Seeing Sun Ya's uncharacteristic rage, Cheng Du didn't dare waste another second. He scrambled to his feet and led the charge.
If Su Jin was the undisputed tactical pillar of the camp, Sun Ya was its administrative backbone.
Despite his age and fiery temper, the old man's organizational skills and operational experience were unmatched.
Cheng Du sprinted ahead, while the two elders wheezed behind him, constantly barking at him to slow down.
Halfway to the target building, a shout echoed from behind them. "Old Sun!"
The three slammed on the brakes and spun around, spotting Fu Hu and Fu Qingdai sprinting down the pavement toward them.
As the group converged, Fu Hu didn't even bother catching his breath. "Where's the Director? We have a massive security breach to report!"
"What kind of breach? Was that the gunfire we just heard?" Sun Ya pressed immediately.
Fu Hu gave a grim nod. "Exactly. We successfully identified and neutralized a Disguised Infected. But more importantly... Qingdai's Ability finally triggered. She can passively detect the hostile intent of the Disguised Infected!"
"What?!" Sun Ya and Wei De were instantly ecstatic, their feverish, hungry stares causing Fu Qingdai to shrink back nervously.
"Oh my god! There were two women! If the brat was infected, the older one is definitely compromised too!" Cheng Du suddenly slapped his own thigh and wailed in absolute despair. "The Director is getting it on with a Zombie! We are so unbelievably fucked right now!"
Fu Hu's face darkened drastically. He glared at Cheng Du. "What the hell kind of bullshit are you spewing?"
Cheng Du didn't bother arguing. He just turned and bolted toward the residential block like a madman.
Sun Ya and Wei De exchanged a single, horrified glance. The tactical implications instantly clicked.
The brief surge of hope from Qingdai's awakening was completely pulverized.
Fu Hu tore after Cheng Du, leaving Fu Qingdai standing completely dumbfounded in the sunlight.
Cheng Du and Fu Hu were the first to breach the lobby of the residential block.
"He's in the bedroom! I'm gonna flatline that bitch!"
Cheng Du tried to bull-rush the stairs, but Fu Hu clamped a massive hand onto his collar and violently yanked him back.
"Are you out of your goddamn mind?! If she really is a Disguised Infected, and you startle her while the Director has his guard down, you're going to get him killed!" Fu Hu dragged the thrashing Cheng Du back against the hallway wall. "The Director isn't some civilian. His threat radar is sharper than all of ours combined. I'm completely lost here. Explain exactly what the hell is happening!"
Cheng Du kept darting nervous, frantic glances toward the stairwell. He ground his teeth together. "Two women entered the compound! An adult and a kid! The Director zeroed in on the older one, dragged her into an empty unit... and he's fucking her!"
"You're full of shit! The Director doesn't operate like that!"
"The older one is Jiang Yu!"
"Wait, what... It really is Jiang Yu?! Then yeah... that tracks. But the Director, how could he—"
"I'm telling you, it's true! I saw it through the window. I've never even gutted a fish with that much raw aggression, and they were both completely buck naked!" Cheng Du spat bitterly. "I never thought he was this kind of animal!"
"What are you two doing? Where's Xiao Li?"
Sun Ya and Wei De finally stumbled into the hallway, wheezing and clutching their chests.
"The Director is in the bedroom... he's engaged with the Disguised Infected. I'm worried breaching the room will trigger her combat mode," Fu Hu reported, turning to the elder. "What's the call, Old Sun?"
"What do you think the call is?! We secure the perimeter. Unholster your weapons, acquire the target, and drop her on sight." Sun Ya drew his pistol and racked the slide, leading the stack up the stairs.
Reaching the bedroom door, Sun Ya spotted a small pane of frosted glass. He crouched low, throwing a hand back to signal dead silence.
Faint, wet sounds were still echoing from inside. His heart hammering against his ribs, Sun Ya slowly leaned his head toward the glass.
It took exactly one second for a tidal wave of pure, visceral nausea to hit him. He nearly threw up on his own boots.
The entire bedroom had been painted crimson. Arterial spray coated the walls, the ceiling, and the windows.
On the ruined mattress lay the corpse of a woman with a slender waist—but the entire upper half of her back had been completely hollowed out.
Her stark white spine and shoulder blades were completely exposed to the air!
Piled on the nightstand were mounds of minced flesh, sitting alongside several heavy-duty exfoliating bath towels that were thoroughly soaked in gore.
Sun Ya's pupils violently contracted. Had he literally scrubbed her flesh off her bones?!
Su Jin, completely naked and entirely bathed in blood, was kneeling on the mattress, casually flipping the ruined female corpse onto its back.
A hunting knife was buried deep in the woman's throat, and her entire torso had been sliced open from sternum to pelvis.
Su Jin plunged both his hands deep into the open chest cavity, grunted with exertion... and violently yanked the entire organ cluster free. The intestines and stomach spilled out, scattering wetly across the sheets.
Ignoring the mess, Su Jin pulled the knife from her throat and began clinically poking through the scattered organs, examining them like a mechanic looking for a faulty spark plug.
"HURKK—!!"
Unable to process the grotesque body horror, Sun Ya doubled over, violently vomiting up his lunch all over the hallway floor.
The others, alarmed by his reaction, scrambled forward to peek through the window.
A second later, Wei De was vomiting right next to Sun Ya.
Fu Hu and Cheng Du stumbled backward, their faces draining of all color, paralyzed by pure shock.
"Is this what you meant by 'getting it on'?!" Fu Hu hissed, his voice shaking with horror and fury.
"I didn't know! When I looked before, they were just sweating and grunting... How the fuck did it turn into this?!" Cheng Du felt ice water flood his veins.
"Who's out there?!"
Inside the room, Su Jin's head snapped toward the door. He vaulted off the bed and yanked the bedroom door wide open, his knife still dripping.
Seeing his four core team members huddled in the hallway, his feral expression relaxed slightly.
"What are you guys doing here?"
Sun Ya, his face a sickly pale green, couldn't even look Su Jin in the eye. He waved a trembling hand. "We... we'll talk outside. Wash off. Come down when you're done."
"Cheng Du? Why are you back? Where's the kid?" Su Jin's gaze suddenly locked onto Cheng Du, his tone turning razor-sharp. "Move! Go execute that little bastard right now. She's a Disguised Infected."
"Director, stand down, she's already dead... urggh." Fu Hu swallowed hard, fighting down the bile in his throat. "We'll debrief you on the details later. We're waiting outside. Just... put some goddamn clothes on."
Hearing the tactical threat was neutralized, Su Jin visibly relaxed. He glanced down at his blood-soaked body, shrugged, and turned back into the slaughterhouse.
Outside the building, the four men squatted in the dirt, trapped in a suffocating silence.
Cheng Du absentmindedly dug a trench in the dirt with a stick.
Fu Hu sat with his knees pulled to his chest... staring blankly at the gravel.
After a long, agonizing wait, Sun Ya finally broke the silence. "Xiao Li... he's losing his grip. We have to monitor his psychological state. The stress is breaking him. What the hell happened to his mind? Give it a few more days, and I swear he's going to mutate into a Zombie himself!"
"He's already scarier than a Zombie..." Wei De muttered, his face lined with deep distress. He looked at Fu Hu. "You need to distance Qingdai from him. Don't let her latch onto him anymore. I'm terrified he might just snap."
Fu Hu gave a slow, heavy nod.
"Look... the Director always operates with a motive, right? Let's just hear his after-action report before we court-martial him," Cheng Du mumbled weakly.
Just then, Fu Qingdai came jogging toward the group.
Seeing her approach, Fu Hu immediately stood up, blocking her path. "Qingdai, head back to the command center and wait for us."
"Dad, what happened?" Fu Qingdai asked urgently, trying to peek around him toward the building entrance. "Is Brother still..."
"Drop it! Your brother neutralized the target ages ago. It's an active crime scene in there, and it's too graphic for you. Listen to me, turn around and go back."
"Oh... I get it!" Fu Qingdai's eyes lit up with sudden understanding. "I can't go back yet! I haven't given Brother the good news about my Ability!"
"Since when do you report directly to him?! The adults are conducting a debrief; you don't have clearance to interrupt! Or have you decided my orders mean nothing now?!" Fu Hu roared, his patience entirely shattered. "Get your ass back to the center, right now!"
The sudden, explosive anger from her normally doting father made Fu Qingdai flinch violently.
She stole one last, longing glance toward the dark stairwell before turning away, looking back over her shoulder with every step.
A few minutes later, Su Jin casually strolled out of the building, dressed in fresh, clean clothes.
He had hastily wiped his face, though the skin below his collar was still stained a faded, rusty red.
Seeing him approach, the four men immediately stood up, forming a tight, tense circle around him.