On the Ark.

Lin Ye sneered inwardly, preparing to take Yilan out with him, but stopped after taking a step forward.

Yilan looked up at him, somewhat puzzled: "Brother Lin Ye?"

We can't go out like this.

Lin Ye realized that if he simply walked through the crowd, he could easily be ambushed. He wasn't in good shape, and his opponents were a group of infected individuals on the verge of losing their minds. If he stopped or his weakness was discovered, he might not be able to leave this place alive tonight, and he might even cause Yilan's death in the process.

We can't take Ilan out.

Then let these guys leave?

That's impossible. He only has one gun, which isn't that much of a threat. The longer he drags it out, the easier it will be for people to spot his weakness. If the infected people block the door, he'll be even less likely to get out.

Lin Ye narrowed his eyes, then patted Yi Lan on the shoulder: "You go out, I'll watch over you here."

Ilan's mouth dropped open in surprise: "But..."

“Aesop is waiting for you outside,” Lin Ye said. “Go straight home after you find Aesop. Your parents have been looking for you for a long time. Don’t do this again.”

Tears welled up in Ilan's eyes: "No, I want to go with you."

"Stop talking nonsense." Lin Ye shook off Yi Lan's hand, feigning indifference. "I still have scores to settle with these lunatics."

After hearing Lin Ye's words, the infected people's expressions changed even more.

This guy wants to settle scores with all of them?!

Are you out of your mind?! Do you think your gun has ten thousand bullets in it?!

Everyone thought so, but no one dared to say it aloud. They could only watch as the girl walked away crying down the road where they had parted, her steps faltering.

"Didn't you eat?!" Lin Ye shouted. "Did your PE teacher teach you Chinese?"

Ilan cried even harder, but at the same time quickened her pace and ran outside.

Someone tried to stop Ilan.

Lin Ye roared, "Who the hell is moving?! Want to get shot?!"

No one moved after that.

Yilan ran out of the hospital unharmed, leaving only Lin Ye and the infected people inside.

The atmosphere became strange.

Lin Ye slowly lowered the gun and took out cigarettes and matches from his other pocket. The pet shop owner had given them to him a year ago, and since he didn't smoke, he had kept them until now, but now he wanted to have a smoke.

Flames licked at the cigarette, and white smoke rose little by little, forming a white curtain between Lin Ye and the infected.

Lin Ye observed the infected individuals through the "veil".

Then slowly exhale the smoke.

When he was in middle school, he secretly smoked, and his father found out and beat him half to death.

My dad said, "If you miss, then keep smoking."

So now he smokes.

He felt that the gates of hell had opened to him, and the whispers of demons echoed.

He's all alone!

"There's only one gun, and six bullets! Just six bullets! We only have three left at most!"

The infected people realized what was happening, started shouting at each other, and became restless again.

Lin Ye sneered.

“I didn’t have six bullets. I didn’t have any from the beginning. I only had three in total,” Lin Ye said. “Now, I only have one left.”

As he spoke, he popped open the magazine, showing everyone the single bullet inside. Before anyone could understand what he meant, he shoved the magazine back in and pressed the hammer.

He then raised the gun again and aimed it at the crowd.

"So, which of you wants to be the only one who gets killed?"

He asked this question.

Chapter Twelve: Even heroes can be saved by beautiful beast-eared girls.

The last bullet. Anyone want to try?

When Lin Ye uttered those words, the infected who were about to riot suddenly calmed down considerably. After all, they hadn't completely lost their minds and knew very well that the first one to rush forward would likely suffer the same fate as the blond-haired man and the infected who had threatened Ilan. Although infected who had lost their minds were indeed more frenzied than ordinary people—otherwise, they wouldn't have dared to go looking for trouble with the Chernobog police and military with sticks—they could indeed be reckless in a fight, but that didn't mean they didn't value their lives.

At least, they were unwilling to give up their lives on that last bullet.

In their view, nothing could be more humiliating than dying from the veterinarian's last bullet.

So they pushed and shoved each other, saying things like, "He only has one bullet left, don't be afraid," but none of them dared to step forward. Perhaps it was because their leader, the blond-haired guy, had been killed. With their leader dead, could the planned riot still proceed smoothly? They didn't know, so they were somewhat confused, which made them even more unwilling to follow the blond-haired guy to hell at this critical juncture.

This led to the following scene at Chernobog's Third Hospital.

A veterinarian, covered in blood, managed to hold off more than a dozen thugs with only the last bullet in his pistol. Even after the cigarette in his mouth burned out, not a single thug dared to take a step forward.

This is also the result Lin Ye wanted.

In his view, these infected people, though called thugs, were really just a bunch of hooligans at best. Like those "emo" kids from his middle school days who rode their electric bikes and waited at the school gate every day—wearing tight pants, dyeing their hair in all sorts of colors, smoking ten-yuan cigarettes, looking all cocky and arrogant, whistling at pretty female students, and then getting chased away by the security guards at the school gate. The difference between these guys and Lin Ye's middle school "emo" kids was that Lin Ye thought the "emo" kids were mentally ill, but these guys were genuinely mentally ill—in short, idiots.

But unlike those truly insane infected thugs who would stop at nothing to avenge society, these infected are at most just a bunch of cowardly thugs who bully the weak. For these thugs, all you need to do is take out their leader and then act even more insane than they do.

As for what happens next, they'll just mess things up on their own.

As Lin Ye had predicted, after some debate, none of the thugs were willing to be the first to speak up, so the first thug left.

Like an hourglass, once the first grain of sand falls, the rest can't be stopped. One grain carries away two, two carry away four, four carry away eight.

After Ilan left, the later infected were unwilling to riot with the original infected. They exchanged glances, then helped each other away. In fact, if they had regained some sense, they would have realized that rioting was the worst possible option. Receiving treatment and being isolated could at least save their lives, while rioting would only result in one thing: dying at the hands of the Chernobyl military and police, just as they had treated the infected when they were still non-infected.

Soon, half of the infected people were gone from the corridor.

Seeing this, Lin Ye remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he breathed a sigh of relief. Although he acted recklessly, he was actually quite afraid of dying. After all, he had already died once, and he didn't want to die so easily this time. He had finally managed to reach Rhodes Island and meet the beautiful, well-built horned girl… In short, he was about to embark on a wonderful life. The gloom of the past two years was about to dissipate, and the dawn sun had already pierced through the clouds. There were countless metaphors to describe Lin Ye's feelings at this moment. Even though he was a science and engineering student who wasn't particularly expressive, he still felt like a charming poet.

Then, a shot rang out.

It rang suddenly without any warning.

Like a thunderclap suddenly sounding in the dead of night.

An infected person who was about to leave suddenly had their head explode, splattering blood everywhere. Their body continued to move forward, but after staggering a few steps, they collapsed onto the person in front of them.

Lin Ye was stunned.

Because it wasn't him who fired the shot; his last bullet was still lying obediently in the magazine. However, as the "only" person with a gun at the scene, the infected naturally turned their attention to him once again. Lin Ye felt countless eyes staring at him. He also noticed that these eyes had become filled with violence and frenzy.

Lin Ye immediately raised his hands and shouted, "I didn't fire the gun!"

However, his voice was immediately drowned out by another person's shout, "He's out of bullets, kill him!" He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a thin man tuck a black pistol into his clothes, smile at him, revealing yellow teeth, and then turn and leave.

“It’s him…” Lin Ye pointed at the man, but it was no use; he didn’t have time to defend himself.

Gunshots and blood extinguished the last vestiges of reason in these infected individuals, who paid no attention to the man who slipped away from them. Their sole focus was on their only "enemy."

He's out of bullets!

The thugs had evolved into thugs, wielding iron bars and axes, and charged at him madly. For some unknown reason, the infected who had already left the hospital returned, and in an instant, this place that should have been a sanctuary for healing and saving lives became a living hell.

"Damn it!" Lin Ye cursed loudly, wishing he could tear that man to pieces. But there was nothing he could do; the man had already escaped. Lin Ye could only fire the last bullet from his gun into the head of a thug who wanted to kill him.

Then he ran out of bullets, but there were still many, many thugs who wanted to kill him.

At this point, Lin Ye had no choice but to use his signature skill: Taekwondo.

Because he was physically weak from a young age, Lin Ye's parents sent him to a taekwondo gym when he was very young. He studied at the gym for two years and can still remember the moves.

Facing the ferocious enemy, he struck a pose and shouted, "You're good!"

He possesses the aura of a martial arts master.

Then he was knocked down with a single punch, and his nose was broken.

Lin Ye staggered back a few steps, feeling dizzy and unsteady, as his body had truly reached its limit. He could only watch helplessly as the thug in front of him raised his axe and brought it down on his head.

Then, a white figure suddenly blocked his way, along with a tail that was raised high.

Lin Ye's consciousness was already blurred. He was too weak to stand and unable to think. In the last second before he collapsed, he reached out as if by reflex, trying to grab something, and ended up grabbing that furry tail.

Then, a pair of pure golden pupils appeared in my field of vision, as if burning with angry flames.

So pretty... a beast-eared girl.

This was Lin Ye's last thought before losing consciousness.

Chapter Thirteen: Why did you try to grab her tail?

What do people think about when they are dying?

Lin Ye had never experienced death before, because his first death was so sudden. He was completely unprepared when he hastily left the world he had lived in for twenty years, leaving behind the family who had been with him for twenty years. He thought he would never have the chance to go back, but unexpectedly, in a daze, he heard his mother's voice, a soft sob.

He opened his eyes and raised his head.

The summer sun is always so dazzling.

The sound of cicadas filled my ears.

His mother stood beside him, wiping away tears with one hand and holding a medical record in the other. He instinctively wanted to grab his mother's hand, but found that he had to look up at her, because he was only half as tall as her.

"Mommy, Mommy," he said in his childish voice, "Why are you crying?"

His mother wiped away her tears and forced a smile at him: "No, the doctor said you are healthy. Let's go home."

Then his mother took his hand and they walked down the quiet street.

The young boy was curious and restless, and soon he spotted a snow-white stray cat rummaging for food in a pile of garbage on the street corner. He immediately let go of his mother's hand and ran towards the stray cat, his mother calling his name behind him, but she couldn't stop him.

Hearing the noise, the stray cat looked up at Lin Ye, then wriggled its tail and left.

"Kitty, kitty," he called out, hoping the white cat would stop.

His mother caught up with him, grabbed his hand, and said angrily, "What are you doing? Running around in the street, do you want to get a beating?"

“But there’s a cat there,” he said, pointing to the pile of garbage.

“There are stray cats everywhere,” the mother said. “What do you want to do?”