They approached the door to the communication center. Zhou Rong signaled the others to halt, peering through the small window embedded in the door. The room was eerily illuminated by flickering monitors displaying static.
“Are we ready?” Zhou Rong asked, his voice steady with resolve.
“On your mark,” Si Nan replied.
“Now!” Zhou Rong said, and Si Nan set the charges. There was a moment of silence before a booming explosion echoed through the corridor, followed by the acrid smell of smoke and dust.
As the door flew open, the crew rushed into the office, weapons raised, determined to secure their objective.
Zhou Rong nodded, briefly saying: “Maybe this is why there are few zombies nearby. Be careful.
Sinan found a chair with four legs still intact amidst the scattered debris, placing the still-unconscious Zhang Yingjie on it. Chuncao, hugging her assault rifle, let out a soft sigh:
“Back then, when Rong had nowhere to go, it was he who made the decision to bring Rong to Unit 118. Qian, this guy, well, he’s not entirely without fault, but he’s really good at understanding people…”
“How could Zhou Rong have nowhere to go?” Sinan asked.
“Not sure. Rumor has it he offended someone high up in the central leadership.”
The two of them held their guns on alert, searching for remaining zombies inside the satellite communications center. Sinan turned and glanced at Zhou Rong sitting with his back to them at the communication desk and smiled slightly:
“I was just thinking… that even someone like Zhou Rong, who can talk to humans like a human and to ghosts like a ghost, could actually offend people.”
Zhou Rong removed the identity card from Qian Shaojiang’s body, scanned it, and entered the confidential communication program, taking a deep breath.
Communication logs rolled down the screen, arranged in order of classification level, source, department, and date.
Zhou Rong filtered out the lower-classified portion and began reading from the top, the dim fluorescent light casting on his resolute and handsome face.
“September 15, 2019, 14:27 GMT+8 118 Unit’s 1st and 4th Companies confirmed total casualties, 2nd Company lost contact.”
“September 16, 2019, 20:37 GMT+8 118 Unit’s 3rd Company confirmed total casualties, 8th Company lost contact.”
“September 17, 2019, 16:26 GMT+8 118 Unit’s 5th and 7th Companies recalled, unable to confirm flight DC918 and target Z’s whereabouts.”
“September 18, 2019, 18:29 GMT+8 Target Z missing, B Military Region Research Institute progress stalled. After research, decision made to open S-level virus source sample.”
Zhou Rong’s brow imperceptibly twitched.
He knew target Z was the mission target 118 Special Forces were ordered to retrieve. It seemed not only the 6th Company returned without success, but the other seven companies had also been successively destroyed or failed.
—But a virus source sample?
The origin of the zombie virus was a matter of human life and death. From where did the B Military Region Research Institute obtain the S-level source sample? Could it be that before this shelter collapsed, humans had already determined the source of the zombie virus?!
Zhou Rong’s fingers trembled involuntarily as he quickly pulled down to the second page.
“September 28, 2019, 01:23 GMT+8 Virus original liquid analysis and biological experiments made breakthrough progress.”
Here is the edited article:
Preliminary original antibodies obtained from experimental subject chimpanzee, injection experiment observation ongoing.”
Zhou Rong stared fixedly at the word “antibody” until he saw the next communication message, status still unsent, with the same date:
—September 28, 2019, 20:25 GMT+8.
“Playing with fire will ultimately…, although we anticipated it at the moment of opening the S-level virus source sample, we didn’t expect the result to come so quickly.
The eighteen chimpanzees used in the biological experiment mutated within three hours after injection, becoming carriers of the new super virus, rapidly infecting the entire shelter base. Approximately 20,000 refugees in East A Zone were basically infected, troops collapsed, electricity, water sources, and basic communications successively…”
Si Nan’s chest heaved, his open palm covered in blood, staring fixedly at the zombie’s murky eyes, stepping backward.
Although there was no theoretical basis, it was a widely accepted fact that zombies had an instinctive drive to chase A/O pheromones, with an even more sensitive response to omega pheromones.
For example, Zhou Rong’s alpha pheromones were extremely domineering, but his ability to detect omega pheromones was quite ordinary; Si Nan’s situation was precisely the opposite.
Si Nan was extremely sensitive to alpha pheromones, with strong adverse reactions, but his own pheromones were very weak – actually due to long-term use of suppressants.
A brief silence fell around them. Chun Cao crawled up from dozens of meters away, dizzy and disoriented. On the other side of the communication hall, Zhou Rong propped himself up with his elbow, his face covered in blood.
The gorilla let out a roar to the sky, charging directly at Si Nan!
Si Nan turned and ran, darting out of the hall like lightning, with the ground shaking behind him as the zombie gorilla pursued relentlessly!
“Fuck me…” Zhou Rong stood up shakily, finally pulling out the Type 8/9 heavy machine gun from under debris, loading armor-piercing rounds while shouting: “Cao’er! Ying Jie! Are you alive?”
Chun Cao responded with a cough: “Go after Si Nan, quick…”
Zhou Rong reached out to pull Zhang Ying Jie, but the moment he touched him, Zhang Ying Jie pulled back.
“What’s wrong?” Zhou Rong asked.
The zombie gorilla’s roar outside the corridor grew more distant, time was critical.
In the dim light, Zhang Ying Jie’s face was ashen, his lips cracked, with thick dark circles around his eyes. He finally seemed to give up on something, letting out a brief laugh:
“You shouldn’t have saved me, Rong Ge. I’ve been infected.”
Zhou Rong’s breath caught instantly. Zhang Ying Jie lifted his pant leg, revealing a scraped patch of skin at the sock’s edge, soaked purple-black by underground water, already beginning to rot.
“What’s with that look, Rong Ge?” Zhang Ying Jie laughed: “Don’t be like that. Come, give me the gun… don’t waste the last moments, let me accompany everyone one more time.”
“A soldier shouldn’t commit suicide, and won’t become a monster. Let me die in battle as a soldier.”
In the darkness, green indicator lights flickered eerily, bright as ghostly flames. With a bang, Sinan crashed to the bottom of the pit, instantly spurting a blood arrow. His ears were covered in blood, hot streams continuously surging from his nasal cavity, his body trembling slightly with spasms. He struggled to keep his eyes open and maintain consciousness, but his vision grew increasingly blurry. Darkness, like an all-encompassing layer of feathers, gently concealed all consciousness.
“noah…” “noah!” The woman strode through the garden, crouched down, and embraced the small boy facing away from her: “What are you doing? Why aren’t you going inside?
A gloomy morning, with a breeze carrying the salty earth scent. Under the garden’s iron frame, the greenery was dense, but the yellow roses had withered, with only a few dry petals remaining on the branches full of thorns.
“Dad doesn’t like me.”
The little boy stared at the ground, the freshly turned soil still new, repeating in a low voice: “…Dad doesn’t like me.”
The woman turned the boy around by his shoulders, her beautiful and melancholic eyes fixed on her son.
“Why, noah?”
The little boy pursed his lips, speaking softly after a long pause: “He grabbed me.”
