Chapter 56: The Mystery of the Zombies

After Wang Ji left, the red-haired seductive woman and Bai Ye remained in the private room. Bai Ye forced a smile, his face uneasy. “The Genesis Society is really wealthy—ten thousand crystal cores for a single gene potion!”

The red-haired woman stood, indifferent, preparing to leave. “If he’s willing to trade, I’d pay twenty thousand crystal cores.” With that, she left Bai Ye and Cao Muhua behind, quickly departing Dinghai Tower with Wu Gang and the others.

“Chief, one thousand crystal cores sounds really expensive,” Wu Gang remarked as they made their way.

“You don’t understand. Don’t overthink it,” the red-haired woman replied, gazing out the car window at the lush scenery, a look of vague confusion in her eyes. After a while, she silently mused, “If only I’d met you earlier…”

Meanwhile, after Wang Ji got into the car, he realized he might have overreacted. He instructed Xiaoyong to drive to the rendezvous point, then shut his door and took a moment to rest, considering why Bai Ye and the red-haired woman had sought him out.

They drove swiftly for nearly half a day before arriving near an expressway entrance in TY County, where they found the platoon leader and over twenty soldiers waiting.

“How is it? Have any of the wounded mutated?” Wang Ji asked the moment he stepped out.

The platoon leader of the third infantry platoon, Meng He, was a warrior whose physical abilities had been enhanced. He wiped the sweat from his anxious face and reported, “Captain! The bitten soldier has been like this for nearly five hours. Apart from the wound not healing, everything else is normal.”

Wang Ji strode forward. “Take me to see him.”

Meng He hurriedly led Wang Ji to a building at their temporary base, into a single room, and opened the door.

Inside, by the window, sat a young soldier. Seeing Wang Ji enter, he struggled to rise and salute.

Wang Ji quickly went over and pressed him down, noticing his hands and feet were bound, a look of confusion on his face.

Sensing Wang Ji’s doubt, Meng He explained, “We weren’t sure if he’d been bitten by a zombie, so we tied him up to prevent mutation.”

“He’s one of us—no matter what, we can’t treat him like this! Just ensure proper isolation,” Wang Ji said as he untied the ropes.

The soldier gratefully rubbed his sore wrists. “Captain, don’t blame our platoon leader. I asked for it myself. I’ve seen ‘Resident Evil’—people bitten become those terrifying zombies quickly.”

Wang Ji smiled helplessly. “Don’t worry, you have me. Even if you do turn into a zombie, I’ll bring you back! Let me see where you were bitten.”

Moved to tears, the soldier raised his bitten arm and rolled up his sleeve to reveal the bandaged wound.

Wang Ji unwrapped the bandage without hesitation. Seeing the wound showed no abnormal color or odor, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t move, let me check further.”

He immediately let X-System scan it.

Finding only a minor bite wound and no infectious or latent viruses, Wang Ji smiled.

“It’s fine. He wasn’t bitten by a zombie!”

Meng He was still uncertain. “Captain, are you sure? That humanoid monster really looked like a zombie.”

The wounded soldier looked to Wang Ji with hope.

Wang Ji nodded with absolute certainty. “I guarantee it wasn’t a zombie bite—just a normal wound. Rest assured, I would never gamble with everyone’s lives.”

“Thank goodness! Thank you, Captain!” The injured soldier breathed a sigh of relief.

“Very well, rest and keep your wound bandaged.” Wang Ji turned to Meng He. “Report the details of where the zombie was found.”

An hour later, after hearing Meng He’s account of their local encounters, Wang Ji judged that this zombie was probably not acting alone—there was likely a bigger threat behind it.

Wang Ji summoned the nearest recon squad.

As night approached, the recon squad arrived at Wang Ji’s location in their newly equipped armored reconnaissance vehicle. Four recon soldiers disembarked and reported to him.

“Captain! Recon Squad Four reporting—all present! Awaiting orders!”

Wang Ji glanced approvingly at the armored vehicle. “How many drones does the vehicle carry?”

“Reporting, Captain—fully loaded with fifty drones, all ready!”

“Excellent. Rest here tonight; tomorrow, we move out together.”

...

Beep—beep—beep

Inside the quiet temporary base tent, the occasional low signal sounded.

Wang Ji and his team had arrived near where Meng He’s group had previously found the suspected zombie. After setting up camp, the recon squad launched all their drones, leaving one soldier to monitor, while the other three headed east.

In the makeshift monitoring tent, several monitors displayed the drones’ camera feeds. The recon soldier watched intently.

Suddenly, a tattered black figure flashed across one drone’s lens. The soldier shuddered, zoomed in, and began to track it.

“Just as expected! Finally found you, little rat!” He smiled quietly, keeping the drone locked on the shadow, while directing other drones to assist nearby.

On screen, the shadow staggered quickly along the road, weaving through abandoned buildings. Suddenly, it stopped and looked to the side.

The recon soldier followed with the camera and shouted, “Notify the captain! Target sighted!”

Within thirty seconds, Wang Ji was at the computer. “What did you find?”

The recon soldier pointed to the humanoid monster fighting a normal mutated dog. “Look, this zombie seems to feel no pain and can detect hidden living beings from dozens of meters away—its sense of smell or infrared detection must be exceptional.”

The humanoid monster ignored its injuries, killed the beast, hoisted it onto its shoulder, and walked away.

Wang Ji’s eyes lit up. “Follow it with the drone! Deploy other drones to search every corner in that direction! Also, inform the others to move closer. Be careful not to alert it.”

“Roger, Captain.” The recon soldier expertly opened the map, set the drone tracking route, and put on his headset.

“03 calling! 03 calling! Anomaly detected in B4-3 area—please investigate nearby. Watch for activity in BN direction.”

“01 received! Over!”

“02 received!”

“04 received!”

“B3 received—moving to search formation in designated area.”

With communications established, the efficiency of joint operations increased dramatically. The addition of drone reconnaissance had greatly enhanced the combat capability of Wang Ji’s independent company.

The drones tracked the humanoid east for over an hour, along the way spotting more and more humanoid monsters dragging their trophies eastward.

With all drones deployed, more humanoid monsters kept appearing. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Wang Ji ordered the third infantry platoon to return to base, while the recon squad assembled and continued tracking with the drones.

The computer screens showed hundreds of zombie-like creatures, each dragging corpses—beasts and humans alike.

“Captain! We're nearly fifty kilometers out; drone signals are unstable and some are running low on power,” the recon soldier called.

Wang Ji watched the hundreds of zombie figures onscreen, his expression grave. “Keep tracking. Whatever it takes, find their lair!”

The recon soldier gritted his teeth, organized the drones, recalled the ones with low power for charging, and kept a portion locked on the targets.

After nearly a hundred kilometers of pursuit, they finally made a discovery.

Wang Ji stared unblinkingly at the flickering display. The drone signal was nearing its limit, shakily flying above a horde of zombie monsters. Ahead, a cylindrical brown structure appeared on screen.

The building stood thirty meters tall, entirely brown and cylindrical, with smooth, seemingly metallic walls punctuated by windows and openings.

Around the base, giants standing over three meters tall gathered—horrifying monsters stitched together from corpses. Lines of humanoid zombies dragged corpses into ground-level openings, emerging empty handed elsewhere, while more new zombie monsters poured out of the building.

The sight rendered the tent silent.

“Zoom in on the building—closer!” Wang Ji directed the recon soldier to bring the drone within ten meters.

The stitched-together monsters below seemed to sense the drone and hurled their heads back with chilling howls.

Suddenly, a dark object shot from a circular window in the brown cylinder, striking the drone dead center.

The feed in the tent abruptly cut out. The recon soldier caught his breath. “Captain, should we continue investigating?”

Wang Ji shook his head. “Deploy drones for surveillance fifty kilometers out in that direction. Withdraw everyone for now—we need to plan carefully.”

“No wonder the surrounding hundred kilometers are deserted—not even a dog is left, all snatched by this terrifying presence!” Wang Ji reviewed the scene in his mind, quickly making a decision.

“That’s at least a high-level elite leader!” Now planning anew, he realized the third trial’s deadline was approaching—this was a promising target.

“Definitely better than facing that terrifying gorilla!” Wang Ji muttered.

He grabbed his tablet, swiftly mobilizing the independent company’s forces, preparing for a major operation.