Chapter 178 Reason
"So why did I suddenly kidnap you to do experiments?" After asking about your well-being, Xiang Xin finally remembered the important matter.
Liang Hui leaned closer and asked, "I'm curious too. Didn't we bring back a special kind of zombie? Did we extract antibodies and use it to experiment on you?"
"Thump!" Xiang Xin slammed his fist on the table. "Even so, why don't they test it on themselves!"
She continued indignantly, "Didn't the Mediterranean think highly of you? Why are they targeting you now!"
Lin Xi's gaze was empty: "That was before."
When the research institute faces a survival crisis and a possible refugee riot, Song Heng, a mentor who is not good at handling interpersonal relationships and has weak leadership skills, takes a liking to Lin Xi's fighting ability and adaptability.
Now that everyone is in a safe base, free from all those chaotic crises, their mission is simply to research antibodies and vaccines.
Lin Xi's talents couldn't be fully utilized in the laboratory. In Song Heng's eyes, who was engrossed in scientific research, she gradually became just one of many staff members.
When Song Heng found Lin Jie, he was excited for several days. However, preliminary research results showed that Lin Jie's antibodies could not completely immunize him against the zombie virus, which is why Lin Jie was half-zombie.
When Song Heng learned about Lin Xi and Lin Jie's relationship, they secretly conspired to test Lin Xi's reaction. Both Song Heng and Zhao Jing intentionally mentioned to Lin Xi that they wanted to find the relatives of the special zombies, but Lin Xi did not admit it.
During this period of scientific research bottleneck, some people went crazy for antibody research, some wanted to make some achievements so as not to be removed from the laboratory, and some, for the sake of human hope, did not give Lin Xi a chance to think and hesitate.
But……
How did Song Heng know about his relationship with Lin Jie?
How did Lu Wei know about the lab?
When she was about to lose her strength, "Xiong Da" made several phone calls, but Zhao Jing hung up on them all, and finally the watch turned off.
Lin Xi hadn't been in frequent contact with Lu Wei in the past two years, so why did she make so many phone calls at that particular time?
She looked up at Lu Wei, who was sitting to the side. Unlike Xiang Xin and Liang Hui, he wasn't asking her all sorts of questions; he just watched her silently without saying a word.
But Lin Xi felt that he knew everything.
Lu had never been to Yunxiang and had met her relatives from her hometown.
Lu had no idea that her zombie was conscious.
Lu Wei is a high-ranking official at the Dawn Base. Although household registration information is generally under the jurisdiction of the police, his connections accumulated over several lifetimes could be utilized...
Lin Xi suddenly covered her forehead with both hands and vigorously rubbed her hair:
You shouldn't think like that.
But everyone here is a survivor of the apocalypse, and they all came together because they wanted to end it.
The same goes for my colleagues in the lab.
"Aftereffects of anesthesia?" Lu Wei finally asked, pouring a glass of water from the kettle on the table and placing it in front of her.
Lin Xi stared blankly at the cup.
The living supplies provided at the base are mostly the same; this cup is the same as the drinking water cup in the laboratory.
The image of a water glass being handed to me flashed through my mind.
Lin Xi's eyes widened, and she picked up the water glass and drank it all in one gulp.
Anyway, she had already eaten the porridge and water in the thermos when she woke up. If there were any problems or if others had any ideas, she wouldn't be able to escape even if she was on the 16th floor below the Dawn Base.
After drinking water relieved her tension for a while, Lin Xi felt deep regret.
No, we shouldn't be wary of Lu Wei.
She suddenly felt ashamed of her earlier suspicions and reckless attitude, and dared not look up at them.
But no one urged her; they just waited silently for her to calm down, and Xiang Xin gently patted her back to soothe her.
Liang Hui didn't know what to do, so he could only refill the empty water glass: "Here, drink more hot water."
Lu didn't notice her nervousness and comforted her, saying, "No one has taken your blood sample, and your identity information has been hidden."
In this post-apocalyptic world, all rules and order have changed, and in this Dawn Base, the current Colonel has the connections to make these changes possible.
Lu Wei continued, "I should still tell you. Song Heng had someone investigate the information, but he also asked them to keep it a secret and erase all traces of the investigation."
Upon hearing this chilling name, Lin Xi asked, "Has the lab come looking for me?"
Her message list was overflowing, but she didn't want to look at it.
Lu Wei: "I've been here. But Song Heng didn't report this situation, so the higher-ups don't know yet."
Song Heng didn't go too far, perhaps out of consideration for the teacher-student relationship and to protect Lin Xi's privacy, or perhaps because he wanted to monopolize the research resources.
Lin Xi seems to be suffering from paranoia now, and she thinks about everything with a sense of defensiveness.
Xiang Xin, listening from the side, was completely bewildered: "What are you talking about? What do you mean by reporting it to the Mediterranean? He's arresting people for live experiments without any reason, are you going to make the guilty party accuse him first?"
After regaining her composure, Lin Xi decided to confront him directly.
The people in front of him were partners who had shared life and death in their past lives. If they were not trustworthy, then the world in the present would have no meaning for Lin Xi.
“It wasn’t without reason,” Lin Xi explained. “The special zombie you brought back last time wasn’t fully infected with the virus. We did find some similar antibodies on him, but not completely.”
Liang Hui had seen the zombie before; he and Lu Wei had brought it back on New Year's Eve. He asked, "What does this have to do with you?"
Xiang Xin: "Don't interrupt me."
Lin Xi: "Do you remember the pregnant woman we brought back from Nanhua District D? She and her child both turned into zombies, but they both retained some language functions. According to the investigation, there were uninfected parts of their brains. This discovery means that immunity to the zombie virus can be hereditary."
This time, Xiang Xin asked, "What does that have to do with you? Are you and that special zombie your child?"
Lin Xi was interrupted and asked such a strange question, so she glared at her irritably: "No. He's my cousin from my hometown."
Xiang Xin was stunned for a moment, then looked at Lu Wei: "Didn't you say you went to San San's hometown and met her family?"
Lu Wei replied, "Unfortunately, I've never met this 'cousin' before."
Liang Hui: "Huh? That sounds a bit strange."
Lin Xi: "Not family."
How can Lin Cheng, Lin Jie, Zhang Xiulan, and others be considered family?
But she was a little helpless, because these people had such peculiar points of interest.
Xiang Xin said "Oh," and then muttered to herself, "Even if that 'cousin' has antibodies, San San and he are cousins, several generations apart. Could he really inherit immunity?"
Liang Hui: "So, you're going to use her as an experiment?"
Xiang Xin: "What if this genetic trait doesn't come from the father's side, but from the 'cousin's' mother's side?"
Lu Wei listened to their discussion without participating or offering any suggestions, simply watching Lin Xi quietly.
If she doesn't want to talk, then he will shut up.
"I should have it."
Lin Xi spoke calmly and unhurriedly.
Xiang Xin: "What is it?"
Lin Xi sighed: "They should have some immunity and antibodies."
Xiang Xin blinked: "Didn't Brother Lu stop their experiment? How do you know the result?"
Lin Xi rubbed her temples, somewhat reluctant to admit, "I was a zombie before, I mean before I was reborn. I was conscious after I became a zombie, but I didn't think much of it at the time, assuming that everyone was like that. But now it seems that I retained consciousness because I may have antibodies in my body."
Liang Hui then seized on a point that wasn't really important: "Zombies basically don't have the ability to communicate, so how do you know that other zombies aren't conscious?"
Lin Xi glanced at Lu Wei silently, but didn't say anything because he had saved her.
Because after comparing them, Lu Wei died after turning into a zombie, while she turned into a zombie, alive and kicking, and encountered the living Yama Lu Wei.
She lightly brushed the topic aside: "It's not important. What's important is that I now roughly know that I have antibodies."
Xiang Xin leaned closer to look at her, his eyes flashing with an abnormal light: "You're a conscious zombie? Then wouldn't you be the zombie king?!"
"Don't get agitated. I am conscious, but that's all I am. I can't control my own corpse."
Lu Wei added, "Their behavior is no different from that of ordinary zombies."
It's not even as good as some zombies with the ability to think, nor as good as zombies that can talk; it doesn't even qualify as a mutant.
Xiang Xin looked at Lu Wei: "How did you know? Have you seen San San's zombie?"
Lu Wei: "..."
Lin Xi said casually, "That's not important."
"So, you really do have antibodies. And after they found out you and the special zombies were cousins, they used you for experiments?" Liang Hui finally stopped interrupting and got to the point.
The three of them watched Lin Xi silently.
Lin Xi's gaze swept over their eyes, her expression impassive, but she was actually carefully observing their emotions.
Some were calm, some were dazed, and some were eager.
But there was not a trace of greed or covetousness.
Xiang Xin processed this conclusion for a moment, then suddenly stood up: "So they kidnapped you to infect you and extract antibodies, right?"
Liang Hui: "Damn, it's a good thing Brother Lu couldn't get through to you, so he came looking for you. Otherwise, you'd be a zombie by now."
Xiang Xin first breathed a sigh of relief, then gritted her teeth in anger: "That's not something that can be solved by pointing a gun at them."
Lin Xi: "Aren't you concerned about antibodies? If the antibodies extracted from me are really effective, maybe a vaccine can be developed."
While it cannot directly eliminate zombies, it will increase the survival rate of existing humans.
Xiang Xin said decisively, "So what! It's only a slight possibility. If we have to turn you into a zombie to extract the antibodies, I don't want the vaccine! We can defeat zombies!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Xi felt something inside her crumbling.
Lu Wei: "We don't have the custom of sacrificing friends."
Liang Hui then added, "That's what I think too."
Xiang Xin: "Huh? The word 'sacrifice'? Brother Lu, you didn't watch shonen manga before, did you?"
"Wow……"
Just as Xiang Xin finished interrupting, she heard Lin Xi suddenly burst into tears.
The emotions that had been suppressed for so long erupted at this moment. The pressure of the past few years and the imagined barriers that had arisen after entering the base vanished at this moment. All the things that had been suppressed since I was drunk that day poured out without reservation through my tears.
Lin Xi knew she looked rather undignified and foolish, but thankfully Xiang Xin didn't embarrass her. Instead, he hugged her and patted her back.
Liang Hui was sitting close by. He looked at Lu Wei, who pushed some tissues on the table closer to him.
Liang Hui was at a loss for what to do, but he also felt that the family should be together and he wanted to do something.
“I’m sorry, I only know how to comfort someone I’m having an affair with, but you are…” Liang Hui poured another glass of water, “San San, drink more hot water.”
"..."
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Xi gradually calmed down.
Xiang Xin asked, "So what do we do now? The lab is still looking for San San. What if the base puts pressure on us..."
Liang Hui: "It's alright for now, Brother Lu will handle it."
Lu Wei: "It's true that you're 'alright for now,' but I only erased their records of investigating you and hid your information, but..."
He didn't want to speak up for Song Heng, but there were some facts that Lin Xi needed to know: "As I just said, although Song Heng has been coming to ask for people, he hasn't made it public, and even other laboratories don't know about it."
Lin Xi was stunned for a moment.
Lu Wei added, "Your unit is very good at keeping secrets. They helped you hide the fact that you have a gun before, and now they still think you're a spy."
Because the laboratory knew that Lin Xi was very skilled in martial arts and had a pistol on her, and that no one could subdue her, after testing Lin Xi twice to ensure that she did not voluntarily prove her identity and contribute to the laboratory, they first drugged Lin Xi so that she could not resist.
The drug was fast-acting and had no noticeable odor. It wasn't a common drug on the market, so it must have been prepared in the laboratory. This wouldn't be difficult for researchers who were proficient in biology and chemistry.
The second injection of anesthesia was...
Lin Xi pondered Lu Wei's words for a while. If Song Heng reported that Lin Xi might have antibodies, even Lu Wei might not be able to withstand the pressure from everyone in the base. However, Song Heng did not go too far.
Xiang Xin, however, held a grudge: "Mediterranean is really wicked. He wants to turn San San into a zombie. He curses him to lose all his hair."
Lin Xi shook her head slightly: "It shouldn't be."
The other three waited for her to explain, and she slowly analyzed, "If you want to turn me into a zombie but also prevent me from hurting people, you should inject me with the zombie virus after the first cup of water makes me lose my ability to move."
"Currently, it seems that the zombie virus infection process is irreversible. If we must achieve our goal, as long as I am injected with a high concentration of the virus, I will mutate immediately, and no one can help me."
Lu Wei added, "The military doctor came to see you and gave you a very strong dose of anesthesia."
Xiang Xin: "Didn't you get the virus injection?"
Lin Xi shook her head slightly: "The existing ordinary anesthetics are not very effective against zombies. They probably want to take a sample from me."
Liang Hui: "Although I'm not a medical student, in this kind of situation, a blood test is usually enough, and there's no need for anesthesia, right?"
Lin Xi lowered her eyelashes: "The zombie virus is too powerful; it's not as simple as just drawing blood."
"They may need to take various samples from me. I was given a sufficient amount of anesthesia to prevent resistance and, more importantly, to relieve pain. They should be taking my cerebrospinal fluid."
Xiang Xin and Liang Hui winced awkwardly, and Xiang Xin subconsciously patted Lin Xi's head: "That sounds scary too."
"There are indeed risks."
Lin Xi did not admit her relationship with Lin Jie in time, firstly because she was afraid of being taken advantage of and wanted to wait until she had someone backing her, and secondly because it was a high-risk surgery.
Infecting her into a zombie would allow the uninfected parts to be clearly scanned with instruments, but the lab chose to force her into this extreme yet efficient method.
"So you mean they can extract antibodies without turning you into a zombie?"
Lin Xi nodded: "But it will be very troublesome. We will have to do countless tests on the infection of sample cells and viruses to screen out the parts that have not been immunized."
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