I Opened a Clinic in the Apocalypse

Word count: 1911

This night was bound to be rough. 

The zombies in South City were stirred up. It was as if there was some large-scale event that they were missing from. Their bodies were all a little incomplete.

Wen Qingling felt a faint sensation but he couldn’t describe how he felt about it.

Late at night, Wen Qingling moved the blood anemone queens into a large storage tank filled with the blood of mutant animals. Over and over, he injected his powers into them to speed up their maturation and make them bear seeds.

When Jiang Lan got up in the morning, what greeted her was a large basket full of black seeds, scaring her immensely.

She hurried over to check on the two blood anemone queens. Though they were induced to create seeds all night, they still seemed full of energy.

Jiang Lan touched their round abdomens in distress. “It’s been hard on you two, making so many babies at once. Have you been squeezed dry by my son?”

Wen Qingling: “…”

Jiang Lan began to scold her son. 

“Why are you bustling around without sleeping all night? Don’t accidentally kill the blood anemone queens!”

Wen Qingling: “You… Can you even fall asleep?”

Zombies did not sleep. They merely rested. The best time for rest should be during the day. 

To be more like humans, Wen Qingling’s parents had reversed their biological clock—sleeping at night and enjoying themselves during the day.

Jiang Lan: “Even if you can’t sleep, you have to sleep! We are good zombies!”

Wen Qingling: “Yes yes yes. I’ll reflect upon my mistakes and correct my behaviour. I will never exploit the blood anemone queens again.”

Hearing this, Jiang Lan finally let him go.

The two big blood anemone queens were like two egg-bearing hens to their family and had to be carefully raised.

Wen Qingling wanted to say that it was alright even if the blood anemone queens died while under their care.

All he needed to do was grow a few more with his blood. However, he dared not say so and could only resign himself to reflecting upon his actions and promising never to make the same mistake again.

The news that the South City base was captured by zombies soon spread to bases large and small.

Many small bases started to worry. The next base that the zombies attacked… Would it be their own?

The ones who dared to create a base on their own were all people who wanted to be the top dog. It was now the apocalypse. Who would want to listen to another’s order if they were powerful?

In the vicinity of Ling City, the largest survivor base was the Ling City base. If a small base wanted to join the Ling City base, their only choice was to be annexed.

It was estimated that the boss of a small base, in Ling City, could not even be considered the leader of a small squad.

The destruction of the South City base allowed Ling City base to recruit various small and medium-sized bases to develop and expand the Ling City base together.

No matter how turbulent it was outside, it was unable to affect the Wen Qingling in South City.

He was still in the clinic.

The brainwashing effect of his spiritual abilities was good. Almost all the ordinary zombies in South City had gained a trace of consciousness and knew to avoid cars. 

Some zombies, having been controlled a few more times, regained more of their consciousness and came to understand the importance of being an honourable zombie. 

Whenever this happened, the zombies would, of their own accord, head over to the clinic to change the way they lived.

Thanks to this, Wen Qingling earned a lot of crystal nuclei. Though the clinic’s policy allowed for payment after treatment, he had not seen any zombies refuse to pay up so far.

Though it was likely that the zombies dared not do so. After all, Father Wen would be quick to give them a lesson on how to be a good zombie.

On this day, a car rushed into South City, spinning around like a headless fly. The young man in the driver’s seat was sweating and looked very anxious. 

He was trying to find the clinic in South City that the woman had mentioned.

That woman took her son and stopped going out of the city to hunt, wanting to live a stable life and make a living by selling information.

However, there was nobody who believed her. Everyone thought that she was lying. After all, there was no way to remove zombie poison in the world.

Then the mother and son pair met Chang Boheng and Wen Chu. They were a couple who had been together before the start of the apocalypse. 

After the apocalypse started, the two of them supported each other till now. However, Wen Chu was bitten while on a mission.

Chang Boheng nearly went insane. He paid the sky-high price for information and followed that single trace of hope.

Chang Boheng drove the car past street after street. All he saw were zombies. There wasn’t a single trace of South City clinic.

Chang Boheng yelled hysterically. 

“Where’s South City clinic? Where’s South City clinic?!”

Wen Chu was slumped against the backrest. The zombie poison had already spread to her neck and her skin was filled with greenish-black patches. 

Her eyes were staring straight at Chang Boheng as if she wanted to burn his appearance into her memory.

Weakly, she mumbled, “Boheng… Boheng…”

“I’m here, baby, I’m here. Don’t be afraid, we’ll be able to find the clinic soon, hang tight just a little longer.”

Chang Boheng messily swiped at the tears falling from his eyes.

“After I’ve turned completely, I hope you can kill me. Don’t let me become a zombie, okay?”

“No, no, that won’t happen. Nothing’s going to happen to you!”

Wen Chu’s entire body was spasming. Black blood spewed from her mouth—a sign of the imminent completion of her transformation into a zombie.

Chang Boheng roughly stepped on the accelerator and rushed towards the zombie horde, loud, pained wails escaping his throat.

“I won’t kill you. I can’t kill you. If you become a zombie, I’ll stay by your side. I’ll become zombies together!”

At this moment, the horde of zombies suddenly retreated and created a small path.

Chang Boheng was stunned for a short moment. Speeding up further, he drove forward. The zombies automatically made way for them and created a path for the car to drive through.

The path formed by zombies extended to the entrance of the clinic.

Wen Qingling was already waiting at the entrance. Jiang Lan and Wen Zheng had been locked into the office. 

Wen Qingling wanted them to get used to being in close contact with humans and resist the urge to pounce and bite.

South City clinic really exists! And there are still living humans here!

Chang Baiheng got out of the car in a hurry and ran over to carry Wen Chu down. 

Wen Chu was putting up her final struggle against the zombie virus. She did not want the first person she bit to be her boyfriend.

“Chuchu, we’ve arrived, just hold on a little longer, just a little more… Doctor! Doctor, please save her! She’s at her limit, please! Hurry!”

Wen Qingling: “No need to worry, put her on the bed.”

Chang Boheng ran over with his girlfriend in his arms and placed her on the bed carefully.

Wen Qingling lifted the corner of her clothes, found exactly where she was bitten and moved a blood anemone over.

In an instant, all the tentacles on the blood anemone stabbed into the wound. Gulugulu—

The blood anemone sucked out the zombie poison and seemed very content.

Wen Chu, who was twitching constantly, finally calmed down. Her greenish-black complexion returned to normal. It could be seen that the zombie poison was gradually receding.

Wen Qingling turned around and went back to the office. As soon as the door opened, he saw his parents standing straight, almost plastered onto the wall.

Jiang Lan gritted her teeth and declared, “This old lady can withstand it! There’s so much meat at home that we can’t even finish it. Isn’t mutant pork delicious? Why must I eat raw, bloody meat?!”

Wen Zheng stuck out his chest and sucked in his stomach. 

“Laozi¹This daddy/This granddaddy = A prideful way to refer to yourself. Can be used by people of any age tbh wants to lose weight! I can’t afford to eat raw meat! Bacteria parasites bacteria parasites…”

Wen Qingling: “…”

He closed the door of the office again. It still seemed a little difficult for his parents to come into contact with humans.

Wen Qingling headed back and waited until the blood anemone’s treatment ended. Then, he opened his mouth, “100 ordinary zombie crystal nuclei.”

Having drunk its fill, the blood anemone grew larger once more. Wen Qingling used the same one for treatment. After the first time, he’d realized that the blood anemone would grow a little larger after absorbing zombie poison and black patterns would appear on its body. 

Wen Qingling wanted to know what the blood anemone would turn into eventually.

Chang Boheng stared at the sphere in his hand and took out all the crystal nuclei he had on his person, counting them on the table. 

Though he did not have 100 ordinary zombie crystal nuclei, he had a crystal nucleus from an evolved zombie.

Chang Boheng was very embarrassed. 

“Do you accept crystal nuclei from evolved zombies?”

Wen Qingling: “Of course. We’ll follow the market exchange rate.”

One crystal nucleus from a grade-one evolved zombie could be exchanged for a hundred ordinary crystal nuclei. 

One crystal nucleus from a grade-two evolved zombie could be exchanged for ten crystal nuclei from grade-one evolved zombies, and so on.

This exchange rate was calculated according to the amount of energy in the crystal nuclei. There was a world of difference between ordinary zombie crystal nuclei and evolved zombie crystal nuclei.

Chang Boheng gave Wen Qingling a crystal nucleus from a grade-one zombie.

Wen Chu was already awake at this time. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t turned into a zombie.

Chang Boheng hugged her tightly. 

“It’s alright now, baby. You’ve been cured and you won’t turn into a zombie anymore. We’ve all been saved.”

Only then did Wen Chu start to feel fear. She had almost turned into a zombie.

She sincerely thanked Wen Qingling.

Wen Qingling hugged the blood anemone and looked at them with his paralyzed face.

“Thank you for your patronage.”

Chang Boheng: “…”

Wen Chu: “…”

The two had a lot of things to say and a lot of things to ask. However, the doctor had directly shooed them away.

The two thanked Wen Qingling again and left hand in hand.

When they reached the doorway, Chang Boheng could no longer hold back. Turning around, he asked Wen Qingling, “What is that in your hand?”

Wen Qingling: “Anemocious.”

It was his precious blood anemone, so he coined it anemocious.

Chang Boheng: “???”

Seeing that the doctor didn’t want to say more, Wen Chu pulled her boyfriend and the two got into the car and left.

They did not see any zombies blocking the road or attacking them on the journey back. Just like that, they left South City safely.

Both of them still felt as if the whole thing was a dream. What had happened to the zombies in South City?

TN: … Anemocious sounded better in the raws…

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  This daddy/This granddaddy = A prideful way to refer to yourself. Can be used by people of any age tbh