WEF - Chapter 28
Chapter 28: The Traitor's Work Badge
The shadow on the ground flowed quietly, like a tangible barrier, dividing the world into two halves.
One half lay outside the shadow, the other within it.
It cut off sight, sound, and the use of abilities.
Inside the flat space completely controlled by Ying, Ying's voice sounded in Ning Dali's mind: "What happened?"
"The zombie was resurrected. I added a safeguard to prevent someone from stealing the experimental results," Ning Dali said steadily.
"For such a small thing, you're making such a fuss. I thought you were about to be beaten to death by the zombie," Ying said with some displeasure. "You're really timid."
"That's called being careful." Ning Dali did not engage in a pointless argument with Ying, but "looked" at the newly resurrected zombie.
Merged into the shadow, the zombie seemed not yet to have learned how to speak in this special state. She stayed silent, quietly listening.
"Wake up. Speak." Ning Dali said telepathically. "Can you still speak?"
Ying also directed her attention toward the zombie.
It was the first time she had seen a resurrected zombie... This thing was truly amazing.
The zombie, at a loss under two "gazes," projected a sound through her mind.
"#%%#@0.0"
"Is she speaking?" Ying asked, bewildered. "What is she saying? Why can't I understand it?"
She could pick out a little pattern in the string "#%%#@0.0" and vaguely sense that it was a form of writing... But the script was so obscure that it fell into a blind spot in the Shadow King's knowledge.
"Has she been a zombie so long that her language system has become scrambled?" Ying asked.
Ning Dali pretended to be confused and said, "It shouldn't be."
The zombie was speaking a dialect.
About fifty years ago, the Federation's official language had not yet become widespread, and every region of the Federation used its own dialect.
The zombie was speaking an obscure, difficult-to-understand ancient dialect from the Federation's south.
After ten years in prison, Ning Dali considered herself worldly. She had met prisoners from every corner of the country.
But when it came to dialects, she had to admit that she was not as well-rounded as she had thought. Most of those still using them were over fifty, and older people were not in the same prison as she was.
At most, she could tell that it was a dialect from some region of the Federation, but she could not understand its specific meaning.
"Do you speak another language, such as sign language?" Ning Dali asked hopefully. "yes yes no no no?"
The zombie did not look old, and she had only recently been thrown into this world by the Federation. In theory, she should have spoken its official language; at the very least, she should have understood or been able to read some of it.
But.
The zombie: "@#$$T~T"
Ning Dali: "..."
Ying: "..."
After a moment of silence, Ying said, "Why don't you resurrect another one? This one is a little stupid."
"The resurrection skill has a cooldown," Ning Dali said calmly.
She did not state the exact cooldown, for fear that Ying would infer from the seven-day cooldown that someone else had revived the zombie.
Luckily, Ying did not press the issue. "What do we do?" she asked, troubled.
"If only I'd told Plague to go farther away. She's such a pest."
Ning Dali silently "nodded." She was thinking the same thing.
With so many zombies, she had happened to revive one who could not speak the Federation's language. This was some shitty luck.
"Now, this zombie," Ning Dali pondered for a moment. "Can you keep her in the shadow the whole time? I'd feel safer only if you personally kept her locked up."
First, she was not sure whether the revived zombie still carried the zombie virus, so it was best not to let her out to come into contact with normal people.
Second, Ning Dali worried that the Federation might seize the opportunity to act and take the revived zombie away.
Ying was a little displeased by this, but also a little proud.
"What do you think I am? Your portable prison?"
"If keeping her locked up all the time tires you, we can kill her instead," Ning Dali changed her tune readily. "I don't mind. I can resurrect other zombies later."
Ying: "... Haha, actually, keeping her locked up doesn't take much effort."
After all, her shadow already held plenty of things, and one exclusive, freshly revived zombie would not make much difference.
"Thank you," Ning Dali said politely.
Ying gave a soft "Mm" and released herself and Ning Dali from the shadow state.
The two figures had only just emerged from the shadow when a huge force suddenly yanked Ning Dali back into it.
Ying, who remained there, turned her head, and her expression became extremely grave.
She narrowed her eyes. A vast expanse of black shadow grew from beneath her feet, surging outward in all directions until it blanketed the sky and earth.
The thick, pitch-black shadow completely covered the moonlight, and the surroundings immediately darkened. Everything entered the domain of [Shadow], and no Ability could lock onto anything within it.
"I just sensed a power from outside the world," Ying's voice echoed at once in Plague's and Ning Dali's ears, sounding slightly surprised. "They want to take the zombie away? Why? Is the zombie connected to them?"
Plague did not speak. She held the needle and thread in her hand, and a flicker of understanding crossed her eyes.
"Perhaps," she said indifferently.
Ying stood where she was, looked around once, then looked up at the sky and frowned:
"It seems the zombie has many secrets behind it. Ning Dali, how much longer is the cooldown on your [Nirvana]?"
Before Ning Dali could answer, Plague sighed first.
"It seems today is the eighteenth time."
"The eighteenth time what?" Ying said, completely baffled.
"The eighteenth time you've covered the entire world with shadow," Plague said calmly. "This is the eighteenth time you've sensed a power from outside the world, and it will be the eighteenth time you give in."
Ning Dali was taken aback, rapidly digesting the sheer amount of information hidden behind those words.
She had resurrected the zombie, drawing the attention of the outside world, that is, the Federation. The Federation had tried to take the zombie away, but Ying had caught their traces first.
Ying had wrapped the entire world in her Ability, making it impossible to lock onto or affect it with any Ability, thereby protecting everyone in this world... Had similar things happened seventeen times in the past? Had Ying given in seventeen times?
Ying herself had no memory of it, yet Plague remembered every occurrence clearly.
Ning Dali's eyelids twitched. Instinctively, she felt she was about to learn the deeper secrets of this world.
A smart person could already deduce a great deal from one sentence of Plague's.
An idiot would only ask, "What does it mean?"
"What do you mean by the eighteenth time? What are you playing at?" Ying's expression darkened. A little unease stirred within her, but she did not show it.
"Next, you will stubbornly maintain the shadow state and say that you can protect the whole world," Plague said calmly.
"As long as you do not release the effect of [Shadow], the power from outside the world cannot do anything to this world."
Ying proudly raised her head.
"Exactly."
"But soon you will give in." Plague set down the needle and thread, no longer patching her clothes.
"Absolutely not." Ying said firmly.
"They will stop dropping Airdrops," Plague said in a numb tone. "Under your protection, they cannot do anything to this world, but all of us will starve."
"The longer you insist on being stubborn, the more Airdrops we lose, and the more people starve. You will not be able to hold out for long."
Ying fell silent at once, standing rigid in the darkness, her pupils trembling.
Ning Dali understood as well.
So this was one of the ways the Federation kept this world in check.
She had previously been wondering how the Federation controlled this world and restrained so many Ability Users, given that everyone here had an Ability, including many powerful Single-Character Ability Users.
They could not possibly handle everything with a single Stupidity-Dampening Aura... after all, it did not work on everyone.
Now she understood.
They used the Stupidity-Dampening Aura against the weak, and channels and food to hold the powerful in line.
The Federation locked all Ability Users in this barren world. They could neither leave nor support themselves, and they could not do without the food in the Airdrops.
Whoever controlled the food controlled everyone's lives.
Even Ying, the Shadow King, so formidable that no Ability could lock onto her, had been made to yield to the Federation seventeen times.
For a long time, Ying remained silent and motionless, waiting.
Plague did not urge her.
Only after half an hour did Ying say hoarsely, "There really aren't any new Airdrops."
She sensed the shadow of every Airdrop the instant it appeared.
But during the past half hour, not even the shadow of a single Airdrop had appeared.
"Airdrops are transported using an Ability," Plague explained. "Your shadow covers this world, so they cannot lock onto it and cannot drop an Airdrop."
"Of course, if you do not listen, there will be no Airdrops even after you release the shadow."
Ying lost all her strength. She raised her hand stiffly and released the shadow.
The blackness covering the moon faded, and bright, clear moonlight shone on the earth again. The white light made the world look cold and empty.
"The resurrected zombie," Plague reminded her. "And Ning Dali."
Ying shot Plague a glance and ground her teeth.
Two figures manifested on the ground.
The resurrected zombie sat quietly on the ground.
Ning Dali, who could resurrect others, also sat quietly on the ground.
Only then did Ning Dali's whirling mind finally stop.
There was no point in thinking further.
Plague had said this was the eighteenth time Ying had covered the entire world with shadow.
Yet no one in this world had any recollection of it, not even Ying herself.
Either the Stupidity-Dampening Aura had dulled everyone's intelligence, or something like a Memory Crystal had erased everyone's memories.
Or perhaps time had flowed backward...
Of the three possibilities, Ning Dali hoped for the first, because she seemed to be immune to the Stupidity-Dampening Aura.
Ning Dali quickly glanced at Plague and suddenly spoke boldly. "Plague, have you joined an organization from outside the world?"
The most dangerous time is the safest time.
Now was definitely the moment when Plague's psychological defenses were at their weakest. In her eyes, even if she revealed something now, it would not matter; everyone would forget those memories.
Plague's eyes narrowed slightly.
Ying shuddered, as if startled awake from a nightmare, and looked at Plague in disbelief.
After a few seconds of silence, Plague pulled a work badge from her pocket.
"Weren't you always trying to get something like that from me?" Plague said. "You recruited so many actors and wrote so many scripts. This is what you wanted."
"This is the traitor's work badge."
Ying's throat tightened, and for a moment she felt unable to breathe.
Blackness pulsed before her eyes. It took a long time for her to extend one trembling finger. "You..."
Just then.
An invisible storm descended from high above, and a hazy phantom dispersed across the sky, forming an illusory clock.
An unseen giant hand moved the clock, and time ran backward.
Ning Dali watched helplessly as everything around her rewound frame by frame.
She and the zombie returned to the shadow together. The black shadow covered the earth again, then immediately faded once more, and the entire world transformed as if swept by a violent storm.
In the blink of an eye.
Ying angrily wedged herself between Ning Dali and Plague.
"Oh, great. So you had that plan too? You think you can join the Farming Faction?!"
Ning Dali was stunned, her mind still caught in the conversation moments before, and for a moment she almost failed to follow the exchange.
"See, the culprit has surfaced," she said quickly, trying to keep her tone and manner from changing in the slightest. "I told you that Ying forced me to approach you. It's hard for me too."
Ying's face was as black as the shadow. Just as she was about to fly into a rage, she saw Plague give Ning Dali a knowing smile.
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