RIACMET chapter 31

 

After living in the apocalypse for so long, everyone had grown accustomed to death. Even at rescue sites, people died from time to time. Only those closest to the deceased grieved, while most others watched with cold, indifferent eyes.

After all, no one knew how long they themselves would live, so how could they spare the time to care about others?

But those who died in the resettlement area were usually ordinary people.

Due to certain physical conditions or pre-existing illnesses, the prolonged period of extreme cold could trigger complications leading to sudden death.

It was also natural for some to fall into despair and take their own lives.

On the other hand, ability users’ bodies and minds had strengthened when their powers awakened, so they wouldn’t die without cause.

This is why, when an entire team of ability users vanished overnight during a night patrol, it sparked immediate panic across the entire Western District.

The incident took place in the community next to where Cheng Jing and his family lived—a place called Jiaheyuan.

The night patrol team consisted of 14 people: seven members of the official rescue force with superpowers and seven hired ability users working in pairs.

The event occurred around 2 a.m. The patrol reported nothing unusual at that time but failed to appear for the 8 a.m. shift change the next morning.

According to satellite phone tracking, they all went into the basement after sending in their report.

It’s important to note that all basement entrances in the community had been sealed and welded shut, and the only way in was from outside the community.

After the zoning control, all the communities designated as resettlement sites were surrounded again with spare iron nets. The zombies in the basement were cleared out by the superpowers. Those left behind hid in the dark due to the weather conditions, and they behaved very well.

With official personnel in the patrol team, there was no way they would have entered the basement without reason.

Yet, the last signal from the fourteen members’ satellite phones came from the basement.

The situation was grave. Zhou Li summoned Cheng Jing and his group to the scene, and Jiang Nian accompanied them.

There, they found the satellite phones smashed beside a load-bearing pillar not far from the basement entrance.

Large bloodstains covered the ground, and the blood trailed into the darkness of the basement.

For safety’s sake, Zhou Li forbade anyone from recklessly venturing further in.

The situation was unclear, and in a place where fourteen ability users could vanish without a trace, caution was the wiser choice. By this point, the chance of anyone from the patrol team surviving was zero.

After checking the area around the basement, Zhou Li collected the broken satellite phones in a box and left.

Once they emerged from the basement, everyone wondered: Why had the 14-person team gone down there?

Even more terrifying was the fact that none of the team’s 14 superpowered members managed to escape or send a distress signal!

Everyone returned to the command center with serious expressions. Zhou Li asked Cheng Jing to stay behind while dismissing the others.

Since Cheng Jing had participated in many decision-making processes, Zhou Li relied on and trusted him implicitly.

As Huang Qian and the others left to speculate about the possibilities, Jiang Nian remained silent.

Only Cheng Jing knew about Jiang Nian’s powers, which were rather unique. Even if he noticed something, he wouldn’t show it.

Though the basement reeked of rot and filth, Jiang Nian could sense an unusual supernatural power.

The energy signature of every ability user was different, even among those with the same attribute. Such subtle differences were difficult for the average person to distinguish unless they had a natural talent for it like Jiang Nian did.

After parting ways with Huang Qian and the others and returning to their respective hideouts, Jiang Nian took out his phone and messaged Cheng Jing:

[Brother Jing, I know what’s going on.]

It would be better for Brother Jing to come back early and ask him rather than waste time guessing with Zhou Li.

After sending the message, Jiang Nian turned on the heater and grabbed some snacks.

About half an hour later, Cheng Jing came back and sat down beside him.

Jiang Nian stuffed a bite of food into his mouth and asked,

“What are Zhou Li and the command center planning to do?”

“They’re strengthening the defenses around Jiaheyuan and gathering more ability users to investigate together. Now, they’re gradually inspecting the community and its surroundings. They’ll be checking all the residents, too.”

Cheng Jing was eating, so his voice was muffled. When he finished eating, he asked,

“What did you find?”

Because of his uniquely awakened power, Jiang Nian was sensitive to fluctuations in supernatural energy.

For example, while other ability users could tell when someone was using a power, Jiang Nian could detect how many people were using powers at once and identify them through the lingering fluctuations.

Even after so much time had passed that the supernatural energy had faded beyond the ability of others to sense it, Jiang Nian could still sense it.

He wiped his mouth and said slowly,

“Although there are 14 dead members of the superpower team, there is only one superpower aura in the basement. This means that only one person is using their ability in the basement. This situation was most likely created by the assassin who killed the night patrol team.”

“There are only two possibilities here. Either all 14 ability users were killed in a single strike before they could react, or they were already dead before reaching the basement. Either way, the killer wasn’t an ordinary person.”

“One person wiped out 14 ability users and didn’t even give them a chance to send a distress call. Even I couldn’t do that.”

Cheng Jing’s face darkened. As one of the first to awaken his abilities with his rare dual attributes, strong attack power, solid combat experience, and rapid progress, he’d always considered himself quite capable.

But taking down 14 seasoned ability users in one blow without them fighting back? That was impossible.

Jiang Nian wagged his finger.

“Maybe they were picked off one pair at a time. The patrol team works in pairs, right? The killer could have taken down two, used their phones to lure in the next pair, and so on, before smashing the phones. In the current conditions, there’s no way to recover data from those phones.”

He’d heard of this tactic in his past life. It was just a dirty, underhanded way for power groups to wage war.

As for the phone passcodes, if he was right, they could just ask the killer directly.

“Exactly…”

Cheng Jing understood, then asked,

“Can you tell if the killer was human or zombie based on the remaining power signature?”

Jiang Nian shook his head.

“No, the power was very stable. When someone turns into a zombie, their abilities aren’t contaminated, so you can’t tell from that. I’ve never heard of a zombie whose powers mutated.”

Then he added:

“But this had to be done by a person. Zombies aren’t capable of that kind of conscious, strategic thinking at this stage. Even at the height of the apocalypse, very few zombies could retain human consciousness. And when they did appear, they were zombie kings. With our current strength, if a zombie king showed up, we’d definitely be wiped out.”

“What do you think we should do next?”

Cheng Jing asked, sighing with relief. Earlier, he and Zhou Li had suspected a powerful zombie, and that thought had been terrifying. Now that Jiang Nian said that wasn’t possible, Cheng Jing felt much better. Otherwise, he would have moved Jiang Nian out of the Western District overnight.