A series of photographs were placed on the table, with each attendee having a copy in front of them. Their brows furrowed, and their expressions were extremely grim.
“What is going on here?”
“…What is the situation in these photos?”
“Why is there such a long gap between this and the last set of photos?! We can’t make out anything from what we see now!”
…
The expressions of the people in the room grew increasingly grim, and at the same time, the senior officials in various major bases across the country that could receive satellite photos had similar reactions.
The reason was simple. Since the loss of contact with City P and City V, this was the first time they had received satellite photos that revealed the situation around those two cities. But the problem was, apart from the numerous remnants of bases that had become ruins, there was almost nothing notable in these photos.
Everyone had expected to either see the major bases surrounding these two cities acting as usual, temporarily unable to communicate with the outside world due to equipment malfunctions, or scenes of zombies running amok and cities under siege. But now, with the bases reduced to rubble, the photos revealed no trace of the culprits responsible for the destruction.
What on earth happened to these bases? When did it happen? Who caused it?
The staff at the Satellite Information Department were also helpless, but despite their frustration, they could only patiently explain to the leaders, “Currently, ground control of the satellites is impossible, so each base can only receive messages at irregular intervals.”
“It seems that several main satellites have experienced malfunctions, causing a disruption in the previously scheduled daily photography. Instead of receiving photos of the previous day every day, now we can only receive them randomly… The situation around these two cities is still relatively good because the satellite malfunctions prevent us from conducting detailed monitoring of all domestic areas…”.
As the spokesperson spoke, he noticed the leaders glaring at him and gritted his teeth to continue, “Experts in City B have discussed the matter, but without equipment at hand and the inability to conduct space debugging… in the event of satellite malfunctions, it is feared that in a few years, they will be completely unusable on the ground…”
“Hmph! We spent so much funding and technological resources to develop these things, and now they break so quickly?!”
“Weren’t there satellites launched just before the apocalypse? Are they also not working?”
“I wonder what the situation is in the United States. They have always had advanced technology… Unfortunately, even if we could contact them, it’s not like…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Hmph, don’t even mention them. Didn’t news come from City B recently? The information transmitted by spy satellites indicated that things aren’t going well there either. The whole of Washington is overrun by zombies, and so is New York.”
“Prc’a la atf rjwf obg atf mjqlajir bo batfg mbecaglfr? Yeg mbecags lr jirb…”
“Dea la’r ralii yfaafg atjc atbrf mbecaglfr lc atf Zlvvif Sjra. Zbra bo atf mbecaglfr tjnf yffc jyif ab fzmtjcuf wfrrjufr jcv tjnf yffc lc mbcajma gfmfcais, fzmfqa obg atflg mbecags. Ktfgf tjrc’a yffc jcs cfkr ogbw atfw ja jii.”
“With their population density, heh, it’s not scientific if they haven’t completely fallen.”
“Haha, that’s true. Just look at their transportation situation. How many people can hang on the outside of a train? Once they turn into zombies…”
The discussions among the people began to digress and even veer towards a sense of schadenfreude. The chief of the base sitting at the head of the table couldn’t help but slam the table, and the room instantly fell silent before he angrily said, “Now, we should be discussing the situation around City P and City V! What are you all talking about?!”
The room fell silent, with everyone bowing their heads. After a long silence, one person raised their head and said in a low voice, “Could it be because of the last city clearance…”
“But why did the bases around the cleared cities get into trouble? If it’s the fault of the zombies in the cities, why didn’t we hear any noise before?”
“Yeah, yeah! Those bases were supposed to be monitoring those two cities. If it’s really the zombies in the cities that caused this…”
“And even if it’s the zombies, how would they know it was those bases that did it?”
“Or perhaps the commotion there attracted a large number of mutated animals?!”
The various speculations, like the wild imaginations running rampant in conference rooms everywhere, couldn’t be stopped. These high-ranking officials from different bases unleashed their imaginations, regardless of how likely their suggestions were.
After all, the bases surrounding those two cities were not just one or two simple establishments. Similar to the bases around City T, soon after the apocalypse, cities all over the place began establishing temporary bases of various sizes in all directions around the existing cities.
Moreover, with the arrival of superhumans possessing various abilities in each base, the speed of base establishment was often faster.
While there had been bases in the past that were quickly annihilated under siege by mutated animals or zombies, those bases had called for help from the surrounding area at the same time. Unlike the current situation, it was as if everyone in the bases had died in an instant.
Wei Xuan, with a blank expression, held a bundle of rope and led the short zombie step by step toward the center of the battlefield, which was almost covered in blood.
As soon as Du Hang, who was bloodied like a blood puppet, confirmed the complete death of the mutated rat, he turned around and quickly walked toward Wei Xuan upon seeing him approaching.
At the moment, Wei Xuan didn’t have time to assess Du Hang’s mood or the blood covering his head and body. His mind was filled with an endless loop of “broken, broken, broken…”
This “sound” emanated from the short zombie he was pulling along, just like the “go home” thoughts he had sensed from the other zombies.
After careful discernment, he realized that these “sounds” couldn’t be considered actual voices but rather the current thoughts of the zombies.
However, these thoughts didn’t necessarily represent their deepest desires but seemed more like a stream of consciousness they wanted to express outwardly.
In other words, it seemed that the zombies couldn’t speak yet, so they had to use this method of thinking, communicating through consciousness and scattered brainwaves to spread their current thoughts and ideas to their surroundings, which he could receive.
As for why he was the one receiving them and whether the zombies could receive each other’s thoughts, Wei Xuan didn’t know for the time being.
What he needed to do urgently now was to quickly connect the zombie couple. The taller one, which was still in a state of madness. Otherwise, their thoughts would constantly disturb his own thoughts.
Wei Xuan completely opened up and adopted a way of interacting with Du Hang after encountering these two zombies. He imitated them and started connecting himself and Du Hang with ropes as well. Now, seeing the rope between them snapped, it was not distressing just for the two of them…
As Wei Xuan passed by Du Hang and was about to continue towards the bloody center, where the taller zombie was still gnawing on the flesh of the mutated rat, he suddenly felt another emotion that was not his own— “ignoring me, ignoring me, ignoring me…”
Turning abruptly, he saw the bloodied figure standing motionless just one step away, staring straight at him.
It was Du Hang…
This lament, resembling an abandoned puppy’s mournful cry, was something Wei Xuan had never sensed from him before… Well, before, he couldn’t sense it himself, but now that he had already felt it, how could he truly ignore him?
Moreover, Wei Xuan had always hoped that one day Du Hang would possess the ability to communicate with him like a normal human, to have emotions… especially feelings for him.
The usual Du Hang could only wear a blank face like any other zombie, with occasional physical gestures and requests for a kiss, but nothing more.
It led Wei Xuan to believe that he had not yet recovered or developed emotions. But now…
Being suddenly endowed with this ability was simply too fortunate!
Taking a step back, Wei Xuan quickly grabbed Du Hang’s arm, almost dropping the rope he held into the pool of blood. He hastily tucked the rope under his armpit and around his neck, and only then, with one hand holding each of them, he hurriedly walked through the muddy ground filled with blood towards the zombie rat.
“Come down. Your rope is here,” Wei Xuan looked up at the person still frenziedly clinging to the mutated rat’s back, but there was no response to his words.
Could it be that his ability could only perceive the zombies’ emotions, but they couldn’t perceive his?
Wei Xuan was unsure how to use his suddenly acquired ability. He could only look helplessly at Du Hang and pointed his hand toward the taller zombie.
Du Hang looked at Wei Xuan, then followed the direction of his finger to the mutated rat. It seemed like he was making some judgment. Suddenly, he leaped onto the rat’s back, and grabbed the taller zombie’s collar…
Seeing the tall zombie struggling desperately, hanging from his collar as if he were a live fish, and still gnawing on the rat’s flesh, along with blood on his chin and chest…
Wei Xuan sighed helplessly once again, took a step forward, and retrieved the rope held under his armpit. He presented it to the tall zombie, saying, “Here’s the rope.”
As if he had stopped his struggling due to seeing something very similar to the most important thing, the tall zombie’s movements suddenly ceased. He stared straight at the rope in Wei Xuan’s hand.
Seeing that he had indeed stopped his actions because of this rope, Wei Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly and cautiously, he took two steps forward, approaching the tall zombie. When he saw that the tall zombie didn’t make any other movements, he carefully tied the other end of the rope to him.
Then, the “broken” sounds in the two zombies’ minds stopped, Wei Xuan pushed the short zombie towards the other one and earnestly said, “The most important thing is not the rope, but him.”
While the rope can be replaced and reconnected if it breaks, if the person who can be bound on the other end disappears, then there is truly nothing left.
awwww such a touching scene. I love how Wei Xuan can now feel emotions of the zombies, proving they’re actually alive!
Omfg my feels.
Also, mystery! What destroyed the bases?
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BEING AWESOME!!!
Provavelmente as pessoas que estavam na cidade que foi bombardeada e se transformam em zumbis 😔
Awwww. Very sweet, and I think the thoughts are such a good development for him and Du Hang and the story!
Could it be the little zombie queen and that traitorous human who destroyed those camps? Didn’t they raid/ambush the surrounding bases?
I believe it was the evolved flora that killed the bases, no? It was previously described
it could also be evolved zombies from the survivors in the destroyed cities. i remember there was a foreshadowing that they will take revenge on those bases, no?
i just realized i copied the way you composed your sentence hahahhah
Yeah that old man was real mad. The resentment is real. As we know zombies can cling to 1 thought like protec rope. Can also be destroy base.
Thank you for the chapter! 🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍
I am looking forward to the development of the new ability! Thank you for the chapter!
New ability! Boyfriend is not ignored. So sweet, reattached zombies… Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
Wei Xuan educate zombies, lol
Thank you for your translation 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
omg i feel so happy that wx can now understand dh. communication is key in every relationship! ☺️
Thanks for the chapter! Focus on the important things, our zombie friends