Thrive in Catastrophe - Chap 1
Preface
In AD 2020, the “Comet” virus raged across the Earth. A wide majority of humans were infected, and eventually, they zombified. The antibody that was invented under emergency research could only prevent the remaining ten percent of human population from being infected but could not cure those who were already zombified. The governments of every country in the world joined forces and established a colossal underground city named “Charles” within a short period of time. Within this closed ecological system, a new era began for mankind. And in this era, three main fields developed rapidly: information technology, brain science and virology.
Chapter 1 Aftermath
Charles calendar (CC) year 124, in a certain forest.
A throbbing pain in the head with ringing ears.
Xiao Yan frowned, pressing his hand to his forehead where he felt something warm and moist seep through his fingers. He opened his eyes to look closely, it’s blood.
Suddenly, he heard a terrifying scream coming from beside him.
Following the sound, Xiao Yan saw his classmate, whose eyeballs seemed like they were popping out of their sockets.His mouth gaped wide open with not a sound coming out.
Only then did Xiao Yan recall what had happened.
Their aircraft had crashed during their first exploration to a virgin forest due to an invasion of the pilot’s brain.This lead to the loss of his mental faculties where he even failed to alter the aircraft control to manual mode.
The huge impact during landing caused Xian Yan to bang his head on the side window, leading to a short moment of unconsciousness.
By the time he woke up, he could clearly see the overwhelming fear on everyone’s faces, even the normally stoic seniors beside him showed fear.
The plane had crashed with Xiao Yan’s side facing the ground. He was unable to see a thing.
And when he turned his head to the other side of the aircraft, he froze.
Countless zombies were sprawled on their fallen aircraft, aggressively hitting the windows as if they would tear through everything and barge in anytime, ripping apart and consuming everything in sight.
“Ah… They’re zombies! Zombies! What should we do!?”
“Pilots! Try restarting the system……”
The moment someone said that, the zombies that were carving into their newly-hunted flesh flung a head onto the window glass.
Flesh was gone from half of the face, revealing its eerie white skull and hollow eye sockets, leaving a smudge of red on the window.
The head was then grabbed by a zombie and stuffed into its mouth. Crunch.
It munched on its “food” while sticking its face to the glass. Just the sight of yellow slobber and blood drooling from between its jaws was enough to cause nausea.
The “food” was once a pilot.
“AH——!” a young apprentice by the window went hysterical.
“Stop screaming! The sound will only excite them even more!”
The captain in charge of this inspection glared at the apprentice. He was now the only one remaining rational.
Pushing away the safety equipment from his body, the captain gestured for silence.
“As everyone knows, our aircraft has crashed. And worse, the cockpit is damaged. Not only did we lose two pilots, but also the possibility to restart the aircraft to depart from the ground. Fortunately, this door stands between the cockpit and the cabin we are in. These zombies may look scary, but they are not strong enough to break through this door.”
This is because they are only Level Zero, the most common type of zombie in this world. They may seem fearsome and slaughter mindlessly, but their mobility are similar to humans, aside from their ability to heal swiftly.
Captain White’s words gradually soothed the anxiety of the apprentices.
“We have a total of 12 people. Calculating from this, the oxygenation device within this cabin can last for another six hours. During these six hours, everyone refrain from speaking and keep calm to prevent the increase of oxygen consumption. If we are lucky, the research base may send out Special Task Forces for an investigation after noticing they have lost contact with our aircraft, then we will have the chance to survive. Is everyone clear?”
All of them nodded in understanding and kept quiet.
Most of them were students from the Central Academy of Science and were going to work as researchers in the military. The only reason for them leaving Charles City was for internship.
Xiao Yan sighed quietly. By calculating the size of the aircraft cabin to the time the oxygen reaction device was activated, the oxygen could only last for another three hours at the most.
Captain White lied, but at the same time, he gave them hope.
Damn it—— Today might be his last day. If only he had known, he would have taken his classmate Lily to bed instead of admiring her from afar! Life is short, he should have enjoyed all of life’s pleasures to the fullest before it’s too late!
The apprentices sitting by the window could only close their eyes. The cabin was highly soundproofed, so they could not hear the sound of the zombies banging and pounding on the bulkhead, nor could they hear their growls and snarls.
However, with just one look at the window, one would have a sleepless night.
Or, whether they were able to survive through tonight is still unknown.
Xiao Yan was silently counting.
One, two, three…… three thousand six hundred……
An hour passed, the Special Task Forces had yet to arrive.
From noticing their missing aircraft to tracing their location, if an hour was still insufficient, perhaps the base had no intentions of sending someone to the rescue.
Xiao Yan smiled wryly. He felt a little rueful that he had only gotten a “B” in the academy grade test. If this aircraft had been filled with Class A students, he reckoned the Special Task Forces would have arrived long ago. After all, talents are the most valuable resources.
The temperature within the cabin was rising, and the apprentices started unfastening their collars.
This meant the oxygen was depleting, perhaps, they may not even last for two hours.
“Maybe we should open the door…… and escape……”
“Are you kidding! I would rather suffocate here than to be torn apart out there!”
“But……”
“There are no buts, waiting for rescue is the only right choice. When you have the door ajar, you won’t even have the time for a breath of fresh air, the door will be thrust open by zombies.”
After listening to Captain White’s words, the cabin fell into dead silence.
The air was getting thinner, and it was clear that everyone was having difficulty breathing.
Death was closing in, step by step.
Time passed, and suddenly, the faint sound of aircraft engines was heard from above. Students who were in the midst of losing consciousness woke up, staring blankly out the window.
A flash of the sharp edge of a blade was all they could see, followed by zombies being cut into pieces with their brown mucus splashing all over the place. A zombie’s head was sent flying and landed on the window glass, leading to a ridiculous scream from the student sitting by the window.
Captain White let out a long sigh.
“It’s…… the Special Task Forces……”
This was an exciting news, even though they no longer had the energy for excitement.
Xiao Yan’s snapped back from his drifting senses instantly.
Through the window, a figure in a black combat suit with a flash of gold cut across his vision. Before he could discern what he saw, three zombies were slashed in half, sliding off the glass like pieces of garbage and leaving a few repulsive streaks of blood and gore on the window.
Special Task Forces was also known as Special Armed Forces. The extermination of zombies by these forces are vital to the establishment of each research base.
They were ruthless and cold killing-machines, but at the same time, they were the only dependable “shield” during calamities.
When the “Comet” virus first erupted, mankind attempted to control the infected areas using atomic bombs. Unfortunately, this only resulted in more frenzied outbreaks of the virus after it absorbed the heat and nuclear radiation emitted from the atomic bombs.
The same thing happened when dealing with zombies. Bullets, missiles and other weapons that emit heat will only increase the healing ability of the zombies. Thus, the era of cold weapons returned. Everyone in Special Task Forces is a master of cold weapons.
Xiao Yan pressed himself to the glass and strained his eyes to look out from the window.
There he saw a big guy with his fists clenched and a weapon worn on his fingers. When he punched his fist into a zombie’s head, yellow fluid burst from the cracked skull.
The man tightened his body muscles, raised his leg, and kicked away the headless body.
They were plunged on the ground, bashed on trees, and despite not being able to hear in the cabin, Xiao Yan could clearly imagine the sound of bones cracking and mucus splattering.
Another agile body was moving through the crowd of zombies, it was a female soldier.
She released a fast-spinning weapon so swiftly that one could hardly see it with the naked eyes.
The spinner slit through the zombies, dismembering them. Zombies may have fast healing abilities but they could not regenerate parts that were cut off.
While the zombies became weakened from their disjointed limbs, the female soldier drew out a double-edge knife from her back. Whirling, the zombies were then beheaded or slashed in half.
In less than thirty seconds, the fallen aircraft was free from the zombies’ entrapment.
Captain White moved towards the cabin door slowly and pressed a button.
The door slid open. The humid air gushed into the cabin, together with the stench of blood and rotten flesh.
Some students threw up before they could remove their safety equipment.
“You have one minute, we are moving right away.”
A voice tipped in frost spoke from outside. It was like having a blade trailing along the nerves, cold and ruthless.
Xiao Yan felt as if his brain was being slit open by that voice and the narrow confines of his mind was suddenly broadened.
“Hey! Hey! Hurry up! Don’t tell me someone in here has broken their legs! Those who can’t walk, stay here and be fed to the zombies!”
The big guy entered the cabin. The weapon clenched between his fingers that had just been bashing zombies seconds ago, now glowed with a certain coldness.
He lifted the safety equipment, roughly snatched a student, and threw him out of the cabin.
The student shrieked.
“Scream! Keep screaming! Those zombies are attracted by sound. Lure them here with your voice and we’ll head back to our aircraft. We’ll be back to get y’all after the zombies are done eating. What do you say? I bet y’all would be quiet by then huh?
He looked at the students haughtily, with a gloating smile on his face.
Xiao Yan saw a hint of eagerness in his bloodthirsty eyes.
This guy wasn’t joking.
The screaming stopped. The students removed their safety harnesses and fled from the cabin.
With a glance of the outside world, they couldn’t help but be stunned.
Encircling their aircraft…… was a mountain of zombies.
Only then did Xiao Yan realised that there were only three Special Force soldiers that came to their rescue.
A lean figure stood between the two aircraft, his golden-brown hair blown by the wind, creating waves of unusual omen. The refined and aloof look in his ice-blue eyes pierced right into the depths of Xiao Yan’s brain, causing an illusion of pain.
He held a hilt in his hands, with the blade pierced deep into the ground, as if he would shatter the sky and the earth in a split second.
For the first time, Xiao Yan found himself unable to shift his eyes away from this man.
It was also then he realised the tint of gold he saw previously was his hair.
Xiao Yan was lost in thoughts until someone pushed him on the back and spoke in a lowered voice: “ Stop staring at him, he’s Heine Burton.”
“He’s…… Heine Burton?”
Xiao Yan was dumbfounded.
He never thought that the heroic figure within the Special Task Forces was actually a man as elegant and fine-looking as the one before his eyes.
Heine’s side profile was a picture of unmoving resolution , like a thousand-year-old cliff that was carved into these chiseled features by the rain and wind.
Xiao Yan had always thought he was a monster, rather than an existing being that he could not tear his eyes away from.
Zombies need to be beheaded in order to stop their mobility completely, which was also known as “severing the neuronal connection” in a biological context.
A zombie that was sliced in half at the waistline dragged itself along with its organs trailing behind. It let out a low growl while crawling towards the apprentices that were walking over to the other aircraft.
The big guy gleefully watched the students tremble in fear, before stepping on the zombie’s face.
It let out a screeching sound that made the students shudder and hunch their shoulders.
Heine, who had been indifferent the whole time, turned to the big guy and frowned, “Mark, it’s filthy.”
Mark shrugged, “Well, I can’t have it chew on these delicate students, can I?”
That being said, he stomped down, followed by an exceptionally loud crack from the broken skull.
The sight was too much for the students.
They rushed towards the cabin in fear, and some even got stuck by the entrance.
It was chaotic.
Mark smiled contentedly, “Boss, these scaredy-cats are gonna be second lieutenants once they graduate, whereas we are still stuck in this mindless bloodshed, and won’t even get a rank till death. That’s just so unfair!”
“If you don’t wipe your shoes clean, don’t enter the plane,” Heine said coldly.
He turned away and slipped his blade into the sheath on his back, ignoring Mark’s complaints.
“Brat, if you continue to stare at Colonel Burton, I’m gonna rip your eyes out and feed them to zombies.”
The female soldier in neat short hair revealed her hostility to Xiao Yan.
She seemed not to be older than in her early twenties, the black combat suit outlined her exquisite figure and hinting at the explosive power coiled within her body.
If she were to punch Xiao Yan in the head, he had no doubt that his brain juice would burst out.
“Oh, sorry.”
Xiao Yan quickly lowered his head and followed the others into the aircraft.
The female soldier was the first to enter the cabin. Mark was standing outside of the cabin, cleaning his shoes with the disinfectant from the fallen aircraft. Only when Heine nodded in approval did Mark enter the aircraft.
The aircraft took off. As they gradually left the dangerous terrain behind, everyone let out a quiet sigh of relief.
As Mark said, countless zombies eventually flocked to the site of the plane crash. They stretched out their arms and jumped, trying to drag down the distant aircraft.
It was a blood-curdling sight.
