Chapter 102: Contagion (1st Update, Asking for Monthly Tickets)

Ding Junyi’s voice came through. Seeing that Lin Xian’s group was interested, she spoke directly, “We highly suspect that this type of plant is a phenomenon completely related to the biological mutations and anomaly infestations caused by the Day of Apocalypse. From our current research, the Aether Value on this Blood Calamity Plant is above 100, which is the inverse of the standard for a C-class night-walker. Therefore, we believe that the Blood Calamity Plant possesses the biological energy of a night-walker and is related to the energy produced by blood essence.”

“Wow, an anomalous plant!” Kiki blurted out, her face full of amazement. “In our world now, whether it’s people or animals, organic or inorganic matter, it seems everything has been affected by that damned night.”

“What’s the use of this thing?” Lin Xian asked with a frown.

“It’s not yet certain.”

The skinny scientist named Han Qiming also walked up and said with a trembling voice, “We’ve done some biological experiments and found that this thing directly causes biological mutations, very similar to the contagion of the dark night.”

“Dark night contagion?” Kiki asked. “What’s contagious in the dark night?”

“This…” Han Qiming looked nervously at the three of them, then at Ding Junyi, before saying, “Actually, our various research teams have generally reached a consensus, it’s just that this consensus…”

Lin Xian couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and smile. “What, in this situation, you still want to keep secrets for the federal government?”

“It’s not about keeping secrets. Strictly speaking, it’s about being unrigorous and irresponsible. For us researchers, making speculations without experimental results is irresponsible and can easily mislead the public and cause panic. However, if you want to know these unconfirmed speculations, we can tell you,” Ding Junyi said directly.

“Yes, yes, let me explain. Currently, research teams from all countries believe that zombies and mutations are not transmitted by bacteria or viruses.” The microbiology PhD, Han Qiming, tremblingly adjusted his thick glasses with one hand and explained:

“The reason this inference cannot be spread is, one, to avoid causing panic, and two, it is not rigorous. This is mainly because there is no accurate judgment in this regard, whether from biopathology, bacterial strain research, or live zombie investigations. The concept of a zombie itself is not a rigorous one. From a biological perspective, this kind of biological individual does not exist.”

“What do you mean?” Lin Xian asked, puzzled.

Han Qiming replied, “For example, an adult with extremely poor physical function cannot suddenly possess extremely strong vitality and physical strength without any caloric metabolism. A body destroyed by a virus will only get worse. How can it be full of life, pounce on people, and survive for so long?”

Lin Xian was stunned upon hearing this. Now that he mentioned it, it seemed to make sense.

“The first polar night of the Day of Apocalypse broke out, and the global population plummeted almost exponentially. We have very advanced IoT surveillance, but we couldn’t find any source of infection or transmission route at all. This is also why many national institutions and armies collapsed so quickly, because we simply didn’t know where the virus came from, whether it was through the air, blood, or some other means. It wasn’t until we discovered the concept of Aether Value that we found the only common denominator for the appearance of this mutation phenomenon was the dark night!”

“As long as it enters the dark night, a large number of people will mutate into zombies, and various night-walkers will appear. It’s completely impossible to guard against. We even suspected whether the surviving survivors had some kind of genetic trait or special defect in their bodies. We tried to use mark-recapture methods, molecular biology methods, but… we couldn’t find any commonalities.”

Hearing this, Lin Xian suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He looked at Kiki, remembering the invisible monster that had strangely appeared on the train when she was degenerating.

So, if Kiki’s ability hadn’t evolved but had instead gone down the path of degeneration, would she have become a monster like Tang Hai, neither human nor ghost?

Thinking about it this way, the ordinary dark night and the dark tide of the Star Abyss were two completely different concepts. That dark tide was definitely not as simple as ordinary darkness. The strange monsters that appeared out of nowhere, the forbidden objects that were infested and mutated, the Blood Calamity Plant that grew from flesh and blood, and the unavoidable zombie mutations—connecting all these, Lin Xian suddenly understood the term Han Qiming had just mentioned.

Dark night contagion!

Beep~ Beep.

On the 65th sub-level, at the rail terminal platform, Chen Sixuan pressed the walkie-talkie. The light on it had turned red ever since Lin Xian’s group entered the elevator and went up. She knew this might be due to the underground signal penetration problem, not necessarily that they had run into trouble.

But at this moment on the train, to avoid attracting monsters from the darkness, all the lights had been turned off, and the blackout panels were lowered.

Shasha and Chen Sixuan were both holding guns, staying in Car 1, quietly listening to the sounds outside.

On the platform, the sizzling sound of flickering fluorescent lights could be heard from time to time, as well as the faint rustling sound from the depths of the darkness. Perhaps there were some zombie monsters lurking inside, or perhaps it was just the sound of the airflow in the underground passage.

Staying on the train was generally quite safe, but after the incident with the strange radio, Chen Sixuan had become more sensitive to strange things.

“How long have they been gone?” Shasha sat on the sofa, her feet dangling. Compared to Chen Sixuan, she was much braver.

Chen Sixuan looked at her watch. “Almost 40 minutes. They should be arriving soon.”

Beep~

At this moment, the transponder in the cockpit rang. Although the sound was very soft, it seemed to break the silence in an instant, making one’s heart tighten. Chen Sixuan and Shasha exchanged glances and quickly got up and ran over.

“Hello, Teacher Chen, we’ve arrived. Is there any situation on your end?”

Lin Xian’s voice came from the transponder, and Chen Sixuan and Shasha immediately relaxed.

“No, it’s fine here. Nothing’s happening.”

“Good. It’s about to get dark now. You two be careful.”

“Okay.”

Chen Sixuan turned off the transponder and looked at Shasha. In this underground city, no one knew what the situation would be like after dark. They had to remain cautious.

…

On the 52nd sub-level, in the F13 research hall, Lin Xian looked at Ding Junyi.

“Since we’re already here, hand over the management permissions to us first. Then tell me the location of the Gemini 11R nuclear-powered electric locomotive you mentioned.”

As soon as he said this, Zhao Yan and Xu Wen’s faces immediately changed.

“This, we’re more familiar with the system here, and the system here is very complicated…”

“It’s fine. KIKI.”

“OK~”

At this moment, Kiki was already operating on the laboratory’s mobile terminal. She quickly opened a backdoor program, then walked over and handed it to Ding Junyi. “This sister, please authorize it.”

For Kiki, as long as she was given time, Lin Xian believed she would definitely find a way to hack into the system directly. After all, the little chick had done this kind of thing before.

However, since Ding Junyi currently had high-level administrator permissions, she didn’t need to go to all that trouble.

But Lin Xian’s action immediately made the other few people nervous. After all, their only visible bargaining chip at the moment was Ding Junyi’s management permission. If they handed it over directly, then the four of them would truly become dead weight.

Dalou held a machine gun, his body exuding a murderous aura. Standing in front of Zhao Yan’s group, he gave off an immense pressure, as if they were about to be executed.

They had no doubt that this big guy alone could tear the three women and one man apart with his bare hands