The Invasion Day – Chapter 77

Table of Contents | Character Guide

Chapter 77

Tang Xuhai changed his clothes and returned to the library with something clutched under his armpit. The moment he pushed open the door, Fu Shiwu immediately opened his eyes. Opposite him, Wen Zhaoming was sitting sideways with his arms under his head and his eyes closed, and he was sleeping soundly.

He asked: “You didn’t sleep?” 

“Can’t sleep, my head feels heavy. Are we leaving?” Fu Shiwu stood up.

“You likely have overused your ability.” Tang Xuhai said.

“Probably.” Still in a daze, Fu Shiwu asked: “What’s this?” 

“I found some clothes for you, put them on.” Tang Xuhai threw a piece of clothes over. It was a casual dark green plaid shirt.

“Thank you.” Taken back, Fu Shiwu caught the clothes, then he took off his dirty and torn jacket. 

“It fits well.” Fu Shiwu smiled: “Thank you.” 

Tang Xuhai stroked his nose with a hint of embarrassment: “No need to thank me. I’ve prepared some for Lao Wen too.”

Although Wen Zhaoming was protected by his fire ability during the explosion, his clothes were still smouldered, not to mention he fell from the second floor and was crushed under a block of cement. His whole body was covered in dirt.

“Great.” Fu Shiwu turned his head to look at Wen Zhaoming, then he leaned to Tang Xuhai’s side and said in a low voice: “Has Zhaoming’s wheelchair been found?”

“I found it, but it’s broken.” Tang Xuhai frowned with unease: “Although I can repair the metal parts, some parts are made of plastic and rubber, and there’s no way to replace them with metal.”

“Forget it.” At this point, Wen Zhaoming raised his head, rubbed his forehead and said: “I don’t need a wheelchair.”

“But, don’t the prostheses hurt?” Fu Shiwu looked at him worriedly.

Wen Zhaoming propped his hand against the sofa’s arm and tried hard to stand up. He took two steps and said: “I can get used to this. It’s time for me to stop running away.”

Fu Shiwu was puzzled, while Tang Xuhai gazed at him in silence.

Fu Shiwu couldn’t comprehend that feeling, but Tang Xuhai could understand what Wen Zhaoming meant thanks to his similar experience.

The joint where the prosthesis and the broken limb met was always designed with careful consideration for the user, not to mention that Wen Zhaoming’s family didn’t lack money, so it was specially tailor-made for him. The reason why it felt painful and he didn’t use prostheses to walk was because, on one hand, he couldn’t adapt, and on the other hand, he wanted to flee from reality.

Wen Zhaoming truly rejected the use of prostheses from the bottom of his heart. He only brought them while escaping from the apocalypse, but pretended that they didn’t exist. Once he got used to them, he would have to admit that his legs were truly disabled.

Wen Zhaoming was self-deprecating yet proud, sensitive yet cautious at the same time. The hardships and frustrations in life had put a heavy weight on his heart, making him want to run away. But today, he finally stood up and, with immense determination to survive, chose to face his defects.

Wen Zhaoming endured the pain and insisted on walking to the side of the modified car.

Fu Shiwu’s hands and body were wounded all over. Although he had bandaged them, Tang Xuhai still had him sit behind and rest.

Today, sitting in the passenger seat was Miao Jia, who was hugging his laptop closely.

After reuniting with his dearest laptop after their gut-wrenching parting, the joy of getting back something that was lost made his eyes glued to the screen, even though it was a rare chance for him to sit in the passenger seat.

“I’ve posted about the alien that we saw last night on the Focus Forum, using the ID ‘Mr. Fu’.” Miao Jia’s fingers were flying across the keyboards as he constantly switched the windows on the screen: “Now there are a lot of replies… Ah! It’s been pinned at the top by the administrator!”

Miao Jia became excited: “It seems that this special alien was seen in many places last night. Hm, the Institute of Sciences wants to publish a new research report?”

Miao Jia quickly clicked on it. As he quickly skimmed through the post, his face turned unsightly, so Tang Xuhai glanced at him curiously: “Kiddo, what do you see? Don’t just stop right at the important point.”

“…This new alien was determined to have landed from above the sky veil. It isn’t like the previous evolved alien, which went through evolution while roaming on Earth. The Institute of Sciences captured one and dissected it overnight. Inside this special alien’s brain, compared to the previous ones, there’s an additional organ that is used to command other aliens. Last night, many cities were attacked in an organised manner. Those aliens seemed exceptionally obedient, and they even showed group characteristics.”

“What? “Fu Shiwu was stunned: “But don’t aliens act alone? Only when they encounter a target that exceeds their own ability will they act in groups.”

“Indeed, previously, even an evolved alien had to force other aliens to follow it. If the evolved alien dies, the gathered aliens will no longer be under control and start hunting for food alone again.” Wen Zhaoming said.

“Yes, but this high-level alien is different. It seems to be born as an alien leader… just like the male lion in a pride… When there’s no male lion, lionesses will hunt alone, but when the male lion appears, they’ll naturally gather into a community.” Miao Jia creased his eyebrows and said in puzzlement: “Now that the scientists explain the relationship between these aliens, it suddenly sounds so gross?!”

Miao Jia shuddered, shook his head to rid of the strange pictures inside his mind, then said: “The report also says that from now on, the alien’s hunting mode will change entirely, moving from an individual state to a large group. Their actions will be even more unpredictable in the future…”

“Damn! Do they have to make it sound so horrifying?” Miao Jia shivered as a chill ran down his spine.

“Miao Jia! Quickly take a look at the satellite images, what is the current status of the aliens that came near the city yesterday?” Tang Xuhai said hurriedly.

“Okay.” Miao Jia started to move the satellite images, then he was massively shocked: “Not good! They’ve really formed a large group like the scientist said.”

Although there had been alien waves before, most of these alien waves moved along the road, but now these alien waves had shifted away from the road and travelled into the mountains and plains, just like a primitive tribe.

Fu Shiwu couldn’t hide his surprise: “Then what do they eat?”

Miao Jia gaped at Fu Shiwu, totally at a loss for words: “Fu ge, how do you still care about what they eat?”

Fu Shiwu said nervously: “I don’t mean that. The aliens used to chase humans and live by eating human brains. Now that they’re gathering together, the few lone survivors that they meet won’t be enough for so many of them. But there are also not many animal brains to eat in the wild. This move is illogical.” 

“That is to say, their next goal is to make sure that all of them are full.” Tang Xuhai narrowed his eyes: “They definitely want to attack the gathering points at the big cities!”

Miao Jia was shaken for a second, then he suddenly snapped: “Hai ge, there’s something I still don’t understand. When I watched an apocalyptic TV series back then, those characters always hid in the countryside, villages and the like. But with our current situation, any village, town, township or fourth-tier cities like Yun City have all been wiped out. Only the big cities are fine.”

Tang Xuhai cast him a quick glance: “This has something to do with how scattered the people are. The fewer people there are, the less strength they’ll have to deal with the aliens. It seems that in the countryside that encircles the city, waves after waves of aliens kept coming, so these smaller gathering points were eventually destroyed. But big cities with large populations could withstand increasingly stronger attacks, because they had more fighters on their side. Besides, with better use of special abilities, survivors’ gathering points started emerging in the big cities, then more people continued flocking to those places. The more people there are, the greater the chance of survival. It becomes a virtuous circle.”

At the end, Tang Xuhai firmly concluded: “So, in the future, ordinary people with low strength can’t leave the survivor bases inside the big cities, while people with special abilities also need to live on these bases.” 

After the exchange, Tang Xuhai remembered something: “By the way, Shi Wu, take a look at this hard drive, is’t yours.”

He pulled out the hard drive from his jacket’s pocket. Receiving it, Miao Jia turned around and handed it to Fu Shiwu, who was sitting behind.

Hearing Tang Xuhai mention the hard drive, Fu Shiwu’s heart jumped. He had completely forgotten about this thing. 

The moment he saw a dent on the hard drive in Miao Jia’s hand, Fu Shiwu went dumbfounded.