Chapter 116: Save the Saviour (22)
To be honest, this scene looks quite serious. However, that worm detection device seems a bit rudimentary. People’s gazes occasionally shift toward it, not quite understanding what these top leaders of the base are planning to do.
“Everyone, I believe you’ve all had enough of the suffering caused by separation and death in this post-apocalyptic world. Disasters and despair have been with us, making us experience the most terrible emotions. We’ve been yearning for an end to this apocalypse, and each one of us has been giving our all to survive. Here, I want to say, you’ve all worked hard. Every one of us has worked hard.”
Old Meng’s opening words made everyone’s mood inevitably heavy. The expression of a mother who lost her child turned numb with fear; the child who lost their parents remembered the warmth of their mother’s embrace and the strength of their father’s shoulders. Everyone subconsciously thought about the pain and despair they had experienced in this world, and collectively thought, yes, this has been incredibly tough, when will these days finally end?
“We all believed that this apocalypse was caused by the virus brought by the meteorite from space. This virus spreads too quickly, and because it turned the world into what it is now, many thought this virus couldn’t be undone. But, we were wrong!”
People couldn’t help but look up at him. They saw this elderly man, though aged, with sharp eyes, speaking solemnly: “We were all wrong. The virus is just a distraction. As long as we find the source of the spread, our scientists can solve it. What’s more terrifying than this dreadful virus is that we are unknowingly trapped in an invasion by extraterrestrial life forms! Our beautiful Earth and all its creatures are mere food for these extraterrestrial beings.”
“Extraterrestrial life?!”
“What is that?”
“Did I hear that right just now? How did it go from a virus to an extraterrestrial invasion?”
Whispers and discussions began to fill the square. But the next moment, the image on the large screen in the square silenced them all. The grotesque and hideous extraterrestrial worm like creature on the screen was wreaking havoc and screeching. The piercing sound made people furrow their brows uncontrollably, and some children even covered their ears to alleviate the discomfort. Everyone stared at the screen, momentarily struggling to react.
“This is the first thing we want to tell everyone. Through the collective efforts of our psychic heroes and research elites, we discovered a fragment of an extraterrestrial meteorite embedded with worm eggs within the zombie horde. After research, we found that this meteorite fragment can trigger its growth and hatching as long as it’s soaked in human blood, ultimately giving birth to this deformed worm of a worm species. These worms possess intelligence, exceptional cunning, and strong aggressiveness. They can even stimulate and control human brains using ultrasonic sound waves. In short, in their eyes, we’re nothing but nutrient bags. Once they enter our minds, they can consume our brains and take over our existence in this beautiful world. As a last resort, if they can’t enter human bodies, they can infiltrate zombie brains as well. This, is what I want to tell you all, the truth of this apocalypse.”
“Oh my, such repulsive worms!”
“Their gaze is so sinister!”
“Ah! Look, it can even pick locks and feign helplessness! Insane, why are these extraterrestrial worms so terrifying!”
“No! It’s the despicable invaders, that’s for sure!”
Gradually, people’s emotions shifted from shock and fear to anger. Despite enduring the grim conditions of the post-apocalyptic world and losing their loved ones, when it came to the dignity and survival of humanity, they were determined to fight these worms to the bitter end. They absolutely couldn’t allow these invaders to infiltrate their home!
“Kill these worms!!”
“Drive them out of Earth!!”
“Researchers, quickly discover their weaknesses! They’re just worms! We’ve managed to withstand the zombie virus; we can easily crush a few extraterrestrial worms with a stomp!”
The crowd was stirred up. Old Meng showed a contented smile. Then he raised the worm detection device in his hand.
“I understand your emotions. We must exterminate these intruders from our homeland! So, with the joint effort of bases around the world, we’ve produced this worm detection device overnight. Just sweep it over the ground, and it can detect impending hatching worm eggs. It’s a colossal undertaking. Compared to psychics, ordinary people are the main force. I hope everyone can work together to accomplish this task, finding all the hidden eggs in the stones and killing these invaders!”
“Kill the invaders!”
“Kill the invaders!!”
“Kill the invaders!!!”
This assembly-like meeting concluded amid people’s enthusiastic sign-up to receive worm detection devices. While Old Meng and his team successfully incited everyone’s anger toward the extraterrestrial worms, such anger wouldn’t last, and it could even dissipate in the face of the threat of death. Therefore, besides this, the base’s mission hall also announced another task—once you can confirm that the stone you’ve found is an extraterrestrial worm egg, each egg can be exchanged for a hundred pounds of rice or flour.
Thus, people’s anger transformed into hope, and their enthusiasm to find worm eggs surged. This was indeed a benefit for those who wished to eat well but lacked the means, or those hoping for a stroke of luck. At this moment, people didn’t care about zombies or alien worms; they only knew that finding a worm egg meant a month’s worth of food for a family of three.
You say the worm eggs might attract zombies? They wouldn’t venture into zombie-infested areas to find worm eggs! They could search in safe places near the base, expanding their search radius. With luck, they would always find some, right? And a day later, a lucky woman did what they all wanted to achieve. When everyone saw her excitedly testing a stone with the detection device and successfully detecting the egg, the onlookers were even more excited than she was!
Her name was registered, and in full view of everyone, she received a hundred pounds of rice. However, this wasn’t the end. Lei Long, the captain of the Psychic Heroes Squad, stated that anyone attempting to rob this woman would be immediately expelled from the city if caught!
After that, people’s enthusiasm for finding worm eggs skyrocketed.
While people in the post-apocalyptic world feverishly used their detectors to search for worm eggs, Ren Zhu, Yi Xiao, and nearly a hundred others split into five teams to undertake a new mission assigned by the base: to find the worm queen.
When Ren Zhu and Yi Xiao killed the worm that had taken over Mizuki’s body, and relayed this information to the Central Base, Ren Zhu’s mission progress in this world increased from thirty percent to fifty percent. After the production of the simplified worm detection device, the progress increased by another ten percent.
During this time, Ren Zhu didn’t specifically seek out someone to save, yet the mission progress kept rising. This reinforced Ren Zhu’s belief that in this post-apocalyptic world, there wasn’t a unique savior. Every person struggling for survival was their own savior. As long as they remained steadfast in their beliefs, embraced immense determination and love, they would ultimately become the saviors of this world.
Hence, the so-called “saving the savior” was equivalent to “saving this post-apocalyptic world”. As long as everyone could unite to exterminate the extraterrestrial worm invaders, this mission would successfully conclude.
Therefore, when Old Meng wanted to assign the task of finding the worm queen to Ren Zhu, Ren Zhu accepted without any hesitation. After all, the biggest boss in this world seemed to be the worm queen. Judging from how an imperial commander nearly annihilated the Central Base, if this worm queen really appeared, the world’s mission difficulty might skyrocket. Ren Zhu couldn’t allow that to happen.
So, everyone set out carrying the improved wind-blocking rocket backpacks.
Ren Zhu and Yi Xiao’s team consisted of familiar faces. Both Mao Gancao and Gou Jianfei had awakened their abilities. Jin Yu had become a skilled mechanical genius, in addition to being a metal element ability user. Alongside them were Liu Mingqing, Zhou Yun, and the water element awakened ability user, Song Qiang. Eight people might not be many, but they constituted an elite squad with remarkable synergy. And before they left, the handsome Taoist priest Zhao Tianfu, whom they rescued from the Central Base, also joined them. Zhao Tianfu’s reason for joining was quite straightforward and direct. He assumed a diviner’s pose, seriously calculated something with his fingers, then looked up at Ren Zhu and Yi Xiao and said, “I’ve calculated that the chances of me following you to save the world are the highest, so I’ve come.”
“Take me with you. Although feng shui has been severely disrupted now, I’m still adept at divination, exorcism, investigating murders, and seeking good fortune. Bringing me along won’t put you at a disadvantage.”
Ren Zhu: “…” Why does this Taoist sound so much like he’s trying to hoodwink people?
Considering this guy can single-handedly confront a Level 3 psychic zombie resembling Dao Lian, Ren Zhu ultimately agreed to let this Daoist Zhao accompany them. Everyone then received one Clear Mind Talisman from Daoist Zhao.
“Even though the base has developed devices that can resist the interference of the worm’s high-frequency sound waves and detectors, those things are bulky to wear and occasionally need charging. How can they compare to my Clear Mind Talisman? Everyone should wear the talisman; it can be a lifesaver in critical moments! Don’t worry, we’re all friends, and I’m not charging anything. If I were to charge, it would be after the end of the apocalypse. I am a legitimate Daoist.”
Looking at the handsome face of Daoist Zhao, everyone couldn’t help but roll their eyes internally. He was a textbook example of trying to hide his true intentions. Who would say they weren’t clever and resourceful?
However, during the journey, Daoist Zhao demonstrated remarkable divination skills. At least on every path he pointed to, there were notably more advanced zombies. The reactions of the zombie detectors were also more intense.
On the fifth day of departure for the nine-person team, they were numbed to the point where killing zombies seemed as routine as cutting vegetables. Afterward, they would sweep with the zombie detector, and as expected, they found three worm eggs and five zombie heads that triggered the detector.
Zhao Tianfu sighed and directly thrust his peach wood sword into a zombie’s head with force. Immediately, piercing sound wave attacks emanated from it. However, the handsome Daoist Zhao paid no attention, stabbing it several more times until the sound waves disappeared.
At that moment, Jin Yu, Mao Gancao, Gou Jianfei, and Yi Xiao had already killed two more worm eggs. Zhou Yun, Liu Mingqing, and Song Qiang had also dealt with two more. After everyone was done, they all silently turned their gaze toward Daoist Zhao.
Daoist Zhao felt that even if his face was thick-skinned, he was finding it a bit hard to withstand everyone’s scrutinizing gaze at the moment. However…
“I really divined that this direction was auspicious, cough cough. Alright, look, with Mr. Ren and Mr. Yi here, this side is indeed fortunate,” Zhao Daoist said with a forced smile.
Mao Gancao touched his sharp surgical knife, “Say one more word and I’ll open up your head to study it.”
While Zhou Yun was slicing worms with a dark expression, she looked like a medieval witch.
Zhao Tianfu shut his mouth and touched his chest, thinking that his Daoist skills seemed to be sporadic when applied to Ren Zhu and Yi Xiao; there must be some peculiar energy on these two.
Thankfully, at this moment, Ren Zhu had cleared a clean space nearby and set up a stove. He took out quite a bit of food and waved them over, saying, “Lunchtime! Let’s enjoy the sun, take a break, and have a meal.”
The three little ones, Xiao Mao, Xiao Gou, and Xiao Jin, immediately brightened up. They quickly ran over, gathered around Ren Zhu, and got ready to assist.
“Big Brother! I knew following you would lead to some good food! Ever since I laid eyes on you, I felt you were extraordinary, with an imposing presence! Now, see, your psychic abilities have become so formidable, and you even have spatial abilities! It’s so fortunate to follow you! Xiao Mao and I will definitely be your most loyal followers!” Gou Jianfei rubbed his hands fervently.
Meanwhile, Mao Gancao rolled her eyes, “Big Brother, need help with washing vegetables? Ah Song, come here, we need to wash the vegetables; use your water-based ability!”
Jin Yu held a small knife, looking serious, “Big Brother, what should I chop?”
However, none of these three received a response from Teacher Ren. Ren Zhu just smiled and took a step back, and then, the dignified King of Zombies, Yi Xiao, stepped forward. With an extremely cold and disdainful tone, he said, “Everyone except those washing vegetables, stay put. You clumsy lot.”
Xiao Mao, Xiao Gou, Xiao Jin, Xiao Liu, Daoist Zhou, Ah Song, and Ah Zhao: ???!!!
The one cooking is this icy person and not Ren Zhu?! It must be because my way of killing zombies today was off!!
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