50: Chapter 50 Signal Flares

The wind blew from the east, carrying the scent of the decaying city—a mixture of rotting flesh, leaking industrial grease, and the charred remains of extinguished fires.

He had been familiar with this scent back in the Reconnaissance Company, but that was on the battlefield, on enemy lines.

Now, the entire city had become a battlefield.

"Boss."

Footsteps sounded behind him.

Commander Lin Dong did not turn around; he knew who it was—Conscript number 001, named "Stone" by the system, the temporary squad leader of the five-man team.

When these Conscripts were summoned, it came with basic memories and tactical proficiency, but its personality gradually diverged.

Stone was taciturn and did things by the book, just like its name; number 002 was called "Rat," thin and agile, suitable for reconnaissance; 003, 004, and 005 were Blackie, Steel Pliers, and Medic, respectively—Medic's real name was Zhao Weiguo, and it had been a military medic before being summoned.

"Li Na is awake."

Stone walked to his side, standing straight, its gaze habitually scanning the dark street.

"She wants to see you."

"She lost 1500 milliliters of blood; a normal person would be bedridden for three days."

Commander Lin Dong glanced at his watch.

"She has been unconscious for six hours."

"The hemostatic gel from the system exceeded expectations."

Stone paused.

"But her blood type is indeed rare, AB Rh-negative. If Rat hadn't happened to have this blood type, she wouldn't have made it this far."

Commander Lin Dong did not respond.

He was thinking about another issue—the blood types, personalities, and even the minor habits of the Conscripts; these details went beyond the scope of mere "combat tools."

When the system created them, it seemed to have filled in too much redundant information.

Or perhaps, this information had meaning in itself.

The night sky to the east lit up again.

It was not a signal flare, but lightning.

The first thunderstorm of spring was brewing, and the clouds hung low, reflecting the city's lights—the scattered sparks still burning—into a dark red halo.

But Commander Lin Dong's attention was not on that.

The moment the lightning flashed, he saw it.

To the east-southeast, about ten kilometers away, a tiny point of light rose into the sky, trailing an orange-red wake, and burst beneath the clouds.

Three long, two short.

"A signal flare."

Stone had seen it too.

"Military standard, Type 59 signal flare, firing height 120 meters, burning time 6 seconds. Three long, two short..."

"Requesting support."

Commander Lin Dong picked up the thread.

"PLA protocol, distress signal when encountering the enemy, three shots per group, one-minute intervals."

The second signal flare rose, its position about five hundred meters north of the first.

This meant the sender was moving, and not slowly—either they were in pursuit or they were fleeing.

"Someone is alive in the east."

There was an imperceptible fluctuation in Stone's voice.

"Regular troops."

Commander Lin Dong did not answer.

He was calculating: ten kilometers, nighttime, unknown enemy situation, five Conscripts plus one severely injured person.

This did not fit the survival rules he had set—in the apocalypse, every decision must be quantified into data, and the data before him was too vague.

But the signal flares continued to rise.

The third shot, the fourth shot—it exceeded the standard number of groups.

The sender was desperate.

"Wait until dawn tomorrow."

Commander Lin Dong turned and walked back.

"Have Rat go scout the path, and have the others reinforce the defenses. A few of those criminals escaped and might bring people back. Gasoline is hard currency; they won't give up."

Stone followed his steps: "What if that really is a military unit over there?"

Commander Lin Dong stopped at the staircase entrance.

"If it is a military unit," he said, "and they cannot hold out until dawn, then they are not worth us saving. The apocalypse does not care about feelings; it cares about data."

At four in the morning, the rain finally fell.

Rat lay on the balcony of the sixth floor of an abandoned residential building, observing the area two kilometers away with night-vision goggles.

The rain curtain interfered with its vision, but it could still clearly see the firelight there—not the raging fire of a burning building, but the final struggle of a bonfire on a circular position formed by several military vehicles before the rain extinguished it.

It was the scout sent by Commander Lin Dong.

In the Conscript's system panel, Rat's "Reconnaissance" skill initial value was 82 points—15 points higher than Stone, and 20 points higher than an ordinary Conscript.

Commander Lin Dong called this "talent point allocation."

Rat didn't quite understand, but it knew it could see things others couldn't.

For example, right now, it saw those shadows crawling in the rainy night.

There were too many.

To the east was the old industrial zone of Beiling City, with abandoned factory buildings and warehouses standing there like tombstones.

The signal flares had risen from that direction.

But now, that area was surrounded by a horde of zombies.

Not ordinary zombies—ordinary zombies would not maintain formation on a rainy night.

Rat adjusted the magnification of the night-vision goggles, focusing on the main road at the entrance of the industrial zone.

A military truck was overturned on the side of the road, its hood still smoking.

There were at least three hundred zombies around, but they did not swarm toward the truck; instead, they were... queuing?

No, not queuing.

It was in batches.

Rat saw a small group of zombies rush out from the factory building next to the main road, pouncing on the truck's cab.

After biting and tearing for a few minutes, another group replaced them.

It was like...

It was as if someone was commanding them.

A chill ran up its spine.

On the system panel, data began to appear above the heads of the group of zombies closest to it:

【F-Class Zombie · HP 327】

【Threat Rating: D】

【Note: Mental fluctuation field detected, suspected presence of a superior entity】

Superior entity.

Commander Lin Dong had said that if there were Mutants among the zombies, record the data as a priority.

But Mutants should not be like this—they would have separate level labels on the panel, would display special skills, would...

Rat's pupils suddenly contracted.

Deep in the industrial zone, on the roof of the tallest abandoned factory building, stood a shadow.

In the night-vision goggles, the outline of that shadow was blurry, like a mass of black mist scattered by the rain.

But above its head, data was slowly appearing:

【??? · Lv??? · HP???】

【Threat Rating: ???】

【Warning: Mental scan counter-locked, immediate evacuation recommended】

Before the word "evacuation" had even finished crossing its mind, Rat saw the "head" of that shadow turn.

Across two kilometers, across the rain curtain, across the dark night, that thing was looking at it.

Rat did not hesitate.

It vaulted directly from the sixth-floor balcony into the room and sprinted down the stairs, its heart beating as if it were about to burst.

There was no "fear" option in the Conscript's settings, but it knew now—it wasn't that it didn't exist, it was suppressed.

When the threat exceeded a certain threshold, the suppression failed.

There were no pursuers behind it, but it could feel that gaze still lingering.

It wasn't until it rushed out of the residential building, scrambled into the modified pickup truck parked by the road, and drove five hundred meters after starting the engine that the feeling of being watched vanished.

Rat glanced at the rearview mirror.

In the rainy night, there was nothing in the direction of the industrial zone.

But it knew that something had awakened.

Commander Lin Dong sat in the gas station office after hearing Rat's report, silent for a full two minutes.

Stone stood at the doorway, its finger on the trigger of the AK-47 assault rifle, ready to respond to any sudden situation at any time.

Rat squatted in the corner, soaked through, its face pale—not from the cold, but from fear.

That a Conscript could actually be scared like this, this data itself spoke volumes.

"Mental fluctuation field."

Commander Lin Dong finally spoke.

"Are you sure the data was written like that?"

Rat nodded, its lips moving, but it couldn't speak.

"Superior entity. Mental scan counter-locked."

Commander Lin Dong ran this information through his mind, comparing it with military cases in his memory—there were no matches.

Had the U.S. military encountered similar reports in Afghanistan?

Had the Soviets recorded anything in Chernobyl?

No.

This was a completely new type of enemy.

"Boss," Stone lowered its voice, "that signal flare..."

"It's a lure."

Commander Lin Dong stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the pitch-black rainy night.

"That thing is using the troops' distress signal to attract prey. Or..."

He didn't finish.

Or perhaps those troops were indeed calling for help, but they didn't know that what they were attracting wasn't just rescue, but also that thing watching everything from the rooftop.

On the cot at the other end of the office, Li Na stirred.

Her face was still very pale, but her eyes were open, staring straight at the ceiling.

Commander Lin Dong walked over, and she turned her head with difficulty, her lips moving.

"The east..."

Her voice was so weak it was almost inaudible.

"There are many... many voices... calling... for help... but... they are already dead..."

Stone and Rat exchanged a glance.

Li Na had been unconscious since the blood transfusion; it was impossible for her to know what Rat had scouted.

But what she said, and what Rat had seen, pointed to the same direction.

"And..."

Li Na suddenly grabbed Commander Lin Dong's wrist, with strength that didn't seem like someone who had lost 1500 milliliters of blood.

"It... is looking for you..."

Commander Lin Dong's pupils slightly contracted.

"It knows you are here... knows you have... that thing..."

Li Na's gaze began to focus, staring straight into Commander Lin Dong's eyes.

"The base... it wants the base..."

After saying this, her eyes rolled back, and she passed out again.

The room was so quiet that the sound of rain hitting the tin roof could be heard.

Stone swallowed hard: "Boss, what she said..."

Commander Lin Dong did not answer.

He stood up, walked back to the window, and pulled back a corner of the curtain.

The eastern skyline had begun to pale, and the rain was easing.

In the direction of the industrial zone, the last flare was rising, dragging a faint trail behind it, looking like a dying firefly in the morning light.

Three long, two short.

Requesting support.

Seven in the morning, the rain stopped.

Commander Lin Dong spread out a city map found in a convenience store on the floor of the gas station, circling three points with a red pen: their current location, the location of the industrial zone, and the trajectory of the flare from last night.

Stone, Mouse, Hei Zi, Steel Pliers, and Doctor, the five of them, gathered in a circle, waiting for him to speak.

"Mouse, say what you saw again, every detail."

Mouse took a deep breath and began to recount: the overturned military vehicle at the entrance of the industrial zone, the waves of attacking zombies, the shadow on the rooftop, and the moment that shadow "turned its head."

This time he remembered it more clearly—when that thing turned its head, hundreds of surrounding zombies stopped moving simultaneously, as if waiting for orders.

"Mind control," Commander Lin Dong tapped on the map, "or telepathy. It can sense living organisms, and it can even sense that we are observing it."

"Should we retreat then?" Hei Zi asked.

He was the strongest of the five; his nickname came from his skin tone and his reticent personality, but there was no fear in his tone at this moment, only a tactical inquiry.

Commander Lin Dong did not answer directly, but instead began to report data:

"The first flare last night was at 23:47. The last one was at 04:33. An interval of four hours and forty-six minutes. The frequency of firing went from a standard one set per minute to irregular, and in the last hour, only two were fired. What does that mean?"

Stone frowned: "The shooter is exhausted, or they are running out of ammunition."

"Also," Commander Lin Dong's finger traced the movement trajectory on the map, "the firing point has been moving towards the northeast, and the speed has dropped from an initial five hundred meters per hour to less than two hundred meters in the last hour. They can't run anymore."

The atmosphere in the office became heavy.

"The question now is," Commander Lin Dong looked up, "how many people are still alive in that trapped unit? Do they know what is hunting them? If we are to save them, how do we do it?"

Steel Pliers spoke up. He was the most skilled of the five, possessing the 'Mechanical Repair' skill in the system settings: "Boss, we don't have enough vehicles. That pickup truck is fine for carrying five people, but to break through the zombie swarm for a rescue, we need at least an armored vehicle."

"We don't have an armored vehicle," Doctor said, "we only have five guns and a dozen grenades."

Commander Lin Dong's finger stopped on the map.

"We do," he said.

Everyone looked at him.

"The base vehicle."

Stone paused for a moment: "But the base vehicle hasn't fully deployed yet, and deployment requires..."

"It doesn't need to deploy," Commander Lin Dong interrupted him, "what we need is its armor and dead weight. An eighty-ton monster with 50mm homogeneous steel armor—crushing ordinary zombies will be like crushing cookies."

Mouse's eyes lit up: "Use the base vehicle as an armored vehicle?"

"Not just that," Commander Lin Dong's finger drew a route on the map, "from the gas station to the industrial zone, the straight-line distance is nine kilometers, but taking the road requires a detour of at least twelve kilometers. There are three mandatory points here—the overpass, the abandoned gas station, and the entrance to the industrial zone. All three points are likely to be ambushed by the zombie swarm."

He looked up, his eyes holding a sharpness Stone had never seen before:

"We aren't saving them. We are luring them out."

By the time the tactics were finalized, it was already nine in the morning.

The plan was divided into three steps: Step one, Mouse and Hei Zi drive the pickup truck forward to scout, finding the exact location of the trapped unit and the possible breakout route; Step two, Doctor and Steel Pliers stay behind at the gas station to reinforce defenses and take care of Li Na; Step three, Commander Lin Dong leads Stone and the other two to drive the base vehicle to the edge of the industrial zone, using heavy firepower to attract the attention of the zombie swarm and create a breakout window for the trapped unit.

Stone had doubts about this plan: "Boss, the base vehicle hasn't fully deployed, and system functions are limited. If it gets damaged..."

"If there are people we need in that unit, it's worth the damage," Commander Lin Dong interrupted him. "The ore detector shows an Iron Mine right next to the industrial zone, which is a necessary resource for our development. If we let that psychic Mutant gain a foothold there, build a nest, and develop a zombie swarm, we'll be finished in three months."

This was the first time Stone heard Commander Lin Dong speak in this tone. It wasn't cold data analysis, but carried some kind of... emotion? Determination? He couldn't tell.

Li Na woke up from her coma once more; this time she was much clearer. Seeing Commander Lin Dong organizing his gear, she propped herself up and sat up:

"You're going to the east?"

"Yes."

"That thing..." her voice was still trembling, "it's really dangerous. I can feel what it's thinking, even if only for an instant... It's waiting for us to go over. It's setting a trap."

Commander Lin Dong glanced at her: "When were you able to feel what it's thinking?"

Li Na paused for a moment, looking down at her hands. Those hands were pale, but there seemed to be tiny points of light dancing on her fingertips—only she could see them.

"After the blood transfusion..." she murmured, "the Conscript's blood... It's like something in my brain has been unlocked..."

Commander Lin Dong's brow furrowed. This matter needed research, but not right now.

"You stay here," he placed a pistol beside Li Na's hand. "If we haven't returned by nightfall, have Doctor take you to the west. There's a county town fifty kilometers to the west; there might be a survivor settlement."

Li Na grabbed his wrist, as forcefully as she had before she lost consciousness:

"You will come back."

Commander Lin Dong did not answer.

When he walked out of the office, Stone had already started the base vehicle. That silver-gray heavy truck reflected a cold, hard luster in the sunlight, like a sleeping steel behemoth awakening.

Mouse and Hei Zi set off first in the pickup truck. Ten minutes later, Commander Lin Dong jumped into the passenger seat of the base vehicle, Stone shifted gears, and this eighty-ton behemoth began to slowly drive out of the gas station.

In the rearview mirror, Li Na stood by the window on the second floor of the gas station, her pale figure motionless.

Commander Lin Dong withdrew his gaze and looked ahead.

The eastern sky was very blue, and the clouds after the rain were dispersing. The outline of the industrial zone became clearer and clearer, like a silent tombstone.

And deep within the tombstone, something was waiting for them.

After the base vehicle had driven three kilometers, Mouse's voice suddenly came over the radio, urgent and broken:

"Boss... the industrial zone... that's not right... they aren't besieging..."

The signal was intermittent, mixed with piercing static.

"Mouse, respond!" Stone pressed the talk button.

After a few seconds of silence, Mouse's voice sounded again, this time with obvious fear:

"They are... driving us... those troops are... are bait... the real goal is..."

The voice stopped abruptly.

Immediately after, an extremely sharp shriek came over the radio—that was the digitized manifestation of a psychic fluctuation field, a stabbing pain transmitted directly into the human brain via radio waves.

Commander Lin Dong and Stone covered their ears at the same time, but the sound seemed to explode directly inside their brains.

Three seconds later, the shriek disappeared.

The radio went completely silent.

Commander Lin Dong looked up and looked ahead. The edge of the industrial zone was already clearly visible—overturned military vehicles, piled-up corpses, and those shadows moving slowly among the ruins.

But further away, on the roof of the tallest abandoned factory building, a blurry silhouette was facing their direction.

This time, even Commander Lin Dong felt that gaze—cold, greedy, and a kind of almost crazy... expectation?

Stone's hands on the steering wheel were trembling slightly: "Boss, it's still standing there. It's waiting for us."

Commander Lin Dong did not answer. His hand rested on the base vehicle's center console, where there was a red button—the system labeled it [Base Self-Destruct Program · Inactive].

But he didn't press it.

"Accelerate," he said.

The eighty-ton steel behemoth let out a low roar, tires crushing the broken asphalt road, slowly accelerating toward the silent industrial zone, toward that gazing sight.

In the rearview mirror, the outline of the gas station grew smaller and smaller.

Outside the windshield, the shadow on the rooftop began to move—not turning away to leave, but spreading its arms, as if in welcome.

A voice suddenly came over the radio, not Mouse's, nor Hei Zi's, but a hoarse and elderly voice that had never been heard before:

"You have finally come... successor..."

"I have been waiting for you... for a long, long time..."

Commander Lin Dong's pupils contracted sharply.

The voice spoke in standard Mandarin—but with an indescribable "inhuman" quality, just like an old phonograph playing a human recording.

And more importantly—it said "successor."

It knew about the base vehicle. It knew about the system. It might even know... Commander Lin Dong himself.

Stone slammed on the brakes, the eighty-ton vehicle body sliding forward a dozen meters from inertia, stopping on the abandoned road at the edge of the industrial zone.

Two hundred meters ahead, the shadow that had moved down from the rooftop finally revealed its outline—

An old man wearing tattered military uniform.

But on that face, there were no eyes.

Only two black holes, staring straight at them.

[Volume One End]