Chapter 161: Xijing

Ling Lan could hardly believe her ears.

"Could it be that you have developed an antidote?" she asked.

"No."

"No?! Then isn't doing this in Xijing absolute madness? This is essentially spreading the virus in disguise!"

"Where there is demand, there is a market. Xijing is not protected by a unified organization; instead, it consists of various alliances, big and small. These alliances cooperate, check and balance, and compete with one another. To survive here, people must be able to defeat both the zombies and other humans," Lan Huang said leisurely.

The situation in Xijing was far more complex than outsiders could imagine. Each alliance represented different interest groups, locked in constant conflict with occasional cooperation.

Setting aside human conflicts, when it came to dealing with zombies: if ordinary people could overcome their fear, killing a single zombie was not a difficult task. However, in places where zombies swarmed densely, relying solely on ordinary human bodies proved somewhat overwhelming.

The virus in the black rain was a double-edged sword; it could bring people to their deaths, but it also gave them a certain probability of acquiring power that did not rightfully belong to them.

Of course, this relied heavily on luck.

"After repeated clinical trials, the body-strengthening agents currently circulating on the market have reduced side effects to a minimum. Naturally, everything carries risks, and everyone's physique differs. According to our tracking statistics, the failure rate due to bodily rejection is still as high as sixty percent."

"If you succeed, you transcend ordinary people. With good luck, you might even awaken special abilities. But if you fail... I'm sorry, you can only wait to have your head blown off. This is a gamble, and everyone is wagering their lives."

"Absurd!" Ling Lan rebuked loudly. Human lives were at stake; how could they be treated so carelessly?

Lan Huang was a doctor, after all. Lacking any sense of saving lives and healing the wounded, he instead described these matters with an attitude of aloof indifference. How could she not be furious?

"What is so absurd about it? At least in Xijing, whoever has the ability survives, and whoever has the ability possesses resources. Everyone plays a crucial role within their respective alliances. In this regard, it is immeasurably better than Nanchuan."

"Nanchuan's Future Group sacrificed the vast majority of people to slave away for them just to protect the interests of a tiny minority. After working themselves to the bone, they were abandoned in the end... Do you think that is right? Did those poor people ever have the right to choose?" Lan Huang sneered.

Ling Lan was left speechless.

She and Yi Chen had experienced the events in Nanchuan firsthand.

The Future Group had exploited the outer survivors for backbreaking labor to hoard supplies, while providing them with meager rations merely to sustain life. When the zombies breached the perimeter, they retreated to the inner city, leaving those on the outside to fend for themselves.

Now, under the influence of the second black rain, the zombies had completely overrun the defensive fortifications, utterly shattering the inner city—that so-called "illusionary paradise." Yet the Future Group had made only a token struggle before retreating entirely, fleeing to Xijing and paying no heed to the lives of the common people.

Although a full-scale zombie tide had erupted across the city and the situation had spun out of control, where there is a will, there is a way; nothing is impossible, only desired or unwanted. Analyzed in this light, the Future Group had indeed proven utterly incompetent at the critical moment.

However, publicly processing and selling the virus in Xijing was something Ling Lan found truly unacceptable. Even the previously paranoid Ouyang Hong had never gone this far!

"Are there many infected people in Xijing?" Ling Zhe had been listening intently to their conversation and finally asked.

"Quite a few. Perhaps even more than you imagine," Lan Huang replied.

The brother and sister looked at each other in dismay, wondering what kind of scene awaited their group upon arrival in Xijing.

Counting Yi Chen and Liang Bing, the entire city of Nanchuan had an infected population that could be counted on two hands, and that was considered top-secret information unknown to ordinary people.

Since Xijing openly sold so-called "body-strengthening agents," could it be that infected people were everywhere on the streets?

"It's not that extreme. The 'body-strengthening agents' are very expensive and beyond the reach of ordinary people. Besides, quite a few people have reservations—I haven't bought any myself." Fang Qiu chimed in again, unable to resist joining the lively conversation.

"And you call yourself a zombie researcher who writes about doomsday survival," Lan Huang said with a hint of contempt upon hearing him speak of this.

"Survival of the fittest, natural selection. The weak perish, and the strong remain. Only by continuously improving one's physical condition and abilities can one contend with zombies and other enhanced humans. If you don't hurry up and improve yourself, you won't even know how you died when the time comes."

"Ha, I'm just a writer. My pen is my gun. I use my books to save the masses, and at least there are no side effects. Honestly, that's far more conscientious than you selling drugs..." Fang Qiu said dismissively.

"Hmph, just don't let me see the day when you come crawling to me on your knees begging for medicine." Lan Huang's gaze was cold enough to kill.

"Oh dear, our young master Lan is throwing a tantrum again. Anyway, I wouldn't be like you, willingly testing drugs on yourself just to become a freak like this." Fang Qiu stuck out his tongue.

Lan Huang couldn't be bothered to engage with Fang Qiu any further. That fellow knew too many of his secrets and was liable to drop bombshells at any moment. He found it much more pleasant chatting with the idiots from Nanchuan in the back.

Yi Chen could be dismissed as a piece of wood, but the brother and sister's expressions shifted constantly—sometimes astonished, sometimes filled with righteous indignation—which he found rather entertaining.

"...Since the situation in Xijing is so complicated, how do the various alliances and civilians trade with each other? I mean—is there any circulating currency in Xijing right now?" Ling Zhe asked.

In Nanchuan, the Future Group had issued Future Vouchers to replace cash for general use within the inner city. What was the situation in Xijing?

"Xijing has no unified currency. Each district and the surrounding townships have specialized appraisal offices where items are evaluated, allowing you to obtain what you want through direct bartering. By the way, zombies can also be bought and sold."

"What?!" The siblings were stunned once more.

"Zombie eyeballs, teeth, bones, brain tissue, and so on all have a price."

"...What are those used for?"

"Trade secret." Lan Huang gestured with his slender index finger across his lips, making a silencing motion.

"Of course, a tiny fraction of people also collect entire corpses and living zombies, in which case the valuation is somewhat more flexible."

"Awesome!" Ling Zhe exclaimed in admiration.

Judging by this, the people of Xijing had gradually shifted their mindset amidst the apocalypse. Instead of blindly fearing and fleeing, they were gradually seizing the initiative. Hunting zombies to purchase goods was undoubtedly an excellent incentive mechanism!

If the people of Nanchuan had hidden behind walls and artificial domes to escape reality after the apocalypse arrived, the people of Xijing had adapted to the apocalypse with a speed that far exceeded their imagination.

With this back-and-forth questioning, time passed quickly, and before long, they arrived near the mountain tunnel where their journey had begun.

Ling Lan had Fang Qiu and the others wait a short distance away, while she, Yi Chen, and Ling Zhe walked back on foot.