Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars

Although he was one floor higher than before, Lin Fan now had over seven hundred HP. Combined with the effects of the Activation Crystal, he took almost no damage landing from the sixth floor.

Before he even steadied himself, he glanced around and saw a crowd of people gathered on the side of the road far to the west. He immediately bolted in that direction.

In just a few seconds, Lin Fan crossed the hundred-meter distance and charged to the back of the crowd.

"Out of the way!"

He roared as he roughly shoved his way through the loose crowd, his eyes immediately landing on Su Qing. She was sitting on the ground, one arm covered in blood, staring frantically at the walkie-talkie in her hand.

Chu Zhaozhao was lying on the ground, her head resting on Su Qing's lap. Her face was twisted in pain, and her eyes were closed.

The tire armor plates on her body were in shambles, with only a few pieces remaining. There were bloodstains on both her arms and legs, and fresh blood was continuously seeping through the clothes on one of her shoulders.

The green health bar at [98/116] was Su Qing's...

The green health bar at [13/100] was Chu Zhaozhao's...

Not only that, but wisps of translucent red threads were extending from the start of the health bar, continuously coiling around the remaining portion. That short green section was already tinged with red...

Chu Zhaotian was squatting on the ground, holding Chu Zhaozhao's hand, his lifeless eyes staring at the ground.

As soon as she heard his voice, Su Qing immediately looked up at Lin Fan, a light of hope finally shining in her eyes.

"Little Bro!"

Only then did the people around see who had arrived. They all backed away, clearing a large open space.

"Brother Lin... It's all my fault, and Zhaotian's..."

The first person to speak was, surprisingly, Xu Qian. Lin Fan could hear that his voice was not only trembling but also filled with self-blame.

It was as if some past memories had been triggered, and he seemed unable to continue. But after a pause, he went on.

"The moment the door opened, there was a Mutant Dog inside. The monster was too short. Our two spears missed it on the first thrust..."

"It's not their fault..."

Su Qing cut him off. Stroking Chu Zhaozhao's face, she looked up at Lin Fan and said,

"When the Mutant Dog came out, it charged at me first. The two of them blocked it with their spears, which is why it didn't get a solid bite on me..."

As she spoke, she held out her arm. A closer look revealed a scratch mark. The wound wasn't deep and was no longer bleeding.

"The Mutant Dog was incredibly fast. But Zhaozhao, she grabbed the front of her spear and charged forward, managing to stab the monster in the chest. But she also got scratched several times. Only then did Zhaotian and the others follow up with their spears to restrain the monster..."

"It was these brothers who heard the commotion and came down from upstairs. It took seven or eight of them to finally stab the Mutant Dog to death. But Zhaozhao..."

As Su Qing spoke, tears streamed down her face, dripping onto Chu Zhaozhao's pale little face and mixing with the blood and grime.

"Brother Lin!"

Liu Bin came running from behind.

"What the hell! Why didn't you help?! How could this happen!"

Someone must have run to inform him. The moment he arrived, he started chewing out the team members who had come down to help, then quickly sidled up to Lin Fan and apologized profusely.

"It's not your fault..."

Lin Fan looked at him and patted his shoulder.

"These guys came down to help. Don't blame them..."

'Although Liu Bin's men were in the same building as Su Qing's group, they were in a fight too. They're not anyone's babysitters.'

"Life and death are determined by fate..."

Lin Fan said in a low voice.

"Get up!"

He kicked the squatting Chu Zhaotian in the butt. Seeing that the latter was still unresponsive, like he'd lost his soul, he beckoned Xu Qian over, pointed at Chu Zhaotian on the ground, and said,

"Drag him away for me. Back to the clinic..."

Although Xu Qian was still a bit shaken—both his face and lips were pale—he swallowed hard at Lin Fan's words. He walked behind Chu Zhaotian, wrapped his arms around his waist, and began dragging him toward the clinic.

Chu Zhaotian's eyes remained lifeless and his face was ashen. He stretched out his hands in a daze, unable to speak a word.

Hearing the crowd murmuring on the periphery about zombies, infection, mutation, and the like, Lin Fan frowned.

"Brother Liu, you guys go on with your work. I'll take responsibility for my own people..."

He turned his head to speak to Liu Bin beside him.

"Oh, and be careful of Mutant Dogs. They're short, so you might miss with the first stab. Tell your guys to be careful..."

"Ah, you see, this is... We've really never encountered anything like this before. If we had, this sort of thing wouldn't have happened..."

Whether he was faking it or being sincere, Liu Bin berated himself with an expression of deep grief and remorse.

'But you really couldn't blame others. From Lin Fan's experience during this time, he knew the mutation rate for these Mutant Dogs was truly very low.'

'He knew how many dogs there were in the residential complex, but it was also possible that it had something to do with the fact that most dogs kept in this old neighborhood were small breeds.'

'Liu Bin and his men had been clearing buildings this whole time and had seen plenty of dog carcasses, but they hadn't found a single regular Mutant Dog.'

'Even the one Lin Fan had just killed had a thousand HP. It made him forget that aside from those thousand-HP Mutant Dogs that caused a huge commotion, there was also a smaller, 500-HP type, like the one he once had in his freezer.'

'Judging from the sounds outside the door, it would have seemed no different from a regular zombie.'

'Su Qing and the others had probably run into one of these regular Mutant Dogs.'

After speaking with Liu Bin, Lin Fan knelt and scooped Chu Zhaozhao up from the ground.

She was incredibly light in his arms, probably not even a hundred pounds.

'Sometimes Lin Fan would subconsciously forget that this boisterous, reckless girl was actually a young woman who weighed less than a hundred pounds. Holding her now, she felt so light...'

[12/100]...

In the past two minutes, Chu Zhaozhao's HP had dropped by another point. Lin Fan hesitated no longer, turning and running toward the clinic with her in his arms.

Su Qing followed behind him, silent, lost in her own thoughts.

...

He ran all the way into 302 and placed Chu Zhaozhao on the bed Su Qing had prepared for her.

The bed had been made for her yesterday, but she had gotten drunk and spent the night on the sofa in Lin Fan's room. Now that she was lying in it, at least the effort hadn't been wasted.

Lin Fan sat on the side of the bed while Su Qing gently used scissors to cut away Chu Zhaozhao's jacket, which was still tied with the scattered pieces of tire armor, and helped her take it off.

Chu Zhaotian sat on the stairs outside the door, his head lowered, lost in thought.

Xu Qian sat beside him, silently resting a hand on his shoulder.

...

"Is she infected?"

Su Qing asked quietly.

"Yeah."

Lin Fan seemed to be thinking about something, replying in a deep voice.

"What are you thinking about? I was injured too, so why am I fine? Little Bro, can... can she be saved?"

Su Qing was a little confused as to why Lin Fan didn't seem anxious at all, but she still asked tentatively.

"I'm thinking about that same question..."

Lin Fan reached out and took Chu Zhaozhao's hand, feeling its coldness as he spoke quietly,

"Let's continue our conversation from the other night..."

"If this is a virus..."

"If I was actually infected a long time ago..."

"And let's say I have antibodies in my system..."

"Then you, having been with me... would naturally have them too..."

"So..."

Listening to Lin Fan's words, Su Qing immediately caught on and finished his sentence:

"As long as you're... with her... you can save her!"