How to Raise a Baby in an Apocalypse - Chapter 25 - Can It Fetch a High Price?
An Ran struggled to support her shivering body with her trembling hands. She turned over, placed one foot on the floor, followed by the other, and finally rolled out of the bed. She ended up lying down on the ground.
She was terrified!
But what good was fear?
Seizing the opportunity while the zombies gathered on the other side, An Ran crawled on all fours towards the door. Just then, she felt a painful sensation on her knee, which was pressing a glistening diamond-like object on the ground, causing her immense pain that made her want to curse out loud.
She instinctively picked up the diamond, which was about the size of a pomegranate seed, and stashed it in her pocket after taking a quick glance at it. She continued crawling towards the door, but as she was about to stand up, a person’s foot stepped on the back of her hand.
The excruciating pain made An Ran want to scream, but she held her tongue. She lifted her head to see a newly evolved zombie walking over her hand. An Ran sat up, inspecting her fingers, which were now cut and bruised. She shook her head and leaned against the wall, slowly rising to her feet.
This was the third floor, where the Maternity Check-up Unit was located. Most of the people here were pregnant women or their family members who had come to accompany them on maternity leave. This area was more crowded than the fourth and fifth floors, but the hospital’s spacious layout prevented it from feeling overcrowded. An Ran observed her surroundings while hugging the wall. She noticed that many people had blue veins nearly fully exposed on their faces.
Did the full exposure of the veins indicate successful evolution, allowing them to consume human flesh? If someone’s veins were not fully exposed yet, did that mean they were still in the process of evolving?
An Ran slowly moved her body for about twenty minutes until she reached the emergency staircase. She then forcefully pushed open the door and entered in a swift motion.
With a “clank” of the door, An Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, before she could feel safe, she turned her head and saw a fully evolved zombie standing on the stairs above, veins popping on its forehead and baring its fangs at her.
“What in the world?”
An Ran quickly scanned the male zombie, and noticed numerous cigarette butts scattered on the ground. This guy must have accompanied his wife to a prenatal checkup, but craved for cigarettes and sneaked into the emergency staircase to smoke!
The cigarette-addict zombie lunged at her, pinning her against the door and attempting to bite her. An Ran, in a state of urgency, employed her tried-and-true technique, pulled out her fruit knife, unsheathed it, and thrust it into the zombie’s eye before giving it a twist. The nauseating sound was akin to stirring some sort of jam. An Ran then made a clean cut, rendering the zombie limp on top of her.
Behind the emergency door, there were scratching sounds from zombies trying to get in. An Ran didn’t have time to think and swiftly pushed the zombie off, rushing up the stairs in a hurry.
After taking only a couple of steps, the sound-activated lights in the emergency corridor flickered and went out. An Ran turned around, gazing at the zombie’s head. A gooey substance resembling brain matter oozed out from the zombie’s eye socket. The brain matter inside the zombie’s skull appeared to be slightly more watery than that of a human, resembling a tofu brain matter. Amongst the goo, a brilliant diamond-like gem flowed out as well.
What is this?
Can it fetch a high price?
An Ran couldn’t fathom what her mind had linked it to, so she descended the stairs and crouched on the ground, using the fruit knife to carefully pluck the diamond from the cluster of brain matter. It was indeed identical to the one she had found earlier, the size of it was about the size of a pomegranate seed, with irregular facets and a sparkling, captivating appearance.