True Apocalypse Game

From the sound of these cries, it was clear they were communicating with each other, much like humans chatting.

But Shen Feng was certain that the deeply infected zombies he had encountered so far only had chaotic, instinctual reactions akin to muscle memory, with no real self-awareness.

’What was going on here?’

Gazing at the still-burning building outside and the zombies’ ghostly silhouettes, stretched long by the firelight on distant structures, Shen Feng gently shook his head.

He would have to investigate the area around that building eventually, but now wasn’t the time.

He wasn’t ready yet.

Clearing his head of the complex thoughts, Shen Feng shut the window and sealed all the doors and windows, making sure no light could escape. Only then did he start examining the items he had brought back from the security room.

The gun wasn’t important. What truly mattered were the newspapers and logbooks.

These newspapers were likely from the day of the cataclysm or a day or two before. The information they contained would be immensely helpful for Shen Feng’s understanding of this world.

"New Rabies-Like Outbreak in Tokyo and New York! Patients Exhibit Extreme Aggression..."

"Flight of the Dead! Young Woman Devoured by Man in Business Suit at 30,000 Feet!"

"Recent Violent Incidents in Mexico City of People Attacked and Faces Eaten in the Street; Suspected New Designer Drug Causing Hallucinations..."

"Officer in Case of Guzman’s Son’s Arrest Found Dead in Underground Parking Garage with 150 Bullet Wounds..."

"Eagle Country President Tweets Border Wall is Strong and Impenetrable..."

"Yellow Fog Appears in Multiple Global Metropolises; Swedish Environmentalist Teen Holds Press Conference on Private Yacht to Denounce Harm of Industrialization to Mother Earth..."

"..."

Shen Feng flipped through them, one by one. There were both Spanish and English newspapers. While the specific articles differed, they were almost all reports on the pandemic.

But there was a key difference from the world he remembered: there was no news of medical institutions worldwide uniting to develop a vaccine.

Nor was there any news of various nations implementing large-scale pandemic prevention and quarantine measures.

Shen Feng knew full well that in his own timeline, the reason top doctors worldwide had united to develop a vaccine after the Tokyo outbreak—and the reason governments had taken it so seriously—was because he had leaked key information through the Salvation Army.

This had allowed the world’s governments to understand the terrifying nature of the Evil Spirit Virus, so they quickly implemented preventative measures and bought time for a cure to be developed.

But in this world, none of that had happened.

When the outbreaks occurred in Tokyo and New York, they weren’t taken seriously enough to implement immediate, effective quarantines. Instead, the response had been too slow, allowing the pandemic to spread!

After all, in the early stages of the Evil Spirit Virus infection, the infected retained their high intelligence and were able to hide their condition.

This led to the Evil Spirit Virus spreading like wildfire across the globe, resulting in a full-blown pandemic in a matter of days.

By the time the uninfected tried to control the situation, it was already too late.

Shen Feng turned back to the registration books and logbooks and immediately found similar information:

"...Large number of manic patients coming in for treatment, rumored to be related to the yellow industrial exhaust pollution. What the hell is the government doing..."

"...Is there some new stuff on the market? Why are these people acting like they’re high? And their family members have these weird smiles, too. I don’t know what’s going on..."

"...More than thirty were brought in yesterday, and today there are over a hundred and thirty! My God, what is happening?"

In the registration book, the records for the last two days were crammed with names, an increase of dozens of times the usual number of patients.

The last line on the final page was a half-written name, stained with blood.

Clearly, the person making the entry had been attacked before they could finish writing the name.

After reading through all this information, Shen Feng had a clearer picture of this world’s situation.

In this world, the Salvation Army didn’t exist!

It was even likely that he, the Savior, didn’t exist either.

Or perhaps the True Apocalypse Game didn’t exist, and his counterpart in this world was just an ordinary person.

Or maybe the version of him that did get the True Apocalypse Game had already died tragically during a mission.

Thoughts raced through Shen Feng’s mind as he quickly formulated several hypotheses.

But the final result was the same: no Salvation Army, no advance warning, and no unified effort to find a Healing Potion.

’I wonder if this world has the Whisperers and the Purification Society?’

’But come to think of it, if the Master of the Void succeeded, then there probably shouldn’t be any Whisperers or Purification Society.’

And yet, he couldn’t sense the presence of a powerful, higher-dimensional being like the Master of the Void, which was very odd.

Shaking his head, Shen Feng put away the newspapers and logbooks and began entering information into his wristband...

The fire in the skyscraper burned until noon the next day before finally dying down. The entire building had been reduced to a charred, precarious-looking frame.

Clinging to the building’s exterior were numerous charred skeletons in climbing poses—clearly the remains of zombies that had been incinerated halfway up.

The entire building looked like some piece of abstract art from the end of the world.

A few days passed quickly. The Stone Statue Virus had been cultivated into several mutant strains, but none were significantly different from the original. When Shen Feng dripped his blood into a petri dish, these Stone Statue Viruses would still frantically attack his tissue cells.

However, because he had antibodies in his system, it was the Stone Statue Virus that ended up being completely destroyed.

In other words, these strains of the Stone Statue Virus could still be suppressed by the Healing Potion.

During this time, while waiting for the virus to culture, Shen Feng also used the hospital’s computers to look up some information about the world before its destruction, which was basically the same as what he found in the newspapers.

All the computers were essentially offline machines now, so it was impossible to look up any other information.

Shen Feng listened to music and read comics. He also charged up his NS handheld and played games now and then. It was a rare chance to relax.

It was just that after being so used to his banter with Jingwei, he felt a little lonely now.

About three days later, after using up almost all the zombies in the hospital, Shen Feng finally cultivated a new viral strain.

This new strain of the Stone Statue Virus was far less aggressive toward human cells, but much more so toward the Evil Spirit Virus.

But though its aggression was diminished, it wasn’t gone entirely.

At best, it merely extended the time until the final stage of the disease from one month to two.

Still, it was a good start.

All he needed to do now was carefully nurture this new strain, creating an environment that would accelerate its reproduction, iteration, and mutation.

After multiple rounds of screening or natural iteration, there was a high probability of generating a completely new Stone Statue Virus.

One that was only effective against zombies.

’That culture medium from the "humanoid android mimicry simulation technology" is incredibly useful,’ he thought. ’It’s not just for growing androids; it’s a godsend for cultivating viruses, too.’

Shen Feng used a large number of petri dishes, set the cultivation parameters, then packed up, preparing to leave this place for a while.

Although he couldn’t calculate it with Jingwei’s precision, Shen Feng estimated that it would take at least a dozen days or so before he’d see any results in cultivating a virus strain that specifically targeted zombies.

He didn’t intend to waste this time waiting around. Instead, he prepared to venture deeper into the ruins of Mexico City to continue his investigation.

It was dawn. This time, Shen Feng didn’t go straight out. Instead, he put on an airtight protective suit, holding a glass jar in his hands.

Inside the jar, a highly mutated, sea-urchin-like zombie brain was soaking in a culture medium.

Shen Feng had also fashioned a simple electrical stimulation device from a battery and two wires. The ends of the wires discharged into the culture medium, stimulating the zombie brain.

Or rather, stimulating the cluster of Evil Spirit Virus that constituted the brain.

Then, he carefully pulled open the door.

The last remaining zombie wandering the corridor heard the sound and immediately lunged forward like a dog.

Shen Feng, holding a gun in one hand and the jar in the other, nervously lifted the jar in front of the zombie. He aimed at its head, ready to shoot the instant anything went wrong.

In the next moment, the zombie’s expression suddenly became much more vacant. Its cries subsided to a low growl, and it seemed to hesitate.

Then it suddenly closed its mouth, its gaze swept past Shen Feng, and it turned its head to look in another direction before resuming its wandering.

Shen Feng couldn’t help but smile faintly.

He had used this trick back in the Tokyo Epidemic Zone. Back then, though, he had the Gray Tide, which made everything much more convenient. Now he could only build this crude device, but thankfully, it still worked.

With the protective suit to mask his scent, plus this zombie brain constantly emitting electrical waves as camouflage, he should be able to move around during the day, with some difficulty.

After all, these deeply mutated zombies had no basic intelligence left, making them easier to fool than the initially infected.

Shen Feng then shouldered his Quantum Backpack, locked the door to his virus lab, and, cradling the jar with the zombie brain, walked slowly out of the hospital.

Outside, the sun was bright and white clouds dotted the sky. If you didn’t look too closely, the zombies shambling along the road looked like pedestrians out for a stroll, giving the scene a rare sense of leisure.

But Shen Feng didn’t dare let his guard down. He moved quickly through the streets, carrying the zombie brain culture jar in one hand and a silenced pistol in the other.

He was heading toward the building he’d seen earlier.

Or more precisely, the road in front of it.

Beneath that road, the ruins of the Spider Nest City—related to the Aztec Civilization and the Whisperers—still lay sleeping.

Awaiting his arrival.

Along the way, there weren’t many zombies, just a few scattered about. It seemed most of the nearby zombies had been drawn to the skyscraper that night and hadn’t wandered back yet.

Shen Feng walked swiftly, soon crossing the entire street and arriving at the spot where he knew the Spider Nest City was located.

According to his memory, the Spider Nest City was right beneath this section of road.

Tying the jar with the zombie brain to his waist, Shen Feng found the spot where the entrance used to be, took a plastic explosive from his backpack, and set it. He then ducked into a nearby shop to detonate it.

The chaos of Mexico City did offer a certain kind of convenience—you could buy anything. When Shen Feng had been procuring supplies, he’d found that buying plastic explosives was even easier than buying some over-the-counter drugs.

BOOM! A deafening blast echoed as Shen Feng pressed the detonator. The plastic explosive instantly tore a huge crater in the road!

Spider Nest City, open!