Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

A sharp cry pierced through the lighthouse's iron gate, clear and loud, drifting far across the calm sea.

"The baby has already been born? So fast?" Gu Lang asked in surprise.

"Yes, he weighs about eight pounds, a big, chubby boy."

"Is the new mother alright?"

"The mother was a little... um... frightened last night... and her water broke prematurely."

Fortunately, thanks to you, the anesthesia and anti-inflammatory drugs were a great help, and the episiotomy went very smoothly.

"That's great..." Gu Lang felt a little embarrassed. "Is your whole family on this lighthouse now?"

"A family of six." Jiang Yong held up his fingers and counted them one by one.

"Me, my spouse, my son, my daughter-in-law, and my in-laws."

My daughter-in-law is the one who gave birth last night; my husband was the midwife.

"She performed the surgery all by herself? That's amazing!"

"Yes. She worked in the general surgery department of the city hospital for thirty years, so this kind of surgery is nothing special for her."

We just couldn't help but worry because we lacked anesthetics.

So last night, after receiving your first aid kit, as soon as her water broke, I put her on the womb.

The rest of us assisted with odd jobs like sterilizing instruments, handing over surgical instruments, and preparing gauze and sutures.

As they spoke, the baby's cries grew louder and louder, almost drowning out Jiang Peng's voice.

"This kid has a loud voice; he'll amount to something in the future," Gu Lang said with a smile.

"I'm afraid that in today's world, danger could come at any time," Jiang Yong said with a wry smile.

"Hey, you're saying that human babies cry so much when they're born? Aren't you afraid of attracting predators?" Gu Lang sighed.

"The weaker the offspring, the louder the noise they make, which proves that the species is stronger in its ecological niche."

Antelope calves are born knowing how to run and remain quiet because they are easy prey.

When tiger cubs are born, they scream loudly even before they can open their eyes, because most animals dare not hunt them.

The fact that human infants cry for two years essentially demonstrates that no living being can threaten humanity.

Jiang Yong adjusted his glasses, looking like an old scholar.

"really.

If you listen from the perspective of wild animals.

That's the terrifying upright ape cub screaming its death again.

This means that another demon who wields fire and hurls spears will appear on this land. Gu Lang nodded.

"The problem is that the rage virus is now rampant, and humanity has created a cannibalistic monster, pulling itself down from the top of the food chain."

At this point, Jiang Yong revealed a pained expression.

"Station Chief Jiang, do you think that if a vaccine isn't developed, berserkers will eventually replace normal humans?"

While making conversation, Gu Lang kept a close eye on the situation at the lighthouse.

"I recorded a lot of messages when the radio was still working."

As far as I know, sexual activity also occurs among violent individuals.

And it is clear that pregnancy is possible, but the survival rate of the fetus is almost zero.

Most berserkers will not control their desires or stop killing even if they become pregnant, so miscarriage is almost inevitable.

Observations show that pregnant women who are violent may even cut open their own bellies and take out their babies to play with or eat.

Therefore, it has virtually no reproductive capacity.

When the number of normal humans decreases drastically, these berserkers will also kill each other.

Perhaps, with the passage of time, the berserkers will simply disappear on their own.

Hearing these words, Gu Lang felt a sense of unease.

During his journey south, he encountered many "intelligent infected individuals".

They think about how to survive just like the survivors, and they are also good at forming cliques and establishing hierarchical societies to collectively hunt down normal people.

What's most terrifying is that they also know how to imprison and raise normal people, and they can systematically carry out killings according to certain rules.

In that case, it's impossible to expect the Berserkers to wipe themselves out in a short period of time.

If some kind of "human farm" is created, the infected population will continue to grow.

On the contrary, normal humans may disappear first, and it is not impossible that the blue planet will be ruled by the Berserkers, a new subspecies of humans.

After Gu Lang told Jiang Yong about his concerns, the other man fell silent as he pondered.

"Do you know about molecular anthropology?" Jiang Yong finally spoke again after a long while.

"I don't know." Gu Lang shook his head.

"This is a branch of anthropology that uses DNA genetic information to analyze the origin and evolution of humankind."

Molecular analysis of the human genome shows that human ancestors faced a near-extinction bottleneck approximately 93 years ago.

The number of fertile individuals dropped from 100,000 to just over 1,000, and this continued for 117,000 years.

Our meteorological field concludes that it occurred during a severe ice age, leading to a large-scale population loss.

"That sounds like a reasonable explanation." Gu Lang was a little confused; he didn't know what Jiang Yong was trying to say.

"But I always felt something was wrong. Even during the Ice Age, animal resources were still very abundant."

It's impossible that primitive humans, who had already left the Philippines and knew how to use fire and migrate, nearly went extinct due to a lack of food.

It's important to know that most mammoth populations survived until about 1 years ago when they were wiped out by humans.

Jiang Yong continued to express his own views.

"Could it be that humans encountered other dangers at that time?"

"Yes, I only came to this new conclusion after the outbreak of the rage virus."

"You mean, the rage virus existed in ancient times and caused mass deaths among humans at that time?"

Gu Lang understood what the other person meant and was instantly shocked by this viewpoint.

"Do you have any evidence?" he asked seriously.

"The evidence might be in the underlying code of our DNA. Have you heard of the uncanny valley effect?"

Gu Lang naturally knew this common sense; it was a psychological phenomenon.

When humans encounter highly anthropomorphic objects, they experience a sudden shift from liking to negative emotions such as fear and disgust.

When a robot or doll bears some resemblance to a human, people find it cute and interesting.

Favorability increases with similarity.

But when it becomes more and more like a real person, and the similarity reaches a certain threshold, such as about 95%.

Even the slightest unnaturalness, such as vacant eyes, unnatural skin texture, or slightly stiff movements.

Humans' positive feelings towards it will drop sharply, generating strong aversion, strangeness, or even fear, as if they have seen a monster.

Only when the similarity approaches 100% and they are almost indistinguishable will the level of likability rise again and reach the normal level when interacting with others.

"The curve of favorability and similarity will geometrically show a U-shaped valley shape."

Gu Lang gave a brief answer to Jiang Yong's question.