Chapter 193 - 123: A Storm is Brewing

Chapter 193: Chapter 123: A Storm is Brewing

More importantly, Jiang City had already begun transferring strategic resources from the Red Star Industrial Zone some time ago. Heavy machinery, precision instruments, special materials—anything still functional or of high value—had been moved out. As a result, the area’s economic and industrial value to Jiang City had plummeted.

’So, is it still necessary to maintain such a costly, high-risk network of forward fortresses and observers? Especially now that new, more widespread threats are driving up the cost of maintenance?’

’Perhaps the Observers’ mission is coming to an end,’ Xu Mo suspected.

For Xu Mo personally, the past two months in the fortress had been incredibly fruitful. The quiet environment had allowed him to cultivate without distraction, and he had successfully broken through to the Iron Bone Realm. This qualitative leap in strength was the greatest reward of all.

Of course, this was just Xu Mo’s personal speculation for now.

Another possibility was that Jiang City still intended to develop the Red Star Industrial Zone into a ready-made, strategically located forward base for its own expansion. If that were the case, these fortresses might be renovated and reinforced, incorporated into a much larger defensive system.

But either way, the current Observer model probably couldn’t be maintained for much longer.

That afternoon, Xu Mo was compiling his observation logs as usual, casually listening to Jiang City’s internal public broadcast channel. It typically played policy announcements, safety tips, or inspiring news.

Suddenly, a female announcer’s voice came over the radio, pitched high and filled with excitement as she delivered a news bulletin:

"A historic moment! According to the latest statistics from the census department, thanks to the collective efforts and heroic struggles of all the people of Jiang City, as of midnight today, the registered permanent population of the Jiang City Shelter has officially surpassed the one-million mark! This is a great victory for survival. It is ironclad proof that human civilization is tenaciously taking root and thriving amidst the apocalypse. It marks..."

Xu Mo didn’t pay close attention to the announcer’s subsequent torrent of praise and encouragement. His mind was completely captured by the number: one million.

Xu Mo clearly remembered that over two months ago, when he had registered his identity in Jiang City and received his Identity Card—number [Jiang City: 802561]—he had vaguely overheard a staff member mention that the shelter’s population had only recently surpassed eight hundred thousand.

’It’s only been a little over two months, and the population has already surged by two hundred thousand to break the one-million mark?’

The number was surely inflated. After all, personnel turnover was drastic in the apocalypse; deaths and disappearances were certainly not always deregistered in a timely manner. Not all newly absorbed survivors would register immediately, either. But even after accounting for all that, the rate and sheer volume of this population growth were still staggering.

A population of one million... This was no longer a simple refugee camp, but an apocalyptic city-state with considerable social complexity and its own internal momentum.

Such a large concentration of people brought not only a workforce, a source of soldiers, and a consumer market, but also immense pressure on resources, daunting management challenges, and the potential for internal conflict.

Jiang City’s leadership must be racking their brains, figuring out how to feed, manage, and protect these million people. The strategic value of outlying areas like the Red Star Industrial Zone would inevitably be reassessed against this much larger backdrop.

The next morning, at first light, the drizzle had stopped, but the sky remained overcast. Inside the fortress, Xu Mo assumed his Pile Training stance right on schedule to begin his daily, unfailing Qi Collection.

Just as his mind was settling and he began guiding the gentle exchange between his body’s qi and blood and the energy of the outside world, a series of unusual zombie roars pierced through the fortress’s thick metal walls, faintly reaching his ears.

These weren’t the usual howls, filled with aggression or vacant confusion. They seemed to contain a twisted agony, mixed with the grotesque sound of something being torn apart and reassembled.

A flicker of recognition passed through Xu Mo’s mind. The sound was somewhat familiar. He immediately recalled the noises he’d observed zombies making after they had fed and then evolved. The two sounds were very similar.

Moreover, this disturbing roar wasn’t an isolated incident. It was a chorus, rising and falling from different directions, as if an unseen plague was spreading through the zombie horde.

Sure enough, before Xu Mo could even finish his practice to investigate, the panicked and astonished voices of other Observers began crackling over the radio’s public channel.

"A-02, this is B-04 calling. I’ve got an anomaly. The zombies west of my fortress have evolved into some kind of aquatic variant. They have scales, webbing between their fingers and toes, and they’re much faster than the regulars. I repeat, I’ve spotted aquatic zombies."

"This is D-08. I see them too. They don’t seem bothered by the wet ground. They move fast in the standing water."

"C-11 reporting. I’ve also spotted multiple aquatic zombies, at least a dozen. Awaiting instructions."

The channel was instantly flooded with urgent reports, and the atmosphere grew tense.

’A new type of mutated zombie, adapted to the damp environment, with distinct aquatic or amphibious traits,’ Xu Mo analyzed calmly, still holding his Pile Training stance.

’The cause of these mutations is almost certainly related to the recent period of continuous rain. Those zombies I saw before, tilting their heads back with mouths agape to ’catch the rain’—that probably wasn’t a meaningless action. They must have been passively or actively absorbing some kind of substance or energy from the rainwater, triggering or accelerating this adaptive evolution.’