Chapter 7: Why Is It Always Me Who Gets Screwed?!
Ninghang City, Gongshu District, near Lanshan Hospital.
A handful of Security Bureau officers were stationed nearby, keeping watch through the night.
“Aaah~”
Suppressing a yawn, Liu Qian turned to the middle-aged officer beside her. “Brother Wang, I’m going to grab some late-night snacks. Want anything?”
He grinned. “How about a bowl of beef offal?”
“Beef offal? After everything we’ve seen these past few days, you still have the stomach for that?”
He shrugged, unfazed. “That’s where you don’t get it. The best way to conquer fear is to stare it straight in the face.”
“Alright, suit yourself. Anyone else?”
“Just a bowl of ramen for me.”
“……”
Liu Qian headed toward the food street on the next block. After picking up the snacks, she was just about to head back when—
Bang, bang!
A heavy pounding rang out from the direction of a nearby warehouse.
“Huh?”
She froze, instinctively glancing toward the warehouse.
BANG BANG BANG!
The pounding grew louder, shattering the midnight silence. The sound was so sharp it made Liu Qian’s knees go weak.
She snatched up her walkie-talkie. “Brother Wang, something’s wrong over here—get over here, quick!”
She barely finished speaking before she turned to run.
But before she’d taken two steps—
BOOM!
With a deafening crash, the warehouse doors burst open, and a pack of snarling, clawing zombies lunged straight at her!
“Ah! Why is it always me?!”
Liu Qian shrieked and bolted for her life.
But these zombies were moving far too fast—faster than any human could possibly manage. They closed in on her like predators on the hunt.
“No—no, stay away!”
Tears streamed down her face as she ran, desperate for escape.
She’d only been with the Ninghang City Security Bureau for less than a month. How had she already run into so many Anomaly incidents?!
The world was out to get her—there was no other explanation.
Just as the zombies were about to seize her, a figure bathed in golden light suddenly appeared ahead.
“Is that—?”
Before Liu Qian could even feel relief, the golden figure shot forward like a streak of lightning, intercepting the oncoming zombies.
In an instant, the zombies were torn apart—limbs and torsos scattered across the pavement.
“She’s… incredible!”
Liu Qian stared, awe-struck, at the armored female knight standing nearby.
Thanks to her aunt in the Investigation Bureau, Liu Qian had met Awakened before. She wasn’t a stranger to supernatural power.
But the strength this knight displayed was on a different level—far beyond any ordinary investigator.
Even the senior agents would struggle to finish a fight this cleanly, this quickly!
As Liu Qian stood, transfixed by Serene, her walkie-talkie suddenly crackled with frantic shouting:
“Liu Qian! Something’s wrong! Call headquarters, now!”
“Brother Wang? What happened?!”
“Shit… the corpses… they’re coming back to life!”
“Coming back to life?”
Liu Qian’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately realized it had to be related to the zombies that had just chased her.
She pulled out her phone, dialing the Security Bureau in a panic.
But even as she called, she knew backup would never arrive in time—her colleagues could die any second. Gritting her teeth, she called out to the female knight:
“Excuse me! Could you—please help us? There are Security Bureau officers trapped by zombies inside Lanshan Hospital! Please…”
“Understood,” Serene replied softly.
Without another word, she leapt, impossibly light, vaulting from the street straight up to the hospital’s second floor.
…
Meanwhile, the trapped Security Bureau officers were barricaded in an operating room, surrounded by zombies.
“Damn it! Wang, do something!”
“I can’t! They’re too fast—I can’t get a clean shot!”
“Zombie movies are bullshit! These freaks are faster than Olympic sprinters, and they don’t even get tired!”
“We can’t let them escape Lanshan Hospital!”
“Relax, I already had Xiao Chen lock the main doors. They’re not getting out!”
“As long as we hold out until backup arrives, we’ll—”
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
The zombies outside started howling, pounding at the door.
But just a few seconds later, the noise stopped—replaced by dead silence.
“What the hell?”
The officers exchanged nervous glances, uncertain.
“Should… should we check?”
“No way…”
“It’s pitch black out there. I’m not going.”
BANG!!
Before they could decide, the surgery room door swung open with a gentle push.
All of them raised their guns at the entrance—only to see it wasn’t a zombie, but a knight in shining armor.
Behind her, the hallway was strewn with decapitated zombies—blood pooling on the tiles.
“They’re dead?”
“We’re saved!”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“You’re a lifesaver!”
“Wait, aren’t you the one from last night—the one who killed Xu Yan?”
One officer recognized her instantly: the mysterious female knight who had taken down Xu Yan the night before.
“Are there any more zombies in the hospital?” Serene asked.
“No, that was all of them. Every body we found is here.”
Serene nodded curtly. Without another word, she turned and left.
The officers let out a collective sigh of relief, exhausted faces breaking into grins.
We survived!
…
“Only nineteen zombies…”
Bai Xuan stood atop a high-rise across from the private hospital, glancing at his mission log. Serene had eliminated nineteen zombies—just shy of the target.
Still, one thing was certain: after Serene’s sweep, he could no longer sense any undead within the hospital.
So—
Bai Xuan scanned the surrounding area.
If the mission required twenty zombies slain, there had to be at least one more nearby—maybe even more.
And the mastermind behind all this still hadn’t shown themselves.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, Bai Xuan spotted two figures on the rooftop of another high-rise in the distance, also watching the hospital.
“So that’s where you’re hiding.”
…
“Damn it! My entire experiment—ruined!”
On the rooftop, a man in a white lab coat clutched his right eye, stomping his foot in fury.
He’d been lurking near the hospital, orchestrating everything—leaking information, guiding the Security Bureau right to the corpses.
He’d intended to use the officers as test subjects for his zombie experiments.
But everything had been derailed by that damned knight!
“This is all Xu Yan’s fault, that useless wench!”
Gritting his teeth, the doctor lashed out, kicking the hulking zombie standing behind him.
“I told her to keep a low profile, not stir up trouble! But no, she had to get caught! Useless ghoul!”
He spat.
“Let’s go, Bruce.”
He was just about to leave when—a sword light, silent and deadly, flashed through the air!
Crack!
His right arm—the one covering his eye—was severed at the elbow, exposing a grotesquely infected, blood-red eyeball.
“Shit!”
He clutched his bleeding stump, blood pouring through his fingers, and looked up in panic. Two figures stood at the stairwell entrance, blocking his escape.
“Damn it! Bruce! Kill them—”
Before he could finish, another sword light swept through the air.
The hulking zombie’s head hit the floor with a wet thud…