—The Blue Sea exploration team was carefully making their way through a dense forest.
The Safe City had landed in a quiet valley. They had been walking for quite some time, occasionally spotting animals darting past, but they had yet to encounter a single intelligent lifeform.
The commander-in-chief’s radio suddenly crackled to life:
“Command, Command! This is Vanguard Recon Team 2! We’ve discovered a village at the foot of the mountain—around a hundred houses. There’s no smoke coming from the chimneys. There appear to be dried bloodstains on the ground. We can see figures moving, but we can’t clearly identify them. Requesting instructions. Over!”
Before the commander-in-chief could respond, a bishop in blue robes was escorted over.
“Commander.”
“Your Eminence.”
The two exchanged brief greetings, and the Blue-robed Bishop immediately got to the point:
“The Divine has delivered an oracle. There is impurity in this place. A curse capable of spreading between living beings is present here. It is extremely horrifying.”
The commander-in-chief frowned and turned to look at the soldiers behind him.
“If the curse can spread from person to person, then with so many of us gathered here, we could be overwhelmed in an instant!”
The Blue-robed Bishop waved a hand.
“If we were caught off guard, we would certainly fall victim to it. But Blue Sea is under the protection of the Divine. Now that we know about the impurity, we can naturally make preparations in advance.”
At his signal, hooded priests carried over crate after crate of medical supplies.
When the boxes were opened, they were found to contain sets of protective suits.
The Bishop placed a hand over his chest.
“We give thanks to the Divine. We brought a sufficient number of tactical protective suits.”
“The impurity may spread through any possible route. Until we determine its method of transmission, all soldiers are to wear protective suits. Avoid injuries and exposed wounds as much as possible. Unless absolutely necessary, do not come into close contact with any local flora or fauna. Only consume the food and water we brought with us. If anyone displays symptoms of illness, they are to be isolated immediately.”
The commander-in-chief nodded without hesitation.
“Understood. I’ll immediately order everyone to put on protective suits.”
…What?
Are you questioning how contagious it is? Worried that protective suits might make combat more difficult?
This is a divine oracle!
Any citizen of Blue Sea would act swiftly and obediently when faced with a divine oracle.
At the same time, the commander-in-chief issued orders to all the vanguard teams:
“Do not make close contact with any local plants or animals. As for those so-called ‘locals’ you’ve seen—do not approach them! Maintain a minimum distance of 200 meters. Cover your mouth and nose. Properly bandage all exposed wounds. Even the smallest scratch must be tightly covered! Everyone is to remain where they are. I’ll send personnel to deliver protective suits to you!”
“Second Vanguard Team, drone unit, report immediately.”
The members of the Second Vanguard Team looked somewhat regretfully at the village at the foot of the mountain.
“Ah, so we’re stuck here on standby now. I thought Command would send us in to make contact. That would’ve been a major merit!”
“Yeah,” another member agreed regretfully as he wiped down his gun while staring at the distant village.
“It actually looks pretty nice here. Fresh air, lush vegetation… seems like a good place to build a new home. It doesn’t look like a God-abandoned land at all.”
The team leader, holding a pair of binoculars, frowned.
“Stop talking. The oracle was clear—do whatever Command says. There’s something strange about these locals. Not approaching them is the right decision.”
The deputy team leader also raised his binoculars.
“Captain, what did you notice?”
“Look closely. They’re constantly moving around, as if they never get tired. Who walks in circles around a village nonstop like that? And look—the crops in the fields have fallen over, gone moldy, and turned black. Don’t tell me these locals actually eat spoiled grain?”
After lowering the binoculars, the captain thought for a moment before cautiously adding:
“I can’t say for sure, though. This might be an alien planet, after all. Maybe aliens are simply different from us. Maybe they like eating moldy crops and walking around endlessly.”
Human beings and animals didn’t even share the same habits.
Maybe alien species simply had… unique preferences?
“Let’s wait for the drone unit. Once we send up the drones, we’ll know right away.”
—The drone unit soon arrived, dressed in tactical protective suits and gas masks.
“In the name of the Divine!”
The Second Vanguard Team leader immediately responded, “Blue Sea endures forever!”
With the password confirmed, twelve members of the drone unit, carrying heavy equipment, quickly approached.
“We brought protective suits for you. Put them on.”
By the time the vanguard team had finished putting on their protective gear, two drones had already taken off.
There was no small talk between the two groups. The drone unit had already opened a black suitcase, which unfolded into an integrated screen and control panel.
As the drones flew, live footage was transmitted back to the screen.
The view swept through forests, crossed rivers, and eventually reached the village. The people below seemed to notice the drones as well and began moving toward them.
The operator adjusted the controls and said, “The image isn’t very clear. I’ll fly lower.”
The team leader replied, “Approved.”
The drone continued descending, and the figures on the ground finally became clearly visible on the screen.
Everyone drew a sharp breath.
Most of them had pale, bluish-white faces. Some had already begun to rot, while others were missing arms or legs. Some had lost half their face, with an eyeball still hanging from the socket along with bits of flesh clinging to their cheek.
In the footage, none of them had pupils. Their mouths repeatedly opened and closed. Their fingernails were long and black. They stretched out their arms and let out inhuman, raspy howls as they tried to grab the drone hovering overhead.
“Creator God above!”
“What are these things?!”
“Those people… are they digging up corpses and eating the flesh? They’re pulling out intestines… the intestines are coming out… ugh—!!”
Hearing the commotion, the drone unit leader looked up. When he saw that it was someone from his own team, his expression immediately darkened—though, of course, no one could see it beneath the gas mask.
“Rookie, don’t vomit inside your gas mask. Hold it in!”
The rookie quickly looked away and forced himself to suppress the urge to vomit.
The Vanguard Team leader had also glanced over. Seeing that it wasn’t someone from her own team, she relaxed slightly. Just as she was about to continue watching, a rookie from her team suddenly spoke up:
“Team Leader, you were right. If the locals look like this, maybe they really do eat moldy crops!”
The Vanguard Team leader snapped, “Are you blind?! The locals obviously didn’t look like this at first! Didn’t the oracle say there was impurity here? They must have been infected by it and turned into this!”
The moment she said that, everyone—whether from the vanguard team or the drone unit—quietly tightened their protective suits and checked their gas masks to make sure they were properly sealed.
The people of Blue Sea weren’t afraid of fighting, but if they became infected and ended up like that, they would rather die.
The Vanguard Team leader pressed a hand against her gas mask.
“Report this to Command first, then wait for instructions.”
The drone unit leader also gave an order: “We don’t need this drone here anymore. Send it to the surrounding areas and see if we can observe anything else.”
After the drone climbed higher, they could see several other drones rising from the far side of the mountain. Other drone teams were also carrying out their missions.
The once-silent mountain was now filled with activity. The buzzing of drones echoed everywhere, and the footage being transmitted back left every drone team in silence.
“Oh Divine… what is this? It’s terrifying!”
“Perhaps only the great Creator God knows what these… monsters are…”
And the Creator God was indeed watching the footage.
“Zombies?”
Chang Qisheng stared at the creatures dragging their decaying bodies as they chased after the drones and fell into deep thought.
In the chat group, “Coriander” was crying his heart out.
[I sent 20 people to scout, and only 3 came back!]
[Wuwuwuwu… thank goodness I’d seen similar movies in my original world. I quarantined the survivors, or we would’ve been wiped out completely.]
[@Withered Star Safe City Thank you, boss! You saved my life! Boss, my residents brought back three nuclear crystals from the mission. This is everything I have—please don’t despise it!]
The Coriander Safe City transferred three nuclear crystals to the Withered Star Safe City.
Cheng Qisheng blinked.
Coriander had sent out a team and actually gotten three nuclear crystals back?
Where had the nuclear crystals come from?
Could it be like in certain movie settings, where they were hidden inside zombies’ heads? If so, things would be much simpler.
Withered Star accepted the crystals and replied:
[If you have wood, build an isolation facility first.]
It was cold and detached, but it contained the key information.
[Coriander Safe City: Okay okay, thank you boss for the reminder! I’ll immediately arrange for the residents to build an isolation facility! Wuwuwuwu I have no manpower and barely any weapons. Why did I end up in such a dangerous world as my second world? I only have a little over twenty guns in total! Is my AI brain actually just artificial stupidity?! Wuwuwuwu!]
[Cosmic Lord Safe City: Coriander, acknowledge me as your leader. I’ll send people to protect you.]
That tone made its intentions blatantly obvious.
It practically had “give me your coordinates so I can come eliminate you” written all over its face.
Coriander seemed stunned that the “Cosmic Lord” would treat him like such an idiot. After two minutes of silence, he cautiously replied:
[Coriander Safe City: …Thank you, boss, but it’s okay. I’ll try to survive on my own. If necessary, I’ll just hide like a turtle and never go outside again. Wuwuwu.]
Being targeted by the Cosmic Lord wasn’t entirely a bad thing—at the very least, its rival, “Meow Meow,” would definitely appear because of it.
[Meow Meow Safe City: Human! You’re quite smart! Meow will comfort you! You’re not even the unluckiest one, meow—there’s a pure newbie in our group who got dropped into this world on their very first arrival, meow! That newbie is the truly unlucky one!]
[Coriander Safe City: Thank you, Boss Meow Meow. I really do feel much better now. At least I’m not a complete newbie—I still have some experience. A pure newbie must be having a much harder time!]
The “pure newbie” Cheng Qisheng: ……
A zombie world was indeed dangerous.
But she glanced at her Safe City.
During the relocation, Qin Zhi had ordered that even if everything and everyone had to be packed in so tightly that there wasn’t even room to stand, they still had to bring as many critical resources as possible—and that naturally included the national armory.
It could be said that the armory alone accounted for at least 30% of the Safe City’s current overcrowding.
Cheng Qisheng didn’t even know how Qin Zhi had managed to move an entire armory into the Safe City in such a short amount of time.
But it didn’t matter. The Creator God didn’t need to understand the process—she only needed to enjoy the result.
——Her gaze swept across the interior.
Bayonets, pistols, rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers……
Military helmets, bulletproof vests, tactical backpacks, night-vision devices, binoculars, rangefinders, radios, walkie-talkies……
Armored vehicles of every type, off-road trucks, mortars, missiles, rocket artillery vehicles, communication command vehicles, military drones……
There were also various military supplies, battlefield medical equipment, special combat-readiness materials, as well as aerial weaponry such as armed helicopters, fighter jets, and all kinds of airborne ammunition.
Taken together, all of it made one thing unmistakably clear:
This was the war reserve arsenal of a major nation.
In the chat group, Coriander was still sympathizing with her.
[Poor newbie, hasn’t said a word. First time arriving and already ending up in such a dangerous place—she must be terrified right now @Unnamed Safe City. I don’t have much I can help you with either, so I’ll send you some wood! You can at least use it to build a fence. It should give you a little more security.]
The jellyfish AI spoke up:
[City Lord, Coriander Safe City is sending you 1 ton of hardwood. Accept transfer?]
Cheng Qisheng looked at the message, then at the fully packed arsenal, then at the citizens of Blue Sea who were currently throwing themselves into construction with such intensity that they looked as though they wanted to raise the defensive walls all the way into the sky.
Thanks… but she actually felt pretty safe right now.
Really.