Chapter 40: New Life

The conversation continued. Yang Zining recounted everything he had witnessed along the way, detailing it entirely from an outsider's perspective. The dialogue was only forced to a premature close when Zou Lin walked over with an air of excitement and whispered a few words to Zhao Qiang.

"Are you sure?" Zhao Qiang's eyes widened.

"Yes!" Zou Lin nodded emphatically. "Doctor Mei has already examined her and confirmed it!"

Zhao Qiang remained stunned for a full several seconds before he finally managed to calm his racing emotions. He turned his head toward Yang Zining and said, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't accept your invitation."

"There's no need to rush your decision." Yang Zining had no idea what Zou Lin had whispered to Zhao Qiang, but he was certainly not about to easily abandon the idea of recruiting such an exceptional warrior. "We will help you rebuild this base. Before we leave, you still have plenty of time to consider this matter."

"Thank you for your kind intentions, but really, it won't be necessary." With those words, Zhao Qiang strode away, moving with a speed that rivaled a zombie hound on a full-speed charge. "I'm going to be a father!" Even before his voice had faded, his figure had already vanished around the corner.

Peng Sha's pregnancy was unquestionably a monumental event within this base. It was not merely a simple matter of Zhao Qiang becoming a father; the appearance of a new life within the Survivor Alliance could be described as a momentous occasion of extraordinary significance.

For the better part of a year since the apocalypse erupted, those past months could arguably be called the darkest period in human history. Zombies ran amok, countless surviving human beings hung by a thread, and all sorts of pessimistic and world-weary emotions spread through the crowd like a contagious disease. At that time, people could see no tomorrow and no hope.

At long last, dawn broke. The long-absent sunlight once again showered down upon the earth, and many of the resilient plants that had managed to live through the ordeal sprouted fresh new buds. Braving immense risks, the survivors began rebuilding their homes, yet people still remained unable to glimpse any hope. Every single day, people died. Everyone gradually grew accustomed to these days where lives were lost daily, to the point where they even began to believe that the very next person to die would be themselves.

Perhaps the number of survivors was simply too small, or perhaps the survival rate of pregnant women during the catastrophe was far too low. From the outbreak of the disaster until this very day, not a single newborn had been born, nor had there even been a single pregnancy. This posed an even greater threat to humanity than the zombies themselves; if this situation persisted indefinitely, human history would come to a complete end in the foreseeable future.

Consequently, the news of Peng Sha's pregnancy quickly spread among the few high-ranking members. Zhao Qiang, the prospective father, was actually the very last person to arrive at the infirmary.

Moving like a whirlwind and without a moment's pause, Zhao Qiang carved a path straight through the densely packed crowd of onlookers and burst into the ward.

"Is it true?" Zhao Qiang planted himself in the doorway of the ward, too nervous to know what to say.

"Are you doubting my professional standards?" Mei Qiu put on a stern face, though she utterly failed to conceal the joy welling up in her heart.

"It's already been two months." Peng Sha half-reposed on the bed. Having just undergone a series of examinations by Doctor Mei, her somewhat weary face radiated the gentle glow of maternity.

"Boy or girl?" Zhao Qiang dropped heavily onto the edge of the bed beside Peng Sha, seized her hand, and asked.

"How could anyone tell that fast!" Peng Sha's pretty face flushed red. "It's only been two months."

"Hehe, I'm going to be a father! I'm going to be a father!" Zhao Qiang's mouth stretched wide into a grin that he couldn't close, and he could do nothing except hold Peng Sha and laugh foolishly.

"Don't be in such a hurry to celebrate." Mei Qiu poured a bucket of cold water over his excitement. "You haven't forgotten that we are New Humans, have you?"

"Yeah, is there a problem with that?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"The problem is that the genes of New Humans have undergone massive changes compared to the past. I have no idea whether this might have any impact on a newborn, which means you must agree to bring Peng Sha here for a follow-up examination every single week. Any issues with that?" In the realm of medicine, whatever Mei Qiu said allowed for no questioning.

"No issues at all." At this moment, Zhao Qiang was more nervous than anyone else could possibly be, and upon hearing such a demand, his head immediately bobbed up and down like a pestle pounding garlic.

"Also, your wife's nutritional status is very poor. You know what our food rations are like around here, so..."

"Small matter, small matter! Leave it to me!" Zhao Qiang blurted out eagerly. "Just say the word, Doctor Mei. What do you need? As long as it exists out there in the outside world, I'll fetch it back for you. Even if you want the head of a Juggernaut, I'll bring you back a dozen of them."

"You little ungrateful bastard with your mischievous plans, what would I want with that thing?" Mei Qiu scolded with a smile. "Get down to the pharmacy and bring back every single bottle of vitamins you can find there. You can figure out the rest yourself!"

Zhao Qiang cursed under his breath. For an entire day, he had been wandering alone through the streets of Xiangtan's urban district, which swarmed with zombies. He had long since lost count of how many zombies he had eliminated, and this was already his seventeenth time rushing into a pharmacy. "Empty again!" Complaining aside, Zhao Qiang still searched frantically and unwillingly through the shelves, hoping to find even the tiniest trace of something left behind.

Utter wreckage was everywhere. Every single shelf was completely bare, their packaging boxes flung wide open and strewn haphazardly across the floor. The medicines inside had long since been swept clean by survivors who had gotten there first.

Not all survivors behaved like the Fierce Tiger Team, who set aside a portion of supplies so that other potential survivors could make use of them. For those desperate survivors, every single excursion into the outside world carried immense risks; therefore, almost all of them chose to strip clean every single useful resource they could lay their hands on.

With a loud clatter followed by a continuous series of rolling sounds, Zhao Qiang—who had been on high alert—instantly shifted into combat mode. In less than a tenth of a second, his Type 97 assault rifle was aimed dead at the direction from which the noise had originated, just as a dark shadow vanished in a flash into the deep gloom.

"Damn it!" That fleeting, momentary chance was nowhere near enough for Zhao Qiang to secure a hit on the target. Furthermore, his ammunition was already running critically low, so unless he had absolute certainty, he was unwilling to waste such precious resources.

Grudgingly, Zhao Qiang lowered his rifle and pivoted his body to give chase in the direction where the shadow had fled. He carried no night-vision gear, but the high-intensity combat he had endured for so long had already forced his body to evolve abilities akin to low-light vision, allowing him to spot targets promptly even in the pitch-black night.

The shadow moved with incredible speed, putting distance between them with just a few bounds and leaving Zhao Qiang behind. Yet, every time Zhao Qiang thought he had lost the target, that shadowy figure would briefly flash past not far ahead, luring him deeper and deeper step by step—while Zhao Qiang remained completely oblivious, doggedly tailing behind.

"Wait, I mean you no harm!" Zhao Qiang vaguely sensed that this shadowy figure must be human. In that momentary glimpse, the silhouette had appeared lithe and graceful, suggesting it was a woman, and her athletic agility combined with parkour-like techniques only served to reinforce his judgment.

Upon hearing Zhao Qiang's shout, the figure seemed to glance back briefly, but her flying pace never faltered as she wove through the narrow alleyway, using both hands and feet with fluid motion.