After stocking up at the maximum level, all the handsome men in the apocalypse are looking for suppo

Chapter 151 Infected Population
"Don't touch it!" Su Wanqing shouted sternly.

The girl ignored her, continuing to gently stroke the pendant and mutter something to herself.

Her voice was very soft, almost inaudible, but Su Wanqing keenly noticed that there was no tense expression on her face, but rather an unusual calmness.

"What...is she doing?" Xiao Ran's voice came from behind. He was doing his best to fend off the zombies' attacks, and his wounds were multiplying.

"I don't know." Su Wanqing frowned, feeling an unease spreading through her heart.

Suddenly, an even more ferocious roar erupted outside the warehouse. The zombie horde's attack frequency increased; they charged towards the warehouse with even greater madness, as if driven by some kind of command.

"Defensive formation! We must hold on!" Su Wanqing shouted.

Lin Che's water wall completely collapsed, and cracks began to appear on Xiao Ran's body.

Lu Zhao's communication equipment completely failed, and they lost contact with the outside world.

"Damn it! What's going on with this pendant?" Lu Zhao said angrily.

The pendant vibrated more and more violently, as if it were a runaway engine, frantically releasing energy.

Su Wanqing felt her mind was in chaos, and she couldn't concentrate on thinking.

"Keep your voice down!" Xiao Ran roared, his voice already hoarse. "Don't make a sound! I can't hold on much longer!"

Just then, the girl suddenly looked up and said to the air, "They...are back."

Su Wanqing's body jolted violently, and she felt a chill rise up her spine.

She didn't know what the girl meant by "them," but she knew that things had gotten very bad.

"Lu Zhao, check this girl's identity!" Su Wanqing shouted to Lu Zhao.

“Trying!” Lu Zhao replied, “but… the signal is too strong, I can’t access any databases!”

"Lin Che, seal the pendant in a lead box!" Su Wanqing said again.

“Okay!” Lin Che replied.

Just as Lin Che was about to take action, Lu Zhao suddenly exclaimed, "Oh no! The virus data encoding on the RV... is also starting to become abnormal!"

"Preserve the data! Analyze the data!" Su Wanqing said. "We must know exactly what happened!"

"Su Wanqing..." Xiao Ran's voice rang in my ears, his tone weak, "We...we can't hold on much longer!"

"Hold on!" Su Wanqing said, "We still have a chance!"

Several zombies broke through Xiao Ran's defenses and pounced on Su Wanqing.

She quickly drew her gun and fired at the zombies, the bullets hitting them accurately in the head and knocking them to the ground.

"Night, cover!" Su Wanqing shouted to Lin Che, her heart filled with unease.

She knew they were facing a powerful enemy, a conspiracy lurking in the shadows.

Lin Che immediately activated his water-based superpower, forming a water shield that blocked the zombies' attack.

But there were just too many zombies, and the water shield was quickly breached.

"Retreat!" Su Wanqing shouted. "We must get out of here!"

Just as they were preparing to retreat, the girl suddenly reached out and pointed to the corner of the warehouse.

Her eyes were empty and cold, like those of an ancient statue.

“There…” she whispered, “is… the entrance.”

Following the direction the girl pointed, Su Wanqing noticed a hidden door in the corner with strange symbols carved on it.

"The entrance?" Lu Zhao asked, puzzled.

"Let's go!" Su Wanqing said. "We must find out the truth about everything here!"

“This frequency… points over there.” Lu Zhao pointed to the fluctuating curve on the communication device screen. He traced his finger across the screen and finally locked onto a direction. “Area Thirteen, deep within the laboratory. The attack path of the zombie horde is highly similar to the frequency band of a certain room there.”

Su Wanqing frowned slightly as she stared at Lu Zhao's screen. "Area Thirteen? Isn't that the control area of ​​the core laboratory? It's been under lockdown all along."

“The blockade may only be relative.” Xiao Ran’s voice was low. “The scale and manner of the zombie horde are by no means a natural surge. Someone is manipulating them, and Area Thirteen is very likely the source of this manipulation.”

Lin Che didn't speak. He just gently pressed the pendant with his hand, feeling the increasingly strong vibration.

He could sense that the pendant was guiding them in that direction.

“Let’s go,” Su Wanqing said decisively. “We must find the source of the zombie horde and stop this crisis.”

The group cautiously made their way deeper into the laboratory. The atmosphere in the corridor was oppressive and heavy, filled with a putrid stench.

The walls were covered with dried bloodstains, and various experimental equipment and broken glass bottles were scattered on the ground.

Soon, they arrived at the entrance to Zone Thirteen. There stood a massive metal door, covered with sophisticated electronic locks and security devices.

Su Wanqing walked to the door and tried to enter the password. But it was clear that the door was completely locked.

"It seems we have no choice but to force our way through." Xiao Ran clenched his fists, his muscles bulging as if he were about to unleash tremendous power at any moment.

"Wait." Lin Che raised his hand, stopping Xiao Ran's actions.

"Try it with water."

Lin Che took a deep breath, concentrated, and channeled his water-based supernatural power into the gap in the door lock.

Under his control, the water slowly seeped into the door lock, attempting to damage its structure.

However, the door lock's security system was far more robust than they had imagined.

The water flow cannot penetrate the layers of protection; it can only form a thin film of water around the door lock.

"No, the lock's defense level is too high; water-based abilities can't break it." Lin Che shook his head.

"Then we'll have to resort to brute force." Xiao Ran clenched his fist again and slammed it into the metal door.

"Oh!"

With a loud bang, the metal door vibrated dully, but showed no signs of damage.

“This door is too sturdy.” Xiao Ran frowned. “It would be difficult to break it with brute force.”

Just then, Su Wanqing suddenly noticed an area on one side of the metal door wall that had been corroded by the virus.

The walls there had become loose and even developed cracks.

“Over there,” Su Wanqing said, pointing to the wall corroded by the virus. “Perhaps we can break through from there.”

Without hesitation, Xiao Ran rushed toward the wall, raised his fist again, and slammed it hard against the wall.

This time, the wall finally couldn't withstand his force and made a sound of collapsing.

"boom!"

Pieces of concrete fell from the wall, and a gap quickly appeared in front of everyone.

"Be careful," Su Wanqing warned.

The group carefully passed through the gap and entered the interior of Area Thirteen.

This is a huge space filled with all kinds of experimental equipment and instruments.

Despite being abandoned for a long time, the equipment here is still operating on backup power. "This...this is practically an underground laboratory," Lu Zhao exclaimed.

Su Wanqing looked around, her gaze falling on the piles of experimental recording chips.

"Finding these might provide some clues."

The group began searching the lab for experimental recording chips. Soon, they found some damaged chips and connected them to Lu Zhao's device.

"The contents recorded by these chips... point to the internal control operating system that spreads the virus?" Lu Zhao's voice trembled slightly.

"Internal control operating system?" Su Wanqing asked.

“That’s right,” Lu Zhao explained. “These data show that the spread of the virus is not completely random, but is controlled by some kind of system.”

And this system is very likely hidden in this laboratory.

Just then, the girl suddenly screamed, clutching the hem of her clothes tightly with both hands, her body trembling violently.

"What's wrong?" Su Wanqing walked to the girl's side and asked with concern.

The girl's eyes were filled with confusion. She pointed deep into the laboratory, her voice trembling as she said, "No...don't go there...I...I'm scared..."

Su Wanqing looked at the girl with suspicion. She tried to reassure her, saying, "It's okay, we're just here to investigate. There won't be any danger."

However, the girl did not calm down; instead, her expression became even more fearful, and a hint of hostility even flashed in her eyes.

She bit her lip tightly, standing stiffly as if she might collapse at any moment.

"What...what's wrong with her?" Lin Che frowned, sensing the strange aura emanating from the girl.

Su Wanqing also noticed the girl's unusual behavior. She knew that the girl was hiding some kind of secret.

“I need to investigate,” Su Wanqing said. “Lu Zhao, continue to crack the chip. Lin Che, increase vigilance. Xiao Ran, be ready to deal with any emergencies.”

"Understood." Everyone responded.

Time ticked by, and Lu Zhao continued to type on the keyboard, trying to crack more chip data.

Su Wanqing, on the other hand, kept a close eye on the girl's movements.

Suddenly, Lu Zhao exclaimed, "Found it! The data recorded by these chips shows that there is a main control area in the laboratory, where all the core data about the virus control system is stored!"

"The main control area? Where is it?" Su Wanqing asked.

"Deep inside the laboratory, there is a sealed room."

Lu Zhao replied, "That room has a very high level of security and requires a special password to open."

"Let's go," Su Wanqing ordered. "We must find that control area and uncover the truth."

Lu Zhao's fingers flew across the holographic projection, and the dense characters on the screen kept changing.

He frowned, his fingers tapping the keyboard faster and faster, muttering to himself, "The encryption method is old-fashioned, but the amount of data is huge... The main difficulty is that this thing doesn't use a standard protocol; it seems to be custom-made."

Su Wanqing stood beside him, looking at the constantly flashing code on the screen, feeling anxious and uneasy.

Deep inside the laboratory, the oppressive feeling of that sealed room still lingered.

"How's it going, Lu Zhao? How much can you decode?"

“The preliminary results are in.” Lu Zhao’s voice carried a hint of excitement as he zoomed in on the screen. “The documents document the ‘Beacon’ project and the ‘Guidance’ protocol. The core content concerns a signal generator capable of controlling the actions of infected individuals, and… the theoretical purpose of a device called ‘Mediator’.”

Su Wanqing's heart skipped a beat. "Media? What are you talking about?"

Lu Zhao's fingertip swept across the screen, pointing to a complex blueprint.

"According to the document, this medium can receive and amplify the instructions of the signal generator, thereby affecting the nervous system of the infected and controlling their actions. On the drawings, the core component of the medium... is very similar in structure to the pendant."

Su Wanqing's gaze immediately fell on the pendant in Lin Che's hand.

The pendant hung quietly, its surface smooth and warm, seemingly out of place in this gloomy laboratory.

A thought flashed through her mind: Could the pendant be one of the tools developed by the research team to control the virus?

"This...how is this possible?" she murmured to herself, her voice filled with disbelief.

Lin Che seemed to sense her gaze and subconsciously clenched his fist.

He could feel the vibrations coming from the pendant growing stronger, and a sense of unease welled up inside him.

He pursed his lips slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but hesitated.

Xiao Ran stood in the corner, arms crossed, his face grim. Hearing Lu Zhao and Su Wanqing's conversation, he couldn't help but speak up, "If this is true, then this pendant is a time bomb. It must be destroyed immediately, or we will all be in danger."

Su Wanqing looked at him with unwavering determination. "No, we can't destroy it now. We must find more evidence first to figure out what this pendant is and what it can do. If we destroy it rashly, we might lose our only chance to unravel this mystery."

"Solve the mystery? Su Wanqing, you're taking too much risk!" Xiao Ran's voice rose eight octaves. "We're facing a horde of zombies and enemies lurking in the shadows! We don't have time to study any mysterious things!"

"But destroying the pendants means that we have given up the opportunity to control this crisis."

Su Wanqing's rebuttal was calm, but her tone was unusually firm. "Lu Zhao, continue decoding. I need to know more about the 'Beacon' project."

Lu Zhao nodded and immersed himself back in the world of code.

Lin Che stared at the pendant in his hand, his mind filled with confusion. He keenly sensed that there seemed to be some kind of special matching mechanism between the pendant and the signal generator mentioned in the document.

Each vibration of the pendant resonates with a specific frequency point on the document's structural diagram.

Just then, the girl with the childlike voice in the corner suddenly moved.

She had just been standing there blankly, staring vacantly ahead.

But now, she suddenly walked to a wall deep inside the laboratory and gently touched a strange symbol on the wall with her finger.

"I found my switch." The girl's voice was weak and hoarse, but it reached Su Wanqing's ears clearly.

Su Wanqing's pupils contracted sharply. She immediately remembered the symbol the girl had touched; it was a complex pattern composed of several geometric shapes, which had appeared several times in the experimental records of the chip.

"Everyone, be on alert!" Su Wanqing quickly issued the order, her voice filled with vigilance.

She knew that this girl's appearance was no accident. She was likely hiding secrets about the laboratory, the virus, and even the pendant.

Xiao Ran immediately gripped his weapon tightly, his eyes scanning his surroundings warily.

Lin Che's gaze was also fixed on the girl, and his water-based supernatural power had begun to quietly gather.

Lu Zhao was still deciphering the data, but his fingers were trembling slightly.

"Who...who exactly is she?" Su Wanqing's mind was filled with questions.

The girl ignored Su Wanqing's gaze. She remained standing in front of the wall, gently stroking the strange symbol with her fingers, as if admiring a precious work of art.

Her face was expressionless, and her eyes were empty and lost.

Suppressing her unease, Su Wanqing said to Lu Zhao, "Continue decoding. I need to know more about this symbol."

Lu Zhao nodded and sped up his data-decoding. A few minutes later, he finally found some relevant records.

“This symbol… is the emblem of Project Eden.” Lu Zhao’s voice trembled slightly. “According to the documents, Project Eden is a highly classified bioengineering project aimed at… creating a super biological weapon capable of controlling humans and infected individuals.”

Su Wanqing's face turned pale. She finally realized that she and her team were involved in a conspiracy far more dangerous than they had imagined.

"It seems we must find the truth as soon as possible." Su Wanqing's voice was low and firm.