My Cherry Will Explode in the Apocalypse – CH78

Chapter 78: Courting Death

Zhan Yun gave a faint, inscrutable smile and did not answer Qian Fugui’s question directly. Instead, he brought up a completely unrelated topic. “Have you noticed? It’s been getting windy these past couple of days.”

“Yeah. Could it be that autumn is finally coming?” Qian Fugui laughed. He was very good at reading people’s expressions and knew what should and shouldn’t be asked, so he smoothly went along with Zhan Yun’s change of subject.

“No. Winter is coming,” Zhan Yun said gravely. This, in fact, was one of the reasons they were in such a hurry to look for a level-four zombie.

Ever since the apocalypse broke out, people had been living in temperatures above forty degrees Celsius every day. Even at night, the temperature often stayed above thirty-five degrees. Prolonged extreme heat had led to severe drought and the death of large numbers of plants; it was now difficult to see any greenery outdoors. But in the past few days, the sudden winds had brought a slight drop in temperature, leading people to speculate that the seasons might finally be changing. Some were even happy that the weather was at last becoming cooler.

However, Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe knew very clearly that this was a sign that a harsh winter was approaching. The post-apocalyptic climate was extremely brutal, with only two seasons: extreme heat and extreme cold. Spring and autumn seemed to have vanished from the world entirely. Unlike ordinary people, they were not optimistic. They knew that the arrival of winter was not good news for humanity—indeed, cold winters were even more unfavorable to human survival than scorching summers.

In Su Ruizhe’s memories, the winters of the apocalypse were truly frigid, with temperatures dropping to minus thirty degrees Celsius. Without proper protection, a person could freeze into an icicle within ten minutes. But because the apocalypse had begun in summer and had been followed by prolonged extreme heat, people had never had the awareness or opportunity to prepare winter supplies. As a result, during the first winter after the apocalypse, countless people would die.

Zombies, as walking corpses, did not fear the cold at all. They continued to follow their instincts and search for food, and high-level zombies could even control those of lower levels. Thus, during winter, zombie sieges on human settlements were even more likely to occur.

In Su Ruizhe’s memory, it was precisely during this winter that one base was destroyed. By the time he heard about it, it was already several years into the apocalypse. That base had been gone for years, and no one even remembered its name—only that more than a hundred thousand people had died, and that the cause of it all was a single level-four zombie.

A zombie that could reach level four in the early days of the apocalypse was practically on par with a Zombie King. After that base fell, the zombie directly evolved to level five and launched a massive zombie tide to attack the next base.

All the major bases were gripped by an overwhelming sense of crisis and urgently mobilized many powerful ability users to provide??, but they only went to their deaths. In the end, it was the capital base that used weapons of mass destruction to flatten both the zombie and the entire city. The number of casualties in that battle was beyond counting.

After being reborn, Su Ruizhe had kept this matter on his mind all along. When he first returned after his rebirth, his ability had already reached early level three. After accumulating strength for some time, he had now faintly touched the threshold of level four. He believed that, together with Zhan Yun and the others, they might already have the ability to fight that level-four zombie.

That was why they had asked Qian Fugui to help gather information about level-four zombies. They had to kill that zombie as soon as possible to prevent the chain of tragedies that would otherwise follow. The crystal core of that level-four zombie would also be perfect for Su Ruizhe’s upgrade.

“Winter, huh… looks like I should start stockpiling some winter supplies,” Qian Fugui said, rubbing his round chin, showing not the slightest doubt about Zhan Yun’s judgment.

“Sure. If you get your hands on anything good, remember to save some for us.”

“No problem, no problem,” Qian Fugui agreed readily.

Just then, they suddenly heard the blare of an alarm echoing through the base.

Zhan Yun frowned when he heard it. Something must have happened over at the base.

He immediately stood up and headed outside. Su Ruizhe took out two vials of detoxifier and handed them to Qian Fugui before following him—this had been the agreed-upon payment from the start. Items like detoxifiers and ability potions were sold in limited quantities to the outside world, but for Zhan Yun and his group, obtaining them was easy.

“Many thanks, many thanks,” Qian Fugui said, carefully putting the items away as he watched Zhan Yun and the others leave.

Zheng Jiahe and Yu Dongdong were halfway through eating their watermelon when they saw Zhan Yun and the others leave. They hurriedly swallowed a few big bites and chased after them. Cheng Jiao and Wu Jing, who had been browsing the stalls outside, also immediately put down what they were holding and followed along when they saw them come out.

The group ran quickly in the direction from which the alarm was sounding, and on the way they ran into Xu Sihan and Zhao Bing’s group. After arriving at the Southern Base, Zhao Bing’s team had been incorporated into the Law Enforcement Brigade, responsible for internal security within the base under Xu Sihan’s command.

“Where did something happen?” Zhan Yun asked after nodding to Xu Sihan and Zhao Bing.

“It should be the research center,” Xu Sihan said gravely. “Only the research center and the base warehouse would trigger a base-wide alarm, and judging by the direction of the sound, it should be the research center.”

Hearing this, everyone immediately quickened their pace. The research center was the most heavily guarded location in the Southern Base. After all, the formulas and finished products of the detoxifier and ability potion were all stored there. If something went wrong, it would have a very negative impact on the base.

They soon arrived at the base headquarters. After swiping their ID cards, they entered the building, then took the internal elevator down to Basement Level Two. Passing through two security gates and biometric verification, they reached the exterior of the research center.

Because the alarm system had been triggered, the research center was now in full lockdown. All passages and gates had been sealed. Jiang Xuzhou was leading several hundred fully armed soldiers who had surrounded the outer perimeter of the research center. When he saw Zhan Yun’s group arrive together with Xu Sihan, he immediately waved them over.

Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe stepped forward at once and asked, “Regimental Commander Jiang, what’s the situation?”

“Someone has broken into the research center. Although nothing abnormal showed up on the surveillance, the infrared alarm was triggered,” Jiang Xuzhou said, then paused before continuing. “I suspect it’s an ability user who can turn invisible.”

Zhan Yun nodded in agreement. “Is there a solution right now?”

Jiang Xuzhou nodded. “After the alarm was triggered, the defense system activated automatically. All rooms and corridors in the research center have been sealed off. That person is definitely trapped inside. I’ve already sent people to fetch thermal imaging equipment and sprayers. We should be able to find them very soon.”

“That’s good.”

Before long, the thermal imager and the fogging sprayers were brought over. The thermal imager could scan designated areas from a certain distance. Even if the intruder could turn invisible, they would still be revealed under thermal imaging. Once the target room was identified, they could add powder to the sprayers and spray it into the room, making the invisible person impossible to hide.

With both methods used together, they quickly located the intruder’s hiding place. This person’s luck was extremely bad. He had probably followed a researcher or base staff member into the research center while invisible. However, there were concealed infrared alarms at the entrance—one person swiped their card, but two entered, and the alarm was triggered immediately. All rooms and corridors were sealed at once, trapping him in the outermost corridor of the research center, where he ran around in a panic like an ant on a hot pan.

Through the ventilation system, they blew the powder from the sprayers into the corridor. The white powder quickly outlined the shape of a person in the air.

Realizing that he had been exposed, the man simply canceled his invisibility. He grabbed a staff member slumped in the corner, holding an egg-shaped hand grenade in his hand. The safety pin had already been pulled, and his thumb was pressed tightly against the spoon—once he let go, the grenade would explode.

“Let me out! Or I’ll set off the grenade! You and this entire research center will die with me!” the man shouted arrogantly, his eyes bulging with agitation.

The staff member he was using as a human shield was likely the person he had followed all the way in. After the alarm sounded, he had knocked that person unconscious, and now was using him as a hostage.

Because the staff member was unconscious, his head hung low, and his face couldn’t be seen clearly. Now that he was dragged in front of the intruder, everyone realized—it was actually Dr. Yang.

Whether for Dr. Yang’s life or for the vital data in the research center and the safety of the dozens of people inside, they could not allow this man to detonate the grenade.

Gritting his teeth, Jiang Xuzhou gave the order, “Everyone stand back. Open the main door…”

The gate at the entrance of the research center finally opened. The man’s face twisted into a triumphant smile as he held the unconscious Dr. Yang and walked step by step toward the exit.

Just as he was about to leave the research center, a hand suddenly appeared out of thin air and grabbed his left hand—the one holding the grenade.

The man was instantly terrified. He let go of Dr. Yang and tried to use his right hand to pry away the inexplicable hand.

Bang! Bang! Two gunshots rang out. His right hand and left leg were each hit by a bullet. He screamed and collapsed to the ground, but his left hand was still firmly pinned down by that mysterious hand.

Su Ruizhe jogged forward, took a handful of nuts from his pocket, condensed them into a giant nut, and slowly transformed it into a square blast-proof container—the kind of tool often used by bomb disposal teams to contain explosives.

The grenade exploded the moment it was placed inside the blast-proof container, but it caused no harmful consequences.

Jiang Xuzhou waved his hand, and a young soldier immediately stepped forward, washed the powder off the man’s face with water, then took out a camera and snapped a photo of him. They prepared to search the system to see if they could identify who this person was.

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