Chapter 304: Zombie Modification Fluid

"We haven't finished discussing what happened earlier, Mr. Xie. After Li Zhaohua injected himself with the zombie modification fluid, what happened next?"

Zhang Su no longer dwelled on the matter of the fringe team.

"By the time Li Zhaohua injected himself with five vials of the modification fluid, the situation had become utterly uncontrollable!"

Xie Yanshan's face twisted in pain as he said: "At that moment, he was in a frenzy—he could smash a safe vault into a deformed lump with a single punch. Even bulletproof glass couldn't withstand the impact of his body. His muscles and bones had been massively enhanced. We were terrified. In desperation, I saw a remote control fall from Li Zhaohua's body—I knew it was the remote for the lab's self-destruct device..."

Here, Xie Yanshan fell silent, his mind flooded with agonizing memories.

"So it was you who pressed the detonation button, Mr. Xie."

Zhang Su nodded thoughtfully, thinking this man was quite brave—he must have intended to die alongside Li Zhaohua. But the answer that followed took him by surprise.

Xie Yanshan shook his head: "Mr. Zhang, you overestimate my courage. The moment I saw the remote fall to the ground, my heart leapt into my throat! The threat shifted from Li Zhaohua to the explosion—because at that moment, Li Zhaohua was separated from us and couldn't harm us directly. But if he triggered the explosives while in his frenzy, we'd all be dead."

"We were all panicked. One of my colleagues stepped forward and volunteered to enter the room and retrieve the remote. Everyone except me urged him to go—not because I was particularly noble... but because I knew Xiao Zhao had already made up his mind to die. And if we all went down together, none of us would escape. So I didn't let him go..."

Xie Yanshan seemed afraid others might form a mistaken impression, so he added: "But I couldn't stop them. Since they all agreed, I had no choice. So when Xiao Zhao entered the room where Li Zhaohua was, I quickly hid in the storage room. What happened after that, I didn't see. The next sound I heard was a cataclysmic explosion..."

Zhang Su took the safe box, examined it, then handed it back to Xie Yanshan.

Zhang Su pondered silently: according to Xie Yanshan's account, it made sense. Earlier, when he stood on the tank speaking to Pan Guoliang, one man suddenly died—it must have been Xiao Zhao. He must have pressed the button just before he was killed. The self-destruct likely had a slight delay—so the massive explosion occurred roughly twenty seconds later!

"Why did Li Zhaohua suddenly inject himself with the modification fluid?"

"Huh?"

Xie Yanshan took the object, brought it close to his eyes, then suddenly made an unexpected move.

Xie Yanshan squinted, reaching out with both hands to feel forward.

As he spoke, he twisted his body, reaching through the rubble to pull out a container shaped like a glass thermos. Inside lay a test tube—about the thickness of an adult's index finger, half the length of a chopstick. The liquid inside was bright red—not like human blood, but more like diluted red ink.

Zhang Su asked the most critical question: if not for this, the entire fringe team might have been brought under his command—what a formidable force that would be!

"He craved power—he wanted the strength of Zero-Zero-Three and Zero-Zero-Four," Xie Yanshan said gravely. "Li Zhaohua personally participated in all the zombie modification experiments. He told me more than once that humans could possess such abilities—and he intended to be the first."

Tired of listening to the conversation, Pang Dankun, who had been rummaging alone through the rubble, suddenly called out, squatting and waving Zhang Su over: "Uncle! Uncle, come look—what's this treasure?"

Unexpectedly, Pang Dankun moved swiftly—as if he'd anticipated Xie Yanshan's action—leaping forward to clutch the glass safe box to his chest, then crouching to absorb the impact before standing up and cursing.

"Hey!"

Everyone fell silent. From Xie Yanshan's description, they could guess it was Xiao Zhao who pressed the remote—the intent clearly to take the half-dead, half-zombie Li Zhaohua down with him. But in the end, his wish went unfulfilled.

A petty thief wouldn't let a treasure he'd found be damaged in someone else's hands—that was a slap in the face!

"I'm warning you—don't move!"

"Hey!"

The madman had indeed done it—though perhaps not quite as he'd expected.

"Hey!"

Qi Xiaoshuai and Lu Yubo immediately flanked Xie Yanshan, their daggers and food-sampling devices pressed against his neck and chest.

"You old bastard, you're shameless! I found this treasure and showed it to you, and you dare smash it? Are you crazy?"

Zhang Su had never expected the man to destroy the test tube without a word. But the man's motion was too swift—and he'd subtly dodged Zhang Su's reach. There was no time to react.

"Here, Mr. Xie."

"Let me see..."

He raised the safe box high and slammed it violently onto the ground—as if the object carried unforgivable sins that must be shattered.

"Mr. Xie, what do you mean by this?"

Zhang Su was utterly speechless. If not for the subtitle showing the man had submitted to him, he'd have had every reason to suspect foul intent.

"Sigh." Xie Yanshan sighed heavily. "After narrowly escaping death, I realized many of my past mistakes. Zombie modification fluid is too evil—it shouldn't exist in this world."

Pang Dankun froze upon hearing Xie Yanshan's words. He hadn't realized the thing he'd found was zombie modification fluid—and now he cherished it even more, brushing off the dust with reverence.

"What nonsense!"

Zhang Su snapped sharply: "Are the zombie hordes that destroyed the Qinglong Army evil? Are the zombies that feed on human flesh evil? Are the alien invaders who assault human civilization evil?"

"Huh?"

Xie Yanshan, who had been slumped in despair, suddenly perked up. His near-blind eyes fixed on Zhang Su: "Mr. Zhang, do you know the cause of the Collapse? Can you tell me?"

"Damn it—I'm asking you! Is it evil to turn doomed humans into zombies—or is it evil to have zombies that feast on human blood?"

"Zombies are evil. Zombies are more evil!" Xie Yanshan nodded vigorously, his attitude shifting completely—he now wholeheartedly agreed with Zhang Su.

"Will you commit yourself to research and help your comrades fight zombies?" Zhang Su shouted right into his face, as if afraid he couldn't see his expression clearly.

"Yes! Of course!"

Xie Yanshan nodded frantically, even though spittle had landed on his face—he dared not wipe it. The fury of his savior terrified him. He now understood: mercy doesn't command armies; kindness doesn't rule. A leader doesn't act politely.

"Good!"

Zhang Su's nose nearly touched Xie Yanshan's. He gripped the man's shoulders tightly: "So—this vial right here is zombie modification fluid?"

"Y-yes..."

Xie Yanshan felt the hot breath on his face—his expression turned strange.

"Bozi, take Mr. Xie to the vehicle and rest. No need to come back!"

Zhang Su released Xie Yanshan's arm and gave Lu Yubo a glance.

"Got it. Come on, Mr. Xie," Lu Yubo raised his food-sampling device and pointed toward an easier path out.

Xie Yanshan offered no resistance. With Lu Yubo's help, he climbed out of the rubble.

After Xie Yanshan left, Pang Dankun, who had been sitting nearby scowling, stood up and handed the glass safe box to Zhang Su: "That guy's a real bastard."

Zhang Su smiled and ruffled Pang Dankun's hair: "He's not bad—he's just been traumatized. His mindset is off, but he'll recover. By the way... get more people to help. Keep searching—see if there's anything else worth taking!"

Since they'd found one vial of zombie modification fluid, there might be others. Zhang Su wasn't about to miss any possibility.

Continuing their search within safe limits, they found two more vials of modification fluid—unfortunately, one had cracked and leaked. They couldn't risk touching it, since they didn't know its exact state.

They found nothing else.

After searching the command center's ruins, the group began moving weapons from the armory. Zhang Su didn't join the heavy labor—he took a few others to find another tank.

"Old Pan, you've got to teach me how to drive a tank. We need to get these two tanks back!"

Zhang Su climbed into the tank's cockpit. Everything looked intact—he felt delighted. But Pan Guoliang's next words crushed his spirits.

"Sorry, Brother Zhang, you can only take the one I was hiding in. This tank's engine is... oh no."

Pan Guoliang made a clownish face.

"Oh no? What does that mean..."

Zhang Su didn't understand Pan Guoliang's joke.

"The engine was removed. No one knows why or where it went."

"No wonder the cockpit looks so new... damn it." Zhang Su sighed, slapping the tank's armor. This thing was so tempting—whether it was petrified-skin zombies, fire zombies, or toxin zombies, they'd all be crushed under its treads!

"Well... even if it won't move, let's take the shells."

Zhang Su was about to climb into the gunner's compartment when Pan Guoliang stopped him, shaking his head: "Don't bother—the reserve shells are all gone."

"What the hell! Last night you didn't fire more than a few rounds—how'd you run out?"

Zhang Su was crestfallen. Was he really doomed to be nothing but a mascot back at camp?

"We fired! Over twenty rounds! Just... poor accuracy..."

Pan Guoliang shrugged.

"I just want to know—does the camp still have any tank shells?" Zhang Su's mood was sour. Tank shells weren't easy to make.

Pan Guoliang held up two fingers: "There are two shells in the tank I was hiding in. You can check the armory—but I doubt you'll find more."

Zhang Su shook his head and walked toward the armory where the others were busy. He understood—during peacetime, military bases didn't stockpile heavy weapons, especially tank shells.

As expected, they found rifles, bullets, grenades—even rocket launchers and grenades—but no tank shells. Zheng Xinyu and Zhang Ya helped carry items and compiled a tally, then reported the results to Zhang Su.

(End of Chapter)