Chapter 275

A soft click echoed as Lucy White's fingertip traced the final arc across the control panel.

The laboratory plunged into dead silence.

Everyone held their breath, eyes locked on the supposedly "impenetrable" silver door.

Finn Wallace swallowed hard. "Lu, you really think this'll—"

Before he could finish, a mechanical female voice announced: "Biometric lock disengaged. Opening sequence initiated."

WHOOM.

The massive metal door slid apart.

Lucy already had her pistol drawn before the mechanism finished grinding.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three lunging zombies collapsed mid-leap.

Colonel Parker's pupils constricted. He'd clocked it—Lucy's draw had preceded the door's opening by 0.3 seconds.

"How did—" Lieutenant Leo began, then bit back his question.

Lucy flicked her ponytail. "Those three have been pacing outside for thirty minutes on the surveillance feed."

Understanding dawned on the group.

The livestream exploded.

[WTF that prediction!]

[Lucy GOAT!]

[That reaction time ain't human!]

Colonel Parker gripped Lucy's shoulder, voice thick. "Miss White, you just saved humanity's last hope."

From the lab's depths came frantic footsteps. Three white-coated researchers stumbled into view, collapsing at the sight of armed rescuers.

"Dr. Roland?" The colonel's tone turned urgent.

The eldest researcher pointed down the corridor. "S-safe room... 104° fever..."

Lucy was already sprinting past them.

The safe room required palm-print authorization. When the door retracted, the entire team gasped.

A golden-haired man curled in the corner, his flushed skin alarmingly crimson. His lab coat clung to sweat-drenched shoulders, vomit staining the floor nearby.

"Move!" The colonel barked.

Lucy knelt, producing a glass vial of fever reducer from her pack. The medicine glinted coldly under fluorescent lights.

"You packed that?" Finn gaped.

She snapped the cap open. "Pharmacy raid payoff."

As the liquid touched Dr. Roland's lips, his eyelids fluttered.

The colonel exhaled sharply, personally hoisting the unconscious scientist. Before leaving, he bowed deeply to Lucy.

"Move out," Lieutenant Leo ordered, checking his magazine. "Three sectors left to—"

DING.

Every wrist display flashed crimson.

[MAIN QUEST ACTIVATED: DR. ROLAND'S ENCRYPTED DRIVE]

[WARNING: THIS DECIDES YOUR FINAL FATE]

Lucy's eyes narrowed toward a blinking red light in the lab's recesses.

There, smeared with bloody handprints, stood a secure vault.