16 years

Outside the cave, Feng Lei and Shao Qiu walked a little further on the wet weeds, stood still 30 meters away, and looked back at the glowing cave.

"It's not easy." Feng Lei sighed, and said, "Consultant Liu doesn't look like us at first glance. He is young and capable, so why would he commit such a crime?"

Shao Qiu stared down at the weeds in front of him, and didn't speak for a while.

There was something wrong in his mind, the anxiety and stress disorder induced by hallucinogens had not completely subsided, and this dangerous thought was always in his mind.

He is busy fighting against this morbid thinking logic, and his external reaction is temporarily slow.

Fortunately, Feng Lei didn't care, he only thought that Shao Qiu and Fu Yan were close, and he couldn't accept this result for a while, so he didn't think much about it.

He and Shao Qiu shared a cigarette with each other, flicked the ash on the ground, and said with emotion: "I have already asked someone to escort the petri dish back, what about the rest...?"

Feng Lei originally wanted to ask Shao Qiu what to do - Fu Yan was infected by the mutated virus, He Tang and He Feng were missing, Shao Qiu naturally became the commander of this special team, even if he was just a poor commander, Feng Lei had to ask Ask for his opinion.

When Shao Qiu came back to his senses, he groaned, and from the corner of his eye, he glanced at the cave where Fu Yan was.

"Please send someone to escort the petri dish and research materials back to Yancheng." Shao Qiu said in a low voice, "I'll...wait a little longer."

Feng Lei hesitated to speak.

"It's not just waiting for news from the captain." Shao Qiu saw what he meant, and said first, "We're also waiting for Sparrowhawk and Peregrine Falcon. I want to see the corpse. The captain can't take care of it now, and I can't forget about it."

Feng Lei thought it was true, so he didn't say anything more to persuade him, but just patted him on the shoulder and said thank you.

"It's our captain who worked hard." Shao Qiu said in a low voice, "He seems to be very tired these days, and he's been wasting his time on this matter... He found all the information about Joe Eden."

"Captain Fu is young and promising, it's a pity." Feng Lei obviously heard about Fu Yan, and then sighed: "It's a pity for Consultant Liu."

Shao Qiu heard this regrettable tone a lot, but once it was on Fu Yan, he couldn't get used to it, so he didn't speak, and smoked the cigarette in his hand silently.

Most of Feng Lei's people had already withdrawn with the patrol squad, but for some reason, he himself didn't leave. He was guarding here like Shao Qiu, and he didn't know what he was guarding.

Shao Qiu and him stood like wooden stakes for an unknown amount of time before suddenly saying: "It's okay, it's been a long time... just get used to it."

"That's what you say, those of us who go out to work every day, who doesn't comfort themselves like this." Feng Lei sighed a long time: "But to be honest, how can we get used to life and death."

As soon as Feng Lei finished speaking, he heard rustling footsteps behind him. He and Shao Qiu turned their heads at the same time and saw Liu Ruosong coming out of the cave. I don't know if I heard the conversation between the two of them just now.

When Shao Qiu saw him coming out, he subconsciously glanced into the cave.

Liu Ruosong pretended that he didn't hear Feng Lei's heart-pounding words, and only asked, "Is there any hot water? He feels cold."

As soon as he finished speaking, Feng Lei and Shao Qiu looked at each other, seeing the same emotion in each other's eyes.

—Feeling cold is not a good sign.

The coat on Liu Ruosong's body disappeared, most likely it was left for Fu Yan.Now the weather outside is not so cold that it is unreasonably cold. Fu Yan is afraid that he will need hot water even though he is wearing two coats. The only possibility is that he is affected by the virus.

Body cold and nervous rigidity are almost the necessary path for mutation. Once symptoms appear, it is not far from completely losing their minds.

The three people looking at each other outside the cave all knew the answer, but none of them dared to pierce the window paper.

Shao Qiu pursed his lips, rummaged through his backpack, found a box of self-heating water, found a bottle of cold water, and handed them to Liu Ruosong together.

Liu Ruosong switched the gun to his left hand, took the things, thanked him, and turned to go back.

"Brother Liu." Shao Qiu couldn't help but stop him: "You—"

Liu Ruosong looked back at him.

Shao Qiu's words stuck in his throat when he wanted to persuade him to look away. He met Liu Ruosong's calm gaze, struggled for a while, and finally just said dryly that you take care.

"I know, don't worry." Liu Ruosong said, "It's not that far yet."

He waved his hands as he spoke, and then went back into the cave with a short body.

Feng Lei shook his head, as if he knew that persuasion was useless, he walked a little further and started to contact his subordinates.

Others are waiting here with Shao Qiu, but their minds cannot be idle, and they have to follow up on the progress of the transportation of the petri dishes and the pursuit of the frontline.

The chief of staff left with the vehicle transporting the petri dishes, and now he has returned to the temporary camp in the military region, waiting to be handed over to the military region of Department A.The people who were chasing Joe Eden on the front line didn't have any news. They only said that they had found clues to the other party's evacuation, but they were still in the process of searching.

After Feng Lei listened to this side and that side, he wished he could break it into eight pieces and talk dryly for more than an hour. Finally, he got through the communication with the commander of the A Department military region, and told the situation here in detail. informed the other party.

"...Really see it clearly?" The middle-aged man on the phone asked wearily, "Are you sure it's an infection?"

"I'm sure." Feng Lei said, "It was bitten by a petri dish, and it has...already exhibited mutation symptoms."

Zhao Jincheng let out a long sigh on the phone, and finally said nothing, only told Feng Lei to protect the petri dish, and then hung up the line.

The locals seem to have an inexplicable sense of the weather. The closer it is to dawn, the cloudier the sky will be.

Liu Ruosong leaned against the mountain wall and stared at the sky outside, feeling that the night seemed extraordinarily long.

He has maintained the same posture for more than two hours - at the very beginning, Fu Yan would chat with him, and they chatted about things before the end of the world, and the focus of the chat was very jumpy. The last sentence was from high school, and the latter sentence changed Became the eighth anniversary of love.Gradually, the virus reaction affected Fu Yan's state. He began to be afraid of the cold, shivering, and unresponsive, so Liu Ruosong helped him get hot water, but it didn't help. The degree of panic.

So Fu Yan firmly pushed Liu Ruosong away, not letting him approach him anymore.

He was afraid that he would hurt someone, so he handcuffed himself to the steel pipe as soon as he was bitten, but even so, he was still worried and insisted that Liu Ruosong sit three meters away from him.

"Don't come here." Fu Yan said, "Be obedient, okay?"

"Okay." Liu Ruosong said.

After this sentence, they stopped chatting, and the suffocating silence spread. Liu Ruosong could only force himself to calm down, and then counted Fu Yan's breathing in the silence and waited for two days.

The rainy day made the dawn come a full hour and a half later than usual, Liu Ruosong moved his stiff limbs, and called Fu Yan hesitantly.

Fu Yan didn't answer.

He hadn't moved for three hours, and he didn't move or speak, but he didn't have the violent mutated reaction either.

Liu Ruosong hesitated for a moment, decided to temporarily put aside their verbal agreement, got up and took two steps towards Fu Yan's side.

Fu Yan was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, his brows were tightly frowned, and he was leaning on his handcuffed arms in an awkward position, with most of his body weight hanging on the steel pipe.

Liu Ruosong was so distressed that he half knelt down, trying to help Fu Yan adjust a more comfortable posture.

But as soon as he put his arms around the opponent's shoulders, he froze.

His movements froze in place, and he felt it for two seconds in a daze, making sure that the temperature he felt just now was not an illusion, then hesitatingly and slowly stretched out his hand, and pressed the back of his hand against Fu Yan's face.

Immediately afterwards, he stood up abruptly, staring at his hands in surprise, his chest heaving violently for a moment.

Outside the cave, Feng Lei waited with Shao Qiu until dawn, his arms and legs stiffened into a steel plate.

The cave was very quiet, there was neither gunshots nor roars of mutated zombies, it was as quiet as if nothing had happened.

The timeliness of the mutation of young and middle-aged males is very flexible, ranging from a few hours to three or four days at most. Feng Lei can't stand here forever waiting for a result. It just so happened that there was new news from the front line, so his eyes Watching the sky getting brighter, he stretched his legs and prepared to say goodbye tactfully.

"There was news from the front that Joe Eden's abandoned car was found more than 300 kilometers away from a neighboring country." Feng Lei said: "The convoy was left on the side of the road, and blood and uniform fabric were found in one of the cars." Fiber, it should be certain that it is a vehicle transporting sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons."

"Has anyone been found?" Shao Qiu asked.

"Not yet, the rut disappeared when it was drawn, and there was no clue such as helicopter takeoff and landing nearby." Feng Lei shook his head and said: "The news from the front is guessing that he has found a new foothold, and it may be temporary. It's hidden—I didn't say that, that unlucky boss is like a rabbit, a cunning rabbit."

"I've been chasing him all night, even if he moves quickly, he won't go anywhere." Shao Qiu said, "If he must have a hiding place, it shouldn't be far away."

"That's what I thought before." Feng Lei said: "Now there is a need for support, I have to go to the town - what about you?"

While speaking, cold raindrops fell from the sky and hit Shao Qiu's face sporadically. He raised his hand to catch a handful, and found that the sky had already brightened before he knew it, and there was a kind of foggy gray.

"I'll go too." Shao Qiu glanced at the direction of the cave one last time, and said, "It's useless for me to stay here, just leave Brother Liu two helpers here."

As he spoke, he walked side by side with Feng Lei to the exit of the landscape park, but before he walked a hundred meters away, he heard Liu Ruosong calling him from behind.

Liu Ruosong's voice was very unsteady, and accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps, Shao Qiu turned around in surprise, only to see that the other party had already caught up, with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and a thin layer of sweat oozing from the corner of his forehead.

His expression was extremely complicated, it didn't look like he had just experienced life and death, but he was not as lifeless as before. There was even greater panic in the excitement, and there was a subtle sense of dislocation and distortion at first glance.

"What's wrong?" Shao Qiu said, "The captain—"

"Deputy team, do you have a tetanus shot?" Liu Ruosong swallowed, and said with difficulty: "Brother Fu seems... to have a fever."