Chapter Forty-Seven: The Lives and Deaths of Others Have Nothing to Do With Me

"Ah!"
Liu Ping let out a piercing, wretched scream, struggling to stand.

Gu Sha looked at the Tang sword in his hand with a hint of surprise. When he had just struck at Liu Ping, he had sensed a bizarre force—a force that seemed to pull at his sword. But he knew clearly that it wasn’t his sword being dragged, but rather a mental attack that assaulted his consciousness, affecting his strength and causing him to miss his target. If his gene lock development had been even slightly lower, he would definitely have failed to hit this man just now.

Powers in the apocalypse were blessed by fate.

He could tell that the level of the man before him wasn’t high, but that strange force was enough to fight above its rank. That single mental attack would have affected even a fifth or sixth-rank warrior, making it impossible for them to strike.

Staring at Liu Ping, Gu Sha said in surprise, “So it’s true—the one with psychic powers wasn’t Tang Shanshan.”

The researchers were all frightened by Gu Sha’s sudden action, retreating to the side.

“You… how did you see through it?” Liu Ping asked in disbelief.

Gu Sha chuckled lightly. “I didn’t see through anything. I just thought you were suspicious, that’s all.”

Liu Ping was astonished. “Weren’t you afraid of killing the wrong person?”

Gu Sha replied carelessly, “If I killed the wrong person, so be it. What’s the big deal?”

Liu Ping’s eyes widened with incredulity. “You… you’re with the authorities! How can you act like this? You don’t even care about evidence, you—”

“You’re just trying to stall for time!” Gu Sha strode toward Liu Ping, sword in hand.

Liu Ping, panic-stricken, scrambled backward. “You… you can’t kill me… I’m warning you… all the zombified wasps in this lab are under my control. If I die, they’ll go berserk. No matter how strong you are, you won’t save everyone. They’ll all die!”

Gu Sha paused.

Seeing hope, Liu Ping exclaimed, “Spare me and I’ll guarantee your safe escape, you—”

Suddenly, Gu Sha swung his sword.

With a single stroke, he sliced open Liu Ping’s throat. Blood sprayed, and Liu Ping’s eyes were full of unwillingness and confusion as he clutched his neck. “You… you… aren’t you afraid they’ll all die? Aren’t you afraid Academician Wang will die too?”

Gu Sha shrugged indifferently. “Not my problem. At worst, the mission fails.”

Liu Ping could only utter strangled sounds before dying, full of resentment.

With Liu Ping dead, the researchers panicked. Several rushed over, slammed the secret room’s door shut, and furiously pointed at Gu Sha, shouting, “How could you kill him? Didn’t you hear what he said? There are tons of zombified wasps in the lab—if you kill him, they’ll go out of control! We’ll all die! How could you?”

Another cried, “What do we do now? What do you suggest? You have to take responsibility—”

Gu Sha wasted no words. With two swift swings of his sword, both researchers were instantly decapitated, blood spraying like rain.

“Noisy,” Gu Sha snapped, then looked coldly at the other terrified researchers. “Anyone else have an opinion?”

Staring at the blood-soaked Tang sword in Gu Sha’s hand, the researchers were terrified; no one dared utter a word.

Gu Sha sneered, “Remember, I have no obligation to protect you. Whether you live or die has nothing to do with me. Out of humanitarian concern, I’ll remind you: if there are weapons in this institute, find them yourselves. Maybe you’ll manage to survive.”

Just then, a terrifying, dense buzzing filled the air—a roar like an oncoming tidal wave, oppressive and overwhelming.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Violent impacts echoed from within the secret room. Soon, pounding came from all directions—the walls of the laboratory bulged and began to shatter.

Wasps burst from the cracks—massive, monstrous creatures; the smallest as large as a fist, the biggest the size of a basketball, their appearance grotesque and terrifying.

Gu Sha frowned, swiftly slashing down the few zombified wasps, and shouted, “Does anyone know where Academician Wang is?”

A researcher quickly pointed to a small room. “He’s locked in there!”

Gu Sha kicked over tables and instruments to block the open cracks from which the wasps were emerging, then dashed over and kicked open the small room’s door. As expected, inside was an elderly man, bound from head to toe, mouth sealed with tape.

Gu Sha recognized him from the photo—this was the target, Academician Wang.

He rushed over, sliced through the ropes with a single stroke, and hefted Academician Wang like a chick, making for the exit.

By now, the laboratory was in chaos.

Some researchers had already been stung and were rotting where they stood, horror filling the air.

Gu Sha had no interest in their fate. Carrying Academician Wang, he ran from the laboratory, with the researchers desperately following behind.

No sooner had they exited than they were confronted by a dense horde of zombies and a black tide of zombified wasps. The smallest were as big as fists, the largest as basketballs. The buzzing was deafening, like a tidal wave.

The researchers were plunged into despair.

Gu Sha snorted, then kicked hard at the wall of the corridor.

With a thunderous crash, the iron wall collapsed, revealing the outside.

They were actually on the third floor. Outside was a wasteland, devastated by the earthquake.

Gu Sha dashed forward, carrying Academician Wang, and leapt straight out.

The researchers were not so fortunate. Just as hope had dawned, despair set in again. For Gu Sha, the third floor was nothing, but for them, it was a chasm—they stood frozen, unable to jump.

The zombified wasps gave them no time to react, swooping in and stinging several researchers within moments.

Hearing the screams behind them, those at the front gritted their teeth and jumped.

In truth, it wasn’t as terrible as they had imagined.

As Gu Sha landed, he cut down a horde of zombies, and the others, falling onto the zombie corpses, were battered and bruised, but not fatally injured.

At that moment—

Tat-tat-tat! Tat-tat-tat!

A sudden burst of gunfire erupted. A fully armed force appeared, flamethrowers spewing fire to incinerate the zombified wasps, light machine guns mowing down zombies.

The newcomers were the squad led by Major Wu outside Qingtong Town. Their equipment was first-rate; for the moment, their firepower was enough to hold back the swarms of wasps and zombies.

(End of chapter)