Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

“No wonder some people turn into zombies so quickly. After being bitten, they turn in less than ten minutes, while others can hold on for two or three hours. It seems the difference lies in the Zombie Robot’s varying replication speed.”

Zhang Su nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly thought of something and hurriedly asked, “Dr. Fu, you mentioned activation earlier. What exactly counts as an activated Zombie Robot? Are there ones that aren’t activated?”

“Yes!” Fu Weijun nodded, “All of us currently have inactive Zombie Robots inside our bodies.”

“Under what circumstances would they activate? Death?”

Zhang Su wasn’t surprised; his prior observations had already confirmed this.

“That’s right, death! To answer your other question, the only way to obtain an activated state Zombie Robot currently is through live Zombies!”

Fu Weijun emphasized, “A live Zombie’s teeth and nails act as devices specifically meant to activate Zombie Robots, while their flesh contains a large number of Zombie Robots in a non-functional state, which can be understood as deactivated Zombie Robots that aren’t infectious.”

“No wonder touching zombie blood doesn’t lead to infection; the issue lies here…”

Duan Wuhu suddenly realized, as he’d been uncertain whether zombie blood could be infectious.

Zhang Su compared Fu Weijun’s research findings with his own past experiences and confirmed they matched. He continued to ask, “Dr. Fu, is there a possibility of being bitten by a zombie and not turning?”

Fu Weijun thought quietly for a while before saying, “Theoretically, yes, there’s a possibility. But in practice, I’ve never seen such a case. Our immune system tries hard to eliminate Zombie Robots, but it never succeeds…”

“Are we humans really that weak?” Duan Wuhu shrugged with a strange expression.

“It’s too short a time to react!” Fu Weijun shook his head, “The activation of the human immune system is too slow compared to the replication of Zombie Robots, but I believe humans can evolve to resist Zombie Robots, the question is whether we can survive until then…”

Homo erectus has existed for nearly two million years, overcoming countless bacteria, diseases, and viruses, even facing extinction but always being reborn from the flames.

“Ah…” Zhang Su sighed deeply; the more he learned, the more hopeless he felt.

After a moment of silence, he asked, “Dr. Fu, you’ve researched so much, so I want to ask the most crucial question: is there a reversible method?”

“No!”

Fu Weijun replied calmly and decisively, then continued.

“At least within my understanding, there’s no reversible method because zombies and humans, at the genetic level, already belong to different species. You can think of them as ugly humanoid robots, meaning that the moment humans are controlled, they’re effectively dead. It’s a harsh reality; reversing this would be akin to resurrection unless those mythical figures of religion descend, but I don’t believe in gods!”

“You haven’t told Liao Youzhi this, have you?” Duan Wuhu asked.

“No, he definitely couldn’t accept this fact.”

Fu Weijun shook his head helplessly.

“Dr. Fu, about two months ago, it rained heavily, and I saw zombies drawing energy from the rain. Since then, a large group of zombies became stronger, running faster, with greater strength, and heightened senses. Yesterday, it snowed a little, and today, when we went out to gather supplies, we discovered the zombies had become even stronger. Do you have any research data on this?”

All the previous questions were conclusions, and even knowing them won’t change anything, but Zhang Su’s question pertains to the present and concerns the future.

Fu Weijun furrowed his brow in recollection, “I’ve noticed this phenomenon too. Just as you said, zombies are indeed getting stronger. However, due to the limited sample size and testing conditions, I haven’t obtained detailed data.”

“This…” Duan Wuhu said, grimacing, “They’re really robots, able to enhance bit by bit.”

“That’s right. Viewing zombies as robots makes it all very easy to understand. Rain and snow act like upgrade codes, injected into zombie bodies; after the Zombie upgrade procedure, they get stronger. Is it clearer now?”

Fu Weijun rarely showed a hint of a smile, as he felt a resonance with his conversation partners.

Zhang Su shook his head with a wry smile, “Understanding is easy, but what I need now is a way to resist this phenomenon… Otherwise, if zombies continue strengthening, we’ll be in increasing danger!”

“I don’t advocate violence, but unfortunately, the only way to resolve this crisis is to kill all zombies, and humans who die must be cremated or have their brains destroyed before burial.”

Fu Weijun spread his hands helplessly; human technology seems somewhat powerless here.

The three fell silent for a long time, the sound of sipping water the only noise, making the scene seem rather barren.

“Dr. Fu.” Zhang Su spoke again, “Having encountered so many zombies, do you have any reliable guesses about why this disaster occurred?”

Fu Weijun showed a puzzled expression, “From the information I’ve pieced together, the disaster erupted at seven in the morning our time, almost simultaneously worldwide. It’s certain this wasn’t something within human technological capability, at least not within our generation’s civilization.”

Though he hadn’t given a definite answer, the indication was clear enough: the culprit behind the disaster isn’t human.

“If not our generation’s, then perhaps a previous civilization’s technology, or the next generation… Wait, there isn’t a next generation yet, Earth Star, alien, that’s it. Ha, my life is quite valuable, going so far as to become an enemy with artifacts from other civilizations, isn’t that impressive, Brother Zhang, isn’t it?”

Duan Wuhu remained optimistic, after hearing Fu Weijun’s words, suddenly feeling fortunate to still be alive.

“It is pretty damn impressive, but we still need to survive!” Zhang Su looked at Fu Weijun, “Dr. Fu, forgive my frankness, but your conclusions seem to just offer explanations for the current situation. There appears to be very little theory to actually help us deal with zombies?”

Fu Weijun revealed a radiant smile, then took the backpack off from behind his wheelchair, and from it he pulled out a vacuum-packed plastic bag, placing it on the dining table.

“Theory supports the research, and here is the research result!”

Zhang Su picked up the vacuum plastic bag and examined it; inside were four greyish substances about the size of dates, their surfaces very smooth, but with his extraordinary eyesight, he could see many tiny grooves, giving it a sci-fi feel.

“What is this? What…”

Zhang Su set down the plastic bag, completely baffled.

“Zombie Thalamus.”

Fu Weijun held the plastic bag with a smile, a rare gleam in his eyes.

“What?”

“Thalamus?”

Both Zhang Su and Duan Wuhu were bewildered; they had heard the term, knowing it’s a brain organ, but neither knew if it belonged to the cerebrum or cerebellum, too obscure.

“The human brain is structurally divided into the cerebrum, diencephalon, and cerebellum. This is a crucial component of the diencephalon!”

Fu Weijun gently shook the plastic bag.

“Then… hmm, what does this diencephalon, no, thalamus, do?” Zhang Su curiously inquired, taking the plastic bag back from Fu Weijun’s hands to examine it closely, trying to uncover its mysteries.

“I haven’t told anyone about this finding. I didn’t even have time to report the experimental results to Liao Youzhi before the zombie experiment incident occurred. Fortunately, I didn’t tell him.”

While speaking, Fu Weijun fumbled around his body, then awkwardly smiled, “Mr. Zhang, you took my dagger, could you lend me one?”

“Dagger?” Zhang Su didn’t know what Fu Weijun intended to do, but he still handed over the short dagger from his waist.

“Thank you.”

Receiving the short dagger, to Zhang Su and Duan Wuhu’s astonishment, Fu Weijun swung it swiftly, cutting a two-inch long wound from which blood instantly flowed.

“Whoa!” Duan Wuhu startled, “What are you doing…”

“Don’t worry!” Fu Weijun remained composed, as if it wasn’t his own blood flowing from his arm.

He set the dagger down and retrieved a small metal box from his bag, akin to a deck of cards, opened it and took out a portion of a gray piece, stuffing it into his mouth and taking a bite.

Zhang Su couldn’t help but twitch his facial muscles and mouth corners, clearly seeing that Fu Weijun was consuming a Zombie Thalamus!

“Quickly! Look…”

Fu Weijun ate about a quarter of the entire thalamus, returning the rest to the box, then showed the wound to the two.

Time slowly passed; Zhang Su silently noted the time, about half a minute later, the bleeding stopped from Fu Weijun’s wound, followed by the skin and flesh beginning to regrow, with granulation rapidly forming, the wound closing visibly.

The entire process took less than two minutes, with the seven to eight centimeters long cut completely healing, leaving only a raised scar!