Fan Xui pulled the dust covered man into the room and glanced down anxiously. "Yue, come on up,"
"I'll go search for survivors. You guys climb up. We'll catch on," he shouted Form below.
"No, we won't. We'll wait here!" he shouted back.
"We'll meet you at the roof Yue, Hary, take care of him," Tian shouted from beside him. Fan Xui gave her a look. "It's logical we go up. Don't worry, Hary is with Yue. He can take care of him,"
"You trust him that much?"
She just raised a brow. "I've known him for years. I trust him with my life. And my brother's too. We should get going up." she glanced at the two men dressed in white coats. They both were glaring at each other. "You deal with those two,"
Qian glared at the man intently. "I think I know how you survived. Even zombies don't want a bite of your stupid brain,"
"Oh please, they will be chasing after me waiting for a taste of my smart brain. You, on the other hand, would be as stinky tofu. No one wants you,"
"Oh, for god's sake. Fan, throw him out. I don't want to see this man's face any longer," he glanced at his friend.
Fan Xui just stood there with a blank look.
"Dude, back me up."
"We need him,"' Fan Xui said calmly, glancing at the two. The new addition to their team might look like a simpleton, but in actually he was a genius biologist. He was the one who tested the plant mutation in detail. Even found a way to cross bread a mutated plant with a normal plant to create a super crop.
But before he could finish the testing, the scientist just disappeared out of thin air one day.
No one knew where he went or who kidnapped him.
He was MIA.
Qian took over his research, he cross mutated wheat. Which then became a staple.
"Come on," Tian whispered from the doorway. "Can you sense where the zombies are right now?"
Fan Xui placed a hand on the walls and closed his eyes. He could sense movements below and above in all floors. "That metal zombie broke down all doors. They have already entered all corridors except two floors below us."
"I hate that zombie," she mumbled, opening the door typing the password
Suddenly Prisitsky leaned closer curiously. "Peng Peng is cute? That is your password! Hey Qian, why did you change the emergency password without my knowledge, huh?" he shouted.
"Shut up, I did not expect to us to be in an actual emergency situation, okay. plus I sent a mail. You were the one who did not read it,"
Prisitsky looked at him with a look of surprise. "Oh that's what that was. I thought you sent me a dumb fucking meme again."
"Fuck off bozo,"
Tian slowly turned back with a deep glare. "Would you both shut the hell up? God help me if you utter one more word, I will sew your mouths shut. Got it?"
Both of them gulped and stepped back. "Roger," "done" they both replied.
Qian moved closer to Fan Xui. "She is scary. Reminds me so much of my old man,"
Fan Xui looked at him with his brows raised.
Slowly, they cracked open the door. Tian watched the situation outside for a minute or so, then gestured for the others to follow out.
Silently, they crept through the hallway. Their floor was yet to be breeched even so the trembling ground sent a weird fear into their hearts.
Qian moved very, very close to Fan, holding his hand. "Don't worry buddy, I will protect you,"
Fan just shook his head, ignoring him. "Tian watch him I'll watch Qian,"
"hmm..." she wordlessly moved to the second elevator.
Just like the other buildings, this one also had three escape staircases and three elevators in each corner and centre of the building.
Tian glanced at the door with a small sigh. Taking a knife from her bag, she pierced the small gap in the middle and started to pry open the door. The door did not budge easily. "This could have gone so much faster with Yue,"
The door opened up by an inch.
"Both of you stay close." Fan Xui stepped up and helped her pry open the door.
As soon as the door was open, Tian jumped in, catching the suspended lines. "Get on. We don't have much time."
Fan Xui glanced at Qian.
"I can do it. Carry him. He is a wimpy child," he said, jumping into the elevator shaft. He caught a hold of the suspended liens tightly and clung to it like a koala. "I'm fine.... I think...."
Trembling, he slowly crawled up like a worm.
"This is so much fun to look at," Prisitsky held onto Fan's back tightly. "Young man, you look familiar. Ah, I remember. You were the one in coma." He gently touched his head. "wow I can't believe you are even alive."
Fan flinched a bit. "Keep your hands to yourself," he jumped into the shaft
"No, your brain is spectacular. That much activity inside that small brain is very, very rare. I was so close to getting the approval to research you,"
Fan paused, glancing back. "You were going to open me up?"
"Not technically. I was going to monitor your brain activities with my new improvised devices. Don't worry, killing you would have been a waste of test materials."
Fan Xui decided to ignore all his weird comments. As far as he has seen, scientists had always been the crazy kind.
He glanced up to see Qian slowly creeping up.
"Tian, help out Qian,"
Tian glanced back and rolled her eyes.
She climbed down a bit and grabbed a hold of Qian's hand. "Get on my back,"
"No, I-I can do this."
"Yes, you can. But this is not the time to train yourself. Let's go home. I will train you how to climb up a rope and down a pipe,"
Qian glanced up with his eyes shimmering. "Really? You swear?"
"I swear, get on now,"
He happily took her hand and climbed onto her small back. "I kind of feel bad making a girl carry me around."
"You felt okay when Yue was carrying you around,"
"Yeah, that's different. You are a girl,"
"Say that one more time and I will drop you," she growled.
"Sorry ma'am."
By the 30th floor elevator door, Tian ordered for the others to stop. She carefully let down Qian on the ledge of the elevator door. The others got down as well.
While the other waited, she climbed up to the roof of the shaft and attached the bomb to the top left corner, away from the suspension ropes and the weights.
"Everyone, I'm going to attach a bomb here. It will go off in three seconds. Brace yourself,"
A small flame appeared on her fingertip. She lit the bomb and slowly slid down to a safe distance.
Fan Xui mentally caught hold of her and pulled her close to the small legs by the elevator doors.
"There will be rubble flying everywhere. Hold on tight!"
The wick burned brightly.
"Three.."
Seconds ticked by in slow-motion.
"two..."
Fan Xui watched it keenly. If anything went haywire, he was prepared to use his ice ability to freeze a globe around them to keep safe.
"one.."
The bomb went off loudly.
Rubble and concrete bricks tumbled down. Fan Xui carefully watched for anything that came close to them.
Dust flew everywhere. Their gas mask helped them a lot at this point.
"Let's wait a minute until the dust settles," Tian coughed pushed Fan's arms away. Reached out, she grabbed hold of the suspension rope.
"Thank god the blast did not damage the ropes." Dr. Prisitsky let out a breath.
"Idiot. She strategically placed that bomb there. If not, the whole roof would have gone off." Qian grumbled. "Fan, do we still need this guy?"
Fan Xui gestured for him to be silent. The door behind them shook violently.
The zombies on the 30th floor were banging on the door they were all leaning on.
"Let's not delay this any longer," he gestured For Tian to climb up.
Tian climbed out first and held out a helping hand to the others.
Qian and Fan came up safely. After reaching the roof, Fan let down the other man on his back.
"Phew that was awesome!" Prisitsky whispered glancing at Tian. "You really are beauty in white horse,"
Tian scowled deeply. "You take care of them both, keep them close. I will seal the door and you look out for Yue,"
"hmm. Both of you stay close," Fan Xui walked over to the side of the rooftop and leaned over. "Yue. You okay down there?"
Yue glanced up with a bright smile. "you guys reached the roof. How is Tian?!"
"She is good. Everyone is safe here. Wait, I will lower the rope. Make sure to tie it around your waist tightly,"
Yue had previously tied the roped ardour around that new guy's waist to help pull him up. Now Yue and Hary were both hanging on the side of the building without any safety cables tied.
He carefully unwound the ropes and lowered it down.
Yue got a hold of it and tied to his waist. But the rope was slightly short. He doubtfully glanced back at Hary.
"I don't need a rope. Don't worry," Hary waved it away.
All the floors they checked were all filled with zombies. No human was seen inside any of the rooms.
"Yue I think we should go up."
Yue sighed. "yes...."
The climb up was much tougher than sliding down the pipes. The slimy chemical from their hazmat suit had somehow gotten smeared on the pipes, making it even harder to climb up.
Slowly but surely, they moved up.
"Is it difficult?" Fan Xui glanced down worriedly.
"It's slippery....'
"I'll pull you up okay,"
Yue glanced back at Hary. "I'll go up and lower the ropes, okay,"
"go on, climbing this is a piece of cake," Hary smirked widely.
Giving a small smile, Yue tugged at the rope. "Pull me up."
Fan Xui Qian and Prisitsky pulled him up with difficult.
Hary was right below Yue, supporting him whenever he stumbled or wavered due to wind.
When Yue finally reached the roof top Fan Xui grabbed onto his waist and pulled him into a tight hug. "Got you,"
"Yeah, you got me. Now let's pull Hary up,"
"I'm right here," a voice said softly.
Yue glanced down the side to see Hary very close by. "You really did climb up with ease."
"Told you so... I could use a hug as well..."
"Not happening on my watch," Fan Xui watched him with slight respect in his eyes.
All of a sudden, they heard a small creaking and snapping sound.
"What is that sound...." Yue looked around carefully.... the sound was coming from the side of the building. He worriedly looked down..
The fastening holding the steel pipes broke.
Eyes wide, Hary looked at them.
"Shit...."
The pipe started to fall apart.