Post-Apocalyptic Survival Modpack

Chapter 84: The Plague of the Undead

Upon seeing Oswald appear, Wang Ji greeted him and asked, "You're back. How did things go?"

Oswald nodded at him and said, "It's been resolved successfully. Not a single bug was left behind, and everything that might have caused the mutation virus to spread has been destroyed."

"Unless this virus appears out of thin air, the subterranean insectoids should not cause any more mutations."

Wang Ji agreed, "That's good. In that case, as long as no one who has been in contact with the insects has any problems, then the problem can be considered temporarily solved."

"However, just in case..."

As he spoke, Wang Ji immediately began assigning tasks, ordering people to build an isolation and protection zone for the Zerg, to protect a portion of the Zerg and leave some samples in case the Zerg suddenly went extinct again.

After finishing these tasks, Wang Ji finally had some free time.

Osvid seized this opportunity and finally managed to speak with him.

Oswald said, "My research failed, and I apologize to you and Ryder."

Which study are you referring to?

"Regarding restoring sleep, remember my No. 40 special medicine? I made some improvements, and theoretically it should be feasible, and then..."

For some reason, Oswald seemed unable to continue speaking.

But there is another participant in the experiment here at this moment.

Ryder was puzzled: "Why say it was a failure? Wasn't it going very smoothly?"

He continued Osvid's words, saying, "I've tried it myself, and I did fall asleep without any sensation. The only problem is that I was a little tired after waking up, and I'm still a bit unwell."

"It's possible that the drug was too strong and there are still some residues, but I believe this can definitely be improved."

Oswald simply shook his head: "It's unnecessary, I'm sorry, Ryder."

Ryder was increasingly confused: "Why apologize?"

"Haven't you noticed? Your talent has disappeared."

"what."

Ryder paused, then scratched his head.

"I really didn't notice that. After all, my so-called intuition is always unreliable, so I feel like it doesn't matter whether it's there or not."

"Ugh--"

Oswald sighed and said again, "I'm sorry."

He adopted such a humble posture that even Ryder felt somewhat flattered.

Ryder quickly waved his hand and said, "It's okay, really it's okay, you don't need to do this. This thing really doesn't affect me much. To be honest, I've never paid attention to this talent."

"For me, it's like replacing my mealtime drink with water, and it's actually more refreshing."

"Besides, things are different now. We have the Magic Network, which is much more stable than my often-malfunctioning talent, and it has many more functions too. You see..."

As he spoke, Ryder was about to open the detection and deduction module of the magic network to prove it, but when he opened the terminal, he found that the magic network was stuck.

"Eh?"

"What's going on... Oh, okay."

In the blink of an eye, the magic network reconnected.

Wang Ji glanced at Osvid with surprise, and seeing him shake his head slightly, he suddenly understood something.

Wang Ji opened his mouth, closed his eyes briefly, and then said after a moment:

"You might not know this while you're asleep, but today, in order to deal with the newly emerged Zerg aberration plague, the Archmage caused a magical tide, which affected the network worldwide."

"I see!"

Ryder nodded, feeling a surge of admiration for the archmage's power, and couldn't help but look over.

However, the archmage remained silent, his head bowed, seemingly unwilling to meet Ryder's gaze.

Ryder also realized this and didn't know what to do for a moment.

After thinking it over, he said he had other things to attend to, then bid farewell to the two of them and left first.

Although he didn't care, perhaps the Archmage needed some time to recover.

Ryder thought that perhaps people at the power level of archmages had a different perspective on talent.

Just like Wang Ji, the Grand Mage's talent enabled him to reach this point, and perhaps that is why he pays special attention to special talents, considering it a great sin.

Thinking about it, Ryder shook his head.

What he just said was indeed not a lie. That intuitive talent, which only works for a very short time, is really not very noticeable, and it doesn't really matter whether you have it or not.

This is nothing at all.

However, Osvid seemed to have a different opinion.

Osvid sighed as he secretly watched Ryder's departing figure.

"Tell me what's going on."

Wang Ji frowned and asked, "What's going on with your little tricks and Ryder?"

Ryder really couldn't connect to the internet just now; his verification failed.

But Oswald did something to tamper with it and forced the connection.

These actions were naturally noticed by Wang Ji immediately; they were strange, but he did not stop them.

Despite asking the question, Wang Ji also had some guesses.

Seeing that Ryder had left and only Wang Ji remained, Oswald no longer concealed anything.

He slowly began to speak: "Talent is a precious gift unique to all living beings."

"But Ryder has lost his talent; he may already be..."

Wang Ji was taken aback.

"Then what about those who are still alive now?"

A new consciousness?
Oswald knew what Wang Ji was about to say, and he did not deny it, but continued, "This is my fault, my mistake, and I will take responsibility for it."

“Ryder is a very good person. He is warm-hearted, has a naiveté that is not appropriate for his age, and is also very brave.”

“He was a good boy and didn’t deserve to suffer like this.”

"I swear by myself that I will find a way to truly revive him and grant him freedom."

After listening to what Oswald said, Wang Ji remained silent for a long time.

Ryder, this somewhat naive and sometimes a little silly old man.
Ugh--

He has only just witnessed the unity and prosperity of the ideal community, only just begun.

Wang Ji found it hard to accept at first.

"But, because of him, I learned something."

Oswald suddenly raised his head and looked at Wang Ji: "Do you know that in the past, even if a person was killed, I could find his soul and truly resurrect him along with his talents?"

"Even though the process is very difficult, it has given me the confidence and habit to act recklessly."

"But when Ryder became like this, I suddenly realized that I couldn't do it anymore."

“Something has changed, Wang Ji. It started three days ago.”

“Actually, I didn’t notice anything unusual about Ryder at first, because his soul was still in his body instead of returning to the world, which made me think that there was nothing wrong with him.”

"Until they discovered his talent had vanished." Wang Ji suddenly felt a chill: "You mean?"

"This is an anomaly, a disaster, and the end of the world."

"Insomnia is not a simple matter."

Oswald said solemnly, "The end of the world may have already gripped everyone at that moment. It doesn't allow people to truly sleep; everything it does is just to make people suffer more."

"And this pain is certainly not meaningless."

"Give me time, and I will definitely find out its 'root cause'."

The discussion between the two did not last long.

Wang Ji was in a state of mixed emotions and didn't know how to face Ryder in the present moment.

At that moment, he suddenly understood why Oswald acted that way when facing Ryder.

The current Ryder is both Ryder and not Ryder. He is an extension of Ryder's consciousness, no different from Ryder, yet he is not himself.

Should we tell him the truth?

Wang Ji was somewhat unsure. Even if it were him, let alone Oswald, he wouldn't be able to make a decision immediately.

The truth is too heavy.

However, this heaviness was soon broken by something else.

New information has arrived from the magic network, indicating an emergency level as high as the Swarm Aberration.

"What happened again?"

Wang Ji didn't even have time to catch his breath before he hurriedly opened it to check.

Upon seeing this, he frowned.

A new apocalyptic disaster has emerged.

The dead.

Worldwide, the undead are appearing on a massive scale, in terrifying numbers.

No, perhaps it shouldn't be called 'the appearance of the dead,' but rather—the resurrection of the dead.

The first person to discover this was a resident who went to pay respects to his relatives at dusk, staying with the tombstone until sunset and nightfall.

Then, from the grave, his deceased relatives suddenly broke through the coffin, dug through the soil, and crawled out.

And dragging its rotting body, it attacked him.

This resident... ultimately failed to escape.

If it were just an ordinary, rotting zombie, he could easily handle it given the average physical condition of the current members of the Ideal Community.

But it was a cemetery, and more than just this one corpse crawled out.

More zombies, skeletons, and formless ghosts appeared with the night, densely packed, tightly binding him, surrounding him, tormenting him, and devouring him completely.

Before he died, he only had time to send out a distress signal.

However, the rescue team couldn't even get to the scene because at that moment, the nearby settlements were also surrounded by the suddenly resurrected undead, and everyone was forced to prioritize fighting these undead.

To be fair, these undead are not strong; they are just moving, aggressive, and mindless decaying corpses and skeletons. Only the terrifying ghosts that float around pose any threat.

But for the resources of an ideal community, it's nothing.

Each resident can directly access Felsteel armor, various alchemical tools, potions, and enchanted weapons from the Material Network or settlement warehouse.

It can be said that, if they wanted to, any resident's minimum combat strength would be stronger than the Imperial regular army of the past, and any militia group formed in any place could completely overwhelm the Imperial army.

Moreover, there are a large number of professional soldiers who have undergone mild modifications and residents who have served in the military, and they are no longer so rare. Basically, every settlement has at least a few mid- to low-level magic users.

Even when surrounded by various cemeteries and resurrected spirits in the wild, the regions did not descend into chaos, but instead immediately put up an effective resistance.

As long as everyone sticks together and stays inside the town, these undead won't be able to break in. Their bodies are too weak to pose much of a threat.

After learning about the situation, Wang Ji breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Tonight, all the dead in this world are resurrected and attack all life they see.

Even the insects were affected, with many more moving insect remains launching another attack on their surviving kin.

However, the number was not large, thanks to Osvid's earlier global cleanup and incineration efforts, which turned the mutated insects and the corpses of the previously dead insects into ash, rendering them unable to move.

Thinking of this, Wang Ji suddenly felt a little scared.

Without this massive purge, allowing those mutated insects to come back to life, the double disaster would have had a truly terrifying impact on the entire world.

The insects are very lucky.

As for the residents of the ideal community…

There were casualties, but not many.

After the resurrection of the dead was discovered, all areas were immediately on high alert. Only a few people who were caught off guard or in dangerous areas were arrested and never returned home.

It's heartbreaking.

They were the first victims of this apocalypse.

"The spirits of the past have returned."

Osvid naturally received this message as well.

Throughout world history, countless lives have been lost. Even if we exclude those that have turned to ashes and cannot be moved, the cumulative number over a long period is still terrifying.

Moreover, those who turned to ashes may not necessarily have failed to revive, since there are still ghosts among the dead.

According to observations, it seems that some practitioners of magical arts have also been revived. Most of these people were of noble birth and have intact corpses.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Wang Ji asked Oswald, "Is it possible to have another world cleansing?"

Oswald shook his head with some difficulty: "I'm fine, but the world needs a buffer."

"Unless the situation is extremely dire, it's best to wait at least one more day and let me reinforce the world."

"Ok."

Wang Ji flashed by and, without delay, rushed directly to the scene of the most severe disaster, personally cleaning up and reaping large swaths of the dead.

Even so, there are still some things that are difficult to handle.

To reiterate, the Ideal Community has too few high-level combatants; there's only him and Morin, who was recently promoted.

Neither of them could be in two places at once, they simply couldn't...

and many more.

Wang Ji suddenly thought of something, and in the next instant, he was teleported to the capital and went to the prison.

There are five high-ranking officials being imprisoned here.

It had only been a few days since they were arrested, and they hadn't even had a chance to go to trial.

These past few days, the five of them have been sitting on the sidelines. They all thought they would be under strict surveillance and interrogated, but in reality, everyone was too busy to pay attention to them.

Although they didn't know what was happening outside, there was no doubt that this complete disregard, which could be described as cold violence, made the five of them very uncomfortable. They felt that it would be better to be taken to the square for a public trial.

but now…

"You have a chance to be sent to a labor camp."

(End of this chapter)