The Invasion Day – Chapter 89

Table of Contents | Character Guide

Chapter 89

Tang Xuhai stole a glance at Fu Shiwu, his face emanating satisfaction upon hearing Fu Shiwu’s choice.

Since that incident when he caught an inexplicably mesmerising glimpse of Fu Shiwu in the water of Shuijing Lake, Tang Xuhai had been a little overly concerned with the man. From time to time, he would glance at Fu Shiwu to see if he would have that kind of vision again.

So at this moment, he instantly knew what Fu Shiwu meant just by taking a quick look.

Just now, Fu Shiwu simply glanced at him and said nothing, but Tang Xuhai knew at once that he wanted to go to the Institute of Science.

Very good brothers, aren’t we? We could read each other’s thoughts.

Since Wen Zhaoming and Miao Jia took the minivan, Liu Peiqi stayed behind to keep watch on the house while Hollande and the two ladies drove one car, so Tang Xuhai and Fu Shiwu could only drive the remaining car.

Neither their modified car nor small truck was suitable to ride on the streets of this city.

Tang Xuhai said: “After getting familiar with this place, I’ll see if we can find ways to make a tank.”

Caught with surprise, Fu Shiwu looked at him: “You can make a tank?”

“Uhm.” Tang Xuhai snorted without any hint of emotion: “Now the country’s army has suffered heavy casualties, and they have no financial means to continue recruiting more soldiers. They don’t say it out loud, but that’s the actual reason why they’re encouraging the civilians to build their own corps. I don’t need a tank that’s still in perfect condition; even if I get a scrapped one, I can use my metal-type ability to repair and put it back in use. The most important part is the tires. Different from any ordinary tires, they must be fire- and bullet-proof.”

Now that the economy was collapsing, it would soon be unfeasible to support a huge army. Various military districts had begun to find ways to raise funds to feed their own soldiers, so it wasn’t impossible to obtain a tank that had been discarded by the logistics department.

“Will you… go back to the army?” After a moment of silence, Fu Shiwu finally asked.

“I won’t.” Tang Xuhai said: “Maybe you don’t know, but I used to be in the Special Forces, who only take on highly specific tasks. This large-scale frontal-assault strategy1Refers to a direct, full-force attack to the front line of an enemy force, rather than to the flanks or rear of the enemy. Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontal_assault isn’t suitable for a Special Forces soldier like me. I think a small-scale corps is a better place for me to utilise my current capabilities.”

It wasn’t like Tang Xuhai hadn’t considered returning to the army, but what he wanted was to return to his previous Special Forces team, not the ordinary army.

With the current situation, where the regular soldiers could only suicide-attack the aliens in head-to-head battles, the army wouldn’t stand firm for long.

Because of the special nature of the sky veil, the militaries in many nations had become particularly passive, with no one considering a penetration strategy2Refers to an attack strategy that goes straight through the enemy’s lines and, once through, each flank turns and attacks the opponent’s rear. Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penetration_(warfare) at all, let alone using any airstrikes. Where there were people, there would be aliens, so would they actually bomb people or aliens? With more and more aliens yet fewer and fewer soldiers, no troops would have the guts to resort to ‘killing 1,000 enemies but losing 800 soldiers in return’3A reference to Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’, which refers to a situation where you might actually win, but the losses your suffer is as heavy as the enemy’s..

This wasn’t like the usual way of warfare, where one side occupied their territory and the other side occupied theirs, each sieging their own fortification. At least in that way, each of them would have some respite.

The aliens didn’t need to be like that at all. When they were first found to act collectively as a group, the army was actually elated for a while. Unfortunately, before they could mobilise enough aircraft and heavy artillery, the high-level aliens began to attack the survivor bases and many large cities in the capital municipality ended up besieged by a large number of these creatures.

These high-level aliens were too smart. They knew that they had to first knock out the main cities.

Now that most of the aircraft had been summoned there, the capital absolutely mustn’t lose.

Because Pei City was far away from the capital, it remained fairly stable. However, looking at the latest satellite images, it might not remain peaceful for long.

“Do you think Hollande…” After a period of quietness, Tang Xuhai couldn’t hold back and blurted out, then he halted because he wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“What about Hollande?” Fu Shiwu turned to look at him.

Why is Hollande always looking for you? And his attitude is a bit strange. Tang Xuhai thought secretly.

Tang Xuhai didn’t care when they were at the lake before, but today, there were so many people at the dining table, so why did Hollande only call out to Fu Shiwu?

Liu Peiqi was obviously free, not to mention Tang Xuhai himself; besides, there were two other ladies, who were obviously most capable at going shopping.

Of course, Tang Xuhai couldn’t stop others from getting acquainted with Fu Shiwu, but he still had the job of maintaining Fu Shiwu’s critical exterior. If the contrast between Fu Shiwu’s inner character and outside facade was known to the others, it would be very challenging to retain his ‘imposing’ image in the future.

Fu Shiwu being close to Wen Zhaoming and Miao Jia was a given, but if Hollande also got along well with Fu Shiwu… Thinking of a scene where the two of them were talking and laughing, Tang Xuhai felt a tinge of displeasure surge in his heart. It’ll seriously destroy Fu Shiwu’s high-and-mighty image.

Of course, he never thought about whether the daily interaction between Fu Shiwu and him would bring any of such adverse effects. How could they be the same? He was very different from Hollande after all.

“It’s nothing.” Tang Xuhai swallowed back his words. Even if he told Fu Shiwu, the man wouldn’t understand. Tang Xuhai should leave this important task to himself.

The distance between the East Development Zone and the New Town wasn’t too far, and there wasn’t much traffic on the road at all. Very soon, they arrived at the Institute of Science.

The predecessor of the Institute of Science was the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Pei City. The subsequent outbreak of the large-scale pandemic had brought together experts and scholars in biomedical sciences to the provincial capital. Later, after the heterogeneous molecule was identified, the organisation didn’t get disbanded, rather, they even expanded and got established as Pei City’s Institute of Science, a unit that researched multiple matters related to the apocalypse.

The Institute of Science covered a large area. In addition to being responsible for scientific research, the Institute also assumed the function of educating and debunking any mysteries that arose with the end of the world.

The moment they got past the gate of the Institute of Science, a sign on the gate informed them that the latest research report on aliens was currently being presented in the multi-purpose lecture hall.

Upon seeing this, Fu Shiwu and Tang Xuhai immediately put aside whatever test they were planning to do and, following the sign, they walked directly to the lecture hall.

By the time they arrived, the presentation had already begun.

Fu Shiwu and Tang Xuhai wordlessly entered through the side door and found two spots to sit down.

On the podium in the front was a scientist clad in a white lab coat, whom they didn’t know the name because of their late arrival.

“…According to our latest research, this new type of alien is classified as a Level 3 alien. As we analysed earlier, ordinary aliens, that is, Level 1 aliens, play more of a cannon-fodder role, equivalent to frontal pawns used in a human wave attack4Refers to an offensive tactic in which the attacker conducts a head-on assault using a dense formation against the enemy line, with an intention to overrun and overwhelm the defenders with sheer weight and momentum. Read more here: ​​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_wave_attack. However, the Level 2 aliens that evolved later have grown the instincts of soldiers. In that way, the Level 3 aliens can be classified as officers.” 

The man in the lab coat lowered his head and looked at the podium, not noticing how flustered the audience below had turned after hearing his analysis. “The current structural relationship among the aliens is like this: cannon fodders, soldiers and non-commissioned officers. As such, we predict that more advanced aliens are likely to appear in the future, forming a complete military hierarchy.”

Fu Shiwu’s nerves tensed up at these words. Even more powerful aliens will appear?!

After reading his analysis aloud with an attitude as cold as ice, the scientist made a short pause, then he went on: “The newly captured Level 3 alien is still being dissected. Like the first two, this type of alien has only excretory organs but no sexual organs. Based on this observation, it’s speculated that the aliens probably do not reproduce through mating, but through asexual reproduction, which also means that there may be more than three classifications within the alien population. But as to whether they produce through binary fission or parthenogenesis, we’ll need to conduct further research…”

Tang Xuhai gasped for air, feeling utterly stupefied. These aliens can even reproduce asexually!

Fu Shiwu could only smile wryly. Didn’t this mean that above all these aliens, there might be an alien queen that birthed them? The situation was getting more and more horrifying as the clock ticked.

With their hearts drowned in sheer fright, the two listened to the scientist announcing the report findings without lifting his head even once. He didn’t have the slightest intent to look at the audience below, so those that were harbouring lots of doubts didn’t dare to ask any questions at all.

By the time the report was over, the scientist closed the folder with a sharp snap and neatly stood up. He quickly walked out of the lecture hall like a gust of wind, his white coat fluttering in the air.

“Doctor Zuo! Doctor Zuo!” Someone stood up and anxiously ran out to chase after him.    

“The doctor’s surname is Zuo.” Fu Shiwu also stood up. Having listened to the report for more than an hour, all sorts of unfamiliar jargon really made his head a little dazed.

“How come I feel that this doctor isn’t quite willing to disclose these findings?” Tang Xuhai said grumpily.

Although his lecture was rather standard and there were no signs of a fleeting attitude, his icy-cold, unsympathetic temper was worse than Fu Shiwu’s.

“Perhaps scientists tend to have strange personalities.” Fu Shiwu, on the other hand, was rather tolerant. Because his parents were both scientific researchers, he naturally had an affinity for people like scientists.

The two followed the flow of the audience to move out of the lecture hall, most of whom seemed to have come here to listen to the report findings. Many audience members directly headed for the main door, while only a handful walked towards the inner parts of the Institute of Science.

With so many buildings within the Institute of Science, the two of them stood in the middle of the courtyard, clueless about where they should go for the test.

After Tang Xuhai grabbed a person to inquire, the two walked towards the Biology building.

As they reached the lobby on the first floor, the surroundings gave out the air of a hospital, which immensely eased the restlessness in their minds.

A girl at the information desk told them that the test was located in the laboratory on the second floor. All they had to do was to ask the inspector to prick their finger, and the results would be out immediately.

It sounded similar to a blood test, and was in fact almost identical. The inspector proficiently disinfected Fu Shiwu’s fingertip, took out a blood sampling device and punctured the tip, then a sample of bright red blood was cleanly collected.

The two’s blood samples were placed into the analyser, and a quick moment later, the machine issued a result slip.

The inspector lowered his head to look at the results, then looked up at them both: “Your heterogeneous molecule percentage has reached 3%, which has passed the critical threshold, so everything is okay. You can drink water in the open and eat new-generation fruits and grains.”

Fu Shiwu pushed his glasses up and asked: “What is the critical threshold?” 

The inspector patiently replied: “It means that the amount of heterogeneous molecules in the body has reached a level that is sufficient to trigger your immune response. The threshold is 1.5%, so once this number is exceeded, the person is likely to get sick. If this threshold isn’t exceeded, he won’t be subjected to any of the three outcomes produced by his immune system.”

“The three outcomes should refer to ‘ineffective immunity’, ‘suppressing immunity’ and ‘assimilating immunity’. I believe I’ve seen them on TV.” [T/N: If you don’t recall these three outcomes, please refer to chapter 29 here ^^]

“Correct, those three outcomes.” The inspector kindly said: “You’ve just arrived in Pei City, right? If you’ve spent a lot of time outside, your body certainly has exceeded this critical threshold. You actually don’t need to come here for the test, it’s certain that you’re able to drink unfiltered water.”

When they took their leave, the inspector added: “If you possess special abilities, you can head to the Special Ability Life Forms department to test the proportion of cells in your body that had been assimilated by heterogeneous molecules in order to obtain an accurate measurement of your current level of ability.”