Zhou Rong rushed and leaned out from the pit’s edge, almost collapsing when he saw the situation below: “Huff, huff, a gorilla came out of the corridor, we were trying to go around it, but when you called…”
“Yingjie is gone,” Si Nan said hoarsely.
Zhou Rong froze, and Chun Cao, Ding Shi, and Guo Weixiang all poked their heads out, stunned. Si Nan, who had been calmly thinking about an escape route moments ago, suddenly couldn’t control himself when he saw Zhou Rong’s head pop out and heard his ragged voice. Tears burst from his eyes.
He recounted the events in fragments, trying to be concise, choking up several times in just a few sentences. Zhou Rong’s gaze fell on Zhang Yingjie’s corpse nearby, closed his eyes, and after a long moment said in a low voice: “We downloaded all the virus research materials from the archives. The red test tube you found should be the original antibody, unstable in effect and varying from person to person…”
“Now, Si Nan.” Zhou Rong opened his eyes, clearly issuing his order: “Search for the remaining antibodies, tie them to Yan Hao, and bring him up carefully.”
Si Nan was already exhausted, taking several attempts to stand up. The cold storage layer on the equipment table where the antibodies were kept had been completely smashed.
Two of the four antibodies had been used, but fortunately, the remaining two three-segment metal test tubes were ice-cold. He wrapped these precious antibodies in Zhang Yingjie’s jacket instead, securing them to Yan Hao and carefully lifting him onto the makeshift stretcher the team had created from their clothes. “We must leave quickly. They drove an armored vehicle from the arsenal, now parked at the north exit of the top floor…”
Ding Shi and Guo Weixiang worked together to pull the stretcher to the surface. Zhou Rong noticed the undeniable alpha pheromones in Yan Hao’s blood, pausing briefly. He pulled out a military stimulant from his tactical bag, injecting it into Yan Hao, then turned to Si Nan: “It’ll take at least two hours to get out of here. Everyone’s at their limit. We must move quickly.” Zhou Rong threw down a rope, signaling Si Nan to come up.
