The largest base near T City became bustling again shortly after the heavy snowfall subsided. The regular residents in the base were busy clearing the accumulated snow from the streets and collecting snow from rooftops to use as drinking water in the future.
Meanwhile, the higher-ups were occupied with discussing the various possibilities regarding the anomalies occurring in the city. They even convened the base’s biologists, virus research experts, and others to collectively explore the potential follow-up scenarios.
Those who had previously gone on the mission and were awaiting the results of their medical examinations were also released one by one. Almost every person who had been on an external mission was individually interrogated to ascertain the details of their experiences.
The possibility of the appearance of commanding zombies in the city or zombie hordes wasn’t particularly shocking, given that some individuals within the base had speculated about this earlier in the year. Now, it was just a confirmation of the existence of this possibility from a different angle.
The base’s higher-ups were already fairly informed about the mutation of the creatures. Although the number of photos they received from satellites had significantly decreased, they still received some. The exaggeratedly massive mutated creatures reported by the soldiers on this mission weren’t isolated instances.
However, there had been no conspicuous appearance of these large mutated creatures near T City before, which was why the higher-ups had not made any announcements about them.
Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. Those creatures were distributed at a distance from the base, so they rarely wandered near. Nevertheless, rumors persisted among the common survivors about these creatures.
Apart from the mutated creatures and the sudden emergence of intelligent zombies, another major mystery that garnered attention was the three individuals who turned into zombies unexpectedly without engaging in combat.
Although it was possible that the sudden mutation of those three individuals into zombies was purely due to physiological reasons, resulting in their sudden death and subsequent zombification, the problem was that these three individuals shared a common trait in another aspect. A trait that, once known to anyone, would undoubtedly send shivers down their spines.
After the first round of inquiries, the base commander’s expression turned extremely unpleasant as he looked at the possibilities that had just been discussed by the heads of various research departments. He picked up the report several times and put it down again.
He then paced around his seat with his hands behind his back before looking at the individuals on the couch, “How likely do you think this possibility is?”
One of the individuals, sporting thick glasses that seemed as thick as the bottom of a bottle, scratched his messy hair and twitched his lips a couple of times in response to the question, “Further observation and more data are needed. At present… with so many potential subjects to test, we estimate that we’ll soon have results.”
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.
Upon hearing his words, the commander’s facial muscles twitched vigorously several times, and even his eyelids seemed to flutter twice. He took a deep breath, lowered his head to look at the data in front of him, and said, “… So, according to this conjecture, all three of those individuals were powerful psychics in this mission. Their body temperatures dropped to around 31 degrees Celsius or even lower when they left the base…”
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“Never mind… never mind, let’s proceed according to what you’ve said. Go test the batch of people with the lowest body temperatures now. Maybe… maybe it’s just a coincidence.”
A drop in body temperature wasn’t a big deal, and even turning into a zombie after death wasn’t that surprising. However, elevating the previous notion of “human death naturally occurs when body temperature drops to 0 degrees” to “human beings turn into zombies when body temperature drops to 30 degrees” was like a doctor suddenly telling a terminally ill patient that their condition had worsened again and they were about to die.
One must realize that the body temperatures of the entire population were slowly decreasing! Especially those superpowered individuals who were highly valued by the base; they possessed much stronger abilities, physical strength, and combat prowess.
In smaller bases, these individuals were already revered as saviors. Yet now, they were telling themselves that these relied-upon combat forces were probably the first to turn into zombies… It was as if the heavens were playing the cruelest joke on humanity!
Suddenly, footsteps hurriedly approached the door from outside, followed by a loud “Report,” breaking the silence in the room.
“Come in.”
A soldier entered and immediately saluted the commander, standing at attention as he reported, “Reporting to the commander, the Medical Research Department has received news and requires a few professors to return immediately.”
The individuals seated on the couch stood up in confusion, with one of them asking, “What happened?”
The soldier didn’t have a clear understanding of the situation either; he relayed what he knew, “A phone call just came in. It seems they’ve discovered that two of the soldiers on the recent mission have experienced a drop in body temperature below 30 degrees…”
“What?!”
“What’s going on?”
“Which two?”
“How are those two doing now? Are they still alive?!”
It wasn’t surprising that these individuals’ emotions were overly excited. After all, they had just been discussing the possibility of humans turning into zombies when their body temperature dropped below 30 degrees, and now an actual example had emerged!!
Even the soldier, who had undergone extensive training, couldn’t help but step back half a step in the face of several faces that looked almost frantic. He stuttered in his response, “I-I don’t… I don’t know, but…”
Before he could finish his sentence, several scientists rushed out of the room like a gust of wind, leaving only the soldier and the commander looking at each other.
“Let’s go. Let’s go see as well.” With his hands behind his back, the commander instructed his adjutant, who had been standing at the door. Despite his relatively composed appearance, his steps were much faster than usual.
The heavy snow fell sporadically and lightly, lasting for a whole week before the sky gradually cleared.
Almost the entire northern region was blanketed in gleaming white snow. Even cities in the southern regions that rarely saw snow before the apocalypse couldn’t escape the icy embrace this time. The formerly desolate city districts, buildings, and fields were all covered in a layer of silver-white.
This snowfall was different from the strange snow that occurred four times a year before the apocalypse. While the temperature would drop slightly during those strange snowfalls, it wasn’t by much. This time, true winter snowfall occurred, and after a week of continuous snowfall, the temperatures in most places dropped by more than ten degrees.
The mutated creatures that had lost their habitats due to the apocalypse and subsequent body mutations had, after experiencing a year of confusion, started to prepare for winter before it arrived this year, just like humans.
Although zombies would engage in fights with mutated creatures, they had found a sort of balance over the two years of the apocalypse due to the distinct territories they occupied. They seldom broke the boundary between them.
Many human bases had various conflicts with the zombies stationed in cities after the apocalypse, with victories and losses on both sides. In certain aspects, zombies shared similarities with humans: once their numbers decreased, they gradually merged and started acting together with other scattered groups.
As a result, many cities that were once human habitations during the pre-apocalypse era had become “no-man’s-land” areas. These zones were frequently visited by surviving humans, resulting in a high number of slain zombies along their paths. When humans completely left those areas, zombies from other places would gradually infiltrate these territories that were once occupied by zombies. As the zombie populations diminished to a certain point, they would start moving toward other areas, integrating into different groups.
Now, these once ruined areas with remaining dilapidated buildings were gradually being occupied by small groups of wandering mutated creatures. These creatures saw these areas as their “dens.”
These territories were much more practical for them to inhabit than scavenging various materials in the wilderness to build shelters. After all, there were hardly any ordinary plants left now apart from the aggressive mutated vegetation. Moreover, most of these creatures had grown to immense sizes, requiring far more materials for shelter construction compared to before the apocalypse. It was much easier to reside in existing houses.
In T City, after the attack of the snowstorm, the city entered a period of calm once again. The pristine white snow had accumulated in a thick layer. Following a week of unrelenting snowstorms, the wandering zombies on the streets once again went into a slumber. Covered by the thick layer of snow, almost all the zombies believed they were still in the “night” and remained in their “sleeping” phase.
However, some zombies exhibited different behavior patterns. In the neighborhood where Wei Xuan lived, the snow had transformed into sculpted, pristine white snowmen. But on the morning after the snowstorm, these snowmen cracked open, and zombies emerged from within, swaying unsteadily.
They swayed about, no longer like the days of the heavy snowstorm when they stood still, facing the house in a salute.
Now, they seemed to have returned to their usual behavior. They swayed their bodies, moving around the neighborhood. However, they all moved in the same direction, toward the room where Wei Xuan usually stored tools.
One by one, zombies clutched relatively clean brooms and carried empty buckets on their arms. They swayed and used the brooms to sweep the rooftops of the neighborhood, as well as the corners and crevices that were usually untouched. They collected the snow into their buckets with the brooms.
The neighborhood was now filled with brainwaves of the zombie horde, coalescing into the same repetitive phrases: Collect snow, collect snow, sleep, sleep, sleep…
The zombies collecting the snow broke my heart…
Wei Xuan’s neighborhood is bustling with busy zombies after a day of immobility and maybe knowing We Xuan’s awake now.
Doing what’s important while he sleeps… 🥹 Thanks for the update
They’re so industries 😍
😭😭😭😭