Chapter 395: Dead Men’s Counterattack

“Three hundred meters ahead… Nine o’clock direction… Eleven o’clock direction…”

“…Go pull them out!”

In the drizzling night the truck sped forward with several soldiers sitting in the back.

In the driver’s cab Lu Xin was driving or rather his sister was driving.

Researcher Wang Song whose awareness was clearly lower than the soldiers’ sat in the passenger seat.

Although he knew he was already dead and could be suddenly controlled at any moment he still refused to ride in the back and get rained on. Regarding his potential mutation he said:

“When you take me out make it quick!”

…

What could Lu Xin say to that?

He could only agree and promise to be fast enough to spare him too much pain.

Whether the dead could still feel physical pain was another matter entirely.

From the feelings they currently shared almost all their suffering stemmed from emotions or perhaps their mental entities.

Physical pain was meaningless to the dead.

*Swoosh!*

After Researcher Wang Song called out the directions Lu Xin stomped on the gas pedal speeding towards the location.

Once near the target he quickly parked the truck on the edge of the desolate path and dashed out.

At the same moment the soldiers in the back jumped out and sprinted off.

They moved quickly reaching the location specified by Researcher Wang Song. They switched on flashlights searched rapidly found the transmitters planted in the ground and either shot them or kicked them over stomping them into fragments.

Then they quickly returned got back in the truck and headed to the next location.

Researcher Wang Song held a tablet computer displaying numerous red dots.

The glasses Lu Xin wore also showed a similar map on the left lens.

This was a tracking program Wang Song had quickly designed and coded based on calculations of the transmitters’ wavelengths.

It could locate these transmitters directly using the Mental Detection Device.

“Right now we can track a total of ninety-six sets of transmitters.”

“They’re spaced ten or twenty li apart forming a massive circle in the wasteland west of Happy Town.”

“It’s precisely these transmitters that refract and stabilize some kind of mental radiation creating this terrifying Pollution Field. As long as it exists anyone entering this wasteland faces unsolvable danger and could die at any moment…”

“Our mission now is to destroy all these transmitters…”

“Every set we destroy weakens the Pollution Field.”

“I believe if we can destroy over half of them the Pollution Field will collapse under its own pressure!”

…

Researcher Wang Song’s face pale from blood loss wore a fervent expression.

Lu Xin found him a bit strange too.

The soldiers had maintained their clarity due to their strong will temporarily suppressing the panic and hatred after learning of their deaths. Then with Mom’s scissors helping they stabilized their state.

But Researcher Wang Song hadn’t needed that he deduced the fact of his own death himself.

He accepted the outcome and controlled his emotions.

Not only did he avoid mutation but he even used it to confirm that loss of emotional control was the root cause.

…Seems like the ones with less hair are always trouble!

“Yes!”

It wasn’t just Lu Xin’s team who agreed with Researcher Wang Song.

Across the wasteland at least ten teams were already rushing towards their targets.

Most of the Information Gathering Team had also received orders and spread out searching for and destroying these transmitters.

The living couldn’t enter this field without being suppressed by it.

But the dead happened to be a bug in this field’s system.

As for the danger that was no longer within their scope of consideration.

This wasteland certainly held dangers.

But danger had no effect on the dead.

The destroyed transmitters could be tracked on a computer screen. If the destruction process was interrupted it meant something had happened to a team. For those already dead encountering trouble was also a form of release.

…

Overall the progress was quite fast.

Lu Xin’s group racing the truck through the rainy wasteland had already destroyed four sets of transmitters.

The others spreading out on unknown routes to carry out the mission had destroyed over twenty sets.

If things continued at this speed…

…they had hope of destroying more than half the transmitters before dawn.

“For us the job isn’t just about destroying transmitters and this Pollution Field.”

As they drove Researcher Wang Song spoke ramblingly as if cherishing the limited time his clever brain could still function. “I think there’s a more important task: figuring out what exactly the Technology Church or whoever else is trying to achieve by creating such a force field in this empty wasteland.”

“Is it just to deal with us?”

“If it was just to deal with us Qinggang folk they wouldn’t need such a massive Pollution Field.”

“For some kind of experiment?”

“Most of this field is just empty wasteland. They don’t even have subjects for experiments…”

“It almost doesn’t even look man-made.”

“After all if it were man-made setting up such a large Pollution Field would surely involve some personal will.”

“But in reality there isn’t because even though we died and were reawakened we can still maintain our reason.”

“We can conclude they merely set up this energy field but the field itself is pure.”

“I’m really curious now what is the purpose of setting up this Pollution Field…”

…

Lu Xin knew this was valuable firsthand information and memorized it all.

Besides Researcher Wang Song it was probably impossible for anyone else to enter here and reach these conclusions.

At the same time his mood grew slightly heavy.

Although he lacked core evidence logical deduction led him to believe this polluting power originated from the Queen of Happy Town. However this power had undergone some change; it wasn’t pure pollution.

Just like the four questions the Mechanic had raised.

A power that makes people kill each other.

A power that reawakens the dead.

A power that makes one unaware of their own death.

A power that turns one into a Mental Monster.

Lu Xin guessed the power to reawaken the dead came from the Queen while Researcher Wang Song guessed the reason for becoming a Mental Monster.

But this field still hid many problems.

Of course Lu Xin now had his own objectives and direction.

Right now his primary goal was to break this Pollution Field.

But afterwards he would have to pay a visit to Happy Town.

Lu Xin didn’t actually want to become enemies with the Queen of Happy Town. After all Qinggang’s plan had three options regarding her: cleanup communication or weakening. He himself leaned towards weakening or communication.

But if the Queen had truly lost control completely then cleanup was the only option left.

She was Mom’s friend after all. Completely tearing things apart wouldn’t be good.

However the choice was hers.

Mulling over these issues Lu Xin slowly pressed the accelerator picking up speed once more.

In the gloomy wasteland as transmitters were destroyed one by one an invisible cover seemed to gradually become transparent and tilted. The originally evenly distributed power grew thin and unstable like gusts of violent wind.

This was the counterattack of the dead against the intangible panic pervading the wasteland.

…

“Our stabilizers are being pulled out and very quickly.”

While Lu Xin and the Information Gathering Team spread out destroying transmitters someone else was also watching a computer screen.

This was an observation post set up in an abandoned village not far from Happy Town. Few people were here.

Only four people. One wore a dirty trench coat his eyes red and swollen gulping down coffee.

While chugging coffee he watched the green markers on the screen turn red at an average rate of one set per minute. He sighed softly “How sad. Destruction is always easier than construction.”

“Destroyed so easily?”

A woman’s voice sounded from the doorway of the dilapidated room:

“According to your design shouldn’t this be an unsolvable pollution cycle?”

“Anyone who enters gets polluted but if they don’t enter they can’t possibly discover the pollution here.”

…

“Hey hey hey! Can you blame me for this?”

The coffee drinker shouted slamming a key on the keyboard. The screen switched to another scene a top-down view looking into a speeding truck through its front windshield revealing Lu Xin and Researcher Wang Song.

One driving one holding a tablet one face calm the other pale as a corpse.

You could see them chatting even smiling.

“Look look! He’s cooperating with the dead! Who among normal people would think of cooperating with the dead?”

…

Watching the surveillance footage the others shivered slightly. Someone mused:

“Cooperating with the dead… How messed up…”

Someone else questioned “In your previous design the dead would only act unconsciously following the inertia of their past lives eventually becoming part of the Forest of the Dead. This death field is the basis for their continued existence; they should subconsciously maintain the field.”

“Why are they now observed destroying the field?”

…

The coffee drinker took another large gulp “Some kind of power influenced them. It should be related to this sole living person.”

He switched the surveillance feed to focus on Lu Xin in the driver’s seat.

His calm face his eyes looking straight ahead but a closer look sent a chill down one’s spine.

“Why is he still alive? Is it because he can resist the power of the Eight-tone Box?”

The red-haired woman leaning against the doorway asked in surprise.

“Heh heh why is your imagination so lacking?”

Just then a man sitting in a corner of the room chewing on a cigar chuckled. He had a full beard wore oversized sunglasses and a red beret. “If I remember correctly wasn’t it an outer Knight Order that fell in Qinggang City? That’s enough to show Qinggang has some formidable Ability Users.”

“Given that why couldn’t this person be directly resisting the field’s power?”

…

The entire room fell silent for a moment.

Clearly even they couldn’t comprehend what kind of person could directly resist such a massive field.

The last person in the room whose voice sounded extremely old and strained spoke slowly:

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Since the floodgate has been destroyed just activate the second plan.”

He had to pause after every sentence his breathing heavy as if extremely exhausted. “We came here guided by divine revelation. The Gospel Plan allows for no mistakes. Since someone has become a complication in this plan just destroy him.”

“This can also serve as a warning to Qinggang.”