Picking Up An Alpha On Garbage Star - Chapter 32.2

Starting from the capital, they traveled on highways with supplies, where safety was relatively better compared to urban areas. However, the situation was far from secure, and there were infected individuals even on the highways. Some highway intersections were close to cities, forcing them to traverse through urban areas. In addition, they had to rescue survivors and replenish supplies, making it impossible to avoid cities entirely. Thus, the journey took a long time, so much so that Pei An went from being terrified at the sight of zombies to being numb enough to shoot zombies in the head with a gun.

Upon reaching the base, living conditions were far worse than before the zombie virus outbreak. The base, built by the military, gathered survivors daily and faced shortages of food and medicine. The base tried to find agricultural technicians, leading to the cultivation of crops to gradually replace various snacks brought back from supermarkets.

After arriving at the base, Pei An was assigned to the defense working group. He worked with the military to reinforce the base’s defenses, and the defense system of the base was built by Pei An and his colleagues who had moved south together.

However, despite all precautions, they couldn’t prevent the virus from mutating. At that time, the zombies had not yet undergone mutation, and humans had not awakened any supernatural abilities. Control of the zombie virus relied solely on medical means. Yet, someone brought the zombie virus into the base, likely already mutated. Even with injections of antiviral serums, the virus couldn’t be completely eradicated; it would lie dormant in the human body and awaken to devour the host when the dormancy period ended.

An outbreak of zombie virus infection occurred within the base.

It was at this time that Pei An awakened his supernatural ability. He used psychic power to control the infected individual who hadn’t completely lost consciousness, giving the desperate victim a swift and merciful end.

“Pei An, there is never absolute coincidence in this world. The mutation of the zombie virus is not a coincidence, so we believe the appearance of supernatural abilities is not a coincidence either. The base, or rather, humanity needs you to collaborate on research.”

As the first human to awaken supernatural abilities, Pei An received significant attention. The existence of supernatural abilities undoubtedly could enhance many people’s self-defense capabilities and, with training, turn them into powerful warriors. The base desperately needed individuals who could engage in combat. However, waiting for supernatural abilities to manifest was akin to sitting and waiting for doom, so there was a hope from above that Pei An would collaborate with experts in their research.

“I believe humanity will eventually prevail.”

Pei An, a well-raised young man, was never taught by his family what fear of difficulties and retreat meant.

He willingly lay down in the laboratory, whether it was for EEG research or blood sampling, he cooperated with whatever needed to be done. The research was not progressing smoothly, especially considering that there were no other samples to reference besides Pei An. However, the good news was that, following Pei An, others also awakened supernatural abilities. These abilities were predominantly nature-based, involving elements such as wind, rain, thunder, and fire. With more samples, the research became more successful, and after overcoming numerous challenges, the base developed a drug that could induce the awakening of supernatural abilities in humans.

The drug’s awakening rate was low, but not nonexistent. Those who awakened after taking the drug underwent military training and became a formidable force. The research results didn’t just benefit Pei An’s base; the finished drug and formula were sent to various bases. In a short period, humanity’s strength increased significantly.

However, the mutation of the zombie virus never ceased. After mutation, zombies would upgrade. The lowest-level zombies remained the same, but the upgraded zombies approached humans, and their skin became tougher, their strength far exceeded before, and some even awakened supernatural abilities.

Dealing with zombies who awakened supernatural abilities became even more challenging. Humanity endured for several years, turning Pei An from a university graduate with little worldly experience into a composed young man skilled at commanding many people to resist zombie attacks.

Pei An’s psychic power had a significant impact and could serve as a detector to some extent. Rich in attack capabilities, Pei An’s responsibilities included not only developing more effective weapons against zombies but also guarding the base’s defense system.

When he focused his psychic power, he could scan dozens of meters in a straight line. Walking around the base, he could thoroughly investigate the situation outside the base.

Outside the high walls of the base, apart from defense structures, there were only soldiers on duty. When patrolling along the high walls, if it was nighttime and there happened to be a crescent moon, he would stop and watch for quite some time.

Life in the apocalypse lacked joy, and even though their united strength was formidable, it couldn’t conceal the precarious future of humanity. Sometimes, even Pei An would ask himself when humanity could return to normal order.

Hope arrived in the fifth year of the apocalypse when a scientist from one base developed a vaccine that could restrain the zombie virus. If injected into the human body, it could form antibodies, and if injected into a zombie, it could reverse zombification.

This was excellent news for humanity but not necessarily for the zombies. After five years, the zombies had formed distinct hierarchies, with the highest level being called the Zombie Emperor. They not only looked indistinguishable from humans but also possessed supernatural abilities.

Zombies that successfully evolved into Zombie Emperors had all consumed large amounts of energy crystals from within other zombies to evolve. Most of these zombies were part of the sinister and ruthless population even before the apocalypse, such as criminals.

These individuals wouldn’t willingly give up their elevated status in the apocalypse to revert to being ordinary humans. Losing their power, even after the reconstruction of the country, they would remain criminals. They preferred to rule as local tyrants during the apocalypse.

As a result, the base that developed the vaccine suffered an unprecedented attack. The base where Pei An was located rushed to provide assistance, but before they could arrive, the scientist who developed the vaccine and his team had only managed to send the key to Pei An’s group before rushing to their deaths. They did this to prevent the Zombie Emperor from capturing them and exploiting their knowledge.

In this apocalypse, whoever possessed the vaccine held supreme power. Those who went to assist included both individuals with supernatural abilities and military forces. After arriving, they faced a fierce battle, and leveraging Pei An’s advantage in psychic power, he managed to locate the vaccine first and fled with a portable freezer.

Everyone assisted Pei An in running towards another base that had a complete biological laboratory to support the further development of the vaccine. However, Pei An had to ensure the safe delivery of the vaccine without any harm.

With the vaccine in hand, Pei An became the target of the Zombie Emperor. Countless zombies pursued and blocked him along the way, and one by one, Pei An’s comrades fell. Each person, before dying, emphasized that he must safely deliver the vaccine and not let it fall into the hands of the Zombie Emperor.

The scientists who developed the vaccine bravely sacrificed themselves, as they couldn’t let down the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for this cause.

However, the number of zombies was overwhelming. Under the control of the Zombie Emperor, they surged towards Pei An like a tidal wave.

“Continue moving forward with the vaccine; I’ll distract the Zombie Emperor,” Pei An instructed. He took the vaccine out of the freezer, concealed portions on several people, and said, “Keep going forward, and don’t look back!”

Carrying an empty freezer, Pei An got into another vehicle and drove in the opposite direction of the base, attracting the attention of the Zombie Emperor.

The comrades who concealed the vaccine gritted their teeth and shed tears, giving Pei An cover, pretending that the vaccine was indeed on Pei An. This successfully diverted the Zombie Emperor’s attention, and the zombie horde rushed towards Pei An.

Seizing this opportunity, the group with the actual vaccine escaped from the encirclement of the zombie horde, driving towards the direction of the base.

Pei An watched as his comrades went far away, heaved a sigh of relief, and said, “Captain, we’re out of bullets!” The two people accompanying Pei An were military personnel without supernatural abilities. After running out of ammunition, they could only resort to hand-to-hand combat.

How could they withstand hand-to-hand combat against the zombie horde?

“Sorry, we’re going to die together,” Pei An whispered.

The two men vigorously shook their heads. “We should have died in the evacuation of G City long ago. It was the captain who saved us. This life originally belongs to the captain.”

In fact, they were several years older than Pei An, willingly following Pei An’s orders.

“Do we have one last bullet?” Pei An asked them.

Since the mutation of the zombie virus, high-level zombies could consciously turn people into zombies by infecting them with their virus. High-level zombies would then send the newly infected zombies to attack humans, leading to self-inflicted casualties among humans.

To avoid this situation, Pei An led the team and always made sure that everyone had one last bullet saved to end their own lives, ensuring they wouldn’t turn into zombies.

“We do,” they said in unison.

“That’s good then.”

Pei An watched the approaching zombie horde in the rearview mirror and commanded the driver to head towards the riverbank. The car came to a stop, and Pei An shouted towards the two Zombie Emperors hiding behind the zombie horde, “If you want the vaccine, come and take it yourselves!” He gestured as if he were about to throw the freezer into the river.

The controlled low-level zombies couldn’t stop Pei An’s actions. If they wanted to seize the vaccine, only the Zombie Emperors could do so.

Two Zombie Emperors cautiously approached Pei An. One of them said, “If you hand over the vaccine, I’ll spare you. What do you say?”

Pei An moved a distance back towards the riverbank. “Do you think I’ll believe your nonsense?”

“Why bother? After the evolution of zombies, they are just like humans. They can possess powers that humans can’t. You, too, are a supernatural being and must have felt the thrill of power. Instead of this, why don’t we cooperate? After we join forces, we can rule the world together,” the other Zombie Emperor suggested.

Pei An replied, “That’s unfortunate. I don’t have any interest in ruling the world.”

Signaling the driver to start the car, Pei An swung his arm, tossing the freezer into the river. The two Zombie Emperors rushed to grab the freezer, causing chaos among the zombie horde. Pei An looked with satisfaction at the departing car and unleashed his psychic power.

Before getting off the car, his final words were, “I’ll hold back the Zombie Emperors. You all make a quick getaway. Run if you can. If you can’t escape, remember to use the last bullet to end yourself; otherwise, if caught by the Zombie Emperors, it’s better to die than live.”

Pei An only mentioned holding back the Zombie Emperors but didn’t specify it would be through self-sacrifice. The moment his ability exploded, his body would be torn into pieces by the intense energy fluctuations. However, before being torn apart, he seemed to see the two Zombie Emperors who were very close to him, along with many other zombies, being killed by the explosion.

Killing two birds with one stone, he made a profit in this move.

Endless pain enveloped Pei An, persisting without dissipation. In the midst of warmth, Pei An opened his eyes.

There were no zombies or desolate skies; only a bright bedside lamp.

He had been reborn.

*Liao Yuan- It’s a spacecraft {Other name Goddess of Light}*