Jiang Ziqi's pupils were still trembling, and she didn't notice the water spilled all over her.
"Are there others like me in this world?"
Researcher Li smiled, not blaming Jiang Ziqi for dirtying the floor. He picked up a mop and started cleaning while saying, "We've only heard rumors so far. Your captain rescued a girl from the base of a biochemical terrorist organization called the Eternal Life Cult. Her condition is very complex. The safety zone said they would send her over for us to take care of once she's confirmed safe.
Whether she'll actually come is still unknown. Many tests and examinations need to be done. Moreover, even if she comes, she might not stay on the aircraft carrier; she might be on the Type 055 destroyer. At most, you'll be asked to conduct a detailed examination on her."
She didn't share more information, knowing that knowing too much would be bad for Jiang Ziqi.
"This, okay, is Brother Lin Yuan fighting outside again?" Jiang Ziqi was most worried about Lin Yuan.
Researcher Li nodded and helped Jiang Ziqi put on a sterile suit.
"Yes, he agreed to join voluntarily, so don't worry about these things. Once the vaccine research is successful, we'll let you see each other every day."
Jiang Ziqi blushed a deep red. "Hehehe, then let's start today's experiment!"
...
East of Bailong County.
Lin Yuan and his team had re-infiltrated. A northwesterly wind was blowing, and the toxic fog had dispersed significantly. From a vantage point, they could observe a part of the "red houses."
"Team leader, I don't think this thing has anything to do with the Eternal Life Cult you mentioned just now. It's more like a nest mutant, formed through natural evolution. There are still many zombies inside."
Zheng Mengmeng's words were not wrong. Others also saw the zombies inside the slime mold, which looked like volcanic lava, through their binoculars. They were all fixed within the slime mold, like fish frozen in a lake during winter.
"We can't figure anything out by looking from here. We need to go to the room where it was first discovered to find the cause. If it's not related to the biochemical terrorist organization, we can withdraw and let them send planes to bomb it," Lin Yuan said, glancing at the large mass of toxic fog to the south that the wind couldn't disperse. He wouldn't be lying to say he was panicking. Tens of thousands of zombies were roaming nearby, and any movement would send them rushing towards you. It wasn't romantic at all.
"Old Bai, have you calculated the location of the first red house?"
"Yes, it's 1k ahead of us."
The area was completely covered by the red slime mold. Raising the field of vision revealed that all the red slime mold spread out radially from this location, forming a network similar to blood vessels, densely covering this large area.
"Take photos for evidence."
Since they couldn't enter, they approached to take photos as evidence and upload them simultaneously to the Sky Eye system.
However, the drone had only taken a few pictures when the slime mold seemed to sense something approaching. It directly spewed out a thick red mist. The drone, a lifeless object, was actually interfered with, and the picture started to pixelate.
Bai Shan Jin, realizing something was wrong, quickly controlled the drone to fly back, but it was too late. It fell midway.
"Team leader? What should we do?"
It was clear that this thing was very dangerous. The drone was lost just by approaching it, let alone a person.
Lin Yuan was also glad that they hadn't risked getting closer to take samples initially. In this situation, they could only try to retrieve the drone first.
This one drone, even its wreckage, had to be recovered.
"Let's go see what happened to the drone first."
Time was pressing; it was already afternoon, and it would be dark soon. They had to leave the city before sunset or find a safe house, otherwise, the risk factor would increase exponentially.
The drone did not explode upon landing, so it did not attract the attention of the zombie horde to the south. Bai Shan Jin led Lin Yuan and the others, following their memories, through streets and alleys, and found the drone that had shattered into several pieces.
Just as they were about to recover it, Lin Yuan's sharp eyes spotted several twisted red threads on the drone and he quickly stopped them.
He held back the rest of the team.
"Something's wrong, let's observe first," Lin Yuan pointed to the red threads on the drone. "Look, these seem to be the hyphae of that thing."
The others also looked closely following Lin Yuan's gaze and discovered the red hyphae attached to the drone.
They were still extending outwards, like some kind of worm.
"This, could the red mist it just sprayed be its spores?" Wang Xiaoxin tilted his head, showing some interest.
"Yes, I think so. This thing is insidious; once it attaches, it starts to grow. Perhaps it absorbed moisture from the air to grow?"
Jiang Hai moved closer to observe carefully and said, "Team leader is right. This thing should have started growing by absorbing moisture from the air. The gaps in the drone have been filled by it, which caused the accident."
After waiting for a while, the hyphae stopped extending outwards. Only then did Lin Yuan instruct Kong Ming to take samples.
"Report it, I think this guy is probably not the work of HSAC or the Eternal Life Cult," Wang Xiaoxin also offered his opinion.
"What do you mean by that?"
"It's simple. If a biochemical terrorist organization had something like this, would they still need to hide? They could just let these spores enter the city with the wind and turn everyone into a part of this slime mold."
This statement was terrifying, but the logic was sound.
"Mengmeng, report it. Prepare to call for bombardment. This thing cannot be left alone."
"Understood."
In this situation, they had no choice but to bomb it. Moreover, to explore the initial mystery of this thing, they had to bomb away everything that grew afterward.
A few minutes later, Zheng Mengmeng received a response from the command center: "Team leader, the higher-ups say H6 is already at the airport and will arrive shortly."
???
What kind of thing requires Sixth Master to personally come?
"I don't know. According to team leader Ying, it seems to match some data from the World Anti-Biochemical Alliance Committee. This thing is very dangerous. The White Elephant Republic lost a state because of it."
"Okay, let's withdraw." Now, whenever the higher-ups mentioned the White Elephant Republic and the Green Pheasant Nation, two "Gu kings," they were afraid.
There was no choice. They were too capable of raising things. Not long ago, the Cangzhou military base intercepted a batch of high-level mutant zombies that broke through from the western border, blocked all roads, and it took 12 super-bombs to stop them.
"All personnel withdraw and return to the intermediate supply station to rest. The higher-ups will handle it themselves."
However, before withdrawing, Lin Yuan and his team played a feint, luring the zombie horde back to the northern district.
Then they went to the secret base of the Eternal Life Cult, as there were still some things left unfinished there.