Chapter 897: Unknowable Fact

First, the meme's thought infection has no physical existence.

It is not like a virus, which requires a physical cell as a source of infection.

This is also something he and Chu An cannot confirm—that a certain zombie meme is the cause of humans turning into zombies.

The reason is simple: zombie infection of humans clearly requires a scratch or a bite.

If thought infection could work, why would wound infection still be needed?

Although this could be explained by the fear after being scratched strengthening the meme effect, it still seems somewhat superfluous.

Moreover, if one says the rabies virus is the precursor of the zombie virus, but in reality the rabies virus cannot be transmitted from human to human.

That is to say, the saliva secreted by those infected with rabies virus contains no virus.

A rabies patient biting someone cannot transmit the virus.

This is completely different from the zombie virus.

Furthermore, if the rabies virus, this precursor of the zombie virus, had long existed in the human body—or was part of it—why would it evade the immune system?

It's like returning to your own home yet having to dodge the neighborhood security.

If we add another issue, it is that the rabies virus causes infected individuals to die automatically.

This is also unlike the zombie virus.

All these counterexamples instead make the problem even more puzzling.

Under a unified train of thought, as Lin An pondered these questions, the Second Will suddenly spoke:

("Lin An, your line of thinking is wrong.")

("Or rather, you and Chu An's thinking has entered a misunderstanding.")

("Why do you both think zombies are related to the apocalypse? Couldn't they simply exist independently in human history?")

"What!?"

Blurted out, Lin An looked in surprise at the Second Will within his mind.

Without waiting for Lin An to continue speaking, the Second Will solemnly opened his mouth:

("You believe that the emergence, creation, or detonation of the Doomsday System caused the previous round of apocalypse, producing zombie mutants.")

("Therefore you think that whether it's the zombie virus or the rabies virus, they are both negative, harmful to the human body.")

("But what if humanity needs to become zombies, or rather, in our past history we spontaneously began turning into zombies?")

("Or perhaps the Doomsday System actually blocks the process of humanity turning toward zombification?")

("Or perhaps there is some other reason?")

"What do you mean?"

Lin An only felt his thoughts beginning to fracture; for a moment he couldn't grasp what the Second Will was trying to express.

"How could we possibly want to become zombies?"

"What good would becoming a zombie bring?"

"Leaving other things aside, if the human immune system could see through the rabies virus's disguise, it would also eliminate it."

"In other words, if the immune system can recognize the zombie virus, we could even eliminate it!"

"The immune system is our body's protective barrier; it only eliminates foreign objects!"

This logic is sound.

In his past life, Lin An had heard many claims in chat channels that the military had already cracked the zombie virus.

Although it was just false rumors, humanity has continued to strive in that direction.

As long as we eradicate zombies at the source, the difficulty of this apocalypse crisis would greatly decrease, allowing humanity to fully focus on resisting later natural disasters and invasions from the YiKongjian.

His expression hesitant, the Second Will also realized his words were hard to understand; he furrowed his brows and slowly added:

"I don't even know why I had this thought."

"Maybe I just thought of something else..."

"I once had an eyeball injured in a simulation, sliced by shrapnel."

"At first I didn't pay attention, because the battle was too intense. But in the subsequent simulation, I surprisingly discovered that my other, uninjured eyeball suddenly began to have problems."

"It began to rot and lose function."

"Because of total blindness, I failed to complete the mission in that simulation. At first I thought, was this a bug in the Long'an Project simulation?"

"But later, this strange phenomenon forced me to seek the source of the problem in the next simulation. The next simulation was a modern setting; during the mission I browsed some medical literature."

"After reviewing, I was surprised to find that my other, perfectly fine eyeball developing problems was not a bug, but a fairly common phenomenon in the real world."

With a solemn expression, the Second Will displayed the medical literature he had remembered from his memory before Lin An:

("In a certain sense, human eyes actually do not belong to the body; they are more like foreign objects.")

("During embryogenesis, the eyes develop last, which is why they do not grow after adulthood.")

("Furthermore, once an eyeball is injured and damaged, causing its cells to enter the body, our own immune system will frenziedly attack it!")

("Just as with a virus, the immune system will immediately 'kill' the other eyeball!")

("This shows that the immune system fundamentally does not regard humans as having eyes!")

("So, once an eyeball is injured, it must be removed; otherwise, once the immune system 'realizes' you have an eye, it will try every means to destroy the other eye!")

("Isn't this somewhat similar to the rabies virus in a strange way?")

("After the eyeball appears in the embryonic stage, it desperately disguises itself to evade immune system attacks. But it is indeed part of us.")

("But we clearly need eyes...")

("You now view the zombie virus as 'bad,' but could it possibly...")

A shudder ran through him; Lin An's brain raced, and he suddenly realized why the Second Will had expressed himself so obscurely, why he had said those words.

"You mean..."

「We once needed the rabies virus, even the zombie virus!? 」

「Just like eyes, it can give us help. But later, some unknown change occurred, causing the 「eyes」 to no longer be needed。」

「Or perhaps, what existence separates us from zombification? They don't want us to have it? 」

「So you would think, the Doomsday System is actually... 」

「No... not right... 」

「Under hyper-effective thinking, vast amounts of information pieced together, ultimately forming an incomprehensible fact。」

「Are we zombies? Or perhaps we need zombification? How is that possible! 」

「But if humans are 「zombies」, under the uncanny valley effect, how could we fear the entity itself? 」

「Or perhaps, why do we no longer need the 「eyes」? 」

「If humans, in history or in repeated apocalypse cycles, are not afraid of zombies, then essentially... 」

「Who exactly are we afraid of? 」

「What exactly is that human-like existence that can trigger the uncanny valley effect? 」

「The previous conclusion is overturned again. 」

「Lin An felt as if his head were about to explode; he thought of many things, many conclusions completely contrary to common sense. 」

「In the Human-faced Spider incident, the Kaisile Company is suspected to be related to the origin of zombies. 」

「The polluted waters within Linjiang. 」

「Eyes that shouldn't exist, thinking memes, and the ear‑whispers in this origin incident... 」

「Everything, everything, it seemed as if countless fragments of truth lay before him, to the point that his original logic began to collapse. 」

「Which one is the truth? 」

「Pain, a headache fit to split. 」

「It felt as if struck by a meme impact. 」

「Mo Ling watched as Lin An suddenly fell into confusion again, and she instantly grew tense. 」

「She didn't know what to do, tightly hugging Lin An, thinking he had suffered another meme attack. 」

「Instinctively, she wanted to draw her dagger and kill the reviver before her again, cutting the connection. 」

「But the next second, Lin An suddenly reached out his hand, painfully stopping Mo Ling from acting. 」

「「I... I'm fine.. 」」

「Gasping heavily, Lin An desperately suppressed his hyper‑effective thinking, straining to look at the researcher. 」

「The bullet hole in the centre of his forehead was like a black hole. 」

「Suddenly, he broke free from endless thoughts and realized that what he had truly wanted to seek at the beginning was that crystal skull. 」

「「Keep going! 」」

「「Have you discovered that in the uncanny valley effect, humans fear not zombies, but something else! 」」

「「Whose skull is that! ？」」