Chapter 52: Another Conversation
After Cheng Jiao and the other injured person drank the fruit-and-vegetable juice, their complexions showed a clear improvement, and their bodies stopped convulsing. It seemed the juice really was effective.
It was at this time that Li Ming came looking for them.
The relief teams had already arrived. After clearing out the remaining scattered zombies outside, they escorted all the survivors onto the military trucks.
While counting heads, Li Ming realized that Zhan Yun and the others were nowhere to be seen, so he came to look for them—only to discover an entire room full of wounded…
After Zhan Yun briefly explained the situation to Li Ming, he had Zhang Shuoliang and the others carry Cheng Jiao and the other injured person onto their van. As for the rest, although they had been confirmed as fully infected, they had not yet mutated. Any immediate action would have been inappropriate, so Zhan Yun and his group requested to stay at the police station a little longer and wait until they fully mutated before dealing with them.
Out of gratitude toward Zhan Yun’s team and a sense of responsibility, Li Ming and the Twelfth Squad voluntarily stayed with them. They personally witnessed all those whom Song Chengshu had identified as fully infected eventually mutate, while the two injured people who had been separated out showed no abnormalities. Their evaluation of this mysterious squad immediately rose another notch.
After dealing with the mutated zombies, everyone returned smoothly to the stadium. The stadium had been divided into several sections, with a passage wide enough for two people to walk through left between each area. Blankets had been spread out on the floor for the survivors to rest on.
The army had also set up diesel generators, and the stadium’s air-conditioning began to cool the space. The comfortable indoor temperature made the newly arrived survivors feel much better. Seeing the busy soldiers and the steady flow of other survivors inside the stadium, their nerves quickly settled. Following the soldiers’ instructions, they went to their designated areas to rest.
The soldiers distributed bread, sausage, and drinking water so they could fill their stomachs. After days of living in constant fear, the survivors finally felt a sense of security under the protection of large numbers of fully armed troops. Once they had eaten, most of them lay down and promptly fell asleep.
Zhan Yun and his group returned a bit later, but the commander had already arranged a separate, wall-adjacent area closest to the troops for them to rest.
The other search-and-rescue teams gradually returned as well, though each team had suffered more or less some casualties. By comparison, the Twelfth Squad—where Zhan Yun’s group was assigned—had been the luckiest, returning in full with not a single injury.
All the wounded were sent to the lounge behind the stadium, where they were cared for by military medics.
Dawn was not far off. As Zhan Yun and the others leaned against the wall with their eyes closed, resting, they suddenly heard footsteps approaching.
Zhan Yun looked up and saw that it was the commander himself, accompanied by several soldiers.
This commander was none other than Commander Zhang, who had previously taken Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe to meet Jiang Xuzhou.
“Commander Zhang? What brings you here?”
“Many soldiers have been injured. I’ve heard that Doctor Song’s medical skills are exceptional. I was wondering if he might have time to help take a look? In addition, there are a few matters I’d like to discuss with Mr. Zhan and Mr. Su,” Commander Zhang said, his friendly tone tinged with respect.
Before setting out, Regiment Commander Jiang had already instructed him to take extra care of Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe.
According to the reports from Guan Hong, captain of the Tenth Squad, and Li Ming, captain of the Twelfth Squad, if Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe’s team hadn’t been present during the battle at the police station, it was impossible to say how dire the outcome would have been. This squad’s strength was clearly far beyond what they had imagined. Moreover, the Doctor Song among them could determine, based on a patient’s condition, whether they had been fully overtaken by the virus, which was why they wanted to ask him to help assess the injured soldiers.
“Of course,” Zhan Yun agreed. He gave Cheng Qi and Zhang Shuoliang a few instructions, asking them to stay behind and watch over Cheng Jiao and the other injured person, then left with Su Ruizhe and Song Chengshu, following Commander Zhang.
Inside the stadium’s lounge lay dozens of injured soldiers, all burning with fever. Their bodies convulsed from time to time, their faces flushed red. The medics had already cleaned and dressed their wounds, but there was little more they could do. These high fevers were caused by zombie virus infection, not an ordinary cold or fever, and could not be treated with medication.
The fact that infection with the zombie virus did not guarantee mutation—and that there was actually a thirty percent chance of awakening supernatural abilities—was something the military itself had only discovered not long ago. Most people familiar with zombie movies and novels easily fell into a misconception, assuming that infection meant certain death, which had led to many completely unnecessary sacrifices. However, when it was impossible to distinguish who would mutate and who would not, keeping the injured together was extremely dangerous. Likewise, placing those who would not mutate together with those who might mutate was equally risky.
The army could only adopt a one-on-one watch system, assigning one soldier to guard each injured person so that if anyone mutated, the danger could be eliminated at the earliest possible moment. But this approach was a major drain on manpower. If Doctor Song could teach the medics how to identify infections, the process would become much easier.
Song Chengshu held nothing back, telling the medics everything he knew—how to determine full infection by observing changes in the pupils. As for those still resisting the virus, they were not completely out of danger either; there was still a chance they could mutate, so their conditions needed to be checked regularly.
As for the possibility that fruit-and-vegetable juice could help the injured increase their resistance to the virus, Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe had already told Jiang Xuzhou about it, and the information had spread throughout the military. The medics had already given the injured soldiers some juice earlier. However, unlike Su Ruizhe, who had an entire space full of plants to choose from, they could only use whatever stock they had scavenged from fruit and vegetable shops. After sitting around for so many days, there was no concern for taste—anything edible and green went straight into the mix. Bitter melon, winter melon, loofah, celery, cherries, kiwifruit, watermelon, melon… roughly peeled and tossed straight into the juicer.
The resulting mixed juice was shocking in both color and taste.
Fortunately, the injured soldiers were already unconscious from their high fevers—otherwise, they probably would have vomited on the spot.
Perhaps because soldiers were generally hardier than ordinary people, after drinking the juice, most of them remained relatively stable, with only a small number showing signs of mutation.
Leaving the matter of the injured to Song Chengshu, Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe followed Commander Zhang to another separate lounge.
“Please, have a seat.” After inviting the two of them to sit, Commander Zhang got straight to the point. “Guan Hong and Li Ming mentioned in their reports that when you were clearing out the zombies, you used a kind of red explosive. I’d like to ask—was that also the result of weaponizing plants?”
“Yes,” Su Ruizhe admitted readily. “Earlier, during the search-and-rescue, we found a few cherries in someone’s home that hadn’t completely rotted yet. I converted them into cherry bombs, but we used them all up in the previous battle.”
“That’s fine, that’s fine.” Commander Zhang’s eyes lit up as he asked eagerly, “May I ask what other plants Mr. Su is able to weaponize?”
“Well…” Su Ruizhe glanced at Jiang Xuzhou somewhat awkwardly and said, “To be honest, I haven’t awakened this plant-type ability for very long, and I haven’t fully mastered how to use it yet. On top of that, the plants I’ve had access to are quite limited. So far, I’ve only converted four kinds: peas, cherries, chili peppers, and potatoes.”
“Potatoes?!” Commander Zhang perked up immediately. “What can potatoes be turned into?”
“Potatoes can be turned into land mines. You bury them underground, and if a zombie comes by and steps on one, it’ll be blown up.”
Commander Zhang pondered for a moment, feeling that land mines might have relatively limited use in actual combat, seemingly not as convenient as bombs.
He called a soldier in and told him to check whether there were any chili peppers in the storeroom and bring some over.
“One of the soldiers in our unit is from City A. He said there’s a large wholesale agricultural market nearby, which should have a considerable stock of vegetables and fruit. When we enter the city tomorrow night for the final search-and-rescue operation, we’ll send two squads to that market. Would the two of you be interested in coming along?” Commander Zhang had two reasons for this decision. One was naturally the potential suppressive effect vegetables and fruit might have on the virus; the other was that he hoped Su Ruizhe could convert more plant-based weapons, which would both improve mission safety and allow them to be taken back to the base for research.
Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe exchanged a glance, then agreed. “Of course.”
As long as it was within their ability, they wouldn’t refuse. Moreover, they also wanted to maintain a good relationship with the Fourth Army, since they planned to stay at the survivor base established by the Southern Military Region.
At that moment, the person sent to fetch chili peppers returned, holding four or five shriveled red chilies. Looking a bit embarrassed, he asked, “Company Commander, will these do?”
Commander Zhang immediately turned to Su Ruizhe.
Su Ruizhe took a look. He wasn’t entirely sure himself either, and could only say, “I’ll give it a try.”
He held the chilies in his left hand and activated his ability. Very quickly, he transformed them into red hand grenades.
Commander Zhang was overjoyed and promptly had someone collect the grenades. He was already thinking of taking two out tomorrow to test their power on zombies, while preparing to bring the rest back to hand over to Regiment Commander Jiang, so they could be studied once they returned to the base.
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