Chapter 65

After several days of unconsciousness, Professor Ji Shiping finally woke up.

The moment he regained consciousness, he muttered, “My experimental data…”

His student, Lin Shuyang, who had been by his side, hurriedly leaned in and said, “Don’t worry, professor. We brought all the data with us. Nothing was lost.”

The old man muttered something unclear, something about “a few people.”

Lin Shuyang understood and said, “Xiao Li and the others are fine. We’re all okay.”

Professor Ji mumbled a faint “Good,” before losing consciousness again.

By the time he truly woke up, half a month had passed.

When he regained full awareness, he noticed unfamiliar faces around him. Upon learning that they had contacted the northern base, and that reinforcements had been sent, he immediately became excited. However, the doctors quickly pressed him back down, and it took quite a while for his emotions to stabilize before he could speak again.

His mind was still hazy, and his speech was unclear, but he remained concerned about his experiment.

“I was in Lab 8027… The experiment began… Many samples and data couldn’t be… taken… Later in Jin’an, Xilin… had to restart… lacking experimental equipment…”

Lin Shuyang didn’t let him speak too long and quickly reassured him, “I’ve told them everything, Professor, please rest for now.”

Yang Luo and Wen Yi both came to visit and sat by his side.

Yang Luo spoke first to comfort him. “Professor Ji, I’m Yang Luo, a student of Professor Qi Zhenguang. Don’t worry. We brought an entire research team to assist you with the vaccine research. Right now, the priority is for you to get better so you can lead us!”

Seeing Yang Luo speak so passionately, Professor Ji smiled and then looked at Wen Yi. He weakly said, “Your teacher… is Rong Lanjia, right? I know you… She mentioned you…”

“Yes, I’m Wen Yi. Over the past three years, my teacher has made some breakthroughs in virus research at the Beizheng base. I’ve brought all the materials with me. I’ve seen part of the research you’re working on, and it has inspired me to come up with some new ideas. I hope to get your guidance,” Wen Yi said softly, leaning closer to the elderly professor.

“Good, good, everyone is working hard together…” Professor Ji responded.

Seeing him smile happily at Wen Yi, Yang Luo subtly pursed his lips. He had heard that Professor Ji and Professor Rong were very close, and it was evident that the favoritism was real.

Once Professor Ji felt a bit better, he was eager to resume his previous research.

The Long’an Ancient City had initially been a temporary refuge, with no proper research facilities. Professor Ji preferred to return to Lab 8027, which had the necessary equipment, as well as the samples and data he had left behind. It was also located near the impact site of the meteorite.

After thorough discussion, the commander decided to send a group of people ahead to Lab 8027 to clear out the zombies. The remaining group would temporarily stay in Long’an Ancient City until Professor Ji’s condition stabilized, after which they would join the others at Lab 8027.

Xue Ling and Wen Jiuze were part of the first team heading to Lab 8027.

Lab 8027 was a secret research facility hidden in the desert, established decades ago.

“The northwest is so desolate. I heard that Lab 8027 is surrounded by vast deserts, and there probably aren’t many people at the research center. How did it fall to zombies?” 

Someone on the road asked curiously, directing the question to one of the soldiers who had been protecting Professor Ji.

This soldier was Li Shixi, the one who had first spotted Xue Ling from the rooftop and made contact with her.

He smiled wryly and explained, “Lab 8027 is surrounded by no cities, but there’s a military regiment stationed nearby.”

“When the apocalypse hit, the soldiers there were reportedly engaged in closed training.”

No one knew exactly what had happened, but when they arrived, there were no living people left, only zombies trapped inside. They had been searching for food nearby and accidentally discovered the military camp. Excited, they went to seek help, but inadvertently released the zombies, causing the lab to be overrun.

Lab 8027 was in such a remote location that supplies were hard to come by. After the apocalypse, securing food became even more difficult.

The group was already short-handed. Part of them went out daily in search of food, while the others stayed to protect Professor Ji. Ammo was running low, and they were surrounded by zombies, barely escaping with their lives. They were now constantly on the move.

Li Shixi didn’t explain everything, but everyone understood the dire situation. A heavy silence fell over them.

However, the silence didn’t last long. After so much time in the apocalypse, those who were still alive had seen their fair share of horrors.

When the vehicles stopped to cook, everyone smiled as they served hot, fragrant meals. The past couldn’t be changed, and the future was uncertain, but for now, enjoying a warm meal in the wilderness felt like a moment of happiness.

Two people in the group couldn’t eat and were walking around by the roadside.

They planned to rest for the night in this area. There was an abandoned power plant nearby, and Xue Ling, curious about the tall cooling tower, suggested they take a look.

They could now act together, no longer needing to wait for one outside.

Inside the power plant, zombies roamed. When they made noise, the zombies let out growls and scratched at the metal doors.

Xue Ling joined in the noise but did so cheerfully, almost as if humming a song.

The power plant wasn’t much to look at. The cooling tower, which appeared so tall from a distance, seemed unremarkable up close. Nonetheless, Xue Ling eagerly climbed to the base and found the entrance to explore.

Wen Jiuze followed her around, and the two zombies gazed up at the sky encircled by the cooling tower.

After they left, they climbed another observation tower.

Gripping the rusted, peeling handrails, they reached the top. From there, they could see their temporary camp not far off, with a few lights on and people moving between the vehicles.

Further away, the horizon disappeared into the sky.

The sunset’s golden glow slowly faded, swallowed by the dark blue of the night.

Wen Jiuze sat on the platform while Xue Ling initially sat beside him, eventually lying down on his lap for a more comfortable position to watch the sunset.

As night fell, Wen Jiuze didn’t suggest leaving, and Xue Ling remained quietly lying there.

The wind was strong at this height, but neither of them cared. Zombies couldn’t catch a cold.

They stayed in silence through the night, watching the sunrise before descending the tower to rejoin the group, continuing their journey with the convoy.

They were about to enter the uninhabited zone.

A long road stretched across the yellow land, with no vehicles in sight and no zombies either—only them.

Wen Jiuze finally realized, albeit belatedly, that Xue Ling was quite popular within the team.

It all started when he found a beautiful stone in the Gobi Desert and casually gave it to Xue Ling. She began carrying it around every day.

The soldiers in the team noticed how much she liked it, so whenever they came across a nice stone on the road, they would pick it up and give it to her.

The first soldier to offer Xue Ling a stone was stared at by Wen Jiuze for a long time. When the second, third, and then more soldiers came, Wen Jiuze stopped looking at them and started watching Xue Ling instead.

“What do they mean by this?” he asked.

“They’re thanking me,” Xue Ling explained to Wen Jiuze. “Because I once helped them by bringing over things they needed during missions, so everyone takes care of me.”

They were showing gratitude because she had taken care of them.

“What about him? He’s from Shen Zhang’s team, right? You haven’t helped him, have you?”

Why would he come over to give her a stone?

Xue Ling answered confidently, “Of course, he’s probably showing his gratitude for you taking care of him, so he’s giving me a stone.”

Wen Jiuze, who hadn’t helped anyone in the team: “…”

Meanwhile, the soldier who had hesitantly given Xue Ling a stone returned to his teammates. Everyone eagerly asked, “So, did Wen Jiuze react when you gave him the stone?”

The soldier replied, “He stared at me the whole time. I think he remembers me! This is a good way to build rapport!”

Soon, a swarm of people came over, all eager to give Xue Ling stones. Wen Jiuze immediately grabbed her by the waist and lifted her away from the crowd.

Forced to raise her arms and held up like a clothes hanger, Xue Ling: “…”

This was ridiculous. Was he jealous? She was a zombie! Her appearance would soon rival that of an alien!

Wasn’t he just like those boyfriends who worry about other men stealing their beauties?

However, Wen Jiuze wasn’t seriously jealous. He even helped pick through the stones others had brought, keeping the prettiest small ones.

The Gobi Desert was desolate, and the 8027 laboratory was located in the uninhabited zone. After a certain point on the road, a symbolic net blocked the way.

A local soldier said, “This area was previously off-limits. I heard that self-driving tourists who came to this junction would be stopped.”

However, hidden in this place, the mysterious 8027 laboratory was far from luxurious. It didn’t resemble the high-tech environments seen in some sci-fi movies, filled with shiny metallic surfaces.

In fact, when they turned onto a smaller road and arrived, it was just a cluster of small buildings, no taller than three or four floors, with yellow, unremarkable exteriors that looked a bit old.

There was a small playground for basketball, a canteen, a laboratory building, a dormitory building, and even a small power station.

The soldiers put on heavy armor and split into teams to cover each other as they skillfully cleared zombies from the outside.

Xue Ling and Wen Jiuze went inside the buildings to investigate, checking for blind spots and corners where zombies might be hiding, effectively reducing the risk to the cleanup team.

These tasks weren’t complicated, and after a day or two, everything was in order. Now, they just needed to wait for Professor Ji and the others to arrive.

While waiting for them, Xue Ling and Wen Jiuze also visited the meteorite crash site.

The yellow earth was pockmarked with holes, some of which had signs marking them, likely placed by Professor Ji’s team earlier.

They arrived sooner than expected, and as soon as they did, a group of researchers dove into the laboratory, working tirelessly day and night. Professor Ji, sitting in a wheelchair with an IV drip, also refused to leave the lab.

Others in the team went to search for food, find oil for the power station, patrol the area to clear zombies, or protect the researchers while they collected samples from the meteorite zone. Everyone was busy.

Soon, a series of good news arrived. Their research had made a breakthrough.

The new virus, named “Re” by Professor Ji, could deactivate the zombie virus. Zombies injected with this substance would die completely within ten minutes to an hour.

Unfortunately, the material was difficult to extract, only found in certain meteorites, and too scarce to synthesize artificially. If it could be, it would replace guns as the most effective weapon against zombies.

Combined with the research results from Professor Rong Lanjia’s team, they developed a drug that could make the zombie virus lose its infectivity.

Zombies injected with this drug would no longer attack humans and wouldn’t die immediately, though they would still retain some level of activity.

For those infected by the zombie virus but not fully zombified, the drug would halt the process, though they would die. However, their cells would undergo accelerated metabolic processes, greatly speeding up the rate at which they broke down.

The researchers were all in high spirits, with even Wen Yi showing a smile on her face.