It was impossible to tell how much time had passed before the three of them finally managed to squeeze their way out of the densely packed zombie horde. The space ahead gradually opened up.
The farther they went, the stronger the familiar feeling became.
Chu Tian had a premonition that they might be about to see someone they knew.
At last, the three of them emerged from the circle of zombies, only to find themselves surrounded by layers upon layers of monsters.
Quan Xiaoyu could not bear to look up at their heads. Every single one had the face of a child. He kept his head lowered and followed closely behind Chu Tian.
When the monsters saw the three of them, they took the initiative to make way for them.
As they continued forward, Quan Xiaoyu kept his head down, thinking about the children at Dawn Base. Then he heard Chu Tian let out a deep sigh.
“Long time no see. I truly never imagined this would happen!”
As he spoke, he actually began to laugh.
Only then did Quan Xiaoyu raise his head. In an instant, he was struck speechless by shock as well. He stared at the face of the man standing not far ahead of them, unable to make a sound for a long time.
“Children, it’s been a long time. I never imagined I would meet you here, either. You’ve all grown up, and you’re living very well. I’m both surprised and delighted.”
The man smiled at the three of them, his eyes filled with affection.
Nothing had changed!
His presence, his demeanor—everything was exactly the same! Just as it had been when they first met him, he was still surrounded by an aura of compassion and pity for all living things.
Even the way he looked at them was exactly the same as before!
Why?
Why was it him?
How could it possibly be him?
Quan Xiaoyu’s eyes widened. For a long time, he could not recover from the shock.
“We never imagined that when we saw you again, it would be under these circumstances, either.” Chu Tian smiled. He was usually a gentle person, and after glancing at Quan Xiaoyu, who still wore an expression of utter disbelief, he turned back to the man and said, “Do you know, Father? Back then, he thought you were dead and was sad for quite some time.”
The priest froze.
He had imagined several different reactions the three of them might have upon seeing him. He had anticipated Quan Xiaoyu’s reaction, but he had not expected Chu Tian to say something like that.
He had been sad because he thought the priest was dead?
What a kind child.
The priest could not help looking at Quan Xiaoyu again.
“How did such a kind child manage to survive until today?” he asked Chu Tian in bewilderment.
Hearing this, Bai Mingxi was clearly enraged. Chu Tian, however, looked astonished and asked in return, “Do you believe that kindhearted people shouldn’t be allowed to live? Including innocent, pure children?”
Since the apocalypse began and the priest had revealed his immense power, this was the first time he had encountered someone like Chu Tian, who could discuss a question with him so calmly and casually, as though nothing else mattered.
For a moment, the priest became interested.
Even before the apocalypse, he had studied something called “human nature.”
Human beings were inherently selfish. Whether they pursued “fairness” or “justice,” they first approached these concepts from the perspective of the self.
That was why there was a term called “empathy.” Yet even empathy placed the self at its center, using “me” as the starting point for understanding the world.
So, given that humans were one hundred percent self-interested, how did so-called “kindness” come into existence?
Was it charity offered by those who had more than enough? A sense of superiority from occupying the moral high ground? Or a form of coercion that forced people to conform to an ideal of human nature?
If this had merely been a hypothesis before the apocalypse, then after it began, the events that unfolded every day and the tragedies played out across the world had all served to validate it!
And he was both the one conducting the experiments and the one witnessing the results.
The priest did not answer Chu Tian’s question directly. Instead, he began discussing his hypothesis and the evidence supporting it, even seriously asking Chu Tian what he thought.
Chu Tian considered the question before answering.
“Have you heard of Schrödinger’s cat? Human nature is like a cat locked inside a box. It could be half good and half evil, and you only know which it is after opening the box. But the moment you open it, you can’t tell whether the cat was already evil or whether it became evil when you opened the box. Since opening the box changes the situation, does that mean the conclusion you reach afterward must be correct?”
The priest nodded vigorously.
“That’s exactly what I thought after opening the box, too.”
He actually agreed with Chu Tian’s reasoning.
“That’s why I began wondering whether there might be another way to find out what’s inside without opening the box.”
“Have you found one yet?” Chu Tian asked.
The priest looked regretful.
“No. But I’m in the middle of searching for one.”
“So you began your investigation with children?” Chu Tian asked again.
The priest nodded, his expression solemn and almost sacred.
“Exactly. Human beings have always believed that children are the purest and most innocent beings in the world, that their souls are the most sacred and unblemished. So that’s where I decided to begin.”
Bai Mingxi was utterly furious.
He understood the question they were discussing, and he also understood that the priest was using the most sacred ideals imaginable to justify the most inhumane acts.
He made no attempt to conceal his anger, glaring fiercely at the priest’s still-affectionate, almost holy-looking face.
Quan Xiaoyu’s gaze was also filled with complicated emotions as he stared at the priest.
“I’m guessing that before we die, you’d be willing to tell us a story. After all—” Chu Tian pointed behind them. “It’ll probably take some time for everything over there to come to an end.”
The priest seemed to enjoy talking to Chu Tian. He did not even glance toward Dawn Base. Instead, he replied with evident pleasure, “Young man, I truly admire you. If only I’d recognized your endearing qualities back when we were at the church.”
He seemed a little wistful, but in the end, he continued smiling.
“Are you ready to hear a story, my children?”
“Of course.”
Of the three, only Chu Tian responded with a cheerful smile.
At the same time, he secretly traced three words into Quan Xiaoyu’s palm with his finger.
He did not dare use his mental powers. He had a feeling that the other man was definitely stronger than he was!
Quan Xiaoyu’s body stiffened slightly for a moment. Before long, he returned to his previous appearance. At the same time, however, he slipped something into the hand Chu Tian was holding.
The priest began his story.
The three of them focused their attention on him as he recounted many secrets that had remained unknown both before and after the apocalypse.
The story had begun long before the apocalypse.
Many years ago, the priest had not yet become a priest. He had been a biologist, possessed by a fervor for the life sciences that other people could not understand.
He was obsessed with investigating every last detail related to life. Over time, he gradually crossed into the forbidden territory of biological research: human experimentation!
Human beings were currently the most advanced living creatures on Earth. The human body was extraordinarily complex and precise, containing an endless number of secrets.
But exploring those secrets required an endless supply of research subjects—experimental specimens.
In every country, however, such experiments were strictly prohibited, whether by ethical standards or by law!
The priest did not care about any of that.
To him, life and compassion existed for the sake of science. Only when the secrets of life were uncovered could life itself have meaning.
He firmly believed this.
But his convictions changed nothing.
Countless proposals were rejected, and countless theories had to remain laughable hypotheses because he lacked concrete research data.
His research could no longer continue!
He could not conduct experiments, and he could not obtain the data he needed.
Without scientific research, his life would become meaningless! His very existence would become meaningless!
That was unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable!
And so, his research moved from the open into the shadows.
He began reaching out to countless vulnerable people who were alone in the world.
Homeless people, missing children, single women, elderly people without family…
They became his first experimental subjects.
While carrying out these acts, he discovered that he possessed more than just a talent for science. He also had a perfect talent for committing crimes!
He covered his tracks flawlessly, even moving house and changing locations frequently. Ten years passed. Stories of serial killers emerged in various places, yet no one ever discovered his identity.
Over those years, his research had also achieved several groundbreaking breakthroughs. As a result, he became increasingly convinced that everything he was doing was right. Once he achieved complete success, humanity would undergo a transformation beyond anyone’s imagination.
However, as the number of missing people continued to rise, the police began closing in on him.
With no other choice, the priest returned from abroad to his own country and went back to City S, where he entered the largest church in the city under the identity of a missionary.
With his talent, he quickly transformed the church into a domain under his absolute control.
After lying low for a while, the priest began growing restless again.
The church already had a basement. He secretly renovated it and began a new round of research.
The church received many visitors. Many people came to confess their sins, revealing the guilt and desires hidden deep within their hearts.
Their confessions often disclosed a great deal of information.
This made it even easier for the priest to select his targets.
Everything proceeded smoothly. Everything unfolded according to his plans, step by step.
Until that disaster struck without warning!
It caught the entire world completely unprepared. The world descended into chaos. Humanity descended into chaos. City S descended into chaos.
The disaster shattered all the rules and order that had existed before.
When the priest awoke from his initial unconsciousness, he felt that he had truly received a divine revelation at that moment!
God had told him that a new world was coming and had bestowed new powers upon him. His wish would finally be realized!
In the priest’s eyes, this disaster was a truly magnificent thing.
He no longer needed to carefully select his targets. Experimental subjects were now everywhere, ripe for the taking!
He had gained immense power. God was guiding him to build an entirely new world.
Originally, while still at the church, he had actively taken in the prey that came to him voluntarily. As more and more victims walked straight into his trap, he gradually became increasingly picky about the quality of his prey.
Little by little, he also discovered that human nature was far more interesting than the human body.
And so, he came up with a new kind of testing game.
For example, what would happen if he threw someone as foolishly kindhearted as Xie Mingxuan and someone as hypocritical as Lei Shi, together with a hardline soldier like Ouyang Jing and a typical egoist like Xiao Ziran, into a horde of zombies?
What kind of chemical reaction would occur?
He found endless amusement in experiments of this sort!
By that time, he had already mastered the ability to manipulate zombies and make them carry out his wishes.
Thus, as though playing a game, he devised one trap-like scenario after another for his victims.
It had to be admitted that Quan Xiaoyu and his companions had been the best group of people the priest had taken in since the apocalypse, in terms of their overall abilities and qualities. Consequently, no matter how much he put them through, their survival rate remained exceptionally high.
Quan Xiaoyu’s attempt to persuade him to leave had been an unexpected incident!
Since the apocalypse began and he started taking in all kinds of people, Quan Xiaoyu had been the first person who had genuinely cared about his safety.
At the time, however, the priest had simply thought that someone like him probably wouldn’t survive very long.
He had never imagined that he would see Quan Xiaoyu again today, standing before him in an even more powerful state.
That was another unexpected turn of events!
Quan Xiaoyu had given him two of the few surprises in his life.
In fact, when Quan Xiaoyu had warned him, the priest had already sensed that danger was approaching and had begun preparing to leave.
Thus, while Quan Xiaoyu and the others were still delayed along the way by various zombie hordes and battles, the priest had already taken his research data, experimental subjects, and several assistants who were utterly devoted to him to City J.
His immense power had given him many advantages.
For example, he had successfully created experimental subjects with formidable combat abilities, possessed vast quantities of research data, and used his supernatural abilities to gather large amounts of supplies. He had also acquired useful belongings carried by the various “prey” he had captured.
He understood human nature extremely well, and the people at the top of City J were greedy, too.
He settled there without difficulty. He had more than enough resources to negotiate terms with those so-called high-ranking officials and politicians.
Capturing prey became an entirely legitimate, aboveboard activity.
Those sanctimonious politicians and decision-makers personally delivered a steady stream of the most suitable children for his research straight into his hands!
Everything came to him without the slightest effort!