Chapter 24: The Cruel Truth

In the hospital room, Lin Yi wiped the viscous substance from his hands with a white cloth, his face expressionless. On the pristine ceramic floor lay a mess of red and white—the remnants of the zombie doctor's crushed skull.

"Captain Lin!" Zhang Tie exclaimed, anger and a hint of regret flashing in his eyes. Without the zombie doctor's command, the zombies outside were now pounding on the door with less force. For the moment, there was no immediate danger of them breaking in.

"Didn't he say he had a child somewhere?" Zhang Tie continued, his voice rising. "It seemed like he was willing to hand over the glove. He just wanted us to help find his child. Why did you have to kill him? He probably didn't want to become a zombie. I think—"

Lin Yi tossed aside the bloodied cloth and turned to face Zhang Tie. He wasn't surprised by Zhang Tie's anger at his actions. Zhang Tie was inherently kind-hearted; one could tell from the fact that his team consisted entirely of the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled.

"Do you think I'm too cruel? That I lack humanity?" Lin Yi asked calmly. "You believe that since we were going to the other building anyway, we could have easily found his child, and he would have willingly given us the glove. He might have even revealed the location of another component. So, I shouldn't have killed him, right?"

Zhang Tie met Lin Yi's gaze, convinced of his own reasoning. "Exactly! I think he was still human! He just wanted to find his child!"

"Human?" Lin Yi chuckled softly, walking towards a metal cabinet in the corner of the room. "Zombies are always zombies. The moment they turn, they lose their humanity. You underestimate how terrifying the zombie virus is!"

Lin Yi approached the black mist visible in his Judgment Vision. With a sharp tug, he opened the cabinet door. A cascade of white bones tumbled out, rolling to Zhang Tie's feet. On the top shelf, three rows of children's skulls were neatly arranged, their young faces bearing signs of being gnawed upon. Each pair of eyes reflected the terror of their final moments, now frozen in a deathly silence.

On the floor tiles, the bones had been licked clean, with even the marrow extracted from within.

Zhang Tie's breathing quickened as he stared in disbelief at the bones at his feet. With trembling hands, he picked up what appeared to be part of an arm. The bone was small, its slender shape suggesting it hadn't fully developed.

"C-c-click," Zhang Tie's teeth chattered as the bone fragment slipped from his grasp. He realized with horror that all these bones belonged to children.

Lin Yi wasn't surprised by Zhang Tie's reaction. Although Zhang Tie appeared tough and strong-willed, the apocalypse had only just begun. Without having endured its cruelties, few could withstand such a shocking sight.

Lin Yi sighed softly and patted Zhang Tie's shoulder. "The second floor was partly designated as a pediatric ward," he explained. "Since we arrived, have you seen any zombies that were once children?"

"He told you that the glove's power preserved his rationality and humanity."

Zhang Tie took a deep breath and managed to shake his head, struggling to speak. "Captain Lin, wasn't it because of the glove?"

Lin Yi fingered the glove on his right hand, his gaze cold. If he hadn't been a time traveler, he likely would have fallen for the zombie doctor's deception as well.

Rationality? Wanting to protect children? Zombies could never possess such qualities. The moment they turned, they became complete monsters. At most, they could retain some intelligence. And even that came at a price—consuming human flesh.

Just like the "Stitcher." After devouring all the survivors in the Wan Da Mall, it evolved into the third-stage mutant "Abomination," becoming the ultimate nightmare for the survivors of Linjiang City.

"Don't you understand yet?" Lin Yi continued. "He lost the glove but still retained his intelligence and knew fear. This proves his intelligence wasn't granted by the glove, but was his own. Players can level up by killing mutants, and similarly, zombies can 'level up' by eating humans. The more powerful the mutant, the more people it has killed."

"That zombie might have seemed weak to me, but his true strength was far greater than other zombies. He was likely a special type, able to command other zombies through mental power. Otherwise, we wouldn't have struggled so much against the uncoordinated zombies earlier."

"Most likely, he consumed nearly all the children here himself, which led to his mutation."

Zhang Tie fell silent. He walked over to the mess on the floor that was once the zombie doctor and, gritting his teeth, crushed it under his foot. "Damn bastard!"

A notification popped up in Lin Yi's vision: "Ding, Zhang Tie's loyalty to you has increased by 10 points. Current loyalty: 70!"

With 70 loyalty points, Lin Yi could be assured that Zhang Tie wouldn't betray him. Having a system to monitor loyalty in real-time was indeed useful.

Not bad, Lin Yi thought. This experience had significantly impacted Zhang Tie's worldview. He believed that in the future, Zhang Tie would no longer question his actions.

"Captain Lin, I'm sorry," Zhang Tie said, hanging his head in shame.

"It's alright. We all have to face these realities sooner or later," Lin Yi reassured him. "Don't trust any zombies or mutants. The moment they turn, they cease to be human."

Lin Yi stood by the window, his gaze fixed on the nearby inpatient building. Room 303, Wen Ya's mother. The zombie doctor's child, the missing key component of the equipment.

It seemed that whether to gain Wen Ya's loyalty or to complete the equipment, they needed to make a trip there.

"Rest for ten minutes, then we'll head out," Lin Yi announced.

Ten minutes would be enough for Zhang Tie to recover his strength. After all, the higher one's physical constitution, the faster they recovered.

Time was of the essence. Since the advent of the apocalyptic game, global weather patterns had become unpredictable. Although the two had set out early in the morning, it was now only midday. But darkness fell quickly these days, with night usually setting in around 5 PM.

Any delay could be costly. At night, zombies' strength increased significantly. While individual ordinary zombies might be limited in power, a horde was a different matter entirely. Any enhancement, no matter how small, could make them extremely troublesome.

Lin Yi stood at the window, carefully observing the layout and structures within the hospital. The next ten minutes of action might not go smoothly.

Why did the zombie doctor want them to go to the inpatient department? What was there?

Lin Yi didn't quite believe that the zombie doctor merely wanted them to find his child. Child? Whether one existed or not was questionable.

Most likely, there was some danger there. The zombie doctor wanted Lin Yi to go there, undoubtedly to trap him or at least delay him long enough to allow for an escape.

Lin Yi muttered to himself. A mutant, perhaps?

The hospital had already produced mutants that didn't exist in his previous life. One more wouldn't be surprising.

But what had caused this deviation? The knocking sounds in the underground parking lot, the unexpected appearance of the zombie snake, last night's shriek, the disappearance of the "Blood Witch," and the mountain of corpses on the city's entry road, likely caused by a third-stage mutant!

Lin Yi couldn't recall doing anything that would have such a large-scale impact on "history."

If there was one thing, it could only be...

Taking the Ring of Doomsday ahead of time!

Lin Yi remembered the strange occurrence when he took the ring—something had clearly burst out of that mysterious black hole. Then came three days of unconsciousness, causing him to waste valuable time he could have used to prepare supplies.

Lost in thought, a sudden idea struck Lin Yi. Perhaps he should return to 97 Fengming Road when he had the chance.

If something had indeed burst out, it would have left traces of destruction in the surrounding environment. A careful investigation might reveal some clues.