Countless people across the country received the new version of the emergency broadcast. Some chose to stay on the outskirts of cities and wait for the rescue to come.
Others did the opposite, changing their destination to the Imperial Capital, determined to cross a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers, to trek through wind, rain, ice, and snow to get there.
Whether Zhang Tianyuan knew about the survivors' actions or not, he had no way to stop them.
All he could do now was return to the transmission station the day after replacing the recording tape and check for any new traces of Darkseekers.
"Reporting in! At least three Darkseekers were active nearby last night!"
The scout easily found traces left by three Darkseekers.
"This still isn't secure enough. If the Darkseekers damage the emergency power station, the broadcast inside won't be able to run."
Zhang Tianyuan pondered worriedly, then said, "Let's do this. Today, we'll clear out all the Darkseekers inside the transmission station, then build defenses outside to keep them from getting in."
Instructor Yin nodded. "I think that'll work."
The battle plan was soon drawn up.
The remote-controlled cars that had performed so brilliantly yesterday continued deeper into the station's other buildings to clear out the Darkseekers inside.
Meanwhile, the others took out quick-drying cement and went outside the station to mix it, preparing to build the defenses.
Just like yesterday, the Darkseekers hiding in the staff dormitories died upon exposure to light and were easily routed by the remote-controlled cars.
The whole process took only two hours.
By then, the cement outside had been mixed, and everyone began building the defenses.
Defenses against Darkseekers were simple.
The soldiers laid a ring of cement on the ground around the transmission station. Then, before it hardened, they scattered all kinds of sharp objects over it. Densely packed nails and shards of glass covered every inch, ensuring that no Darkseeker would have a place to set foot.
Once the cement dried completely, the defenses would be finished.
If the Darkseekers wanted to enter the station at night, this patch of cement would show them the consequences of going barefoot.
Over the next few days, Zhang Tianyuan and the others kept hunting down Darkseekers in the city.
Their method was simple.
They scattered some food over a square, or simply put a speaker playing music there.
When the Darkseekers came out at night, they would naturally be drawn onto it.
Then the armored convoy hidden nearby would switch on its lights in unison, bathing the square in ultraviolet light from every direction without a single blind spot...
This method was so efficient that before the Darkseekers even
realized it was a trap, those in the surrounding blocks had already been all but wiped out.
Besides ultraviolet irradiation, Yin Hongda also devised a method using fire-
They spread gasoline that was no longer usable but would still burn across the square, then placed a bucket of animal blood right in the center.
As soon as the Darkseekers walked in to forage, they could be cremated at the push of a button.
After this round of clearing, in just five days, the number of nearby Darkseekers protesting Zhang Tianyuan's daytime "disturbance of the peace" had dropped drastically.
That way, when the main group of survivors arrived later, they would be safer whether gathering supplies or staying temporarily.
After learning of Zhang Tianyuan's results, Tong Wenshi could no longer sit still either. He planned to take a helicopter to the Imperial Capital and retrieve another batch of classified documents with Zhang Tianyuan that they had not had time to take before.
Upon receiving this news, Zhang Tianyuan did not dare treat it lightly. He immediately suspended all operations to await Tong Wenshi's helicopter.
He also took the opportunity to let everyone rest at camp.
An antenna was set up outside the communications vehicle again, and they began receiving emergency broadcasts from other countries.
Over this period, the communications team had received emergency mobilization broadcasts from more than a dozen countries, all without exception instructing their citizens to assemble at various emergency locations.
This was a great help to Zhang Tianyuan and the others in understanding the current state of the world.
The film's perspective had been limited to the protagonist alone and the single city of New York. It was far too narrow, and Zhang Tianyuan urgently needed this information to fill the gaps.
"Oh, right. Have you received that woman's signal again?" Zhang Tianyuan suddenly remembered the matter and asked the staff member operating the equipment.
The staff member shook his head. "That signal? I was there at the time too. As far as I know, we haven't received it again since."
"I suppose she's probably met with misfortune already..."
The operator sighed as he adjusted the channel.
Suddenly, a familiar-sounding burst of English came from the speaker:
"Mayday! Mayday..."
It was the same hoarse female voice from before.
Unlike last time, however, her voice was remarkably clear.
The operator glanced at the screen and immediately said, "Their signal is much more stable this time!"
Zhang Tianyuan leaned over too, shushing him to signal that he should stop talking.
"Let's hear what she's saying first."
The woman's voice from the speaker was hurried and sounded as haggard as before:
"My name is Hill Emma. I'm an
astronaut working aboard the International Space Station. I hope anyone who hears this broadcast can find a way to contact us.
"We've lost all contact. We're trapped aboard the station. We're short of many supplies, and the station has developed numerous faults. Our radio has only just been repaired.
"Besides me, there are two other astronauts aboard the station: Padalka and Mike.
"We originally had three more crewmates, but four months ago, without ground support, they risked taking the return capsule down to Earth. We haven't heard from them since.
"Please, anyone who receives this signal, you must contact us. We saw the city lights go out in vast swathes, and we desperately want to know what happened on Earth. Was it because of that virus we heard about before...?"
Holy shit!
After listening to this long message, Zhang Tianyuan and the operator stared at each other, dumbstruck.
"Is she telling the truth?" Although Zhang Tianyuan phrased it as a question, he could not help looking up at the sky, trying to make out the female astronaut speaking hundreds of kilometers above them.
He believed her.
The operator checked the characteristics decoded from the signal and said, "She should be. Their signal matches the characteristics of the space station."
Zhang Tianyuan paced back and forth several times.
Had he not received the broadcast today, he could hardly have imagined that, even after the world had ended, three people were still struggling desperately in space.
Clearly, the KV Virus had spread too quickly. Before humanity completely lost its ability to organize, there had not even been time to bring the astronauts back from the sky.
Of course, this had also spared them infection with the KV Virus.
They might be the only humans in this world who were still alive despite not being immune.
At the same time, however, this had also brought them profound despair.
It was obvious when he thought about it.
One day, Earth had suddenly gone silent. Like abandoned children, they could only huddle in outer space and weep, watching the lights on Earth gradually go out...
Loneliness. Despair.
Just then, the signal quickly grew noisy, then disappeared.
The operator said, "The space station has probably passed out of the sky above us. It should come back after a while."
"Then do we have a way to talk to her?"
The operator replied, "No problem."
Zhang Tianyuan patted him on the shoulder. "Good. The next time the space station passes overhead, we need to connect to their signal!"