Chapter 76 Don't you think the devout people around me...
The truth of the world is slowly revealed to Fu Qing.
The electronic voice lacked emotion, but the underlying tone of these words was undoubtedly impassioned.
Through its words, the curtain was lifted, and Fu Qing glimpsed a corner of that higher world.
The underlying logic of the world is like a finely tuned machine, propelling them toward their destined end time and time again.
Humanity has already failed once; how many more chances do they have to fight back?
"You're saying that only when the previous species that conquered the world die will a new species be born—the next generation of humanity will be zombies?"
"Not necessarily," the system said. "The vast majority of zombies are infertile and will naturally decay and lose their mobility in a few years. The remaining intelligent infected are too few to easily reproduce into a new population. However, it's possible that seeds of new life may sprout from among them, evolving over millions of years into new species unimaginable to you."
Its voice was somewhat indifferent, revealing a cold detachment towards the fate of the lowest-level species.
Fu Qing nodded, losing interest in the future of zombies. She grasped the key point in the system's message: "The reason there are so few intelligent zombies is because they must be infected by the Zombie King himself?"
Yes, and every infection comes at a price. Intelligent infected individuals are the leaders of zombie hordes, and the number of leaders isn't actually that large. The system tactfully added, "Like you and your students."
"Then why didn't I see any intelligent zombies in my previous life?" Fu Qing paused, then asked, "Also, why didn't you directly establish Fangzhou in your previous life?"
The cycle of worlds is a continuous game of strategy. The Zombie King gained the upper hand in its previous life, thus acquiring even greater abilities. As for me…” The system buzzed twice before finally replying, “I initially thought I could achieve victory through my own strength, but I later learned that this was a misconception.”
Fu Qing pondered, "Perhaps it would have been better to have a different host in the previous life? Zhao Yunxiao's personality is not suited to doing such radical things."
"He was the best choice under the circumstances." The system didn't elaborate further, simply stating, "Successful examples of resisting world consciousness are extremely rare; Zhao Yunxiao's failure is normal."
The phrase "best choice" has many interpretations, but Fu Qing is more inclined to believe that it was because in the first reincarnation, the system lacked a concept of everyone's strength, and thus hastily and randomly selected one person to bind to.
Zhao Yunxiao may not be good at much else, but at least he is very kind-hearted.
There are very few people in the world who would choose to hand over their cheat abilities immediately after obtaining them. This kind of useless protagonist is quite common in stories about handing over cheat abilities.
Fu Qing harbored resentment.
It's reasonable that the system only bound itself to her in the second cycle, when there was data to refer to, with a clear purpose.
But its last sentence made Fu Qing's heart clench.
"You overheard my conversation with Lu Yan," she asked. "Killing the Zombie King—is that a chance to save the world?"
Yes, even without its assistance, humanity's accumulated experience from previous cycles is enough to help you achieve victory.
The system gave an affirmative answer.
Fu Qing's tense body suddenly relaxed.
The system's words were partially hidden; to it, even if only one human remained in the end, it would still be a victory for humanity.
But Fu Qing knew that she had to kill the zombie king as soon as possible, otherwise the slower she killed it, the fewer humans would survive.
But a clear understanding of the law is always encouraging.
Fu Qing's bad mood dissipated a little. After thinking for a moment, she asked one last question: "If we fail this time... will there be another cycle?"
It's unlikely.
The system said: "Repeated failures will allow the Zombie King to accumulate an ever-growing advantage. Its next rebirth might come six months or even a year earlier than mine. By the time the apocalypse truly arrives, it will be too late, and the chances of victory will be extremely slim."
The air fell silent.
The heavy responsibility weighed on his shoulders, and even Fu Qing found it difficult to breathe for a moment.
After a long silence, she finally said, "I understand."
*
After leaving the room, Fu Qing turned and headed towards the teaching building.
The memory she had just recalled made her suddenly want to see someone.
The sun was shining brightly. The journey from the simulation training room to the teaching building involved crossing the playground, and it was a bit long. Fu Qing chatted with the system: "In the last thing I saw before I woke up, it seemed like I saw memories that didn't belong to me."
"—Who was the one who fired the shot?"
The system paused for a moment, seemingly considering: [I was fighting the Zombie King for control of the simulation pod. The data was very unstable then, and may have accidentally inserted other footage.]
It explains: "The simulator's replicas are mostly extracted from real scenes that occurred in the previous world. Its database also contains many scenes that haven't yet been replicated; these are pre-loaded when you purchase the machine, but you can only use them after you pay."
Fu Qing said "Oh," and understood. The situation at the time was like encountering a bug, accidentally unpacking unpublished content.
Her questions were answered, and she also arrived at her destination.
A first aid class was in progress, with several lifelike zombies lying neatly on the dissection table. Lu Yan had the students practice suturing using them.
The simulated zombie allows you to make wounds on its body at will and practice stitching in any corner. Once you choose to reset, the wounds will heal and the stitches will be automatically removed, making it an incredibly convenient teaching tool.
With ten minutes left before get out of class ended, Fu Qing got a little bored waiting outside. After thinking it over, she decided to enter the classroom through the back door and check on everyone's practice progress.
In other schools, the principal or other leaders might occasionally visit the classrooms on a whim, but Fu Qing has never exercised this "power" since the start of the school year.
With the system overseeing things, nothing major could happen at the school, so she didn't bother to cause trouble for herself.
This was the first time she had ever appeared in a classroom.
The first aid students were divided into small groups, each group assigned a "cadaver" who stood in a circle around the platform. Some were responsible for suturing the limbs, some for suturing the torso and abdominal cavity, and one stood next to the simulated zombie's head, holding a medical razor in one hand and using the other to rummage through the hair on its head to find wounds.
The realistic zombie is covered in wounds of all sizes from head to toe, making it 100% utilized. It's clear that someone has done some horrific and inhumane things to it again.
As Fu Qing looked at the points, she felt that they were well worth the money.
It can practice fighting, chasing, dissection, treatment, and research zombie characteristics. It can even help fight in critical moments... One zombie, multiple uses. Where can you find such a useful tool, no, tool zombie?
Fu Qing clicked his tongue twice, looked at the classmate who was responsible for stitching up the head wound, carefully picked up the zombie's greasy hair with one hand, and frowned.
Zombies are, to some extent, rotting corpses, and even more so, untreated rotting corpses. The texture of their skin and the shape of their organs are somewhat different from those of living people, but the students in the first aid class were clearly already quite used to it.
The student quickly checked the location and shape of the wound, then picked up a medical electric razor to begin shaving, when a figure suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision.
Someone was standing next to her, looking over her shoulder at the zombie, seemingly quite focused.
But Teacher Lu was clearly standing next to another group of people giving instructions, and the other students were all busy with their own things—who could it be?
She turned around in surprise and met Fu Qing's gaze.
The latter looked back innocently, and after her interpretation, the principal's eyes clearly said something like, "Why are you looking at me? I don't have the answer on my face." or "You're not paying attention during the practical exercise, or you'll lose credits."
classmate:"……"
Her mind went blank for two seconds, and she almost exploded.
Wait... why is the principal here?!
Why haven't I heard on the forum before that she would come to the classroom to inspect things? It's unlikely that I would run into her on her first visit!
Is this bad luck or good luck...?
The student's electric razor was already running. Due to extreme fright, his hand slipped, and the razor slid down his head all the way to his forehead, causing hair to fall out one by one, leaving no hair behind and creating a hairstyle similar to the "moon-head" hairstyle in a Japanese period drama.
Realistic zombie: "..."
girl:"……"
Fortunately, the simulated zombie wasn't a real patient, otherwise she would definitely have received a huge negative review.
She glanced around again out of the corner of her eye, still shaken, and saw that the principal had left and was checking on the next group. This almost caused the classmate who noticed her to poke another person's arm with the needle.
When it came to the third group, the student she was observing hesitated to get the needle in. He could only lower his head and tremblingly disinfect the area with an alcohol swab, round and round, until the skin was cleaned until it was whiter than the surrounding skin, smooth and delicate, before she finally saw the principal off.
Wherever the principal went, chaos and turmoil followed.
After she had wreaked havoc on half the class, Lu Yan finally finished her demonstration and looked up, only to find someone had barged into the classroom. This person was standing with their hands behind their back, scarening each student like an old man taking a stroll. Lu Yan was speechless and amused.
He gestured for the students to finish up, took off his mask, and quickly walked to Fu Qing's side. To avoid disturbing others, he lowered his voice and asked, "What are you doing?"
Fu Qing was clearly distracted, his attention not on checking the students' operation at all. He was just unconsciously frowning as he thought, which scared everyone half to death.
Lu Yan felt a little sorry for the students in his class.
The two stood in the corner. get out of class hadn't ended yet, and everyone continued with their work, but their minds were clearly wandering, eager to hear what the principal had come all this way for.
Lu Yan didn't need to turn around to know what the students were thinking, and he chuckled to himself without stopping them.
The end of the world is fast approaching, and the students are always on edge. He occasionally lets them drift off to avoid putting themselves under too much pressure.
Fu Qing leaned against the windowsill, rubbing her earlobe with one hand, her gaze lingering absently on a point in the void, and frowned as she said, "I saw Fan Zheng."
The smile on Lu Yan's lips vanished, and a shadow of gloom flashed across his eyes in an instant.
Fan Zheng was the name of that traitor.
They had known each other for three years, and this was their first meeting. He wasn't even in their group yet; he was out there alone with his elderly mother, wife, and children, venturing into the apocalypse.
In the apocalypse, there might be quite a few people who can take the elderly and children with them at the beginning, but as time goes by, fewer and fewer people will be able to do so. Therefore, the first impression he left on Fu Qing and the others was not bad.
Two years had passed since their second meeting. Fan Zheng's mother, wife, and children had all passed away, and he was so hungry that he was delirious. When he saw them, he knelt down and begged them for a bite of dry food.
Fu Qing was given it.
By then, few people were still alive, and the fighting for supplies and shelters that had occurred at the beginning of the apocalypse was rarely seen anymore. People mostly encountered wandering zombies, and a natural affinity for the remaining members of their kind was inevitable. However, most people now had fixed teams, and when they met while searching for supplies, they would at most exchange greetings before going their separate ways.
There are very few lone wanderers like Fan Zheng. Whenever they encounter one, almost every team will try to recruit him, firstly to expand their strength, and secondly because they don't want to see any more of their kind die.
Fan Zheng naturally joined the team that helped young people.
It took him six months to gain their trust. Fan Zheng wasn't very strong, but he was quick-witted and scouting things. He managed to gather a lot of supplies for them, proving his worth. In addition, he was very good at getting along with people and quickly became one of them.
He rarely mentioned his family, and others weren't so tactless as to poke at his sore spots.
After all, each of them has something they don't want to talk about.
No one expected that this person, who gave the impression of being a low-key and kind-hearted man, would stab them in the back at such a crucial moment.
The bell rang, and Lu Yan snapped out of his reverie, composed himself, and returned to the podium to announce the end of get out of class.
Everyone hurriedly grabbed their bags and left, but before leaving, many of them glanced at Fu Qing seemingly unintentionally.
She lowered her eyes, lost in her own world.
When Fu Qing refuses to reach out to the world, she becomes like a completely isolated island, extremely aloof and unapproachable.
But the students already knew what the island was like—the wind was warm, the soil was soft—and they were no longer afraid to approach it.
They were simply curious, yet instinctively felt uncomfortable about what could have made the principal make that expression.
There were no classes next period, so Lu Yan locked the classroom door to prevent anyone from going to the wrong classroom: "You said you saw Fan Zheng, how did you see him?"
Fu Qing briefly explained the accident that occurred in the simulation chamber.
Lu Yan quickly looked her up and down, then held up his hand to indicate a number and asked seriously, "What's this?"
Fu Qing: "..."
She expressionlessly bent his two fingers back in place.
"...My mind is perfectly clear. That guy was dealt with in time and didn't leave any lasting impact."
"That's good." Lu Yan shrugged, then said seriously for once, "Don't overthink Fan Zheng's matter... It's not anyone's fault. He's been hiding it very well, and no one expected it..."
He paused, then said in a low voice, "Actually, I've always felt something was off about this. Suddenly turning against him wouldn't do him any good at all."
Fearing that Fu Qing would blame herself, Lu Yan was about to say something more when her gaze suddenly drifted over, and she said in surprise, "I don't think it's my fault."
Lu Yan: "?"
His brow twitched, and his smile stiffened slightly: "I suddenly feel... perhaps you could feel a little guilty?"
This does not mean that Fu Qing made any mistakes in decision-making in this matter.
Rescuing their comrades was a collective decision, and Fu Qing took on the responsibility of infiltrating, shouldering the greatest risks. Even the actions of the other two teams were reviewed by her. Every step went smoothly. In fact, even if they hadn't been able to rescue their teammates, Fu Qing was capable of escaping unscathed—the only variable was the reappearance of Fan Zheng, whom they thought was dead.
However, when a teammate dies, everyone who survives experiences guilt, which is more similar to the concept of "survivor guilt." It is a irrational and unreasonable post-traumatic stress reaction in which one blames oneself and believes that one should have died with the others.
Lu Yan had been troubled by this psychological problem for a long time, but looking at Fu Qing, he felt that perhaps it was better for her to be more rational. Otherwise, she would have to bear too much.
Fu Qing: "No, meeting Fan Zheng in the simulation pod actually helped me understand some things."
Just as Lu Yan said, Fan Zheng's betrayal at that juncture brought him no benefit whatsoever.
There are not many humans left on Earth, and by relying on Fu Qing's team, he can actually live a little longer.
If, as he claims, he had long harbored resentment towards Fu Qing, this resentment wouldn't have been so intense as to lead him to risk his life, betray Fu Qing at a crucial moment, and incur the hatred of the entire team—that would have been incredibly foolish.
Unless...doing so would be in his best interest.
"I was really puzzled at the time. There were just too many zombies surrounding the factory. Without your help, even I wouldn't have been able to break in—so how did that noob Fan Zheng manage to do it? I made up a lot of excuses for him, like he found a secluded room to hide while we were running away and the zombies were distracted, or maybe he just got lucky..."
A thought silently popped into Lu Yan's mind: Oh, so she didn't come here to reminisce because she was moved by the scene in the simulator.
At that moment, he felt the same despair as Xu Mingyue, not understanding what he was expecting.
Fu Qing didn't notice the change in Lu Yan's emotions and said to herself, "The only possibility I didn't expect is that those zombies never intended to attack him at all."
Based on the information Fu Qing knew in her previous life, this was indeed a direction she could never have imagined.
“Another point of contention is Schman’s mutation,” Fu Qing said.
Schman is the teammate who was trapped in the factory, died, mutated, and attacked her.
“Special zombies are one in ten thousand. How could Fan Zheng be so sure that Shi Man would mutate and even help him attack me? If she had only mutated into an ordinary zombie, then all his tricks of attracting a horde of zombies and feigning death to escape the group would have been meaningless.”
Fan Zheng's plan was too risky and full of coincidences, so much so that Fu Qing was troubled by his thought process for a long time afterward.
Why did the zombie horde gather at the factory on the very day it was Fan Zheng's turn to keep watch?
Why was Fan Zheng able to successfully evade a large number of zombies?
Why did Shiman happen to mutate into a special zombie with high attack power?
In her previous life, Fu Qing never considered these coincidences when making the rescue decision, which is why she "capsized in the gutter".
In this life, after filling in the missing information, Fu Qing finally solved the mystery.
“The zombie king’s choice of him as its parasitic target confirmed this for me.” Fu Qing’s furrowed brows slowly relaxed. “Fan Zheng is most likely a well-hidden devout believer.”
She raised her hand and touched her lower abdomen, where there was a scar running down her side.
The scar was extremely long, winding like a centipede, and one could imagine from its appearance how hideous and terrifying the wound had once been.
But now it has been meticulously stitched up, stitch by stitch. Fu Qing has touched this scar many times and finds it hard to imagine how Lu Yan could have completed such a precise stitch under those circumstances.
"So..." Lu Yan asked, "You came all the way to see me, even after class ended, just to explain this reasoning?"
Seemingly realizing his tone was a bit odd, he added, "But it's true, we didn't even know the definition of 'devout believer' back then, so how could we have imagined that someone would actively team up with zombies to attack humans?"
“No, I was just thinking.” Fu Qing lowered her hand, seemingly lost in thought. “Don’t you think there are a bit too many devout believers around me?”
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