Chapter 123: Rescue

Chapter 123: Rescue

Ed shielded his daughter tightly in front of him. "You can't do this! She's just a child! Have you no humanity?"

"Humanity?" Captain Black burst into laughter. "You kidding me? This is the apocalypse. And you're talking to us about humanity? How fucking naive."

"On your feet!" Captain Black smashed the butt of his gun hard against Ed's head.

With full force, the blow sent blood gushing from Ed's skull. His head swam, and with a loud thud, Ed collapsed to the ground.

"Naive." Captain Black reached for the little girl. "I've changed my mind. It's been so long since we've had a woman. Don't you all feel the same, brothers? This little girl is quite pretty—well-protected even in the apocalypse, soft-skinned and delicate. Let's break her in first, then cook her up. Waste not, want not."

"Heh heh heh..." The team members let out guttural laughs. Not a single one found this wrong or spoke up for the girl.

"No! Let me go! Daddy! Help me!" The little girl, confused but instinctively terrified, screamed.

Ed's vision blurred as he struggled to open his eyes. His body was weak, unable to stand, so he dragged himself forward—crawled with all his might.

He reached out and grabbed Captain Black's ankle. "Let go of my daughter."

Captain Black looked down at the hand clutching his ankle like he’d spotted a roach. A team member stepped forward and stomped hard on Ed's wrist. Ed howled in agony as he curled into a ball, clutching his wrist.

"Who goes first?"

"Me, of course. I'm the captain..."

The girl's loud cries, the men's grunting and jeering, and the sound of fabric tearing mixed together, assaulting Ed's senses. Yet he was powerless, forced to watch as his daughter was ravaged by animals.

At this critical moment, a dragon's roar—one Ed had never heard before—shook the heavens. The next second, a mechanical arm descended from above, smashing straight through the roof.

Startled, Captain Black looked up in terror and witnessed the most horrifying sight of his life.

"Holy shit, what is that? Aliens?"

A massive giant steel war machine hovered mid-air. Captain Black, towering among ordinary humans, now seemed as insignificant as an ant before this steel giant.

He raised his gun and fired wildly at the steel figure. The bullets sparked against its arm but left not a single mark.

Realizing the danger, Captain Black turned to flee, but the mechanical arm was faster. With a speed that defied its size, it smashed down, splattering him like a bug.

The team members scattered like frightened animals, but the steel giant moved with ruthless efficiency. One punch each—in the blink of an eye, all were pounded into meat.

The little girl ran to Ed's side, spreading her thin, delicate arms. "Mr. Alien, please don’t hurt my daddy! My daddy is amazing—he's a great scientist! He can make lots of things for you!"

"Kid, we're not aliens!" A dragon formed from psychic energy suddenly appeared.

"Thunder Dragon? Gu Jinsheng!" Ed recognized the psychic-conjured dragon—its master was far too famous.

"Daddy, what are you looking at? Where's the dragon? I don't see it!"

"Oh, you know my dumbass master." Thunder Dragon swayed its tail in mid-air, eyeing the girl. "Poor kid. You haven't evolved superpowers yet, so you can't see me."

"I am Gu Jinsheng from the Jingshi Base. We received your distress signal. You in? Would you be willing to join us and serve the Jingshi Base?"

"I will." Ed nodded without hesitation. Gu Jinsheng opened the mech's entrance, and Ed stepped inside.

The interior resembled a massive command deck. Climbing to the second level, Ed saw Gu Jinsheng and Ji An waiting inside.

"Both of you are here?" Ed asked in astonishment.

"You know us?" Ji An tilted his head.

"How could I not recognize the two most famous figures in the Jingshi Base? One is the Commander-in-Chief Gu Jinsheng, and the other is the epoch-making researcher Ji An."

"Thanks for the compliment," Ji An chuckled.

Ed curiously examined the cockpit. "Is this a mech?"

"Yes," Ji An replied. "Is this your first time seeing one?"

Ed nodded. "I was kept under house arrest by them. They didn’t allow me contact with the outside world. I had no means to communicate, so I had no idea what new technology had emerged recently."

"Yet you still managed to get a neuro-computer under their noses. Impressive."

"You might not believe it, but I didn’t find that device—it was handed to me by a zombie."

"A zombie?" Gu Jinsheng and Ji An spoke in unison, exchanging bewildered glances.

"Yes, a zombie. At the time, they threw me out as zombie bait. I thought I was doomed, but one zombie pushed me back and pressed this thing into my hand. I recognized it as a neuro-computer capable of contacting the Jingshi Base, so I sent a distress signal." Ed paused, then added, "If I’m not mistaken, that zombie was from China."

"What’s your superpower?" Gu Jinsheng asked.

"I've got psychic abilities. I don’t make mistakes. My specialty is eidetic memory—anything I see, I can recall later, sometimes down to the finest detail. I even spotted a Five-Star Red Flag emblem on that zombie, so it was definitely from your country."

Ed’s words deepened the confusion on Gu Jinsheng and Ji An’s faces.

"Could it have been a Psychic Zombie King?" Ji An mused. "But that doesn’t make sense. If it were truly a Psychic Zombie King, it would be smarter—why the hell would it save someone? On the contrary, it should be after the superpowered crystal core in your head, which would help it evolve."

"I don’t know. At first, I thought it might have been remote-controlled by your people, specifically sent to rescue me."

"As capable as I am, I don’t have the power of foresight. We’re just as clueless about this as you are," Ji An admitted.

"May I ask what research you were involved in at the M Base?" Ji An inquired.

"Spacecraft modules. Lunar landing programs." Ed watched their faces like a hawk, catching every flicker of reaction.

He needed to confirm whether the Jingshi Base truly valued scientific talent as rumored—only then could he secure a foothold in this foreign land.

Ji An’s face lit up with excitement. "Just when we needed it! Our base is in dire need of experts in that field."

Only then did Ed relax.

Soon, they arrived at the locations of several others who had sent distress signals. Gu Jinsheng piloted the mech to rescue them—all of them researchers.

Only scientists warranted Gu Jinsheng’s personal intervention. The Jingshi Base was critically short on researchers, with human survival at stake.

After introductions, Ji An realized they were all big-name researchers, each excelling in distinct fields.

Ji An brought them back to the Jingshi Base, where a new dormitory for researchers had been constructed.

Ed and his young daughter were assigned a two-room apartment.

The living conditions were excellent—minimalist yet spotless furnishings. All bedding was new, and the kitchen was fully equipped.

"Dad, there’s even a computer here!" The little girl, who hadn’t seen a computer in who knows how long, was overjoyed.

"Must’ve been left behind by the last tenant." Ed picked up the laptop from the table, intending to return it to Ji An.

Ji An declined, "This is for you."

Ed widened his eyes, "Ours? We can use computers?"

"Of course. How could researchers work without computers?"

"We're not under house arrest?"

"Certainly not. The superpowered guards in this building aren't here to monitor you, but to ensure your safety," Ji An explained. "Think of them like pre-apocalypse lab security—same role."

Meeting Ed's skeptical gaze, Ji An added, "No need to be so guarded. You might even run into former colleagues here. Stay longer in Capital Base, and you'll see—it's just like pre-apocalypse life here. Laws and morals still apply. You and your child are completely safe here."

Ed stared at the computer on the table. If they really had free internet access and could contact the outside world, perhaps they could tentatively trust the Capital Base.

After adjusting for a few days, Ed was brought into Ji An's lab.

"As we all know, Earth has been contaminated by the zombie virus. The land and water sources are saturated with it, and purification remains impossible." Ji An's worldwide hunt for researchers wasn't minor—his goals were huge.

"Cleaning up Earth isn't possible anymore. My proposal is to find humanity a new home."

This set off a wave of shock and debate among the researchers.

"Before the apocalypse, we looked for livable planets, yet none were found by the time the catastrophe struck."

"Now, with humanity's survival on the line and time tight, how could locating such a planet be anything but impossible?"

"I understand all this," Ji An nodded. "So instead of searching the whole universe, why don't we build a planet made for humans ourselves?"

"That's too radical!"

"Pure fantasy!"

"Sure, it's wild—but isn't that how breakthroughs happen?"

Unfazed by the skepticism, Ji An remained calm. "If no one dreamed big, would we have neural tech, mechs, or space advances?"