PSW - Chapter 155

Chapter 155

"You have a meteor fragment under your control?" Zheng Yi asked calmly, giving a slight nod.

The Director's expression flickered. Though it was only for an instant, the change was noticeable. She fell silent for a moment, as if sighing to herself, before answering, "Yes. We can't get close to it, so we've only sealed off the area."

Before Zheng Yi could press further, the Director paused to think, then elaborated, "We've created a preliminary awakening agent. But the failure rate is high, and it's not very stable. Perhaps… it's because the energy in the rainwater is unstable? In addition, the materials are extracted from zombie crystal cores, and zombies are the result of failed, uncontrolled human evolution. Zombie crystal cores can be replaced with those from mutated animals, which improves stability to some extent, but there's no qualitative change in the effect. With the help of the meteor fragment, we can domesticate mutated animals within a certain range to obtain experimental materials. But the cultivation period is long, and the efficiency is low."

"Currently, we use special methods to block an ordinary person's five senses and send those who wish to evolve to live in the outermost region of the meteor fragment, using its ambient energy to induce their evolution." But the results were still not very good. Some people became ability users after about a week, spurred on by the energy, while others had been there for a full month with little change. And cases of losing control… and turning into zombies were not uncommon. Of course, these ordinary people had all signed contracts. If they had family, their relatives would receive a certain amount of food as compensation upon their death. As for the zombies they became… they could be penned in a closer area, using the meteor fragment's power to make them evolve and mutate, produce crystal cores, and ultimately become materials themselves.

After a simple experiment with the meteor fragment powder she'd obtained, the Director was confident she could create an improved version of the awakening agent! It wouldn't even require materials like crystal cores, which might contain chaotic energy. All she would need were some plant materials with stabilizing and calming effects, and then dilute the powder sufficiently, to create an agent with a success rate of over fifty percent! Of course, this was just her intuition for now. The specifics would have to wait until tomorrow, when she would gather the other researchers to experiment and refine the formula, and call for volunteers among the ordinary people who wanted to change their fate to test the new agent.

With these thoughts in her mind, the Director calmly described to Zheng Yi the various work and experiments the Dawn Research Institute had undertaken since its establishment. They had dissected various zombies and even, with consent, dissected deceased ability users to discover the internal differences between these beings.

Evolution or mutation, it made no difference. This tide… gave people no choice, violently casting them ashore. And in those unstoppable waves, countless bones and souls were laid to rest forever, but who would ever know? Perhaps in the history books of the future, these vast, countless numbers would be reduced to a tiny splash in the waves, mentioned only in passing.

"Humanity's Light in Pujie also has a research institute," Zheng Yi said calmly. "They've invented a preliminary enhancement agent. It's used… to help ability users advance. Perhaps you can cooperate in the future."

"Enhancement? Advancement?" The Director was stunned for a moment, then gave a wry smile. "Humanity's Light? A very nice name for a base. Have they already subdivided ability users into ranks? By what standard… Oh, I hope there will be an opportunity to cooperate in the future." She didn't press Zheng Yi on these matters, but after this brief remark, she continued to tell Zheng Yi about the difficulties of building the Changping base and the structure of the Dawn Research Institute.

"We were very lucky; there was already a research institute here. Of course, it wasn't called the Dawn Research Institute before the apocalypse. Hmm, before the apocalypse, its existence was rather low-profile, but the director at the time published many academic journals and proposed many hypotheses." The Director gave a few examples here, but Zheng Yi had never heard of them.

Before the apocalypse, she hadn't dabbled in every field, let alone these deeper subjects.

What happened next was rather tragic—nothing more than the plague-like spread of zombification. The only good news was that even with the cataclysm, the research institute wasn't severely damaged, and most of the equipment was preserved. Unfortunately, the senior researchers and the director all fell before they could evolve.

"I suppose I was the luckiest one. I awakened an ability, and my physical fitness improved quite a bit…" The Director sighed. "Actually, I'm already fifty years old."

Yu Yinan showed a hint of surprise, because although the Director spoke with a mature tone, her appearance and mannerisms were no different from those of a young person in their late twenties or early thirties.

Chi Heqing, however, showed no surprise, so it clearly wasn't a secret.

Zheng Yi nodded calmly. After the Director had rambled on in a reminiscent tone about many things concerning Changping, the research institute, and the special squads, Zheng Yi finally spoke softly, "That meteor fragment, I'm taking it."

Apparently, based on the information the Director had revealed, the meteor fragment was near Changping. As for the blockade? No matter how many ability users or what kind of special ability was used to seal it off, it wouldn't be a problem for Zheng Yi. As long as she got close enough to sense the meteor fragment's energy, she could easily take it away. After all, these people couldn't get close to the meteor fragment themselves.

"We can't stop you." As the Director said this, a clear expression of helplessness crossed her face, and she made no attempt to hide her feelings. She then added more frankly, "But we hope… to receive enough of the meteor fragment powder for our experiments and research." The powder in the small glass vial should be enough for them to experiment with for several months. Its energy content was extremely high and could be continuously diluted; by her current estimates, it would be enough to create several hundred doses of the agent.

"Of course." Zheng Yi nodded. She thought for a moment, then took out the remaining liquid produced by the blue-bulb zombie from her backpack. She only had this one small vial of liquid left, about 20g. Most of it had been given to Yun Lingjian before as a show of good faith. "A small gift."

"! What is this?" The Director was stunned. She took the liquid carefully with both hands. As an ability user, she could naturally sense the unique energy within it. "We've never found anything like this from… any zombie, animal, or plant. Or is this an energy fluid secreted by the meteor fragment?" No, it couldn't be the latter. If it came from the meteor fragment, the energy content would be much higher.

"A special mental-type zombie," Zheng Yi said calmly. "This is the fluid from its brain. Humanity's Light used it to create their enhancement agent."

"Thank you for your gift." The Director bowed, deeply moved. She paused. "If you want to get the meteor fragment, you can have Heqing take you there directly tomorrow. If you're in a hurry, Heqing and I can lead the way in a little while."

"I'm not in a hurry. Or you can just tell me the general direction." Once she was nearby, Zheng Yi naturally wouldn't need a guide.

"…Leave the city from Guangmao Street and head north for a while. If you can fly, you'll notice that layers of distinct, man-made walls have been constructed nearby. Hmm, all the other buildings have been razed, and only a simple laboratory has been rebuilt there," the Director said. "In the past, when we needed concentrated energy, we would occasionally compound agents or conduct other experiments there."

Zheng Yi nodded in understanding.

"We actually don't know much about the meteor fragment itself." The Director looked at Zheng Yi, thought for a moment, and continued. To be precise, they only had numerous speculations. They had proposed the concept of the "meteor fragment" and the possibility of a "mutation factor," and so on. But due to their limited strength, they couldn't conduct detailed research and investigation of the meteor fragment up close, let alone magnify and analyze its components. Even the powder was something they only had now because Zheng Yi had given it to them. And Zheng Yi was already aware of some of their speculations.

[It's only when I come into contact with these bases and organizations that I get the dazed feeling that it hasn't even been a year since the apocalypse began.] Zero One couldn't help but remark in the system space. After all, Zheng Yi's progress was just too, too fast. For these ordinary people who were suddenly struck by disaster and knew nothing, to have developed to this point in less than a year—knowing to isolate the meteor fragment and use its ambient energy, and even being able to raise creatures and produce materials—was already an excellent performance. After all, they couldn't devote one hundred percent of their energy to research and experiments. In the early days of the apocalypse, they had to fend off infection and zombies, followed by periods of extreme cold and heat, accompanied by occasional earthquakes, storms, and other extreme weather.

But it was precisely because of Zheng Yi's ridiculously fast progress that she seemed to have… passively spurred their own improvement to a certain extent.

"That's fine," Zheng Yi said with a smile. "Universal evolution is indeed a fine prospect. I look forward to that day and am willing to provide some assistance."

"If you need the meteor fragment's ambient energy in the future, you can let me know anytime," Zheng Yi said with a soft laugh.

The Director seemed stunned for a moment, then smiled kindly and said, "Thank you for your generosity."

The discussion seemed to be over, and the atmosphere relaxed. Chi Heqing sighed in relief at the side as she heard the Director and Zheng Yi begin to chat idly. They talked about Changping's development, and after learning that Zheng Yi had toured the city, the Director asked with some curiosity what she thought of the base.

The answer, of course, was that it was quite good. Zheng Yi briefly mentioned Humanity's Light, making a brief comparison between the two bases and pointing out their differences.

"…Education? It seems Humanity's Light is developing even better than I imagined." At the very least, she thought, their resources must be more abundant than Changping's, otherwise… they wouldn't have the spare capacity to care about children's education. Then again, it could also be a preference of Humanity's Light's leaders. After all, with a name like that, it's only natural they would want to preserve the flame of human civilization and pass down knowledge.

They chatted for a while longer, until it grew later and the Director clearly felt the pain in her stomach from extreme hunger. Only then did she stand up, somewhat reluctantly. "It's getting late. It's time for us to leave." Although Zheng Yi looked young, she seemed exceptionally calm and objective when viewing certain matters, and was also surprisingly knowledgeable, the Director thought pensively. And that woman named Yu Yinan, though she didn't speak much, could also offer some good insights occasionally.

…As expected of powerful ability users.

"It was a pleasure speaking with you. I imagine our future cooperation will be quite pleasant as well." Zheng Yi stood up with a gentle smile. The Director didn't see clearly what she did, but Zheng Yi produced two transparent boxes containing two meals, both steaming hot.

It looked just like a pre-apocalypse takeout meal, the kind with rice topped with a dish.

"It seems you haven't eaten? It's too late to go to the cafeteria, I'm afraid. And after waiting so long, Captain Chi must be hungry too, right?" Zheng Yi offered the two boxed meals and two pairs of disposable chopsticks, pressing them into Chi Heqing's hands in a way that brooked no refusal. "Please don't refuse. I hope you both go back, get some good rest, and have sweet dreams."

The food was indeed warm, even slightly hot to the touch. Chi Heqing took the two boxed meals and glanced at them, seeing that both were shredded pork with green peppers over rice… The smell of the food had appeared suddenly; it wasn't a lingering scent from when Zheng Yi and the others had eaten earlier. Strange… Chi Heqing promptly cut off her deep thoughts, offered her sincere thanks with a bow, and did not refuse.

The two of them quickly left.

Get instant access to all the chapters now.

Previous Table of Contents Next