The dean looked like shit as he brooded in his seat.
This wasn’t even the first time Guan Feng had interrupted him. In general, it was incredibly difficult for a speaker to pick up where they left off after their stride was broken, and the fact was he had forgotten what he was supposed to say after Guan Feng had hit the table without warning.
The meeting room was completely silent. The engineers, managers and several personnel from the Literature Department who were daydreaming up until this point looked around themselves in confusion, and those who disliked Guan Feng pretended to drink their water so that they could hide their expression of schadenfreude.
But despite being the one who singlehandedly made things weird for everyone, Guan Feng looked like he hadn’t noticed his surroundings at all. He was still looking at his communicator, and his face was hidden, but everyone could sense a dangerous chill coming from him. It was worse than the brooding dean, and it drove the people sitting next to Guan Feng to shift several inches away from him unconsciously.
The dean was going to address Guan Feng about his attitude directly, but he thought better of it after he noticed how the man looked. Instead, he let out a cough and drew everyone’s attention to himself. “The situation is pretty critical right now, but if you may leave if you need to attend to something urgent…”
Normally, the line wasn’t supposed to be taken as it was. It was more of a warning than an actual permission to leave. But before the dean could finish his sentence, Guan Feng rose to his feet and went straight out of the door. Stunned by his reaction, no one tried to stop him until he was gone.
The dean’s expression turned even gloomier. His heartbeat was erratic, and he felt like hitting the table once or twice himself.
Guan Feng wasn’t actually trying to butt heads with the dean. He wasn’t even listening to the latter because he was communicating with Wheeze using encrypted text. Wheeze was asking him what it should do next, but the signal suddenly disappeared before he could send a reply. A quick analysis revealed that a sudden, powerful burst of interference from Wheeze’s side had cut off their communication, and all attempts to reconnect had been unsuccessful.
That was why Guan Feng had lost his patience, rose to his feet and exited the room without a word. If he couldn’t find Cillin in time, the boy’s death was all but certain. All those who caught the Zebra Virus but weren’t treated in time had died an extremely quick death.
While Guan Feng was busy contacting his men to look for Cillin, Wheeze was dealing with an unexpected problem itself. While it was communicating with Guan Feng, a strange energy field suddenly surrounded all nearby electronic devices. Most of the machines within the energy field was turned into useless metal, while the rest couldn’t withstand the pressure and exploded into smithereens.
Every hair on Wheeze’s body was standing on its end as it braced itself and watched Cillin with a worried look. The energy field had erupted from none other than Cillin.
Right now, Cillin was doing very poorly because the biochips and the unknown substance that entered his body earlier was warring against each other. The unknown substance wanted to modify Cillin’s chromosomes and assimilate them by force, but the biochips that had entrenched themselves in Cillin’s chromosomes since a long time ago wouldn’t allow it to happen. If the unknown substance was victorious, he would be transformed into a humanoid virus carrier. Since his consciousness would be lost forever, he wouldn’t even be human anymore. Cillin could feel the invasion happening inside his brain, and he was currently trying to take control over the unknown substance or chase it out of his body using his biochips.
The strange energy field was a result of the clash between the biochips and the unknown substance.
Wheeze watched Cillin intently without moving a muscle. For now, Cillin’s vital signs hadn’t shown any signs of declining despite the infection, but two types of lines were already starting to show up on his face. One of them was black, and the other one was white. But unlike the other patients, the lines were extremely well defined and kept separate from each other.
“Cillin?” Wheeze called out tentatively, but didn’t get an answer. It was going to poke Cillin and see if it could get a reaction when alarms suddenly started ringing inside its head. Wheeze immediately bit Cillin by the collar and dragged him towards the exit. Because it was in a hurry, it couldn’t avoid running Cillin’s face into a chair leg or an entrance frame multiple times in a row. It was to the point where Cillin was actually bleeding from his forehead.
“Sorry, but the situation’s critical and there’s no time. Please don’t blame me for this when you wake up.” Wheeze thought to itself.
Wheeze didn’t stop even after it dragged Cillin out of the spaceplane. It kept running further and further away from the spaceplane until—
BOOM—
The spaceplane exploded.
The eruption of abnormal energy hadn’t just crippled the electronics, it had knocked out the alarms and triggered an irreversible explosion. Wheeze had dragged Cillin away from the spaceplane precisely because it noticed that it was about to explode.
“That was real close.” Wheeze finally let go of Cillin’s collar and checked his condition again. Strangely, the wound on Cillin’s forehead wasn’t closing. In the past, Cillin healed very quickly even when he took a deep cut. But now, the wound was bleeding non-stop and showing no signs of scabbing at all. This shouldn’t happen because the bumps should have at most pierced through the skin.
What should I do?
Wheeze panicked. It didn’t have a communicator, and the one Cillin was using was unusable as well. Wheeze couldn’t contact anyone by itself.
Wheeze thought for a moment before raising its ears and focused on listening to its surroundings for a moment. Then, it bit Cillin by the collar again and pulled him towards the direction with the least amount of gunfire noises. It would’ve been much easier to carry Cillin in its cyborg form, but the waves of energies flowing off Cillin’s body were incredibly strange and disruptive. Had Cillin been anyone else—even Guan Feng—it would’ve dumped them on the ground and left on the spot. The energy wave put considerable strain on any mechanical form, which was why Wheeze decided that it would rather stay in its biological form for now. Unfortunately, that meant it had to drag Cillin to safety in the form of a kitten.
Inevitably, Cillin collected a few more wounds as he was dragged across the ground. None of the wounds was serious, but just like the cut on his forehead, they showed no signs of scabbing or recovering at all.
Wheeze had to keep an eye on the road and make sure that Cillin didn’t run into a rock along the way. There was no guarantee that Cillin would survive the bleed out if it was careless.
The second Wheeze remembered that this might be last sleep in Cillin’s life, it grew so restless that its nails dug into the ground. As a result, it left incredibly obvious paw marks on the ground as it ran towards safety.
A while later, Wheeze finally managed to drag Cillin to a spot that was relatively peaceful. The buildings here were riddled with holes, and there were plenty of buildings that were still burning or smoking heavily. The stench of burning things filled the air.
Neither Wheeze nor Cillin had the luxury to choose a better spot, however. Wheeze scanned the area in hopes for a connection, but the network here was as dead as the last one. Still, it could now identify which machines were still functional and what kind of machines they were since the energy waves coming out of Cillin had subsided for now.
Suddenly, Wheeze raised its ears attentively. It had found a place with several medical instruments and a dozen or so sick people. There was even a worker walking around and performing injection.
Alright, I need to go there!
First, Wheeze dragged Cillin to a hiding spot nearby. It had to pay attention not to be discovered by some gunmen hiding inside the ruins because they were clearly bad guys. The murderous intent rolling off their bodies were almost palpable.
The spot Wheeze chosen was under the ground. Most of the buildings on the surface had been devastated by gunfire, and the people who did this were mostly people who wanted to drag as many people into hell as possible before their deaths. Worse, these people were not in the minority, and their way of dealing with their despair was to shoot and kill anyone they saw. The army was gone. The government was long gone. Stuck in a world of true chaos and despair, there were plenty of people who wavered between the line of complete surrender and madness. Some of them were even waiting for other to make their choice for them.
Ironically, the only reason this underground shelter Wheeze was heading to survived was because the network in the area was completely paralyzed, and most of the electronics were destroyed by gunfire. Had everything been still functional, it would be impossible for the shelter to stay concealed for long with its rudimentary defenses. It would’ve taken a high level jamming device to keep it concealed.
Wheeze also ran into some animals on its way to the shelter. Some of them were pets, some of them were wild animals. Dead or barely alive, they were all dumped at a corner where no one with a gun paid any attention to them, although there were some who felt a sudden burst of inspiration and shot the still breathing ones into pieces.
It seemed like a long time, but Wheeze finally managed to drag Cillin all the way to their destination. It didn’t enter the building immediately, however. First, it needed to scout out the place and make sure that it was actually safe to go in. If possible, Wheeze wanted to get Cillin some treatment as well. It probably wouldn’t have any actual effect, but it was still better than leaving him to bleed out like this.
Wheeze ran inside the building after hiding Cillin at a corner. It could detect the underground structure beneath the building and the exits it had. One of them was blocked by a thick slab of rock, and Wheeze was just about to force its way through when it suddenly heard a commotion from behind it. It immediately hid behind a broken cabinet and watched the people coming out of the exit.
Generally, it was next to impossible to hear what was behind the stone slab, but not for Wheeze. It was two girls—one around twenty years old, and the other only ten—and judging from their faces, they had caught the Zebra Virus since quite some time ago. The lines on their faces were clearer than what you would expect from a new patient, meaning that they only had a short time left before movement became impossible to them.
Although both girls looked pretty terrible, their eyes was as clear as diamonds. Wheeze was an animal itself, so it could instinctively tell if someone was trustworthy or not.
The good news was these two girls looked nothing like the people it encountered outside. At the very least, it didn’t need to worry about them committing some terrible atrocity. But how exactly should it “persuade” the girls into dragging Cillin into their shelter?
Should it jump out and speak to them directly? That didn’t seem wise. Cillin once told him that talking animals were pretty rare even in the center of the empire, and it would be bad if it produced the opposite effect.
Should it drag Cillin over to them? But what if they decided not to rescue him? What then?
This is impossible!
God knows it hated nothing more than trying to figure out the intricacies of a human mind. Humans were so complex that to this day it still hadn’t figured out their thought process completely. Frankly, it would much rather spend its time breaking into a someone’s storage cabinet like that chameleon, Dough!
Wheeze was stuck figuring out a way when suddenly, the younger girl cried out, “Look, a puppy!”
Wheeze followed the girl’s gaze and found a pet puppy. It had a bullet hole in its body, and combined with the virus it had lost practically all of its mobility. All it could do was lie on the ground and pant heavily, and it didn’t look like it had much longer to live. However, its eyes were still open, and it was staring at the people inside the building.
Some people said that the eyes of a dog was magic when it came to bringing out the sympathy of a person. Right now, the puppy’s fur was drenched in dust and blood, and its shoulder area was covered in lines. It didn’t have a shred of its former appearance. Even so, as the puppy watched the girls quietly—the fires on the streets swaying unsteadily in its eyes—the girls couldn’t help but feel a shiver in their hearts.
There was none of the hatred, jealousy or madness that possessed most of the humans roaming the streets outside. Despite being shot by a human, the puppy’s eyes remained pure and untainted. It was why it was able to hold the girls’ attention.
The younger girl checked her surroundings to make sure that there were no gunners around. Then, she ran over and carried the puppy into the building.
Wheeze’s whiskers twitched from behind the cabinet. Hmm, I think I have an idea.
“Meow”
A quiet meow suddenly resounded inside the room. It was barely audible to the girls, and practically non-existent to anyone who might be lingering outside the building.
The two girls who were tending to the poor puppy chased the sudden meow and looked towards the cabinet. A kitten who was barely half the length of a human arm was pulling its ears, lowering its tail and keeping to the ground as if taking even a single step was too much for it. Its eyes especially were filled with infinite sadness.
“Meow”
The kitten let out another weak meow. It tugged strongly at the girls’ heartstrings and made them feel like crying.
“It’s a kitty!” Still holding the pet puppy, the younger girl walked over to Wheeze and crouched on the ground. Wheeze pretended to struggle as it slowly dragged itself towards the girl.
When Wheeze finally made it to the girl’s side, it lay its head in the younger girl’s hand. The soft, fluffy feeling of Wheeze’s fur easily won over her.
“Sis, can I take them downstairs with us?” The girl looked at her sister. The older girl thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. She too was strongly affected by the tragedy that the poor animals were caught up in. The terrible sorrow and hopefulness in the gray cat’s eyes especially made her feel like tearing up a little.
They had been hoping to find something useful while it was dark outside, food more than anything else. They didn’t expect to run into two wounded animals instead.
“Let’s take them inside and continue our search later,” The woman said. If they were left here, it was only a matter of time before they were shot to pieces by some extremists.
“Mm!”
The younger girl tried to free a hand to carry Wheeze, but the woman said, “Let me.” and walked over. She was just about to grab Wheeze when the gray cat suddenly bit the younger girl’s pants and pulled.
Children are the most sympathetic of all humans, so it has to be the younger girl! Adults think far too much for their own good, and Wheeze knew better than to hope that the older girl wouldn’t change her mind later.
“Sis, what is it doing?” The younger girl consulted her sister’s opinion.
The woman watched Wheeze for a moment before answering tentatively, “I think it’s trying to lead us somewhere?”
Wheeze meowed in agreement immediately.
The younger girl looked at Wheeze and asked, “Are you trying to take us somewhere?”
Wheeze bit her pants again and pulled. Seriously, can we get on with this already? Should I just start talking and end this act now?
The woman hesitated for a moment before caressing the girl’s head. “Take the puppy inside and wait for me. I’ll follow the kitty and what it’s trying to do.”
The younger girl shook her head. “I want to wait for the both of you here!”
“Be good and go downstairs, okay? It’s too dangerous here.”
Her sister’s tone was firm and wouldn’t be rebuked, so in the end the younger girl went back into the underground shelter with an unhappy look on her face.
“Be careful, sis.”
“I know. Now, quickly.”
When the entrance was covered up once more, the woman crouched on the floor to caress the kitten’s head. She asked gently, “Now, where do you want to take me, kitty?”
Overwhelmed by joy, Wheeze forgot that it was acting and ran outside like lightning. The woman’s mouth fell open as she thought to herself: Didn’t you look like you were about to die just now?!!
When Wheeze noticed that the woman wasn’t following it, it turned around in confusion and saw the surprise in her eyes. It was only then it realized that it had screwed up. Wheeze walked back to the woman and rubbed its head against her palm. Then, it wrapped its tail around her wrist and pulled towards a certain direction.
The woman was both shocked and impressed by the “kitten’s” acting, but just in case she touched the gun around her waist and the blade hidden inside her sleeves before speaking to Wheeze, “We’ll talk about your acting later. But I’m warning you: don’t you dare lead me to those terrorists, you hear?”
Wheeze shook its head.
Seeing that Wheeze was staring at her with urgency and worry, she asked, “Your master or your friend is hurt? Are you trying to lead me to them?”
Wheeze nodded quickly this time. Standing up, the woman finally smiled and said, “Okay, take me there. But I can’t promise that I’ll take him back to the shelter.”
“Meow—”
Wheeze started guiding the woman towards Cillin. It wasn’t a long distance, but the woman was starting to realize that the kitten was ridiculously, almost impossibly smart. Not only did it know how to hide, its senses were much sharper than hers. When someone was coming their way earlier, it had pulled its ears, crouched behind a ruin and signaled her to hide with its tail. It waited until the coast was clear before it was on the move again.
They finally reached Cillin after a short while. She inspected his wounds briefly and determined that it was superficial and not serious. A simple first aid treatment later, the woman carried Cillin all the way back to the underground shelter. The younger girl was very happy to see her sister returning safe and sound, but she was equally surprised by how lively the “dying” kitten was running circles around its master and jumping up and down like a kangaroo. When she heard the story from her sister, she praised Wheeze for its amazing display of intelligence.
Wheeze wasn’t capable of accepting her praise at this moment, however. It was because Cillin’s vital signs was starting to fall into disorder. Meow’s so worried meow could die, dammit!!
The sick beds in the shelter were simplistic and cobbled together using various items, but it was better than nothing.
As the woman was treating Cillin, she started to realize that his bleeding wouldn’t stop even though all the tests she conducted had returned normal results. It didn’t look like his wounds were particularly serious either. What was going on?
While Wheeze was running circles in the dark and damp underground shelter worriedly, Guan Feng had sent word to Black Viper and told them to find Cillin ASAP. They couldn’t detect his spaceplane from long range, so they had no choice but to send robots down to the planet and search for him manually.