Pregnant During An Apocalypse [BL]-Chapter 152 - Dissection

Hana’s shoulders trembled violently as she hugged herself, her breath coming in uneven gasps. The cold air felt suffocating, her vision blurred with unshed tears.

She had pulled out her phone out of instinct, but the screen remained lifeless—dead, just like the hope clawing at her chest.

"I have to tell Mom..." she whispered brokenly, staring at the dark screen as if it could somehow bring her mother’s warmth to her.

But how could she? How could she tell their mother that her beloved son, the one who had always been her pride, her comfort, was dying?

How could she tell her that the boy who she used to carry her on his back when he scraped his knee, was now lying there, helpless, burning up with a deadly infection?

A sob tore through her throat.

If only she hadn’t come to the city. If only she hadn’t been so reckless.

He wouldn’t be here.

He would have been safe.

Safe at home. With Mom.

A surge of frustration overwhelmed her. With a strangled cry, she threw the useless phone away, watching as it hit the ground with a dull thud.

Her knees gave out beneath her, and she sank to the cold floor, burying her face in her hands. "It’s all my fault..." she choked out. "Why did I even call him here...?"

A long silence stretched around her, the distant sound of Muchen’s desperate murmurs and Yunfeng’s labored breathing echoing in the background.

Then—

"Why are you hiding and crying?"

She flinched, her head snapping up to see Qiu Yue standing beside her, his glasses glinting under the dim light. She hadn’t even noticed him approaching.

She quickly wiped her face with her sleeve, trying to hide the tears, but her trembling lips betrayed her. "Why are you sneaking around? Go away," she muttered, barely holding herself together.

Qiu Yue didn’t move.

Instead, he silently extended a small piece of cloth toward her.

Hana stared at it, confused.

"Crying is useless," he said softly. "You’ll only end up dehydrated."

His words should have been harsh, insensitive even, but there was something oddly gentle about the way he said them.

Hana hesitated for a moment before snatching the cloth from his hand. She pressed it against her face, letting out a shaky breath.

Qiu Yue sat down beside her, keeping a small distance. He didn’t say anything more, didn’t try to comfort her with empty words.

Instead, he just sat there.

After what seemed like hours, Qiu Yue stood up and gazed down at her.

"Get up. We have work to do."

"Huh?" Hana looked up, confused, her tear-streaked face contorted in sorrow.

"Are you just going to sit there and sob, or are you going to help your brother?" His words were sharp, but not unkind.

Hana stiffened, his statement striking deep. She wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve and stood up instantly. "You can help?"

Qiu Yue sighed, removing his glasses. For the first time, Hana got a clear look at his face. She had always thought of him as cold and detached, but now, without the thin barrier of glass, he looked startlingly young—eighteen or nineteen at most.

Her breath caught, but before she could say anything, he quickly wiped his glasses against his shirt and slid them back on. The cold mask was back.

"I need to dissect the corpses."

Hana went pale instantly. "What?"

"I need to know how they’re mutating," he said, already pulling out a pair of surgical scissors from his pocket. He didn’t even look at her as he spoke.

Her stomach twisted. "Do we really have to...?"

Qiu Yue didn’t bother answering. Instead, he tossed her a task. "Here. Go and tear open any package you see. Find surgical equipment, gloves, anything we can use to protect ourselves from infection."

Hana took a deep breath and nodded. For Yunfeng.

Sniffling, she pulled herself together and started rummaging through the warehouse. Boxes were scattered everywhere, some already torn open during their earlier fight with the zombies. She pried open one after another, hands shaking slightly.

The first box—tampons. Not helpful.

The second—energy drinks from a famous YouTuber. Maybe later. She shoved a few into her bag.

The third—chocolates. She faltered, her fingers curling around the packaging. Yunfeng loves these...

But there was no time to dwell on it. She clenched her jaw and moved on.

Qiu Yue, on the other hand, had better luck. He moved swiftly, methodically, scanning shelves with precision. Within minutes, he had found exactly what he needed—a small package of pink silicone dishwashing gloves and a utility knife in another box.

"This will do," he muttered, slipping on the gloves.

Hana stared at the knife, her stomach knotting with unease. "are we really going to cut them open?"

"For science," Qiu Yue whispered, as if that justified everything.

Without hesitation, he strode over to the taller zombie—the one that had taken three bullets to the chest before finally collapsing. It lay motionless, its decaying body sprawled unnaturally across the concrete floor. A putrid stench filled the air, a thick, cloying mix of rot and dried blood.

Hana gagged, covering her nose with her sleeve. "God, this is disgusting."

Qiu Yue didn’t respond. He pulled on the dishwashing gloves, flexing his fingers before flipping the knife in his hand. The blade caught the dim light for a second before he plunged it into the zombie’s chest. The sound—wet, sickening—made Hana’s insides churn.

"You any good at drawing?" Qiu Yue asked, as if they weren’t currently slicing into a corpse.

Hana blinked. "What?"

"Can you draw?" he repeated, glancing at her briefly.

"Yeah... I draw manga characters..." she admitted hesitantly.

"Good." He pulled out a small notepad and pen from his coat pocket and thrust them at her.

Hana stared at them. "What’s this for?"

"I want you to sketch the anatomy exactly as you see it. Note down anything I say."

Hana swallowed hard. "You’re serious?"

"Do I look like I’m joking?" His tone was flat, but his sharp gaze left no room for argument.

With trembling fingers, she took the notepad and flipped it open to a blank page.

Qiu Yue wasted no time. He climbed onto the massive zombie, bracing himself against its stiffened limbs, and drove the knife deeper into its chest. The blade tore through decayed muscle and brittle bone, exposing something dark and pulsing beneath.

Hana immediately turned away, her stomach lurching violently. "Oh, hell no—"

"Look," Qiu Yue ordered, voice stern.

"I really don’t think I—"

"Do you want to help your brother or not?"

That shut her up.

Gritting her teeth, Hana forced herself to look.

The moment she did, bile rose in her throat. The zombie’s insides were unlike anything she had ever seen. Black, rope-like veins twisted around what should have been a normal set of organs, except they weren’t normal at all. The heart was grotesquely enlarged, beating slowly even in death. The lungs, riddled with holes, barely looked functional. And something—something was moving inside.

"Oh my god," she whispered, hand trembling as she tried to sketch. "This is messed up. This is so messed up."

Qiu Yue, unfazed, began speaking clinically. "The muscle tissue is necrotic but still active. The heart hasn’t stopped functioning entirely. The black veins are likely the mutated infection pathways." He pointed with his knife. "Sketch that part clearly. We need to compare it with normal human anatomy."

Hana’s breathing was ragged, but she forced herself to do it. The pen scratched against the paper as she quickly outlined the grotesque scene before her.

Then Qiu Yue reached in with his gloved hands.

He pulled.

A wet, tearing sound filled the silence.

Hana gagged so hard she nearly dropped the notepad. "I don’t feel good."

Qiu Yue didn’t even look up. "Then don’t puke on my notes."