The first two questions were definitely impossible to figure out, since they were tied to unknowns.
But… I lifted my head and looked at Bruno.
Maybe he might know something.
Judging by his attitude just now, and the way he interacted with Suo Tian that day, perhaps… I could start with him and learn something.
Lost in random thoughts, we soon arrived at the front of the second row.
Rows Two and Three, aside from the entrances on both ends being sealed with iron gates, were otherwise built the same as the other rows of houses.
One of the men in white stepped up and unlocked the gate.
With a loud clang, my heart clenched tight.
Staring at the empty corridor of the second row, I clenched my fists as I followed the others inside.
What would be waiting for us in here…?
The two T-squad members who had been escorting us didn't follow us in.
Instead, they shut the heavy gate behind us with another loud clang.
I turned back to glance at that iron door, and an indescribable sense of unease began spreading through me.
At first glance, the second row looked exactly like the sixth row, but walking down the corridor revealed the differences.
For example, the sixth row was divided into six rooms, while the second row only had a single door at the far end.
Everywhere else was just bare walls.
I found it strange—did these rows all have only one exit?
"Chen Yang… will they lock us up separately or keep us together?" Han Xue suddenly whispered beside me.
I shook my head slightly. "I don't know."
"Sigh… I wish we could be locked together. At least then we'd have someone to lean on." Han Xue lowered her head, a little dejected.
I gave her a glance, patted her on the back, and said, "Don't worry. We'll be out soon."
Of course, those words were just to comfort Han Xue.
I had no idea when we might be released, or even what we might face inside.
Her thoughts were too simple—she hadn't realized how off things were.
She hadn't noticed that we'd been forced to come here against our will, and still truly believed the white coat brought us in to check on our safety.
As we spoke, we reached the door at the far end of the second row.
It was a double door, not the kind you see in movies that open automatically with a handprint or a keycard.
Instead, it was fastened from the outside with a large lock—but this lock was clearly much more sophisticated than any I'd seen in the city.
The one to open the door was Bruno.
When he clicked the lock open, he happened to glance back at me.
Catching my eyes on him, he raised his brows ever so slightly before turning back and pushing the door open.
I didn't have time to figure out what that look meant before several figures rushed out of the open door, all wearing gas masks.
Seeing their isolation suits, I finally had the surreal feeling of being in a sci-fi movie.
One of the reasons I loved watching post-apocalyptic films was my fascination with modern equipment.
I always thought people looked so cool wearing those suits.
But now that I was facing them for real, they didn't seem cool at all…
On the contrary, their stiff, awkward gas masks gave me a deeply unsettling feeling.
Each of them held an electric baton instead of a gun.
After rushing out, they thoroughly checked each of us from head to toe.
The one examining me noticed the wound on my arm and stared at it for a long while before signaling to Bruno and the others inside.
Then he pointed at my arm and said in a low voice, "There is a problem."
Hearing this, Shen Feng's expression froze.
He quickly stepped forward, trying to pull me back toward him, while hastily explaining: "She was bitten by a normal person, not a walker!"
The man inspecting me saw Shen Feng move and immediately barked out: "NONONO! STOP!"
At the same time, he snapped on his electric baton, sparks crackling menacingly as if he'd strike at any moment.
Seeing this, Xu Shu immediately pulled Shen Feng back two steps and, frowning, asked him:
"What did he say?"
Yangyang, his face full of worry, kept his eyes on me as he answered Xu Shu:
"They suspect the bite wound on my sister's wrist."
By then, Bruno and the others had already walked up beside me.
Bruno glanced at my wrist twice, and his expression suddenly changed.
Without delay, he put on leather gloves, grabbed my arm, and examined it carefully.
After staring at it for quite a while, his face grew more serious.
Then he turned back, pointed at me, and said to the others:
"Put she and the little boy together."
My English was terrible, so I couldn't make sense of such a long sentence—apart from catching the words SHE and LITTLE BOY, the rest was lost on me.
Shen Feng must have noticed the confused look on my face, because he reminded me from the side:
"Chen Yang, they want to lock you up with Xiao Hu."
"Xiao Hu?" I turned to look at Shen Feng.
"Lock me together with Xiao Hu?"
Shen Feng only shook his head, equally puzzled, unable to understand why they would want to put me and Xiao Hu together.
I withdrew my gaze and thought it over carefully.
Actually, this might not be such a bad thing.
At least I could learn more about Xiao Hu's situation.
I was dying to know why he hadn't been infected.
Although we had always been struggling desperately to survive, hoping that someone might eventually save this world that had sunk into fire and flood, deep down we all knew it was impossible.
The current situation had already grown far too dire, completely beyond control.
But Xiao Hu's case gave me a huge surge of hope.
Our despair had always come from our helplessness and lack of understanding toward the infection.
In our eyes, once bitten, you were doomed—that was the root of our fear of the walkers.
What we feared most was the contagious virus they carried.
But now, with Xiao Hu as a special case, if it could be proven that he truly couldn't be infected, then by finding what set him apart from others, we might discover a way to fight this mutated virus.
Bruno and his people must have thought of this too.
I didn't know exactly what kind of research they were conducting here, but it was obviously connected to the current global crisis.
After all, developing grafted rice or super rice was completely useless to the world now.
The only path forward was researching medicine, the causes of infection, or something even deeper.
Suddenly, a thought struck me.
If they had realized this much, then Xiao Hu was basically nothing more than a lab rat to them.
Since they'd made this discovery, they would never give up the research.
Regardless of what might happen to Xiao Hu, the fact that they locked me up with him…
Didn't that mean that, in their eyes, I too held research value, just like Xiao Hu?
My gaze snapped to Bruno.
Could it be… that he mistook the wound on my wrist for a walker's bite?
After the wound on my arm was discovered, we were taken into the building.
Once inside, I was separated from Shen Feng and the others.
They didn't lock me up right away—instead, they first brought me into a room that looked like it had an X-ray machine.
The men in white coats had already led Shen Feng and the others in another direction.
Only when I entered this room did I realize that the entire row of buildings was connected inside, with the center left open like a massive hall.
The hall stretched all the way through, while only the rooms on both sides were enclosed.
The central hall was crammed full of shelves stacked with unknown items, completely blocking the view.
Shen Feng and the others had turned off behind those shelves.
The only one with me was Bruno.
The people wearing gas masks had gone into the outermost room with the strange iron door as soon as we entered.
Inside, Bruno gestured for me to lie down on the machine bed.
I did as told, then looked at him standing by the controls and asked:
"Can you speak Chinese?"
My English was terrible, so all I could do was hope Bruno understood some Chinese.
"A little."
At that, Bruno glanced at me, then turned his eyes back to the control panel.
Clearing his throat, he spoke to me in halting Chinese:
"You… want to ask me… some questions?"
Foreigners speaking Chinese always sounded somewhat strange and awkward, but Bruno's pronunciation was just clear enough to understand.
Hearing that, I let out a small breath of relief.
As long as he understood, we could at least communicate.
After a moment's thought, I asked:
"What's your relationship with Suo Tian?"
Strictly speaking, I shouldn't have asked so directly.
But the uneasy, uncanny feeling I'd had since stepping into this place wouldn't go away.
Bruno had always seemed kind, and I was desperate to find someone I could rely on.
Bruno grinned faintly at my question.
After a brief pause, he answered:
"I'm someone who can help you. Suo Tian is my good brother. I'm not with those people outside."
At his words, I finally let out a long, heavy sigh of relief.
Thank goodness…
Thinking for a moment, I quickly asked again:
"That little girl you brought in more than a month ago—where is she now? Is she… doing alright?"
Back then, because Suo Tian had assured me that the medical equipment here was good, I'd felt safe letting Zheng Rongrong be brought in.
But now, it seemed even Suo Tian had been kept in the dark about many things.
I had completely lost all trust in this place.
"That little girl? Oh, she's recovered very well."
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