A Nighttime Talk at the Base

They repeated the same process several times until most of the zombies had fallen and the residential complex grew quiet.

The sun sank, and dusk drew near.

Zhang Wan had regained consciousness, but she still looked listless.

Sun Ya and another gaunt old man had also joined them in the room.

Everyone sat around the stove, warming themselves. A pot sat on top, with pickled cabbage bubbling inside.

They had added lard and slices of ham sausage. The stew glistened with oil, and its aroma filled the room.

"Let me introduce you, Xiao Li." Sun Ya patted the old man beside him. "This is Wei De. You can call him Mr. Wei. We go way back—we used to work together, too. Old Wei, this is the Xiao Li I told you about."

Wei De looked up at Su Jin and managed a faint smile. Su Jin hurriedly reached out to shake his hand.

Sun Ya sighed. "Old Wei... you knew how bad your wife's heart was. Passing away now at least spared her worse suffering. You have to find a way to carry on. If not for yourself, think of the young people. We may be old, but we can still be useful."

"Besides, we both owe Xiao Li our lives."

Wei De nodded and dabbed at the corners of his eyes.

The stew kept bubbling in the pot, and Zhang Wan went to fetch bowls and chopsticks.

Su Jin looked at Sun Ya. "Sir, does this mean you've agreed to help me?"

Sun Ya nodded. "You've got courage and brains. You don't seem entirely right in the head, but you're not a bad sort... I don't have any choice except to help you anyway."

"But I don't understand. Why did you leave a zombie or two downstairs instead of clearing them all out? Just how many rounds do you have for that pistol?"

"I have plenty of pistol ammunition. Your shotgun is for saving our lives, so we should conserve its shells. As for the two zombies I left, I'm going to use them for target practice."

"Hmm... you've got a bow and arrows here, too, and no shortage of ammunition. You really did prepare exceptionally well."

Sun Ya fell silent in thought, then said solemnly, "You killed quite a few zombies today, but you mustn't let your guard down. There's something about them..."

"The zombies were coated in ice, with their ears, noses, and eyes frozen over, but they could still react quickly. They moved about as fast as an ordinary person walking." Su Jin considered this. "In other words, once the temperature starts rising, their mobility could increase dramatically."

"A very sharp observation. Looks like I don't need to worry too much about you," Sun Ya added. "But the problem goes beyond ice on the surface. At these outdoor temperatures, after being soaked in the rain, a full day and night would be enough to freeze all the tissue fluid inside a living organism."

"Those zombies should essentially be lumps of frozen meat by now. By any normal reasoning, they should be completely incapable of moving."

"And yet they can move... current science can't explain that." Sun Ya paused. "I'd like you to get two zombie bodies tomorrow and help me dissect them for study... there's a risk of infection. Would you dare?"

"Are you confident you can do it safely?" Su Jin hesitated.

He was willing to do something like this, and he had prepared plenty of protective equipment, but dissecting zombies still felt far too risky.

With all sorts of tissue fluids potentially seeping or splashing out, he couldn't be sure what the consequences might be.

Sun Ya hesitated for a moment. "No. This situation is already beyond our existing body of knowledge. I know something about medicine, but I'm still a step below a true specialist. All I can do is try to improve our understanding of the danger as much as possible."

"I know the risk is high. You can choose not to do it. But compared with what we might pay in the future, I think it's worth taking."

"Understood. I'll drag two bodies back tomorrow. I'll do the cutting, and you observe." Su Jin nodded, then added, "Mr. Sun, I also have a cage of mice I need you to run experiments on. We might as well start both tomorrow."

"Hmm..." Sun Ya nodded. "Collecting ice poses a splashing hazard. I still have half a bottle of rainwater I collected earlier in my room. We can use that."

"Your rainwater might be useless already. I'll still have to get you some ice." After a moment's hesitation, Su Jin decided to tell him openly.

"What do you mean?" Sun Ya's gaze instantly sharpened. "How do you know the rainwater is useless?"

"I can see the source of the infection. That substance dissipates after about five days."

Sun Ya drew in a sharp breath. Everyone in the room turned toward Su Jin. Even Wei De, sunk in despair, couldn't help raising his head.

"You have an ability like that, too? How do you do it? What form does the infectious substance take?"

Su Jin smiled wryly. "Maybe it's an innate gift. Doesn't Qing Dai foresee the future, too? But my ability isn't much use... the infectious substance looks like gray mist. Without water, it turns into mist and disperses easily. Unfortunately, I can only see it in its initial state. Once it infects a living organism, I can no longer see any signs of its presence."

"That's good news! So you've got a little supernatural ability yourself. No wonder you believed Qing Dai!" Delight appeared on Sun Ya's face. "It dissipates in five days, and the rain has stopped. Doesn't that mean the source of contamination will disappear before long?"

"No," Wei De interjected, his voice weary. "We don't know whether it will rain again. The source of infection has already shifted from the rain to living organisms. Do those walking corpses look as though they're showing any signs of dying?"

At his words, everyone's spirits sank again.

Su Jin gave a helpless smile. "Everyone, stop clinging to false hopes. We can only rely on ourselves now. Get ready to fight... but let's eat first."

That night, the wind outside had gradually eased.

The room was silent, and the hiss of burning coal briquettes was clearly audible.

The faint firelight leaking through the stove's gaps lent the darkness a touch of warm yellow.

Fu Hu, Sun Ya, and the others had each found a place to sleep, wrapped themselves tightly in blankets, and drifted off.

Su Jin huddled in a corner, unable to sleep. He gazed at the glow from the stove, turning things over in his mind.

After killing so many zombies that day, he no longer felt much fear. Instead, deep inside, there was an indescribable exhilaration born of revenge.

But dissecting them... can I really do it?

Mr. Sun wants to run experiments, and we still don't fully understand how this infection works. Should I wait until he's finished before recruiting more people, or start right away?

As he pondered, a small dark figure slipped past the stove in a crouch, then lightly flopped down beside Su Jin.

"Qing Dai?" Su Jin lowered his gaze.

"Can I sleep beside you?" Fu Qingdai was wrapped in a blanket, with only her little face showing.

Su Jin reached out and stroked the top of her head twice.

His hand came away feeling greasy, so he quickly wiped it on Fu Qingdai's blanket.

"What's wrong?"

"My mom still wasn't doing very well today. What should I do?" Leaning against Su Jin, Fu Qingdai murmured softly, her voice tinged with tears.

Su Jin looked upward and let out a long sigh.

She was still young, after all. Helping him kill zombies and holding out until now before showing her fear had already been no small feat.

"It's all right. Your mom will get better with some rest. Things will keep getting safer. Sooner or later, we'll be able to live normally again, just like before."

Fu Qingdai cried silently without saying a word.

Seeing this, Su Jin put an arm around Fu Qingdai and let out a snort.

"Pfft... there's enough grease in your hair to cook a whole dish. With you around, at least we won't starve."

"Come on!" Fu Qingdai's face instantly flushed red. With a small whine, she pulled up her blanket.

She wrapped it around her head like a ball and buried herself in Su Jin's arms.