Alien Infection

Tu Ran turned the words over in her mind.

Infection... alien...

Her fingers brushed absently over the black ink, leaving a smudge behind.

The handwriting was fresh.

That only deepened her confusion. She thought back to the moment Xi Chunzhi had handed her the notebook.

On the helipad atop the Administrative Building, under the watchful eyes of surveillance cameras, they had shared an ordinary farewell hug. In that brief embrace, Xi Chunzhi had slipped the notebook into her clothing, her eyes signaling Tu Ran not to ask.

Xi Chunzhi probably had a lot she'd wanted to say back then, but with the AI watching, she couldn't risk speaking aloud. The notebook was her only channel.

But why pass it over in such a public spot, instead of last night at home, when they were alone?

Unless she'd only just discovered something herself.

Yet they'd been in the conference room the whole time—no aliens in sight.

Tu Ran was brimming with questions. She looked back at the page.

Alien infection—did that mean an alien capable of infecting humans?

So far, the Federal Government had only encountered aliens that could possess human bodies.

She'd never heard of an infectious strain.

And even the possessing kind had sent the Federal Government into a frenzy. They'd poured massive funds into military quarantine zones and buffer zones at the Threshold's exit, and carefully designed question-based detection methods to distinguish alien from human.

If an infectious alien existed, Tu Ran could already picture the government's panic.

A possessing alien could only attach to one person at a time, but an infection could trigger mass transformation across a wide area simultaneously.

If such aliens truly existed, could that be the world's counterstrike against the Federal Government's species extermination plan?

Though Xi Chunzhi hadn't explicitly spelled out what "alien infection" meant, Tu Ran had already steeled herself.

This mission would demand not only minimizing contact with aliens but also being wary of humans. If an infectious alien did exist, the people she met might already be infected.

Having reasoned through it, Tu Ran checked the time. Only an hour had passed.

Regaken State lay more than two thousand kilometers from the Federal Government. The helicopter would take four hours to get there. She still had three hours left—she couldn't waste them.

She began quietly inspecting her gear.

These were the standard-issue equipment for Pioneers.

One word: badass!

From head to toe, it was all badass.

A full combat suit, equipped with the latest individual carrying system from top weapons manufacturer A5 Group, plus a tactical helmet. And the submachine gun in her hands—Tu Ran couldn't put it down.

A5 Group's second-generation submachine gun champion, the QF77A2.

She hadn't fired it yet, but as her fingers traced its body, a growing familiarity rose in her chest.

Eyes closed, she could guess whether the next spot she touched would be smooth or rough, raised or indented.

The original owner must have handled this gun intimately, so even with a different soul, the body's muscle memory hadn't faded.

Tu Ran re-familiarized herself with every part, then moved on to the rest of her equipment.

A few small bombs, a pistol, a combat knife, plenty of spare magazines...

After she'd gone through everything, she checked the time. Still half an hour left—she could grab a quick nap.