Public Opinion Storm

Survival Game, Day Three.

At seven in the morning, Ye Zhao woke to a nosebleed. Tilting her head back, she grabbed some tissues beside her and skillfully stuffed them into her nostrils.

After a night, the nosebleeds and hair loss had stabilized somewhat, though several faint red patches had appeared on her arms. Fortunately, the wound on her shoulder had not become infected. A small blessing amid misfortune.

She had another 420 Creation Points, enough to create four Constitution +1 Attribute Pages and raise her Constitution to 14.

Staying alive was what mattered most now. She had poured all her Creation Points into Constitution; everything else would have to be dealt with as it came.

Sure enough, once her Constitution increased, even her nosebleed stopped.

After wiping away the blood, reapplying medicine to her shoulder wound, and changing the gauze, Ye Zhao finally took out a packet of biscuits and some water from her space. She could create a gas pipe and stove to cook something, but she was afraid that smoke and fire would attract unnecessary trouble. Besides, she had no appetite and kept feeling nauseated.

Yes, no appetite. Ye Zhao had looked it up online—loss of appetite and nausea were both aftereffects of nuclear radiation.

She had practically been at ground zero for a nuclear explosion. The power of the radiation was easy to imagine. If she could, Ye Zhao would have moved into a hospital and begged a doctor to monitor her around the clock!

Unfortunately, all she could do now was hide in the car, gnaw on bread, and swallow two Mecobalamin Tablets for a little comfort. Ye Zhao had searched for these tablets on Baidu, where Baidu doctors said people exposed to nuclear radiation could take them. She could only trust that advice.

She used 1 Creation Point to create a box of pills. This was not the time to be frugal.

Fortunately, she had her Golden Finger. Otherwise, she would probably have ended up like City X—reduced to nothing but ash.

While eating her bread, she checked the internet again. News about City X was still trending, and the uproar was only growing. Some people had even taken flags to the government offices to demand answers, because rumors claimed that City X had fallen and everyone in the city had been wiped out!

That horrifying claim sent people into a panic and instantly exploded across the internet.

Yet the authorities still had not given a clear answer.

"...Why can't we go to City X? Why can't we contact our families? It would be one thing if one or two people couldn't get through, but why can't any of us reach them?"

"What was that huge explosion? What happened to City X? Please tell us what happened to our families! Are they still alive?"

"We must get an answer today—"

Ye Zhao sighed and swiped the video away.

The next video she came across was secretly filmed at a road intersection. At least three layers of wire fencing had been erected across the road, with armed soldiers standing guard nearby. Dozens of vehicles had gathered in the distance, wanting to pass through, but whenever they approached, they were threatened by gun barrels, leaving both sides at a standoff.

One side refused to let them through, while the other tried to force their way in. Those who did were taken away and detained.

The forceful attitude made everyone else too afraid to move.

Below the video were all kinds of speculation.

[They're guarding it so tightly, and an entire city has gone silent. Could there have been a zombie virus outbreak?]

When Ye Zhao saw that comment, she could not help giving it a like.

After that, she came across several more videos of blocked intersections. The situation was much the same everywhere. There was no way the government troops would allow civilians through.

A few people who tried to secretly cross the mountains were also caught and detained.

She sighed again. She had no idea how long the truth about City X could be hidden. Or rather, could a nuclear bomb really eliminate the zombie virus completely? What if it could not? Wouldn't the people of City X have died for nothing?

Just then, Ye Zhao suddenly heard the droning of helicopters. She took out her binoculars, opened the sunroof, and climbed out to sneak a few glances. They were headed in the direction of City X. In fact, she had heard aircraft several times the previous night.

But when she looked up, she also spotted several drones circling in the sky.

Ye Zhao quickly ducked back into the car. Fortunately, her jeep was olive green and inconspicuous among the trees.

When Ye Zhao picked up her phone again, she discovered that her Weibo direct messages had somehow increased by more than a hundred. She froze for a moment before opening them.

[Are you in City X? What exactly happened to City X?]

[Are you really near City X? Can you tell us what the situation is over there?]

[You're disgusting! You deliberately changed your IP to City X to farm traffic! Do you have any humanity?]

[Did everyone in City X really die?]

[Where in City X are you? Can you take a video call so we can see what City X is like? I can send you 50 as a token of my appreciation~]

[...]

Ye Zhao: ...

No, how had these netizens found her? She had only liked a comment.

Right. They could follow the like to her profile, and her profile displayed her IP... At a time like this, there were not many people still online with a City X IP. But there were even fewer who could spot her City X IP among tens of millions of likes.

Faced with these direct messages, Ye Zhao did not know what to do for a moment. In the end, she simply set up an automatic reply: [Stock up on supplies. Stay away from WY City.]

There was no way she could make a Weibo post. Anything she posted would be censored, and she might even get her account banned. She did not even dare type City X; writing "WY City" was already an obvious enough hint.

As Ye Zhao updated her automatic reply, her direct messages exploded again.

[So you really were deliberately farming attention, huh? Planning to sell something now? Having fun profiting off people's suffering?]

[Why stock up on supplies? Why stay away from City X? Has City X really been overrun by zombies?]

[Heh, what a joke. If City X is finished, how are you sending messages? Stop talking nonsense, you liar!]

[Do you know what's happening in XX District? My parents live there. I only want to know whether they're safe. I'm willing to pay you twenty thousand!]

[No pictures, no evidence. Do you think we'll believe a few words from you? Post a video if you can!]

[Since City X is finished, is that Fire Ability wielder who appeared at X University real too? Are there really people with abilities?]

[...]

Ye Zhao stopped reading after only a few messages, but more and more netizens who had heard the news flooded into her Weibo. The number of direct messages kept rising, nearly blowing up her account!

Because the buzz was so intense, Ye Zhao's Weibo was pushed onto the trending searches as well. Her followers surged by two hundred thousand, drawing the attention of the authorities.

So, halfway through scrolling the news, Ye Zhao received a notification saying that she had spread false information and her account had been banned.

Ye Zhao: ...

Netizens: ...??

It was fine. She still had Douyin.

After checking information about the surrounding roads on Douyin, Ye Zhao realized she could not drive out anymore. She had no idea how much manpower and resources the government had deployed, but they were determined to seal off City X so tightly that not even a fly or mosquito could get out!

After breakfast, she swallowed another two Amoxicillin pills. Based on the information online, Ye Zhao had already mapped out an escape route. Once she confirmed that the drones overhead had flown away, she popped a milk candy into her mouth and tossed her phone and backpack into her space so she could run at any moment.

She set off again.

She proceeded cautiously, stopping and starting along the way. More than an hour later, Ye Zhao drove the jeep onto a narrow path and hid it in the woods.

She could not drive the rest of the way. She planned to run across after nightfall.