Nelson took a deep sniff, even pulling down his mask to inhale sharply. Then, with a blank expression, he pointed at the man in front of them and said, "Don't go near him. He's carrying the plague." Nelson's words left Caroline and Tyler both stunned. Right then, they noticed that next to the man, more than ten people suddenly stood up! They'd all been sprawled on the ground just like corpses, not moving at all. Now, every single one of them was pushing themselves up, reaching out toward Caroline's group. "Help me!" "Help me!" "Help me!" Their hoarse voices echoed in the street. Their skin was rotting in patches, and they were so thin they looked like walking skeletons. As they walked, flesh and skin slid from their bodies, making the scene even more horrific. Nelson calmly pointed at the group and spoke again. "They're all infected with the plague." With that, he put his mask back on. But Caroline noticed that, just during those few seconds without the mask, red welts had flared up on Nelson's face, and his skin was starting to peel. Thanks to his strong mutant ability, he healed up almost instantly. Within moments, his skin returned to normal. Everyone quickly backed away, trying to get as far as possible from the infected. They didn't realize this wasn't the first group of plague victims to show up at the shelter gates. Just half an hour earlier, three others had been dumped even closer to the entrance. Those three had been hauled in for treatment by the guards on duty. Now, in the shelter's clinic, Summer Sinclair—better known as Dr. Sinclair—weakly raised her arm, biting her lip as she stared at the herbs laid out before her. Her flesh had started to rot.The two soldiers who dragged in the sick people were also showing signs of infection. She'd locked the clinic door tight. She knew this was some kind of plague. But outside the shelter, along the route those infected people were carried in, others had already been exposed. Luckily, since they were farther away, they hadn't gotten much of the virus. One man scratched his skin and found he was bleeding. He didn't think much of it and kept calling to the others, "Come on, let's go eat!" Watching all of this from downstairs, Caroline searched her memory for any sign of an outbreak like this. But I don't remember anything like this happening in my past life! Not even Mr. Crow ever mentioned something like this. That made her uneasy and worried. If there had been such a major plague outbreak, how come I have no recollection of it at all? Unless ... the area infected was small, and not a single person made it out alive. What none of them knew was that, on a rooftop not far away, a few people in hazmat suits and masks were relaxing and watching the infected below shuffle around like zombies. One man grinned, "Well, they should blame themselves for putting the shelter so close to our turf. I only planned to use the virus this once." Another was spraying disinfectant on his suit. When he finished, he took off his mask. "Once all these people die ... heh, every bit of their supplies will be ours. I'll give it two days, tops. No one will survive." Nelson told Caroline and Tyler that he wanted them to catch him a test subject for his experiments. "This has to be some kind of virus. We need to find a way to wipe it out fast! But don't ever take your mask off or remove your protective suit. We still don't know how it spreads." Caroline and Tyler nodded and moved toward the infected. Just then, a bright voice rang out from nearby, "Tyler, Caroline, Nelson, what are you doing down there? Why aren't you coming up?" All three turned. Denton was happily bouncing in his rat king suit, minus the headpiece. Behind him, dozens of mutant rats were in tow. Caroline and Tyler felt a sense of dread rise up immediately. Tyler rushed forward, yelling, "Don't come over!" Denton obeyed out of pure reflex, freezing in place. But a few of the mutant rats didn't get the memo and charged forward anyway. Some of the infected, still shuffling forward, ran right into the mutant rats.