Chapter 49: Two Conditions

"Wang Chunfen, Liu Shan told me that you are the administrative director of Wanhai Technology?"

Seeing Wang Chunfen wake up, Qin Zhong casually asked, "I need to go to the twenty-first floor to get something. If you can show me the way, I'll consider what you did to that girl earlier as never happened. How about it?"

Although bringing a woman with no combat capability upstairs would increase the risk significantly, Qin Zhong considered that a new drug research facility likely had some security measures in place. As an employee there, and an administrative director at that, Wang Chunfen should be relatively familiar with the layout. Having her along might make it easier to locate the research data for the new drug.

Hearing Qin Zhong's words, Wang Chunfen hesitated for a moment. Xiao An grabbed tightly onto her sleeve and shouted angrily, "What, what do you want to do? My mom is not going with you!"

Qin Zhong glanced at the girl with a trace of disgust. Although she was a bit older than Xiao Yingyong, when it came to being sensible and reading the room, she fell far short. It seemed that the kick he had given her earlier had been too light; he should have taught her a harsher lesson.

Seeming to sense Qin Zhong's unkind gaze, Wang Chunfen quickly replied, "Alright, I can go with you, but I have conditions!"

Qin Zhong frowned and said coldly, "I haven't settled accounts with you for pushing my person down the stairs, which is already showing immense mercy. Do you really think I wouldn't dare kill you?"

As he spoke, Qin Zhong flicked his wrist. With a sharp whiz, a crossbow bolt shot out, grazing the top of Wang Chunfen's head and embedding itself deeply into the wall behind her, leaving only the feathered tail vibrating intensely.

"Ah!"

Both Wang Chunfen and Xiao An gasped in terror, their faces turning instantly pale, clearly badly frightened.

Liu Shan, standing nearby, was also startled and his lips moved soundlessly. But seeing that Qin Zhong hadn't actually harmed the mother and daughter, he kept quiet.

"That was just a warning. Next time, I won't miss!"

"Then kill us! Going above the eighteenth floor is a death sentence anyway. Rather than dying at the hands of those monsters, I might as well die right here!"

At that moment, Wang Chunfen recovered from her shock, hardened her heart, and her tone became even more defiant than before, leaving Qin Zhong somewhat baffled. He had only intended to scare the woman into obediently accompanying him upstairs, but now her willingness to embrace death made things somewhat difficult for him.

Logically speaking, this was the apocalypse; even if he truly killed them, no police officers would come to arrest him. However, Qin Zhong still retained his humanity. If Xiao Yingyong were truly dead, he might have been able to bring himself to do it. But now, according to Liu Shan's account, there was a very high probability that Xiao Yingyong was still alive, meaning this woman did not deserve to die.

For a moment, Qin Zhong fell silent, and the atmosphere in the room grew heavy. Furthermore, as Qin Zhong's frown deepened, an intangible sense of crisis wrapped around the three people present. It felt as if, in the very next second, Qin Zhong might suddenly turn murderous and slaughter all three of them.

"Um, um, Big Brother, why don't you just listen to her conditions? Maybe they aren't too unreasonable!"

Liu Shan could no longer bear the suffocating silence and stepped in as a peacemaker, as he certainly didn't want Qin Zhong to kill the mother and daughter.

"Speak. If the conditions are too outrageous, don't bother mentioning them!"

"First, my daughter Xiao An will not come with us; she stays right here. Second, once we go up, whether you achieve your goal or not, you must help me find my husband!"

Hearing Wang Chunfen's conditions, Qin Zhong frowned slightly. To be honest, the first condition was nothing—he hadn't planned on taking the girl anyway. But the second condition...

Qin Zhong pondered for a moment and asked, "Where is your husband?"

"I know this," Liu Shan chimed in. "Her husband is a police officer. After that day, Wang Chunfen got through to her husband once on the phone. He said he was holding down the fort at the police station. Later, the phone couldn't get through, and nobody knows what happened after that."

"My husband must still be alive! Back then, he was with a lot of his colleagues. My husband has a gun; he wouldn't be afraid of those monsters. If you save my husband, he'll definitely find a way to get us out of here."

Seeming afraid that Qin Zhong wouldn't agree to rescue her husband, Wang Chunfen immediately spoke up, making wild promises. It was clear that she truly loved her husband.

Qin Zhong sneered. "How can you still be so naive? This isn't the beginning of the apocalypse anymore. It's been over five months since that day. Either your husband is already dead, or he has left Modu. Why on earth would you think he's still at the police station?"

"No, no, that's not true! You're lying to me!"

As if Qin Zhong had torn away the facade of her illusions, Wang Chunfen became hysterical, screaming angrily at him.

Liu Shan looked somewhat apologetically at Qin Zhong from the side and lowered his voice, "Big Brother, although that's the truth, saying it like that is a bit..."

Qin Zhong frowned slightly, feeling a surge of irritation. An idea suddenly popped into his head, and he said, "Alright, stop howling. You'll end up attracting zombies, and then I'll have to deal with them. I agree to your conditions!"

Hearing that Qin Zhong had agreed to her terms, Wang Chunfen, who had been somewhat deranged, immediately calmed down significantly. She nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, okay, I believe my husband is still alive and waiting for me to find him."

Qin Zhong really didn't want to waste any more words with this somewhat obsessed woman. He simply nodded, looked at Liu Shan, and said, "You're coming with us!"

"Ah?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Shan wore a bitter smile. "Big Brother, I can't fight either. Up there is really dangerous; there are mutant zombies. If we run into one, we won't even be enough for them to slaughter..."

"Mutant zombies? Tell me about it in detail."

"Well, I can't describe it very well. I just know that back then, four or five of us were together when a grey flash crossed our sight, and the heads of two people were instantly sliced off. That scene was simply unimaginable."

Recalling the scene, Liu Shan's entire body tensed up, and he subconsciously looked into the darkness of the corridor, as if some terrifying creature might suddenly burst in at any second.

Qin Zhong frowned in dissatisfaction. "You mean you didn't even see what it was? Yet you knew it was a zombie?"

"Ahem!"

Liu Shan coughed awkwardly a couple of times. "That thing was way too fast; I really didn't see it clearly. But my nose is sharp! The moment that thing appeared, there was the stench of a zombie. I couldn't have smelled it wrong!"

Qin Zhong thought for a brief moment and decided decisively, "Regardless of whether that thing is there or not, I have to go. Let's eat something and rest for a bit. We'll set off in an hour! Xiao An stays here!"

"No! Mom, I want to go with you. Left all by myself... I'm scared!"

Hearing that everyone else was going upstairs and she was going to be left behind alone, Xiao An looked around at the pitch-black surroundings and instinctively shrank closer to her mother.

"Sort it out among yourselves. In any case, once we go up, I cannot guarantee your safety."

Saying this, Qin Zhong glanced around at the three of them, his voice cold and sharp, "In this world, useless idlers die first. If you want people to protect you, you must possess enough value."

Having said that, Qin Zhong ignored the three of them, walked alone to a corner of the wall, took out a pack of spiced beef, and began to eat.