Chapter 73: Another Trump Card

December 2025, light snow.

A month had quietly passed. Wang Zhi sat on the floor of the sunroom, gazing through the glass at the falling snow outside. After a month of recovery and training, his body was no longer in bad shape.

The sunroom was usually not crowded, and today was no exception. Only a dozen or so people, including Wang Zhi, sat in the vast space, staring blankly at the sky as if each of them harbored their own thoughts.

In just a month, nearly every team had taken on missions and embarked on campaigns. Wang Zhi had personally witnessed full squads leaving, only to return with just one, two, or three survivors.

The last time he saw Jie Xi was in the medical room. Three days later, she found him again to tell him that the leave she had applied for from the tower master was denied, though she didn’t explain the reason. After that, Jie Xi never sought him out again, nor did he go looking for her. The Black Tower had been busy with the seventh wave of recruitment, attracting a massive influx of refugees from the lower levels due to one-sided policy incentives.

Out of curiosity, Wang Zhi had visited the refugee quarters. The refugees had no official identity and lived in large collectives—working together, eating together. Their meals consisted of only two pieces of dry rations and a bowl of thin, rice-less soup per day. Seeing this, Wang Zhi finally understood: these people didn’t choose to become soldiers because they wanted to be heroes, nor because they were especially brave. They were simply tired of the life of a refugee.

The training ground on the seventh floor was packed with people—some were veteran Level-7 teams, while others were fresh Level-1 recruits. Watching them train awkwardly, Wang Zhi saw a reflection of his past self.

He had only one more day before he would be forced to accept an external mission. The snow outside showed no sign of stopping—it seemed the heavens weren’t planning to show him any favor this time.

After lingering in the sunroom for a while longer, Wang Zhi stood up and returned to his residence. In the living room, only Old He and Liuli were there; the others were nowhere to be seen. Two days before their mission, Wang Zhi and his team had stopped training to maintain their peak condition for battle.

“You’re back?” Old He greeted him when he opened the door.

“Yeah.”

Wang Zhi responded briefly and joined the two in watching a sci-fi movie broadcast by Ling Ling Yao.

After a while, the rest of the team returned, laughing and playing. Wang Zhi gathered them together to accept the mission.

“Ling Ling Yao, accept an external mission!”

“Mission accepted! Mission objective: Travel to Z Hospital and collect 100 grams of streptomycin. Mission reward: 100 survival points per gram of streptomycin, with a maximum reward of 300 grams.”

“Streptomycin? What’s that?” Fatty asked in confusion.

“It’s an antibiotic, mainly used to create antibody vaccines,” Wang Zhi explained.

“Oh right, speaking of antibody vaccines, didn’t the announcement a month ago say they’d be developed soon? Why haven’t we heard anything?” Fatty recalled.

“They probably lack the raw materials for mass production,” Su Muying said.

“So, our mission objective is a crucial ingredient for the vaccine?” Old He asked.

“That’s right. This kind of drug is extremely rare, but Z Hospital specializes in treating viral diseases. If the mission targets that hospital, it means they must have streptomycin,” Wang Zhi said.

“When are we leaving?” Zhang Ming asked.

“Tomorrow. First, let’s buy some thermal wear—it’s still snowing outside.”

After speaking, Wang Zhi left his residence, went to the first floor, picked out a well-fitting thermal suit, and headed to the Guard Headquarters.

It had been a month since his last visit. Now that he was preparing to go out on another mission, he felt he should stop by. Ever since his first mission, he had always met with Jie Xi before heading out, as if she could bring him luck.

The guards at the entrance had changed. Not recognizing him, they stopped him.

“Hey, kid! Do you even know where you are? If you don’t want to die, scram!” one of the guards shouted.

Wang Zhi was momentarily stunned but didn’t take offense. After all, they were just doing their duty.

“Please inform Captain Jie Xi that Wang Zhi from Sunset Twilight requests an audience.” He handed over his magnetic card for verification.

“Wang Zhi?” The guard eyed him suspiciously but still went to verify his identity.

A moment later, the guard returned and allowed Wang Zhi inside.

At Jie Xi’s door, he knocked twice.

“Come in.”

Jie Xi’s voice came from inside.

Entering the room, Wang Zhi saw her sitting at her desk, playing with a crystal-like stone. The scars on her face had completely healed.

“Hey, nice-looking rock. Where’d you get it?” Wang Zhi walked over and asked.

“I dissected it from the head of that giant python last time,” Jie Xi replied while examining the crystal.

Hearing that it came from a python’s brain, Wang Zhi instinctively took half a step back, afraid that it might be contagious.

“Relax, it’s been sterilized,” Jie Xi reassured him.

“Whew… I’ve heard of kidney stones, but I’ve never heard of brain stones before!” Wang Zhi said as he leaned in to get a closer look.

The crystal was about ten centimeters long, with tiny blood vessels running through it.

“I call it a ‘crystal core.’”

“What’s it for?” Wang Zhi asked.

“No idea. Want to be my test subject and find out?” Jie Xi turned her gaze to him.

“No, no, no! I have a mission tomorrow!” Wang Zhi quickly changed the subject, feeling uneasy under her stare.

“You’ve got a mission? So it’s been a month already.” Jie Xi did a quick mental calculation.

“Yeah, heading to Z Hospital to collect streptomycin.”

“There have been quite a few teams assigned to hospitals recently.”

“Because of the antibody vaccine?”

“Yes. The clinical trials haven’t been promising—the vaccine’s binding efficiency is only 75%. They need a large supply of raw materials to continue testing until they reach 99.9%.” Jie Xi explained.

“But didn’t other teams already bring back supplies?”

“Not enough. Most hospitals are in urban centers, which are extremely dangerous. So far, only one team has successfully returned with medicine; the others were either wiped out or found nothing,” Jie Xi shook her head.

“Can’t they just hide somewhere safe for a few days and come back saying they found nothing?” Wang Zhi suddenly spotted a loophole.

“Hah. First of all, our magnetic cards have trackers. Even if they didn’t, they could only refuse missions for so long. Their survival points would run out eventually. No one will support someone who has no value. That’s why you need to make yourself valuable. If you ever find yourself in trouble, you need leverage—something that makes people want to save you,” Jie Xi said coldly.

“So that’s how it is… Still, knowing I’m being monitored feels kind of weird,” Wang Zhi muttered, scratching his head.

“Nothing weird about it. You should focus on stocking up on ammo. The city center is crawling with zombies,” Jie Xi said, then tossed something to Wang Zhi.

Catching it, Wang Zhi recognized it instantly—it was the mother-and-child pendant from before. He looked at Jie Xi in confusion, unsure of its significance.

“You know how to use it. Consider it a reward for your last mission,” Jie Xi said, referring to the giant python mission.

Without another word, she turned her attention back to studying the crystal core.

Leaving her office, Wang Zhi securely hung the pendant around his neck.

He had just acquired another trump card.