Tang Cheng crouched beside the man with glasses and quickly saw that the man had been shot in the right thigh. Blood had poured out onto the ground, and he was barely conscious—on the verge of death.
The five men and women nearby were huddled together in fear, warily watching Tang Cheng, unsure of what he was trying to do. Two of the younger men even gripped makeshift weapons tightly, ready to attack if anything seemed off.
“He… he’s going to turn into a zombie soon!”
“Don’t go near him!”
“I don’t want to get bitten by him!”
Clearly, they were all terrified that Tang Cheng might suddenly go berserk. After all, they had seen with their own eyes how people bitten by zombies turned into man-eating monsters.
But unlike the others, Tang Wanyue didn’t back away. Instead, she looked at Tang Cheng crouching by the man’s side with a confused gaze.
“Is he trying to save this man?”
Ignoring the frightened looks from the group, Tang Cheng grabbed a cloth and pressed down hard on the gushing wound. The most urgent thing now was to stop the bleeding!
“Someone come help me hold down the wound!” he shouted at the group in front of him.
But silence was all he got. Not one person moved.
In times like this, everyone was struggling just to protect themselves—who had time to help others? If anything, they were more afraid that Tang Cheng might suddenly attack them.
“I… I’ll help…” came a trembling voice from the wall.
Tang Wanyue slowly stood up, still clearly terrified, but determined to save the uncle who had helped her.
“Good. Press down on the wound with all your strength,” Tang Cheng said gratefully, gesturing for her to use both hands to press the bleeding thigh.
“Okay!” she nodded, though her hands trembled as she pressed down on the blood-soaked leg. Crimson quickly dyed her pale hands red.
Tang Cheng tore off another strip of cloth and tightly bound it around the man’s femoral artery.
The bleeding slowed somewhat, but the man had already lost too much blood. He was unconscious now, and whether he’d survive was still uncertain.
“Is anyone here a doctor?” Tang Cheng shouted to the people hiding against the wall.
They just stared at him in fear and said nothing. Among the five were a balding middle-aged man, two young guys, and two women a little older than the rest.
Tang Cheng realized they were scared of him, so he deliberately backed far away.
“This man is dying. If any of you are a doctor, please help him!”
“Yes, please save this uncle…” Tang Wanyue cried, her eyes brimming with tears. “He was injured protecting me from those prisoners… Please, save him!”
After a moment of hesitation, one woman in her forties or fifties finally stepped forward.
“Um… I’m… I’m a veterinarian…”
“That’s good enough!” Tang Cheng said quickly. A vet was still a doctor. There was still hope for the man.
The woman stepped beside the unconscious man, frowning slightly at the mangled wound. The blast from a shotgun had left numerous fragments embedded deep in the flesh.
“What he needs most right now is a blood transfusion. But we don’t have the tools here. And with a wound this severe, we’d need a large supply of anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics. Otherwise, even if he survives the blood loss, he’ll die of infection.”
The woman’s expression was full of concern.
Medicine was indeed a major issue. With such a large wound, even if the bullet was removed, the person would still likely die from festering infection and bacteria.
And with zombies everywhere, just surviving was difficult enough—who would dare to go out looking for medical supplies?
“Then… that uncle… he’s…” Tang Wanyue lowered her eyes in guilt, realizing the man who had saved her was now in grave danger.
“I can go get the medicine!” Tang Cheng suddenly spoke up. “I remember there’s a pharmacy in this building—if I’m not wrong, it should be on the fifth floor!”
He vaguely remembered visiting the fifth floor once when he was shopping here with the young lady, Chu Ruoyun. There was a big pharmacy supermarket up there.
“You’re going to get it?”
“There are zombies all over this building!”
The female vet and the other people in the room stared at Tang Cheng in shock. Everyone knew the building was crawling with zombies. Going out there was basically suicide!
Who would risk their life to run upstairs for medicine—especially for someone who was already half-dead?
“I just escaped from the fifth floor… It’s overrun with zombies!” a balding middle-aged man shouted in terror. He was an employee at one of the shops up there.
“I escaped from the fifth floor too! My husband was bitten trying to save me…” A woman with a tear-streaked face looked at Tang Cheng’s rotting left cheek in fear, clearly recalling the zombies that had killed her husband.
“I’ll get the medicine. You all just take care of that uncle.” Tang Cheng turned and walked toward the door. Since the zombies weren’t attacking him anymore, going to the fifth floor for medicine didn’t seem that difficult.
Clearly, he was the only one who could do it.
“C-Classmate, maybe we should talk this over again. There are still so many zombies outside…” Tang Wanyue called out to him anxiously.
Tang Cheng could tell she was genuinely worried about him, which brought him a small bit of comfort.
“It’s fine. I’ve already been bitten by a zombie anyway—whether I die now or later doesn’t make much difference.”
Everyone in the room stared at Tang Cheng in shock. A man who had been bitten by a zombie wasn’t even worried about his own death—instead, he was trying to save someone else?
“Barricade the door. If I don’t come back… it means I’m dead.” With that, Tang Cheng strode quickly toward the exit.
“Wait—I’ll go with you! I’ve read some books on pharmacology. Maybe I can help…” Tang Wanyue’s voice trembled as she stopped him. But it was obvious she was terrified.
If she followed Tang Cheng, not only would she risk being attacked by zombies, she also might be bitten by him.
“No need.” Tang Cheng turned his half-rotted face toward her. “You should stay here. I only have one gun—I might not be able to protect you. And besides… it looks like you’re pretty scared of me too.”
Tang Wanyue’s hands trembled slightly, as if he’d struck a nerve. After all, she had witnessed two of her classmates get their necks bitten off by zombies. And Tang Cheng’s decaying left face looked exactly like one of those monsters—of course she was scared.