ebookland Chapter 347 - 296: The Mad Edge Squad
Chapter 347 - 296: The Mad Edge Squad
"On behalf of Celestial Horse Island, I welcome you!"
Zhang Su greeted Xie Yanshan warmly. Nowadays, his desire for "brains" outweighed his need for "brawn." He smiled and said, "I’ve heard from Pan Guoliang that your scientific research capabilities surpass those of Li Zhaohua. We hope you will contribute greatly to Celestial Horse Island!"
One would have expected Xie Yanshan to respond enthusiastically, but instead, he showed a troubled expression.
Confused, Zhang Su asked, "Mr. Xie, is there a problem?"
"Mr. Zhang, to be honest... sigh, let’s not talk about my abilities. All equipment and experimental data have been completely destroyed. I fear I may disappoint you. You may not know..."
According to Xie Yanshan, even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice; conducting research requires various instruments and equipment. The Cyan Dragon Corps was lucky to find a hidden secret laboratory in the mountains, otherwise, they couldn’t have set up a lab at all.
"So that’s how it is!" Zhang Su gently patted Xie Yanshan’s shoulder and said, "Don’t worry, we also have scientists researching zombies on Celestial Horse Island. You can exchange ideas with them later. As for instruments and equipment, we will find them slowly; there will always be a way!"
"After all, the most important equipment is this."
Zhang Su pointed to his own head.
"Thank you for your faith in me, Mr. Zhang. I will certainly do my best. Um... but first, could you find me a pair of glasses with a prescription of fourteen hundred diopters?"
"Fourteen hundred diopters..."
Zhang Su scratched his head. Previously, his vision was around one hundred diopters and he didn’t need glasses. After his vision improved, the world became clear, making it hard for him to grasp what fourteen hundred diopters meant. He shrugged and said, "I’ll try my best. This prescription might be hard to find, so let’s start with a lower prescription for now."
"Alright, alright, I’ll appreciate any help, Mr. Zhang."
Politely, Xie Yanshan thanked Zhang Su.
"Um, Mr. Xie, I wanted to ask, what exactly happened with that explosion? And are there any materials or equipment inside the lab worth salvaging?"
As Zhang Su saw Xie Yanshan attempting to climb up, he grabbed him and asked.
"Explosion..." Xie Yanshan instinctively tried to push his glasses with his wrist, realized there was nothing on the bridge of his nose to push, and shook his head, saying, "Li Zhaohua went mad..."
Then, Xie Yanshan narrated the events before the explosion.
The night before yesterday, the situation was tense. Commander Ma Juguang ordered their Edge Squad to release the modified zombie, 004. Four members of the Edge Squad, along with a core member of the Operations Department, rushed into the command center’s underground secret base to release 004.
At that time, there were three Edge Squad researchers on duty in the secret base. Once 004 gained freedom, it immediately crashed into the wall, killing two people. The others saw the chaos outside and decided to hide in the lab, as they had enough supplies stored to survive for nearly a week.
At that time, no one was worried because what happened outside wasn’t really their concern, and the lab’s strong defense system ensured they could rest easy temporarily.
If the corps eventually crushed the zombie horde and won, they could go out later. If the zombie horde overran the Cyan Dragon Corps, they would stay holed up in the lab. If a week’s time wasn’t enough, they could last for two weeks. By that time, the zombies would likely scatter or move toward another target, allowing them to escape safely.
However, just as they chose to keep things unchanged, something unexpected happened.
"Mr. Zhang, you probably already know our Edge Squad’s mission. The lab stored a batch of Zombie Transformation Liquid. Starting this morning, Li Zhaohua planned to use the liquid for human experimentation, naturally, no one would cooperate with such madness."
"Eventually, Li Zhaohua decided to experiment on himself. By the time someone found out, he had already injected three vials of Zombie Transformation Liquid. The colleague who discovered this immediately tried to stop Li Zhaohua, but he was already exhibiting abnormal characteristics, extremely manic emotions, and instantly struck the colleague aside."
"Seeing the bad situation, we hurriedly approached to try to subdue Li Zhaohua. Unfortunately, his strength was too great, even combined, we were not his match. Amid the chaos, I saw Li Zhaohua inject himself with two more vials of Transformation Liquid..."
Listening to this, Zhang Su frowned deeply and asked, "Isn’t... this Transformation Liquid designed for zombies or humans? Why did it work on Li Zhaohua?"
Xie Yanshan’s expression showed helplessness. His cloudy eyes stared at the sky, as he sighed and said, "Although it’s called Zombie Transformation Liquid, it actually... alters someone still at the human stage. Once they truly become zombies, there’s no noticeable effect so far, or maybe when it’s further perfected..."
"What?"
Pan Guoliang exclaimed, interrupting Xie Yanshan. He stood at the edge of the pit, stunned, "So... you’re using living people for transformation?"
"To be precise, we modify humans in the process of zombification. Even without transformation experiments, those people will ultimately turn into zombies and be killed... During the stage of zombification, the human body’s various indicators, including cellular activity, can reach unprecedented peaks, surpassing human limits, which is the best time for transformation!"
"Under the stimulation of the Transformation Liquid, during the process of human zombification, many possibilities for mutations can occur. From our records, so far none of the experimental targets have shown identical mutation forms!"
After hearing Xie Yanshan’s words, Zhang Su reflected in silence. The actions of the Edge Squad naturally violated human ethics, but many developments throughout history have been built on sacrifices. He didn’t wish to preach like a hypocritical "Holy Mother," nor act as a benevolent savior to stop these deeds, because he was the living King Yama...
After a moment, he asked, "Why are you creating mutated zombies? Is it to use them as weapons like 003?"
"No, 003 is merely a relatively successful version among failures. Our goal is to create zombie soldiers obedient to humans."
As the topic was openly discussed, there was no point in hiding any secrets, so Xie Yanshan revealed the Edge Squad’s secrets completely.
While few were aware that the Survivor Alliance also used living people for zombie experiments, and thus weren’t as shocked, the rest of Celestial Horse Island’s members looked at each other, realizing the fine line between madness and genius. These warriors focused merely on fighting zombies, while scientists had begun researching how to create zombies that would serve humanity!
"That doesn’t make sense though. Li Zhaohua must not have been bitten when he entered the underground lab, so injecting the Transformation Liquid himself shouldn’t have worked, right?"
Zhang Su noticed a flaw and asked.
"Mr. Zhang, do you think our lab would lack the... virus used for zombification? Though that substance isn’t exactly like a virus."
Xie Yanshan responded with a bitter smile.
Zhang Su raised his eyebrow, realizing these people were far from simple. He had now learned the truth about zombification; there were plenty of capable individuals among them.