It's not hard to find a "bank" that can exchange business vouchers, and we're still in the most prosperous business district of Wanxiang City. We didn't have many bullets with us when we came, and unfortunately the bullets of the shotgun I used were not standard bullets or universal currency bullets, Zhang Xiaoying used cold weapons, and it was completely unnecessary for her to carry bullets. In desperation, we had to rummage through our backpacks to find anything valuable to sell. After searching for a long time, I found two boxes of antibiotics, Zhang Xiaoying did not find any previous equipment, but unexpectedly found three 7.62 bullets missing in her backpack. Wei Jiahui told us at that time that a 7.62 mm or 9 mm bullet was equivalent to five yuan of universal bills, and sure enough, we got a 15 yuan bill. Zhang Xiaoying wouldn't let me finish changing two boxes of antibiotics, so we exchanged one box of antibiotics for a twenty-yuan commercial coupon at the pharmacy.

After a full meal, there was still some money left over in exchange for the business coupons, so in order not to miss the time, the two of us wandered aimlessly and found a good seat on the first floor, which was called the theater by the residents of Wanxiang, and planned to wait for Liu Yijing and us to meet us while watching the performance.

If you guessed correctly, this theater performance should be a popular form of leisure and entertainment in Wanxiang City. When we first arrived, there were quite a few people wandering around the area, and after only five minutes, as the music started, the crowd began to crowd a little. It seems that the stage for the performance was set up in this location before the crisis broke out, and I remember that in the past, whenever there was an exhibition and sales event in Wanxiang City, it would be held here, and as for the lighting and sound, I think it was moved from the movie theater on the fifth floor. The performance is still more formal, with the host announcing the curtain and all kinds of provocative music. However, the performance is a bit monotonous, and it is not even an exaggeration to describe it as singular and boring. First it was a simple dance with a flutter of sleeves, then a magic trick full of flaws, then a guitar solo with a slightly rusty fingering, and now a skit that I didn't know the plot yet. If I were watching the play here alone, I would have walked away without any ambiguity.

However, Zhang Xiaoying watched with relish, I have never seen her smile so happily, her shining eyes are like the brightest stars in the dark night, the corners of her mouth are slightly upturned and the bright moon is blurred, and the clear laughter is like hearing a pleasant and rhythmic guitar music on a sunny morning.

Unconsciously, I was so engrossed that I didn't notice that I had turned my head to Zhang Xiaoying in a daze very obviously, and it wasn't until she realized that I realized how stupid I was.

"Hey, are you alright?" Zhang Xiaoying shook her palms in front of me, and the skit on the stage, which seemed boring to me, amused her, completely forgetting the tension of several hours.

"Oh, me? It's okay, I just didn't understand the joke of this sketch. I smiled in agreement.

"Huh? No way? You really don't have a sense of humor. "The performers on stage seemed to tell another joke, and the audience laughed, and Zhang Xiaoying was no exception, but I looked around like an outlier from another world. Zhang Xiaoying threw a wink at me while covering her mouth and smiled, "I don't know how a wooden person like you can have such a good relationship with an active guy like Du Yuheng." ”

"Huh? Actually, I don't know. ”

"Are you sure it's worth risking to come to Wanxiang City for him?"

"Hmm...... I guess so......"

My hesitation caught Zhang Xiaoying's attention, and she dropped the "good show" on the stage and turned to look at me and said, "You are such a strange guy." If you want me to see, you didn't come to Wanxiang City entirely for Du Yuheng. ”

"Why do you say that?"

"The reason is very simple, I saw it when I was in Tianyang, you are a doer, he is a dreamer; His naïve ideas are often at odds with your pragmatism. In other words, your path will not be the same. ”

"So what? Yuheng and I are sometimes a little conflicted, but this does not affect our relationship. ”

"That's just what you think now. I don't mean to drive a wedge between you two brothers, but I can believe that in your eyes, Wanxiang City is more likely to solve this crisis than Qingshan, which is more tempting to you. ”

Could it be that Zhang Xiaoying said it? My whole body suddenly trembled involuntarily for some reason. In fact, our experiences in Tianyang and later have made me see the cruelty of this world. Du Yuheng's naivety is indeed unrealistic, in the aftermath of the jungle, it is impossible for us to save everyone around us who are barely self-preservation, and if necessary, we should even take our own survival as the highest criterion. Although it is selfish, we have to face this fact, and Yuheng can't. That's why he and I sometimes have disagreements. To be honest, if it were him, I don't think he would have come to Wanxiang City with Liu Yijing at that time, after all, after finding out that she was a scavenger, we had no reason to believe her words and promises. But now it seems that Liu Yijing may be right, and I may also get the medicine that cures Du Yuheng and may even cure the world.

Just when I was deep in thought, Zhang Xiaoying suddenly woke me up and said to me in a serious voice: "But one thing you have to admit is that sometimes people like Du Yuheng will make a more correct choice than you, although it may be a ridiculous decision in your eyes. ”

"So what do you think I should do?"

"It's simple. I believe in Du Yuheng, use your reason to ensure that his decision will not be wrong, and the decision made by the two of you will be the most correct choice. The performance on the stage seemed to have come to an end, and the audience was sending off the actors, and Zhang Xiaoying and I, who were looking at each other, were particularly out of place with the surroundings at this time, her eyes once again sent out a sharp gaze to pull my attention, who knew that she suddenly changed her words, turned her head and said, "But for now, let's see if there is a way to get any cheap from Wanxiang City, this is the top priority." ”

"Well, listen to you."

"Oh, did you obey Sister Xiaoying so quickly?" Liu Yijing's slightly provocative words came from behind me and Zhang Xiaoying, and when we saw her, she had already come to us, and the scavenger driver Liu Yong stood behind her, "What a good man, classmate Huang Weizheng." ”

Compared with my embarrassed bowing, Zhang Xiaoying's response was more domineering. "It's called trust in friends, not like some people think this precious thing is a fart."

"Tut-tut, that's a bit hurtful." Liu Yijing shook her head, deliberately put on a sad appearance, turned around and stretched out her hand to us, "Come on, the city lord said he wanted to see you." ”

Zhang Xiaoying and I motioned for Liu Yijing to lead the way, but Liu Yong lowered his head and whispered to her, "Then I'll go first." ”

"Well, be careful." Liu Yijing patted Liu Yong on the shoulder, and her tone was different from usual, it sounded like the relationship between the two of them was not ordinary.

Liu Yong nodded and left, and Liu Yijing turned her head and regained her previous expression and looked at us contemptuously. "Let's go."

Liu Yijing shook her hair, walked in front of me and Zhang Xiaoying to lead the way, and greeted the scavengers passing by from time to time. I have been paying attention to the people who greet Liu Yijing everywhere I go, and secretly planning in my heart the best escape route in the event of an accident.

At this time, Zhang Xiaoying, who was beside me, asked Liu Yijing coldly: "Do you have a good relationship with this person?" ”

"It's okay, it's mostly because I'm in charge here." Liu Yijing smiled disapprerovingly.

"But you don't seem to have a relationship with the driver who drove us here."

As soon as Zhang Xiaoying said this, the smile on Liu Yijing's face suddenly became a little stiff, she hesitated for a moment, and finally said calmly: "That's right, little sister, you're right." But I hope you don't speculate about other people's relationships here in the future, there will be trouble. ”

Liu Yijing's words were obviously threatening Zhang Xiaoying, but Zhang Xiaoying had never eaten this. "He came to us with you with a backpack and a change of clothes. Looks like you're going somewhere. ”

"This is the mission arrangement of Wanxiang City, and our lives are also very busy."

Liu Yijing's face was already a little ugly. Seeing this, I secretly bumped into Zhang Xiaoying's toes, and she also understood, shrugged her shoulders and smiled and said to Liu Yijing: "Okay, I hope you can arrange an easy job for the two of us in the future." ”

"Maybe." Liu Yijing turned her head with a sneer and continued to lead the way for us.

Thankfully, the two of them didn't continue to insinuate or embarrass each other, and I guess we can at least meet the "city lord" of this place safely.

Inadvertently, I noticed that there were more or less some electrical appliances that could be used, from the loudspeakers of the performance just now, to the walkie-talkies used by people, and even the electric lights for lighting seemed to be usable. Solar energy has solved the power supply problem for Wanxiang City, but Liu Yijing told us that the entire shopping mall has only partially restored electricity, and the high-power equipment such as elevators is naturally unusable.

In Wanxiang City, each floor is connected by emergency stairs, vertical elevators and escalators, and in addition to the vertical elevators, the other two passages are guarded by waste pickers, even the first and second floors of civilian settlements. Since the floors above the third floor are controlled areas, the checkpoints between the passages are also more stringent.

Liu Yijing took Zhang Xiaoying and me to the third floor by escalator, and as soon as we came to this floor, we saw guards guarding the entrance of the passage and scavengers everywhere. Liu Yijing revealed the identities of herself and us, the two strangers, and the guards politely let us go.

Most of the shops on the third floor have now been converted into storage warehouses, and through the glass, I can see the materials stored inside. Although Wanxiang City advocates free trade, their leadership still maintains a certain strategic reserve, such as potable water, some food that can be stored for a long time, and maybe even weapons and ammunition, which I think they have hoarded quite a lot. In addition to the warehouse, the other shop rooms on the third floor should be the war department that Liu Yijing told us before. In this high-security area, the people walking around were carrying weapons, most of them shoddy earthen weapons, except for the room we came to, the scavengers guarding this room were all regular military and police weapons, and they were obviously taller than the other guards. Although most of the shops in Wanxiang City are small rooms separated by glass, the glass in this room is curtain-closed, and just standing outside, you won't know what the people inside are doing.

Liu Yijing didn't say anything to the guard, just pointed to the door of the room with her chin, and the guard opened the door honestly. It wasn't until we walked into the room and the guard closed the door that Liu Yijing said to the man who was sitting on a desk full of various decorations, talking to a tall, thin man in a white coat and wearing glasses: "Brother Xing, the person you want to see is here." ”

The man sitting on the work whispered a few more words to the man in the white coat, then shook his hand and motioned for him to step down, and then clapped his hands, jumped off the table like a rock singer, and smiled: "Oh, it's coming so soon!" Sit, sit, sit, sit. ”

The man named Brother Xing invited me and Zhang Xiaoying to sit down on the two leather chairs in front of the desk, and he jumped back to sit on the edge of the desk and crossed Erlang's legs, waiting for the man in the white coat to leave the office before continuing: "You two are Huang Weizheng and Zhang Xiaoying, right?" Welcome to Wanxiang City, how about it? It's better than you think, right? ”

I just wanted to respond politely to his question, but I didn't expect Zhang Xiaoying to answer first: "As far as we can see so far, it's okay." ”

"Ahaha, what a demanding girl." The man sat on the table, looked at me and Zhang Xiaoying carefully for a moment, then sat up a little upright, and introduced himself, "Oh, I forgot to say, my name is Zhang Xing, and everyone here calls me Brother Xing or the city lord, and I personally think it is more appropriate to call me Brother Xing." ”

After listening to his self-introduction, Zhang Xiaoying and I didn't react, which made the atmosphere a little awkward. Zhang Xinggan laughed twice, jumped off the table, and finally walked to the large leather chair behind the desk and sat down. Zhang Xing's age should be around thirty or forty years old, and he is not small, although he is relatively thin and thin, his figure still looks relatively well-proportioned in a thick brown jacket. His dark skin made me a little confused by his long eyebrows, but his tone and grinning teeth made me feel like I was talking to a failed clown.

Zhang Xing changed his tone and smiled: "Okay, then let's talk straight." I heard Sister Liu say just now, you two are here in Wanxiang City to find a way to treat your friends, right? ”

"yes, do you have any way to do it?" Since the other party said so, I simply got straight to the point.

"Did you just see that big brother in a white coat? He is Dr. Lu Huaxiong, and most of the information Wanxiangcheng has about the crisis virus is the result of him and his research team. "I didn't expect that the unattractive man just now was Lu Huaxiong, although judging from his clothes, I also guessed that he was a scientific researcher or a medical personnel, but I still didn't expect him to be the doctor who had a deeper study of HTS89. Zhang Xing said and handed us a few research reports with various medical parameters written on the table, "Alas, I'm sorry, my education level is not high, this report was given to me by Dr. Lu just now, do you two want to take a look." ”

"A new variant of the HTS89 virus, HTS89R...... The original virus structure has added a mutant structure, which has caused varying degrees of impact on the human nerve center, and the clinical symptoms are nausea and vomiting, sweating, and nosebleeds...... There is a possibility of heat stroke symptoms such as dehydration, and some patients are unable to walk, and the cause is not known for the time being...... Walking can be resumed through the treatment of pre-HTS89-like symptoms, but the virus cannot be eliminated, and the virus enters a temporary incubation period...... "I took this report and unconsciously whispered it intermittently, and the more I read it, the more I felt that my breathing was uncontrollable, until I let go of this heavy report. I turned my head helplessly to look at Zhang Xiaoying, who was holding her hand on my shoulder and trying to comfort me, then looked back at Zhang Xing, and tried my best to restrain my emotions and asked knowingly, "......What is this report?"

"You see our new enemy." Zhang Xing leaned back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders and said, "There are currently several cases of such patients in Wanxiang City......

"And then?"

"What else is going to happen if you're dead?" Zhang's casual attitude made me angry, and perhaps he sensed my excitement, and before I could get out of control, he added, "However, Dr. Lu has done research on these patients, and he seems to have found a cure for this virus. ”

"Hmph, it looks like we've met a Nobel laureate in medicine."

Seeing Zhang Xiaoying's look of disbelief, Zhang Xing said again: "If there is still this award, I guess it may be him." According to Dr. Lu, this variant is easier to disintegrate than the HTS89 prototype because of its redundant enzyme structure. ”

"I still don't understand, how did Yuheng get sick? None of us were bitten, and everyone's actions were basically the same, so why was he the only one who could be infected? ”

Zhang Xing twisted his head slightly nervously and stared at the big eyes and said, "You ask me, who do I ask?" Dr. Lu currently believes it is a wound infection. ”

"Wound infection?"

"That's right, the infected people are all wounded soldiers, and their wounds are relatively large and have not been cleaned in time."

In this way, I do have the impression that when I was in Tianyang, Yu Heng didn't know why he was scratched a deep wound behind his back, and the doctor was worried that it would be a scratch from a mutant, but after it was determined that it was not a mutant's injury, we were all relieved, but we didn't expect that the injury still infected him with the virus.

"Okay, okay, I've told you everything, what are your plans?" Zhang Xing cocked Erlang's legs again and said, "If Dr. Lu makes a vaccine over there, I will definitely bring it back to you to save people, I support it!" ”

"Thank you so much."

"Wait! Don't thank you so early. I knew that Zhang Xing would definitely have this sentence, "Tell me about this friend of yours, I heard that he is very special." ”

What kind of medicine is sold in Zhang Xing's gourd? He should have learned Yu Heng's identity from Liu Yijing, so what did he want to do?

"His name is Du Yuheng...... Like me, he is a student and a friend of mine. ”

"Uh-huh, I know that." Zhang Xing was obviously not satisfied with my answer, and like a reader who hastily skipped the prologue and went straight to the point, he prompted me, "But he still seems to be a soldier, right?" ”

"Yes......"

"Hey, then I'm curious, aren't you both students? Why did he suddenly become a soldier? I heard that he was appointed by some field commander, what is this Du Yuheng's ability? Zhang Xing was lying on the table like a child listening to a story, expecting me to continue, but seeing that I was a little hesitant, he deliberately said, "Oh, by the way, I remembered, that unit is called the China Emergency Investigation and Search and Rescue Brigade, right?" Your friend seems to be a lieutenant, well, that's quite a military rank. ”

In fact, Zhang Xing's knowingly asked sentence after sentence obviously to find out Yu Heng's secret from me, what a hell, I knew that I shouldn't have reported the identity of this daredevil. Fortunately, now Zhang Xingming has decided that the only way to treat Yu Heng can be exchanged for information on the mission he is performing. Although this Zhang Xing looks casual, I can feel from his eyes that he is not simple, and the face under his hypocritical smiling mask makes people shudder all the time. If I lie casually, it is very likely that he will see through it, and then it is basically impossible to talk about helping to treat Yu Heng's illness.

"The field commander asked him to bring the virus intelligence from the front line back to Nanning and hand it over to the commander of the emergency investigation and search and rescue team in Nanning." Weighing the pros and cons, I still decided to tell Zhang Xing Zhenxiang, at least I can use this to temporarily guarantee the hope of saving Yu Heng, as for his safety in the future, I can make plans in the future, and Yu Heng is in Qingshan, forgive Zhang Xing has not the ability to easily shake Qingshan.

"Oh, I see." Zhang Xing got the answer he wanted, nodded and said, "I thought there would be some more exciting stories, okay, we don't care about this kind of task of sending chicken feather letters." I don't know when the vaccine will come out of that variant, but I'll let you know as soon as the results are available, so you'll live in Wanxiang City for the time being. Sister Liu will arrange a place for you to live. ”

Zhang Xiaoying and I followed Liu Yijing out of Zhang Xing's office, and the conversation went well, at least we didn't run in vain, but I always had a bad premonition. In fact, since they were separated from Wei Hong and them in the third middle school, this feeling has been lingering. I looked back and saw that the glass curtains of Zhang's office had been pulled back, and he was standing there smiling and waving to me as if he were looking at his close friend, which made me feel quite uncomfortable.

There was another burst of laughter from the theater on the first floor, whether it was to laugh at my worries or at the stupidity of what I did......