The girl in the room suddenly lifted her head, staring at Zhang Min through the glass.

Even her eyes were a light gray, tinged with a bit of pale bluish-gray, like the gloomy sky outside the window, devoid of any light or color.

Zhang Min's heart trembled slightly, and she couldn't help but ask, "Who is she?"

"That's not for you to ask. Time's up, we have many more experimental tasks today."

The man didn't linger, and Zhang Min could only follow him forward, but her eyes lingered on the girl with reluctance.

She suddenly noticed the girl's eyes following her direction.

'Can she see me?'

...

The bed in the laboratory was very narrow and hard, equipped with various apparatuses for binding hands and feet.

The cold metal stimulated her skin, causing goosebumps to rise.

Lying on it felt like being a little white mouse.

No, she was a white mouse.

An elderly male voice interrupted Zhang Min's daydreaming, "Experiment number 0135 begins for the 46th time."

Before she could react, her arm was held down by rubber gloves, and cold iodine solution was spread on it. The next moment, a segment of cold touch pierced the skin, accompanied by the injection of liquid, the coldness seeped into her bones.

Zhang Min bit her lower lip tightly, human shadows wavering under the bright light.

But for some reason, she felt as though beneath each mask was Su Huan's smiling face.

A restlessness growing from deep within her bones slowly engulfed her consciousness.

Vaguely, some sounds appeared by her ears.

"Evolving… The experimenter is experiencing an increased heart rate, rapid breathing…"

"Same as the previous ones."

"It might fail again."

"Record it, adjust the approach."

"..."

She felt her memory beginning to blur.

Eighteen years of life's details were all being lost.

Whether happy or sorrowful.

But for some reason, that damned man's appearance became increasingly clear.

So clear it burned her body.

'Conductor, I will survive and then prepare a big surprise for you…'

...

"This is a gun, these are bullets, put the bullets in the magazine, and the magazine in the gun."

"Alright, you are now an excellent warrior; you can head onto the battlefield."

Lin Jin didn't expect this joke to be real.

Not only did it happen in the real world, but it also happened to him.

Of course, it wasn't as exaggerated as the joke described.

However, the Steel Council trained them for just three days—exactly three days!

The first day was about group assignments, meeting their superiors, and understanding various orders to avoid friendly fire incidents.

The second day was learning about the weapons, which was actually just an old rifle older than he was, capable of firing only five bullets at once. Who knows where they dug it out from.

The only good news was that this rifle could fire semi-automatically.

Though a five-round semi-auto was not much use in this era.

Everyone was given one set of bullets, which was all they had for both training and combat.

So after using several rounds to get a feel for it, Lin Jin stopped wasting them.

On the third morning, they were taught some tips on recognizing zombies, and by noon, they were thrown onto the battlefield in Changli County.

A partner with a watch in the team told them it was January 5th, the second day Lin Jin and the other survivors were thrown onto the battlefield.

The artillery fire at the front remained intense.

Even when they hid in buildings to sleep, they were often awakened by the sound of machine gun fire and the roars of zombies.

Not only did they have to guard against Tier One Zombies that might break through the defenses at any time, but they also had to constantly beware of being eroded by acid rain.

Many survivors had already started to flee, including the only guy with a watch standing in front of him.

Lin Jin analyzed seriously, "The Steel Council isn't a charity; since they gave us supplies and threw us onto the battlefield, they must have measures to prevent us from escaping."

The guy opposite him was draped in a piece of rain gear; it would be more appropriate to call it a rain tarp.

It was the skin torn from several umbrellas, sewn together to form a raincoat, offering poor rain protection and often left wet from seeping rainwater.

But it also shielded the skin from direct acid rain erosion.

There was nothing anyone could do; the entire Changli County had been scoured clean of raincoats by survivors.

The man clutched a map in his hands, his expression tense, and pointed to a location on it saying, "I heard that the line of defense here was breached by a Tier One Butcher yesterday, the commander was killed, and many people are planning to escape through here."

Seeing Lin Jin about to speak, the man quickly raised his hand, "I know, I know, there'll definitely be special attention from above there, I don't plan to go that way, I'm going to slip along the lines into Changli County's interior, as long as I'm careful enough, I'll definitely have a chance to get out."

Lin Jin thought it over and sighed, "There's indeed some hope, but you're very likely to die."

The man clutched the map tightly, almost squeezing water out of it.

"You don't understand, my mother only has one son, I have to go back, I must go back alive!"

Lin Jin sighed softly, who doesn't have family?

He handed over his spare bullets to the man.

Finally, he figured out why the Steel Council didn't issue them more bullets.

Even armed, they were just a bunch of running meat in front of the zombies.

By now, thirty percent of the original survivors had perished; rifle bullets were scattered everywhere, just collecting from the corpses was enough.

He watched as each person went up to collect, managing to gather three loads of ammunition.

Plus the three teammates who died today left him with three more rifles and a set of ammo.

The man stared blankly at him, murmuring, "Thank you."

"When are you leaving?"

"Tonight, the new leader arrives tomorrow morning; I won't have a chance then."

"Okay, don't worry, anyway, most of our team is dead, no one will care if there's one more or one less of you."

"Thank you."

The comrade said "thank you" many times tonight, as if to soothe his inner unease.

In the middle of the night, Lin Jin saw him stand up.

He didn't speak, squinting in the dark to watch the figure.

The man stayed dazed for a long time, then approached Lin Jin, standing in front of him for a long time, making his hair stand on end.

Lin Jin vaguely understood what the other was thinking.

But in the end, the man didn't do anything.

It was unclear whether these last few days of fighting camaraderie or a pack of bullets had an effect.

After checking his equipment, the man left a small item beside Lin Jin and left the room.

After five minutes, when Lin Jin could no longer hear footsteps outside, he opened his eyes.

Groping to the side in the dark.

Soon, his palm felt a small, fingernail-sized piece of solid material.

With the weak light, he could barely make out that it was a Crystal Stone.

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