Chương 93: Life and Death Rest with Fate

Although it was one floor higher than his previous jump, Vince now possessed over 700 HP. Combined with the effects of the [Revitalization Crystal], plummeting from the sixth floor left him completely unscathed. Before he had even fully steadied himself, a quick sweep of the area revealed a crowd of people gathered by the roadside in the distance to the west. He instantly bolted toward them. In mere seconds, Vince closed the hundred-meter gap and arrived behind the crowd.

"Move!" He bellowed, roughly shoving the loose crowd aside. At a glance, he saw Claire sitting on the ground, one arm covered in blood, staring frantically at the walkie-talkie in her hand. And Zoe lay on the ground, resting her head on Claire's lap, her eyes shut tight in agony. The tire armor plates on her body were scattered and broken, with barely a few pieces remaining.

Both her arms and thighs were streaked with blood, and fresh, bright crimson continuously seeped through the fabric around one of her shoulders. The green [98/116] Health Bar belonged to Claire... The green [13/100] Health Bar belonged to Zoe... Not only that, but delicate, semi-transparent crimson threads were creeping out from the very beginning of Zoe's Health Bar, continuously wrapping around the remaining HP. That short, green border was already beginning to flush an ominous red...

Cody crouched on the ground, holding Zoe's hand, staring blankly at the asphalt with hollow, unfocused eyes. Hearing the commotion, Claire immediately looked up. Seeing Vince, a spark of hope finally ignited in her eyes.

"Vince!" Only then did the surrounding crowd realize who had arrived. They hastily backed away, clearing a large open space.

"Vince... it's all my and Cody's fault..." The first person to speak was actually Seth. Vince could hear that his tone wasn't just trembling; it was laden with profound, suffocating guilt. It seemed the situation had triggered some past memories, making it hard for him to continue, but after a brief pause, he forced himself to speak:"When the door opened, there was actually a Mutated Hound inside. The monster was too short... both of our initial spear thrusts completely missed..."

"Don't blame them..." Claire cut him off. While stroking Zoe's face, she looked up at Vince and said,"When the Mutated Hound lunged out, it went straight for me first. They managed to block it with their spears, which is the only reason it didn't get a solid bite..." She raised her arm slightly. Looking closely, there was a shallow scratch on it that had already stopped bleeding.

"That Mutated Hound was incredibly fast. But Zoe choked up on her spear and physically threw herself onto the monster to stab it in the chest. That's how she got clawed so many times. Only then did Cody and the others manage to pin the monster down..."

"These guys heard the commotion and rushed down from upstairs. It took seven or eight guys stabbing at it to finally kill the hound, but Zoe..." This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. As Claire spoke, tears spilled over, dripping onto Zoe's pale face and mixing with the blood and grime.

"Vince!" Ben ran over from behind the crowd.

"Dammit! Why didn't you guys help sooner?! How could you let something like this happen?!" Someone must have run to notify him. The moment he arrived, he began viciously berating the team members who had rushed down to help, then hurriedly approached Vince, apologizing profusely.

"It's not your fault..." Seeing his distress, Vince reached out and patted his shoulder.

"These guys came down to help. Don't blame them..." Although Ben's men were clearing the same building as Claire's group, they were engaged in their own battles. They weren't anyone's babysitters.

"Life and death rest with fate..." Vince said quietly.

"Get up!" He kicked Cody—who was still crouching to the side—squarely in the rear. Seeing the boy remain unresponsive, as if his soul had left his body, Vince waved Seth over and pointed at the broken boy on the ground.

"Drag him away from here. Back to the clinic..." Although Seth was still visibly tense, his face and lips deathly pale, upon hearing Vince's order, he swallowed hard, stepped behind Cody, wrapped his arms around his waist, and began dragging him back toward the clinic. Cody remained hollow-eyed and ashen-faced, his hands reaching out blankly, unable to utter a single word. Hearing the hushed whispers of the surrounding crowd—murmurs about zombies, infection, mutation—Vince frowned deeply.

"Ben, get back to work. I'll take care of my own people..." He turned to Ben and added,"By the way, watch out for Mutated Hounds. They're short, so the first thrust might miss. Tell your guys to be careful..."

"Sigh, look at this mess. We've truly never encountered one before, otherwise, how could something like this happen..." Whether he was faking it or being genuine, Ben beat his chest in bitter self-reproach. But it truly couldn't be blamed on anyone. Based on Vince's recent experiences, the mutation rate for dogs was incredibly low. Nobody knew how many dogs lived in this complex better than him. Nobody.. But perhaps it had something to do with the fact that older residential areas mostly housed small breeds.

During their sweeping operations over the past few days, Ben's crew had seen plenty of dog corpses, but not a single ordinary Mutated Hound. Even the one Vince had just killed was a 1, 000 HP variant. He had completely overlooked the fact that, aside from the massive, noisy 1, 000 HP behemoths, there were also slightly smaller 500 HP variants—like the one he had killed inside the freezer earlier. Just listening through a door, their movements probably sounded identical to a regular zombie.

Claire's group had most likely run into one of those ordinary Mutated Hounds. Having finished speaking with Ben, Vince crouched down and gently scooped Zoe off the ground. She felt incredibly light in his arms, probably not even a hundred pounds. Sometimes, Vince subconsciously forgot that this loud, boisterous tomboy was actually just a petite girl weighing less than a hundred pounds. Holding her now, he hadn't expected her to be so light. [12/100]...

In the two minutes that had passed, Zoe's HP had dropped by another point. Vince hesitated no longer; holding her securely, he turned and sprinted toward the clinic. Claire followed closely behind, silent, lost in her own thoughts.... He sprinted all the way back to apartment 302, gently placing Zoe onto the bed Claire had made for her. She had made this bed for her yesterday, but the girl had gotten drunk and slept on the sofa in Vince's apartment instead.

Now that she was finally lying in it, at least the effort hadn't gone to waste. Vince sat on the edge of the bed while Claire used a pair of scissors to carefully cut away Zoe's jacket, which was bound with the scattered remains of the tire armor, and gently removed it. Cody sat on the stairs outside the apartment door, his head bowed, lost in his own silent despair. Seth sat beside him, silently resting a hand on his shoulder....

"Is she infected?" Claire asked quietly.

"Yeah." Vince seemed to be contemplating something deep, answering in a low, heavy voice.

"What are you thinking about? I got hurt too, so why am I fine? Vince, can... can you save her?" Claire was slightly confused as to why Vince didn't seem panicked at all, but she still asked tentatively.

"I'm wondering about that exact same thing..." Vince reached out and grasped Zoe's hand. Feeling the creeping coldness, he spoke softly,"Continuing our conversation from that night..."

"If this is a virus."

"If I genuinely was infected long ago."

"If we assume that my body contains antibodies."

"Then, through your physical connection with me... naturally, you would possess those antibodies as well..."

"Then..." Listening to Vince's logic, Claire instantly connected the dots. She immediately interjected:"As long as you do that with her... you can save her!"