Chapter 1075: It’s around us
A night passed since the war ended, the next morning, there were snowflakes dancing in the sky.
It was the end of May, close to summer for the Northern Hemisphere, but the concept of weather didn’t apply to the tundra in northern Finland. Located in the Arctic Circle, if an Arctic Ocean monsoon crossed, snow was even possible till mid-June.
At this moment, above the military base next to Paltamo, the flag was replaced with Celestial Trade’s flag.
After several rounds of bombing, there was not a single standing building inside the base. After negotiating with the Finns, Celestial Trade transported supplies to the base through Russia. The logistics and research teams from Murmansk arrived by plane and set up tents outside the military base.
Unlike the bacteria Jiang Chen saw in the apocalypse before, these improved X2 bacteria were tenacious. Even without the nest, they could survive for a long time. Therefore, it would be too risky to not cleanse them completely.
Without the injection of genetic vaccines, any organism that inhaled the spores over a certain threshold would exhibit “zombie” behavior. Especially for primates, the more developed the brain, the more susceptible to these toxic bacteria.
After the arrival of a thousand-person logistics team, the first order Jiang Chen gave them was to kill the spores floating in the air and eradicate all sources of infection.
Although no agents have been developed to kill these spores, not everything must be solved by technology.
These spores could extinguish fires, but conversely, they extinguished fires by sacrificing themselves, and without a nest to reproduce more spores, these characteristics accelerated their demise. No special sterilization equipment was needed, and a flamethrower produced unexpected results.
Now the entire military base was still covered by spores. Other than soldiers in power armor, only the logistics personnel wearing orange chemical protective suits remained on the scene. The mutants’ corpses were piled up in an open space one kilometer away from the military base and incinerated with gasoline.
The dark smoke that floated up into the sky yesterday was still visible the next morning. It was even visible from Paltamo.
In the command post next to the military base, the brigade commander Kleinman took off his power armor. He was wearing heavy winter clothes, standing at the desk and, listening to reports from his subordinates.
“… Columbia TV hopes to enter the military base to film the underground bunker and wreckage.”
“Tell them to get permission from Celestial Trade. We are soldiers, we don’t have permission to decide such matters,” Kleinman said impatiently.
It was already the fifth media station that knocked on his door. Now, the world was focused on this military camp, and everyone was focused on one question – how would Celestial Trade deal with the aftermath?
“In addition, the Finnish Presidential Palace officials contacted us this morning. The president hopes to have a conversation with us on in regards to the handling of the mutants’ body. Instead of incinerating, they hope we can come up with a more environmentally-friendly solution.”
Kleinman raised his eyebrows.
“Then tell him, either accept our plan or try to deal with the source of the infection. If they want, we can send the corpses to the warehouse in the nearby town, free of charge.”
“Roger.”
The officer saluted and left the room.
Kleinman sat back in his chair and planned to rest for a moment.
However, before the seat was even warm. A sergeant ran inside and woke him up from his half-asleep state.
The content of the report was only a few words. But Kleinman, who was disturbed by his dream, did not show any temper.
The sergeant saluted
“Report! The boss is coming.”
…
At noon, a helicopter flew from the other side of the mountain and landed steadily on the tarmac in the military base.
Jiang Chen, wearing a chemical protective suit and a gas mask, jumped off the helicopter. Although he didn’t need to wear any protection, it was better to not shock the world again with the current concentration of spores.
Behind him was the Russian Security Service Director Barth, in wearing a chemical protective suit. He was examining the chaotic base.
Originally, Ayesha also planned to come along, but considering that they would not stay in Finland for too long, Jiang Chen asked her return to Coro Island.
The brigade commander Kleinman saluted to Jiang Chen in his power armor.
Jiang Chen nodded to him with approval.
“Thank you for your service.”
“My honor!” Kleinman grinned.
Jiang Chen continued, “How is the situation underground?”
Kleinman replied, “The nest is confirmed dead and there is no living residue. The logistics unit is still working on cleaning out the X2 bacteria and the research team from Coro Island is investigating the remains of the nest.”
“Take us down.”
“Roger!”
Kleinman saluted.
Behind Kleinman, Jiang Chen and Barth walked to the crater in the center of the base. It used to be the entrance to the underground bunker. It collapsed due to the bombardment of Celestial Trade. In order to facilitate the cleaning personnel and the research team, the logistics team built a temporary lift.
The three arrived at the entrance of the underground bunker 500 meters below.
“This is the interior of the nest? The flesh bubbles are indeed disgusting.” Barth glanced at the residue on the wall, revealing a disgusted look.
“You can interpret that before the core was destroyed. The nest transformed the entire underground bunker into its own,” Jiang Chen explained.
Not far away, researchers were taking samples around the debris of the larva. DNA codes unheard of and contrary to the existence of biology completely changed the scholars’ understanding of the subject. Everyone used all 200% of their energy and devoted their passion for science to collecting these precious samples.
These were valuable materials for the entire human civilization.
For Harmony, Jiang Chen just saw a glimpse from the distance. It was fair to say he knew nothing at all.
He didn’t expect to learn from the wreckage of the nest about the weakness of Harmony, but for now, it was the only means for the Earth civilization to learn about them.
Because of the chemical protective suit, no one recognized Jiang Chen’s identity along the way. The soldiers guarding saluted to Kleinman and let them in.
Accompanied by Kleinman, the two arrived at the ruins of the core of the nest.
Barth glanced at the resin-like “coffin” inside the choatic scene and saw a familiar face through the broken film.
“Carmen Rothschild?”
“That’s right.”
“You really killed him,” Bart said. “For me, the International Court is his best destination.”
“It would be a problem to keep him,” Jiang Chen said emotionlessly.
He did not know what Harmony revealed to him. If those worms told him his ability to travel through dimensions, it would be an issue.
The Rothschild family had produced tens of thousands of Golden Apples and these Golden Apples were a hidden danger to him and to the human civilization.
However, he was now there to get rid of this hidden danger!
Jiang Chen gestured to Kleinman standing next to him and then pointed to the head of the resin coffin. Kleinman understood and took out a dagger. He cut open the resin surface, put his steel fist inside, and pulled out the black sphere.
When Barth saw the black sphere, the change in his expression was subtle.
“The Golden Apple,” accepting the black sphere from Kleinman, Jiang Chen weighed it in his hand. “We have always thought that it is a tool used to communicate with the future. In fact, this is not the case.”
“Communication is only its basic ability. Its true ability is brainwashing, infecting their holders in a subtle way, and turning them into their slaves. Whether Tanaka or Carmen, they were essentially the same type of people.”
Jiang Chen pretended to be disgusted by it and tossed the Golden Apple back to Kleinman, indicating for him to put it back.
He couldn’t see Barth’s expression through the protective suit, but his years of experience of bluffing told him he achieved his purpose.
The revolution in Frankberg was about to end in victory. Russia certainly obtained many Golden Apples from the rebels. If they referred to previous intelligence and experimented, they may learn some new things. Jiang Chen must warn them before they figure out how to use the Golden Apple.
They must feel fearful.
“The most terrifying fact is that the biological civilization that communicates through the Golden Apple communicates not with the future.”
After a pause, Jiang Chen looked at Barth.
“But with what is around us.”