System, are you messing with me?

Ark 3 - punishable crime

The next day the chief of B Base and some other important indivuduals gathered inside of the labaratory. The tables were pushed up to the walls and in the middle of the space the chairs formed a half circle to give every present human a place to sit. Among them were also Zhao Yang, Xu Dan and the head scientist.

Shu Ning stood next to Hu Jin on the other side of the gathered crowed and waited for everyone to settle down. This was the moment of truth. If things worked out the way it was planned then there was a chance for humanities survival. If not, then the protagonist could roam free once more and the likelihood of getting at the guy again were slimm. This was the last chance they would get.

"Thank you everyone for comming today. As the chief probably already told you all, we have developed our first prototype of a vaccine. It is not yet perfect, but it can fend off the virus in a newly infected person and heal a low level zombie. This, we are going to demonstrate to you all today and if it works as promised, there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to develop an even better working vaccine in the future."

After Shu Ning finished his little introduction, Hu Jin stepped forward and placed an inconspicious looking metal box on the ground. With ease he slid off the lid of the container, revealing two transparent tubes, wrapped in a black cotton cloth. With keen concentration the people watched as the male took out a syringe that had been taped to the lid and drew up the liquid into it.

With a nodd, Shu Ning signaled Nian Zhei to card in the metal cage. Up to this point it had been covered by a thin white sheet, resting quietly in a corner of the room and staying unnoticed by the assembled people. As soon as it got moved though, a growl resonated from beneeth the fabric and the restless moving of feet could be heard.

"Is that...?"

The chief nervously looked at the approaching cart, sneaking one of his hands underneath his vest to grab onto the army knive hidden there. The other humans were already clutching their own weapons in fright and only Zhao Yang still sat there with his legs leisurely stretched in front of him.

"Don't worry. The zombie can't break out of this cage."

Shu Ning calmly walked over to the confinement and pulled off the white sheet. A gastly grey hand shot out from between the bars, trying to grab his shoulder and making the bystanders gasp in horror. However, before the appendage could reach it's target he grasp onto it, holding it in a vice like grip.

Hurriedly Hu Jin poked the tip of the syringe into the zombie's arm and deposited all of the liquid inside of it. With a wrathfull screech the creature jumped backwards and hissed at humans before suddenly falling silent. 

A few minutes later the undead crumbled onto the ground, it's body twitching and it's chest rearing up from the ground in a pained howl. The zombie's limbs started flailing around and from time to time the nails created an earpiercing sound as they clawed for purchase on the metal cage's floor.

After half an hour the creature stopped moving entirely, only growning in pain from time to time as the color of it's skin turned from a pale gray towards a pale brown and the sharp finger and toe nails fell onto the ground to give space to the more human version of it. When the transformation was done and the captive's chest started rising and falling with every breath he took, the present humans erupted in an excited cheer.

Nian Zhei bend down in front of the metal bars to feel for the person's puls and when he found it he smiled at the chief in relief. This affirmation made Xu Dan's face turn ashen in an instance and with a fierce glare he turned towards the head scientist who was still looking at the cage in obvious bewilderment.

"Please give me your attention once more. I know that you are all very thrilled about our success today, even if it is just a small win against the onslaught of zombies in the world. But I must sadly inform you this here could have gone so wrong instead."