Chapter 89

X332 base, commander's tent.

The man poured himself a glass of water and slumped down on what could barely be called a sofa, with tired dark circles under his eyes.

It is exhausting to suddenly accept and arrange a large group of relocated survivors. Being a leader is sometimes not as easy as it seems.

If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to divide his base's limited resources among more people. But there was no other way. In such a harsh environment of the apocalypse, the surviving humans must help each other to preserve the flame of hope and civilization.

Before the saliva had even finished flowing, a new situation arose.

The subordinate rang the bell hanging outside the tent, which served as a doorbell. He let him in and heard another piece of bad news: "Report to the commander, another person has died."

He looked at his subordinates with a serious expression.

A few days ago, the F17809 base upstream had been urgently relocated due to potential flash flooding and incorporated into his base. Since that day, several unnatural deaths have occurred one after another.

Initially, it was thought to be caused by infection with the "Shayin" virus, commonly known as "zombie disease", but the victims' death was unlike ordinary zombie transformations, and no positive results for "Shayin" were found during collective testing and screening.

"Sand Silver" is quite cunning and can survive for several days even without a host. If these people were really bitten to death by zombies, the infection would definitely appear on their bodies.

Guided by his subordinates, the officer hurried to see the body.

As expected, just like the previous ones, the skin surface was bumpy, as if it had been gnawed.

Each wound was small, not like the teeth marks of a large beast; however, if it was a small animal, how could it injure a human to this extent?

The X332 base is heavily guarded, and the only ones who can sneak in are raccoons, rabbits, and foxes.

If they are infected by "Silver Sand", their aggressiveness will be greatly enhanced, and the probability of the alarm being triggered will also increase.

Could it be that the "Sand Silver" virus has evolved into a new strain? That would be troublesome.

It is said that the central base has just developed a preventive vaccine against "Sand Silver", but it is not known when it will be popularized to these remote bases; what's more, even if there is a vaccine, it will be helpless against the irreversible genes of patients who have already turned into zombies.

Will there be a new disaster?

The superior and the subordinate looked at each other and saw the deep helplessness in each other's eyes.

*

Temporary resettlement site.

After nightfall, everything was quiet, which only made the snoring, teeth grinding and talking in sleep in the tent more prominent.

There was a strange grunting sound coming from the head of Wei Mingyang's bed, like the sound of breathing during exercise.

The noise was actually very slight, and if it wasn't very close, it would be inaudible.

Wei Mingyang usually has good sleep quality and can sleep soundly even in such a noisy environment.

I don't know why I suddenly had an epiphany today and opened my eyes in a daze.

...Then I saw the lone pear blossom that originally belonged to Chen Yan, struggling to twist its body. Its slender branches seemed like limbs, and it was trying hard to climb out of the flowerpot using its hands and feet.

Yes, a flower, crawling out of the pot.

As if it noticed that it was being watched by humans, it suddenly stopped moving, leaned weakly against the flowerpot, and pretended nothing had happened.

Why are flowers running around?

I must have seen it wrong.

Maybe I'm still dreaming.

Wei Mingyang turned over and closed his eyes again with peace of mind.

*

The next day, new victims appeared at the base.

It's still as bumpy as before, as if it had been bitten by something.

But his expression was calm, not as if he was frightened by a wild beast.

In other words, whatever this person saw in his last moments, he never expected it to eat him.

The person who died this time was from F17809, and he died in the temporary resettlement site.

It has been several years since the end of the world, and people have become indifferent to death.

No one mourned or cried for the dead. They gathered together to point fingers and talk, hoping that the tragedy would not happen to them.

Wei Mingyang's companions loved to join in the fun. After a stroll, they came back excitedly to gossip with him: "I guess we need to investigate the entire base again. Hey, every time something like this happens, there's a big fuss. Some people say it might be because... Hey, Old Wei? Old Wei?"

"Huh? Oh...oh. Go ahead."

Wei Mingyang came to his senses and unconsciously held the small flowerpot in his arms tighter.

His companion waved his hand in front of his eyes: "Why are you daydreaming? Didn't you sleep well?"

"No." Wei Mingyang turned the flowerpot so that the only little pear blossom faced him.

In other words, the bloody petals are facing towards you.

*

The commander has more important things to worry about than the occasional deaths at the base.

"—Commander, signs of activity from the 'Silver Sand' family have been detected."

This subordinate always brings bad news every time he comes, and the boss doesn't want to see him anymore.

This person said that his face was disfigured in a car accident when he was young and he did not want to show his true face to others. So he wore a somewhat funny New Year mask, the kind of big-headed doll with blush on it, which looked very funny.

The people in the base come from all corners of the world, and everyone has pain that they don't want to talk about. As long as the test results show that they are still human, the superiors are unwilling to delve too deeply into it and let them wear the mask if they want.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Route?"

"Moving from the east toward the former abandoned base F17809, expected to arrive at midnight tomorrow."

The "Silver Sand" virus spread, a zombie outbreak erupted, countless people died, and civilization was destroyed. The apocalypse, once only imagined in the movies, has become a daily reality.

These former compatriots and current enemies who were infected with the virus gradually evolved from eating raw meat and drinking blood to developing intelligence, and actually became organized and disciplined collective behaviors, making the survivors miserable.

Humans are social animals. So are the living dead.

The zombies gradually gained power and gathered into groups of all sizes, and then these groups merged to form one family after another.

The "Silver Sand" family is the most spectacular one among them, with a conservative estimate of about a hundred zombies.

As for "Silver Sand", it is the name of the leader of this family, a person who has almost the same intelligence level as normal people, leadership skills that ordinary people rarely have, and a level of martial arts that humans are completely unable to match. He is worthy of being called the "King of Zombies".

It sounds like it has some connection with the "Silver Sand" virus. To this day, no one knows whether the virus was named after Silver Sand or the virus became a symbol of Silver Sand.

Yinsha was a tall and handsome man in his lifetime. Even after being infected, he did not become as hideous as most zombies. Except for his bloodshot and lifeless eyes and an obvious bullet hole between his eyebrows - yes, even a shot to the head couldn't take down this guy - at first glance, he looked almost the same as a healthy person.

He was agile in action but still retained his thinking ability, which enabled him to build an increasingly powerful tribe.

There are many families of zombies. There is also a powerful force named "Bow//Crossbow" in the northern forest. It has had many conflicts with the "Silver Sand" family, and the current record is evenly matched.

After human civilization retreated to the second line, there was plenty of land. Precisely because of this, the two leaders seemed to have reached some kind of tacit understanding since this year. They did not intend to continue wasting unnecessary energy on fighting for territory. They used a river as the boundary to divide their respective spheres of influence and did not disturb each other.

The commander held the impression of silver sand he had taken earlier in his hand, his brows furrowed.

The man—well, in this state he could no longer be called a “human,” it would be more appropriate to call him a male zombie—his original whites of the eyes were bloodshot, almost dyed red, while his eyeballs took on a strange, almost silvery color.

His skin was no longer as soft and delicate as that of ordinary humans, but as rough as sandpaper.

The name "Silver Sand" is the most appropriate.

The Silver Sand Family does not simply hunt lone humans; they also premeditatedly destroy small bases and plunder supplies, forcing these small bases that have no self-defense capabilities to seek shelter from large bases.

This family is a thorn in the side of the southern region, and it is being watched by more than just the X332 base.

According to information from multiple sources, Yinsha himself has the ability to communicate, but he has a gloomy personality. He rarely speaks to humans, let alone within the zombie family.

"An introverted leader of the zombie army," the commander looked at the summary words in the report submitted by his subordinates, feeling angry and amused.

"Take a small team and investigate the situation," he instructed. "Be sure to pay attention to safety. If you are discovered, retreat immediately."

The subordinate adjusted his mask: "Yes."

*

Li Jue had a very long sleep.

When he woke up, he couldn't move his hands and feet like usual, and thought it was because his father covered him with too thick a blanket and he couldn't move his hands and feet.

wrong.

Dad has already...

Li Jue opened his eyes, but before he could feel sad, he found that the world had become so, so big.

After making a wish for Wannian, he completed his mission in the underworld and was teleported to his next business trip location.

The little angel also appears to be smaller than ordinary human cubs in the world of hell, but it is still the size of a baby after all.

Now when he looked at the world, it was as if he had strayed into a kingdom of giants. Instead, the tiny flying insects and crawling ants that seemed to be so small on ordinary days had become much larger, passing by him like toy cars in an amusement park, casting curious glances at him from time to time.

Zizi has already understood that he has to change his identity with each new job, from a kitten in the first world, to a little jellyfish in the second world, and then to a little angel in the third world...

So, what is the self here?

He felt a little itchy on his face and wanted to scratch it, but he couldn't move his hand and felt something wet and cold.

This feeling is...

Play in the mud!

Li Jue looked down and saw that his hands were indeed stuck in the mud.

Wait, that doesn't seem to be hands!

The originally chubby, white and tender little arm had now turned into a thin, green one. He used all his strength to pull out his "hand" like pulling a radish, and found that it was indeed not a human hand, but a plant-like branch.

Li Jue tried to move, and the branches waved softly, like a dancer's sleeves or a fairy's ribbons.

Just as he had learned how to use wings in his previous life, he slowly got used to the feel of the long branches and carefully moved them to touch his face.

Well, it’s not like the usual slippery mousse, but a completely different kind of soft and flexible one.

It was like the vibrant flowers that bloomed in the flowerbed downstairs from our old home. Those were the days when Dad would take him for a walk, pick him up, hold his little hand, and gently stroke the petals.

The velvety touch was fed back to his fingertips. It turned out that kissing was such a magical experience. Zizi thought, I want to explore the world with my dad.

Now what?

Now he touched his face, but only felt flowers.

yeah?

He seemed to... turn into a little flower!