December 2025, Minor Snow (Xiaoxue).
A month passed quietly. Wang Zhi sat on the floor of the solarium, gazing up at the falling snow outside through the glass. After a month of training and recovery, Wang Zhi's physical condition was no longer a major concern.
Usually, not many people came to the solarium, and this time was no exception. Only about a dozen people, including Wang Zhi, sat in the vast space, staring blankly at the sky, as if each of them harbored their own worries.
In the span of a month, almost every team had accepted a mission and set out on their journey of conquest. Wang Zhi had personally witnessed a complete team leave, only to return with just one, two, or three members remaining.
Since Wang Zhi last saw Jie Xi in the medical bay, three days later, Jie Xi had approached him to say that her leave application to the Tower Master had been rejected, for reasons that were not specified.
Since then, Jie Xi had not sought him out, nor had he gone to find her, because the Dawn Tower was currently busy with the Second Conscription. Driven by the overwhelming appeal of the preferential policies, a large influx of new Citizens had poured into the second level.
Out of curiosity, Wang Zhi went to where the Migrants lived. Those Migrants had no status and lived a life similar to a large commune: collective production and labor, communal meals, and only two pieces of dry rations and a bowl of rice-less soup per day. Seeing this, Wang Zhi seemed to understand that choosing to become a Citizen and go out to fight wasn't because they wanted to be heroes, nor because they were particularly brave; they were simply fed up with the Migrant life.
The second-floor training ground was packed with people—some belonged to Level Two Teams that had been established there for a long time, and others were newly arrived First-Tier Teams. Watching them awkwardly train, Wang Zhi felt as if he were seeing his past self.
Wang Zhi had one day left before he would be forced to accept an outbound mission. The snow outside showed no signs of stopping, suggesting that Heaven was not looking kindly upon this outing.
After lingering in the sunroom for a while longer, Wang Zhi got up and returned to his residence. Only Old He and Jia Liuli were in the living room; the others were nowhere to be seen. Two days before departing, Wang Zhi and his team had already stopped training to maintain peak condition for the coming battle.
"You're back?" Old He greeted him as Wang Zhi opened the door.
"Mhm."
Wang Zhi responded simply and sat with the two of them in the living room, watching a sci-fi movie broadcast by Ling Lingyao.
After watching the movie for a while, the rest of the group returned from their leisure activities. Wang Zhi called everyone over, preparing to accept the mission.
"Ling Lingyao, accept the outbound mission!"
"Accepting now! Acceptance successful! Mission objective: Travel to Z Hospital to collect 100 grams of Neomycin. Mission reward: 100 Survival Points per gram of Neomycin, maximum limit of 300 grams."
"Neomycin? What is that?" Fatty asked curiously from the side.
"It's an antibiotic, mostly used to produce antibody vaccines," Wang Zhi replied.
"Right, speaking of antibody vaccines, didn't the last announcement say it would be developed in a month? Why hasn't there been any news?" Fatty recalled the announcement from a month ago.
"It must be due to a lack of raw materials preventing mass production," Su Muying said.
"Then does that mean our current mission objective is also a component of this antibody vaccine?" Old He inquired.
"That's right. Although this drug is extremely rare, Z Hospital specializes in treating viral diseases. Since the mission target is there, it means that hospital must have Neomycin," Wang Zhi stated.
"Shall we depart tomorrow then?" Zhang Ming asked.
"Yes. First, let's buy some thermal underwear; it's still snowing outside."
After Wang Zhi finished speaking, he rose and left the residence, going downstairs. He selected a suitable thermal layer and then headed to the Guard Headquarters.
Wang Zhi had not been here for a month. Now that he was preparing to go out again, he felt he should make this stop. Ever since his very first external mission, he had met with Jie Xi before every departure, as if she brought him good luck.
It seemed the guards on duty had been replaced; they did not recognize Wang Zhi and stopped him.
"Hey, kid! Do you know what this place is? Get away if you don't want to die!" the guard at the entrance roared at Wang Zhi.
Wang Zhi paused upon hearing this, but he wasn't angry; after all, it was just their duty.
"Please inform your Captain Jie Xi that Wang Zhi of Sunset Glow requests an audience." After speaking, Wang Zhi handed over his Magnetic Card for them to verify his identity.
"Wang Zhi?" The guard looked at Wang Zhi suspiciously but proceeded to verify and relay the message.
After a moment, the guard came out and allowed Wang Zhi to pass.
Arriving at Jie Xi's door, Wang Zhi knocked twice.
"Come in."
Jie Xi's voice replied from inside.
Wang Zhi entered and saw Jie Xi, whose facial scars had fully healed. She was examining a crystal stone on her desk.
"Hey, that stone is quite pretty. Where did you get it?" Wang Zhi walked over and commented.
"It was dissected from the Giant Python's head last time," Jie Xi said, looking at the crystal fragment in her hand.
Hearing it came from the Giant Python's brain, Wang Zhi instinctively stepped back half a pace, afraid the thing might cause him an Infection.
"Don't worry, this has already been disinfected," Jie Xi explained, noticing his reaction.
"Wow, I've heard of kidney stones, but I've never heard of brain stones!"
Seeing that Jie Xi confirmed it was sterilized, Wang Zhi confidently leaned closer to study the crystal block.
The block was about ten centimeters long, with fine blood threads distributed within it.
"I call it a Crystal Core."
"So what use does this Crystal Core have?" Wang Zhi inquired.
"I don't know. Why don't you be the guinea pig and test what this thing does?" Jie Xi shifted her gaze toward Wang Zhi and said.
"No, no, no, no! I think I'll pass. I still have a mission to carry out tomorrow!" Wang Zhi used this as an excuse to quickly change the subject; Jie Xi's stare was making his skin crawl.
"You've received a mission already? It's been a full month," Jie Xi figured out the time as she spoke.
"Mmm, I'm heading to Z Hospital to collect Neomycin."
"Lately, quite a few teams have been assigned missions to the hospital."
"Is this about the antibody Vaccine?"
"Yes. The clinical trials aren't looking good; the antibody Vaccine's efficacy rate is only 75%. This demands vast amounts of raw materials for constant trial and error until we reach 99.9%," Jie Xi explained.
"So, are the raw materials brought back by the other teams insufficient?"
"Not enough. Most hospitals are situated within the downtown area; the environment is brutal. Currently, only one team has managed to send back medicine; the others either perished or returned empty-handed," Jie Xi shook her head.
"Then couldn't they just find a safe place outside to hide for a few days and then report back that they found nothing?" Wang Zhi suddenly spotted a loophole in the system.
"Heh. Putting aside the fact that our Magnetic Cards have tracking installed, even without tracking, they could easily report coming back empty-handed every time—provided their Survival Points could sustain them indefinitely without taking on missions. No one is willing to subsidize someone entirely without value. So, you need to manage yourself well. Even when you're in dire straits, you must have leverage for trade; only then will someone be willing to save you," Jie Xi ruthlessly dismantled Wang Zhi's flawed logic.
"I see. But why does it feel strange now that I know I'm being monitored?" Wang Zhi scratched his head.
"There's nothing strange about it. You should hurry back and prepare more bullets. Going into the city center this time means there will be no shortage of Zombies." With that, Jie Xi tossed another pendant to Wang Zhi.
Wang Zhi caught the pendant and immediately recognized it as the previous Parent-Child Pendant. He looked at Jie Xi with confusion, not understanding what she meant.
"You know how to use it. Consider it a reward for your last trip outside."
After Jie Xi finished speaking, she lowered her head and continued studying her Crystal Core. Wang Zhi knew she was referring to the time with the Giant Python.
After Wang Zhi left the room, he securely hung the pendant around his neck, feeling like he now had an extra trump card.