The post-apocalyptic world has a space full of supplies.

Chapter 165 Beijing Research Institute (7)

"No wonder we've been waiting for so long and you haven't come back yet," Yang Xiao couldn't help but interject.

“Our team arrived at the Beijing Research Institute yesterday, but it was covered in snow. We circled in the air for a long time but couldn’t find a way to get into the building. In the end, we decided to land the helicopter on the roof of the building next door,” Ji Lang continued.

“That’s the helicopter I saw!” Yang Xiao looked at Lu Yuan.

"What? The helicopter is still in the building next door?" Ji Lang was surprised at first, then shook his head. "It seems that Liu Jia and Wang Sanhai have also come in. They are not my soldiers. I didn't want them to take risks, so I told them to take the helicopter away first to avoid it being covered by the snow, and to come back to pick us up in a few days."

"It's possible that the helicopter fuel froze, after all, the temperature here in Beijing is too low." Lu Yuan handed Ji Lang another can of hot milk and continued listening to him with Yang Xiao.

After Ji Lang gave instructions to Liu Jia and Wang Sanhai, the group of 18 rested for a day in the building next door and organized their equipment before starting their operation early this morning.

The group descended from the building next door, and halfway down, they entered the snow-covered part of the building. There was almost no light source there, but fortunately, everyone was well-prepared, carrying several flashlights and spare batteries.

After walking for a while with flashlights, Ji Lang and his group realized that the building was probably a new building of the Beijing Research Institute. It was probably not in use before the virus outbreak, so there were very few zombies inside. The few they encountered were not very high level and were quickly dealt with.

When they reached the first floor, their entire team was unharmed, which surprised Ji Lang and made him complacent in the subsequent operation. He thought that most of the research institutes had gone to the four major bases according to the original evacuation plan, so there should be no one here, and naturally there wouldn't be many zombies.

However, after his group went down to the underground parking lot and arrived at the research institute building from the new building, he regretted it deeply.

“Below the underground parking lot of the research institute, there is a building with nearly ten floors. These floors are special laboratories,” Ji Lang said. “According to the instructions on the communicator, the documents we need to retrieve are on the third floor of the underground laboratory.”

"No wonder this building is so short, it turns out half of it is underground." Yang Xiao also tore open a compressed biscuit and ate it while listening.

"Did you get the item?" Lu Yuan asked.

“No, we encountered a large number of zombies, nearly a thousand, on the first floor of the underground laboratory. Most of them were probably first-generation zombies, and they didn’t even have any crystals in their bodies. I guessed at the time that they were probably the first mutated zombies from the surrounding Jing City, and later gathered here for some reason. First-generation zombies are easy to deal with; the ordinary soldiers in our team have no problem killing them.” Ji Lang continued.

"At the time, Lin Yun and I were thinking of finishing this quickly. The first-generation zombies were nothing to us. When we were about to enter the second floor, we decided that only the two of us would go down to retrieve the documents, leaving the other team members on the basement level. But what I didn't expect was..."

Ji Lang and Lin Yun were somewhat relieved when they arrived at the second basement level. They had killed all the zombies on the first basement level, but there wasn't a single zombie on the second basement level. Just as they were about to go down to the third basement level, a shrill scream came from the first basement level. It was from the 16 soldiers upstairs.

Without a second thought, Lin Yun turned and ran upstairs, with Ji Lang following closely behind. As soon as they exited the building, they saw hundreds of zombies holding down Ji Lang's 16 soldiers, tearing at them. In mere seconds, the 16 soldiers' eyes rolled back, their faces turned blue, and they had mutated into zombies.

"Run!" In the midst of utter shock, Lin Yun was the first to react. He realized that these hundreds of zombies were different from the previous ones; they were even exchanging glances with each other. Without a second thought, Lin Yun shoved Ji Lang behind him into the stairwell and unleashed a Storm spell at the zombie horde. However, there were also super-powered zombies in the opposite horde, and they also summoned their own Storm spells, far more powerful than Lin Yun's.

A sudden gust of wind blew, and Lin Yun and Ji Lang lost their footing, crashing into the stairwell wall. They had originally planned to go downstairs to the third basement level to make further plans, but a group of zombies suddenly surged up from below, leaving them no choice but to run back upstairs.

The once quiet stairwell was now teeming with zombies, both upstairs and downstairs. Ji Lang fought in front while Lin Yun blocked from behind, and the two of them struggled to get through the three-story underground parking garage to the lobby on the first floor.

However, to their dismay, the lobby on the first floor was also filled with zombies. These zombies were at least third or fourth generation zombies, and their abilities were so varied that Ji Lang and Lin Yun had never seen them before.

They fought desperately, and Ji Lang noticed that every time a zombie got close, Lin Yun would take the initiative to stand in front of him and block the zombie's close-range attacks.

Just when they both thought they were doomed, the zombie horde suddenly stopped attacking. They all looked up at the ceiling and then retreated. During the fight, both he and Lin Yun's flashlights were damaged to varying degrees. Now, the environment was too dark for him to see the extent of Lin Yun's injuries, but he had to take this opportunity to get Lin Yun hidden.

“I hid Captain Lin in the office on the first floor, and planned to go down to the third basement level to retrieve the documents myself,” Ji Lang continued.

"Then how come you're on the 18th floor again?" Yang Xiao frowned, then looked at Lu Yuan as if he remembered something. "Was it when we were eating so deliciously that we attracted the zombies up here?"

"I suspect so." Lu Yuan actually thought so too, but he wasn't as quick to speak as Yang Xiao.

"I never expected that having a meal with Lu Xiaoyuan would save you from this predicament," Yang Xiao joked.

"No, the zombies didn't go upstairs, they went downstairs." Ji Lang finished the last sip of milk and had recovered by now. "After settling Captain Lin downstairs, I went downstairs myself. I didn't encounter a single zombie on any of the three levels of the parking lot, but when I entered the basement of the laboratory, I saw a group of nearly a thousand first-generation zombies."

"This... they arranged it this way on purpose, guarding what's on the third basement level?" Lu Yuan found it strange after hearing Ji Lang's account, but then he remembered his and Lin Xiao's encounter on the 18th floor. There were definitely quite a few zombies outside, so he asked, "There must be quite a few zombies on the 18th floor too, right?"

“I couldn’t go down to the third basement level to retrieve the document by myself, so I thought I’d take Lin Yun to the roof first. I remember when I was looking from the helicopter, the roof of this building was visible. My original plan was to take Lin Yun to the top floor, and once Liu Jia and Wang Sanhai saw us, they could take us away by helicopter. Then we would contact the base to see what the next steps would be,” Ji Lang said.