Chapter 183: A Potential Lead

Silence settled heavily inside the cramped submarine quarters afterward.

The low hum of the nuclear reactor echoed faintly through the steel walls while the sea shifted around the submarine outside.

Ryan slowly looked back toward the nuclear impact map pinned on the wall.

The amount of red markings covering mainland China was horrifying.

Entire regions.

Entire coastlines.

Gone.

And yet somehow—

The infected still survived.

Adrian finally broke the silence.

"Is your government still operational?"

Captain Liu did not answer immediately.

That alone already told Adrian enough.

The Chinese captain slowly walked toward the small desk before pouring hot water into several metal cups from the electric kettle.

"I don’t know."

Ryan looked toward him.

"You lost contact completely?"

Captain Liu handed one of the cups toward Adrian before answering.

"Military communication collapsed in stages."

He handed another toward Ryan afterward.

"At first we still received command directives from Beijing."

Then his expression hardened slightly.

"Then regional military sectors started going silent one by one."

Adrian accepted the cup quietly while listening.

Captain Liu continued.

"Eventually only fragmented transmissions remained."

He sat down afterward while resting both arms lightly against the desk.

"We still receive occasional emergency broadcasts from surviving Chinese military units."

Ryan frowned.

"But not central government?"

Captain Liu slowly shook his head.

"No confirmed contact from Beijing command in over five months."

That was bad.

Very bad.

Because if China itself had lost central command structure, then the world truly had collapsed beyond repair.

Adrian stared briefly at the wall map again.

"Do you know where this started?"

That question immediately changed the atmosphere inside the compartment again.

Captain Liu slowly looked up toward Adrian.

Then quietly—

"No."

Ryan blinked slightly.

"You have no idea?"

Captain Liu gave a tired laugh.

"Captain... if the world knew where this started, maybe humanity would not have collapsed this badly."

Nobody argued with that.

The origin of the outbreak remained one of the biggest mysteries since the apocalypse began.

Every surviving group had theories.

Bioweapon.

Mutation.

Ancient virus.

Experiment gone wrong.

Nobody truly knew.

Captain Liu leaned back slightly afterward.

"But there were rumors."

Adrian narrowed his eyes slightly.

"What kind of rumors?"

The Chinese captain looked toward the sealed hatch briefly as if instinctively making sure nobody else was listening.

Then he lowered his voice slightly.

"Some military intelligence personnel believed the outbreak was not natural."

Ryan immediately looked toward Adrian.

Because they had heard that theory before.

Adrian remained silent for several moments.

Then finally—

"We considered that possibility too."

Captain Liu’s eyes sharpened slightly hearing that.

"You did?"

Adrian nodded once.

"A year ago we extracted a Korean virologist from Seoul."

Ryan crossed his arms slightly while remembering it.

The operation had nearly gotten several of their men killed.

Seoul back then had already turned into hell.

Collapsed highways.

Burning districts.

And a fucking huge worm.

The virologist they extracted had spent months studying infected tissue samples inside underground research shelters before the city fully collapsed.

Adrian continued calmly.

"She believed the infection spread too efficiently to be natural."

Captain Liu’s expression slowly darkened.

"Yes..."

He looked toward the wall map again.

"That matches some of the intelligence chatter we intercepted before communications collapsed."

Ryan frowned.

"What kind of chatter?"

Captain Liu hesitated briefly.

Then answered.

"There were reports about restricted biological research sectors inside Beijing."

Adrian immediately focused more carefully now.

"Government?"

"We don’t know."

"Military?"

"Possibly."

Captain Liu slowly rubbed his forehead afterward.

"Most information was fragmented by then. Entire networks were collapsing."

He looked back toward Adrian.

"But one detail kept appearing repeatedly."

"What detail?"

Captain Liu’s voice lowered slightly.

"That the outbreak may have originated from a contained research incident."

The compartment became silent again afterward.

Because honestly—

That possibility sounded horrifyingly believable.

Ryan slowly exhaled.

"So basically humanity created its own extinction event."

Captain Liu looked toward him tiredly.

"Would that truly surprise you?"

Ryan opened his mouth slightly.

Then closed it again.

Because no—

Not really.

Not anymore.

Adrian remained thoughtful for several moments.

"If that lead existed... then why didn’t your government expose it?"

Captain Liu laughed quietly again.

A bitter sound.

"Because by then the government itself was already dying."

That answer made perfect sense.

Once cities started collapsing beneath infected hordes, survival would matter more than transparency.

Captain Liu slowly stood afterward before walking toward one of the storage cabinets built into the wall.

He unlocked it carefully using a keycard.

Then pulled out a sealed metal case.

Adrian immediately noticed the caution in his movements.

Captain Liu returned toward the desk afterward before placing the case down carefully.

CLACK.

He opened it slowly.

Inside were documents.

Hard copies.

Satellite images.

Military reports.

And several printed communication transcripts.

Ryan stared slightly.

"You kept physical copies?"

Captain Liu nodded.

"Digital systems fail."

That was true.

Electromagnetic pulses from nuclear detonations had already destroyed massive amounts of global infrastructure.

Hard copies survived better.

Captain Liu carefully pulled out one particular document afterward.

Unlike the others, this one looked newer.

Less damaged.

"There was one surviving lead."

Adrian immediately looked toward him.

"What kind of lead?"

Captain Liu placed the paper down on the desk.

A photograph.

A woman.

Asian.

Late thirties perhaps.

Wearing a laboratory uniform.

Ryan frowned slightly.

"Who’s that?"

Captain Liu answered immediately.

"Doctor Lin Mei."

Adrian narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Scientist?"

"Yes."

Captain Liu slowly sat down again afterward.

"She worked beneath Beijing."

Ryan blinked.

"Beneath?"

The Chinese captain nodded once.

"There are underground military research sectors beneath the capital."

That honestly did not surprise Adrian much.

Most major world powers possessed underground continuity facilities.

Especially around capital regions.

Captain Liu continued.

"Two days ago..."

He paused slightly.

"...we received communication from her."

That immediately changed everything.

Adrian’s expression sharpened slightly.

"She’s alive?"

"Yes."

Ryan looked genuinely shocked now.

"Wait, hold on. Beijing got nuked."

Captain Liu nodded slowly.

"Yes."

Ryan stared at him.

"And she survived that?"

The Chinese captain looked toward the map again.

"She was already deep underground before the strike occurred."

Adrian crossed his arms slightly.

"And she knows something."

Captain Liu looked directly toward him afterward.

"She believes she knows who caused this apocalypse."

Silence filled the compartment again.

Even the reactor hum suddenly felt distant now.

Because if that statement was true—

Then this was no longer just about survival.

It was about answers.

Ryan slowly rubbed his face.

"Please tell me this isn’t turning into some umbrella corporation bullshit."

Neither Adrian nor Captain Liu understood the reference.

Ryan sighed.

"Never mind."

Captain Liu leaned slightly forward afterward.

"Doctor Lin’s transmission was incomplete."

His expression hardened slightly.

"But one thing was clear."

"What?" Adrian asked quietly.

"She believes the outbreak was deliberate."