novelzi Chapter 669 669: Camp Shepherd (Part 2)
Chapter 669 669: Camp Shepherd (Part 2)
The university grounds felt different from the stadium.Darker and quieter.
Buildings lined the main pathway like enormous shadows.
Emergency lights flickered in scattered windows while distant generators produced a low mechanical hum somewhere deeper within the campus.
Cleanup crews worked throughout the grounds.
Hazmat-suited personnel moved between buildings carrying stretchers and equipment.
Some wore respirators. Others had abandoned them entirely, either from exhaustion or simple indifference.
Bodies occupied large sections of the campus.
Infected corpses were loaded into transport trucks.
Human remains rested beneath identification tarps.
A handful of superhumans lay separated from the others, receiving noticeably more careful handling.
Don walked through it all.
His boots crushed scattered debris.
His bandaged hand remained tucked close to his chest.
His eyes moved across the scene without lingering.
He had seen enough death tonight to fill several lifetimes.
After a while it all began to blur together.
The smell remained unavoidable.
Death, smoke and industrial chemicals.
The scent followed him through every section of the city.
Then he noticed someone familiar.
A short distance away, near a row of tagged bodies, a figure directed cleanup personnel with calm gestures and brief instructions.
Xiao.
He still wore his suit.
It looked less pristine than before.
Dark stains marked sections of the fabric, and faint creases suggested he had been working for hours without rest.
Yet his posture remained straight.
As if the outbreak itself had failed to disrupt whatever internal structure kept him moving.
Don approached.
Not quietly.
Just walking.
Xiao heard him anyway and his head turned.
For a brief moment the neutral expression cracked.
A small smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Don's expression didn't change.
Xiao stepped away from the cleanup crews and walked toward him.
The workers continued their tasks behind him while emergency lights cast long shadows across the pavement.
'Of course he's here,' Don thought. 'Of course he's in charge of something.'
A few moments later they stopped a few feet apart.
The cleanup operation continued around them.
Bodies moved.
Orders were given.
Neither man spoke immediately.
Emergency lights mounted along the pathway cast uneven bands of light across the cleanup zone, leaving half of Xiao's face illuminated while the other half remained buried beneath shadow. The arrangement suited him.
His usual smirk lingered at one corner of his mouth while his eyes moved across Don with quiet scrutiny.
Not concern, just assessment.
His gaze lingered on the stitched cut beneath Don's eye, the bandages around his forearm, the wrapped palm, the dried blood staining sections of the borrowed UPSDF uniform.
Each injury seemed to receive its own mental note before Xiao finally looked back at his face.
Don spoke first.
"Glad to see you're in good shape."
The words came out flat. Tired. More obligation than sentiment.
Xiao's smirk widened slightly.
"I'm glad to see one of my finest students is in… okay shape."
The emphasis landed exactly where intended as his eyes drifted briefly toward the bandaged hand.
Don let out a short breath through his nose.
Not quite a laugh.
Just acknowledgment.
Around them, cleanup crews continued moving between rows of covered bodies. A transport truck rumbled across the campus road while workers loaded another stretcher into the rear compartment.
"What happened?" Xiao asked.
Don rubbed the back of his neck with his good hand before shaking his head.
"Too tired to go into detail. But... a lot."
He glanced toward the stadium lights in the distance.
"I'm tired."
For a moment something shifted behind Xiao's expression. Not enough to remove the mask entirely, but enough to soften it.
He nodded once. Accepting the answer and not pressing.
Instead, he gestured vaguely toward the darkened dormitory buildings beyond the stadium.
"I took the liberty of sparing the hostels for the more... important students to rest."
His eyes remained fixed on the distant buildings.
"The ones who still have something to contribute."
Then his tone hardened.
"And if the UPSDF attempts to force me or my students into civilian participation exercises, I will ensure they regret it."
Don wasn't surprised.
Typical Xiao. Protecting his own first.
"I volunteered," Don said. "For benefits."
He shrugged lightly.
"But I'm okay. I don't need to rest. Use it on others."
Xiao tilted his head slightly.
Waiting.
Don glanced toward the checkpoint.
"But if you want to help..."
His voice slowed.
"I'd like to leave the school grounds."
That finally earned a reaction.
Not suspicion. Closer to calculation.
Xiao's eyes narrowed slightly while he considered the request. His gaze shifted toward the checkpoint behind Don, then toward the floodlit stadium, then back again.
"The university," he said eventually, "aside from the stadium, remains under my authority."
Relief stirred briefly inside Don, though he kept it off his face.
Xiao folded his arms.
"Where are you going?"
Don hesitated.
His jaw tightened for half a second, his eyes drifting elsewhere before returning.
He couldn't explain everything.
Not here, not now and certainly not to Xiao.
"Near the forest."
A small pause followed.
"North of the abandoned G-Tech facility."
He deliberately left the direction vague. That area had a few other abandoned industrial structures and workshops.
Xiao studied him.
Long enough to become uncomfortable.
Long enough that Don wondered if he'd already figured it out.
Yet the man never questioned him further.
"I can have a helicopter ready within the next hour."
His attention shifted briefly toward the stadium.
"I'm still evacuating VIPs. You'll have to wait."
"Okay."
Then another thought surfaced.
"Is it okay to go to the compound?" Don asked.
Xiao waved dismissively.
"Fine. Find me if anything changes."
Don nodded and turned away.
His boots scuffed against the pavement as he started toward the main campus pathway.
He'd barely taken three steps before Xiao's voice stopped him.
"By the way."
Don looked back.
The smirk was gone.
For the first time since the outbreak began, Xiao looked completely serious.
"Because of this crisis, we'll be missing many of our best students."
His gaze didn't leave Don's.
"But the national competitions may still proceed."
A brief pause followed.
"I hope you'll still be able to compete."
The words felt strangely distant.
Competitions. Rankings. School prestige.
Only moments ago he'd been crawling through ruined streets while professional killers tried to put bullets through his head.
The idea felt like something from another life.
Yet Xiao clearly meant it.
The expectation behind the statement carried weight.
Don considered his answer carefully.
"As long as I'm in good health..."
He met Xiao's gaze.
"I'll represent the school to the best of my ability."
For the first time, Xiao smiled without any trace of manipulation behind it.
Small and strangely warm.
It was very unexpected.
He nodded once.
Approval obvious in the gesture.
Don turned away again.
This time Xiao let him go.
The checkpoint guards no longer questioned him when he passed. One soldier merely glanced up from his post before stepping aside.
Behind him, Xiao remained where he stood.
Watching.
Only when the darkness between the campus buildings swallowed Don completely did he finally look elsewhere.
The university grounds felt almost abandoned compared to the chaos surrounding the stadium.
The main walkway stretched ahead beneath rows of emergency lights that flickered weakly against the darkness.
Academic buildings lined either side of the path, their windows black and empty. From a distance they looked almost watchful, standing over the campus like silent observers.
Don followed the familiar route toward the compound.
Cleanup crews remained active throughout the area.
Hazmat teams worked near the base of several buildings while military trucks occupied sections of the roadway. Stretchers moved back and forth beneath portable floodlights.
The bodies here looked different from the ones he'd seen in the city.
Most hadn't simply died.
They'd been broken.
Crushed.
Some appeared as little more than ruined shapes beneath identification sheets.
Don's eyes lingered on a section of shattered pavement where something enormous had impacted hard enough to crack concrete.
Recognition came immediately.
Redstar.
The evidence of her intervention remained scattered throughout the compound grounds.
A body partially embedded in a wall.
Another folded around a light pole.
Several more lying beneath tarps beside impact craters.
Cleanup crews worked carefully around the destruction, documenting everything before removal.
Don continued walking.
The entrance eventually appeared ahead.
A soldier in a hazmat suit stepped into his path before he reached the entrance.
"You can't be here. This area is restricted."
A tablet rested in one gloved hand while a respirator concealed most of his face.
Before Don could answer, another soldier looked up from tagging a nearby body.
The man squinted briefly.
Then waved.
"Let him through."
The first soldier glanced over.
"He's got clearance."
A moment later the soldier stepped aside.
Don walked past without a word.
The compound welcomed him with familiar corridors and doors.
The lighting hadn't changed.
Neither had the atmosphere.
Outside, the campus felt exhausted.
Inside, everything felt controlled and contained.
His boots echoed softly across the floor while he followed the hallway deeper underground.
The locker rooms were his destination.
Spare clothes waited there. At least he hoped they did.
He remembered stuffing them into his locker days ago after training.
Then something reached his ears.
Faint and rhythmic.
BOOM~
Don slowed.
Another impact followed several seconds later.
BOOM~
His brow furrowed.
The sound was distant, muffled by layers of reinforced concrete and sealed doors.
But unmistakable.
BOOM~
Heavy impacts that were controlled and consistent.
He knew that sound. He'd heard it countless times during training after all.
Without thinking, he changed direction.
The locker rooms could wait.
The impacts grew clearer as he moved deeper into the compound.
Eventually he reached a reinforced doorway set into the wall.
A scanner glowed beside it.
It was the training cell he'd use with Redstar.
Don stepped toward the scanner.
The device emitted a quiet hum.
A moment later a voice spoke from hidden speakers above the door.
"Identity confirmed. Don Bright. Clearance level: authorized."
The scanner paused.
Processing.
"Please wait. Cell conditions are being lowered to safe levels. Estimated time: five minutes."