Chapter 171 - 115: Warning

Chapter 171: Chapter 115: Warning

Dismissing that first possibility, a more terrifying hypothesis emerged. ’Or perhaps... it isn’t a matter of *trying* to make contact, but that they’ve already *lost* contact?’

The moment he considered this, Xu Mo’s heart sank.

For an Observer stationed inside a supposedly impregnable fortress, there was only one way they could lose contact with Jiang City—barring a sudden bout of madness and irrational behavior—and that was if they had met with an accident.

In this dead land, surrounded by zombies and lurking mutants, what kind of "accident" could pose a fatal threat to an Observer in a fortified bunker, preventing them from even sending a distress signal...?

Xu Mo’s mind almost instantly flashed to the level-two zombie he had dealt with during his reconnaissance mission. The dent on the armored vehicle was a testament to the creature’s immense strength. However, Xu Mo wasn’t sure if it could actually break through a fortress’s defenses. His guess was that it probably couldn’t.

’Then what could it be?’ Xu Mo fell silent...

With this in mind, Xu Mo mentally replayed the recent conversation. He sorted through his thoughts and arrived at a likely answer: Jiang City had probably noticed an anomalous loss of contact with one or more fortresses. Unable to determine the cause, they were worried it might be a deliberate act by an Observer suffering a mental breakdown. That was why they had used such an indirect method to question him—someone who had spent half a month in "seclusion" yet remained mentally stable—in an attempt to indirectly corroborate their suspicions.

As for the actual cause, that remained unknown.

With that thought, Xu Mo switched his radio back to the public channel and turned the volume up slightly. He didn’t speak, but instead began to listen with even greater focus.

He stopped paying attention to the idle chatter and gossip, and instead began consciously trying to distinguish and memorize the voice and call sign of every speaker.

Xu Mo wanted to know if some of the previously active voices had fallen silent over the last few days, or even in the very recent past.

The public channel remained lively. Idle chatter, complaints, and even off-color jokes filled the airwaves, as if that strange private conversation had never happened.

But Xu Mo’s mindset had changed. He was no longer a passive recipient of information; he now focused all his attention on identifying each person’s voice.

Previously, Xu Mo had focused more on the content of the conversations. He hadn’t been great at telling voices apart, merely finding most of them familiar. Now that he was making a conscious effort, he discovered that each person’s timbre, intonation, speech cadence, and even their subtle verbal tics were all unique.

Thanks to the enhanced perception granted by the Cowhide Realm, Xu Mo’s hearing and ability to differentiate sounds were far beyond those of an ordinary person. This allowed him to just barely manage the tedious task.

That evening, Xu Mo sat at a simple desk with paper and pen spread before him. On the paper, he had noted the vocal characteristics of each person he’d identified during the day, along with their corresponding fortress designation.

For example: B-04 (Old Liu): Voice is gruff and a bit hoarse, speaks quickly.

D-08: Voice is gentle, speaks at a measured pace, often starts with "Well..."

G-03: Voice is young and energetic, likes to talk about games and tell jokes.

K-12: Voice is steady, observation reports are clear and methodical.

...

By the end of the day, Xu Mo had successfully identified and noted the distinct vocal traits of over sixty Observers.

However, that meant nearly eighty Observers hadn’t made a single sound all day.

Xu Mo knew he couldn’t bring this up publicly. Jiang City surely had its own investigation and response plan. If he rashly raised his concerns on the public channel, he might not only alert the enemy but also cause unnecessary panic and even interfere with Jiang City’s plans.

’All I can do is quietly keep records and gather as much information as possible, to serve as a supplementary source of intelligence,’ Xu Mo thought, his plan already forming. In this apocalypse, every extra piece of information was an extra chance at survival.

The next day, Xu Mo successfully identified another twenty-odd new voices.

On the third day, he added another twenty-odd to the list.

Once the number of "accounted for" Observers on Xu Mo’s list surpassed one hundred, his progress slowed considerably. He could only identify four or five new voices each day, and the task grew more difficult as time went on.

The reason was simple enough: some people were naturally taciturn and might only speak once every few days.

Take the Observer in K-09, for instance. He would only chime in when a discussion got too heated, say something like, "The rules are not to be taken lightly," and then vanish from the channel again.

Others simply had activity and rest schedules that were the complete opposite of Xu Mo’s, making it impossible for him to catch them on the channel.

Just as Xu Mo was pondering whether he could use specific discussion topics to draw out more of the lurking Observers, an official notice from Jiang City came over the radio.

The content of the notice was a morale booster for everyone stationed in the bunkers: as the initial two-month deployment period for the first batch of fortresses was about to conclude, Jiang City would be organizing the first large-scale supply drop and personnel rotation.

Supplies would be delivered via helicopter airdrop and were to be retrieved by the personnel stationed at each fortress. At the same time, personnel were given a choice: they could either continue their deployment for another cycle or take this opportunity to return to Jiang City for rest and recuperation. Those choosing to return would be picked up by the helicopters during the supply drop, and new Observers would be dispatched to take their place.

The notice concluded by instructing A-02 to begin gathering everyone’s decisions on whether to stay or leave.

’Here’s my chance!’ A sharp glint flashed in Xu Mo’s eyes. At a critical juncture like this, where personal choices were involved, almost every Observer would have to make their intentions known. This was the perfect opportunity for him to test his theory and complete his list.