Chapter 128: GGB

With the radio station now in operation, Xie Han no longer concerned himself with its impact on the surrounding area. Regardless, the New City radio station would broadcast on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule. As for the content? Xie Han chuckled to himself, reminded of brands like Sanzhu, Huolong, and Naobaijin. Like them, he was engaged in an advertising blitz; the only difference was that his product was the entire New City.

Xie Han had no fear of anyone suffering from auditory fatigue. In this apocalyptic world, who exactly had the authority to file a complaint against him? It sounded odd, but it was a true reflection of the power vacuum in the wasteland. According to Xie Han’s goal, as long as they felt auditory fatigue, it meant he had succeeded in promoting New City—or, more accurately, in engraving all the benefits of New City into their minds.

To Xie Han, the radio broadcast was merely a tool for New City. There was no such thing as an impenetrable wall, and the same went for the radio station; its transmission site would eventually be discovered. This was merely a matter of time.

In truth, Xie Han had been quite moved by the content of the first broadcast, specifically the part regarding aquatic resources. The zombies in the lake had long since been wiped out; even creating noise along the entire shoreline resulted in no activity. Xie Han had even sent people out on small boats to drift across the lake for a period, and they had not been attacked by a single zombie.

Life detectors, stripped from armored vehicles and transported onto the boats, were used to scan the entire lake. After some searching, they actually discovered signs of life in a large group of rock crevices along the lakeshore. These tiny, deep holes were the perfect refuge for these aquatic organisms to hide from the aquatic zombies. Generally, creatures capable of turning into zombies were too large to reach these tiny life forms.

This discovery caused quite a sensation in New City at the time. If the entire lake was truly free of zombies, it would become a vast space for them to thrive. Given the reproductive rate of fish and other aquatic life, perhaps within a few years, the entire lake would be teeming with lively, jumping fish.

"It’s a pity that I can’t put living things into the space warehouse," Xie Han thought with a touch of resentment. "Otherwise, I could bring back tens of thousands of fish fry in a single trip. Just imagine, after half a year of releasing them into the lake, I’d be waiting to eat tender, fresh fish." He moved on, though, not forgetting the purpose of his visit: the XR virus research.

Xie Han wasn't sure why Wang Yezhi had suddenly called him over. Could it be that he had set aside his work just to invite him for a cup of fresh tea? He recalled that the tea was a wild variety gathered by the collection team, which he had processed using primitive methods and given to him as a gift.

When he found Wang Yezhi, he was directing his subordinates to load equipment onto several trucks assigned to the research center. Seeing Xie Han arrive, Wang Yezhi looked excited and greeted him, "Chief!" Xie Han glanced at the equipment on the trucks and asked, "Are we conducting another experiment?" Wang Yezhi just smiled and said, "Let's get in the vehicle first. This experiment will be completely different from what you've seen before."

The experimental area for the XR virus research center was located in a valley fifty kilometers north of the testing base. It had only undergone simple renovations, clearing away a large area of sand and gravel on the valley floor. On this flat, gravelly expanse stood a massive, seven-meter-tall circular structure—the experimental site of the XR virus research center. It handled all virus experiments. Xie Han had been here a few times, back when the area was being built.

Wang Yezhi was tight-lipped. Xie Han tried to probe him throughout the journey, but he couldn't extract what the intended effect of this experiment was.

Entering the experimental area required strict security checks. Even Xie Han was no exception; he submitted to the rigorous screening. Although the soldiers here knew the identity of their Chief, Xie Han unconditionally complied with the security protocols he himself had mandated. After his identity was confirmed, he followed Wang Yezhi into the circular building.

The construction of the experimental area was somewhat crude, and many facilities were not yet perfected, making it impossible to conduct highly dangerous experiments. However, for simpler tasks, the conditions were sufficient. The group soon arrived at the center of the experimental area, which was constructed from mixed metals. Securing these metals had cost New City a tremendous amount of effort; one could only imagine how much material had been consumed here. In the very center of the circular building was a massive, round room.

Through bulletproof glass, standing on a seven-meter-high platform, one could see dozens of ordinary zombies frantically slamming against the thick metal walls. Indeed, the purpose of this central circular room was to house experimental zombies. Capturing ordinary zombies was easy; one simply used thick steel cables to lure them out, then lassoed them so they couldn't escape.

The dozens of zombies held here had been captured in the countryside. Transporting them back to the base had taken some effort, eventually requiring two heavy trucks with reinforced beds, modified with special mixed metals to ensure no escape.

Xie Han was well aware of the danger of such experiments, which was why he hadn't been as bold as the Wangtian Base when building this area. He had chosen this remote location so that if any accidents occurred, the fifty-kilometer distance would give New City enough time to react.

"Activate Laboratory 1," Wang Yezhi ordered the staff as soon as he sat down at the control console.

Following Wang Yezhi's command, a staff member in a full protective suit took a box, approached a sealed metal door, and entered after it opened. Through the bulletproof glass, Xie Han clearly saw the staff member enter a password at an inner door after the first one closed. Another door opened, and he moved into a small room adjacent to the circular chamber. He opened the box, took out a blue vial, installed it into the spray device of the small room, and then exited the same way he came.

Seeing the staff member emerge, Wang Yezhi ordered, "Activate Laboratory 2." The procedure for Laboratory 2 was the same, but Xie Han noticed that this time, the reagent was not blue, but green. It was clear that this green reagent was the focus of this experiment.

Once all preparations were complete, Wang Yezhi said to Xie Han, "Chief, you can stand on the glass platform. You can see the entire experimental situation clearly from here." The command center was almost entirely built of bulletproof glass, located at the very top of the circular building, seven meters above the ground. From here, through the transparent glass, everything could indeed be seen clearly.

"Release the test subjects into Laboratory 1!" Following Wang Yezhi's order, a mechanical sound came from the side of the massive circular room leading to Room 1. A heavy metal door slowly rose, opening the passageway.

As the passage opened, the zombies, which had been milling about like headless flies, surged forward frantically. After only about ten had passed through, Wang Yezhi ordered, "Stop releasing test subjects. Close the passage." The slowly descending metal door cut off the incoming zombies.

With that, Wang Yezhi said to Xie Han, "The reagent in Laboratory 1 is actually the GGT biological agent. The reason for testing it again is to give you a more intuitive understanding of how it works." He then told the staff, "Release the reagent!"

Just as Xie Han had seen the first time, the sprayer released the agent, filling the small room with a thick blue mist. The effect of the GGT agent on the zombies' skin was not immediate. After more than a minute, the zombies' skin began to dissolve; after over ten minutes, they lost the ability to move; and after half an hour, only their gaping heads remained.

"These GGT biological agents were re-prepared at New City. As you can see, the effect is exactly the same as what you saw at Wangtian Base; there hasn't been the slightest change." Wang Yezhi had anticipated this result and showed no surprise. He shrugged and then ordered, "Release test subjects into Laboratory 2."

This time, Wang Yezhi did not stop the zombies, letting them all swarm into Laboratory 2. After ordering the metal door to Laboratory 2 to be closed, he said, "Do you know why I didn't keep any zombies? Because to me, these zombies are no longer of much use, or rather, for a long time to come, we won't need them. Instead of letting them stay here, it's better to just make them disappear."

"Is this green reagent the new type of biological agent?" Xie Han finally understood the purpose of Wang Yezhi's experiment, though he wondered when Wang Yezhi had become so confident.

Wang Yezhi nodded, smiling with pride. "Exactly. This is the improved version of the GGT biological agent: the GGB biological agent." He waved his hand, and a staff member activated the spray device in Laboratory 2. Instantly, the entire green GGB agent was sprayed out, forming a thick green mist throughout the lab.

"Watch closely to see the difference between GGB and GGT." Although Wang Yezhi was confident, a hint of nervousness could still be detected in his voice.

The green mist formed in less than three seconds, and a scene that stunned Xie Han unfolded. The zombies enveloped by the green mist saw their skin melt away like snow under the sun, turning into black liquid. Five seconds later, the skin was gone, and the dissolution reached the underlying muscle tissue.

Unlike the GGT agent, the power of GGB included the zombies' skulls in the dissolution process. Xie Han watched as the zombies struggled; once their skin melted, their brain tissue was exposed. Under the green mist, the exposed brain tissue dissolved even faster. In less than half a minute, all the zombies in Laboratory 2 were reduced to skeletons, with only red nerve fibers still clinging to the bones.

It was effectively an autopsy; all the useless flesh of the zombies was dissolved, leaving only the skeletons and nerve fibers that allowed them to move. These nerves resisted longer than the surface skin, but only for less than ten seconds before they, too, turned into crimson liquid and dripped down the skeletons. Once the fibers dissolved, the skeletons themselves completely collapsed, breaking at the joints and falling onto the metal floor.

The corrosive effect of the GGB biological agent was incredibly thorough; even the brains could not resist its power, and they followed suit, becoming pools of black liquid. The liquid formed by twenty or thirty zombies left the entire laboratory floor damp, as if it had been splashed with water.

"This..." Xie Han was stunned. Although he knew that a biological agent to deal with zombies would eventually be developed, he never expected it to appear before him so quickly. If he had previously harbored a shred of fear and worry about zombies, the appearance of this GGB agent undoubtedly dispelled all those concerns and anxieties. Xie Han certainly knew what the emergence of this GGB agent meant. It was, without a doubt, a massive breakthrough.

Wang Yezhi was very satisfied with Xie Han's expression. After ordering the cleanup of the experiment, he said to Xie Han, "Actually, this GGB biological agent was only successfully developed yesterday. This batch was made overnight. Although I had experimented with the XR virus countless times, I was still worried about whether it could truly eliminate zombies. Fortunately, it did not disappoint me; it successfully achieved the results I had been hoping for."

Xie Han was so excited he was nearly speechless. After pacing back and forth for a moment to calm himself, he asked, "How did you manage this?" He couldn't believe they had succeeded in such a rudimentary research environment; it was truly remarkable.

Wang Yezhi explained, "Chief, do you remember when you were severely injured? Perhaps you heard from Qi Feiwu that I used Nuwa Grass to suppress the XR virus infection in your body. Actually, I was just trying my luck back then, and I didn't expect it to succeed. Following that line of thought, I kept wondering: if I could extract the substance from this Nuwa Grass, would it have an unexpected effect on the XR virus?"

"It took four days to successfully extract that substance from a single stalk of Nuwa Grass. Through experimentation, it does indeed have a suppressive and resistant effect on the XR virus. However, that alone isn't enough to combat the XR virus. Later, I thought of the GGT biological agent. My idea was: why not combine them? It was this thought that kept me in the research center, conducting countless experiments, and eventually perfecting the combination—the green reagent you just saw: the GGB biological agent."

Since it was confirmed that this GGB agent had a terrifying dissolving effect on zombies, it was clearly a powerful weapon. "Then, how effective would it be against zombies of the R3 level or higher?"

Wang Yezhi shook his head; he couldn't be certain. After all, R3s were truly monstrous and far beyond people's imagination. "Theoretically, it should still have an effect, but I haven't tested whether it would dissolve them as quickly as ordinary zombies. Based on my deductions, it should dissolve their skin within a minute and turn them into a pile of bones within five minutes."

"What about production?"

Facing Xie Han's follow-up, Wang Yezhi gave a bitter smile. "You know the GGT agent itself can only be produced in small quantities, and the GGB agent is built on the foundation of Nuwa Grass. Do you know how many stalks of Nuwa Grass went into that single vial? Thirty-one. A full thirty-one stalks. So, to mass-produce the GGB agent, first, we need a massive amount of Nuwa Grass, and then a massive amount of the raw materials for the GGT agent. If you can solve those two problems, even if we don't produce a lot, making twenty or thirty vials a day shouldn't be a problem."

Xie Han was speechless. The scarcity of Nuwa Grass was known to everyone in the base; the collection team had only found less than a thousand stalks after nearly a month of effort, having scoured a radius of a hundred kilometers. As for the raw materials for the GGT agent, that wasn't a problem for Xie Han. At worst, he would risk suspicion and bring some over from the modern world; that would be enough to solve it.

"What is the effective coverage area of this reagent?" Xie Han felt a bit helpless. Such a terrifying weapon of mass destruction, yet only available in limited quantities—it was undoubtedly painful.

Wang Yezhi thought for a moment and said, "I estimate the coverage diameter is between thirty and forty meters. Of course, we could tweak the detonator to push the maximum diameter to around fifty meters, but beyond that, the reagent's effectiveness would drop significantly. Personally, I think we should expand the scale of the collection team and increase the search area to gather as much Nuwa Grass as possible."

Xie Han understood, but were these Nuwa Grass stalks really that easy to find? It seemed he would have to use his brain to think of ways to acquire more. Thinking of the Nuwa Grass currently planted along the lake, which had been intended to make pills for the base's residents, it seemed that plan would have to be postponed. After all, survival was the most important thing.

"Dr. Wang, use all current inventory to produce this GGB biological agent. I will notify the testing base to manufacture compatible shells so that we can maximize the power of the GGB agent."

(PS: My sincere apologies. My brother-in-law visited, I drank a bit too much at dinner, and... waking up early, I found that someone had cast 12,000 update tickets yesterday. Tsk, that's a bit of a challenge, and I’m not sure if I can handle it, but I, Yushui, will do my best. I hope I don't let the brothers who voted down!)