During recess in the morning, Yu Ze sat in his seat, tapping his finger on his bracelet, looking torn. Should I send a message to Long Yuan now and ask if he needs help taking his lunch back to his dorm room at noon?
There’s still one more class to go, so it’s too early to ask, as if you’re being solicitous.
“Beep, beep…” As he was struggling, his bracelet rang. He hastily opened it, with a hidden expectation in his heart.
Academic Affairs Office, “Yu Ze student, please come to the Academic Affairs Office immediately.”
A little disappointed, he paused for a moment at Long Yuan’s name in the contact list, closed the bracelet, and got up to walk out.
At the door of the classroom, he met up with a group of two students, and he couldn’t help but be surprised; he had been watching them, and they stayed almost motionless in their seats except for when each class ended and after school. He was in thought when he was bumped into from behind. He turned around and one of the other students in the group blinked and after at least three seconds his eyes fell on him, “Sorry.”
Yu Ze paused for two seconds to reply, “It’s okay.” He took a step to the side and moved out of the way.
The student crossed him and walked towards the stairs. Yu Ze continued walking with doubts in his mind, and two more people walked past him, one after the other.
Yu Ze had some impressions of these two people, and had often seen them under the trees in the afternoon classes in the past two days.
He thought, are they going to be assigned to a different class?
In the Academic Affairs Room, Director Zhao of the Freshmen Department frowned and sat on a bench, looking at Director Wang of the Logistics Department who was dressed in a suit, “These students, some of them have been in the Freshmen Department for less than a month, isn’t it too urgent?”
Director Wang replied, “There is no rush, the virus research lab side said that Mushroom Awakened are better at the beginning.” He reassured, “I know you care about talent, you do not need to worry. To the Logistics Department, being sent to the research laboratory side is an honor. If they are an Awakened person, they will certainly be detected, then we will send them back. Then you can slowly observe the changes much faster.”
Director Zhao said in a deep voice, “Can you guarantee that the drug test will not cause them harm?”
Director Wang laughed dryly, he really couldn’t guarantee it. “Don’t worry, in case of injury, the school will take full responsibility, and the student will be cured as soon as possible.” He added, “Director Zhao, this is an order from above. You should understand what the antidote for the zombie virus means!”
Director Zhao sighed, “If I didn’t understand, I wouldn’t have cooperated with the work.”
It didn’t take long for all the students in the Freshman Department who had Mushroom Awakened tendencies to stand in the faculty office.
Yu Ze had already had a suspicion, and when he saw them, he was almost sure. He just wondered why it was so sudden, and even two of them, like him, were not supposed to be in the same group.
According to the process, students who were suspected of being mushrooms, but it was not completely confirmed, would be assigned to a group. They would only be transferred to the back office when it was determined that they were really Mushroom Awakened people.
Director Wang smiled kindly, “Hello students, I am Director Wang of the Logistics Department, you will now follow me to the Logistics Department.”
The group of three Mushroom Awakened did not respond, and from the remaining two, one’s face suddenly turned white, eyes full of reluctance, while the other immediately retorted, “No, I am a Cat Awakened person, I am not a Mushroom Awakened person! I’m not going to the Logistics Department.”
Director Wang soothed, “Mao Xi, I can understand your disappointment, but take it easy for now. When you go to the Logistics Department, we will test you to make sure there will be no mistaken identity.”
He called the security staff of the Logistics Department and took the six students there. The Logistics Department and Awakened Department were separated by the courtyard wall, and although they were in the same department, they usually had almost no contact with each other.
Yu Ze walked next to one of the students in the group, secretly on guard.
Director Wang did not send them to the classroom, but took them to a three-story building on the far left. Director Wang put his fingerprints on the electronic screen at the entrance, then entered the password and the door opened. The security was so tight, so it was obviously not a normal place.
Yu Ze frowned, and quickly adjusted his expression.
Two researchers in white coats greeted him with a warm attitude, “Director Wang, the testing room has been arranged.”
Director Wang turned back to the six people and said, “Now do the Awakened trend test for you, if it is detected that you are a Beast Ancestor Awakened, you will be directly transferred to the primary department, and you have to cooperate with the detectors.”
Mao Xi replied, “Yes.”
The remaining five people, including Yu Ze, did not speak.
Director Wang and the researcher were not surprised, they had seen too many unresponsive Mushroom Awakened people. The six were sent into a single testing room, and Yu Ze entered the second one.
A metal bed was placed in the middle of the room, with an electronic screen on the left side of the bed and a shelf on the right side, on which many medicines and tools were placed, and the smell of sterile water was faintly emitted in the air.
Yu Ze was in a ward-like environment, and his heart instinctively tightened. There were two researchers standing in the room, one in a white coat and one in a blue coat.
The white coat researcher spoke, “Don’t be nervous, what’s your name?”
Yu Ze thought for a moment and quickly replied, “Feng Ze.”
He could do the act of disguising as a Mushroom Awakened person, but he couldn’t do the act of evading scientific detection. Moreover, there were direct methods of detection that the Awakened Department did not use, and he had to guess that the detection process would be dangerous.
So the decision was made not to disguise it. He just couldn’t just say he was Awakened either, because the consequences would surely be the same as Mao Xi’s. After all, he had been disguising his mushroom behavior for half a month.
The white coat researcher said, “Have you felt like your thoughts have been slower or stronger than usual lately?”
Yu Ze replied quickly, “No, but my strength has become greater.”
The white coat researcher looked at him in surprise. This was different from the information he had gotten, “Lie down on the bed and I will test you.”
Yu Ze instinctively frowned and was about to open his mouth to say that he disliked the bed because it was not gorgeous enough and too dirty. However, just then, the door to the testing room was pushed open.
Director Wang said, “Student Yu Ze’s test will be done later. His mother had an accident and the situation is urgent.”
Yu Ze was shocked and while looking at his bracelet, he asked worriedly, “Director Wang, where is my mother?”
Only then did he realize that his communication bracelet was out of signal.
His heart thumped with fear.
Director Wang informed, “Imperial People’s Hospital, Surgical Building 2132. The outgoing note has been approved, just show it to the security guard when you get to the entrance.”
Yu Ze breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you, Director Wang.” He quickly left the testing room that made him feel danger and went straight out of the school.
The white coat researcher looked at Director Wang with a disgruntled expression, “The information shows that he is most likely an early Mushroom Awakened person and is the most suitable candidate to extract the antidote for the virus.”
Director Wang stretched his hands, “No way, the information was sent by the Feng family.”
The blue lab coat researcher spoke up at this time, “There seems to be a discrepancy in the information. He reacts quickly, he may not be a mushroom.”
Director Wang froze, “How can that be? There are observers among the students, there shouldn’t be a mistake.”
The blue coat researcher’s eyes shone slightly, “There is another possibility, he has changed in a short time.”
Inherent thinking, they didn’t consider someone not wanting to be an Awakened.
The one in the blue lab coat exclaimed, “Older carrier, rapidly changing, I’m more curious about him.”
Yu Ze had several missed communications on his bracelet, all from Feng Hai, and one message, [Your mother is in hospital, it’s dangerous.]
He took a taxi at the entrance of the school and dialed Xie Wan first. The communication rang twice and Uncle Lin, who worked at Feng’s house, picked up, “A’Ze, your mother is still in the resuscitation room, when can you arrive?”
Yu Ze’s fingers clenched, “In about twenty minutes.”
He was a little panicked. In the original’s memory, Xie Wan did not have an accident, but now the plot had long changed and those memories could not be used as a basis. He was afraid that Xie Wan really had an accident.
Uncle Lin said, “Okay, don’t panic, I won’t leave before you come.”
Yu Ze thanked him, “Thank you, Uncle Lin.”
Twenty minutes later, the car stopped in front of the People’s Hospital. Yu Ze paid the bill and got out. There were a lot of people coming in and out of the hospital gates, Yu Ze asked the gatekeeper at the door where the surgical wing was located, then quickly headed that way.
A tall young man in a black hoodie with a hat walked across from him with his head down. The man was fast, he moved to the side and their arms collided. All of a sudden, the hair on the back of Yu Ze’s neck stood up, and a strong sense of urgency came over him.
At the same time, the person who hit him reached out to hold his arm, “Excuse me.”
The word ‘me’ was slightly raised, with an indefinable smile that sent chills down his back. The person let go of Yu Ze’s arm and his hand moved towards the left of Yu Ze’s chest, and in a position invisible to the casual observer, his five fingers emerged with long black claws.
Yu Ze’s arm was caught by the man, and in that moment his heart burst with a sense of crisis. He subconsciously took a step back, just to avoid the next hollow attack, but his shirt was cut with five tears.
“Huh?” The man in the hoodie sounded surprised and looked up at Yu Ze.
Yu Ze met his silver eyes, and his body was instantly on alert — a zombie beast. After the zombie beast was surprised, his face instantly turned gloomy and he waved his hand to attack again.
Yu Ze turned around and ran, shouting, “Run, there is a zombie beast!”
The crowd froze for a moment, then screamed, and the alarm soon sounded.
Yu Ze was not as fast as the zombie beast and two seconds later, his shoulder was grabbed. He backhanded the wrist of the zombie beast, trying to move it away, but failed. The other squeezed his shoulder even tighter, while its free hand went towards his heart.
A sharp pain came from his shoulder, he turned white and reacted sharply to grab the hand that was attacking his chest, but it was clear that there was a big difference in strength between the two. His hand trembled, but he did not dare to relax for a moment. As long as a little more force was put, the hand would cut open his chest.
He couldn’t die, he still had to go home. His body was instantly filled with strength, and both hands exerted themselves at the same time, holding on to the zombie beast.
Screams and sirens rang in his ears, but they seemed far away.
“Damn it.” The zombie beast shouted angrily, pulled out its hand, kicked him away and ran towards the outside of the hospital.
Yu Ze fell to the ground and slipped into a coma.
Back in the cafeteria, Long Yuan looked at the empty seat across from him and frowned, “Where’s Feng Ze?”
Bai Yan shook his head, “I don’t know, you contact him and ask.”
Long Yuan hummed lightly, “If I’m not there, he really can’t resist the instinct.” He said as he opened up the communication.
Only after a while did the other pick up, “Hello, the owner of the bracelet was attacked by a zombie beast, and is being treated in a special ward at the Imperial People’s Hospital, and is still in a coma.” Long Yuan’s face suddenly changed, when he heard the other say, “But good news, he successfully Awakened.”
Long Yuan asked for the ward number and stood up, “He’s hurt, I’m going to the hospital.”