Doomsday Cognition Guide

The mobilization took place outside the tent. Aunt Zheng from the kitchen was the first to speak. "Deputy Secretary Zhang, I...can I not go?" She gripped the stick, the sharpened iron piece attached to the end tapping softly on the ground. "I'm just a cook. When they said there would be a subsidy, they didn't say I actually had to go there." She tilted her head towards the county town. "If I go, I'll just be a burden."

Deputy Secretary Zhang looked at her for a moment and nodded.

"Okay. If you don't go, your subsidy will be halved. We'll keep your support position in the settlement; we need someone to boil water and cook."

The woman visibly relaxed, her grip on the stick loosening slightly. "Okay, okay. Thank you."

She stepped aside, her face showing a hint of apology, but mostly a sense of relief.

The man surnamed He, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, took half a step forward. He adjusted his glasses, and just as he opened his mouth, Deputy Secretary Zhang turned to him.

"Old He, your ability is very useful for this search and rescue. Being able to pinpoint the location of zombies is a huge help in the city. You can stay at the back of the group; you don't need to be at the front."

Old He's mouth was still open, but he was silenced. He paused for two seconds, ran his fingers along the seam of his pants, then nodded and returned to the line.

Old Ma stood there on the construction site, his large, rough hands clasped together in front of him, his knuckles twisting. Deputy Secretary Zhang pointed to the equipment boxes piled up beside him: "We've prepared blast suits and shields for you. Heavy-duty blast shields, standard equipment. Once you wear them, even zombie teeth and nails won't penetrate."

Old Ma glanced at the pile of equipment, his expression relaxed a little, but he didn't move his feet.

Uncle Si walked over and took a riot shield from the equipment box. He flipped it over to look at it, then gripped both sides of the shield with his hands and activated his supernatural ability. The surface of the shield rippled slightly like water, its thickness gradually increasing under his palms, the blunt metal edges becoming rounded and heavy. He handed the shield to Old Ma.

"We'll see."

Old Ma took it, tossed it around in his hand a couple of times, and his eyes lit up. "This feels good to hold; I feel much more at ease now."

Uncle Four reinforced the critical parts of his bomb suit. Old Ma slammed the shield on the ground with a dull thud. "With this shield, I'd dare to charge at a bull."

The team was finally finalized. It consisted of the superhuman and three additional armed police officers, making a total of eleven people. The older woman's position was reassigned to logistics. Deputy Secretary Zhang handed the marked map to Fourth Uncle: "Comrade Li Lei, you will be in charge of on-site command of the team." Fourth Uncle took the map without hesitation. He unfolded it, glanced at it, folded it, and stuffed it into his pocket, then scanned the people in front of him.

"Once we're in the city, stay close. Follow orders, don't try to be a hero." He paused for a moment. "I can take you in, and I can take you out too."

The team was ready to go when Fourth Uncle walked over to Li Xuan. He didn't look at Li Xuan, but instead glanced at the team members lining up ahead, and said in a low voice, "Keep a close eye on them later."

Li Xuan nodded.

Fourth Uncle didn't say anything more and walked to the front of the line. Li Xuan held his short gun in his hand and stood in the middle right of the line.

Before setting off, Li Xuan noticed Lao He standing alone at the very back of the group. His gold-rimmed glasses gleamed slightly in the dim light, and his shirt, tucked into his trousers, was wrinkled. He was shivering. Very slightly, but the rhythmic rise and fall of his shoulders betrayed him.

Li Xuan walked over.

"People who have awakened superpowers have a certain resistance to the zombie virus." His tone was casual, as if he were chatting. "Generally, you won't get infected if you're scratched, unless you're seriously injured. As long as you stay at the back and don't stray from the group, you should be quite safe."

After saying this, he turned and walked back to his seat without waiting for Lao He's response. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lao He's lips move, as if he wanted to say something, but didn't. Lao He rubbed his fingers against the seam of his pants twice, then clenched them tightly, his knuckles turning white.

This is not the reaction one should have upon hearing "you are safe".

Li Xuan withdrew his gaze and placed his hand on the hilt of his Tang sword. His fourth uncle waved his hand in front, and the group began to move. Old He followed at the very back of the group, his steps unsteady, his expression unreadable on his downcast face.

The team started from the sports center parking lot and advanced towards the central area along the main road on the west side of the county town.

The first encounter came very quickly.

As we turned the third corner, several zombies suddenly sprang out from behind an overturned Iveco van parked on the side of the road. Less than thirty meters away, their movement was completely different from any we'd seen in town before—their joints were no longer stiff, their gait was coordinated and fluid, and they moved from stillness to sprint with almost no transition, like a pack of startled hunting dogs.

Old Ma was the first to see them. He instinctively raised his shield, but he was a fraction of a second too slow. Before the shield was even properly positioned, the lead zombie was already less than five meters away. Old Ma instinctively took a step back—not a tactical retreat, but out of fear. Faced with a zombie so fast and with such fluid movements, all the sense of security he had built up vanished in an instant. The shield trembled in his hand, the edge scraping against the asphalt with a harsh screech.

Xiao Zhou quickly raised his gun, the crosshair tracking the zombie's head, and fired two shots. His eyesight allowed him to see the license plate of a car several hundred meters away, but the target's speed far exceeded his expectations. The first shot grazed the zombie's scalp, and the second shot pierced its skull from the side. The zombie stumbled forward two steps, fell face down to the ground, slid half a meter, and dark blood seeped from the bullet holes.

The others have already surrounded us from both sides.

Xiao Liu dashed out from the side to intercept, but he was running too fast and stepped on broken glass, stumbling. Taking advantage of this opening, a zombie pounced on his right, faster than an average person sprinting at full speed. Xiao Liu dodged the frontal attack, but the zombie, almost without pausing after landing, pushed off the ground and veered back. Xiao Liu was stunned for a moment by this speed and agility—he had been a policeman before the apocalypse, chasing thieves and cornering criminals, but he had never faced such a reckless, all-out charge.

Uncle Si strode in front of Xiao Liu and slashed horizontally with his thickened Tang sword. The blade collided with the zombie's neck, the sound of it entering flesh dull and short. The zombie's cervical vertebrae were severed in one stroke, its body still lurching forward, the momentum causing it to tumble twice on the asphalt road before coming to a stop.

"Don't panic! Old Ma, raise your shield! Frontal assault!" Uncle Si's voice drowned out the gunfire. His instructions were short and clear, each detail focused on specific actions. It wasn't a discussion, it was a command. "Xiao Zhou, keep your gun steady, don't fire in bursts! Xiao Liu, retreat, don't act alone!"

This unwavering rhythm amidst the chaos gradually brought the group's movements into sync. Old Ma readjusted the angle of his shield, straightening it, and crouched down to brace it. Xiao Zhou took a deep breath, and the muzzle of his gun stopped wobbling. Xiao Liu got up from the ground and retreated behind Old Ma.

Li Xuan stood slightly to the right of the middle of the formation, holding a pistol with the tip pointing diagonally at the ground. He didn't fire, his gaze sweeping across the entire battle line—Old Ma's position, Little Zhou's firing angle, Little Liu's running route, Old Wu's warning range, and Old He's location.

Taking advantage of the moment when Old Ma adjusted his shield, a zombie circled around from the left, lunging straight at Xiao Zhou as he reloaded. Xiao Zhou, still focused on reloading, didn't notice the threat from his left. Li Xuan stepped forward, his short gun thrusting diagonally, the tip piercing the zombie's jaw and reaching the base of its skull. He withdrew the gun and returned to his original position. The entire process was clean and efficient; apart from his fourth uncle, no one noticed his movements. His fourth uncle glanced at him during a break in giving instructions but said nothing. Li Xuan picked up his short gun again and continued observing.

In less than a minute, all the zombies were lying on the ground. Old Ma was still holding his shield, his knuckles white from the strain, his face still showing signs of shock. Xiao Zhou ejected the empty magazine, his fingers trembling slightly. Xiao Liu squatted by the roadside, wiping the sweat from his brow, panting heavily.

Li Xuan crouched down in front of a zombie. This zombie's skull was harder than that of ordinary zombies; the bullet hole only penetrated halfway before being deflected by a bone fracture. He pried open the back of its head with the tip of his knife and found a translucent, rice-grain-sized particle above the brainstem. It was very soft and hadn't fully developed. He continued examining several other zombies and found another one, also incomplete. He quietly put both particles into his pocket, as if doing something that didn't require explanation to anyone. His fourth uncle watched silently.

Fourth Uncle propped the knife tip on the ground and looked around at everyone.

"For your first time, that's quite good." His tone was gentler than before, but still carried the confidence unique to a commander. "Remember what you felt just now—these zombies are faster and more agile than before. Don't fight them head-on; you have to coordinate."

He paused, then drew three dots on the ground with the tip of his knife. "Old Ma, your shield is the wall of the team. The wall cannot fall, nor can it retreat." He then pointed to Xiao Zhou, "Your gun is the eye in the wall. If the eye doesn't panic, the wall will be stable." He then pointed to Xiao Liu, "Your legs are the probes of the team. Don't rush too fast, and don't stop for too long. If the probes break, the team will be blind."

All three listened attentively. Old Ma straightened his shield and nodded. Little Zhou pulled the bolt back on his rifle. Little Liu stood up and stretched his shoulders.

"Let's proceed at this pace—Old Ma in the front, Little Zhou providing follow-up fire, Little Liu providing support, and Old Wu paying attention to warnings. Don't panic."

No one spoke, but the atmosphere had changed. It wasn't relaxation—it was a beginning of finding one's place. The fear remained, but it could be managed through clear instructions and defined roles.

The first target building is a six-story residential building.

Old Wu sensed something was wrong downstairs. There was the presence of living beings in the building, but it was very faint, and the direction couldn't be determined to the specific floor. Uncle Si told Old Ma and Old Wu to guard the exit on the first floor while he led the team upstairs. Li Xuan followed at the back, stopping at the corner of the stairs and listening for a few seconds. The sounds upstairs were mixed—the whistling of the wind blowing through broken windows, the muffled thuds of furniture toppling over, and a subtle scraping sound he recognized. Zombie fingernails scraped against the walls, and more than one.

"Clear each floor one by one." Fourth Uncle lowered his voice. "Xiao Zhou, guard the stairs. Xiao Liu, come with me into the room. Li Xuan, you bring up the rear."

As they advanced to the third floor, a door deep in the corridor was suddenly smashed open from the inside. Three zombies staggered out, the closest one less than five steps from Xiao Liu. Their speed and agility were significantly improved compared to when they first evolved. One of them took two quick steps along the wall and flanked Xiao Liu from behind. Xiao Liu dodged the frontal attack, but he couldn't react to the one on his side—his attention was drawn to what was directly in front of him, and his body couldn't keep up with his gaze.

Li Xuan's short gun thrust out diagonally from the side. The tip pierced behind the zombie's ear, twisted horizontally, and as he pulled it out, the shaft swept horizontally, deflecting another zombie's attack. Taking advantage of this opening, Xiao Liu steadied himself and plunged his knife into the eye socket of the third zombie. Xiao Zhou fired two shots from the stairwell, taking care of the first one.

"Thanks," Xiao Liu said, panting.

Li Xuan wiped the blood off the tip of his spear onto the zombie's clothes, said nothing, and retreated to his position to hold the line.

After clearing each floor, a group of survivors was found on the fourth and sixth floors. The five trapped individuals were escorted downstairs and taken back to the temporary command post by two armed police officers.

By the afternoon, the team's coordination had improved significantly compared to the morning. Old Ma had learned to observe both sides while raising his shield, Xiao Zhou's firing intervals were getting shorter and shorter, and his gun muzzle was no longer swaying. Xiao Liu's running and retreating timing no longer conflicted with his teammates. Uncle Si's command had changed from having to shout at every step to only needing to give directions at key moments.

Li Xuan didn't make many moves—only three throughout the entire afternoon. Once was when he finished off Xiao Liu when he was attacked by two zombies; another time was when he pulled Lao Wu back from retreating too quickly and almost getting separated from the group; and yet another time was when Xiao Zhou was being reloaded when he was ambushed by a zombie that jumped in through the window, and he cut off the zombie's trajectory with a shot in mid-air.

Each time he made a move, he returned to his original position within seconds, picking up his pistol again as if nothing had happened.

As evening fell, the team withdrew to the temporary command post to rest. Deputy Secretary Zhang tallied the results: preliminary clearing of eleven streets had been completed, and twenty-three trapped survivors had been rescued. Three of the deployed armed police officers sustained minor injuries—not from zombies, but from accidental injuries sustained during the search.

Old Ma sat atop the supply crate, examining the thickened shield from all angles. Several scratches and dents from impacts marred its surface. "Will this thing still be usable tomorrow?" he wondered.

"Yes." Uncle Si took the shield and activated his ability. The dented metal slowly smoothed out, and the thickened parts were redistributed evenly. Old Ma watched from the side and shook his head: "With your skills, you could have opened a car repair shop before the apocalypse and made a fortune."

Xiao Zhou sat by the tent cleaning his gun, while Xiao Liu did stretching exercises beside him. Old Wu slowly drank a cup of hot water, his complexion having returned to normal. Old He sat on the outskirts of the crowd, munching on a compressed biscuit, and no one spoke to him.

Li Xuan leaned against the tent post, closed his eyes, and went through all the battle scenes of the day in his mind.

Fourth Uncle came over and sat down next to him.

"You did pretty well today," Uncle Si said.

Li Xuan knew he wasn't talking about himself—he was talking about those people. Old Ma went from instinctively retreating in the first encounter to learning to raise his shield and observe both sides; Xiao Zhou went from trembling with fear to stabilizing his aim; Xiao Liu went from bumping into teammates while running too fast to finding the right rhythm for support. The fear remained, but everyone found their place within that fear.

"Tomorrow will be even harder," Li Xuan said.

Uncle Si didn't reply. He stood up, dusted himself off, and walked towards the tent. After taking two steps, he stopped.

"Get some rest."

Fourth Uncle lifted the tent flap and went inside. Li Xuan closed his eyes again. He'd deal with tomorrow's problems tomorrow. He'd done everything he needed to do today.