"I was just curious why they wouldn't let anyone in over there. Just consider it a childish question asked out of ignorance."
Zhou Zongming slapped his hand on the desk in front of him and said, "Kid, you'd better not take my warning lightly. If you dare to sneak in and get caught, you'll be shot on the spot with no chance to explain yourself."
"Is that building really so important?" Lv Bai chuckled. "Isn't it just about researching a vaccine?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Zongming's expression hardened. He drew his gun and aimed it at Lv Bai, speaking in a low voice, "Where did you hear that from?"
Lv Bai shrugged, unhurriedly saying, "Is your reaction that intense? If I told you someone plans to steal the vaccine tonight, wouldn't you be scared to jump up?"
Zhou Zongming ignored Lv Bai's teasing and said each word carefully, "Do you know what you're saying? This is no joke."
Lv Bai smiled, but there was no humor in his words.
"But are you willing to gamble on it?"
…
"You wouldn't dare."
Lv Bai looked up at the white ceiling.
Rough yet meticulous, with a strong sense of responsibility.
Zhou Zongming had a very standard military demeanor.
Although they hadn't known each other long, Lv Bai could easily predict Zhou Zongming's reaction to this piece of information.
Since the information came from him, and the credibility couldn't be guaranteed, the Company Commander wouldn't rashly report it up the chain or mobilize troops on a large scale.
Zhou Zongming's most likely choice would be to guard the lab alone to ensure the vaccine's safety.
"They should have met by now, right?" Lv Bai looked down at the lab staff he had tied up. "Where's Professor Jiang's lab?"
…
At this moment, in Professor Jiang's lab.
Ah Gu, wearing a lab coat, frowned. He couldn't understand why Zhou Zongming suddenly appeared at the research center.
It's known that this military base was left with only a few hundred soldiers after the initial chaos of the zombie outbreak.
After being restructured, the total force consisted of only five companies. Zhou Zongming's position in this temporary shelter was self-evident.
After the brief surprise, Ah Gu returned to his courteous demeanor and proactively asked, "Company Commander Zhou? What brings you here?"
Zhou Zongming simply put his right hand into his pants pocket, not showing excessive vigilance, and said without batting an eye, "It's late. Why are you here, Inspector Gu? I remember your work is to analyze the virus components, right?"
"I had no choice. Professor Jiang informed me to deliver a virus solution to his lab in the evening. I got busy and forgot, just remembered now."
Ah Gu smiled and while speaking, intentionally or unintentionally shortened the distance between them.
Zhou Zongming's gaze never left Ah Gu. "Is that so? Then you wouldn't mind if I call Professor Jiang to confirm, would you?"
"Um… Company Commander Zhou, has something happened?"
"I received intelligence that someone plans to infiltrate the research center tonight."
The lab's ceiling was spotless and dazzlingly white, with the gaps in the floor tiles cleaned of any dirt.
In the center of the lab was an isolation chamber about five or six square meters in size. The door had a small piece of two-way bulletproof glass, which was fogged over, indicating that the temperature inside was much lower than outside.
Through the reflection of the two-way glass, one could see Ah Gu's formulaic smile growing stiff, as he deliberately showed displeasure.
"Company Commander Zhou, are you suspecting me?"
Zhou Zongming shook his head. "I don't mean that, but for safety's sake, I hope you stand still while I call Professor Jiang. Once I verify, I'll clear your name. If there's no issue, I'll personally apologize to you..."
Before he could finish, Ah Gu moved.
He closed the distance to Zhou Zongming with movements that were unexpected for a meek lab personnel, quickly pinning down Zhou Zongming's right hand to prevent him from drawing his gun.
Almost simultaneously, his other hand locked Zhou Zongming's throat, and he kneed him in the abdomen. Then, he bent his arm and delivered a heavy elbow to Zhou Zongming's temple.
Even though Zhou Zongming was on alert, he never anticipated a lab staffer could be so skilled.
Taking those hits first, Zhou Zongming felt dizzy, had trouble breathing, and found it hard even to stand.
Fortunately, being a trained soldier, the threat of death made him go limp reflexively and roll backwards, trying to draw his gun.
However, it was as if Ah Gu anticipated this; just as Zhou Zongming managed to retrieve his gun, a powerful whip kick landed.
The automatic pistol was kicked against the wall, bounced off, and fell to the floor.
The gun lay less than five meters away from Zhou Zongming, but now those five meters seemed an insurmountable gulf.
Right then.
Click~
The lab door was opened again.
"Seems like I came at the wrong time."
Lv Bai walked in, glanced over the lab scene, then turned, and casually closed and locked the door.
After doing all this, he slowly turned back and added, "I came in to see Chang Wei hitting Lai Fu."
Ah Gu: "?"
Zhou Zongming: "?"
The lab fell silent instantly.
A few seconds later, the silence was broken by Zhou Zongming painfully sucking in a cold breath.
Ah Gu walked over to pick up the gun, puzzled, "How did you get up here?"
Just as Lv Bai was about to explain, there was a sudden clatter of footsteps outside.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The lab door shook violently with the kicks.
"Open the door!"
"Hurry and open the door! I know you're in there!"
"You're surrounded, open the door and surrender immediately."
Lv Bai listened to the commotion outside and spread his hands helplessly, "That's how I came up."
"I thought you would've been shot on sight by now."
Ah Gu sighed with a hint of regret.
He raised the automatic pistol, aiming at Lv Bai. "Tell me, purely theoretically, which is faster: a bullet through the heart or a bullet to the head?"
The effective range for precise handgun shooting is actually shorter than most people think, but it's more than enough to cover this lab.
Lv Bai, seeming unaware of the gun aimed at him, cheerfully responded, "Two nationally renowned authorities conducted a controlled experiment on that. If memory serves, the one shot in the heart was taken for emergency treatment, so you might want to aim here directly."
He pointed at his own forehead.