"Chief!"

Grizzly Bear didn't enter directly but stood outside the door, snapping to attention and delivering a military salute as he spoke.

The person sitting inside must be Liu Yuanming. He appeared to be in his forties, and the insignia on his shoulders indicated the rank of a lieutenant colonel. Reaching that rank at his age suggested either competence or... connections.

Liu Yuanming turned to look at Grizzly Bear, his face somewhat wooden. He moved his dry lips and spoke in a hoarse voice before looking down again at the body on the table.

"Chief, we..."

Grizzly Bear stepped inside, coming to Liu Yuanming's side. He glanced at the corpse on the table. It was a zombie's body, seemingly young, probably only in his early twenties, with a bloody hole between his eyebrows.

"I know you've come to Qing City, and I know your mission. I can confirm your identity!"

Before Grizzly Bear could finish speaking, Liu Yuanming waved his hand and said, "However, I have no support to give you here right now because... I'm the only one left! And I can't contact anyone. All communications have been cut off!"

"Chief! I'm aware of the situation!" Grizzly Bear said. "What I need now is weapons! We have manpower, but the captain and dozens of survivors are trapped in the Qin Ting Hotel by a large number of zombies. We don't have enough ammunition!"

"I can't give you weapons!" Liu Yuanming said, still staring at the body on the table. "That requires orders. Even if you have a requisition slip, I can't confirm it with higher authority!"

"But..."

Grizzly Bear was about to speak but was interrupted by Li Chenzhou.

"Is this your son?" Li Chenzhou asked, coming to Liu Yuanming's side and looking at the body on the table.

"Yes! His name is Liu Chuang. He's only twenty-two!" Liu Yuanming replied woodenly. "He was on duty last night. I took the other three out for dinner, but when we came back, we encountered..."

He seemed unsure how to describe it, so he continued, "Two of my subordinates suddenly went crazy and tried to attack us. Because we weren't on a mission, we didn't have weapons, so we could only try to escape back here. Another subordinate was knocked to the ground while protecting me.

"When I returned here and rushed downstairs, the three of them chased after me together. Xiao Chuang rushed out to save me... He succeeded. We all hid inside and closed the entrance, but Xiao Chuang had a piece of flesh torn from his arm by Gao Yun!

"Then, Xiao Chuang started to have a fever. He asked me what was happening. I told him, and he put the gun in my hand, tied himself to a chair with his belt, and sat across from me.

"He told me that he might turn into one of those monsters too, and that I shouldn't hesitate to kill him immediately, and to aim for the head—he was right, so... I killed him."

As he said this, Liu Yuanming looked at Liu Chuang's body, his body trembling slightly, but there were no tears in his eyes. Perhaps... his tears had already dried up last night.

"Not only your son has become a monster, but there are countless such monsters outside now, and all the survivors are under their threat, so we need weapons to kill those monsters!" Li Chenzhou said. "And right now, you can provide us with weapons, and your decision will allow many people to live!"

"I can't make this decision!" Liu Yuanming said. "I'm just the weapons custodian. Without orders from above, I won't release the weapons. These weapons belong to the state, not to me!"

"But what are those weapons for? They're for protecting the country and its people. Don't you think now is the time to use them?" Li Chenzhou asked again.

"Young man, you don't need to say any more. All I know is that I'm a soldier, and I need to follow procedures! I can only use those weapons if I have orders. I won't open the armory without seeing orders," Liu Yuanming said.

"Chief, then why did you let us in? If you didn't want to help us, you could have just refused," Grizzly Bear finally couldn't help but ask.

"You came to request assistance, and I was able to confirm your identity, so of course, I had to let you in. That's also procedure!" Liu Yuanming didn't even raise his head, still looking at his son's corpse.

"So, you're planning to let us leave, and then... perhaps you'll drag the bodies of your three subordinates in as well, then seal the entrance and stay here forever?" Li Chenzhou asked.

He couldn't see any vitality in Liu Yuanming's eyes. It seemed that after killing his own son and knowing what the outside world was like, Liu Yuanming no longer had any desire to survive, which was why he wasn't wary of them at all.

Liu Yuanming didn't answer Li Chenzhou's question but just stared blankly at his son's corpse.

Li Chenzhou looked at Liu Yuanming and then at Liu Chuang's corpse. Suddenly, he went over, grabbed Liu Chuang's body, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and then suddenly rushed out.

"What are you doing?" Liu Yuanming exclaimed in shock, rising to his feet and shouting loudly. Then, he subconsciously grabbed the pistol from the table, completely ignoring the equally astonished Grizzly Bear and Luo Hong, and rushed out to chase Li Chenzhou.

With Li Chenzhou's current agility, even carrying a corpse, Liu Yuanming couldn't catch up at all; he couldn't even see his back.

Li Chenzhou went straight back the way he came, passed Liu Chuang’s body out of the broken window, then climbed out himself, hoisted the corpse on his shoulder and continued running like mad, while Liu Yuanming directly opened the front door, raised his pistol at Li Chenzhou's back, but found that Li Chenzhou was moving in a zigzag pattern and was also carrying his son's corpse, so in the end he didn't fire, gritted his teeth, and chased after him.

Carrying Liu Chuang's corpse, Li Chenzhou ran all the way to the front of the convoy before stopping, not even breathing hard, and placed Liu Chuang's body down, put his arm around his own neck, and stood there waiting for Liu Yuanming.

"Put my son's body down and raise your hands and step back!" Liu Yuanming chased up, stopping about ten meters away from Li Chenzhou, staring at Li Chenzhou with bloodshot eyes, raising his gun and shouting loudly.

"Your son was willing to risk his life to save you, and you're completely unwilling to give up his body, which shows that you two have a very good father-son relationship, right?" Li Chenzhou looked at Liu Yuanming and asked calmly, "Perhaps... you might even be your son's idol. He's looked up to you since he was a child, which is why he became a soldier when he grew up. In his heart, you're perhaps a hero?"

"So what? Don't think you can use his body to threaten me. Put his body down right now, or I'll really shoot!"

"Dad! You're so awesome! I want to be like you when I grow up!"

Listening to Li Chenzhou's words, Liu Yuanming was in a daze. A distant but familiar childish voice rang in his ears. He looked at Liu Chuang's corpse, suddenly shook his head hard, and roared at Li Chenzhou with a somewhat ferocious expression...