Chapter 29: A Spark of Hope
Though carrying another person, Lin Xiwan’s steps were light.
Even the familiar road back to the camp seemed welcoming.
10km was an easy distance for a physically enhanced Awakened.
But to avoid jostling her sister too much, Lin Xiwan slowed her pace, taking over thirty minutes to reach the resort camp.
Though 10km in thirty minutes was a slow jog for her, before the emergence of Awakened, it would have been considered an elite athlete’s pace.
However, this time, returning to the camp, Lin Xiwan sensed something was amiss.
Most of the camp residents looked at Lin Jiayao on her back with disbelief.
And before Lin Xiwan could reach her former room, she saw several people standing in the middle of the road, seemingly waiting for her.
“Team Leader Lin, welcome back,” Wang Yi, the leader, said with a forced smile.
Then, his expression turned puzzled. “What happened to Little Zhang…?”
“He’s dead. Killed by the people from the Haixin District camp. I barely escaped.” Lin Xiwan kept it brief. “Could you move aside? I need to take my sister back to our room.”
“Of course, of course.” Wang Yi nodded, making way, but continued to follow her. “Your sister… was she rescued?”
Wang Yi was clearly wary.
He had been waiting for Lin Xiwan, but he hadn’t expected to see someone who should have been dead on her back.
It made him uneasy.
Two years ago, Survivor’s Light radio had reported an incident where a high-level Mimic had infiltrated a camp’s leadership and destroyed an entire district.
That incident had been a devastating blow to Survivor’s Light, even increasing the frequency of their recruitment calls on the radio.
And even Donghai Province didn’t have the ability to directly identify high-level Mimics, relying instead on infection detectors and human observation for comparison.
Mimics could control their blood flow and store different DNA in their wrists, making identification by detector alone unreliable.
Comparison was necessary. If an ordinary person evolved into an Awakened, they could observe their abilities.
But an Awakened couldn’t revert back to being an ordinary person; that would be a sure sign of a Mimic.
And most importantly, Mimics could only use abilities derived from zombie evolutions, making it easier to identify them among Awakened. Ordinary people were harder to distinguish.
Mimics could also release pheromones to provoke zombie attacks, so testing with ordinary Biters was also unreliable.
After that incident, the entire leadership of Survivor’s Light had been replaced with Awakened to prevent infiltration by high-level Mimics.
If even Survivor’s Light in Donghai Province struggled with this, smaller camps had no hope of distinguishing between humans and Mimics.
From his perspective, Wang Yi naturally didn’t want to let Lin Xiwan’s sister into the camp. He couldn’t be sure.
“An Awakened from Donghai Province saved my sister. They might have saved my life too.”
“Oh…” Wang Yi nodded slowly.
Lin Xiwan’s explanation was a bit far-fetched, but Wang Yi could only pretend to believe her.
He needed Lin Xiwan’s help.
“What’s the situation in Haixin District?” he asked.
“There’s only one camp in Haixin District, small, but with plenty of supplies. But because of the high population density before the apocalypse, there are also more zombies now, generally more evolved than those in Baiyan District.”
Lin Xiwan knew reporting was necessary, so she told Wang Yi the information directly.
“Mm…” Wang Yi nodded, then asked after a moment, “How strong is that camp?”
“It might have been destroyed already. I didn’t see any camp members when I escaped.” Lin Xiwan stopped in front of her room and turned to Wang Yi. “Can we talk in a few days? My sister is tired, and so am I.”
“Of course, rest well, take two days off.” Wang Yi nodded kindly. “But remember to come to the meeting in two days. I’m planning to relocate the camp to Haixin District, and I want you to lead the advance team to clear an area for the new camp.”
Lin Xiwan could feel her sister burying her face in her back.
“It’s alright, we can talk now.” Not wanting her sister to worry, Lin Xiwan looked at Wang Yi and said directly, “I’m planning to leave the camp.”
“Leave? Why? To Hengyang or the military base? What conditions did they offer?” Wang Yi frowned, then said, “I can assure you, even if something happens to you, I’ll take care of your sister like family for the rest of her life.”
“I’m leaving Yangzhou City,” Lin Xiwan said, looking directly at Wang Yi, “to Donghai Province.”
Lin Xiwan’s words stunned not only Wang Yi, but also the two other Awakened behind him.
“Are you crazy? Do you know how dangerous the road is?” Wang Yi’s smile finally disappeared. “Do you know we have to pass through the Voodoo Cult’s territory?”
The Voodoo Cult was a new religious group that had emerged after the apocalypse. They carved a “V” onto their foreheads or faces, short for “voodoo.”
Their thinking was completely different from normal people. Their creed was to do as they pleased, to oppose the mainstream.
Whatever Survivor’s Light supported, they opposed. If others wanted to live, they would kill them. If others wanted to die, they would keep them alive by any means necessary. Criminals and traitors, shunned by everyone else, were their honored guests.
They were lunatics, in some ways even worse than the gangs who simply looted and killed.
And they occupied a territory that was on the only route from Yangzhou City to Donghai Province.
Taking a detour through the deeper inland areas would be a suicide mission.
“That area is no longer habitable. The only park is overrun with zombies,” Lin Xiwan shook her head. “Yangzhou City can no longer support human life.”
Although Haixin District still had supplies, it couldn’t accommodate a large number of people like this camp.
Transporting supplies back would be a long journey, and the roads in the city were mostly blocked, with only a few narrow paths passable.
Most importantly, almost all the major resource points there were guarded by mutated zombies. Without Zhang Mu’s eyes, fighting them was impossible.
Although Wang Yi was a C-rank Awakened, his ability was healing-related. He couldn’t fight on the front lines.
“Is it really that uninhabitable?” Wang Yi asked again, unwilling to give up.
“When I was escaping, it was difficult to find even a small place to rest,” Lin Xiwan said truthfully.
Wang Yi clenched and unclenched his fists before letting them fall.
“Alright, I’ll see if I can unite the other two camps and clear a path for vehicles… Can you mark the resource points for me? Thank you.”
“Of course.” Lin Xiwan nodded.
She didn’t try to persuade Wang Yi to leave.
Everyone had their own reasons for living. Wang Yi’s goal was simple: to protect his family, his relatives, nothing more.
Lin Xiwan’s thoughts were also simple: she lived for two things, her sister and hope.
Hope that the world could return to normal.
Although many Awakened wouldn’t admit it, this was the deepest desire of most conscientious Awakened.
With great power comes great responsibility.
And this tiny spark of hope was carefully guarded by an organization composed of countless hopeful individuals, broadcasting their message day after day through the intermittent radio waves, reaching out to all those who still clung to the same hope in this desolate world.
See?
We are still shining.
So please, keep living.
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