Chapter 518: A Survivor From Tayi City

"A gate?"

Leng Pan looked at Zhao Kun carefully.

"What kind of gate are you talking about?"

"I don’t know what it is called," Zhao Kun replied. "It is not an ordinary gate. It looks more like a huge ring standing upright."

"How large is it?" Lu Zhen asked.

"At least twenty metres tall. Maybe more."

Zhao Kun shifted against the folded blanket supporting his back.

His hands were still trembling, but his breathing had improved.

"The soldiers called it the Passage."

"A passage to where?" Leng Pan asked.

"No one told us."

"Then how do you know something is trying to come through?"

Zhao Kun’s face became tense.

"Because I saw it."

He raised his hand and touched the scar running along his cheek.

"This happened the night they activated the gate."

Leng Pan and Lu Zhen became quiet.

They did not rush him.

Whatever Zhao Kun had witnessed still frightened him. Pressing him too hard might make it difficult for him to explain the details clearly.

Leng Pan gave him more diluted spiritual spring water.

"Drink slowly."

Zhao Kun accepted the cup.

He took a small sip before continuing.

"I was born in Tayi City. Before the apocalypse, I drove delivery trucks for a food company. When the meteorites fell, my wife and I tried to leave, but the roads became blocked."

"Did she survive?" Leng Pan asked gently.

Zhao Kun looked down at the cup.

"No."

"I am sorry."

"She turned during the first week."

His fingers tightened.

"I could not kill her. I locked her inside our apartment and left."

He had carried that guilt for more than a year.

Leng Pan could see it in his expression.

"You had just entered the apocalypse," she said. "Most people were not prepared to kill someone they loved."

"I know."

Zhao Kun took another sip of water.

"I have told myself the same thing many times, but it doesn’t change what happened."

"No, it doesn’t. But blaming yourself would not change it either."

Zhao Kun gave her a tired smile.

"You sound as if you have lost someone in the same way."

"I have lost enough people."

She did not explain further.

Zhao Kun did not ask.

He handed the empty cup back to her.

"After I left the apartment, I joined a group of survivors. We hid inside a warehouse near the industrial district. There were more than a hundred of us at first."

"How long did you remain there?" Lu Zhen asked.

"Almost six months."

"Inside a city filled with zombies?"

"The warehouse had thick walls and only two entrances. We blocked both with trucks. There was also enough packaged food to keep us alive for some time."

"You were fortunate," Leng Pan said.

"At first."

Zhao Kun’s expression became darker.

"The zombies began changing. Some developed abilities. Others became intelligent enough to set traps."

"We have encountered intelligent zombies," Lu Zhen said. "Did they attack your warehouse?"

"Not immediately. That was what frightened us."

"What did they do?"

"They watched."

Zhao Kun looked towards the warehouse wall as if he could still see them outside.

"Every morning, we would find a few zombies standing across the road. They never approached the barricades. They would remain there for several hours before leaving."

"Scouts," Leng Pan said.

"That was what we thought. We expected a large attack, so we strengthened the entrances and prepared to fight."

"But no attack came?" Lu Zhen asked.

"No. The zombies disappeared."

"All of them?"

"Most of them."

Zhao Kun nodded slowly.

"Within a week, the streets around the industrial district became quiet. We thought something had drawn them away from the city."

"The aliens," Leng Pan said.

"We did not know about them then. We only knew that the city had suddenly become safer."

The survivors had mistaken the silence for an opportunity.

After months of hiding and rationing food, they had been desperate to scavenge.

Small groups began leaving the warehouse.

At first, they returned with supplies and reported seeing very few zombies.

Their confidence grew.

Then, one team failed to return.

Two days later, another team disappeared.

"What happened to them?" Leng Pan asked.

"Soldiers took them."

"Commander Qiu’s people?"

"I think so."

Zhao Kun closed his eyes for a moment.

"The soldiers wore human military uniforms. They told us that they had established a temporary camp outside the city and were evacuating survivors."

"And you believed them," Lu Zhen said.

"We wanted to."

Zhao Kun did not sound defensive.

"We had children, injured people, and almost no medicine. Even those who suspected something could not offer a better choice."

"How many people followed the soldiers?"

"Everyone who was left."

"What happened after that?"

"They did not take us outside the city."

The convoy had travelled towards the centre of Tayi City.

At that time, many roads had already been cleared. The soldiers claimed the route outside was blocked and they needed to collect another group of survivors first.

Zhao Kun had noticed that something felt wrong.

There were too many military vehicles for a simple rescue mission, and some trucks carried large metal containers instead of people or supplies.

The convoy eventually entered an underground parking structure beneath a shopping centre.

"What was beneath it?" Leng Pan asked.

"A tunnel."

"Was it there before the apocalypse?"

"No."

Zhao Kun shook his head.

"I delivered supplies to that shopping centre many times. The parking area had only two levels. The soldiers took us down more than ten."

"Earth ability users could have created the additional levels," Lu Zhen said.

"Maybe. But the walls did not look as if they had been dug by humans."

"What did they look like?"

"Smooth. Completely smooth. There were no marks from tools or machines."

Aliens could have used their technology to construct the underground facility quickly.

"What happened to your group?" Leng Pan asked.

"The soldiers separated us."

Zhao Kun’s voice became strained.

"Children and elderly people were taken to one side. Ability users went to another. Ordinary adults were divided according to their health."

"Did they tell you why?"

"They said it was a medical examination."

Lu Zhen’s expression remained calm, but his gaze grew colder.

"Did anyone resist?"

"A few."

"What happened to them?"

"They were shot."

Zhao Kun looked away.

"After that, no one resisted."

He had been classified as an ordinary adult in good health.

The soldiers placed a black implant beneath his skin and assigned him a subject number.

"Human subject 372," Leng Pan said.

Zhao Kun nodded.

"They stopped using our names."

"What were you supposed to be used for?"

"I don’t know. They took blood every day. Sometimes they injected us with something that caused strange dreams."

"What kind of dreams?"

"Zombies."

Zhao Kun rubbed his arms.

"I could see through their eyes. I could feel what they felt."

"Zombies don’t feel much," Leng Pan said.

"Hunger. Anger. The need to follow orders."

He looked at her.