Chapter Sixty-Nine: Bai Ye’s Letter

My God, what on earth is this girl thinking about all day? I just made a casual remark, and she managed to link it to that. "Don't talk nonsense; it's just an inexplicable fatigue, nothing to do with those things."

Huo Bing immediately became displeased, sulking as she said, "Fine, fine, nothing to do with it. Anyway, I don’t know if you’re telling the truth or not—unless I experience it myself… then I’d know."

Hey! Now that's going too far—is she openly flirting with me now?

I sized up Huo Bing from head to toe. At nineteen, she was well-developed, with all the curves in the right places. But I had no further thoughts for the moment—just appreciation and concern, nothing more. It wasn’t the time to make a move on her.

"I need to go out now and set up the timer device. Later, when you hear movement, try to draw the attention of the corpse types, keep them from piling up at the door. If they block the entrance, I won’t be able to get back in."

"But don’t lead them toward the corridor, either. If they block the passage or even manage to break in, it’ll be even worse."

I suited up, and before stepping out, reminded Huo Bing.

"I understand. Before you return, I’ll go out and distract the corpse types, lead them in circles around the workshop, and keep them away from the entrance and the corridor as much as possible."

"Brother Cao… be careful…"

I nodded lightly and left the main control room, heading straight out into the corridor.

Getting out was relatively much easier than getting in. At least in the work area, there were layers of metal mesh on the second and third floors—I could use those to leap and dodge the encirclement and pursuit of the corpse types.

Without moonlight, these first and second-level corpses had no climbing ability. As long as I didn’t touch the ground floor, I was safe.

Panting, I rushed out of the corridor, kicking aside several corpses blocking the doorway, then leapt up and grabbed the second-floor mesh, hanging upside down as I climbed.

Below, the corpses raised their rotten black claws in unison, but with their height, they couldn’t even reach my coat hem.

The workshop was about two or three hundred meters in a straight line. I sprinted along the second floor.

Suddenly, a mass of corpses flooded onto the mesh stairs ahead. So far, only behind me was empty. The front and below were piled thick with corpses.

"Ha! You idiots aren’t entirely dumb, you can actually climb stairs!" I cursed with a laugh, feeling no fear whatsoever.

"Hahaha, taste the blade of Master Cao!" I shook my wrist, held the composite titanium knife horizontally in front of me, and accelerated, charging ahead.

The blade’s height was just right—at a grown man’s neck level.

The mesh walkway was nowhere near as wide as the ground floor, and its crampedness made it easier for me to kill. I didn’t have to worry about being surrounded, and at most, only two corpses could walk side by side.

Swish, swish, swish… Without seeing the blade sink into flesh, I swept the titanium knife sideways, and wherever it passed, heads rolled!

Finally, I reached the end of the second floor—from here, I had to descend to the first floor.

I still needed to run dozens of meters on foot to reach the entrance, and I had to time it perfectly to blast open the big iron box blocking the way.

But now, with my grade-A combat blade in hand, it was no trouble—I could just slice the box open and reseal it after I got out.

The real problem was that I was stuck—an endless tide of corpses howling at me. If I dared to go down, I’d be surrounded by over a thousand corpses.

No matter how confident I was in my skills, I wasn’t at the level of taking on a thousand enemies single-handed.

As I hesitated at the staircase, unable to advance or retreat, a clear shout rang out—Huo Bing, dragging a fire axe, stepped out of the corridor and called loudly toward this side, trying to draw the attention of the corpse tide.

Sure enough, some of them abandoned me and surged toward her.

In the era after civilization, one person’s strength was so limited. Twice I’d brought Huo Bing along, and twice she’d proven invaluable.

Looks like I, Cao, underestimated the heroes of the world.

I laughed at myself—no need for needless sentimentality. The urgent thing was to get out quickly.

Leaping onto the railing, I harnessed my strength and speed, unleashing a burst of power that sent me flying over ten meters in a single bound, safely outpacing the encirclement.

I landed in an area with fewer corpses.

Seizing their momentary confusion, I swung my arms and dashed for the entrance.

Reaching the big iron box, with corpses hot on my heels, I put plan B into action.

I sliced open the container, dashed through three passageways, and burst out the door.

After this hair-raising escape, I didn’t follow my earlier plan of resealing the entrance.

Instead, I gritted my teeth and hacked at the door like mad. In seconds, the steel door was so badly slashed it was barely recognizable.

Countless gaps opened, and the corpse army went wild!

They all howled and charged out.

Once I set the timed explosive device, blocking the corpses became meaningless.

When the chemical plant blew up, even if they ran a few hundred meters, they’d still be blasted to smithereens.

If they managed a few kilometers, maybe they’d survive. But these low-level corpses, without moonlight, couldn’t run at all.

Nor could they sense danger or realize the plant was about to explode.

First and second-level types hadn’t developed intelligence yet; they acted purely on instinct.

At this stage, these low-level corpses were still mindless—seeing the white lab coat had shattered my understanding of them.

Who knows what they’ll evolve into someday, but I won’t be surprised by anything now.

Even with the obstacles removed, only some corpses escaped; others lingered aimlessly inside the plant.

Were they too attached to this place in life—so much so that they didn’t want to leave even in death?

That couldn’t be—it’s hard to imagine the plant having such a strong bond.

I muttered inwardly, pulling out my homemade timer, which could only run for two minutes.

Arriving at the tank area, to maximize the blast, I moved all the explosives under a single tank.

This would create enough force to blow open one tank.

If I could blast open one, the explosion would trigger a chain reaction, spreading from tank to tank until nothing was left to explode!

…

When I returned to the main control room, Huo Bing’s eyes were full of confusion.

She was clearly curious why I hadn’t followed the original plan—the one where all the corpses would be trapped in the work area.

Now, with most of them loose, that plan was scrapped.

As the saying goes, plans never keep up with changes.

The most important thing is adaptability. Plans are just for show.