Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars

Chapter 153: Chapter 152: I Have a Folk Remedy

Lin Fan hadn’t planned on contacting them this early, but the current situation left him no choice.

The old man in the armored vehicle was clearly one of the people they referred to as "Colonel Zhou’s group."

Since they were the man’s teammates, Lin Fan felt a natural affinity for them.

Anyone who could make it all the way here from the Jishan quarantine zone had to be an elite.

To avoid getting shot the moment he showed his face, it was better to feel them out first.

Since they had mentioned "Qingzhou," and the old man had also mentioned "Ye Qingzhou," Lin Fan assumed they were the same person and decided to bring up his "acquaintance."

CLICK. It was the soft sound of a pistol’s safety being switched off.

"Who are you?"

Zhang Wenyuan asked calmly.

"A concerned citizen. A friend of Ye Qingzhou’s..."

A hand appeared outside the window and gave a little wave, followed by Lin Fan’s figure in the window frame.

"He’s not going to make it. I have an unorthodox remedy. Want to give it a try?"

...

The light from a tactical flashlight mounted on a rifle barely illuminated the unfamiliar living room.

Zhang Wenyuan watched the man and woman standing in the room warily.

The man looked to be in his twenties—very young. The woman was barely older than Cyan Bird.

And now, the man was holding a transparent Crystal Ball in front of him.

On the floor, Wang Zhong had already lost consciousness, groaning in pain as his bound hands and feet thrashed about.

"Do you recognize this?"

Lin Fan held out his hand and asked the man before him.

"Are you really Colonel Ye’s friend? And a doctor?"

Zhang Wenyuan thought back. When Wang Zhong was still conscious, their conversation had mentioned Qingzhou, but not her surname, Ye. Yet this man had said her full name. At the very least, he truly knew her.

Seeing that Wang Zhong had lost consciousness and was on the brink of death, he couldn’t afford to overthink it.

Just as the man had said, if there was even a sliver of hope, he would take it!

So he nodded and said calmly:

"I recognize it. It comes from inside a Mutated Zombie. An Awakened One can consume it to increase their power. Since you have this, you must be..."

But his hand never loosened its grip on the large-caliber pistol, its safety already off.

"That’s right, I’m one too. I know this might be able to save him, but it’s just a research theory of mine..."

Lin Fan had lied on the spot about being Ye Qingzhou’s friend. He only revealed himself because he heard they were with her.

In reality, he was doing it out of respect for the old man in the armored vehicle. By extension, his impression of this Ye Qingzhou wasn’t bad either. But that was only one reason.

Based on his previous experiments with Liu Bin and the others, combined with his experience treating Chu Zhaozhao, he theorized that this round crystal was a kind of key—a key that could usher someone in a critical state through the gates of becoming an Awakened One.

The second reason was that he had just encountered a dying man whose will was so strong that he had forced himself into that critical state.

Lin Fan looked at the man before him. He was in his thirties, and though he looked utterly exhausted and demoralized, his eyes still held a sharp glint. He had the sharp, capable look of an elite.

He glanced at the middle-aged man on the floor, who wore the same uniform and gear. [44/105]...

His max Life Value had increased to 105, but at the same time, more and more threads were coiling around his health bar, and his Life Value was dropping lower and lower.

It wasn’t hard to deduce that his Life Value had become a countdown for that critical state. Once it hit zero, he would die and turn into a zombie.

"If you’re willing to use that thing for an experiment, I have no objections..."

After Lin Fan finished speaking, Zhang Wenyuan thought for only a few seconds before agreeing. He then knelt beside the man on the floor and touched his forehead.

"I agree on his behalf, too. The worst that can happen is death. What do I do?"

"Good..."

Seeing this, Lin Fan decisively tossed the orb into his hands.

"Feed it to him..."

Zhang Wenyuan caught the crystal. The moment he moved it toward his mouth, Wang Zhong, who was lying on the floor with a pained expression, seemed to sense something. He opened his mouth and turned his head toward the crystal.

"Way to go, Wang!"

He was overjoyed at the sight. With a flick of his wrist, he tipped the bead into Wang Zhong’s mouth.

After feeding him the "medicine," Zhang Wenyuan also sat cross-legged to the side. He placed his pistol on the coffee table and looked down at the man on the floor.

"URGH—AHHH—!"

Wang Zhong began to thrash violently on the floor, his body slamming between the coffee table and the sofa. The sound of THUDDING was incessant.

"Doctor, what’s happening!?"

Zhang Wenyuan didn’t pick up his pistol again. He just turned to look at Lin Fan, his eyes filled with nothing but worry.

This was the first time Lin Fan had experimented with this combination, too. He just frowned, observing the man’s health bar.

The instant the crystal was swallowed, faint blue threads began to grow from one end of his health bar, intertwining and fighting with the red threads.

But it was different from what had happened with Chu Zhaozhao. After she drank his blood, the golden threads in her health bar had become an unstoppable force after a short while, completely eradicating the red threads.

Now, however, though the red and blue threads clashed like fire and water, they were locked in a stalemate, with no clear victor.

Seeing this, Lin Fan took out another crystal and handed it over. ’If we’re going to experiment, we might as well see it through.’

Zhang Wenyuan took the crystal and tried to put it in Wang Zhong’s mouth, but his jaw was clenched tight amidst his pained struggles. He wouldn’t open his mouth no matter what, making it impossible to get it in!

"Try this one..." At the thought, Lin Fan pulled out a polygonal crystal and handed it over.

But it was still no use. He couldn’t pry the man’s mouth open to get it in.

"Stop trying. That’s probably not the issue..."

Lin Fan took the crystal back and returned it to his inventory.

Lin Fan believed that if another crystal would help, based on his recent experiences, the man would have opened his mouth for it. Since he didn’t, it meant it was useless.

He had ingested the crystal, and it had an effect. The fact that the red and blue were still locked in battle could only mean one thing.

"The crystal is already working. Its effects and the virus are at war inside his body. Whether he lives..."

As he spoke, he seemed to remember something. He pulled a silver-white syringe from his pocket and jabbed it directly into the man’s neck.

"...depends on if he can pull through on his own."

The serum took effect. The red threads were suddenly suppressed by another force, and the blue threads finally gained a slight advantage. Like infantry becoming cavalry, they began an all-out assault, strangling the red.

Wang Zhong’s struggles also weakened, and his condition seemed to stabilize a bit.

’I was so focused on the crystal experiment that I almost forgot about the serum,’ Lin Fan silently wiped the sweat from his brow.

The serum couldn’t play a decisive role, but it could give the body a small advantage for ten minutes.

In any case, he had just harvested a large batch of serums. He had plenty of the small vials in his pocket, so he wasn’t worried about using one up for an experiment.

Hearing Lin Fan’s words, Zhang Wenyuan’s eyes filled with joy. Although this doctor had appeared out of nowhere and was dressed suspiciously, his series of actions had produced symptoms in Wang Zhong that none of their other fallen brothers had ever shown!

What he feared most was that Wang Zhong would end up like their brothers before him—suffering only a minor injury, only to die silently and turn into a zombie.

But now, Wang Zhong was struggling, resisting, fighting!

If surviving meant enduring the pain, then he would definitely make it!

Zhang Wenyuan stood up, bent over, and with a great heave, pulled Wang Zhong from the floor onto the sofa. He pushed the coffee table aside to wedge him in place, letting him rest more comfortably.

There wasn’t much he could do, but at least he could do this.

"Is he going to be okay?"

Chu Zhaozhao stood behind Lin Fan. To prevent the soldier from suddenly lashing out, she had been using her ability to control the pistol’s trigger the entire time.

Because she didn’t know which part was the safety.

Fortunately, her contingency plan hadn’t been necessary. The man was easy to talk to, and with the situation seemingly resolved, she finally voiced her concern in a whisper.

"Probably..."

Lin Fan said, sounding a little uncertain as he watched the changes in the man’s health bar. He then looked at the soldier.

"I haven’t had the chance to ask for your name."

Lin Fan’s question made Zhang Wenyuan realize that in all their back-and-forth, they hadn’t introduced themselves. He quickly stood up, gave a sharp military salute, and said:

"Captain Zhang Wenyuan of the Jishan garrison. This is Major Wang Zhong..."