Whispers, Zombies, and Madmen (Part One)

"What on earth happened?"

At the same time, in the conference room of the underground base, everyone stared at the screen on the wall and let out low cries.

The screen displayed more than just one surveillance feed after another. It also showed a real-time graph.

On the screen, colored patches could be seen spreading outward little by little from different coordinate points, as if balls of different colors had been dropped into a clean pool and were rapidly polluting the water.

There was even a calculation of the pollution's radiation range on one side of the screen.

It was currently showing 70%, and the figure was continuing to rise.

But inexplicably, not long after the overall pollution began, those steadily expanding patches were suddenly disrupted. Their rate of spread slowed, and they were no longer following a regular pattern. Some of the patches were even rapidly shrinking.

Correspondingly, several unknown green dots appeared beside every patch that had undergone a change.

These green dots produced a different kind of radiation, interrupting the overall process.

The radiation process had clearly already reached 70%, yet it quickly fell to around 63%.

At the same time, the system automatically identified the feeds displaying abnormalities, selected them, enlarged them, and arranged them across the screen one by one. The specific scenes at those locations immediately appeared before everyone in the conference room. The strange sights within them instantly made people feel an indescribable sense of eeriness. Someone even shot to their feet and cried out.

Scene One: Western District of Kindling City

The preacher standing at the red-clothed podium in the middle of the square had already shouted himself hoarse, the veins bulging on his neck as he yelled slogans at the top of his lungs. All around him, believers knelt