Chapter 192.1 – We Are V587 (7)
◎ I’m back ◎
After going back to Shaye to drop Zhang Ci, V587’s starship headed straight for Loak.
Xu Xing, the young man, was lively and spirited. Stepping on the ship’s rail window, he held a megaphone in his hand. The strong wind tousled his fluffy curls, and his spirited voice, infused with awakened energy, echoed throughout the area: “Ada, we have a new friend—!!”
After speaking human words, he turned around and winked, repeating in zombie language: “Ah~ Ah ah ah—!!”
Aunt Qing held Xiao Bao, gazing at Xu Xing with a look that seemed to question his sanity, amazed that such rich expressions could be squeezed out of its stiff features.
Xiao Bao drooled, vividly portraying what “salivating three feet” meant. His murky eyes remained fixed on Song Ke’s arm, sneakily trying to reach for her, but his mom firmly pressed him down.
After shouting for about ten minutes, a rolling dust cloud rose on the distant horizon, and a massive horde of zombies approached.
Aunt Qing’s gaze gradually fixed. Trapped on the lonely island, it had always thought that it and Xiao Bao were rejected oddities. It never imagined that there were so many similar beings in the outside world. Perhaps… perhaps here, they could also have the right to a normal life.
Song Ke patted Aunt Qing’s shoulder and whispered, “Go, to your new home.”
Xu Xing keenly spotted Ada’s figure and happily waved, “Ada, I found my sister! And brought… a new friend…”
As he shouted, his voice became weaker and he stared into the distance in a daze.
Just as everyone found his unusual behavior strange, Xu Xing suddenly jumped up, thrilled to the point of almost breaking into a high-pitched scream: “Braided Head?!”
In the rear of the large group, leisurely slacking around, wasn’t it the familiar Braided Head and its brother, Dirty Chin? Braided Head was originally a bit shy, but upon seeing Xu Xing clearly, it happily jumped up and rushed to the front, excitedly shouting at him: “Ah ah ah ah ah!!”
Xu Xing responded with the same enthusiasm: “Ah ah! Ah ah—Ah-woo!”
Look, the child was so happy that he even forgot the foreign language he had finally mastered.
Ada, as the leader of the Fallen, had a strong sense of kinship among her kind but particularly despised humans and zombies. Except for Xu Xing, who was like sticky glue, ordinary people couldn’t move around in her territory.
Song Ke allowed Xu Xing to jump down and have fun, telling him to come back in a while, while she took a detour to rescue Lin Xiu, who had been “buried” initially.
Upon reaching the designated location, Lin Youyou personally dug out the light screen. The low-energy mode needed to be reactivated. She looked pale and hesitated to proceed. Finally, admitting defeat, she muttered, “Forget it, Lin Xiu is really good at scolding people. I can’t handle it alone. Let’s wait for Su Cha to wake up.”
She languished in the wheelchair, but her eyes sparkled with clarity. Everything was developing in the right direction, and she believed that she would reunite with her family sooner or later.
On the way back, Xu Xing was pushed by Fang Zhixu to stand in front of Zhuang Qingyan. He awkwardly asked, “Hey, what about Ada and Braided Head in the future? Can you not fight them?”
Zhuang Qingyan’s mouth curved into a half-smile, teasingly saying, “Want to know? Call me Brother Yan first.”
Xu Xing, humiliated, said, “Brother Yan.”
When they first met, Xu Xing, in order to maintain his innocent image, used to sweetly call him “Uncle Zhuang.” However, as his true nature was revealed, he either called him by his full name or referred to him as “Hey” or “That guy.”
Zhuang Qingyan looked pleased as he casually flipped the light screen. “The new ‘Law of Species’ will be introduced soon, acknowledging the existence of the Fallen openly. Instead of worrying about them, you should mourn for those poor fellows who mistakenly entered Loak.
Ada possesses intelligence close to a Level 4 Zombie King. Given the number of monsters here, ordinary awakeners would just be sending themselves to death. Under the premise of no conflicting interests, at least for a few years, humans can maintain a ‘no conflict with each other’ balance with the Fallen.”
…
After returning to the Northern Base, V587 immediately went to the Qianzhan City Laboratory.
The conditions of Su Cha and Lin Youyou could only be described as “life-sustaining.” Every day delayed added to the crisis. Song Ke, known for her decisive actions, both for her sake and for her teammates, wanted to start the cryopreservation experiment as quickly as possible.
Ning Rong rubbed his hands, waiting at the door. When they approached, he eagerly spoke, “Did you really find the original sample? What about the complete gene sequence? For safety, I think slice analysis is indispensable…”
Zhuang Qingyan interrupted his rambling self-talk, saying, “We’re fine on our end. What about your side?”
Ning Rong’s expression was serious, and his attitude towards research was impeccable. “Rest assured, I personally checked every step. Only you and I have experimental permissions.”
Song Ke changed into a pure white short-sleeved shorts set, and one by one, the V587 team members hugged her, cheering her on.
When hugging Lin Youyou, Song Ke paused for a few seconds, whispering, “Before the arrival of autumn this year, both you and Su Cha will recover.”
Lin Youyou smiled lightly, “I believe in you, Song Ke’er.”
When it was Zhuang Qingyan’s turn, his peach blossom eyes were full of affection as he tightly embraced Song Ke. His tone was so gentle it was almost dripping with water, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll be with you; just a little nap will do.”
Song Ke struggled a bit but couldn’t break free. She endured it and then couldn’t help but speak, “There’s something I want to discuss with you.”
“Hmm? What is it?” Zhuang Qingyan’s warm breath hit her earlobe, causing a slight tingling sensation.
Song Ke felt inexplicably guilty, “Well… we’re not that familiar, so… the boyfriend-girlfriend thing, let’s take it slow, okay?”
She closed her eyes and steeled herself, “Actually, I don’t like ostentatious displays.”
Zhuang Qingyan: “…?”
It felt easier to say it out loud. Song Ke sighed in relief, pretending not to hear the uneven laughter behind her.
“Not that familiar?”
“…”
“Ostentatious displays?”
“…”
Zhuang Qingyan’s attractive and enchanting face slowly approached. The tips of their noses gently touched, so close that Song Ke could count his long and dense eyelashes.
He gazed deeply into her eyes, various emotions swirling in his eyes. Finally, it turned into a helpless sigh, “We’ll talk when you come out.”
Song Ke was pushed into a massive apparatus, surrounded by pure white. As time passed, she gradually felt uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the anesthesia took effect, and her eyelids became heavier.
Five seconds, three seconds, one second.
Song Ke slowly closed her eyes, consciousness sinking into endless chaos.
…
Thick black smoke, scorching fireballs, hazy dust columns, and… flashes that covered the retina.
Young Ming (Mingzhi) carried a portable cultivation pod, his eye sockets red, running forward without looking back. He hadn’t expected a nuclear explosion to occur right after leaving Loak.
“Beep—” a sharp alarm sounded, and LAK0017 curled up in pain, with vital signs dropping to the lowest point.
“No, no, no!” Mingzhi was in a panic, placing the cultivation pod on the ground, nervously biting his nails. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration, remembering the way Young Master Xie fed nutritional supplements. Carefully, he took out the last, and within his permissions, the only nutritional supplement he could access, and placed it next to the dying LAK0017.
Mingzhi choked, “Quickly eat it, don’t die, I beg you, don’t die.”
Since the first day of its existence, LAK0017 had been cared for by Mingzhi. It was like his child, and Mingzhi had poured all his effort and love into it. Why couldn’t he keep it alive? Clearly, it had autonomously restored its life before destruction, so why was it rapidly deteriorating now?
Mingzhi quickly realized the key issue. The environment of the research institute was like a vacuum greenhouse, and LAK0017 had long been accustomed to that survival mode. Suddenly thrown into the outside world, it couldn’t adapt to the murky air at all.
The alarm became more urgent, and eventually, with the long beep sounds, LAK0017’s vital signs fell silent.
It was dead.
“…No, it’s impossible. You’re so strong,” Mingzhi’s tears welled up, “Give me a chance to save you, please, live on!”
The experimental subject inside the cultivation chamber shrank more and more, turning into a soft, collapsed mass.
Mingzhi opened the pod door, trembling as he took out LAK0017. Although he held it steadily, the fleshy mass slipped unexpectedly from his palm, rolling away, making squelching sounds as it flowed several meters away.
Mingzhi hurriedly got up to retrieve the fleshy mass. As his vision blurred, he vaguely saw a dark red pattern on the surface of the soft flesh. Its wriggling slowed down, but it continued to roll forward. Mingzhi looked at the direction it was heading, slightly widening his eyes – was it trying to absorb radiation?
Gritting his teeth, Mingzhi picked up the soft mass and rushed towards Loak. However, in the face of a natural disaster, ordinary people were so insignificant. Just being close to the edge of the nuclear explosion, Mingzhi showed obvious symptoms of radiation sickness: dizziness, nausea, vomiting, bleeding from the nose and gums, and large amounts of hair falling out.
LAK0017 seemed increasingly eager. It struggled free from Mingzhi’s embrace and fell into the thick remnants of flames.
Mingzhi fell to his knees, his consciousness shaken. On the verge of passing out, he witnessed an unforgettable miracle.
A distant, clear bird cry tore through the sky. The fire-red phantom of a mythical beast spread its wings and soared overhead.
“Phoenix… Nirvana…” Mingzhi murmured to himself, tears streaming down his face.
After the light dissipated, a pair of wrinkled and spotted hands emerged from the ashes, cradling the peacefully sleeping little girl.
The Phoenix gene was triggered, resetting the experimental subject’s state. LAK0017 returned to its initial humanoid embryo state, becoming a true “human.”
