Heaven and Earth Net Bureau

"Li Moxiao, listen to the second question!"

"Mm!"

"Question: If you were walking down the road and saw something ahead that looked a lot like shit, what would you do?

A: It looks like shit, so quickly walk around it.

B: Step on it with your foot. It's slippery and sticky, so it might be shit.

C: Lean in and smell it. It stinks, so it really is shit.

D: Dip a finger in it and taste it. Mm! It's definitely shit!"

Li Moxiao felt as if her intelligence had been rubbed into the ground. Her forehead throbbed as she roared, "I choose D! I'll taste it, all right?!"

Shen Jin looked at Li Moxiao as if he had known it all along.

"I could tell long ago that there was something wrong with you! See? My test exposed you, didn't it?"

Rolling her eyes, Li Moxiao directly ended today's question-and-answer session.

Shen Jin refused to let it go from behind her. "You haven't even heard my third question yet!"

"Go die!"

Seeing that Li Moxiao absolutely refused to answer any more questions, Shen Jin was baffled.

"Today's lesson didn't go very smoothly. Were my questions not rigorous enough?"

Shen Jin decided to read a few more novels and improve his question bank. To understand his little niece's personality, necessary psychological tests could not be skipped.

At ten o'clock that night, Li Moxiao turned on the radio right on schedule.

The same action was taking place across China at the same time.

Listening to the radio at noon and ten at night had become a daily habit for most surviving Chinese people.

"Crackle, crackle."

After another burst of static, a pleasant male voice came through the radio, making people feel very reassured.

"Dear listeners, welcome to the China government's exclusive channel and tonight's daily news program."

"The zombie virus is still spreading. According to reliable satellite observations, Zombies have begun showing signs of evolution. Through research on live Zombies, experts have discovered that most Zombies exposed to sunlight have evolved a layer of skin tissue capable of photosynthesis. It resembles green moss and can replenish the energy consumed by their movements when sunlight is abundant during the day. This is both good news and bad news.

"The good news is that Zombies have not escaped the law of conservation of energy. They need to replenish energy in order to survive.

"The bad news is that once future Zombies absorb sufficient energy, they will become even more active, and more of them will undergo mutations and evolution!"

No wonder the Zombies' activity had not declined after all this time. They had learned photosynthesis. Shen Jin recalled that most of the Zombies he had seen today had already evolved dark-green skin tissue.

"Next, let us welcome Professor Liu to bring us today's science segment."

"Hello, everyone. I'm Liu Mang. Let's continue discussing the social and ethical classification of Zombies. Before we examine this issue, the first thing everyone must understand is that Zombies are not human. Even if they retain their former human appearance, people fully infected by the zombie virus have completely dead brain cells. Biologically and ethically, they no longer belong to humanity."

"Finally, we invite Hu Shou, Director Hu of the Heaven and Earth Net Bureau, to explain survival techniques and combat knowledge."

Heaven and Earth Net Bureau??? Why had he never heard of it before? Was this Hu Shou speaking on the government channel for the first time as well? Since the apocalypse began, Shen Jin had barely gone outside. He had listened through every government broadcast and kept recordings of them all.

A deep, resounding male voice came from the radio.

"I am Hu Shou. Today, I will not teach survival knowledge. I will reveal a top-secret government file to every Chinese citizen still alive. Its name is 'Superhuman.'"

Superhuman?

Shen Jin's mind jolted. Could there be others like him who had gained power from a system?

Had they been recruited by the government?

Superhuman?

Li Moxiao was startled. Did her superhuman appetite after the apocalypse count as being Superhuman?

And she got hungry incredibly easily, too.

"Research into Superhumans was initiated twenty years ago and classified as top secret. The Heaven and Earth Net Bureau was established specifically to investigate all kinds of mysterious incidents and Superhuman abilities. Ordinarily, this information would not have been released for another thirty years. But now, catastrophe has descended from the heavens. I hope that the small amount of experience we have gathered over the years can help our compatriots survive!"

"Setting aside some accidental misunderstandings, nearly every event discovered by the Heaven and Earth Net Bureau over the past twenty years that exceeded human understanding has been related to humans themselves."

"An old woman who lifted a two-ton car with her bare hands to save her grandson; a mother who saw her child falling from a building and instantly burst forth with speed far beyond the fastest human runner; a young man who fell from the sixth floor without a single injury.

"All of these incidents left the Heaven and Earth Net Bureau baffled, impossible to explain by common sense. An ordinary person with no training could instantly surpass athletes who had trained for decades, even exceeding the limits of human capability.

"But when we went to investigate, aside from that young man, every one of them died of organ failure. Forensic examiners found large amounts of adrenaline and trace hormones highly toxic to humans in their bodies. Their genetic chains had also completely collapsed."

"After so many years of exploration and summary, the Heaven and Earth Net Bureau believes that humans possess some kind of limitless potential. It has simply never been awakened, hidden deep within our genes. When facing a life-or-death crisis, powerful willpower can briefly activate this potential and unlock certain genes. However, afterward, excessive adrenaline and toxic hormones cause the genetic chains throughout the body to collapse."

"We call this state unlocking the Gene Lock!"

"After years of searching and studying the young man who survived back then, the Heaven and Earth Net Bureau has preliminarily grasped the secret of unlocking the Gene Lock. A person needs astonishing willpower and incomparably firm, pure conviction to unlock it at the threshold of life and death. After unlocking it, they need a strong body or to consume massive amounts of energy to ensure their body's genes do not collapse.

"Humans who can survive after unlocking the Gene Lock are what we call Superhumans!"

Shen Jin and Li Moxiao listened in fascination. They had never expected that Superhuman power had already existed in this world.

A breakthrough could only happen at the threshold of life and death? Forget it. Looks like I can't unlock the Gene Lock. Shen Jin shook his head inwardly.

Another useless piece of knowledge added.

Li Moxiao, however, nodded solemnly and said seriously to Shen Jin, "Shen Jin, I think I have a chance of unlocking the Gene Lock."

"Are you sure?"

No matter how Shen Jin looked at her, she did not seem like someone with astonishing willpower and conviction.

Li Moxiao stared into Shen Jin's eyes. "I'm often on the brink of life and death. For example, tonight."

Shen Jin frowned and warily swept his gaze over the basement's surroundings. "You mean... there's something here tonight that threatens your life?"

Li Moxiao shook her head. "No. If you had come any later tonight, I would have starved to death!"

Please provide the text you would like me to translate or revise. I am ready to process it according to your instructions.

I almost fucking believed her! Damn it!

The radio fell silent for a moment before Hu Shou's deep voice rang out again.

"Zombies are constantly evolving, while the firearms humanity has relied on most for the past century have all fallen silent. The only thing we can rely on is ourselves."

"Finally, I want to say something to all Chinese citizens: when facing a life-or-death crisis, focus your willpower, awaken the fighting genes in your body, unlock the Gene Lock, and use this Superhuman power that belongs to humanity to save yourselves and save mankind!"

"That concludes tonight's program. Please remember that the China government's only radio signal is 66.6. We will continue bringing you the latest news tomorrow at noon."

"Everyone, please keep yourselves safe."

The host paused for a moment, seemingly receiving instructions from some leader, then added another sentence.

"Unless necessary, do not attempt to unlock the Gene Lock lightly. Wait for government rescue!"

"Crackle, crackle."