PSW - Chapter 69
Chapter 69
Zero One was really struggling to hold it together.
Zheng Yi, you have absolutely no shame! You perform a physical examination on someone without even blinking, and now you're back to playing the delicate, helpless flower? This kind of weak Saint persona is totally out of style, you know!
No, calm down. The fact that Zheng Yi was willing to play the Saint at all was good enough, regardless of what type of Saint she chose to be. Zero One belatedly realized something: the persona Zheng Yi had initially adopted wasn't that different from her current one. So why was its reaction so strong this time?
Was it because Zheng Yi was now coaxing a new "Jiejie"?
Yu Yinan had protected Zheng Yi well? Zero One would love to see the look on Yu Yinan's face when she woke up and heard that. It would surely be priceless. But then Zero One had another thought: what if Yu Yinan woke up to find that no sooner had she sent off little sister Xia Cheng, Zheng Yi had gone and found her a big sister Chi Heqing…
There's a limit to what a human can take. A little jealousy can be stimulating… but pushing it too far might make her truly lose it and die from her ability's backlash. Zero One began to genuinely worry about Yu Yinan. It glanced at Yu Yinan, sleeping peacefully on the folding cot, then at the group on the other side, who were gathered around Zheng Yi, feeding her energy nut bars while sharing stories and experiences from their journeys. It couldn't help but sigh.
These squad members had previously warned their captain to be careful and not fall for a honey trap, so how had they all fallen for it now? This was completely illogical!
"Chi Jiejie, are you here on a mission? Is there anything I can do to help?" The moment she asked, Zheng Yi looked embarrassed and quickly added, "You don't have to say anything if it's inconvenient! I understand that classified missions need to be kept secret!"
It wasn't exactly a classified mission. Chi Heqing glanced at her squad members, thought for a moment, and decided not to hide anything. "There's nothing you need to help with, but there's no harm in telling you about the mission. If you ever come across it, don't be a fool and get close."
"Do you remember the meteor shower the night before the emergency notice? The changes we're seeing now might be related to them. To find out what specific substance caused the zombification and biological mutations, we need to find those meteorites or fragments of them."
As she spoke, Chi Heqing glanced at Zheng Yi and warned her, "Who knows what the conditions are like near them? Radiation? Radioactive elements? An unknown virus? Even ability users can't approach rashly. We're prepared. We have the relevant protective suits, equipment, and special isolation containers." In this apocalypse, it wasn't realistic to ask Zheng Yi to report back if she saw something. It was better to just warn these ability users to stay away and protect themselves.
"This apocalypse… even the rain has mutated. Every rainfall brings a new transformation. Sometimes I think this isn't just a simple apocalypse caused by an asteroid impact or a meteor shower. It's more like the world itself is evolving, and the original life forms have been given a chance to evolve too. Either they become stronger, or… they get eliminated."
Perhaps non-human creatures didn't overthink it. To them, the world's changes were simple. It was just a matter of evolving to survive.
'Didn't the original novel say all the official organizations were gone? Weren't technology and civilization supposed to be wiped out?'
As Zero One listened, it grew a little suspicious of Chi Heqing and her team's identity, but… [They might not be an official organization. Besides, the book had a terrible ending. A series of high-tech weapons, including nuclear arms, were definitely destroyed. Haven't you noticed that after all this time in the apocalypse, there haven't been any fighter jets or reconnaissance planes in the sky?]
[Doesn't Humanity's Light Shelter have a research facility too? It's very crude, and all the instruments were destroyed, but they're still trying to rebuild.]
Even with the technological regression and limited resources, there would still be people who questioned the origin of the apocalypse and wanted to analyze the factors that changed the world. Even if the hope of ending the apocalypse was less than one in a hundred million, there would still be people who would strive to research for that hope.
A zombie serum? A mutation vaccine? If they couldn't stop the world from changing, these people wouldn't give up. They might shift their focus to researching "how to turn ordinary people into ability users" or "how to make ability users stronger," allowing humanity to continue on in this ever-changing apocalypse.
"But… can they really discover anything?" Zheng Yi asked with some hesitation. "I… Humanity's Light Shelter had a research institute before, but they said a lot of the precision instruments were gone. Even if they wanted to build new ones, they lack many of the rare materials. And for some things that were destroyed, they don't even have the blueprints…"
"Humanity's Light Shelter? Ah… it seems everyone's in a similar situation." Chi Heqing shrugged and unscrewed her water bottle for a drink. "Who knows if they can discover anything? In any case, I'm only responsible for bringing back the research subjects for them. In that regard, I'm doing my duty. As for the research itself, there are others working hard on that."
If everyone did their best in their own area of expertise, gave it their all, and tried their hardest, even if nothing came of it in the end… at least they would have strived for humanity.
"But, Chi Jiejie, will those protective suits really work? That kind of meteor… that substance didn't exist before."
"Hey, at least they're protective suits they worked hard to make. How could they possibly create a completely effective suit when they don't even know what they're dealing with? But having something is better than nothing." Chi Heqing patted Zheng Yi's shoulder. "Alright, let's not talk about this. Do you want to hear some adventure stories? Before the apocalypse, I'd been to almost every country. Is there anything you'd like to know about?"
The team sent out to search lacked safe protective measures, which meant the researchers waiting for them probably didn't have any either.
They were truly a fearless group of people.
"Jiejie, are there any countries that are entirely in the sea?"
"Entirely in the sea?" Chi Heqing thought for a moment. "You mean those small island nations? Yes, there are. Hui Country is an island nation, with a very, very small land area. It's rich in seafood, and there's a special kind of Sea Rock Flower that grows on the rocks by the water."
"It tastes very astringent. Though it's not poisonous, it's not good to eat. It's generally used for ornamental purposes there."
The topic was thus diverted. Zheng Yi listened intently to Chi Heqing's explanations, occasionally asking a few curious questions for her to answer.
'The original novel didn't mention those rocks?'
[The original novel… was focused on romance. It might have been mentioned, but only in passing, perhaps as foreshadowing for later? But then it ended up having a terrible ending, didn't it?]
[Don't worry, the meteor fragments probably aren't that harmful to humans. Their effect should be similar to concentrated rainwater. They just promote the evolution or mutation of all surrounding life. They definitely won't radiate someone to death.] Zero One thought for a moment before adding, [After all, if the story had continued without a bad ending, these rocks would have become the most precious things in the world. And something so precious, according to the logic of the original novel, the male protagonist would probably find a way to turn it into jewelry for the female protagonist.]
Zheng Yi had no comment on such a guess. She couldn't comprehend the logic of a brainless romance novel, and what Zero One said was even harder for her to grasp. An extraterrestrial meteorite, the culprit of the apocalypse, would be given to the female lead by the male lead just because it was the most precious thing?
If Zero One had written the original story, it might have come up with an even more brainless romance plot.
'Do you have a general location?'
[…There might be a piece in the southeastern part of Ling Country. I don't know about the others.] Zero One could tell Zheng Yi was somewhat interested in this, but the original novel was what it was. No matter how interested Zheng Yi was, Zero One couldn't conjure up information that didn't exist.
Southeastern part. It didn't even mention which city.
Zheng Yi didn't ask Zero One any more questions.
Before she knew it, the sky had gradually darkened. Yu Yinan still showed no signs of waking. Zheng Yi moistened Yu Yinan's lips with water, giving her a little hydration. Being unconscious… she might end up sleeping for a whole day, just like she herself had before.
Zheng Yi wasn't in a hurry, but she had to act worried and anxious. She lowered her head and secretly wiped away a tear. Before she could take her performance any further, Chi Heqing patted her on the shoulder and told her not to worry too much.
"Overusing her ability, mental exhaustion… in such cases, it's not uncommon to be unconscious for a day or two. Don't worry. Your jiejie's vital signs are stable, so she should be fine." Chi Heqing comforted her, pulling Zheng Yi to sit down again and stuffing a compressed biscuit into her hands. "You've been waiting for so long, you must be hungry. It's alright, get some sleep. Maybe when you wake up tomorrow, your jiejie will be all better."
"…Okay, thank you, Chi Jiejie." Zheng Yi replied obediently. She held the compressed biscuit in both hands without tearing the wrapper, sitting quietly with her head down next to Chi Heqing. After a short while, as if feeling guilty, she looked up and asked, "Chi Jiejie, is it really okay for you all to wait with me instead of doing your mission?"
"It's fine. We were searching aimlessly anyway." Chi Heqing gave a wry smile. How could this mission be so easy? They didn't even know what the meteorite looked like. "It has nothing to do with you. We've been searching day and night for so long, passing through several cities, and we were already exhausted. We were planning to take a good two-day rest anyway."
"Eat. Don't be polite with us. We still have plenty of supplies." Chi Heqing took the compressed biscuit, tore it open herself, and then stuffed it back into Zheng Yi's hands, telling her not to hold back. She watched the girl lower her head and start eating in small bites, then breathed a sigh of relief.
"Go out and set up camp, start a bonfire, and take turns on watch." Seeing that Zheng Yi was eating, Chi Heqing called for her squad members to get busy. They also ate quickly to fill their stomachs, then went outside to pitch tents and prepare sleeping bags.
After the second great rain, the zombies and mutated beasts had almost completely vanished. They had gained self-awareness and even a certain degree of intelligence. The common zombies had been led away; the advanced zombies didn't let them continue to roam the cities and be cleared out by ability users.
There was an upside to this. Their night watches were now much easier, and their search efficiency had improved, as they no longer had to bother with hordes of zombies.
But, it was obvious that if they encountered zombies or mutated beasts in the future… they would likely not be as easy to deal with as before.
This was especially true for those shelters that had already settled down in certain places and were trying to develop. These vanished creatures would always be a hidden threat. Once they formed a powerful force, the most endangered places would probably be those shelters that had gathered a large number of ordinary people and a handful of ability users.
Chi Heqing smiled and shook her head. These were not things she could worry about right now. What they needed to do was find a way to locate those meteorites.
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