Chapter 83: The News

Wang Zhi raised his hand and looked at the blank sheet of paper in his hand. It bore the handwriting of Zhang Ming.

“Captain Wang, Brother Feihong, Brother He, Sister Ying, Little Liuli, and Captain Duan—my dear friends, I’m sorry! This is as far as I can go with you. Please forgive me for ending my life in such a cowardly way. Thank you all for giving me the chance to leave peacefully. I know I can no longer fight. I cannot bear to live like a cripple, wasting your resources and food. I hope you won’t be discouraged by one person’s departure. Instead, carry the hope forward and keep pursuing the light!”

Fatty stood still, staring at Zhang Ming’s handwriting, tears already soaking the portrait of Diao Chan in his hand.

“Let’s go back,” Wang Zhi said heavily after reading the note, folding the paper and putting it into his pocket along with the access card.

At this moment, he finally understood how Duan Qingtian had felt.

…

By the time Wang Zhi and the others returned, news from the Dawn Tower’s inner circle had spread like wildfire again!

For the first time ever, someone had died during a mission from the Sunset Radiance team!

“Hey, what’s this Sunset Radiance team you’re all talking about?” a young man asked curiously as he approached a group in the second-floor training hall.

“You’re a new citizen, aren’t you?” A middle-aged man sized up the young man with a look of disdain.

“Uh… yeah, I just became a citizen seven days ago,” the youth replied sheepishly.

“No wonder you don’t know. Let me tell you, the Sunset Radiance team arrived at the Dawn Tower three months ago…” The middle-aged man began boasting, telling the tale as if he himself were a member of the legendary team.

“And then what happened?” the young man asked eagerly.

“Ahem! Talking so much has made my throat dry,” the man coughed, glancing at the half-empty can of Red Moo energy drink in the youth’s hand.

“Ah! Please have some,” the young man quickly offered it.

“Well, just recently, during their fourth mission, they lost a member. As for the rest… you can probably guess,” the man said, downing the drink in one gulp.

“Huh? What do you mean the rest?” The youth scratched his head in confusion.

“You’re dense, aren’t you? Even such a strong team suffered casualties. Can’t you imagine how dangerous it must be outside?” the man said, frustrated by the youth’s naivety.

“Hey now! Lao Yan, stop bragging. There are plenty of teams that haven’t lost anyone, not just Sunset Radiance. Losing one now and then just means they were unlucky,” another middle-aged man chimed in.

“Heh! Lao Zhao, if you think it’s so easy, why don’t you go out and try it? Why argue with me here?”

“Fine, I will!” Lao Zhao said defiantly.

The news caused widespread debate, but most of the buzz came from two camps: the panic group and the arrogant group.

The panic group believed the outside world had become so dangerous that even the mighty Sunset Radiance had lost a member.

The arrogant group thought the team was just overhyped—they’d just been lucky until now and were finally facing reality.

Wang Zhi and his four teammates returned home with the disinfected supplies. Wang Zhi lay on the sofa, staring blankly at the crystal core he had dug out from the head of the mutated zombie.

“Hmm? What’s that in your hand?” Su Muying asked when she saw the crystal.

“I dug it out of the mutated zombie’s head. I call it a crystal core.”

“How did you know something like that would be in there?”

“Jiexi found one in the head of a mutated giant python before. I figured maybe all mutated creatures had them, so I gave it a shot,” Wang Zhi explained.

“What does the crystal core do?” Su Muying picked it up and examined it.

“Not sure. But I have a feeling the zombies are very interested in these,” Wang Zhi recalled the scene at the twelfth floor of Z Hospital, where the first wave of zombies had swarmed the mutated corpse.

“Haha, that really opened my eyes. I still can’t believe that zombie could go invisible!” Old He laughed helplessly from the side.

“Invisible is a bit much—more like a chameleon blending with its environment. But there’s one flaw: when it gets close, you can hear it growl,” Wang Zhi said weakly, his arm draped over his forehead.

“Then let’s call this type of zombie a Phantom Zombie,” Su Muying casually named it.

“Sounds good. Sister Ying’s always had a knack for naming stuff.”

“Liuli, go get Fatty. It’s time to eat,” Wang Zhi said, pushing himself off the sofa.

The five of them went to the third-floor cafeteria. With more and more teams moving in, the third-floor dining hall had also opened.

Wang Zhi looked at Fatty, whose eyes were still a bit swollen, and teased, “Come on, Fatty, cheer up. The way you look now, I’m seriously worried that if I die one day, you’ll follow me into the afterlife.”

“Whoa, hold up, Captain Wang. If it were Sister Ying who died, maybe I’d consider that. But you… nah,” Fatty said, chewing a bun and shaking his head.

“That’s why I like you, Fatty! Here, have a bun on me,” Su Muying said, placing one from her plate into his bowl.

“Thanks, Sister Ying!” Fatty grinned and happily accepted it.

“Tch! Suck-up,” Wang Zhi sneered.

After the meal, Wang Zhi decided to give the team another day off. The others went about their own activities, while he took Jia Liuli with him to the security headquarters on the first floor.

When they arrived, Wang Zhi saw it was the same guard on duty as before. Thinking the guy would remember him, he greeted him and started walking in.

But he was stopped again. Wang Zhi didn’t mind. He showed his access card and waited for the guard to confirm before being allowed in with Liuli.

In Jiexi’s room, Wang Zhi sat down casually in the guest chair.

“You’re getting bolder every time,” Jiexi said coldly, watching him.

Wang Zhi didn’t respond. Instead, he took out the small crystal core and placed it on the table.

“I dug this out of that mutated zombie’s brain.”

“What was special about that zombie?” Jiexi asked.

Wang Zhi recounted the entire encounter—from their first sighting to the final kill.

“I see… Well, with this intel, you could fetch a good price,” Jiexi said, handing the crystal core back.

“Then, Captain Jiexi, do you think there could be other types of mutated zombies out there?” Wang Zhi asked, voicing his suspicion.

“No idea. Other than your report, the Dawn Tower hasn’t received any intel on mutated zombies,” she said, her tone slightly serious.

“But when I chatted with Tang Qilin, the captain of the Reincarnation team, he seemed to know something. When I asked, he wouldn’t say,” Wang Zhi recalled their conversation at the training ground.