Chapter 27: Let’s Go
“A zombie?!”
As soon as she said it, Lin Xiwan realized her voice was too loud.
But she couldn’t be blamed for her outburst. Her sister’s answer was too unexpected.
And the thought of “high-level Mimic” had just crossed her mind.
Of course, this didn’t mean Lin Xiwan suspected her sister. It was just the instinctive vigilance of an experienced explorer.
“What kind of zombie? Did it communicate with you? Could it write?”
Filled with doubt, Lin Xiwan asked a few more questions.
“It was a Sprinter. It could write and communicated with me,” Lin Jiayao replied after a moment of thought.
“Tell me everything that happened that day, in detail.”
Lin Jiayao then recounted everything that happened after she left the camp: how Grandma Zhang had tried to help her escape, how the Sprinter had scared off the Blood Gang, how it had taken her to another camp, and how it had even given her some blood crystals.
She specifically mentioned the “click, click” sounds coming from the surrounding buildings while the Sprinter was pushing her wheelchair. Whenever she looked towards the source of the sound, she only saw a fleeting white shadow.
“White… ‘clicking sounds’? A bone-type evolved zombie?” Lin Xiwan’s brow relaxed slightly upon hearing her sister’s description, but then furrowed again.
“It must have been an Awakened, a control-type Awakened. We don’t have any in Yangzhou City. I’ve only heard about them on the radio,” Lin Xiwan analyzed, nodding. “Controlling two zombies simultaneously, it must be D-rank or higher… Maybe they even helped me…”
A new question arose in Lin Xiwan’s mind.
Why would a D-rank Awakened, at least, help her and her sister? Simply out of the goodness of their heart?
And even give her sister blood crystals? An apocalyptic saint?
Before the apocalypse, Lin Xiwan might have believed such a person existed. But in this apocalyptic world? She only had one thing to say—don’t be naive.
Unless they were from Donghai Province. At least, based on what she’d heard on Survivor’s Light radio, they seemed like a decent organization…
“It didn’t write much, only wrote on the ground that I shouldn’t be afraid, that it was just passing by on a mission,” Lin Jiayao said, looking into her sister’s eyes. “Then I asked it to go to Haixin District and rescue you. It didn’t say anything, just left after dropping me off at the camp.”
On a mission? Her sister had asked this unknown Awakened to rescue her?
On a mission…
Lin Xiwan’s expression flickered. She thought about the extra water bottles in the room where she had been unconscious, and the bone spike inexplicably wedged in the gate.
Could it be… someone from Survivor’s Light?
A reconnaissance team?
Impossible.
Donghai Province was almost halfway across China from Yangzhou City!
But based on the description, it was the only possibility.
Survivor’s Light radio had repeatedly stated that the purpose and sole objective of their organization was to restore the world to its pre-apocalyptic state.
They had already taken a small step—completely clearing Donghai City of zombies and establishing a base there.
They were using the radio to spread hope across this central region of China.
“Hoo…”
Lin Xiwan didn’t say anything, just pulled Lin Jiayao into a hug.
Now that she understood what had happened, she held her sister tighter, feeling a surge of fear for what she had endured.
Without that mysterious Awakened, not only her sister, but she herself might have…
As for that mysterious Awakened, she could only thank them if she ever had the chance.
Unbeknownst to Lin Xiwan, her sister, struggling slightly in her embrace, breathed a sigh of relief.
Lying to her sister had been stressful.
But it was a necessary stress.
Mainly because she herself wasn’t sure what she was now.
Was she still fully human? An Awakened? Or… a “zombie” with self-awareness?
Only the infection detectors in Donghai City could give her a definitive answer.
Now that she had abilities, she and her sister couldn’t stay here—this place was running out of resources.
If there was one place they could go, it was Donghai City in Donghai Province.
Not only had they restored some semblance of order there, but they had even started farming.
Her sister had also considered going, but she hadn’t mentioned it because of Lin Jiayao’s frail health and unsuitability for long-distance travel.
Lin Jiayao knew her sister longed for this place because her sister had brought back the high-frequency radio.
Every time she returned from a long exploration, her sister would ask her expectantly about what had been broadcast on the radio, which districts in Donghai City had been restored, and how the construction of Survivor’s Light was progressing.
Her sister only ever said she wanted to learn more about new types of zombies, but Lin Jiayao knew her true desires.
The longing in her eyes couldn’t be faked.
If they really went there, they would have to wear the infection detectors developed by Survivor’s Light.
What would the detector show for her?
A solid green bar for a normal human?
A stable yellow bar for an Awakened?
Or… a flashing red alert?
Only after she knew what she was would Lin Jiayao decide whether to tell her sister the truth.
If it showed her as an ordinary survivor, she would stay by her sister’s side, act like an ordinary person, and protect her secretly—secretly, because she couldn’t explain why she could use abilities without being an Awakened.
If it showed her as an Awakened, she would confess that she had been controlling the zombies and apologize sincerely to her sister, protecting her openly.
But if it showed red… she would tell her sister everything, regardless of whether her sister believed her or not. If she couldn’t pass the infection detector test, she would be treated as a high-level Mimic and killed. Her only choice would be to escape.
And then, like a true zombie, she would find a city far from Survivor’s Light as her nest and send zombies to protect her sister from the shadows.
Of these three outcomes, Lin Jiayao naturally preferred the second.
Only then could she openly protect her sister.
The two sisters, who only had each other, clung to each other for a long time. Finally, Lin Xiwan stroked Lin Jiayao’s head.
“Let’s go home,” Lin Xiwan said with a faint smile.
“I don’t want to go back,” Lin Jiayao said, looking up at her sister.
“Hmm?” Lin Xiwan was taken aback, thinking she had misheard.
After a moment, understanding dawned, and she said gently, “Sister will quit exploring. We don’t need to earn blood crystals for promotions anymore. I’ll take on guard duty and stay home with you, okay? I brought back a lot of blood crystals; we won’t have to worry anymore…”
Lin Xiwan thought that her being “lost” had given Lin Jiayao PTSD about the camp, so she tried to comfort her.
“The supplies in the other districts of Yangzhou, whether it’s canned food warehouses or factories, are almost depleted, aren’t they, Sister?”
Lin Jiayao sat up straight, cupped her sister’s face in her hands, and said seriously, “Let’s go to Donghai Province.”
The canned food that once supplied millions of consumers in the entire city now only needed to supply a few thousand survivors.
In the early days of the apocalypse, it had been sufficient.
But now, five years later, the canned food, which couldn’t be produced anymore, was almost gone.
Lin Xiwan looked at her serious-faced sister, her mind momentarily blank. “Huh?”
“Didn’t Sister bring back a lot of blood crystals?”
Lin Jiayao continued, “Let’s go to Dongzhou City, to Survivor’s Light.”
“We can buy a good truck with the blood crystals, fuel and supplies… Let’s go to Dongzhou City.”
Lin Jiayao spoke with such detail, as if she had been planning this for a long time.
Survivor’s Light was the best place for an Awakened like her sister.
Lin Jiayao looked at her silent sister, waiting for her answer.
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