Chapter Fifty-Three: The Tempest God’s Gale

What is this supposed to be? Revenge!? I only enjoyed three days of relief, and then they assigned me a task like this, with a deadline of exactly three days. Isn’t this just screwing me over? Completing a thousand kills in three days—this is absurd. I demand to quit this farce of a mission.

They’re pushing me into a corner.

“Are there any more specific requirements for the kills?” I tried asking in my mind.

“Reminder to the host: the thousand kills include both zombies and humans; as long as the host personally kills them, they count.”

Humans count too? Am I some kind of maniac, slaughtering people for no reason? I’ll have to focus on the zombies.

“As for personally killing them, if I use external means, like a big explosion, does that count?”

“Reminder to the host: as long as the system recognizes the kill and calculates gene points, it counts as a personal kill.”

Well, that’s a relief. But where am I supposed to find another oil depot to blow up? That kind of thing just doesn’t happen on demand.

If I have to hack zombies apart by hand, I’ll probably die of exhaustion before I reach a thousand.

And it’s way too dangerous—if just two or three level-three zombies show up, I’m done for.

Looking at it this way, killing people would be easier. But I’m not that deranged—unless I have absolutely no choice, I can’t just stand by and let myself be erased.

When it comes to that, it’s not my fault if I act to save myself.

What truly troubles me isn’t this task, but the fact that, for the first time ever, the system issued a second random task.

This is the first time since activating it that two tasks have been released in a row, and the content of the second makes me uneasy.

“Reminder to the host: generating a second random task, please check.”

Random Task: [Life and Death]

Reward upon success: 2,000 gene points and an enhancement to one bodily function

Consequence upon failure: None

Task Description: A severe security risk is about to occur or has already occurred within the settlement. Please observe carefully and identify the problem. Otherwise, the settlement will face its greatest disaster.

Note: The task is considered complete if the host identifies the source of the risk.

Staring at the words “Life and Death,” I fell silent, barely hearing Huo Bing calling my name several times beside me.

What kind of task is this? Everything is unknown—there isn’t even a clear target.

All I know is that there’s a problem in the settlement, either impending or already present. Isn’t that just nonsense?

The scope of this task is practically limitless, since I have no way of knowing whether the issue has already appeared or not. Could it be related to the decoy grenade?

I snapped back to attention and looked seriously at Huo Bing. “Is the matter with the decoy grenade still being followed up?”

Huo Bing nodded slowly. “Yes, but we haven’t found any clues yet.”

The greatest disaster, the source of risk? What counts as the greatest disaster—would the entire settlement turning into zombies qualify?

Does “risk source” mean an infection source?

Could it mean someone has brought the virus into the settlement?

“Shen Dong!”

“Brother Cao, what is it?”

I looked at the two of them seriously. “Come with me to see Huo Tian right now.”

On the way there.

“By the way, in the settlement, the scavengers go outside, but who’s responsible for internal security?” I quickened my pace and asked casually.

Huo Bing answered immediately, “My father is. He personally leads the internal defense team—about fifty people. Brother Cao, did something happen?”

Even Shen Dong looked at me in confusion. Unfortunately, he had an injured thigh, so he couldn’t walk fast, and could only limp along behind.

I stopped, turned back to look at the two of them, and said gravely, “There may be a problem in the settlement. It concerns everyone’s survival—we have to go discuss it with Huo Tian immediately.”

“A problem? Brother Cao, how do you know?”

“Don’t ask—I don’t know either. Just a gut feeling. But I’m not exaggerating. Let’s go.”

A short while later.

Huo Bing, Shen Dong, and I stood in the hall of Room 01, which served as the leader’s living room under normal circumstances and as a conference room for high-level meetings during work.

Huo Tian frowned, his worried face tinged with doubt. “Brother Cao, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but why would you say this out of the blue?”

I told Huo Tian about the hidden danger in the settlement. The old fox still seemed skeptical. “Brother Huo, do I have any reason to harm you?”

Without hesitation, Huo Tian shook his head. “Impossible. If you said Shen Dong might try something, I’d consider it, but you, Brother Cao, would never do anything to harm me.”

“Oh? And why is that?” I suddenly smiled. The old fox really is sly—he’ll say whatever suits the moment, but who knows what he’s thinking when your back is turned.

“It’s simple. You’ve saved my daughter several times, brought a huge cache of weapons to the settlement, and helped reconcile me and Shen Dong. I really can’t imagine why you’d want to harm me.” Huo Tian spread his hands helplessly.

Hearing that, I had to admit it made sense.

“In that case, you should believe me about this. A little extra caution won’t hurt. Take this chance to check the settlement’s interior thoroughly,” I said again.

In the end, it was up to Huo Tian to make the final call.

Besides, the mission clearly stated that I only needed to identify the source. Doing it alone would be difficult; by the time disaster struck, I probably wouldn’t have figured it out. I had to mobilize every resource available.

The settlement is a massive air-raid shelter—much bigger than the arsenal in ZM City. I certainly don’t have the time to check every corner myself.

The thousand-kill mission alone is enough to give me a headache.

At last, Huo Tian seemed to make up his mind. He called out to the guard at the door, “Tell all department heads to meet me—emergency meeting, everyone here in five minutes.”

A few minutes later, several people filed in.

They were the senior managers—electricity, water, ventilation, personnel, supplies, and so on.

“That’ll do for now. Go back and conduct thorough inspections immediately—this concerns everyone’s safety, so don’t take it lightly! Make sure you check your area thoroughly!” Huo Tian’s tone was stern and commanding. The executives hurried off to begin their checks.

“And as for the people, scavengers and internal security will inspect together. No one is to be missed—everyone must be checked for infection.”

Shen Dong nodded and was about to leave when I added, “And about that decoy grenade from a few days ago—there’s a good chance someone outside is plotting something. You must investigate that line thoroughly. Don’t lose sight of the big picture.”

After Shen Dong left, only Huo Tian, Huo Bing, and I remained.

Huo Tian, still uneasy, said, “Most of the ordinary survivors here have never gone outside. The ones who interact with the outside world most are the scavengers…”

I recalled the arsenal log and said quietly, “Any place that connects to the outside—even the ventilation or sewage outlets—could be a vulnerability.”

Huo Tian sighed. “I understand.”