Perhaps it was that after one's luck hit rock bottom, it was bound to rebound, or maybe that surviving a great disaster was a sure sign of good fortune to come. Zhou Rong tensed his combat nerves to the limit, raising his gun as he edged around the corner of the corridor, only to find that there were very few Zombies on this floor.

Chuncao casually picked off a few staggering Living Dead, frowning as she said, "What's going on? Could they all be hiding?"

The lights in the corridor ahead were all out; it was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Zhou Rong shone his tactical flashlight, and the entire passageway was empty.

At the far end, the doorway of an office flickered with a faint red light—that was the Secret Satellite Communications Office, the target of their mission.

"Stay alert," Zhou Rong said softly, his voice nearly a whisper. "One hundred meters ahead, twelve o'clock. Si Nan, prepare for demolition."

The three of them formed a single file line. Zhou Rong took the lead, Chuncao brought up the rear, and Si Nan, now carrying Zhang Yingjie on his back, advanced cautiously along the wall.

Suddenly, Zhou Rong stopped in his tracks.

"What is it?" Si Nan asked in a low voice.

Zhou Rong didn't answer him. His fingers gently traced the ruined wall surface. The flashlight beam swept carefully over the pulverized bricks and the deeply indented steel rebar within, before pointing forward again.

"What does this look like to you?" he asked after a moment.

In the yellow beam of light, several long marks of destruction were visible on the wall's surface, stretching horizontally into the darkness.

Si Nan's expression changed slightly. "...Claw marks from a beast."

Zhou Rong nodded, saying curtly, "Perhaps this is why there are so few Zombies nearby. Proceed with caution."

With one hand, Si Nan steadied Zhang Yingjie's arm, which was draped over his shoulder, while with the other, he pulled a pack of nitro-explosives from an outer pocket of his tactical backpack. After rounding the corner and confirming the stairwell was empty, Zhou Rong beckoned Si Nan forward, pointing at the entrance across from them that glowed red in the darkness.

"...Zhou Rong," Si Nan said suddenly.

Zhou Rong's sharp gaze scanned ahead, not even turning his head. "What is it? You call me Rong-ge when you need something and Zhou Rong when you don't. You're a picky eater, lazy, always wanting a hot shower, and the moment I criticize you, you whisper in my ear asking for a hug. A person can't be so spoiled..."

"The door's open," said Si Nan.

Zhou Rong whipped around.

The door to the Secret Satellite Communications Office was wide open. Collapsed rubble was piled half a person high, and an alloy plate lay silently amidst the ruins, twisted into an unimaginable shape.

"..." Zhou Rong's gaze slowly swept across the room. In the darkness, countless server racks were overturned on the floor, and mangled corpses lay scattered about. On a control console in the deepest part of the room, large splatters of blood were faintly visible.

"...Excellent," Zhou Rong said calmly. "The organization saved an explosive pack today."

The Secret Satellite Communications Office operated on two principles: one, secrecy, and two, urgency.

When the disaster erupted, surviving personnel had urgently retreated into this structure, protected by an alloy door and heavy steel locks. From here, they sent distress signals to other Military Region Shelters via satellite, while using the surveillance system to monitor the interior and search for survivors in East A Zone.

However, the fortress had been breached. The three of them stepped over the rubble, and wherever their flashlights shone, the ground was covered with highly decomposed bodies that had been torn apart by a beast.

"Lieutenant General Qian," Chuncao suddenly called out in a very soft voice.

In front of a faintly glowing monitor, half of a corpse in a military uniform was slumped over the control console. Its eyes were wide open, its blood and organs had dried up, and a wrinkled hand hung limply, a polished Type 64 having slid to the floor.

Zhou Rong stopped. After a long moment, he let out a silent breath and slowly raised his hand in a military salute to the corpse that couldn't rest in peace.

"The head of Unit 118. He was over sixty this year and should have retired long ago. He said he could still work for a few more years, that Unit 118 was recruiting new blood next year, and he wouldn't be at ease without overseeing it himself. He wanted to personally preside over it one last time..."

Si Nan found a chair with four legs still intact amidst the mess and placed the still-unconscious Zhang Yingjie on it. Chuncao, cradling her submachine gun, sighed faintly. "Back when Rong-ge had nowhere to go, he was the one who made the decision to bring Rong-ge into Unit 118. Chief Qian wasn't a perfect man, but he was definitely a keen judge of character..."

"How could Zhou Rong have had nowhere to go?" Si Nan asked.

"Not sure. Rumor has it he offended someone in The Central Command."

Si Nan nodded silently. Chuncao glanced at his expression and asked curiously, "What are you thinking about?"

The two of them stood guard with their guns, searching for any remaining Zombies inside the Secret Satellite Communications Office. Si Nan turned his head to glance at Zhou Rong, who sat with his back to them at the communications console, and smiled faintly. "I was just thinking... that someone with a personality like Zhou Rong's, who can talk his way through any situation, could actually manage to offend someone."

Zhou Rong took the identification card from Lieutenant General Qian's body, scanned it to enter the classified communications program, and took a deep breath.

The communication logs scrolled down the screen in a list, sorted by security clearance, source, department, and date. Zhou Rong filtered out the lower-clearance entries and began reading the rest from the top, the dim fluorescent light reflecting off his resolute, handsome face.

"September 15, 2019, 14:27 GMT+8

Unit 118's First and Fourth Squadrons confirmed, all members sacrificed. Second Squadron has lost contact."

"September 16, 2019, 20:37 GMT+8

Unit 118's Third Squadron confirmed, all members sacrificed. Eighth Squadron has lost contact."

"September 17, 2019, 16:26 GMT+8

Unit 118's Fifth and Seventh Squadrons have been recalled. Unable to confirm the whereabouts of flight DC918 and Target Z."

"September 18, 2019, 18:29 GMT+8

Target Z is missing, progress at the B Military Region Research Institute has stalled. By research decision, the S-class virus source sample will be unsealed."

Zhou Rong's brow twitched imperceptibly.

He knew Target Z was the mission objective that the 118 Special Forces Brigade had been ordered to retrieve. It seemed that not only had the Sixth Squadron returned empty-handed, but the other seven squadrons had also been wiped out or failed one after another.

—But a virus source sample?

The origin of the Zombie virus was currently one of humanity's greatest life-or-death mysteries. Where did the B Military Region Research Institute get an S-class source sample—could it be that before this shelter fell, humanity had already determined the origin of the Zombie virus?!

Zhou Rong's fingers trembled uncontrollably as he quickly scrolled to the second page.

"September 28, 2019, 01:23 GMT+8

Breakthrough progress in Virus Stock Solution analysis and biological experiments. Original Antibody has been preliminarily extracted from chimpanzee test subjects. Injection and observation experiments are underway."

Zhou Rong stared intently at the word 'Antibody' until he saw the next communication message. Its status was marked as 'unsent', and the time was from the same day as the last one: —September 28, 2019, 20:25 GMT+8.

"Those who play with fire will eventually be burned. Although we anticipated this the moment we unsealed the S-class virus source sample, we never expected the consequences to come so quickly.

The eighteen chimpanzees used in the biological experiment all mutated within three hours of injection. As carriers of a new generation of super-virus, they quickly infected the entire shelter base. The twenty thousand refugees in East A Zone have been mostly infected, the troops have fallen, and power, water, and basic communications have been successively cut off. The last of the research forces retreated into the satellite communications fortress. Through DNA analysis, we did not find the hidden mission Target Z among the Omega survivors.

Heaven has not favored humanity.

The military region no longer needs to exist. Please launch a nuclear strike to cleanse the shelter. The only saving grace is that the research center in Area E is covered by an anti-nuclear shield. After destroying the shelter, please dispatch troops to go deep into Area E and retrieve the latest research data, which hundreds of top biochemical experts traded their lives to obtain...

This will be a long and arduous war. The survival of humanity faces the most severe challenge in history.

But we are fearless. Every drop of hot blood shed today is to welcome a brighter hope for tomorrow.

—Qian Guoqiang, on the night of September 28th, to the South Sea General Military Region."

Zhou Rong was breathing shallowly. He shot to his feet, the folding chair scraping sharply against the floor.

Si Nan and Chuncao turned their heads at the same time, only to see him facing the monitor, saying word by word, "We're leaving for North E Zone. Right now."

Chuncao was stunned. "Isn't that a level-one high-risk area?"

"The Military Region Research Institute," although Zhou Rong tried his best to sound calm, his tone still held an unconcealable tremor, "has made a breakthrough in its research on the Zombie virus. They've even extracted the Original Antibody..."

Chuncao's pupils contracted sharply. Even Si Nan's breathing hitched for an instant!

Zhou Rong entered the communication password, hit the confirm key, and sent out Lieutenant General Qian's final message.

Then he pondered for a moment, picked up the microphone, and cleared his throat:

"October 26, 2019, 00:08 Beijing time. This is Major Zhou Rong, Captain of Unit 118, Sixth Squadron."

"My five remaining squad members and I, along with one civilian volunteer who joined our suicide squad, have, after six hours of arduous trekking, penetrated the completely fallen B Military Region and seen the final message of the confirmed-deceased Lieutenant General Qian Guoqiang."

"Next, two of my squad members, the volunteer, and I will proceed to the biochemical lab in Area E as per Lieutenant General Qian's final instructions, to attempt to retrieve the precious virus research data and the Original Antibody."

"The four of us are Major Zhou Rong, Lieutenant Yang Chuncao, Lieutenant Zhang Yingjie, and volunteer Si Nan. Regardless of whether we succeed in our mission or die along the way, please proceed with the original plan to initiate a nuclear cleansing of the B Military Region. If we make it out of the base alive, we will immediately bring the antibody to Nanhai Headquarters."

"Heaven has not favored humanity... We will do our utmost to complete this journey alone."

Zhou Rong's deep voice became the last communication sent before the satellite connection was lost.

He watched the screen until the green light indicating a successful transmission lit up, then he slowly exhaled and put down the microphone, preparing to shut down the machine.

—However, the very instant his finger touched the power switch, a 'ding-dong' sounded, and a yellow light, indicating an incoming message, suddenly lit up at the bottom of the screen.

Zhou Rong's first reaction was: 'Could the feedback from Nanhai Headquarters have come back already?'

He then opened the decoder and realized that was impossible. The decoded message was actually an international confidential letter from Country A's military, sent ten minutes ago!

"Rong-ge?" Chuncao called out from a distance, having finished packing her gear.

Without turning his head, Zhou Rong replied, "Wait, I'll be done in a second."

After passing through the decoder, the text of the confidential letter appeared line by line at the bottom of the screen. It was clearly in the simple and direct style of a wartime coded telegram, omitting all diplomatic pleasantries, with even the English grammar being very clear and direct.

Zhou Rong's English and German were both excellent, so he didn't need a translator and could understand it directly—

"To the military of your nation,

Recently, an important individual from our country went missing in your nation's North China Region. Given the special circumstances of this period of global chaos, we request your nation's immediate and full assistance in the search.

This person is of Chinese descent, twenty-six years old, an Omega male. A recent photo is attached below. When you find this person, he may exhibit symptoms such as schizophrenia, sluggishness, idiocy, and sensory function degradation. Please be sure to control him and maintain a safe distance."

Zhou Rong's mouth twitched as he continued to read.

"This target for capture has a potential antisocial personality, is extremely destructive, and has committed multiple first-degree murders. His methods are cold-blooded and his movements are, for the most part, unpredictable. Do not attempt to use any form of stimulation to restore his sanity, and especially, do not attempt to mark him! I repeat, do not! This is to avoid unnecessary casualties among your military personnel.

If this person has already been infected by the virus and turned into a Zombie, please shoot to kill and incinerate the body completely. All those infected by his direct bite must also be immediately incinerated until the virus is completely decomposed. Otherwise, please place him under strict control and protection, as he will be of critical significance to global antiviral research."

The signature was a long list of titles. Zhou Rong noticed that the person who signed and issued the circular had the same surname as a former vice president of Country A.

He vaguely realized something and quickly clicked on the image. The screen showed it was loading.

The floor vibrated slightly. From the end of the corridor outside the door came a heavy, rough panting, as if a beast had scented its prey.

"...Rong-ge," Chuncao's voice trembled slightly at the end. "I think something's coming."

The international satellite communication had become very slow. The image was 90% loaded. Zhou Rong said hoarsely, "Wait, it's almost done, almost..."

"ROAR!"

The sound approached rapidly, the earth shaking, and a huge black shadow was silhouetted in the beam of the flashlight—

Si Nan suddenly roared, "Look out!"

Image loaded 99%.

A gorilla, its entire body rotted to a blackish-red, charged on all fours and slammed into the rubble at the doorway!

The impact was earth-shattering. Tons of metal, brick, and concrete fragments exploded outwards like a goddess scattering flowers. In the chaos, the three of them were thrown in different directions by the blast wave. Zhou Rong rolled along the control console and hit the ground, snatching up his submachine gun and opening fire!

The Zombie Gorilla's sight was useless in the dark, but its sense of smell and the sound of gunfire allowed it to instantly lock onto its target, and it turned and charged!

Zhou Rong leaped back, and in that split second, he spared a glance at the screen out of the corner of his eye—he saw clearly that the 99% on the screen had turned to 100%.

Immediately after, a powerful gust of wind came down from above. Zhou Rong dodged out of the way, practically scraping against the gorilla's forepaw, and rolled behind the control console.

Chuncao and Si Nan opened fire at the same time, their muzzles spitting flame as ammunition belts were rapidly fed into their guns. The Zombie Gorilla, enraged to the extreme by the hail of bullets, swung a massive paw and smashed the steel-reinforced machine rack beside Zhou Rong into dust!

Countless steel fragments burst outwards. Zhou Rong was thrown several meters and fell to the ground, feeling a sharp pain on the side of his head.

Blood, like water from an opened tap, gushed from his hair and down his cheek.