Chapter 20: A Talking Mouse?

Quietly, a faint scent of blood lingered in the breeze brushing against their faces.

Lu Sui stopped the car at the entrance of the base and was the first to get out.

Shen Shiwei opened the door to step out, but Shen Heng beside her quickly said, “Wait a moment.”

With that, Shen Heng got out, hurried to the door on Shen Shiwei’s side, crouched down with his back to her, and said, “Get on.”

Shen Shiwei hesitated for a few seconds. “Isn’t it unnecessary? The base is just ahead.”

Shen Heng glanced at her and replied, “It’s fine. I can carry you.”

Without further objection, Shen Shiwei climbed onto his back.

Wei Qing followed closely, carrying a bag.

Lu Sui stood at the front, observing the scene before him.

The base was surrounded by a high-voltage electric fence, leaving only one iron gate. At this moment, it was neither locked nor guarded.

Lu Sui pushed open the iron gate and stepped inside.

In front of the main building was a large open area, now fitted with several blue tents and some makeshift plastic shelters for disinfection purposes.

Beside the gate stood a red sign that read: Quarantine Station.

Lu Sui lifted the tent flap and entered. Inside, many tables were arranged in rows, cluttered with registration books, disinfection tools, medicines, and other supplies.

Strangely, the place was empty—not a single soul in sight.

At the far end of the blue tent was a door leading directly into the base’s main building.

The door was closed and required a password to be entered on a keypad beside it.

Lu Sui strode up the stairs to the keypad, entered the code.

With a beep, the door slowly opened.

A strong smell of disinfectant wafted out from inside.

The bright, spacious lobby was deserted.

The overhead lights were still on, and the elevators on both sides rested on the first floor.

Wei Qing’s first words upon entering were, “There’s still electricity here?!”

Song Yingjun explained, “It’s powered by a generator.”

“Brother, you can put me down now.”

“All right.”

Shen Heng bent slightly and carefully lowered Shen Shiwei from his back.

She looked around curiously. “Lu Sui, why is there no one here?”

Lu Sui pulled out a walkie-talkie, pressed the button, and spoke a few words, but there was no response.

Song Yingjun came over and tapped the walkie-talkie. “Is it broken? We were able to communicate just two hours ago.”

Lu Sui’s face darkened. “We need to be prepared.”

---

Shen Shiwei hobbled over to a nearby layout board displaying the base’s floor plan.

The first floor was the transit area; floors two through four housed survivors; the basement level was the isolation zone for suspected infected individuals.

Seeing this, Shen Shiwei’s mind held only one thought: “Could there be zombies here as well?”

Lu Sui said, “Yingjun, stay here and protect them. I’ll check downstairs.”

“Understood!” Song Yingjun paused, then added anxiously, “Captain, be careful.”

Lu Sui nodded, glanced at his watch, and said to Song Yingjun, “Synchronize your watch.”

“Six thirty-five thirty-four seconds.”

Lu Sui said, “If I don’t come back within an hour, take them to the next base.”

Song Yingjun stood at attention. “Yes, sir.”

As Lu Sui headed toward the elevator, Shen Shiwei, still observing her surroundings, suddenly heard a strange sound.

“Mousey me, finally crawling out—the smell down there was awful!”

Instantly alert, Shen Shiwei scanned every corner quickly and spotted half a white mouse’s head struggling to emerge from a corner of the wall.

“Ah!”

She instinctively cried out.

Shen Heng and Wei Qing came over immediately.

“What’s wrong?”

Shen Shiwei pointed ahead. “Brother, there’s a mouse there.”

Wei Qing recognized it at a glance. “That’s a laboratory mouse.”

Biting her lip thoughtfully, Shen Shiwei said, “Wei Qing, go catch it.”

“All right.”

Wei Qing approached the mouse slowly. The mouse, evidently aware, struggled even harder.

Then Shen Shiwei heard the strange voice again.

“Ah, no! Don’t come near me, am I about to be caught again? Ahhhhh…”

She realized for certain that the voice came from the mouse.

“Brother, is that mouse talking?”

“Yeah, it keeps squeaking.”

Shen Shiwei softly gasped. So she could really hear animals speak—why, though?

She called out to the system, “System, is this some kind of cheat code you gave me?”

System: [Sorry, host, this function is not yet available. Cheat codes and such are features only found in wish-fulfillment, face-slapping systems.]

Shen Shiwei: “...You really aren’t much help.”

The system was frustrated—it was just a romance mission system, after all.

---

Lu Sui pressed the elevator button. The moment the doors opened, a figure lunged out at him.

He swiftly dodged aside.

Immediately, three blood-soaked zombies rushed out of the elevator.

Song Yingjun quickly drew his gun and fired at the three zombies.

Another one was struck down by Lu Sui.

“Captain,” Song Yingjun ran over, glancing at the fallen zombie, “Downstairs must be full of zombies. We should hurry!”

Lu Sui shook his head. “Our ammo is running low, and supplies won’t last five people for two days.”

“But...” Song Yingjun said, “We can scavenge supplies from the malls outside.”

“The malls have just as many zombies as here. Remember, no more elevators,” Lu Sui said, turning toward the fire escape on the other side.

Song Yingjun sighed, watching Lu Sui disappear down the stairs before turning to Shen Shiwei’s group.

There, he found three people bent over, watching a mouse.

“...”

Song Yingjun was momentarily speechless. At a time like this, they were leisurely playing with a mouse?

The mouse squeaked.

But Shen Shiwei heard it say, “Ah, damn humans! Let me go or I’ll bite you to death!!”

Indeed, it was a temperamental little mouse.

Wei Qing handled the lab mouse with practiced ease, careful not to get bitten.

“Where did this mouse come from?” Song Yingjun suddenly asked.

Shen Shiwei said, “It crawled out from the corner.”

Song Yingjun wanted to scold them but couldn’t bring himself to use a harsh tone. He sighed wearily, “A single mistake could have let zombies out. And you still have time for this.”

“But it’s an experimental mouse!”

Song Yingjun: “...What difference does that make?”

Shen Shiwei smiled. “It’s very smart. It can sense whether zombies are nearby.”

Song Yingjun: “...”

He didn’t want to argue anymore.

Shen Shiwei asked again, “There’s electricity here—does that mean there’s water, too?”

Song Yingjun shot her a glance, frowning. “Young lady, what are you thinking now?”