Chapter 104 Humanity's Hope

Xinghe appeared, and in a very strange tone, he asked Xiang Weiguo why he wanted to kill Gao Yuan.

If there was anyone left in the world who could save Gao Yuan, it would be Xinghe.

So, of course, Xiang Weiguo harbored the last glimmer of hope and sought clarification.

Luo Xingyu stopped crying. She looked at Xinghe, her voice trembling, "You must have a way, right? Please, save him, please save him."

Yu Shunzhou had been standing there the whole time. He just stood there foolishly, watching Gao Yuan, not pulling Luo Xingyu away or stopping Xiang Weiguo.

But after hearing Luo Xingyu and Xiang Weiguo's questioning, Yu Shunzhou suddenly shuddered. At first, he was wildly excited and started to run towards Xinghe, but he quickly stopped in his tracks.

Quietly, Yu Shunzhou went over to the nearest corpse of a special forces soldier. He didn't even know why he did it himself.

"I have... a vaccine. Yes, I have a vaccine."

Xinghe said as he walked. He stood in front of Gao Yuan, looked down at him, and then said to Xiang Weiguo, "The vaccine can effectively prevent strong viruses. It is a gift I made for humanity."

Luo Xingyu shook off the special forces soldier who had been holding her back. By now, the soldier wasn't holding onto her desperately anymore.

Xiang Weiguo took a breath and then said calmly, "That's great, Xinghe. Give the vaccine to me and then leave quickly. The two of you protect Xinghe and move forward so we don't get zombies or monsters coming our way."

A panel suddenly popped open on his arm, and Xinghe reached in and pulled out something that looked like a small bottle.

"Don't worry about zombies chasing us, and there are no more monsters, unless the Serpent People themselves come down to battle. This is the vaccine. It's not a medication for treatment, so the chance it will cure him is not great. If injected now, his chances of survival are about... two in a thousand."

After Xinghe finished speaking, both Luo Xingyu and Xiang Weiguo were stunned.

The lack of chasing zombies and monsters was good news, but Gao Yuan only had a two in a thousand chance of survival. How was that any different from being dead?

There was a difference, though. At least there was a one in five hundred chance of hope.

Luo Xingyu reached out to take the small bottle, but at that moment, a special forces soldier suddenly said, "Don't move, Xinghe. I want to ask how much of this vaccine you have?"

Xinghe replied calmly, "There's only this one dose. Vaccine is a term you can understand. Currently, there is no equivalent item for humans. I can't describe it accurately. It can be understood that if used in advance, the virus will be ineffective. Using it now is a bit late, but there is still a chance it could save him, which is similar to the effect of a vaccine."

The soldier said urgently, "Just this one dose? Can we still have some left after using it? Can we replicate it?"

"It can be replicated if there is a prototype... using the drug as a reference. But, if you want to save him, all of it must be used."

Gao Yuan was shivering more violently. Luo Xingyu reached for the medicine in Xinghe's hand, but the special forces soldier who had been holding her earlier suddenly rushed over from behind, trying to snatch the medicine back.

However, Luo Xingyu was closer to Xinghe. She managed to grab the medicine first.

Then the special forces soldier immediately raised his gun, aimed at Luo Xingyu, and shouted, "Don't move!"

"Everyone, Xinghe, Xiaoyu, listen to me. Gao Yuan... only has a two in a thousand chance of survival, but this is a vaccine! It's a vaccine that can save many people! Don't rush, okay, don't rush!"

Another special forces soldier said to Xinghe, "Hello, I want to get it clear. Once it's used, can you make this drug again?"

"No, my medical pod was destroyed along with the spacecraft."

With that statement from Xinghe, the atmosphere became even tenser.

Luo Xingyu slowly moved closer to Gao Yuan and began to lower herself little by little.

"Don't move! Don't you move, don't force me to shoot!"

The soldier holding the gun to Luo Xingyu was getting anxious, and another soldier also hurriedly asked, "Can we replicate it using what's left?"

Xinghe answered without hesitation, "The sample left in the container is too little. I do not know if you can replicate it."

"If it's successfully replicated, will we no longer have to fear the Serpent People's virus? Even the mutated strong virus?"

"I bet when you say strong virus, you mean the further mutated virus carried inside the bodies of zombies and monsters. If that's what you mean, then yes, after humans use the vaccine, the strong virus will also be ineffective."

After taking a deep breath, the unarmed special forces soldier whispered to Luo Xingyu, "I'm sorry, I can't let you use the vaccine to save him. It's a waste. A two in a thousand chance is too low, Xiaoyu. Please think about it. This vaccine is our hope, it's the hope of all humanity. If you waste the vaccine on him, it's a crime against all of humanity. Think about it, and now give it to me, give it to me..."

Luo Xingyu slowly stood up, her voice low, "I can't let him die. If he dies, then what does it matter if all of humanity is wiped out? I don't care! I don't care about anything! I just want him to live!"

Luo Xingyu was resolute, but there was one problem, she didn't know how to use the medicine she held, so she could only look to Xinghe and ask, "How do I use it?"

"Inject it into the neck. Touch it to the skin and press down at the tail end."

"Don't move! Don't you move!"

"Shots fired, don't move!"

Both soldiers panicked—the one with the gun wearing an expression of urgency, while the other soldier suddenly raised his weapon and said with reluctance, "Sorry, if you move I will shoot you dead, I hope you can understand, this thing is too important for humanity!"

Just then, Yu Shunzhou sternly said, "Nobody fucking move, Xiaoyu give the injection, don't you move—if you do, we all go down together!"

Yu Shunzhou was pointing a gun at the first soldier who had his gun aimed at Luo Xingyu from behind, but he also held a grenade in his hand and the pin was already pulled. As soon as he let go, the grenade would explode in three seconds.

Xinghe didn't look back, but Yu Shunzhou's grenade was right behind him.

The atmosphere solidified. Xiang Weiguo furrowed his brow deeply. He didn't speak, but his silence was a stance in itself; at least he didn't stop Luo Xingyu, and he was right next to her.

Luo Xingyu laughed. She knew that if she made a move she would indeed be shot dead—before she could administer the injection to Gao Yuan—but now, looking at Yu Shunzhou, she didn't have to worry about that anymore.

Xinghe still spoke calmly, "Now he has only a one in a thousand chance of surviving."

"One in a thousand? Stop it! Don't use it! Think about it, this is…"

Yu Shunzhou, with a ferocious expression, said, "Don't try to scare us with grand principles—if Gao Yuan is going to die, then we'll all die. Look at me! Come look at me! See if I dare to fire!"

At that moment, Luo Xingyu had already placed the vial-like medication on Gao Yuan's neck, pressed the tail end, and suddenly several tiny spikes extended, firmly nailing into Gao Yuan's neck. Then the liquid inside the bottle began rapidly draining out.

Once the liquid had finished emptying, Luo Xingyu smiled, then she let go and facing the muzzles, she smiled, "Now it's too late for you to shoot."

Gao Yuan was convulsing violently, rolling his eyes back constantly.

The silent Xiang Weiguo finally let out a long sigh, then he said to Luo Xingyu, "Get away from him."

Luo Xingyu shook her head and said, "If he's dead… I don't want to live anymore."

At this moment, Li Changfeng, with a crying tone, said, "I also think the medicine should have been saved, uh, it's all used up now…"

Yu Shunzhou, turning his head in anger, yelled, "Get lost, get the hell away!"

Nie Erlong, who had been silent all along, who ran when everyone ran, who stood still like he was invisible, pulled Li Changfeng aside and said in a low voice, "This isn't your time to speak, go to the side."

The two special forces soldiers, one appearing very angry and the other looking very helpless, truly hadn't expected Yu Shunzhou to quietly pick up a gun and a grenade, and even take Xinghe as a hostage so obviously.

"You guys, you've gone too far!"

The infuriated special forces soldier gnashed his teeth, while the helpless one sighed, "It's too late, too late…"

Just then, Xinghe suddenly said, "Why don't you ask me what I think?"

The two special forces soldiers were stunned. Xinghe continued calmly, "The item is mine, and my wish is for it to be used on Gao Yuan. There's no special reason, other than I don't want to watch him die in front of me. Preserving the life of a comrade is a common point among any advanced civilization in the universe."

Xinghe's words rendered everyone speechless. One of the special forces soldiers said dazedly, "But, but... does the life of one man warrant the lives of billions?"

Xinghe still spoke very calmly, "The lives of billions are not before my eyes, but he is, waiting for my rescue. So, my choice is to save him. You must respect my wish because the item belongs to me."

The two special forces soldiers exchanged glances, then both simultaneously lowered their weapons and said in unison, "We're sorry."

Yu Shunzhou hesitated for a moment and raised the barrel of his rifle skyward with his right hand, but he didn't know what to do with the grenade that had the pin pulled.

"This... what do we do with this? Throw it out?"

"Don't throw it!"

Throwing out the grenade would only attract more zombies and monsters.

The special forces soldier closer to Yu Shunzhou wanted to kill him, he certainly had the ability, but right now, he could only get close to Yu Shunzhou, grabbed the grenade with a hateful tone, and asked in a low voice, "Where's the pin?"

If it weren't for Yu Shunzhou being behind Xinghe, using him as a hostage, he would have a thousand ways to instantly kill Yu Shunzhou. But the grenade made him dare not take the risk.

Anyway, the medicine was used, so Yu Shunzhou didn't need to worry about anything anymore. He said in a low voice, "Throw it, I wasn't paying attention to where it fell..."

So the two of them began to search the ground for the thrown away grenade safety pin.

Just then, Gao Yuan, who had been trembling violently, suddenly stopped moving altogether. He began to bleed from his seven orifices and lost control of his bladder and bowels—in short, everything that could be observed indicated that he was dead.

Luo Xingyu was stunned. She slowly reached out her hand, wanting to wipe away the blood at the corner of Gao Yuan's eye. Just then Xinghe said, "Don't touch him, stay away from him, everyone keep away. From now on, it all depends on him."

Luo Xingyu withdrew her hand but did not leave. She just looked at Xinghe and asked, "He's not dead, is he?"

Xinghe thought for a while and then said, "From a physiological perspective, he will not die now. However, from another perspective, he might already be dead. It will depend on whether he retains his consciousness when he wakes up. If he wakes up without his consciousness, then he is what you call a zombie—a much more powerful zombie."