Chapter 245 - 236: The Infected
Gu Xi knew little about the G01 plan.
Lu Chenyuan had only told her that the so-called G01 plan was an attempt by certain people to create another Guardian God—a human weapon—for the base through special selection and training.
But as for the specific details of G01’s implementation, Lu Chenyuan hadn’t been involved and didn’t know much.
Li Ming, however, did.
But for some reason, he had hidden the most crucial part of the G01 plan from Gu Xi.
Gu Xi looked up at Ye Junhan. He was directly involved in the G01 plan and was one of the final six people selected. He knew more about it than anyone else.
Ye Junhan raised his head and looked at her steadily. "The death squad is only one part of the G01 plan."
"And the ultimate goal of this plan... is probably you," Ye Junhan said.
Gu Xi was silent for a moment. To be honest, she wasn’t surprised.
Thinking of how Li Ming would always change the subject whenever she asked about the plan’s core details, Gu Xi tilted her head to look at the man beside her. "So, is this also why Li Ming had you watch me?"
She raised an eyebrow at him.
Ye Junhan didn’t speak again. He avoided her gaze and looked down at the stream beside them.
But his silence clearly said it all.
Gu Xi followed his gaze to the babbling stream and sighed inwardly.
’It seems my sudden disappearance back then made the ever-wise and astute Li Ming paranoid, seeing shadows everywhere.’
A lot of information connected in her mind, swirling together in a flash. She suddenly asked, "Back then, when Li Ming found you, were you alone in the Hibernation Chamber, or were there other... people?"
Gu Xi thought for a moment and ultimately decided on the word "people."
Ye Junhan’s fingers, hanging by his side, twitched slightly. He looked up at her. ’Li Ming was right. She’s smart and perceptive. It’s very difficult to fool her about certain things.’
In truth, Ye Junhan privately disagreed with some of Li Ming’s plans. Gu Xi was strong; she didn’t need their excessive protection.
But Li Ming had taken Gu Xi in at birth, caring for her with the devotion of a brother and a father. This emotional bond couldn’t be summed up by simply saying they relied on each other for survival.
One could say that Li Ming had personally taught Gu Xi all her post-apocalyptic survival skills and how to navigate the world.
The depth of their bond, along with Li Ming’s thirty years of torment, left Ye Junhan, who had witnessed it all, unable to voice any objection.
He thought for a moment, then pointed in the direction of City A. "It was there, all those years ago. Mr. Li rescued me, along with sixteen other... infected individuals in hibernation."
—The infected, meaning people who had contracted the zombie virus but had not yet turned.
In the early days of the apocalypse, the infected had only two possible fates: either awaken an Abnormal Ability and successfully evolve into an Abnormal Ability user, or fail to evolve and lose their sanity, becoming the living dead who only knew how to feed—what people called zombies.
But in the twenty-sixth year of the apocalypse, the Abnormal Ability Research Institute developed a miracle drug for the zombie virus. As long as an infected person had not fully turned, there was a chance of being cured.
Ye Junhan said everyone discovered with him back then was infected, which meant he...
Gu Xi looked up at the man beside her.
Ye Junhan’s gaze fell on his reflection in the water. After a long while, he finally spoke. "I was one of the infected, too. A special case..."
Back then, Mr. Ye had been forced to put his young son into a Hibernation Chamber.
After losing a power struggle, he and his son were both tricked and infected with a special strain of the zombie virus.
In the ensuing crisis, he only had time to send his son away, while he himself... ended up as the vegetative patient in that underground factory laboratory.
Gu Xi’s feelings were complicated after hearing this.
’So that’s it. Becoming a "plant-person" through fusion isn’t something that can be easily achieved; you also need to be infected with the zombie virus.’
And the zombie virus had been gone for thirty years.
’No wonder the people from the Abnormal Ability Research Institute and the base’s Guard Team have been following me. It seems some people know that to restart their so-called "New Human" project and get their hands on the special zombie virus, their only option is to find that batch of Hibernation Chambers from back then.’
Because inside those Hibernation Chambers, besides the infected, there was also a large batch of High-level Zombies that had been cryogenically frozen.
And the location of those Hibernation Chambers was now likely known only to Yun Ye.
’So, they want to use me as bait to find those Hibernation Chambers, awaken the High-level Zombies, and extract the virus.’
A fire of rage suddenly ignited in Gu Xi’s heart.
The zombies had been gone for a mere thirty years, yet some people were already so blinded by power and desire that they had forgotten the past devastation and fields littered with corpses. They were actually delusional enough to dream of bringing the zombie virus back into the world.
’These people deserve to die.’
As if sensing her fury, within her space, Yabao and her scimitar both trembled, faintly emitting a savage aura.
Gu Xi quickly took a deep breath to quell the rage in her heart.
She couldn’t let those people provoke her into releasing the beast of slaughter caged within her heart.
At a time like this, she had to remain calm and restrained.
Gu Xi let out a long breath, her expression gradually returning to a state of calm.
But on the surface of the babbling stream at her feet, a thin layer of ice had already formed.
Ye Junhan suddenly looked up. "Back then, aside from being injected with the miracle drug, the reason I could wake up was..." He met Gu Xi’s cold, calm eyes and said, "Mr. Li also had me drink a special potion."
"I don’t know what that potion was, but I think... you do." Ye Junhan looked at Gu Xi. "Mr. Li personally told me that the only reason I survived as a human was because of you."
Gu Xi almost instantly thought of the small stone she had been clutching in her hand since birth.
’No wonder I can use his blade without any resistance. Our abilities must truly come from the same source.’
The wind picked up. The thin sheets of ice had melted at some point, and a light mist rose from the surface of the babbling water.
It was a bone-chilling cold.
Gu Xi’s gaze fell on the swirling mist. Though she had a faint guess in her heart, she still asked, "...Who else knows about this?"
Ye Junhan looked at her and said calmly and evenly, "Back then, Dr. Qi took me to a secret laboratory..."
"And so?" Gu Xi snapped her head up, cutting him off. "Just because you were one successful example, they deluded themselves into thinking they could control the zombie virus and make it serve them?"
’Naive. Foolish.’
"Gu Xi." Ye Junhan walked over to her side and looked down at her, his voice still calm and even. "You..."
"I am calm." Gu Xi tilted her head up slightly to look at him and repeated, "Ye Junhan, right now, I am calmer than I have ever been."
Ye Junhan looked at her, remaining silent.
He hadn’t personally experienced the cruelty of the early apocalypse, nor had he fought to the death on the front lines during that darkest of times. It was hard for him to truly comprehend the grief and fury of the heroes who had fought back then.
But he had seen many videos of her in battle, seen the image of her as a small child, covered in blood, weaving through hordes of zombies, swinging her blade again and again...
Only those who had truly fought for their lives amidst the zombie hordes knew how terrifying the zombie virus was.
But those people—the ones who had been hiding in the base, in labs, in safe offices, the ones who had never even killed a single zombie—what could they possibly know?
Rage and a chilling cold intertwined in Gu Xi’s heart.
Yet her eyes grew increasingly calm.
"So, this is the core of the G01 plan?" she asked softly after a long pause.
Ye Junhan remained silent.
Gu Xi suddenly let out a small laugh.
’Sacrifice her, just one person, and they could tame the zombie virus, creating batch after batch of powerful Abnormal Ability users like Ye Junhan to serve as their death squad.’
’They could even make themselves like plants, possessing tenacious life force, perhaps even immortality?’
’Not only that, but her Crystal Core Fragments could perhaps also stimulate the creation of an endless supply of more Crystal Cores, to be used as a future energy reserve!’
’Such a profitable trade... no wonder those people had been coveting her for so many years.’