Apocalypse Star House Hoarding-Chapter 52

This time, the group seemed to have chosen the right path. Along the way, they only encountered a few scattered parasites, likely originally dispersed in the hospital’s central garden area.
For some unknown reason, these parasites didn’t fight each other but instead headed directly towards the students. Two boys managed to hold off a parasite lunging at several girls. The parasite was acting strangely; despite the boys being right in front of him, he seemed to ignore them and desperately aimed for the girls. The boys exchanged puzzled looks. Yu Xi quickly stepped forward and kicked the parasite down, then pinned its chest and stunned it with her electric baton to the temple. The parasite convulsed a few times and stopped moving. Meanwhile, Lin Wu dealt with two other parasites.
“Don’t dawdle, move!” Yu Xi curtly instructed, patting the two boys on the shoulders to urge them on. She now took the middle position in the group, with Lin Wu covering the rear.
Yu Xi noticed their surroundings and guessed they were nearing the inpatient building that was initially used for quarantine. “It” had been leading them to this hospital all along to bring them to the inpatient building?
Her gaze landed on one of the girls ahead. While the other girls wanted to find medicine, which could be done at any hospital, this particular girl had steered them here, using her parents’ quarantine and recent messages as reasons to suggest this specific hospital. Then, by releasing pheromones, she had attracted numerous parasites, ultimately driving the group to this place.
Yu Xi looked at the gray building not far away and wondered, what was inside the inpatient building?
Suddenly, her furrowed brow relaxed, and she stared in shock at the inpatient building’s entrance, now faintly visible ahead. What was that!?
Moments earlier, the same question had roared in the minds of Qi Zhen and Zhang Yishuai’s group.
According to the information provided by the person calling for help, a few people were trapped in the third-floor operating room. Because it was a new building, many important areas like operating rooms and ICUs used iris recognition door locks. This advanced security was why the hospital had isolated patients injured during the hailstorm here. The new, sturdy building with advanced door locks made it ideal for quarantine.
The internal situation of this building was better than that of the outpatient building because almost all the patients were isolated in different rooms. Even if they went crazy due to parasitism, they couldn’t get out and could only attack others in the same room. Most of the parasites now in the inpatient building were medical staff, but their numbers were few.
Qi Zhen and his team were professionally trained and had carried out many missions.
For them, this rescue mission, while challenging, wasn’t a life-or-death scenario. They split into two teams: one team cleared the lobby and stairs while the other headed straight to the third-floor operating room to break open two sealed doors and rescue the trapped individuals. Meanwhile, the team clearing the lobby continued to sweep through the first and second floors, ensuring an exit route for their teammates.
Although the parasites were frenzied, they were still in normal human bodies. As long as their numbers didn’t exceed a certain limit, the team could handle them with ease. However, they had to be cautious to avoid any injuries, no matter how small.
The team led by the short-haired female deputy leader completed their task but soon heard terrified screams and frantic gunfire from above. Her face turned pale, and she instructed one team member to stand guard while she and another team member rushed upstairs, only to witness a nightmarish scene.
The entire third-floor was swarming with black, bowl-sized worms about a meter long. They had no eyes, and one end of their black bodies split open to reveal large, gaping mouths filled with sharp teeth.
One team member’s hand was bitten deeply by one of the giant worms, blood spurting as he screamed in agony. Qi Zhen, face dark with anger, was desperately firing his gun at the worm, while Zhang Yishuai and another team member were shooting at other worms writhing toward them.
But the bullets seemed to have little effect, as though they were being absorbed by the worms’ bodies. The worms would slow down momentarily or change direction but then continue their advance.
“Boss—run!” The team member whose wrist was bitten found his attacks futile, so he drew a short knife from his waist and frantically slashed at the worm. Realizing the futility, he gritted his teeth and severed his own wrist.
Blood spurted, and he screamed in pain but continued to urge his teammates to escape. Knowing his fate was sealed from the moment he was bitten and bled, he resolved to hold off the worms as long as possible to buy time for his teammates. Despite another worm biting his calf, he continued to fire at the worms near his teammates, giving them a chance to flee.
Meanwhile, more black worms were pouring from the direction of the operating room, covering the floor like a tide. He pulled out a grenade and threw it into the swarm, causing a massive explosion that blew apart several worms but did nothing to stop the advancing tide.
Even more horrifying was that the severed worms continued to squirm forward after bouncing on the ground a few times. He couldn’t kill them!
Looking at the last grenade in his hand, he pulled the safety pin and gripped it tightly, choosing not to throw it.
Faced with being devoured or ending his own life, he chose the latter. In the second before the explosion, he glanced back at his teammates and smiled.
—Run!
He mouthed the words before being engulfed in the fiery explosion.
—Run.
—He had no regrets.
—Serving under such a leader and with such teammates was his honor.
—His only regret was having to secretly capture those innocent people due to orders…
—So, he chose to stay in Hai Ru City and follow his teammates to save people.
—Consider it redemption. Now, he was giving his life too…
…
“Yongzi!” Qi Zhen was being dragged down the stairs by Zhang Yishuai and the deputy leader, his eyes bloodshot, desperately trying to go back. This was his responsibility, his mistake! He had led them here, into this building, right into a trap.
The sealed operating room was filled with nothing but these worms and partially devoured corpses. Someone had deliberately lured him here and released these creatures! He had doomed his teammates!
“Go! If you don’t leave now, Yongzi will have died in vain!” Zhang Yishuai punched him directly, then, along with the others, forcibly dragged Qi Zhen down the stairs.
Footsteps echoed from above as the commotion had alerted other parasites in the building. They were now flooding down from all floors. The black worms moved faster than the parasites, and as they reached the lobby, worms were already tumbling down the stairs.
Thud, thud…
The sound of their disgusting, skin-crawling landing filled the air. Five or six worms blocked their path, and before the team member stationed on the first floor could react, he was bitten by two of the worms.
“Da Cheng!” The deputy leader screamed in anger, firing her gun, but it was useless. These giant worms were like enlarged versions of the black insects, with the same physical characteristics.
“Use fire!” Qi Zhen shouted, pulling a lighter from his pocket and grabbing a few record books from a nearby desk. He lit them on fire. “Find an opportunity to escape—”
“Boss!” They knew what he meant—he intended to stay behind and hold them off.
“No time! That’s an order!” Qi Zhen was about to rush forward when the worms blocking their path suddenly moved, biting into the parasites rushing down the stairs. The commotion they had caused attracted the parasites, but for some reason, instead of attacking each other, they headed towards the hospital entrance, only to be bitten by the worms.
The bitten parasites screamed shrilly. Parasites on the upper floors were also getting bitten by the worms. For some reason, the worms seemed to prefer parasites over normal humans.
“Move!” The deputy leader grabbed the burning records from Qi Zhen, threw them into the mass of worms, and led the remaining team members through the worm-infested area, heading out of the hospital.
At that moment, Yu Xi’s group arrived. Both sides were startled by the commotion behind each other. On one side were the grotesque creatures they had never seen before, and on the other were the parasites, both in overwhelming numbers.
In such a situation, as long as the other side was still human, they would automatically become allies. The students quickly joined Qi Zhen’s team, moving to a curved bench rest area on the side of the clearing. With their backs against each other, they retreated, wary of both the worms and the approaching parasites.
Several team members began reloading their magazines. While the guns were ineffective against the worms, they could still be used on the parasites. They prepared to shoot as soon as the parasites got closer, hoping to break through.
Yu Xi had already switched from her baton and stun baton to the [High-Temperature Perfume]. She watched the black worms inside the hospital, devouring the parasites, and turned sharply towards the group of girls, shouting, “What is this?”
The girls were terrified by Yu Xi’s expression and held their breath. Just as Zhou Yun was about to ask why Yu Xi was acting this way, Yu Xi strode forward, grabbed Xu Jiajia from behind her, and dragged her over. “Is this the reason you went to such lengths to bring us here?”
“What are you doing? Let go of me…” Xu Jiajia’s soft voice was filled with panic.
Yu Xi ignored her, glancing at Qi Zhen’s team, who looked disheveled and furious. She realized, “They were also lured here by you, weren’t they? If these worms were outside before, there’s no reason they should still be in the hospital now!”
Yu Xi understood, “You lured them here to release these worms, then brought us here—to feed the worms!? They even eat parasites. After eating us, they’ll eat the parasites!”
The only thing she couldn’t figure out was why Xu Jiajia would use different strengths of pheromones to attract and control parasites and why she had to hide in their group. It couldn’t be because human bodies are too fragile and need protection, could it? Maybe Xu Jiajia couldn’t fully control these lower-level parasites?
Everyone was stunned, especially the students. They couldn’t understand why Yu Xi was accusing their classmate. Xu Jiajia was usually quiet, kind, and well-liked in their small group.
The students were confused, but Qi Zhen understood. The person who sent out the distress signal over the walkie-talkie had indeed used a female voice. The voice had been weak and intermittent, but there were clearly other people talking in the background. If Xu Jiajia had been secretly using the walkie-talkie, it would explain why other voices were audible, creating the illusion that several normal people needed rescue.
Thinking of his fallen teammates, Qi Zhen was filled with anger and self-reproach. But the students were still doubtful. Compared to Yu Xi, who had just joined the group, they trusted their friend more.
“What nonsense are you talking about? Xu Jiajia is our friend!”
“Yeah! What do you mean by saying she lured people to feed the worms? Do you even hear yourself?”
“We’re surrounded and need to figure out how to escape! Stop fighting among ourselves!”
“Right, what did Xu Jiajia ever do to you? Just because you know him doesn’t mean you can wrongly accuse our friend!”
Xu Jiajia started crying, tears streaming down her face, looking terrified and uneasy. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about…”
Chen Jia stepped forward, her face stern. She tried to pull Yu Xi’s hand off Xu Jiajia’s collar. “I don’t care who you are. Accusing my friend without evidence is nonsense! What’s your goal?”
Yu Xi, still gripping Xu Jiajia, easily pushed Chen Jia away with her other hand, which held the [High-Temperature Perfume].
Her gaze was intense as she looked at Chen Jia and then at the other students, who were glaring at her. “Evidence?”
She glanced at Xu Jiajia, who remained pale and motionless, and then suddenly dragged her to the entrance of the inpatient building, throwing her inside.
“Ah—” The students screamed in horror. The inpatient lobby was filled with black worms, blood splatters, and various body parts. Yu Xi had thrown Xu Jiajia inside!
“Jiajia!” Chen Jia, shocked, tried to rush forward but was stopped by an iron rod.
Lin Wu blocked her. “Watch carefully before deciding whether to go in.”