Chapter 54: For Xie Li, She Will Be the Gene Serum's First Test Subject

54: For Xie Li's sake, she was willing to become the first test subject for the Gene Serum

By the time the convoy returned to the Base, the sky had darkened almost completely. Searchlight beams swept across the road, passing over each vehicle as it came back through the gates.

The soldier on guard waved his arm and called out: 'Stop. Everyone out for inspection.'

The car door swung open and Lan Ran jumped down, circled to the passenger side, gathered Xie Li into her arms, and walked forward alongside her teammates.

When the guard soldier caught sight of the torn wound on Xie Li's shoulder, his expression shifted sharply. The skin around the injury had taken on an unhealthy grayish-blue cast, and black veins spread outward from the wound's edges, winding up along her collarbone and already creeping onto the side of her neck.

'Halt!' The soldier raised his weapon, sights trained on Xie Li. 'Come any closer and I'll fire. What do you think you're doing, bringing an infected person back to the Base?'

Lan Ran stopped in her tracks, eyes red, and cried out: 'She isn't infected — she's still alive and breathing.'

The soldier's aim didn't waver. He looked at them without expression. 'Infected individuals are not permitted to enter the Base. If you want to enter, you'll need to go through quarantine and inspection as well. No exceptions.'

Lan Ran stood her ground, holding Xie Li, jaw clenched tight, staring the soldier down with stubborn eyes.

Liu Zhaoyang came up from behind and gave her sleeve a quiet tug, lowering his voice: 'Lan Ran, take Xie Li back to the vehicle for now. I'll go through the inspection lane next door and find someone to get word to Goddess Jin — once she knows, she'll come. Standing here arguing with them won't get you anywhere; soldiers follow orders. You can't win this one.'

Lan Ran ground her teeth, turned with Xie Li in her arms, and moved away from the Base gate.

Fang Mai swept a glance at the eyes watching them from all sides — soldiers on post, and more of the field teams who had come back from supply runs, their gazes sliding greedily over the row of cargo vans parked at the entrance. They had clearly marked the vehicles as a target.

She lowered her voice: 'Lan Ran, we need to get the supplies inside and processed first. Leaving this much out here overnight isn't safe — we can't let Xie Li's injury count for nothing. You stay with her out here; the moment we're done, we'll come straight back out.'

'All right.' Lan Ran answered in a flat, exhausted voice. She carried Xie Li back to the rear seat of the Land Cruiser, laid her down carefully across the cushions, shut the door, and stood guard outside.

The rest of the team passed inspection and drove the vehicles inside the Base, heading toward the logistics depot.

Liu Zhaoyang made his way to the lane on the other side of the gate, scanning the crowd until he settled on a young woman in a protective suit who was holding a clipboard.

'Excuse me.' He leaned close and kept his voice low. 'I know your Dr. Jin — could you please get a message to her? Tell her that Xie Li is at the Base entrance, that she's been injured, and that it's serious. Please, make sure she gets the message.'

The staff member had been flipping through her clipboard with only half her attention, but at the name Xie Li she looked up sharply, her expression turning serious. 'Your name?'

'Liu Zhaoyang.'

'Understood. I'll have someone pass it along right away.' She said it and was already walking briskly down the lane before the words had fully left her mouth.

......

The Research Institute.

Jin Zhaoye sat in her office, a freshly printed research report in hand, eyes moving with focused intensity down row after row of data, brow faintly furrowed.

Her mind was entirely occupied with gene-sequence comparison results and optimization schemes for the X Virus formulation. She had been working for over thirty consecutive hours — when exhaustion caught up with her, she would fold her arms on the desk and doze for a few minutes, then wake and continue.

With Xie Li away from the Base, she had no desire to go home at all. She threw herself into her work completely.

'Knock knock —'

'Come in.' Jin Zhaoye turned another page of the report without looking up.

The office door swung open and a young woman in a white lab coat walked in quickly, calling out: 'Dr. Jin.'

Jin Zhaoye raised her head. Seeing that her assistant's expression was off, she set down the report and asked with quiet concern: 'Xiaotao, has something happened?'

'Word just came from the gate — apparently... someone named Xie Li has been injured. She's been stopped outside the Base. The message said you're needed out there.'

Jin Zhaoye shot to her feet, the color draining from her face in an instant, her voice cracking with sudden alarm: 'What did you say?'

Xiaotao was startled by the urgency in her eyes. She had worked at Dr. Jin's side for several years — she had seen her composed at academic conferences, effortlessly in command during experiments — but she had never once seen her wear an expression like this.

Panic. Helplessness. And a composure that was being held together by sheer force of will.

Xiaotao gathered herself and repeated the message from the gate, word for word.

Jin Zhaoye didn't wait to hear it through.

She shoved open the office door and ran.

A few researchers carrying sample cases in the corridor were startled half out of their wits — all they saw was a white figure blur past like a gust of wind, footsteps hammering the floor as though a Zombie were at her heels.

Researcher A: 'Who was that just now?'

Researcher B: 'It looked like... Dr. Jin?'

Researcher C: 'Nonsense. Goddess Jin would never sprint through the halls like that with no regard for appearances. You're hallucinating. We all need to go back to the dormitory and actually sleep tonight — no more pulling all-nighters.'

......

In the darkness of the night, a military jeep tore through the Base like a horse that had slipped its reins.

Jin Zhaoye had the accelerator floored. The vehicle slammed into the crash barrier in front of the Base gate at a speed that nearly sent it out of control.

She didn't even kill the engine — she shoved the door open and ran.

Lan Ran was standing guard beside the Land Cruiser when she spotted a white figure sprinting toward her from a distance.

The figure was running hard. The hem of the lab coat billowed in the wind, long hair streaming behind her in the night breeze. Lan Ran couldn't make out her face, but she could feel the desperation radiating off her from across the distance.

'Where is she?' Jin Zhaoye reached Lan Ran, voice rough and hoarse.

'Goddess, take a breath first.' Lan Ran reached out to steady her and stepped aside to pull open the Land Cruiser's door.

The dim overhead light inside the cabin fell across Xie Li.

Jin Zhaoye took two steps forward and saw Xie Li lying in the back seat, her face drained of all color.

In that instant, the world tilted beneath Jin Zhaoye's feet. Her legs went weak, unable to hold her weight. She stumbled back two steps, her back hitting the car door — that alone kept her from crumpling to the ground.

'Goddess, are you all right?' Lan Ran quickly caught her arm and found that Jin Zhaoye's entire body was trembling.

Jin Zhaoye stared at Lan Ran, her eyes reddening in an instant. Tears welled up and filled her lower lids, catching the light and scattering it into tiny fragments.

She tilted her head back and drew a long, slow breath. The tears rolled once around the rim of her eyes and did not fall.

This was not the moment to fall apart. She had to stay calm. Xie Li was still alive — she was extraordinary; she had come through before, and she would come through again.

There was still time. There was still a chance to save her. She could not afford to lose her footing now.

Jin Zhaoye steadied her thoughts and asked, her voice unsteady: 'What did this to her?'

'A Mutant Zombie Dog — it got Xie Li's shoulder, raked her with its claws.' Lan Ran gave a brief description of the Mutant Zombie Dog they had encountered.

Liu Zhaoyang reached into his pocket and produced several Crystal Cores of an unusual color, holding them out to Jin Zhaoye: 'These too — Crystal Cores we dug out of the Mutant Zombie Dog's skull. We thought they might be useful for Xie Li, so we took all of them.'

Jin Zhaoye took the Crystal Cores and pushed them into her pocket. 'I don't have the strength right now — Lan Ran, help me get her out. I'm taking her back to the Research Institute.'

'Of course.' Lan Ran ducked into the vehicle and carefully lifted Xie Li's upper body. As she was moved, Xie Li let out a faint, muffled groan; her brow creased, her lashes fluttered — she seemed to be in pain, but she did not wake.

Jin Zhaoye quickly reached in and caught Xie Li's dangling arm, draping it over her own shoulder. Xie Li's temperature was alarming — even through the layers of clothing, the unnatural heat radiated off her like a fever.

The two of them supported Xie Li between them and walked toward the Base gate.

The guard soldiers, seeing this, moved to block them again.

'Dr. Jin, infected individuals cannot enter the Base. Director Jin set that rule herself.'

Jin Zhaoye raised her reddened eyes to the soldier. 'This infected individual is a critical research subject. She was clawed by a Mutant Zombie Dog. A standard infected person completes the turn within minutes — she has been injured for the better part of a day and has not turned. She may carry a natural antibody. If you keep her out here, this invaluable sample will be lost.'

She paused, then raised her voice: 'Open the gate. Let us through. I will take full responsibility for whatever follows.'

The soldier hesitated, glancing at her colleague, who looked equally uncertain.

'Dr. Jin, this isn't a decision I can make on my own. Please wait at the gate while I report up the chain.' The soldier stepped back to the guardhouse and picked up a radio to brief her superior.

The report traveled from the gate to the duty officer, from the duty officer to the watch room, and from the watch room upward through each level of command until, at last, it reached Fu Yunsheng.

Some ten minutes later, a military jeep rolled out from inside the Base and stopped in front of the group.

The rear door was pushed open from inside, and a long leg encased in a combat boot stepped out.

Fu Yunsheng got out of the vehicle and stood, pressing two fingers to her temple with a languid rub. Her gaze drifted across the scene with unhurried ease before settling on Xie Li — pale as a corpse, black veins spreading across her skin.

'What's going on here?'

Jin Zhaoye met her gaze directly. 'I need to bring Xie Li into the Research Institute. She is resisting the Zombie virus.'

Fu Yunsheng walked forward a few steps, bent slightly at the waist to examine Xie Li's wound, then straightened and raised an eyebrow. 'The way I see it, she's about to turn any moment now. She doesn't look like someone who's resisting anything.'

Jin Zhaoye was frantic inside, but she could not let Fu Yunsheng see how much Xie Li meant to her.

She let out a quiet breath and kept her voice as measured as she could manage, laying out her reasoning with deliberate clarity: 'She won't turn. The fact that she made it from Lan County all the way to the Base is proof enough of that. As it happens, the Gene Serum needs a test subject — she's ready-made.'

Fu Yunsheng didn't agree immediately. Her gaze moved back and forth between Jin Zhaoye and Xie Li.

She had never been particularly perceptive when it came to matters of the heart — romance and sentiment had never held much interest for her. But she had grown up steeped in the politics of power, and she had always known how to read people.

'You care about her.' Fu Yunsheng said it as a certainty. 'Why?'

Jin Zhaoye's breath caught for half a beat. She shifted her gaze away from Fu Yunsheng without any visible change in expression, her voice even: 'I don't care about her. I care about experimental data. She can help me study the X Virus — that's all that matters.'

Fu Yunsheng listened, then looked back at Xie Li. The black veins had already spread to her jaw. By any measure, she looked beyond saving.

'You want a subject? The military has no shortage of young soldiers — take your pick.' Her tone was light, almost offhand. 'There's no reason to bring a ticking time bomb into the Base when you don't know when it might go off. Leave her at the gate.'

Jin Zhaoye knew Fu Yunsheng was testing her. She pressed her lips together and kept her face perfectly still, giving nothing away.

Fu Yunsheng took two slow steps forward until she stood directly in front of Jin Zhaoye. Her tone shifted, softening slightly: 'A-Ye, you don't look well. Have you been pushing yourself too hard lately? There's no rush with the research — the Base can hold for now. If you wear yourself out, I'll worry about you.'

Liu Zhaoyang and Lan Ran stood nearby with their hearts in their throats. They both understood perfectly well the undercurrent running through this confrontation. If Fu Yunsheng saw through the nature of Jin Zhaoye and Xie Li's relationship, Xie Li was as good as dead.

Lan Ran started to say something, but Liu Zhaoyang closed a hand around her wrist and gave a small shake of his head. This was not the moment for them to speak. One wrong word and they would be pouring oil on a fire.

The searchlights hummed overhead. Moths and insects beat their wings against the lamp covers with faint, papery sounds. The tension in the air had stretched to its limit — one spark and everything would explode.

After a long silence, Jin Zhaoye finally moved. She reached into her pocket and drew out the Crystal Cores from the Mutant Zombie Dog — each one larger than an ordinary Zombie's Crystal Core, and darker in color.

'Look at these. Mutant animals can turn into Zombies too. Xie Li was certainly not the first person to encounter a Mutant Zombie animal, and not the first to be injured by one — but she has held on until now without turning. I don't think I need to explain to you how extraordinary that makes her.'

Jin Zhaoye turned her head, eyes finding Lan Ran: 'Lan Ran, tell Brigadier General Fu how long ago Xie Li was injured.'

Lan Ran answered quickly: 'We ran into the Mutant Zombie Dog at the Processed Food Factory around noon. That was — six or seven hours ago now.'

'Six or seven hours.' Jin Zhaoye repeated the words. 'Fu Yunsheng, you know what that means. The virus has been inside her body for six or seven hours. How long can a standard infected person last? A few minutes — half an hour, an hour at the absolute outside.'

'But Xie Li has not lost consciousness entirely. Her vital signs are still present. That means either she carries a natural antibody, or her body is generating some kind of immune response we don't yet understand. Either way, it is invaluable to my research. Think about it, Fu Yunsheng — if I can isolate an antibody sequence from her, what does that mean? Antiviral serum. Immunizing agents. Perhaps even a vaccine. She could save all of humanity.'

Jin Zhaoye's argument was airtight. She had not denied caring about Xie Li — only reframed that care as being about Xie Li's scientific value, not about Xie Li herself.

Fu Yunsheng was quiet for a few seconds after she finished, her gaze moving between Xie Li and Jin Zhaoye. 'Even granting everything you've said — what if she turns inside the Base? What if she hurts you? What if she hurts the researchers at the Institute?'

Jin Zhaoye: 'I'll arrange a dedicated Quarantine Room for her — full twenty-four-hour surveillance, encrypted door locks. If you're still not satisfied, post guards outside the room. But this person is coming inside the Base with me.'

Fu Yunsheng held her gaze for a moment, then slowly curved her lips into a smile and called her by a name: 'Ye-ye.'

Jin Zhaoye's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. She disliked Fu Yunsheng using that childhood nickname — they had stopped calling each other by pet names after the age of ten. That Fu Yunsheng would reach for it now, at this particular moment, could only mean something.

Fu Yunsheng said, unhurried: 'You want to bring her inside — I can agree to that. My condition is that once she's recovered, she joins my special operations unit and comes out on missions with me.'

Jin Zhaoye looked back at her, her expression unmoved: 'Xie Li is not my property. Where she goes, whether she joins your unit — that is entirely her own decision. My only job is to keep her alive.'

'Fine.' Fu Yunsheng smiled and stepped back, beckoning to Ning Meng behind her. 'Ning Meng, stay with Dr. Jin around the clock. Keep an eye on things and make sure the Research Institute's personnel are safe.'

'Yes, Commander.' Ning Meng snapped to attention, her voice clear and crisp.

Jin Zhaoye and Lan Ran supported Xie Li between them and walked through the Base gate.

As they passed Fu Yunsheng, a hand came to rest on Jin Zhaoye's shoulder.

'A-Ye.'

Jin Zhaoye stopped.

'You had better truly have nothing on your mind but your research.' Fu Yunsheng's voice dropped deliberately low, carried to Jin Zhaoye's ear on the night breeze. 'If you're lying to me, you know what happens.'

Jin Zhaoye's fingers curled slightly at her side. She said nothing. Together with Lan Ran, she walked Xie Li forward into the Base.

They got into the jeep waiting at the gate. The moment the door closed, Lan Ran heard a sound from inside the vehicle — a single, very quiet exhale.

Jin Zhaoye leaned back against the seat, bowed her head, and gently brushed aside the strands of hair that had fallen across Xie Li's cheek. The pad of her finger traced lightly over Xie Li's burning skin. Her lips moved: 'Hold on. You're going to be all right.'

The military jeep raced through the Base and pulled up in front of the Research Institute.

Lan Ran jumped out and opened the rear door. Jin Zhaoye helped Xie Li out of the vehicle: 'You've done more than enough. Leave the rest to me — go get some rest.'

'Goddess...' Lan Ran's lips parted, and in the end only two words came out: 'Good luck.'

Jin Zhaoye nodded, gathered Xie Li into her arms, and carried her quickly into the Research Institute. Ning Meng followed close behind with two soldiers.

Jin Zhaoye had no attention to spare for them. She lifted Xie Li onto a hospital bed and wheeled her into the Research Institute's highest-security Quarantine Room.

Double-sealed airtight doors. An independent ventilation system. A full suite of vital-signs monitoring equipment. Reinforced bulletproof glass. The room had originally been designed for dangerous biological samples; now it became the room that held Xie Li.

Xie Li lay on the bed with her eyes closed. The high fever had cracked and peeled her lips dry, and low, hoarse, half-conscious moans escaped her throat at intervals.

The black veins had spread up onto her cheeks — like a dark spider's web, not frightening so much as strangely, unsettlingly beautiful.

Ning Meng pushed open the door and stepped into the room: 'Dr. Jin, for the safety of the research staff, we should restrain her.'

'I'll do it.' Jin Zhaoye stepped in front of the bed, took the restraints from Ning Meng's hands, bent down, and wound them around Xie Li's wrists and ankles — tightening each one to just snug enough to hold, not so tight as to cause pain.

When she was done, Jin Zhaoye straightened and looked at Xie Li for two seconds, pressing down the emotions churning behind her eyes.

She turned to her assistant Xiaotao and issued orders with crisp precision: 'Prepare a blood draw and full-body workup. Complete blood count, viral load, immune markers — run everything. Take a tissue sample from the wound for a pathology section as well. Move quickly.'

The entire research team sprang into motion. Xiaotao wheeled over the blood-draw equipment and a portable biochemical analyzer. Another researcher bent over the bedside and used a sterile scalpel to cut a small piece of the grayish-blue tissue from Xie Li's wound, placing it into fixative solution for labeling.

Jin Zhaoye picked up the blood-draw needle herself, bent down, and took Xie Li's wrist in her hand, guiding the needle tip into the vein.

Xie Li's arm was burning hot. Her veins stood out clearly; her pulse was fast and urgent. Jin Zhaoye rested her thumb against the inside of Xie Li's wrist and stroked it once, gently — a quiet, unobtrusive comfort offered to the sleeping patient.

Dark red blood flowed through the needle and into the collection tube, a shade deeper than normal, carrying a murky, near-black-brown sheen under the lights.

Jin Zhaoye passed the sample to the researcher behind her. The analyzer started up at once, and rows of data began appearing on the screen.

She didn't stand and wait in front of the machine. While the data ran, she took sterile gauze, Iodine Tincture, and debridement instruments from the workbench, set them on a tray, and carried it back to the bedside.

She pulled on fresh medical gloves. With forceps, Jin Zhaoye lifted away the torn, battle-ravaged fabric over Xie Li's shoulder and exposed the savage claw marks beneath.

The flesh at the wound's edges had turned completely black and necrotic, giving off a faint smell of decay.

The extent of the necrosis was far smaller than she had expected. Given the X Virus's rate of spread, six or seven hours after infection the necrotic area should have extended well beyond the original wound — yet around Xie Li's injury she could still see granulation tissue that was actively bleeding, as though some force were fighting back against the X Virus.

Jin Zhaoye took up a scalpel and set the blade against the edge of the grayish-blue necrotic tissue. Her hand was perfectly steady. Layer by layer she excised the dead flesh, cutting until the wound bed showed fresh, red, living tissue.

Throughout the entire debridement, Xie Li moaned continuously on the bed. Her body, caught between high fever and pain, was drenched in cold sweat; her fingers clenched and unclenched inside the restraints, straining against them without ever breaking free.

In the climate-controlled room, a thin film of sweat had gathered on Jin Zhaoye's brow as well.

She forced herself to shut out Xie Li's sounds of pain, forced herself not to lose focus.

The fact that she could feel pain meant her nervous system was still functioning — meant her brain was still receiving and processing signals from her body. That was a good sign. If even the sensation of pain had disappeared, it would mean the central nervous system had been invaded by the virus, and that would be a truly irreversible situation.

Debridement complete, Jin Zhaoye flushed the wound repeatedly with Iodine Tincture, disinfected it, applied medication, and bandaged it with sterile gauze.

She straightened, removed her gloves, and turned to the analyzer. The data on the screen had finished running.

The complete blood count showed Xie Li's white cell count at a staggering level — neutrophil ratio had spiked, lymphocytes were also sharply elevated. This was... a full immune system mobilization?

The viral load data was even more alarming. The X Virus particle concentration exceeded the highest reading she had ever measured from a Zombie sample. A viral load at this concentration was sufficient to overwhelm a human immune system in a very short time.

And yet Xie Li had not fallen. Why?

What was helping Xie Li hold back an assault of this magnitude?

'Dr. Jin, come take a look at this.' The researcher at the microscope turned and called out.

Jin Zhaoye walked over quickly and bent to the eyepiece.

The field of view was a battlefield. Gray-black X Virus particles surged through the blood like a tide, so dense they nearly filled the entire view. They churned and massed in the plasma, pressing their attack against every red blood cell and immune cell within reach.

Amid that black tide, tiny points of green light flickered — smaller than the virus particles, each one barely luminous on its own, like fireflies refusing to go out in the depths of a dark night.

Those green points of light stood at the outer edge of the cell membranes, grappling with the X Virus particles, tearing at them, going down with them. When one green point was extinguished, a new one would seep out from inside the cell and take its place, holding the line.

Two forces were locked in a brutal, grinding war inside Xie Li's blood — a war over whether their host would live or die. The X Virus held the clear advantage. There was not much time left.

'Dr. Jin, those green points of light — they seem to be fighting the X Virus. If we could isolate them, analyze their structure, and then amplify them, couldn't we help the patient win this battle? They might even be useful for antiviral research.' The researcher's voice carried a note of excitement.

Jin Zhaoye considered for two seconds, then nodded. 'We can try.'

Xiaotao brought over a high-powered microscope, placed Xie Li's blood sample on the stage, and prepared to extract the green points of light.

The image was projected onto an external display screen, and everyone in the lab turned to watch.

Under the microscope, the cluster of green light was locked in fierce combat with a group of X Virus particles. Xiaotao guided a micro-pipette toward the edge of the green cluster and slowly drew it in.

The moment the green points of light were extracted, they were still glowing — but the instant they were fully separated from the surrounding plasma, the light went out.

Xiaotao tried again, refusing to accept it. The result was the same: the moment they left the host, the green points' activity dropped to zero.

'Keep trying. Don't stop the nutrient drip. I need to step out for a moment.' Jin Zhaoye left the instruction with the lab team, pushed open the door, and walked out of the room.

She had a feeling — a certainty, almost — that these green points of light were the reason Xie Li had been able to come back from death before. They were bound to Xie Li's life. They were symbiotic with her. They could not be separated from her.

Xie Li didn't have time for them to keep experimenting. She needed another approach.

She also couldn't bring herself to gamble on whether Xie Li might come back from death a second time. The odds of a miracle repeating itself in the same person were too small.

If this time, what came back was not Xie Li — but a Zombie, hollowed out by the virus, with nothing left inside — what would she do then?

The mere thought of that image made Jin Zhaoye feel as though she couldn't breathe. She could not allow that possibility to exist.

She walked to the door of the X Virus laboratory, pushed it open, stepped inside, and locked it behind her. She crossed to the cold storage unit and took out the Gene Serum.

The finished serum had only just been produced. Animal trials had not yet begun.

No one could predict what would happen when this liquid entered a human body.

Jin Zhaoye removed the cap from the vial, rolled up her sleeve, pressed the needle tip to her vein, and pushed down the plunger. The pale blue liquid entered her bloodstream, drop by drop.

For Xie Li's sake, she was willing to become the first test subject for the Gene Serum.