Chapter 32: Awakening
Ji Ruwen looked around. At the moment, he seemed to be inside a room resembling a laboratory; one of the walls was even made of one-way glass.
There was still a needle stuck in his wrist. After sitting up and taking a moment to steady himself, he finally remembered what had happened before he fell unconscious.
It seemed that he had… been bitten by some kind of gigantic mosquito.
And then—
“Mibao!”
Ji Ruwen’s eyes flew wide open.
Right, he needed to find Mibao!
At the thought, Ji Ruwen hastily yanked the IV out of his hand, then lifted the blanket covering him…
Uh—why wasn’t he wearing clothes?
Stunned for two seconds, Ji Ruwen quickly pulled the blanket back over himself.
Meanwhile, the people outside heard the beeping coming from inside the lab, immediately realizing that the man in the room had woken up.
“Go inform Captain Liang—tell him the one they brought back is awake.”
A man in a white lab coat gave instructions to his assistant while pushing open the door to enter.
Seeing someone come in, Ji Ruwen immediately looked over. “Hello, I…”
“Hello, Mr. Ji.” The man in the white coat gave him a polite smile. “I know you must have a lot of questions right now. Don’t worry, I can answer them slowly—what would you like to ask first?”
Ji Ruwen: “…Could I have some clothes?”
He really wasn’t comfortable talking to people while naked.
Even with the blanket covering him.
“…Ah, I forgot about that.” The man in the white coat paused a second, then resumed smiling. “Please wait, I’ll fetch some clothes for you.”
With that, he quietly stepped out of the room.
Ten minutes later, Ji Ruwen—now dressed in a white sweater paired with black pants—took the cup of hot water handed to him by the lab coat.
“Sorry, we don’t have spare clothes here, so I just brought you one of mine. I hope you don’t mind.”
Ji Ruwen shook his head. “Not at all, thank you.”
He was tall and well-built, but the clothes from the man in the lab coat were a little short on him, leaving his ankles exposed.
Fortunately, it wasn’t too cold here.
“I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Yu Tao—my major was biology, with a secondary focus on medicine. I used to be a professor at A University… I recall you graduated from A University as well.”
Professor Yu Tao was in his forties, with proper, refined features, carrying himself with politeness and courtesy.
Ji Ruwen searched his memory carefully and finally dredged up a vague recollection of him.
Since Ji Ruwen had majored in finance back in university, he hadn’t had much contact with Yu Tao.
“So it’s Professor Yu,” Ji Ruwen said in realization. Perhaps because they were both from A University, he felt a bit more favorably toward him. “May I ask what exactly happened to me? And… where am I?”
Yu Tao seemed to have expected that question, because he smiled lightly before beginning to explain.
“A month ago, you were bitten by a mutant mosquito. However, you didn’t immediately turn into a zombie, so Captain Liang and the others brought you back here…”
“Wait—a month ago!?”
Ji Ruwen nearly choked on his water, his eyes going wide in shock as he blurted out.
He was so shaken that even his voice cracked.
Yu Tao nodded. “Yes, you’ve been unconscious for a month. But don’t worry—your physical indicators are all perfectly normal. In fact, that’s exactly what I wanted to say—”
“A month…”
But Ji Ruwen couldn’t hear a word of Yu Tao’s explanation. His face had gone completely blank as he muttered the words over and over.
“A whole month… I’ve been lying there for a month…”
Yu Tao frowned slightly, feeling that the man before him was slipping into a daze. He reached out and gave Ji Ruwen’s shoulder a light pat. “Mr. Ji? Mr. Ji?”
“A month… I… I…”
Ji Ruwen was completely lost in his own world.
Yu Tao: “……”
Alright, it looked like communication wasn’t possible for the time being.
Knock, knock.
At that moment, the door to the room was pushed open. Yu Tao turned his head and saw Liang Shaoqing walk in with his teammate Bai Qi.
“Professor Yu.”
Liang Shaoqing gave Yu Tao a polite nod in greeting.
Bai Qi also waved casually, then went straight up to Ji Ruwen, patting him on the shoulder. “Brother, still remember me?”
Ji Ruwen: “A whole month… Is Mibao still alive… How could I sleep for so long…”
Bai Qi: “……”
This guy was out of it—muttering nonsense like he’d gone crazy.
“Captain, is he still not fully awake?” Bai Qi couldn’t help whispering to Liang Shaoqing.
Liang Shaoqing shot him a flat look. “I’d say it’s you who’s not awake.”
With that, he stepped forward to face Ji Ruwen. “Mr. Ji, you’re worried about your daughter, aren’t you?”
At those words, Ji Ruwen finally stopped his dazed murmuring and lifted his head to look at Liang Shaoqing.
He remembered Liang Shaoqing. He remembered Bai Qi too.
They were the ones who had saved him a month ago.
“Do you have any news about my daughter?” Ji Ruwen asked, his face filled with desperate hope.
But Liang Shaoqing shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to lie to you.”
Ji Ruwen’s eyes dimmed once more.
“Hey now, don’t be like that! Your daughter’s definitely still alive. You’ll find her if you keep looking, won’t you?” Bai Qi blurted out, trying to comfort him.
Ji Ruwen turned his gaze on him. “And how do you know my daughter’s still alive?”
Bai Qi: “……”
He… didn’t know.
This wasn’t anything more than a casual attempt at comfort.
In the end, it was Ji Ruwen himself who slowly worked through the emotions, calming down after a while.
From Yu Tao and the others, he finally learned the whole story—
He had been brought back to Beijing by Liang Shaoqing’s squad. But the situation there hadn’t been good either, so before long, they joined the larger evacuation force and moved to the nearest safe base.
That was the Oasis Base, located near the Taihang Mountains.
The area had relatively few zombies in the early stages, making cleanup easier. It was also situated at high ground, easy to defend and hard to attack, with a clear vantage point for spotting zombies and other monsters.
Most importantly, beneath it lay a large underground shelter, perfect for housing survivors.
Thus, a safe base was established here.
Elsewhere across the country, other bases had also been set up—for instance, the Southern Base and Sky Eye Base down south, and further north, the Northern Base.
“…We’re in the shelter now. This is where Professor Yu and several other scientists conduct their experiments,” Liang Shaoqing explained. “And your case is rather unique.”
Ji Ruwen frowned. “Because I was infected but didn’t turn into a zombie?”
“You could put it that way.” Liang Shaoqing nodded. “You’re an exception. After we brought you back, you were in a dangerously unstable state, on the verge of zombification. It wasn’t until a week ago that your condition finally stabilized.”
At that, Yu Tao added, “Based on my analysis, the zombie mosquitoes mainly drain their victims dry. That means their virus is relatively weaker in aggression—combined with your strong will to survive, you managed to pull through.”
Hearing all this, Ji Ruwen finally let out a breath of relief.
Good… thank goodness he was still alive.
Alive, with his own consciousness intact.
Otherwise… his Mibao would truly have no family left in this world.