Intelligence

If he remembered correctly, not long ago, this girl was, in his eyes, a very twisted and violent mutant.

"It seems you haven't figured out the situation yet."

Miss Cannon Fodder No. 10 shook her head regretfully and sighed slightly, "Something's gone wrong in this world. Many people have turned into zombies. They attack anyone they see and have even used nuclear weapons to bombard cities. And you... before that, you were one of those zombies, and you seemed to have a very high status. It felt like those zombies all listened to you."

"What?" The man in white narrowed his eyes.

"But it's alright now. This magical potion is made from a special substance that can restore zombies to normal. Look down at your hands."

Upon hearing this, the man looked down and realized that his hands were covered in sores.

But at this moment, these ulcers are healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He fell completely silent this time.

This man wasn't stupid; he began to analyze the girl's words and combine them with his own experiences.

After observing the two incredibly beautiful girls in front of him for a while, the man said with a serious expression, "So, in your eyes, I... and my teammates are all zombies?"

"Yes." Cannon Fodder Number 10 deliberately made his expression serious. "Could it be that you still remember your memories of when you were a zombie?"

The man frowned.

"There's no reason for that, so in fact, the terrifying mutant I fought before was actually... you?" His gaze fell on the extremely beautiful but injured and frail Miss Fighter Number 10. He noticed that the girl snorted coldly, turned her head away, and looked like she didn't want to talk to him.

Mmm, so cute.

This girl looks so innocent, like a pure and innocent young girl who has just entered puberty.

However, what's most astonishing is the opponent's ability to weave through countless people, ignoring all kinds of bullets, and creating strange barriers to block bullets.

Is this even human?

Or perhaps, I myself have become a mutant?

He couldn't imagine such a thing.

Having experienced overly brutal battles in the past, he couldn't trust these guys who were once enemies but now suddenly called him a friend on the same side.

But...

More than that, he wanted to know the truth.

"In my memory, a large number of people in this world suddenly turned into those ugly, aggressive creatures." The man in white looked intently at the two abnormally beautiful girls in front of him. "We call these transformed people mutants. In terms of appearance, the difference between mutants and normal people is that mutants are completely decayed and will attack any normal person they see. They don't remember their past relatives and friends, they are like strange enemies, and they cannot communicate."

"It seems my guess was pretty much right. In fact, she and I are the mutants you see." Miss Cannon Fodder No. 10 sighed deeply. "You know what? In our eyes, you are the ones who have turned into creatures with bizarre appearances. We believe that a zombie virus infected you, causing you to transform into terrifying zombies that will attack anything you encounter. In this respect, we are quite similar."

The man in white fell silent after hearing those words.

The scene was extremely cold.

Half a minute later, the man finally sighed and said, "I understand."

"Well, can you tell me why you suddenly mobilized so many zombies after you saw me... oh, I mean, those normal people you saw at the time, to attack me?" Miss Combat Number 10 asked.

The man in white sat down on the steps next to him, looked up at the girl leaning against the window.

The pale golden sunlight slanted in from outside, illuminating her beautiful hair.

It's really beautiful.

It's unimaginable that just a few minutes ago, this girl was, in her own mind, a pale-skinned, festering zombie girl.

Unless you're someone with an extremely bizarre taste, it's impossible for you to find any aesthetic appeal in such extreme zombies.

"I think you are the leader of the mutants." He thought for a moment and then said, "I saw you from a great distance, and I felt that you were looking at me too. How should I put it... you are the kind of person who makes me feel particularly dangerous at first glance. Because there is enough evidence that there is a leader among the mutants, I wanted to capture you alive and get some information from you."

"Interesting." Miss Combat Number 10 laughed. "That's what I thought of you too. I thought you were the great commander among the zombies."

After saying that, she suddenly seemed to remember something and added in a teasing tone, "Don't get any wild ideas, there's no connection between us."

The man in white was both amused and exasperated.

"So, is this actually a betrayal within humanity?"

"Yes, in your eyes, how are mutants born? Is there any explanation?" Miss Combat Number 10 asked.

"No, we just think that you have mutated, which is the effect of a special kind of cosmic radiation. But a considerable number of people, especially medical scientists and chemists, believe that the truth is related to a disease, or a virus."

"We believe you've been infected with the zombie virus," Battle Miss said, shrugging.

"Pretty much, mutants are not much different from zombies."

Chapter 148 Intelligence

His tone made Battle Miss feel a touch of sadness.

In fact, the Mystic Thread can deeply sense a trace of despair in the other person's emotions.

"Are you very sad?" Battle Number 10 asked.

"Hehe."

The man chuckled softly, his voice tinged with sarcasm.

He seemed to be mocking himself, and a few seconds later he suddenly laughed.

"Do you know? In my community, they call me the savior."

The man took a deep breath.

"I sensed something was wrong as soon as the mutated humans' disaster began. I seized the opportunity to gather my fellow countrymen, distribute weapons, and let them defend themselves. There are many people in this world who are saving humanity just like me, but only I am called the savior."

His tone gradually became agitated.

"I led them into battle, fighting against the crazed mutants, as I sought the truth. And those comrades, they trusted me, willing to go through fire and water for me, unafraid of losing their lives."

At this point, he slammed his fist on the floor next to him.

"But now, you've become one of us, while your former comrades have turned into those twisted and despicable people." Miss Combat Number 10's cold voice articulated a certain reality.

"Yes, why is this happening?" He gritted his teeth, stood up and said, "I still can't quite believe it all, but now, I think I'm rational, so rational that I can't tell which side is real and which side is fake."

The most terrifying truth is that the mutants they talk about are actually just like normal humans, united with each other and fighting against what they believe to be their own united side.

There is no savior; it's all just infighting.

"I killed countless families, only to discover in the end that I was the real demon."

I looked down at my hands, then gazed out the window at the view.

There are zombies moving around below.

They turned out to be his former comrades-in-arms, fighting cruelly alongside people like the girl beside him.

He really doesn't understand.

"How pathetic."

As for Miss Cannon Fodder Number 10, all she could do was smile bitterly.

When I first came here as a player to complete the task under the system's instructions, I already felt that something was off.

Although I am an outsider, I do feel a bit conflicted about being involved.

"I just want to know the truth now, what caused all of this." He went to the windowsill and gripped the handrail tightly.

Two minutes passed before the guy noticed something and turned to look at the two silent girls.

"You seem to possess some incredible abilities, like my eyes. Lately, my vision has inexplicably improved."

"That must be the zombies evolving; all zombies are doing that," Miss Combat Number 10 replied. "As for us, we can extract the core from the heads of dead zombies and absorb their power. Of course, most people who do absorb it either die or are forcibly turned into zombies."

Is that so?

"Hmm, I think the virus theory is a bit unrealistic, but... we can start from this angle. Maybe there really is something inside the zombies."

The most likely cause is Pollution.

It becomes difficult if it's something abstract.

"By the way, I didn't notice anything when there were no changes. In fact, we... are the researchers among the zombies. After we breached several important departments, we learned about an experiment related to the virus. Perhaps the reason for everything is in there."

"What experiment?" Miss Cannon Fodder No. 10 asked.

"Eternal life."

The two words from the man in white immediately surprised Ye Qian.

"They hope that people can live forever, preserving their consciousness indefinitely, without experiencing aging and death. But human thought is deeply bound to the brain; one could say that consciousness is based on the structure of the brain." The man in white continued to gaze intently at the distant scenery.

The city was like a ruin, and at that moment, a zombie was watching from a building a few hundred meters away.

From today's perspective, that zombie was a terrifying monster that seemed to lack intelligence.

But I'm afraid the other side would see themselves the same way, right?

"The connection between consciousness and the human brain, especially the irreplaceable nature of the brain, gave this group of researchers some ideas. Just as many cells in the human body are constantly being renewed, they believe that the human brain can also preserve memories through a slow renewal process."

At this point, the man in white turned to look at the two girls.

"I have an idea that I suspect you've also considered. What if we replaced a person's brain cells one by one, generating new ones to replace the original cells and retain the past information? After the entire brain was replaced, would that person still be themselves? If not, then from what moment did this person cease to be themselves?"

"Regarding this question, those scientists believe that the key factor in whether it is the original self is whether it is inherited during the replacement process. If we compare the human brain to memory hardware, it means that you can't destroy the entire memory all at once, but can only replace each unit in it slowly. The new memory unit is a complete copy of the old one, placed in its original position. When the entire memory is replaced, the memory device itself is actually no different from the old one."

At this point in the man's explanation, Miss Fighting Number 10 understood.

"So, the solution they found was a virus?"

"Yes and no, I don't know if they conducted the relevant experiments, but those people did do it. For example, they modified proteins into semi-artificial structures. Apart from the original properties, most of the structure was actually artificial. They would copy information from human cells like viruses, and then replace the other cell and take its place."

"One idea is that if the human brain is a structure composed of countless viruses and cells, or even nanomechanical structures, it would first slowly replace the original cells to perform their functions. After all the cells have been replaced, it would essentially become the carrier of that person's consciousness. Each one could be separated and reassembled, and any broken parts could be replaced with new ones."

"Of course... even if such technology were achieved, replacing the cells in the human body one by one while retaining the original stable processing ability, it would still be impossible to determine whether it is the original person. But according to those researchers' ideas, at least the memories are preserved, and the process is gradual, rather than directly and crudely copying the entire brain and pasting it into the new one."

Miss Combat Number 10 rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought, "Your brain is made up of artificial viruses. When one virus dies, its information is transferred to another, replacing the original virus. Together, they form a complete you. Is this the beginning of the zombie virus?"

"No, it's just a guess. Nobody knows what those guys did."

"Phew, okay."

Battle Miss recalled the doctor in the white coat from before, who believed that the existence of the zombie virus itself violated the laws of physics and was difficult to understand.

It seems that the root cause may be related to Pollution.

When you travel to a real world where even technology is created by some mysterious force, and then return to a world where everything is made up of technology, where physical laws are perfected and cannot be changed, the feeling is subtle.

Perhaps the underlying structure of the world is different.

"If that's true, it means these researchers' experiments failed, since they created a zombie virus."

"Perhaps they tried to make this virus self-replicate, because only with this ability can it automatically replace itself if left unattended. But the virus eventually got out of control, probably like cancer, invading the original brain and taking control of everything..." At this point, the man in white suddenly froze. "So, my brain has actually been completely replaced?"

"It's unlikely. I think this virus is successful in a sense, at least it keeps you the same as before. It's like a brain robot, or a cellular robot. Well, but it's still a virus after all, so it explains why you get infected all over the body, and why you get inflammation, blisters, and pustules."

God knows if this conclusion is right or wrong, anyway it's too mystical, so this is the only way to think about it.

As an outsider, Battle Miss simply found the development of this strange phenomenon quite unusual.

She was so afraid to even think about whether such a thing could actually happen in reality.

"Unfortunately, when I teleported you here, your men were still attacking the people who were hiding upstairs with me. Hmm... it seems they haven't made it up yet, but it'll be soon."

Battle Number 10 forcibly deflected the Mystic Thread and is currently monitoring the situation.

With the departure of the man in white, the zombie horde, now without a leader, temporarily halted its operations and began exchanging information.

Man. "..."

"Here's an idea. We've already figured out a crucial point: in the eyes of zombies, normal people will always attack them relentlessly. Now... I'll re-inject the virus into you, turning you into a zombie. Then you should see me attack you. But don't do anything then, don't resist, because I'll just stand there, not making a move."

"This..."

The man found it somewhat difficult.

"Do you mean that I, in my zombie form, should communicate with you in my normal form?"

"Yes, but the current situation shows that zombies have different cognition than normal people, which means that communication itself is very difficult. If language is not an option, then let's try writing, write on the ground."

After a moment of silence, he couldn't help but ask, "How is the virus injected?"

"The fastest way is to find a zombie core or let you come into contact with zombie blood."

Thinking of this, Cannon Fodder Misses ran over to pick up the core of the zombie she had killed not long ago in the stairwell next door and walked over.

"Do as I say."