True Apocalypse Game

Why do zombies eat people?

Shen Feng had always been a little puzzled by this question.

The zombies from the Biohazard movies were easy enough to explain. They bit and ate people primarily to spread the virus.

Transmission through bodily fluids like saliva and blood is a method used by many viruses, such as rabies and AIDS.

Compared to more potent viruses that spread via airborne droplets, like SARS or Ebola, this method of transmission was outdated and inefficient. Destroying the entire world just by biting people was something you only saw in the movies.

But the Evil Spirit Virus clearly didn’t need such a primitive method of transmission. After all, it was entirely airborne.

The yellow spore-fog that had blotted out the sky in the Tokyo Epidemic Zone had been like a glimpse into Hell itself.

And yet, zombies infected with the Evil Spirit Virus still chose to eat people, and fanatically so. From a viral transmission standpoint, it was illogical.

During the initial Evil Spirit Virus outbreak and the series of events that followed, Shen Feng had simply been too stretched thin to investigate the reason behind it.

Now, however, was an excellent opportunity, and it aligned with the True Apocalypse Game system’s requirement for an in-depth investigation.

With this in mind, Shen Feng went to the apartment’s open-plan kitchen, where he found a knife block and an apron with a cartoon pattern.

They were even Zwilling knives, made in Hua Country.

Shen Feng nodded in satisfaction. He brought the knives, along with a hammer, pliers, tweezers, and other tools, over to the zombie. After putting on the apron, gloves, goggles, and a mask, he prepared to begin the violent disassembly.

About an hour later, Shen Feng took off the apron, now covered in blackish-red bloodstains. He pulled off his goggles and mask and sat back down on the sofa.

The zombie lay on the floor, mostly dismantled. Shen Feng pulled a bottle of water from his backpack, chugged half of it, then raised his arm to begin recording:

"Investigation Findings:

No abnormalities observed in skeletal structure.

Significant pulmonary fibrosis.

Blood coagulation and embolism present.

Skin exhibits micro-scaling, with a probability of biomimetic mimicry.

Central nervous system is abnormally developed, with clear signs of mutation.

Muscle tissue remains active; visual assessment suggests a converted energy supply mode.

Brain... The brain has atrophied and deformed, exhibiting spongiform changes. Overall shape resembles a cocklebur or sea urchin. Large amyloid deposits are present internally. The core is a metallic substance, suspected to be the result of metallic elements from throughout the body condensing in the brain, supplemented by a large intake of said elements."

After logging his findings, Shen Feng glanced at the dismantled zombie on the floor and added one more entry:

"...The mutated brain exhibits a weak bioelectric response, with occasional conscious-like reactions that are entirely chaotic and illogical."

In terms of physical mutations alone, this zombie was rather unremarkable.

It was even less impressive than the powerfully mutated zombies from movies like World War Z or Biohazard.

What was noteworthy, however, were the mutations to its skin, nervous system, and brain.

It had practically transformed into another species.

The micro-scaling of its skin was almost certainly related to the change in its energy supply mode.

’Micro-scaling... Could it be powered by solar energy?’

’That would be a massive transformation!’

As for the brain, having dissected so many zombies, Shen Feng now had a theory: it was likely the product of Evil Spirit Virus enrichment.

It reminded Shen Feng of the infamous Kuru Disease from human history.

The indigenous people of the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea once had a custom of consuming the organs of their deceased relatives.

This led to a gradual accumulation of the Prion Virus in the human body, eventually causing Kuru Disease.

It is an incurable, degenerative, transmissible human spongiform encephalopathy.

Symptoms begin with tremors and ataxia, followed by dementia and various systemic illnesses, ultimately leading to a rapid death within months.

The same was true for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Those infected exhibited symptoms like sleep disturbances, personality changes, ataxia, aphasia, vision loss, physical deterioration, muscle atrophy, myoclonus, and progressive dementia, typically dying within a year of onset.

The pathological features of this disease include spongiform degeneration, primarily in the cerebellum and cerebral cortex, and the presence of the Prion Virus.

The accumulation of the Prion Virus was a critical part of the process.

Shen Feng gradually formulated two highly plausible hypotheses.

1. Zombies eat people to absorb the metallic elements within human bodies, providing the raw materials for their own brain mutations.

2. The people being eaten are also infected with the Evil Spirit Virus, though the infection hasn’t fully manifested. By eating them, zombies also enrich the concentration of the Evil Spirit Virus within themselves—absorbing the virus from other sources to promote their own brain mutations.

Both hypotheses ultimately pointed in the same direction.

Brain mutation.

Another thing that concerned Shen Feng was the intermittent, weak brainwaves from the zombie’s brain. It didn’t resemble consciousness; it was more like a cell phone pinging a tower.

If the brain were a cell phone, then the waves it emitted seemed to be searching for something like a "cell tower."

The brain was now sitting on the table beside him. Shen Feng picked up a screwdriver and casually poked the sea urchin-like mass, scraping off a bit of the amyloid structure.

Just then, the brain again emitted a weak bioelectric wave. It still wasn’t completely dead.

This brain had become a concentrated mass of the Evil Spirit Virus; one could almost say it was composed entirely of the virus. The bioelectric waves it was now emitting felt very familiar to Shen Feng.

Back when the epidemic spread through Tokyo, the deeply infected zombies he had encountered all released brainwaves at basically this same frequency.

His Silicon-Based Brain quickly memorized the frequency, and he began trying to emit the same bioelectric waves himself.

Zombies didn’t just use their eyes and noses to distinguish friend from foe; more importantly, they used brainwaves.

’If I can emit this brainwave, I might be able to fool the zombies completely.’

After organizing his conclusions, Shen Feng continued his report to the True Apocalypse Game system:

"Investigation Findings:

..."

Once the log was complete, he packed up his tools, shouldered his backpack, and, with his Shotgun at the ready, opened the door and stepped outside.

The room was a complete mess after the autopsy. It was time to find a new spot.

However, Shen Feng didn’t leave the building. Instead, he started up the stairs, planning to head to the roof to get a look at the current state of Mexico City.

Judging by the decay of the zombie’s clothing, at least a year or two had passed since the Evil Spirit Virus outbreak in this world.

Everything he’d experienced before had followed a pattern: first the game’s apocalypse mission, then the real-world crisis.

The Evil Spirit Virus plague, however, was the complete opposite: first the real-world epidemic, then the apocalyptic mission in a Parallel World.

This would give him a taste of the horrific consequences that awaited should he fail on Earth.

Besides, Shen Feng’s mind was now filled with questions.

’After all, if this Parallel World is so similar to my original world, could it also have the Whisperer, the Purification Society, Cthulhu, the Salvation Army, and... me, the Savior?’

’If the Master of the Void has taken over this world, what happened to the Whisperer?’

’Does the Purification Society exist here?’

’What about Cthulhu?’

’And is this world’s Savior... still alive?’

’Is the Salvation Army still carrying the flame of hope, like they did in the Gray Tide World?’

’And if the Master of the Void is still in this world, has it ever clashed with the Whisperer?’

’What would a battle between such indescribable, transcendent beings even be like?’

Soon, Shen Feng had climbed dozens of flights of stairs, taking out a few more zombies along the way, and reached the door to the rooftop.

A heavy iron door separated the stairwell from the rooftop. It was barred from the inside with an iron rod and hadn’t been opened.

Musing over these questions, Shen Feng pulled out the iron bar and opened the door.

He looked up, a puzzled expression on his face, and then, as if adopting the local custom, Shen Feng let out a curse:

"FUCK!"

On the rooftop, over a hundred zombies—weathered by sun and wind until they looked like ghouls—turned their heads in unison to look at Shen Feng.

Every single one of them grinned, their bloody maws wide, as if they were overjoyed to see him.

Dinner is served.