Chapter 13: The Origin of Infection, Old Era, New Era!
As a modern person, you are naturally familiar with libraries.
Cheng Ye couldn't remember how many days and nights he had spent typing frantically to finish his thesis.
I didn't expect to come to the wasteland and find a library.
Although in terms of appearance, this library is not even as good as some rural primary school libraries, even so, after Cheng Ye looked at it for a while, a familiar feeling of intimacy still surged from the bottom of his heart.
Walk a few steps forward and push open the gate in front of the library.
What surprised Cheng Ye was that the hinge of the fence gate was surprisingly smooth, which was somewhat inconsistent with its rusty appearance. It seemed that someone maintained it regularly.
Behind the door, Cheng Ye saw a conspicuous wooden sign.
【Survival Library】
[This library contains hundreds of books, including survival content submitted by survivors from all over the wasteland. They are authentic and effective, and can help you significantly increase your chances of survival when facing infected bodies.]
[Reading fee, 5 coins/hour (20 coins deposit required for admission, no credit)]
[Borrowing fee, priced according to the value of the book, requires collateral]
[You can submit valuable information, books, etc. If the librarian verifies it as valid, you will be provided with varying rewards]
"5 coins per hour?"
Cheng Ye raised his eyebrows.
No wonder a group of people looked at him strangely when he got off the bus just now.
The reward for repairing the sewer pipe for a day is 16 coins, which is not even enough to pay the entrance deposit here.
If you don't pay attention and watch it for a few hours, ordinary residents will go bankrupt.
Even an inspector like him, with a monthly salary of 500 coins, would not dare to soak in it without any scruples if it were not for the inheritance left by Cheng Long.
"The training ground is only 10 coins a day, but here it's only 5 coins an hour. It makes me curious about the quality of the books inside."
Cheng Ye doesn't care much about the spending of happiness coins.
Especially when it comes to paying for knowledge, if it is true as the wooden sign says, that it can guarantee that readers will greatly increase their chances of survival when facing an infected body, then let alone 5 coins, it would be worth 50 coins!
Follow the old tiled corridor into the library compound.
When he arrived at the main entrance, Cheng Ye hesitated for a moment. He first took off his raincoat, folded it and hung it by the window, then scraped off the mud stuck on the soles of his shoes on the steps next to him.
Crunch.
When I pushed open the door of the library, a hint of moldy smell mixed with the unique old smell of paper hit me in the face.
Cheng Ye looked inside curiously.
It really is a simple and unpretentious library style from the old days!
Three old-fashioned tungsten filament lamps hung from the ceiling, casting a dim warm light.
Two rows of wooden shelves were neatly arranged, each shelf slightly sunken by the weight of yellowed books.
From then on, it was the study room configuration that Cheng Ye was very familiar with.
There are four wooden tables, each of which is very large and looks extremely heavy. Each table is equipped with two solid wood square chairs.
Since there was no one there, the chandelier above the wooden table was not turned on, making the room seem a little dim.
“Ahem…”
A voice came from behind the door.
Following the source of the sound, Cheng Ye noticed that there was a table behind the door and a small bed behind the table.
A middle-aged Western woman, slightly hunched, was curled up on the small bed, staring over.
After discovering that there were no water droplets falling from Cheng Ye's body and no mud on the soles of his shoes, the woman's gaze softened slightly.
"Guest, please come in. You are the only one reading today."
"If you're short on money, I can make it happen. You only need 3 happiness coins per hour, so 10 coins will give you enough to read for a whole day."
The woman's face was pale, her gray hair was scattered messily on her shoulders, and she looked a little malnourished.
But her voice was very gentle, like a spring breeze, lingering around her ears, forming a sharp contrast with her haggard appearance.
“Are there any discounts?”
Cheng Ye was quite surprised, but then he immediately reacted.
The high prices posted outside should only be a screening measure to keep out some people who do not have the basic purchasing power or do not recognize the library's operating model.
And those who can get in here will not care about spending 5 coins.
The prices are specially discounted to give customers extra expectations of surprise, and since you can watch the show for a whole day for only ten coins, it feels like you will be losing out if you don’t spend 10 coins.
“This is a deposit.”
Cheng Ye felt around and took out two happiness coins with a face value of 10 from his pocket.
"Excuse me..."
"Elsie Gwynne, guests may address me by my first name."
"Okay, Miss G...Gwen, I'd like to know more about the types of infected people and how to deal with them. Which book would be best for me to read?"
"The first bookshelf is filled with books of this type. If you're about to face an infected person and need quick guidance, you can head directly to the third row, which contains concise practical manuals. However, I suggest you take the time to read them from top to bottom to lay a solid foundation."
After saying that, Gwen sat up slightly. "The second bookshelf is the travelogues of wasteland survivors. The first, fourth, and seventh books in the third row contain firsthand records about rare special infected bodies. If you are interested in special infected bodies, please read them."
"The third and fourth bookshelves contain special survival manuals. Rest assured, each one is valuable. They contain the author's understanding of the wasteland, as well as some special survival techniques. Although these techniques may not be of any immediate use to you, once you use them, you'll understand their value for money."
"Okay, thank you!"
Such detailed answers and advice made Cheng Ye realize that this was probably the result of taking off his raincoat and cleaning the soles of his shoes.
It seems that there is no lack of mutual respect in the wasteland...
Cheng Ye smiled in his heart, and suddenly remembered that when he was preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination, he was the only one who could eat in the library, which saved him half an hour of running back and forth to the cafeteria.
Half an hour a day, accumulated over time, can save you several days of time in half a year.
Why?
Isn’t this just a privilege for having a good relationship with the librarian!
The same is true now. With Gwen's reminder, Cheng Ye immediately saved the trouble of searching and sorting out the information himself.
"In that case, let's start with the first row. Two days is enough for me to quickly browse through all the books on the first bookshelf."
Pulling out the first book in the first row, Cheng Ye glanced at the title and found it was in familiar Chinese characters.
Origins of Infection
The content also happens to be what he is very interested in now.
When I arrived at the reading area, Gwen had already turned on the lights. It was not a soft warm light, but a slightly cool white light, which made me feel refreshed.
"The choice of lighting is also helpful for reading. If you need tea or food service, please call me."
"grateful."
Cheng Ye nodded, sat down at the large wooden table, gently opened the book and turned to the first page.
Some of the sloppy handwriting and some cursive characters that require concentration to be recognized unexpectedly give people a sense of mission to transcend time and space and open history books.
'Do you believe in fate, do you believe in prophecies, do you believe in the end of the world?'
"I never believed it, but reality taught me a cruel lesson, forcing me to believe in fate."
"If December 21, 2032, wasn't the twentieth anniversary of the Mayan civilization's prediction of the end of the world, it would have been just an ordinary day. No one would have remembered it. Even I, an author who enjoys writing doomsday novels, only remembered it when I saw related reports."
"Oh? It's the doomsday predicted by the Mayans!"
"Haha, twenty years have passed. How can anyone still believe there will be an apocalypse? This is just a hot topic hyped by capital, just like Valentine's Day on May 20th and Singles' Day on November 11th. They will eventually be consigned to history and forgotten by everyone."
'But, but, but...it finally came!'
"This apocalypse was delayed for a full twenty years. That day, at four in the afternoon, I opened the window and witnessed a scene I will never forget: an immense, luminous object visited Blue Planet. Its long tail almost filled the entire sky, even obscuring the sun's rays. Experts speculated that it was an alien lifeform that had leaped through a wormhole. I don't know if it's true, but its brief appearance completely changed the fate of Blue Planet, gradually tearing away the fragile veneer of civilization."
"Fragments of the comet fell across the planet, some large, some small, and attracted human pursuit."
Everyone is eager to learn and discover something from these fragments, and countries have begun to compete openly and secretly, trying to find opportunities for technological progress.
"Haha, there is indeed a discovery. The dreaded S-1 virus has appeared!"
Using saliva and blood as its carrier, the virus spread rapidly across the globe in just three months. Those infected resembled zombies from movies and TV shows, but were even more terrifying. A single scratch or bite would cause a terrifying transformation within ten seconds, indiscriminately attacking their own kind and rapidly expanding the area of infection.
Even though human civilization was resilient enough, the infected were still subject to the limitations of carbon-based organisms. The S-1 virus persisted for a full four years. It wasn't until the Human Federation was established, sanctuary cities sprang up across the country, and organized combat formations gradually formed a siege that this nightmare was temporarily sealed.
The article is accompanied by an illustration of a man with a ferocious face, leaning sideways, with cloudy and white eyes, turned-up gums revealing broken canine teeth, and saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth.
Zombies?
Cheng Ye's eyebrows jumped. He didn't know if it was influenced by movies and TV dramas, but compared to those infected creatures with strange abilities, he felt that zombies were actually more difficult to deal with.
After all, if you get bitten, you will be infected, which means that staying in a crowded city of refuge is even more dangerous.
Fortunately, according to the description in the article, these zombies still failed to exceed the limitations of carbon-based organisms.
They can run, but because their bones and muscles are rotting and damaged, they cannot run as fast as healthy adult men.
They are not afraid of death, but this also makes them clumsy and living targets, and they can be easily trapped in traps set by humans.
By the time humans react and form battle formations, the end of the zombies will have actually arrived.
How can a mortal body withstand the fire of a heavy machine gun?
When incendiary bombs are used to clean the ground, no matter how many corpses there are, they are just "dry firewood" to fuel the fire.
In the winter of 2037, when the last S-1 infected person was reduced to ashes in the incinerator, grand celebrations were held across Blue Star. The survivors left the Sanctuary City and returned to the ruins, hugging and weeping, as if announcing the beginning of civilization's rebirth from the ashes.
"I was lucky enough to be a part of it, survived the disaster, and celebrated the end of the world."
However, the "infinite energy" the S-1 virus bestowed upon zombies ultimately piqued the greed of a small number of humans, eager to discover the secret to immortality and a way to defy the limitations of carbon-based life. In specialized underground laboratories, the original virus was intercepted and studied. Under human guidance, the S-1 virus abandoned the inefficient model of widespread transmission and instead evolved to push the boundaries of life.
'In the spring of 2041, the S-2 virus was born by chance!'
The unique S-2 virus has completely lost its ability to infect a wide area. Humans must remain in close contact with the source of infection for more than 48 hours before becoming infected. Once infected, humans have finally, as originally hoped, successfully broken through the genetic limitations of carbon-based organisms.
During this period, giant infected individuals tens of meters tall emerged, as did extremely fast infected individuals reaching subsonic speeds, special infected individuals capable of flight, and intelligent infected individuals capable of exerting mental control over humans... However, due to factors such as the limited transmission method and the Human Federation's ability to maintain its combat effectiveness, the S-2 virus was easily suppressed in just one year and four months, and the source of infection was completely destroyed.
"However, if something happens once, it will happen again and again. Now that the S-2 virus has revealed its growth potential, can humans really resist the urge from their genes?"
...
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