curb.
However, they were far away and had not noticed them.
Breaking into a painful, limping jog, they found a nearby car. Su Jin slid into the driver's seat and cranked the ignition.
The engine started!
"Beautiful! Let's get the hell out of here. It was worth all the trouble." Su Jin flashed a bloody grin as his hands clamped around the steering wheel.
Cheng Du slumped into the passenger seat, grinning like an idiot.
Throwing it into gear, the car drove down the road straight toward the Talent Residential Community.
...
Outside the Talent Residential Community, the survivor convoy was already lined up.
Fu Hu and a few longtime team members stood at the very rear of the formation, their eyes glued to the horizon.
Fu Qingdai stood silently among them, her chest tight with gnawing anxiety.
Wei De compulsively tapped the face of his wristwatch. "It is already so late. They should have made it back by now.. Do you think they got ambushed?"
"No, definitely not." Sun Ya stated, forcing a steady tone. "Little Li is strong, and Cheng Du is helping him. They should be fine. Many cars on the street will not start. Finding one could take time. Do not worry."
"Right, right.. Wait, look! Here they come!" Fu Hu suddenly bellowed, his voice booming over the idle engines as he pointed down the street.
Seeing the battered sedan tearing down the asphalt toward them, a collective wave of euphoria washed over the tense crowd.
...
"Look at that, they are all waiting for us." Su Jin chuckled, easing up on the gas. "Today is actually a damn good day. Even the sky looks pretty. Look at those golden clouds."
"Huh? What golden clouds?" Cheng Du stuck his thick head out the window, squinting up at the sky in total confusion.
"Right there, dead ahead. That big one glowing gold.. Hiss, wait. Looking closer, that cloud is strange. Why does it look different?" Su Jin squinted through the windshield, his tactical paranoia suddenly overriding his relief.
A split second later, Su Jin's jaw dropped in sheer horror.
The golden cloud opened. A thin golden line shot down from the sky, seeming to connect to Fu Qingdai's head for an instant before it and the cloud vanished.
[Mission completed. Please proceed to the designated location for evacuation.]
The cold, systemic prompt of the Company appeared before him just as a pile of debris loomed in the road. Startled out of his mind, Su Jin violently wrenched the steering wheel.
The tires screamed against the asphalt, burning thick black streaks across the pavement.
The car struck a utility pole, white smoke rising from the car.
"Boss! Are you trying to kill us..!" Cheng Du wailed, wincing in pain.
Su Jin raised his head. His chest was heaving uncontrollably as he stared blankly through the cracked windshield.
The mission notice vanished and a countdown appeared.
'00:05:00'
'00:04:59'
'00:04:58'
Panicking, Su Jin whipped his head to the left. Fu Qingdai and the rest of the team were sprinting toward the crashed car, their faces pale with terror.
He whipped his head to the right. At a nearby street corner, a red dot flashed in his vision.
Su Jin froze, his thoughts in turmoil.
How many nights had he woken from dreams of finishing this task and going home?
But now that the chance to go home had come, he felt no joy, only panic and confusion.
Why.. why now?! It was too fast! Too abrupt! He hadn't mentally prepared for this!
His breathing quickened. He struck the steering wheel and shouted.
"You can't do this! I did what you asked. You can't treat me like this, giving me orders without a word of explanation!" Su Jin's voice completely broke. He rested his head against the steering wheel. "Give me more time... Please, just a little more. At least let me speak to them.."
'01:00:00'
'00:59:59'
'00:59:58'
"Thank you," Su Jin whispered, his voice trembling with overwhelming gratitude as he slowly lifted his head.
"Boss.. did you hit your head? Are you okay?" Cheng Du asked, leaning over with genuine concern. "They are here. Let us get out and check you over."
"Yeah. Let's go see them."
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