Chapter 6: "He's Humanity's Last Hope."
Su Ming'an heard a burst of laughter.
Looking down, he saw a little girl in a blood-red dress. Her eyes swirled like a crimson vortex, and a cold smile played at her lips.
"Big brother."
Her voice echoed in his ears:
"Do you like picking mushrooms?"
As she spoke, she began to hum the children's song 'The Little Girl Picking Mushrooms', but her version was disturbingly eerie:
The little girl picking mushrooms,
Carried a basket of bones.
Barefoot at night,
She walked through the graves alone…
Without hesitation, he immediately switched on the light.
With a crisp click, the laboratory lit up, and the ghostly girl vanished.
He had previously noticed that the bloodstains on the walls would fade slightly when the flashlight was turned on. Suspecting the monsters were afraid of light, he had memorized the location of the light switch in advance.
The moment the room lit up, he was able to take in the full view of the room.
Brains. Eyeballs. Hearts. Stomachs. Kidneys.
Organs floated in vats of glowing green liquid. This was a storage room for human organs, and a corpse even hung from the ceiling.
"—Doctor!"
There was a knock at the door. The young woman stepped inside
"Doctor, why did you come to the organ storage room? Come on, let's go." said Xiao Han.
"I'm coming," said Su Ming'an.
He isn't sure what the world outside is like, so it's best not to expose that he isn't the real doctor.
His mission was to 'find the antibodies and deduce the cause of the apocalypse'.
He followed Xiao Han out into a long hallway. A group of children sat in a classroom reading aloud. Their eyes were bright as they recited poetry:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light…
As Su Ming'an walked past them, a girl with braided pigtails looked up.
"Doctor, they say you're the smartest adult. I want to ask… When can I grow up?" she asked, gazing up at him. Her face was round and rosy.
"You'll need another eight to ten years," Su Ming'an answered politely.
"I heard that once we grow up, we can leave the lab and go outside," she smiled. "The outside world must be beautiful, right? With sunlight, rain, flowers, and birds. I want to grow tall! I want to learn to draw and sing, and make everybody happy. They'll listen to me sing, and I'll tell them what the outside world looks like."
"You will grow up," said Su Ming'an.
"Thank you, Doctor! I'll work hard to grow up!" the girl waved as he walked away.
Watching the heartwarming scene, Su Ming'an felt a moment of surreal calm.
...Maybe the apocalypse hadn't started yet?
"Doctor, the lab is running low on medicinal supplies. We'll have to go out today." Xiao Han said. She stood before a thick metal door, turning the valve.
"We're the only ones going? What about the others?" Su Ming'an asked.
Xiao Han lifted her clear black eyes, looking at him. As the door opened, brilliant sunlight flooded in, washing over Su Ming'an.
"Doctor, did you forget?" she said gently.
The metal door swung fully open.
A scorching sun hung high overhead. Buildings lay in ruins. A dense fog loomed.
——What Su Ming'an saw beyond the door was this:
Human corpses lay scattered, their bellies ripped open, flesh shredded, intestines and organs spilling out.
No flowers. No rain. No birds.
The only things still moving were stiff-limbed zombies. The city was a living ruin, filled only with dust, blood, and tears.
Xiao Han watched alongside him.
"Most of your colleagues died long ago from the apocalypse's bacterial infection."
"Only these genetically engineered children are left. They can't survive breathing the outside air, so they have to spend their whole lives sustained in the lab."
She smiled faintly. Her black pupils reflected the golden sunlight, seeming to gather all the brightness into her eyes.
But what she said was filled with despair:
"—Doctor, I'm sorry, but… we are humanity's last hope."
Tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes.
…
The zombie outbreak had occurred suddenly a few years ago.
One-third of the population transformed overnight into mindless, flesh-craving beings. A single scratch from them could infect and turn someone else into them.
Fortunately, some underground shelters were established just in time; the research center Su Ming'an was in was one of them.
Other shelters were scattered throughout Henggang City, but only this R&D center possessed the resources and experts to develop a vaccine.
At a bus station along the road, Su Ming'an overheard some players talking:
"This place is crawling with zombies. There aren't many survivors left. I wonder if my parents made it in..."
"Whatever. We're here now."
"I heard that bunny organizer say that you can earn points by completing missions, and points can be exchanged for powerful weapons and attribute points. Once I get back to Earth, I'm going to beat the crap out of my client. That bastard made me revise the proposal five times. I swear I'm gonna smash his damn head in."
"Hehe, maybe the next dungeon will be a fantasy world? I can't wait to see some cute elf girls."
"I'm looking forward to futuristic worlds like StarCraft, or a WuXia world, or some western world with deities and mystical rituals."
These players likely possessed survivors from other shelters, sent out to scavenge for resources.
Whack!
Su Ming'an smashed a zombie's head with a stick he'd picked up. Though his Strength stat wasn't high, it was still enough to crack the zombie's skull.
After killing the zombie, he gained EXP.
[EXP +50! (450 more needed to reach Tier 1-2)]
[Leveling up grants 3 free attribute points per level.]
[At higher levels, you'll unlock 'Special Identities', 'Skill Slots', and 'Equipment Refinement'. Stay tuned.]
...
He realized leveling up in the early game was pretty fast—only nine more zombies and he'll level up again.
Currently, his combat revolved around the two skills: Clone and Oblivion. They both had immense potential, but they required further development to truly shine.
"Wahhh!!"
Down the street, a female student with a lightsaber tripped as she was running away, becoming too frightened to get up.
Many players were just ordinary people before the game started; most of them probably couldn't even bring themselves to kill a chicken.
Su Ming'an estimated the distance between them. He didn't try to rush in and help.
"Aaah—!"
Her scream was cut short by the zombie that tore into her throat.
Xiao Han remained expressionless.
That student had a sword but didn't even have the courage to swing it. She only screamed and ended up luring in more zombies. If they saved someone like that, then next time something similar happened, they'd be dragging along a whole pack of liabilities.
And if they ever fail to save someone, they'll become the target of blame.
Su Ming'an wiped the blood from his hand.
There were millions of players doomed to be eliminated. He had no time to save each and every one of them. That girl had been too far; had he rushed in, he might've gotten bitten.
But although he could gauge the distance between them, the viewers didn't have this ability. His chat began to be filled by a wave of condemnation:
[We're all humans from Earth, so why don't you help her?]
[People like this streamer are why I died so early.]
[Why are you all so mad? He had no obligation to help her. He did nothing wrong…]
[Y'all died already. What gives you guys the right to insult an adventure player? They're our only hope.]
[Wow, the number of people trying to guilt-trip is crazy. Let's see if you have the guts to insult an adventure player after a few more days.]
Su Ming'an didn't even glance at the chat.
…Not all the players hiding in the back were useless.
The fear of death is engraved in human nature. It might be difficult for some of them to face this kind of world, hoping for some hero to fight on their behalf, but that didn't justify turning into self-righteous spectators who demanded others to die for them.
People are quick to lose themselves in such a desperate environment. It's easy for moral coercion to seep into every corner. He started streaming for the points, not to become morally coerced.
People have always flocked to the powerful. Once his identity as the number one player gets revealed, they'll come crawling back to him. Changing their faces faster than a clown.
"Doctor, let's head to that shelter at the end of the street. I've traded with them before." said Xiao Han.
It was a small shelter, likely housing only one or two families. An old man and woman lived there.
"—You old man, why aren't you boiling the noodles yet?"
"Ah, okay, okay, I'll go… You old woman, you're so naggy."
Xiao Han knocked on the door.
"Xiao Han, back again?" said the kind-faced old lady holding a red vial. "Not much left. Just this one. How about I trade for some compressed crackers?"
"Sure!" Xiao Han nodded.
The old lady muttered as she traded: "My husband's gotten lazier and lazier. Can't even cook noodles anymore."
"You stingy old hag, never put in vegetables—bland as hell—then blame me for bad cooking!" the old man huffed.
Ignoring him, the old lady spotted Su Ming'an:
"Oh my, isn't this Doctor Su, the vaccine researcher? I've seen you on TV before. You're even more handsome in person!"
"Doctor Su, countless families are counting on you to lead us into a new, zombie-free era!"
Su Ming'an nodded, feeling undeserving.
"Gramps, granny—I wish you both good health!" said Xiao Han.
"Yes, yes." The old lady loved to smile. She smiled as she closed the door.
Su Ming'an decided to summon his clone outside while he still had the time.
He had originally assumed it would control like a remote-controlled car, which only needed commands to move around.
But he soon realized the clone's five senses were shared to him, and he also had to manually switch between its vision and his own. It was like having two bodies at once, and controlling both was both disorienting and hard to manage.
When the clone felt pain, he would too, and the same was true with all his other senses. The only upside was that the intensity of this sensory feedback could be somewhat controlled depending on how much of his attention was focused on the clone.
This meant that having the clone fight alongside him was currently impossible. Judging by how much his five senses had improved when his Spirit went from 9 to 10, he estimated that he'd need at least 25 Spirit to control both bodies at the same time.
Currently, he has 10 Spirit, meaning he would have to reach Tier 1-6 to earn the 15 attribute points he needed…
Along the way, he had already encountered several raider gangs made up of players. These players had devoted their efforts to stealing other people's food and resources.
In times of crisis, with no laws to rein in violence, it was no surprise that those who held evil within them would choose to act on their darkest urges.
As he explored the surroundings, he came across some strange-looking corpses.
[You've discovered item: Mutilated Corpse. Begin investigation? (The clues found depend on your Spirit stat and intelligence)]
"Investigate."
[You've obtained clues.]
[Clue I (Black blood): Best not to touch it, unless you're really thirsty.]
[Clue III (Fresh mushrooms): Pure white mushrooms with plump caps. They look delicious.]
[Clue VI (Crimson mark on the wrist): Looks like a special tattoo?]
[Clues recorded in the Clue Log. (As more clues are collected, links between them will form 'Hypotheses'. Hypotheses can be used during the 'Final Deduction').]
[Hint: You are gradually approaching the truth.]
[Exploration Points +10 ×3]
...
"Doctor, let's head back," said Xiao Han, holding a vial in her hand.