Chapter 24.2: Fear of Death
Yu Zhitian stepped into the Safe City.
As she looked at the scenes before her, she could not speak.
Along the way, all she had seen were ruins and wild forests, but once she entered the Safe City, everything felt completely different.
People were walking and talking everywhere. Wang Moning was already not new to the role of interpreter, and wherever Yu Zhitian looked, she translated what people were saying, even imitating their tone.
“Such a big fish! Where did you catch it?!”
“Just at the wild lake to the east. There are a lot of people there. If you want to go, hurry up. I’m heading to the curing house to smoke some cured meat now. I need to eat a little every day, hehe.”
A woman strode out, and her teammates immediately gathered around her.
“Old Xin! Why are you only just coming out? I already finished eating!”
“Don’t even mention it—I accidentally scraped my skin a bit, and the quarantine center kept me isolated for five hours. Man, that was suffocating.”
“It’s a good thing you weren’t infected. Here, here—this is the buns I packed for you, still warm. Eat up quickly. Want to go take a bath together later?”
“Why bath? Don’t leave yet. Let’s just stay here. I heard from someone in quarantine that a lot of beef and mutton are being transported back in batches. If we wait here, we can buy directly from them—otherwise we won’t get any.”
The teammates shook their heads with a smile.
“Haven’t you seen the notice? The AI specifically anticipated this and issued a rule: personnel are not allowed to loiter near the city gates without reason. Let’s go. We should still go take a bath.”
After Wang Moning finished translating, she looked at Yu Zhitian’s clothes, which hadn’t been changed or washed for who knows how many days, and her hair—cut in a rough, uneven way like it had been hacked at with scissors—both covered in long-term accumulated dust and grime.
She was afraid that Dr. Yu might also want to bathe, so she specifically reminded her:
“Doctor, the White Cardinal said that your body is currently very weak and it’s not recommended for you to take a bath. But you can wipe yourself down with a towel.”
“You also have specially approved points and a temporary resident ID. You can stay in the inner city. I’ll go fetch some water for you in a bit.”
Yu Zhitian did not respond.
She just stood there in a daze.
Inside the Safe City, towering buildings stood in clusters, and people came and went—so lively it almost looked more prosperous than before the apocalypse.
Occasionally, a few people with red skin, long ears, or bodies covered in fur would pass by.
—Completely different from the ruin outside.
At that moment, she finally realized that everything she had experienced today was not a dream.
They had truly arrived in a safe place.
A place called the Safe City.
—
A notification appeared in the group chat.
[Congratulations to Blue Sea Safe City for completing the world mission. Rewards have been issued.]
The next moment, a guidance marker for the reward location appeared on Cheng Qisheng’s virtual screen.
She selected the warehouse where Blue Sea stored its core crystals. As soon as she confirmed the location, stacks upon stacks of shimmering crystals indeed appeared out of thin air inside the warehouse.
Cheng Qisheng let out a slow, heavy breath, and the corners of her lips gradually lifted.
The money was in her pocket.
She! Was. Rich. Again!!!
In the city lord group chat, no one was blowing up this time. The city lords from Mianyan City instead took the lead in offering calm and friendly congratulations.
[Meow Meow Safe City: Congrats Blue Sea meow~]
[Withered Star Safe City: Congrats Blue Sea~]
Then Blue Leaf chimed in as well, and even the runaway Gu Gaga popped up to congratulate them.
Since even the competitors had this attitude, the other city lords who had never really expected to complete the mission were naturally happy to send along some goodwill as well.
For a moment, the group chat was flooded with congratulations, and among them “Coriander” was the most excited—its flattery messages were the most numerous and the most exaggerated.
[Blue Sea Safe City: Thanks everyone~]
[Blue Sea Safe City: Sending a red packet to share the joy~]
—Blue Sea Safe City has sent a red packet in the group chat [Three boxes of silk fabric]—
The moment the red packet appeared, it was instantly snatched up.
[Zhouyue Safe City: Thanks boss! I got 39 meters!! I bow to you!!]
[Coriander Safe City: Thanks boss!! I got 16 meters! I’m already very satisfied! Love you!!]
[123 Safe City: Grateful boss, you’re so generous. I never slept on silk before the apocalypse, and I didn’t expect I could actually sleep on silk sheets now! Thank you boss, I bow!!]
Below were rows of similar thank-yous. The responses from first-tier and second-tier city lords were especially sincere.
Most lower-tier Safe Cities were living very tightly; anything free, even a broken wooden bucket, would feel like a treasure—let alone silk fabric, which had been expensive even before the apocalypse.
Even Blue Leaf, a tier-three city, replied with a simple: [Boss is generous 👍]
“Meow Meow” first followed the trend in the group chat, then switched to private messages and asked Cheng Qisheng whether the fabric was for sale, and if so, at what price.
Cheng Qisheng immediately replied:
[It’s for sale. This is the price list. But aren’t you a cat-person civilization? Silk is quite delicate—your claws might snag it and tear it easily~]
[Meow Meow Safe City: It’s fine, we usually trim our claws, so we won’t damage it~]
Cheng Qisheng felt a little envious.
Why had she used silk fabric as red packet rewards in the first place? Wasn’t it precisely because Blue Sea people generally had rough skin and couldn’t really use silk at all?
These fabrics had actually been recovered by the military after residents discovered a fully preserved silk factory and reported it. The army then sent people to haul everything back.
There was plenty of it—but unfortunately, Blue Sea people all had callused hands and feet, with skin that was dry and tough. The moment they touched silk, it would snag and pull threads.
Even ignoring the snagging issue, turning it into pajamas or clothes didn’t really work either. The general consensus among Blue Sea people was that it felt worse than wearing nothing at all. The slippery texture while sleeping made them instinctively want to reach out and grab at it.
Velvet Star natives and some other alien races could enjoy silk just fine—but they had only recently joined Blue Sea. Aside from a very small number of people, most of them had almost no savings.
Let alone affording silk fabric for comfort—many of them still had to carefully ration their daily water usage. It would probably still take a while before they could afford it.
And so, this batch of silk fabric—something that would normally be considered a high-end luxury in any world—had somehow become a useless leftover item in Blue Sea Safe City.
But Cheng Qisheng wasn’t worried.
Look—once the red packet was sent out, weren’t there immediately people privately messaging her asking to buy silk?
Some were buying small amounts; others were buying large quantities, likely planning to stockpile it and resell in other worlds.
Cheng Qisheng didn’t mind. As long as they paid in crystals, she would sell. It counted as a small profit.
As for the finished silk garments made in Blue Sea, they wouldn’t go to waste either. She would pick out some of the more contributing outsiders and give them as gifts.
Oh right—Dr. Yu Zhitian should also get a few sets.
After all, she was a great lucky charm who had brought in 20,000 crystals. She deserved to eat well, dress well, stay healthy and well-fed—preferably even a little plump—so she could stay in good condition and keep doing research properly.
With those 20,000 crystals, plus the additional crystals earned by the residents from killing ordinary zombies, Blue Sea Safe City’s treasury was now quite full.
Cheng Qisheng suspected that if Dr. Yu Zhitian, under her protection, really managed to develop a solution to the zombie virus, there might even be additional rewards.
No matter where Safe Cities came from, their goal had always been clear: to preserve as many civilizations as possible.
The world missions they issued also reflected this—rescuing Dr. Yu, who might be capable of developing a zombie vaccine.
If Blue Sea could truly assist Dr. Yu in succeeding, even if there were no rewards at all, it wouldn’t be a huge loss.
But if there were rewards—whether 20,000, or even 10,000 or 5,000—that would already be more than enough to make her happy.
With crystals in hand, even missions like killing a tier-three zombie could now be approached with a relaxed attitude of “if I can beat it, I go; if not, I retreat.”
Of course, the main reason for that attitude was that she had a feeling that zombie wasn’t going to be easy to deal with.
Ever since the four Safe Cities descended, it had never approached them. It only wandered around the outskirts of the city.
Although it looked like normal wandering behavior, Cheng Qisheng couldn’t shake the feeling that it was deliberately avoiding them.
The Blue Sea military had even tried probing its position, but before they could get close, the zombie would turn and change direction first.
It neither entered the city nor left Mianyan City.
It just stayed at the edge of the city, like a predator guarding a particularly hard-to-crack piece of fat meat.
It was definitely waiting for something.
Waiting for the right moment to bite into that “three-city-sized feast”?
Cheng Qisheng’s instincts had always been accurate.
Just like back when the seventh civilization under “Old Seventh” had been flourishing—when she saw it stepping into an interstellar era, a thought had quietly surfaced in her mind:
—This child won’t make it to adulthood.
And sure enough, later that civilization was completely wiped out.
“Aether, you said my mental strength is very powerful. Is intuition related to mental power? Should I trust my intuition?”
Aether quickly replied: “City Lord, superpowered individuals with strong mental strength often have sharper perception. Aether recommends that you trust your intuition.”
It drifted a little faster than usual and landed directly on Cheng Qisheng’s desk.
“Is this a danger-related intuition from the City Lord? Then we should leave immediately.”
“To ensure a 100% survival rate, Aether recommends not relocating the coordinates, but directly leaving this world.”
Cheng Qisheng had been frowning in thought, but she was instantly amused by its reaction.
She tapped Aether’s jellyfish head.
“You really are very afraid of death.”
Aether obediently let itself be tapped.
“Fear of death is a survival instinct of intelligent life. Aether has self-awareness, so being afraid of death is very normal.”
It even sounded quite justified.
But thinking about how Aether had been born already facing imminent death, it was understandable.
Cheng Qisheng taught it:
“Fear of death is indeed a biological instinct of intelligent beings. But the ability to observe situations, analyze pros and cons, and keep growing—that’s also an advantage of intelligence.”
“If every time I sensed danger I ran away immediately, regardless of how serious it was, then I would never become stronger. And next time, when I encounter a danger I can’t escape from, I would only be left waiting for death.”
Aether replied: “But even the smallest danger carries a probability of death. Aether feels afraid.”
In its calculations, even if the chance of death was only 0.00001%, who could guarantee they were not that 0.00001%?
In the calculations of an AI, probability itself was something that could never be fully and perfectly estimated.
Cheng Qisheng tapped its head again.
“Alright, I’ll reduce the probability of death to the lowest possible level—low enough that we can easily avoid it.”
Aether nodded. It looked a bit deflated, still clearly burdened by its fear of death.
But it still climbed onto Cheng Qisheng’s head and said with a serious tone:
“The AI will always obey the City Lord. Since the City Lord has made a decision, Aether will comply.”
Cheng Qisheng smiled.
“Good. Thank you, Aether. Also—have you noticed? You’re starting to feel fear. That means you’ve gained a bit more emotion again.”
Aether, which had just been a little down, immediately perked up again.
It treasured its emotions very much—because they represented its evolution toward a higher form of existence.
After calming the AI, Cheng Qisheng began to think.
Should she directly deploy heavy weapons and carpet the area with firepower?
The moment that thought surfaced, she immediately snuffed it out.
At present, Blue Sea did not have the spare capacity to continuously produce such heavy weaponry. Unless absolutely necessary, she didn’t want to use consumables that would only decrease over time.
If they successfully killed the zombie, fine.
But if they failed, they would lose weapons, attract hostility, and potentially expose their hidden cards.
If she was urgently short on crystals, she might grit her teeth and go through with it.
But now that the world mission had been completed and funds were sufficient, she had far more freedom in her choices.
Stability.
Stability was still the priority.
The warlike instincts of “Old Eighth” made them like a high-speed train—every day driven by the urge to charge forward at full speed.
And as the head of that train, she had to keep it on track. She couldn’t get carried away just because of a temporary victory—she needed to be even steadier than before.
Cheng Qisheng sat at her desk in thought for a while, then sent a mass message to the three Safe Cities still stationed in Mianyan City.
She had already bitten off a large piece of fat meat. The other piece—sharing it with everyone else—wasn’t a bad option either.
At the same time, the three Safe Cities all received a message from Blue Sea Safe City.
[I have a feeling that the tier-three zombie will become even harder to deal with after some time. I suspect it has intelligence, and that it’s waiting for an opportunity to eliminate us.]
She continued in a gentle tone:
[If we keep this stalemate going, it won’t be a solution. Rather than sitting and waiting for death, it’s better to take the initiative.]
[Let’s work together and take it down =v=]
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