Chapter 28 – Alien Infection
“Alien Infection.”
Tu Ran carefully pondered these words.
Infection, aliens…
Her fingers absentmindedly traced the black letters, smudging the ink and leaving a long trail.
The writing was fresh.
Tu Ran grew more puzzled, recalling the moment when Xi Chunzhi handed her the notebook.
On the rooftop helipad of the administrative building, under the watchful eyes of numerous surveillance cameras, they had shared a seemingly ordinary parting hug. During this, Xi Chunzhi slipped the notebook into her clothes, signaling with her eyes not to ask questions.
Xi Chunzhi probably had many things to tell her, but under the surveillance of artificial intelligence, she couldn’t speak directly and had to convey the message this way.
But why inform her in such a public setting instead of the previous night when they were alone at home?
Was it because she had just discovered it?
But they had been in the conference room the entire time and hadn’t encountered any aliens.
Tu Ran’s mind was filled with questions as she looked again at the four characters in the notebook.
Alien infection—did it mean aliens that could infect humans?
So far, the federal government had only discovered aliens that could possess humans.
She had never heard of the existence of infectious aliens.
Moreover, even an alien species capable of possessing humans had already driven the federal government to its wits’ end. They had spent enormous sums establishing military isolation and buffer zones at the Threshold’s exit and meticulously designed detection methods to distinguish aliens from humans.
If aliens capable of infecting humans appeared, Tu Ran could already imagine the federal government’s ensuing chaos.
After all, a possessing alien could only inhabit one human at a time, whereas an infection could result in simultaneous, widespread alienation.
If there truly were infectious aliens, it could be considered a form of retaliation from that world against the federal government’s species extinction plan. Although Xi Chunzhi hadn’t explicitly explained what “alien infection” meant, Tu Ran was already on guard.
It seemed that on this journey, she needed to minimize contact not only with aliens but also with humans. If there were indeed infectious aliens, the humans she encountered might already be infected.
Having thought this through, Tu Ran checked the time. Only an hour had passed.
Reigaken State was over two thousand kilometers from the federal government, and the helicopter ride would take four hours. With three hours remaining, she couldn’t afford to waste time.
Tu Ran began to silently study her equipment.
These were the standard issue for the Pioneers.
One word: awesome!
Head-to-toe awesome.
The full combat suit came equipped with the latest personal gear and tactical helmet from A5 Group, a top weapons manufacturer. She particularly loved the submachine gun in her hands.
The A5 Group’s second-generation submachine gun king, the QF77A2.
Though she hadn’t officially used it yet, as her fingers traced the gun’s body, the sense of familiarity grew stronger within her.
With her eyes closed, she could even predict whether her fingers would next touch a smooth or rough surface, a raised or recessed area.
The original owner must have been very familiar with this submachine gun, so even with a different soul, the body’s familiarity remained intact.
Tu Ran memorized the position of each part again and started examining her other equipment.
She had a few small bombs, a pistol, a dagger, and plenty of ammunition clips…
Tu Ran familiarized herself with everything, checked the time, and saw she still had half an hour left. She decided she could afford to take a short nap.
