When Qiao An'an and the others boarded the speedboat, they realized they hadn't asked Zhang Qiang's opinion yet.
Then they asked Zhang Qiang about his future: "Are you coming with us or going to the safe zone?"
Zhang Qiang glanced at Qiao An'an and the others, then looked at the capital's safe zone.
Although Qiao An'an and the others are all good people, they are, after all, a small group of individuals fighting alone. The Imperial Capital Safe Zone is the capital, a place he longed for but could never reach before the apocalypse. Now that someone has told him that they can take him to the Imperial Capital and even provide him with a house and help him get a job, he naturally cannot miss it: "I want to go to the Safe Zone."
When they came out of the submarine, Qiao An'an had already told Grandpa Gu and the others about what had happened underwater, and Zhang Qiang was listening in.
Staying or leaving is entirely up to personal choice.
Life and death depend entirely on one's own destiny.
Qiao An'an felt that she had already informed Zhang Qiang of the danger, and since Zhang Qiang still chose to go to the safe zone in the capital, there was no need for her to stop him: "Okay."
The speedboat carried a lot of supplies on several trips. If they were all loaded into the RV, there wouldn't be enough room for anyone to sit inside.
Qiao An'an and her companions had to find an abandoned truck nearby and use a tow rope to tie it to the back of the RV to load their belongings.
Although the underwater laboratory is gone, the zombies have not been completely eliminated, and many survivors are still killing and robbing to feed themselves.
To prevent the trucks behind from being robbed on the road.
Shen Zhou drove the RV in front, while Li Jianguo and Yan Ling sat in the driver's seat in the back to look at the things inside.
Qiao An'an and the others planned to go back to prison and continue to live a life of hiding.
To get to the prison, they first needed to return to the vicinity of the Imperial Capital Safe Zone, then go around the Yellow Sea and Bohai Bay to J City. They had only traveled this route once in the past two days and knew that the road was smooth that day. The drive went relatively smoothly, and it only took them half a day to leave Y City and enter G Province. The southern region was extremely hot this season, and the truck towed behind the RV was broken, so they couldn't drive the air conditioner. Even with the windows open, it was still as hot as a steam room.
That evening, when everyone found an open space to stop and heat up their self-heating food, and while they were resting, Qiao An'an decided to find another truck for Li Jianguo and Yan Ling to ride in.
Li Jianguo felt there was no need to risk going looking for the car: "There are still a lot of zombies outside. It's just hot. We can just bear with it."
Chen Zhou also said, "The back car is hot. If it gets too hot, we can take turns going to the back car."
Both of their vehicles are now fully loaded with supplies, and one of them is being towed by a rope, so it's not very fast. If they encounter a zombie attack while searching for a vehicle, it will be very inconvenient to escape.
Qiao An'an thought that taking turns sitting in the back was a good solution: "That works too. It's not too hot at night. I can sit in the back all day tomorrow."
Ya Ya hugged her mother's leg and said, "I want to sit in the back too."
Qiao An'an picked up her silly girl: "Sitting in the back isn't fun. Let me make it clear beforehand that if you sit in the back, you can't go back to the front of the car."
So the next day, Ya Ya and Qiao An'an sat in the back all morning. When they got off to rest, Chen Zhou, who was sitting in the back with them, teased Ya Ya, "Ya Ya, how about you sit in the back again this afternoon?"
Ya Ya's little face was red and hot from the sun.
She ran straight into the RV to enjoy the air conditioning and resolutely refused to sit in the back: "No, Yaya doesn't want to!"
Grandpa Gu had nothing to do in the RV, so he prepared food for everyone in advance.
He added braised eggs and ham sausages to every pack of instant noodles, and even made two extra packs for Li Jianguo, who has a big appetite.
Everyone drank water, ate, rested, and played with Ya Ya.
Just then, the car phone rang. Qiao An'an answered it and found that it was Tang Rui calling.
Tang Rui said they had returned to the safe zone yesterday, but had been in quarantine. She only came out of the quarantine room today and called Qiao An'an to talk about the children: "When we entered the safe zone, I asked the medical staff there to focus on examining the hundred or so children. The results showed that they had all undergone brain surgery, but other than that, they were no different from normal children."
Qiao An'an had only noticed the faint stitches on one of the children's heads.
Before she could confirm, she was stopped by people from the capital's security zone. Now, Tang Rui's phone call further confirmed her suspicions: "Don't you find it strange that all these young children are having brain surgery?"
Tang Rui replied, "We also found it strange, so we tested these children again and found that their IQs were all above 145. They are all geniuses... According to Dr. Yu's Noah's Ark project, future humans not only need to be pure-hearted but also have outstanding intelligence. As far as we know, no matter how much DNA is recombined in an artificial womb, it is impossible to guarantee that every child born will have an IQ above 145. This is too much of a coincidence."
If her guess is correct, these are not coincidences.
Qiao An'an: "Dr. Yu's IQ is not low, is it?"
Tang Rui wasn't very familiar with Dr. Yu. She recalled the few memories she had: "He was very smart. His improved seeds were being used all over the capital."
Qiao An'an added, "Your director's IQ isn't low either, is it?"
Tang Rui: "Although he is a traitor, his IQ is definitely above ours, otherwise he wouldn't be the head of our department."
Qiao An'an: "I guess the hundred or so zombies we killed in the underwater lab must have had IQs of 145 or higher before they died, right? From what I've observed, they've all had brain surgery. Is it possible... I mean, is it possible that the brains of these top-performing individuals, selected from among thousands nationwide, were taken out and placed somewhere else?"
Tang Rui's IQ is not low either; how could someone with a low IQ work in a research department?
She quickly understood what Qiao An'an meant. The reason she understood Qiao An'an's words was because when she took those children for a check-up before, one of the children actually pointed out the staff's mistake.
Although it was just a simple "no," and although the child immediately acted as if nothing was wrong afterward.
But that "No" still sent chills down Tang Rui's spine.
Because that voice, that tone, sounded so much like her former boss, Tian Mingbo.
Before the apocalypse, Tian Mingbo's research focused on head transplant surgery. According to his research report, undergoing a head transplant at -15 degrees Celsius would not damage his brain.
His report was sponsored by the world's richest man.
The richest man is getting old and hopes to extend his lifespan by having his head transplanted into a clone's body.
With the sponsorship of the richest man, he even successfully performed a head transplant on a monkey, which reportedly cost $70 million. However, behind the success of the monkey head transplant, its drawbacks gradually became apparent.
The surgery only ensured blood circulation between the monkey's body and head, guaranteeing blood supply to the head, but failed to establish neural connections between the body and head. As a result, although the monkey had a new head and could survive, it was unable to control its body to perform normal activities.
Later, the news stopped reporting on it, and everyone assumed that Tian Mingbo had stopped the research. Now, Tang Rui was uncertain: "I believe you, but I have no evidence to convince others..."
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