Chapter 51

In this plane devoid of any identifying numbers or life-form information data, even if the viewers in the main universe wanted to worry or complain, they had no idea how to help their dear little Yoyo. Therefore, they could only watch with bated breath as that little zombie, with its blood-smeared face, inched closer and closer to the tiny toddler.

...

In the zombie plane, the little zombie—who had just been acting all aloof and reluctant to pay attention to Su You not long ago—was now holding the toddler's plump little hand with its own decaying paw, following the child's footsteps to "explore" this hunting ground that belonged to it.

For Su You, this was simply playing together with his good friend!

The tiny toddler had never played in such an abandoned concrete jungle before. Everywhere he looked were derelict buildings covered in moss, broken fissures in the ground, and exposed, rusted steel rebar protruding from collapsed walls...

Su You looked to the left, then to the right, finding everything novel and fascinating. Yet aside from this novelty, the world was utterly quiet. It seemed there was no other sound left in existence besides the toddler and his zombie playmate.

There was not a single chirp of a bird, buzz of an insect, or cry of any other small animal; the surroundings were chaotic yet dead silent.

Although Su You had been quite happily dragging the little zombie around at first, as they walked, he gradually came to a halt with a hint of sadness.

"...It's so quiet here."

Just like his home.

Before the King of Soldiers System 001 successfully bonded with Su You, the plane Su You came from had been just as quiet a world. Although that world was not as decaying as the zombie realm, it shared the exact same utter stillness.

Especially after his little Sunflower teacher disappeared, he was left all alone in his "home."

Playing by himself, sleeping by himself, with only his teddy bear doll to keep him company...

Thinking of this, the little one suddenly slumped into despair. He turned to look at the little zombie, then glanced back up in the direction of System 001, his previously wandering attention rapidly sinking into a low, despondent state.

Inside the virtual variety show live-streaming spheres of the main universe, the audience's spiritual consciousness bodies also sensed the toddler's sorrowful and dejected demeanor. The extreme fans in Subspace 001, in particular, had invested their entire minds and hearts into the toddler. The moment they saw the sudden wilt in his mood, they immediately realized that their precious Yoyo had lost his vitality.

[Baby! What's wrong with auntie's precious Yoyo!]

[Why did mommy's cute little Yoyo stop playing!]

These extreme fans in Subspace 001 watched Su You, who looked as though he had been drained of all energy on the screen, jumping up and down in absolute anxiety. They even forgot that this was a dangerous zombie plane, and one after another began sending signal requests to the production team reading, "I want to go there."

As a King of Soldiers challenge variety show, although the production team had indeed developed a routine "I want to go there" signal request feature to cater to viewers with exploratory interests, the actual usage frequency of this function was extremely low. After all, the elimination match arenas chosen by the production team of *Super Soldier 2* were hardly renowned for their scenery. For the vast majority of the audience's spiritual bodies, watching from within the virtual live-streaming spheres was more than enough to satisfy them; there was no need to personally visit the site and endure a "field trip" that would only fatigue their spiritual bodies.

...

But clearly, the spiritual body viewers in Subspace 001 could not care less about such things at the moment.

Watching the drooping baby in the zombie plane, these extreme fans wished nothing more than to instantly pierce through the screen and enter the zombie plane, then scoop up their baby Yoyo to shower him with hugs, kisses, and lift him high up in the air.

...

Although those extreme fans in the main universe couldn't pick Su You up for hugs and kisses, the little zombie in the zombie plane could.

The little zombie, who had been holding hands with Su You all along, had sensed the little one's distress the moment Su You's mood began to plummet. Although it had no idea why its "food" suddenly seemed unhappy, well... coaxing it was definitely the right move!

The little zombie stiffly twisted its head, turning to look in Su You's direction. It first tried opening its arms to gently hug its "food"—in truth, the little zombie had no clue what this action signified, but it had once seen many humans perform similar gestures.

So... perhaps this was a motion capable of soothing food?

However, even though it hugged its food, the food didn't seem much happier. Frowning deeply—its stiff, decaying zombie face etched with a solemn expression—the little zombie began to gently tug on its "food," leading the toddler toward its usual hiding spots.

Such as the shadowed recess of some ruin, or a moss-grown corner.

Yet none of these places could make its "food" happy either; instead, the toddler seemed to grow even more silent.

Just as the little zombie was spinning around in circles trying to cheer up its "food," King of Soldiers System 001 was comforting its host within Su You's mind.

[Yoyo?]

[Do you not like this world?]

The tiny toddler peered outward through the dilapidated ruins, just about to say, "This world looks just like my home," when the next second, the little fellow's ears twitched.

Huh?

Did he just hear a sound?

Of course, not only him, but the little zombie heard the noise as well. However, the little zombie was guarding its "food" so fiercely that even though its ears twitched, it had no intention of leaving.

Meanwhile, on the upper floor of an abandoned building roughly five hundred meters away from the little zombie and the toddler, two humans clad in lightweight combat gear were peering through the sniper rifle scopes into the distance.

Just as one of the humans aligned his sniper rifle crosshairs with the little zombie's usual hangout spot, quietly waiting for the moment to pull the trigger, his teammate holding the binoculars suddenly jerked. With a trembling voice, he hissed at him: "—Chief, y-you must not shake! Take your finger off the trigger first!"

"?"

The sniper beside him looked at his binocular-wielding teammate in utter confusion: "Wang Jing, what are you doing?"

The observer named Wang Jing gripped his binoculars with trembling hands, staring fixedly at a specific distant coordinate, and stammered to the sniper beside him: "—Chief, there's a kid! Right next to the Zombie King, there's a kid! A live one!!"

After blurting this out, he immediately urged: "Chief, you've got to keep your hands steady, no shaking! That's a living child right there!!"

Heaven knows how low the birth rate of infants had plummeted worldwide since the apocalypse began. The youngest person in their base was already twenty years old now. Without any newborn children, even if humanity successfully resisted the zombie virus, the human race would ultimately march toward extinction.

The researchers at their base had once stated that if they could acquire the genetic material of an apocalyptic-era infant for testing, it might just crack the mystery of humanity's current infertility crisis.

Yet forget about their own base; looking across the entire globe, there was not a single child under the age of eighteen left.

And now, a toddler who looked no more than five years old had appeared right before their eyes!

To this world, this was by no means an ordinary child; this was the very hope of mankind...!

Yet, the biggest problem right now was that this toddler was hanging out right beside the Zombie King...!

Wang Jing asked his chief with a trembling voice: "—Chief, what do you think the odds are of the Zombie King offing the kid first, versus your bullet scoring a precise headshot on the Zombie King without harming the toddler?"

The sniper beside him now located the toddler through his scope, guided by Wang Jing's directions, and promptly lowered his sniper rifle.

Wang Jing watched his actions, completely baffled: "Chief, what are you doing?"

"What else could I do? Rescue someone with a sniper rifle? Of course we charge right in!"

"——Oh? Oh!"

Hearing his chief's curt reprimand, Wang Jing hurriedly patted his hands and stowed his binoculars away as well.

Although neither Wang Jing nor his chief could guarantee whether the toddler would still be alive by the time they reached him, at this very moment, faced with humanity's only hope... they had no choice but to desperately try!

So, forget everything else—charge first!