Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

Bang, the door closed.

”You... Brother Su, who is this, and what happened to her?”

Zhong Xiaoshan looked at Zhang Su, full of confusion, as he placed a skinny woman on a chair. Her dry, tangled hair covered her face, clearly malnourished, wearing a large black mask, wrapped in several thick coats. Her movements were stiff, her posture strange, hinting at something peculiar from the inside out.

”I’ll have a cigarette, Xinyu, you explain to Xiaoshan.”

After speaking, Zhang Su took out a cigarette and walked to the window. He had seen someone peeking through the kitchen window earlier, and now taking another look, he could see, though blurred by condensation, that someone was busy inside.

”She’s called Number One Program, um... you should see for yourself.”

With that, Zheng Xinyu removed the program’s mask, and a standard zombie face appeared before Zhong Xiaoshan.

Sister Cheng Xu mechanically turned her head to look at the unfamiliar woman. Her blue-gray eyes emitted a faint glow in the dim room, her jaw subtly trembling, proving she was a living existence.

”Hiss...”

Zhong Xiaoshan stepped back two paces in fright, raising her hand to cover her mouth in disbelief as she looked at the quiet female zombie, feeling a strange sensation in her heart.

Ever since the initial outbreak, she had started interacting with zombies, definitely among the first batch, but had never experienced anything like this, and suddenly felt a chill rising in her heart.

”Did she... get injected with some drug? Does a tranquilizer work on zombies?”

Zhong Xiaoshan could only use her own understanding to make sense of it, completely ignoring the bizarre name Number One Program.

Zheng Xinyu shook her head, reaching out to sort the program’s messy hair slightly, and said, ”Although she transformed into a zombie, she retains human consciousness. And... she only follows his orders.”

As she spoke, Zheng Xinyu made a strange expression and gestured toward Zhang Su with her mouth.

Zhong Xiaoshan, with a peculiar expression, smacked her own forehead, thinking her man must have too much charm, even a female zombie is enamored with him?

”This... I, well, none of this is surprising, I can understand, I can understand...”

Zhong Xiaoshan seemed to self-soothe hypnotically and then asked, ”She’s called... Number One Program? This name should be given by Brother Su, is there any special meaning?”

Coming to her senses, she finally noticed the peculiarity of the name.

”Of course there is! Hoo...”

Zhang Su exhaled a puff of smoke, walked between the two women and the zombie, and said, ”When we first discovered she had consciousness, we planned to bring her back for testing. The new idea guy in our team, the young chap you mentioned, suggested seeing if she could communicate with other zombies... turns out she could.

Won’t go into details, but essentially she acts like a control program implanted into a zombie system. Given enough time, she can control zombies; ordinary ones aren’t much trouble, but the big ones she’s not stable with.”

”So amazing!”

Zhong Xiaoshan’s eyes widened: ”This ability is simply unbelievable, then our camp will be safe and sound in the future!?”

”It’s not as exaggerated as you think, the implanted program has many restrictions, such as the speed of control, the number of zombies controlled, and the duration. Currently, she can control at most over forty ordinary zombies at a time. Any more and it’s too much for her!”

Zhang Su shrugged. During their test while clearing train cars, there were no big ones in two carriages, so they gathered more zombies. It exceeded fifty, but ultimately only forty-three were controlled.

”However, the program’s capability seems to be able to grow. Anyway, we don’t know much about her, but for now, she poses no danger to our safety.”

Zhang Su explained.

”No matter what, it’s already very impressive.” Zhong Xiaoshan kept shaking her head in amazement and then asked, ”Where did you find her?”

”It’s not about finding... well, it’s quite complicated. Basically, she was dying, I fed her medicine, she didn’t survive but still transformed right under my nose, retained human consciousness, could communicate, but lost her memory!”

After listening, Zhong Xiaoshan slowly nodded and said, ”Near-death revival, seems like this kind of operation can’t be replicated.”

”Hey! Fu Weijun, I order you to get off Xiaoshan immediately!”

Zhang Su suddenly pointed his finger at Zhong Xiaoshan.

”What are you talking about...” Zhong Xiaoshan chuckled, ”I was just thinking, if there are more programs like her, the zombie crisis really wouldn’t be a problem.”

”It’s not replicable because there are too many uncertainties, and we only see the phenomenon, not the exact cause. Let’s not study this now...” Zhang Su pointed to the kitchen, asking, ”I thought I saw Wang Zhetao busy in the kitchen just now, who sent him?”

”Ah? Oh, well, we’re short-handed today. I asked him to help, it’s kind of complicated. I’ll explain it to you some other time.”

Zhong Xiaoshan’s eyes focused, pulling her mind away from the bizarre idea of zombies with consciousness.

”Complicated?” Zhang Su’s eyes flashed as he picked up the ashtray to extinguish his cigarette and said, ”Now we have time.”

When the leader says there’s time, there must be time. Zhong Xiaoshan didn’t linger either, but just as she was about to speak, she saw Zhang Su make a shushing gesture.

Immediately, there was a knock on the door.

”Brother Zhang, it’s me, Old Duan. Do you need any help?”

Duan Wuhu’s voice came from outside the door.

Inside the room, the people exchanged glances, each shrewd in their own way, understanding some matters without needing to discuss them.

If anyone in the whole camp was most interested in Program No. 1, apart from Zhang Su who already knew her abilities, it would be Fu Weijun. Look how closely he was watching; they had just returned home, and Fu Weijun’s ”babysitter” came knocking!

”Go open the door.”

Zhang Su gave Zheng Xinyu a look.

”Huh? Oh...”

Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan were surprised. They both thought Zhang Su wouldn’t let Duan Wuhu in. Why was he acting so contrary?

He must want Fu Weijun to know about a conscious zombie but, being suspended, is unable to research further, thus tormenting him. Yes, that must be it.

Concocting a reasonable reason, Zheng Xinyu went to the door and opened it.

”Yo, sister-in-law, well, I just saw Brother Zhang outside. Oh shit!”

Duan Wuhu walked in with a laugh, greeted everyone, but nearly turned into a spider sticking to the door when he saw the zombie sitting on the chair staring at him.

”Seriously, Old Duan, as a teacher how can you speak so fragrantly?”

Zhang Su pulled Duan Wuhu into the room and shut the door.

”I, you...”

Duan Wuhu instinctively moved away from the zombie on the chair, his heart still unsettled, ”Brother Zhang, is, is, is this right?”

He wasn’t afraid of zombies. Even when facing reinforced zombies several times, a big one might be tricky, but ordinary ones could be dealt with. This one, quietly sitting on the chair, its blue-gray eyes faintly glowing, staring at him, was hard to accept.

”First, tell me, did Dr. Fu tell you to come over?”

Zhang Su held Duan Wuhu’s shoulder, smirking as he asked.

Duan Wuhu’s eyes were fixated on Program No. 1, absent-mindedly responding, ”Well, kind of... Brother Zhang, you need to explain to me what’s going on, my heart is pounding!”

Zhang Su nodded and walked over to the Program and recounted the earlier story briefly.

After he finished, the room fell into silence. Duan Wuhu’s ability to comprehend was clearly not as strong as Zhong Xiaoshan’s. After half a minute of brewing, he let out a long sigh and remarked, ”Truly, the big world has incredible things, Brother Zhang, so this, uh, Program Woman, is she considered a member of the Yama Corps now?”

”Exactly, the Yama Corps welcomes talents, haha, but Old Duan...” Zhang Su suddenly straightened his expression, ”I told you everything without holding back, but you have to promise not to tell Fu Weijun, at least until his punishment is over, don’t tell him, to prevent any trouble, understand?”

Duan Wuhu looked troubled, ”I understand, but Weijun is really sharp, I’m afraid I can’t keep it from him... plus, I’ve been here for about ten minutes, saying I didn’t see anything wouldn’t fly.”

Zhang Su handed Duan Wuhu a cigarette, ”That’s easy, just follow my lead. You say Xinyu twisted her ankle, and you were helping with some bone-setting massage, the rest we’ll handle, just go with that. We have some matters to discuss.”

Duan Wuhu nodded, turning back twice with each step as he left the room, the impact of Program No. 1 was significant for him.

”Honey, do you think Teacher Duan can keep a secret?”

Zheng Xinyu imitated walking with a twisted ankle while asking.

”We’ll see. If Fu Weijun finds out, then he’s loose-lipped, and we’ll have to be cautious with him in the future. Otherwise, we can trust him more. So, Xiaoshan, what were you going to say earlier?”

”Oh, right, earlier we were short on hands for cooking, so I went...”

Zhong Xiaoshan continued from where she left off, recounting what she saw in the vegetable shed and the series of events that later occurred in the kitchen, without adding any subjective opinion or conjecture.

”Wang Zhetao is so restless, planning to put a green hat on Bozai. First it was Xiaochen, now Wang Zhetao, poor Bozai.”

Zheng Xinyu, getting used to the limping step, listened to Zhong Xiaoshan’s story with a strange expression on her face. She remembered what happened between Lu Yubo and Pei Lan months ago. Indeed, Pei Lan eventually chose Chen Hanzhou, but ultimately it was a case of heartbreak. Is it all going to happen again now?