Chapter 159: Your Doom Has Been Delivered (42)

She had been looking for gold.
Yet he had never seen any of that gold.
Was she a gold-swallowing beast?
The little girl smiled at him mysteriously. "Secret."
Jiang Xunchu: "..."
The little girl looked radiant. "I have many more secrets. If big brother wants to know, you can come and unearth them yourself, oh."
Jiang Xunchu: "..."
Those words definitely did not mean what they seemed on the surface.
Jiang Xunchu had some experience now, so he would not fall into the trap again.
...
A month later, Jiang Xunchu's vaccine showed its initial results, and all tests were passed safely.
Now only clinical trials remained.
Thus, volunteers began to be recruited among the survivors in City C.
This endeavor carried a certain amount of risk, but it was also a contribution to everyone, so volunteers were not difficult to recruit.
Ling Qiong eagerly anticipated the good news day and night, and finally it arrived.
The vaccine was effective. Although there were some minor side effects, compared to the risk of death, those side effects were nothing.
Ling Qiong procured a cluster of flowers from somewhere and ran over to Jiang Xunchu's laboratory, hugging them tightly.
Jiang Xunchu was talking to someone. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Ling Qiong wandering outside, occasionally stretching her neck to peer inside.
He exchanged a few more words with the person and stepped out of the laboratory.
"Why are you here?"
"To congratulate big brother, of course." Ling Qiong produced the flowers from behind her back. "Big brother is amazing."
Jiang Xunchu paused slightly when he saw the flowers.
Could one even find flowers like these nowadays?
If the potted flower she had given him earlier hadn't been kept in the laboratory, it probably would have withered long ago.
Of course, there was a flutter deep within his heart.
"Don't you like them?" Jiang Xunchu didn't take them for a long time, and Ling Qiong's arms were starting to ache.
Just as Jiang Xunchu was about to speak, Ling Qiong stepped forward and murmured beside his ear, "If you don't like them, I can also... present myself to big brother."
Jiang Xunchu: "..."
At that moment, Jiang Xunchu felt an urge to kiss her properly, to hear her call him big brother in that soft, sweet voice of hers...
And indeed, he did just that. Ling Qiong was pulled into an empty room, and he pressed her against the door to kiss her.
The cold metal door gradually grew scorching hot.
At first, Ling Qiong was able to stand firmly, but soon she went completely limp in his arms, relying entirely on him to stay upright.
Jiang Xunchu lifted her up and placed her onto the spacious conference table in the middle of the room.
Every time Ling Qiong saw Jiang Xunchu sitting in the conference room holding serious meetings with others, this was the exact image that played in her mind.
Now that it was about to be realized, she felt immensely thrilled...

The documents on the table were scattered all over the floor by the two of them.
Just before things completely spiraled out of control, the last shred of Jiang Xunchu's reason managed to drag him back to reality.
Ling Qiong: "..."
...
Ling Qiong squatted on the floor, sighing as she picked up the documents. She hadn't even enjoyed her happiness for very long before she had to pick up paperwork.
How utterly wretched.
Jiang Xunchu had already gathered up the documents from the other side.
"I'll do it," he said, pulling Ling Qiong to her feet. "You sit down."
Ling Qiong was not someone naturally fond of physical labor; if she could order someone else around, she would never lift a finger herself.
So she readily sat down on the side and watched Jiang Xunchu tidy up the documents.
After restoring the table to its original state, Jiang Xunchu glanced at Ling Qiong and asked tentatively, "Unhappy?"
Ling Qiong muttered, "How happy can one be when you stall out halfway?"
"..."
Jiang Xunchu subconsciously glanced toward the main door and cleared his throat defensively. "This is a laboratory."
"Would anywhere else be fine, then?"
"..." Jiang Xunchu sidestepped the question. "Let's head out first. Later, we still need to meet with Base Leader Wang and Mu Chen to discuss vaccine production."
Ling Qiong sighed.
The subsequent production and distribution of the vaccine were entirely entrusted to Base Leader Wang and Mu Chen.
Ling Qiong congratulated herself on her cleverness.
Otherwise, this chore might very well have fallen on her shoulders.
Since the vaccine required serum extracted from Jiang Xunchu's blood, the actual quantity of the vaccine was quite limited.
This news was kept under wraps, and the injections were prioritized for those capable of going on missions.
Jiang Xunchu's blood was irreplaceable, so the issue of yield was an insoluble problem.
Jiang Xunchu also attempted to cultivate the suppressing antibodies.
Strangely enough, unlike the zombie virus, these suppressing antibodies could not be artificially cultured.
"If this problem can't be resolved, won't you have to keep bleeding indefinitely?"
"…Mm." Jiang Xunchu smiled slightly. "I'll think about whether there are any other solutions."
Ling Qiong casually suggested, "You could try injecting people with the vaccine first, and then let a zombie bite them. Maybe they'll develop serum antibodies just like you."
Jiang Xunchu paused. Previously, he had only examined people who received the vaccine.
He had discovered it was of no use.
If he were to replicate his own previous process, perhaps the outcome would be different...
However, this carried risks, and Jiang Xunchu could not directly order people to go let themselves be bitten by zombies.
Fortunately, this did not require Jiang Xunchu to arrange it deliberately; among the people who went out on missions after receiving the vaccine, some inevitably got accidentally bitten by zombies.
Though the effect fell short of what was in his own body, it still proved useful.
Especially since the more zombie infections one endured, the better the results became.

Those zombies locked inside the laboratory were utterly useless; only the wild zombies roaming outside served a purpose.
Consequently, Mu Chen spent his entire day leading people out to fish for zombies.
"Brother Chen, are we really going to keep getting bitten by zombies like this?"
Mu Chen replied, "For now, this is the only way. It's not like you're going to die from it."
"But it hurts like hell!!" One team member clutched his rear end. "The last one bit my butt—damn it, it hurt so much!!"
This remark provoked a burst of uproarious laughter.
A team member sympathetically patted his shoulder to console him. "It's fine, as long as your family jewels are safe."
"..."
"Hurry, hurry, hurry, the zombies are coming."
Wailing ensued immediately.
Yet they still had to line up one by one and let the zombies bite them.
The only upside was that after completing such a mission, one could recuperate for over half a month without having to work, and even have meat to eat.
Later on, the zombies near City C perhaps realized what these humans were doing and refused to take the bait anymore.
Every time they saw people fishing for law enforcement, the zombies steered far clear.
This forced them to travel much further away.
They had no idea how long this would last, but life had to go on.
To ensure more people could receive the vaccine, many individuals willingly and proactively made their contribution.
As a result, Jiang Xunchu hardly needed to bleed himself anymore later on, and his schedule finally grew more flexible.
...
Inside the clean and bright room, the young woman squatted on the floor while Jiang Xunchu sat on the bed, wearing a bathrobe that exposed his fair thighs.
From an outside perspective, the posture of these two individuals looked somewhat ambiguous.
Yet Ling Qiong was merely poking the wound site on Jiang Xunchu, discussing the black veins that still crawled across his thigh.
"The vaccine is useless on you, so won't these marks stay forever?"
Right now, the scar was just a very faint trace, with black veins branching out around it. At first glance, it looked rather like a tattoo, and quite striking at that.
"It doesn't affect my body, it's not a problem." Jiang Xunchu tried to pull down his hem to cover it.
As long as they didn't get close to the meteorite, there would be no trouble.
His body felt completely normal, without any ailments.
Ling Qiong blocked him with her hand and looked up at him.
Meeting her gaze, Jiang Xunchu saw his own reflection in her eyes and momentarily lost in thought.
When he felt the warmth radiating from his thigh and snapped back to reality, he saw the girl lowering her head.
"..."