Chapter 186
Chapter 186
Chen Minglan’s retreating figure vanished completely from the screen, but Secretary Tang remained where she stood, her slightly clenched fingers refusing to relax.
The despair and obsession in the woman’s eyes had left even a steady and decisive base commander like her deeply unsettled.
She had witnessed too much devastation and madness in the apocalypse.
In less than a year, order had collapsed, civilization had faded, and even people’s memories had begun to crumble. She had long since grown accustomed to it, yet the grief of another human being still stirred a trace of sorrow in her heart.
Just then, a hurried burst of low static crackled through the miniature earpiece hooked over her ear. Her subordinate’s tense voice followed, stripped of all unnecessary emotion. “Secretary, there’s an urgent matter.”
Secretary Tang slowly suppressed the turmoil in her eyes, donning her calm, official facade once more. Her voice was low and steady. “One moment.”
She cast one final glance at the researchers still bustling around the laboratory, calmly instructed the soldier beside her to maintain order, then turned and strode steadily out through the laboratory doors.
The moment she stepped into the corridor, the base’s second-in-command came hurrying toward her from the far end. The man’s expression was grave, his brow furrowed deeply, and the pressure around him was palpable. Clearly, something extremely difficult had happened.
“Secretary.” The second-in-command quickly stopped before her and lowered his voice, unable to conceal the gravity in his tone. “Regarding the message Comrade Qi Han sent five hours ago-the group of survivors connected to Infected No. 9 is heading toward our base.”
Secretary Tang’s gaze sharpened slightly. She did not interrupt and merely waited for him to continue.
The second-in-command paused, his Adam’s apple bobbing before he spoke with a hint of disbelief. “They’ve arrived. But… the life-sign detector turned red.”
Red.
That meant the detected targets were not human.
Secretary Tang’s eyes instantly turned razor-sharp, and the air around her chilled. The sorrow Chen Minglan had stirred in her disappeared entirely, leaving only a leader’s decisiveness and vigilance. “Take me there.”
They quickened their pace, proceeding down the empty corridor until they reached a heavy alloy door and pushed it open.
Inside was the base’s surveillance and detection center. Several staff members stared solemnly at the large screens before them, their fingers moving rapidly over the control panels.
The moment they saw Secretary Tang enter, everyone visibly breathed a sigh of relief. “Secretary!”
Secretary Tang went straight to the main screen, her gaze fixed on the image.
The display immediately switched to a clear view of the snowy landscape ten kilometers from the base.
Amid the driving snow, a slender figure knelt on the ground. The girl was covered in white, and three long trails stretched through the snow behind her, extending into the vast snowfield. She looked battered and fragile, as though the bitter cold might swallow her at any moment.
Secretary Tang knew anyone who had survived the Zombie Horde until now and managed to track the base all this way could not be an ordinary survivor. More importantly, Qi Han’s message had explicitly stated that they were connected to Infected No. 9.
Infected No. 9 was one of the country’s officially documented high-intelligence Infected, with its number indicating the order in which they had been discovered by humanity.
Such Infected were cunning and vicious. Some could even disguise themselves as ordinary people and infiltrate groups of survivors. Even regular military forces had suffered at their hands.
Anyone capable of contending with such an Infected could not be ordinary either. Perhaps they were coming to the base in search of shelter. They might even become another force the base could use against the Infected.
But… the detector had turned red.
Those words extinguished every possibility she had considered. A red reading meant there was a nonhuman life signal among the group before them.
At the same time, her peripheral vision happened to catch another split screen beside the main display. It showed high-definition long-range surveillance footage from the base and had captured a clear frontal view of one of the girls in the snow.
With a single glance, Secretary Tang felt as though all the blood in her body had frozen solid.
She had seen that face on the screen… only ten minutes ago.
The researcher had shown it to her.
It belonged to the daughter who supposedly existed only in Chen Minglan’s memories-the daughter who was said not to exist at all.
Qingshui.
Secretary Tang stared at the screen, her breath catching. As one of the nation’s leaders, she had witnessed countless strange and extraordinary phenomena and handled innumerable classified cases involving other dimensions. Yet at that moment, her heart still slammed uncontrollably against her chest.
She drew a deep breath and forced down the storm raging inside her. The pressure around her seemed to spike in an instant as she issued a cold command.
“Switch to an encrypted channel. Contact Professor Chen Minglan in World-10 immediately.”
Then she turned to the communications officer beside her and spoke rapidly, a trace of restrained urgency in her voice. “Send a team to receive her and follow the usual procedures. In addition, place her under the highest level of isolation and transfer her to the Core Laboratory.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The moment the orders were given, the atmosphere in the command center became taut. Everyone sprang into action.
…………
When Chen Minglan returned to the lounge, the woman in military uniform gently placed a glass of water and a white pill in front of her.
Chen Minglan stared at the pill for a long time without moving.
She knew the drug would ease her fixation. Little by little, it would blur the image of her daughter in her mind.
The woman rested a hand on her shoulder, her voice soft and aching with concern. “Are you still dreaming about her?”
“Mm.”
The woman crouched down and looked into her bloodshot eyes. “Minglan, your body can’t take much more of this. Please, take it. If Qingshui were here… she wouldn’t want to see you tormenting yourself like this.”
Chen Minglan’s heart caved in.
She knew better than anyone that on the day of the Zombie Horde, when forced to choose between her family and her country, she had chosen her country. But it had not been her choice alone. Qingshui had made the same choice.
She had thought her daughter would be remembered as a hero, that her name would be written into the base’s history and preserved for future generations. Never had she imagined that instead of glory, her daughter’s sacrifice would end with every trace of her being erased from the world.
It had taken Chen Minglan everything she had to accept that her daughter had sacrificed herself for the greater good. But she could never accept that her child had been stripped even of the right to be remembered.
Yet when she saw the cautious worry in the eyes of her childhood friend, the thread she had kept taut through countless days and nights finally snapped.
She could not keep making those who loved her suffer alongside her.
Chen Minglan drew a deep breath, snatched up the pill, and forced it down with cold water. Her tears struck the side of the glass, and she swallowed them too.
“Get some sleep,” the woman said softly.
Chen Minglan murmured her assent and lay down on the bed. She felt the woman beside her watching in silence, then sensed her leave.
The drug took effect quickly, and her consciousness began to blur.
Every now and then, there were moments when she doubted herself.
Maybe… I should give up.
Chen Minglan slowly closed her eyes. Just as her consciousness was about to sink into darkness–
“Bang!”
The door burst open.
“Professor Chen! An emergency transmission from World-01! Secretary Tang wants you in the laboratory immediately!”
The messenger looked frantic and had not even stopped to knock. “Secretary Tang said to get there as fast as you possibly can.”
Chen Minglan’s professional instincts sent her springing out of bed. Despite her pale face, she had almost instantly regained her usual decisive bearing. “What happened? Did something go wrong with the experiment?”
The soldier beside her shook his head, a complicated look in his eyes.
Chen Minglan’s heart sank. She asked no more questions and quickened her pace, rushing out of the lounge after the soldier.
Inside the laboratory, a suffocating tension hung over the section marked “World-01.”
Secretary Tang, one of the officials overseeing that world, stood before the enormous screen with a grave expression.
When she saw Chen Minglan, she shifted slightly to the side, revealing the screen behind her. Following the movement, Chen Minglan slowly raised her head and looked at the center of the display.
The girl on the screen had cool, delicate features and a clear, unblemished face. Even with her eyes closed, there was an unmistakable stubbornness about her.
Th–that was…
Qingshui.
Her daughter.
Chen Minglan’s mind exploded with a deafening buzz. Every sound in the world vanished in an instant, leaving only that face.
Alive…
Her Qingshui wasn’t dead. She was still alive?
She wasn’t someone I imagined?
I’m not crazy.
I’m really not crazy. I have a daughter.
An overwhelming surge of joy and shock battered her nerves. Her entire body trembled, and she could barely remain standing.
Her throat felt completely blocked. Chen Minglan opened her mouth, but no complete words would come out. All she could manage were broken, trembling breaths.
“Save… Please, save her…”