CH 95.1

Chapter 95.1 – Gamma Abyss

The sandstorm in the city was getting bigger again, mixed with howling and wailing-like sounds.

Fortunately, after the aircraft approached, the signal was slightly better, and Lu Tinghan and Adjutant Bing got in touch.

He briefly talked about the situation, saying that he had encountered survivors and might not be able to return to the aircraft for the time being.

Adjutant Bing was simply ecstatic: “Is, is it someone from the Empire?!”

“Yes.”

“Is their army coming? Do you need us to do anything?!”

Lu Tinghan said, “No, not for the time being… the situation is different from what we thought.” He paused, “Shi Yuan and I are not in danger, but it will take time. Find a safe place to avoid the sandstorm and contact us later.”

Adjutant Bing was puzzled, but still said, “Roger that.”

He turned his head and told Chi Yongge and Douglas the good news. For a while, the aircraft was full of cheers. Douglas waved a wrench and almost hit Chi Yongge’s feet. None of them saw the appearance of the “survivors”. If they did, they might not be able to celebrate happily.

Lu Tinghan turned off the communicator, and there was only the sound of wind and sand between heaven and earth.

In this small room, strange people were twisting, surrounded by the same terrifying-looking old woman.

Di Wen said hoarsely: “In your impression, what is the Empire like in the end?”

Lu Tinghan pondered for two seconds, and replied: “Before the Alliance lost contact with the Empire, the Empire should still have 13 large cities that have not fallen and are in better situation than the Alliance.”

Di Wen laughed strangely and said, “Oh! Those were the days before the ‘moles’ began to breed.”

Lu Tinghan politely made a “please continue” gesture. He sat down cross-legged, stretched out his left hand, and immediately brought a Shi Yuan.

These so-called “mole people” were sensitive to light.

So, Lu Tinghan and Shi Yuan stayed in the dark, Lu Tinghan hugged Shi Yuan, Shi Yuan hugged his tail, and listened to Di Wen talk about the past of the Empire.

Di Wen said: “Whenever an infected creature strikes, we always hide underground. As you know, the underground city gave us a great advantage against the abyss… until the Gamma Abyss began to be restless.”

—The abyss of the Alliance and the Empire were named differently. The Alliance used numbers to refer to the abyss in its territory, while the Empire used ancient alphabet, such as “Gamma”, “Alpha”, “Sigma”, etc.

Di Wen continued: “The infection characteristic of the Gamma Abyss is ‘breeding frenzy’. All creatures infected by it will fall into an endless wave of reproduction… Their sexual maturity cycle has been shortened by hundreds or thousands of times, and their fertility has been greatly strengthened. As long as they live, they will never stop mating and breeding.”

“In the infected population of the Gamma Abyss, there were a large number of rabbits at first, and then rodents took over. As long as you go out of the city, you can see squirrels and guinea pigs everywhere, and the places close to the water source are also filled with beavers.”

Shi Yuan shook the tip of his tail: “Why is it a rodent?”

Di Wen turned her cloudy eyes and looked at Shi Yuan, her distorted face wrinkled even more.

Instinctively, she was very wary of Shi Yuan.

She made no secret of her vigilance and hostility.

Shi Yuan, who was quite slow in noticing things, noticed it immediately, and the tip of his tail drooped.—

Lu Tinghan rubbed his head in time and explained: “Rodents are the fastest breeding among mammals, and the breeding cycle is also very short.”

“Oh.” Shi Yuan forgot about Di Wen as soon as his head was rubbed, “I understand!”

Di Wen glanced at the two of them deeply, her gaze tinged with inquiry.

Then she said: “The rodents caused a lot of trouble. They were originally cave dwellers and were good at moving underground. Several underground cities fell one after another. Fortunately, the large cities could still hold on, but we didn’t expect that this was just the beginning. In March 214, the moles came.”

“Moles are not rodents, and their reproductive ability is not as good as them, but there is a group of moles that have mutated. They are aggressive, cannibalistic, and devour infected rodents in large quantities. By the time we noticed it, they have eaten nearly one-third of the rodents. The genes of the two merged, and finally, the mole also gained a terrifying ability to reproduce…” She closed her eyes, “I don’t know if you have ever heard of a city called ‘Laconu’.”

Shi Yuan raised his head and looked at Lu Tinghan.

Lu Tinghan replied: “Is it that ‘Laconu, the City of Gears’?”

“Yes.” Di Wen said, “More than forty percent of the Empire’s robots were made in Laconu. It’s a mega underground city, solid as gold,”

She laughed sharply twice: “It was bombed three times by the Alliance Air Force and was unscathed. Since then, the residents of Laconu have called the Alliance people ‘rice buckets’.”

Lu Tinghan did not wear epaulettes and medals when he went out this time, but he was still wearing a military uniform, and one could tell at a glance that he was an Alliance soldier. Di Wen’s words were really unfriendly.

Lu Tinghan’s expression did not change, and he nodded and said, “I have heard of it.”

A strange man suddenly screamed a few times, shaking the black fur on his body. Di Wen turned her head and scolded lightly: “Be quiet! Brownie, there will be something to eat soon!”

The man listened to her very much and quietly retreated to the corner of the room.

Di Wen looked at the two of them again and said, “I’ll make a long story short. When rodents flooded, Laconu was always safe, and no monsters could pass through its underground defense line. But moles are different, they are extremely destructive after mutation. Late one night, when the whole of Laconu was in a deep sleep, people were awakened by the sound of teeth gnawing on steel plates – the moles came, and the city’s defenses were like papier-mâché in front of thousands of moles.”

“All exits were occupied by moles, and their proudest copper and iron walls became cages. There was no survivor in the entire city, and all of them were bitten to death by moles.”

Di Wen’s voice was hoarse: “It’s very similar to the plague in the Middle Ages, isn’t it? It’s just that they are ten thousand times more vicious than rats, and they regard cities as their granary.”

Lu Tinghan was silent for two seconds: “It’s a very unfortunate story.”

“…that was a nightmare! That was a massacre!” After so many years, Di Wen’s voice still hid her anger, “Laconu became a new nest for the moles, and after a two-week breeding season, they swarmed to the next city. People kept dying, either eaten by the moles or completely infected by them – until, until the ‘Mole People’ came along.”