Right then, Captain Zhang felt like a terrible person. So many had died in the base, yet he still clung to a selfish hope—that maybe this disaster would wipe out more than just people.
Truth was, he wasn't the only one thinking it. Others had the same thought, they just didn't say it out loud.
Lao Gao said, "Thinking like that's useless now. Focus on treating the wounded. If the acid rain could really wipe out mutant beasts, that'd be great for everyone. One storm won't do it, but aren't there supposed to be several more? That's enough to deal with them. Besides, the base has captured mutants before. Just throw one out in the rain, and you'll know right away."
Of course the higher-ups had thought of that. But right now, they were too busy scrambling with a hundred other problems. There was no time for experiments.
And besides, the rain had already stopped. It had lasted longer than usual, sure, but the rainfall wasn't heavy. Shoes corroded when people walked outside, yet it wasn't enough to even collect drops for testing. With so much chaos to handle afterward, they couldn't spare the manpower.
So the experiment would have to wait for next time.
Captain Zhang hung up the call and kept working. Once things calmed down a little, wave after wave of civilians were escorted into the underground city.
Only squad members and those too injured to move were left on the surface.
Two days later, the second round of acid rain arrived as expected.
This time, the defenses were solid. The storm passed without a single injury. But when mutant beasts were thrown into it, they weren't harmed at all.
Captain Zhang cursed. "What the hell, does this rain only work on humans? It doesn't affect the mutants at all."
Worse, when the rain hit their fur, they just shook it off. Acid splattered everywhere, injuring people who'd been fine until then.
Captain Wang shouted, "Get them treated, fast! If it spreads, it'll get worse!"
But treatment didn't work. Even now, they hadn't found a cure.
At first the base had hoped, if nothing else, to ease the victims' pain. But painkillers were useless. The acid seemed to bind itself to the nerves. From morning to night, they suffered until their last breath, dying only when the pain finally consumed them.
…
The acid rains came again and again. Buildings outside were already corroded beyond recognition. Many collapsed outright, turning the land into a wasteland.
But underground, no one felt any of it. Life carried on as if nothing was happening above.
People thought it could last. As long as they didn't see mutant beasts, they felt safe. But then…
Insects underground. That wasn't strange, was it?
…
At first, it was just small bugs. Ordinary in size and appearance. As long as they didn't mutate, no one worried. The little red marks on people's skin were brushed off as humidity, nothing more.
But the longer they stayed, the more bugs appeared. In the beginning, insecticides worked. Now…
With time, the insects grew larger too. Within a month of living underground, Lan Jin saw ones the same size as the mutants above.
She frowned. "Wait a second. Before we moved in, this place had been empty for years without a single mutant. Why are there suddenly so many now?"
The underground city's walls weren't bare dirt. They'd been reinforced with cement and brick. Breaking through them shouldn't have been easy. So where exactly were these insects coming from?
Because of the frequent acid rains, Captain Zhou and Captain Zhang had divided duties. Zhou handled the surface, Zhang the underground.
Now, hearing Lan Jin's question, Captain Zhang looked helpless. "How should I know? We've checked everywhere and still can't find the source."
They'd searched every corner of the walls and found nothing, not even a single burrow. The small insects at the beginning could've been hard to track, but the large ones now should've left obvious holes. Yet there were none.
After searching for so long without finding anything, Captain Zhang couldn't help but suspect that someone inside had released them.
No matter what they did, the insects kept spreading. Unless the problem was eliminated at the root, the underground city couldn't stay livable.
Lan Jin asked, "Can we move back up? Is it still raining?"
Captain Zhang shook his head. "I already asked. Looks like two more storms are coming, then it should stop. But the surface is uninhabitable. It's summer now. Every rainfall raises the temperature even higher. Do you know how hot it is out there? Almost 90 degrees. Forget the acid, with that heat alone, I don't recommend going up."
Huang Jinghe's brows knit tight. "Captain Zhang, I need to ask about my parents. They haven't returned, and I can't reach them. I'm worried something happened on the road."
"You don't need to worry," Captain Zhang said firmly. "They're safe. Safer than we are."
If that area had been fully built already, the higher-ups would've moved everyone there by now. But construction wasn't finished, and the acid rain made relocating so many people impossible.
Still, hearing his parents were safe eased Huang Jinghe's heart. He didn't press further.
Then Lao Gao asked, "Captain Zhang, how many did we lose this time?"
The man's shoulders slumped. "Too many. Private bases were almost wiped out. Official bases lost more than half. Our military base fared the best, but even here, the casualties were high. Honestly, there aren't many of us left."
Right now, everyone was focused on surviving the disaster. But if people kept dying at this rate, the issue of rebuilding the population would have to be raised sooner or later.