The moment his parents, before their deaths, screamed at him to push them out of the zombie encirclement, was a nightmare he would never forget.
And the last words his parents spoke before dying were, "Live on."
No matter what, he had to live, even if it meant living like a dog without dignity.
So when they were starving to death by the roadside that day, barely clinging to life, they met the man who would change their lives, Xia Jin.
But it was on the day they thought they had found salvation.
Liu Chang understood that there was no God in this world, and therefore no kind souls waiting to be found for salvation.
And the Xia Jin who picked them up and brought them back to the lighthouse was the greatest devil in this world.
In Xia Jin's laboratory, Liu Chang saw the monsters and zombies that made his scalp tingle for the first time.
He even felt that Xia Jin's laboratory had more varieties of monsters than those on land.
At that moment, a question arose in Liu Chang's mind.
Were zombies really a species infection caused by viral mutations?
Even if the initial zombies were due to viral infections, were the later ones that constantly evolved, constantly broke through, becoming more agile, faster, and even developing simple intelligence, truly products of natural evolution?
A terrifying thought gradually formed in Liu Chang's mind.
So when he went to ask Xia Jin with all his doubts.
Xia Jin merely looked at him, smiling without speaking.
But that smile contained too much information.
At that moment, Liu Chang seemed to have glimpsed the truth of the entire world.
But he was powerless to struggle, powerless to report.
Because what followed was him becoming a part of this world's truth.
He also became that unspeakable secret weapon.
"You were the one who wanted to inject the evolution gene yourself, Hongying. People can't stay children forever."
After speaking, Liu Chang no longer paid attention to Hongying's surprised and shocked eyes.
Hongying looked at the man before her in disbelief. Was he still the man she deeply loved?
Why had he become like this?
Why had the man who would have shielded her from zombies with his own body now become this way?
Hongying couldn't understand, or rather, she didn't want to understand.
It was true that she had insisted on injecting the gene evolution fluid, but they were bullied everywhere back then.
They had to fight with countless people for a piece of stale biscuit.
It was only after being picked up by Xia Jin and brought to the lighthouse that she realized that humans could still live as they did before.
They could still live normal lives.
So she regretted it.
No, she regretted it every moment.
When you are willing to bend your knees and beg for food to fill your stomach, one day you will betray your former master for the desire to live like a human.
At this moment, Hongying clearly felt that the deep, unshakeable bond that had existed between her and Liu Chang seemed to crumble.
The words that had not yet been spoken were now stuck in her throat, no longer worth saying.
Hongying looked at the man she thought would accompany her for a lifetime.
She wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.
Hongying left without looking back.
At that time, she did not know that this turn would be a permanent farewell.
A month ago, Hongying had already secretly contacted Qin Chuan.
Qin Chuan had come for that strand of mycelium.
Although Hongying didn't know what that mycelium was, she knew that Xia Jin had a lot of it.
When she learned that Xia Jin's long-time companion, Weng Quan, had died because of such a strand of mycelium, causing him to go mad and ultimately die, Hongying's heart was already filled with fear.
She was essentially the same kind of person as Liu Chang; they both clawed their way out of zombie hordes.
No one understood the value of life more than she did, the simple act of being alive.
Liu Chang had already been cowed by Xia Jin.
He was willing to be Xia Jin's dog for the sake of clinging to life.
But Hongying was not.
Having witnessed how others lived with dignity, Hongying was even less willing to live a muddled existence like this.
After stepping out of the tent, Hongying took one last deep look back at the tent behind her.
Light fell at that moment, hitting half of her face.
The shadow conveniently fell on the tent behind Hongying.
Dividing them from then on.
One half bathed in sunlight, the other buried in darkness.
Hongying finally dialed the phone number she knew by heart.
Through a specially encrypted call, after several beeps, a deep male voice came from the other end.
"Have you made up your mind?"
Hongying nodded here, but thinking that the person on the phone might not see it, she emphatically said, "Mm."
"Then transmit all the information to me."
For a minute after the man finished speaking, Hongying remained still and silent, until the person on the other end thought Hongying had hung up.
Then he repeated the question, "Do you have any other questions?"
Hongying seemed to wake up from a dream.
"Can you really let me live? Live with dignity like a human."
The male voice on the other end was silent for a moment before replying firmly.
"I don't know what 'living with dignity' means to you. However, you won't have to betray anyone or grovel for survival. This is my promise and guarantee, and I swear this on my identity as Qin Chuan of the Lighthouse Guard. I will definitely fulfill it, so you can trust me."
On the lighthouse, for those who lived stable lives, people were actually reluctant to risk so much to become evolutionaries.
Even Liu Chang in the live broadcast looked not only strong but also composed.
When Liu Chang used his abilities, there was no lag at all, as smooth as if they were naturally part of his body.
Even so, those who truly lived wealthy lives on the lighthouse would not choose to become ability users.
Xia Jin looked at the registration report submitted by his subordinates.
Although there were 200,000 people, ninety percent of them were from the slums on the minus-first floor.
And most of these people were immobile.
What he was doing was human experimentation.
Even if only a few people knew the real inside story of his experiments.
But the constant transport of so many corpses every day would inevitably attract attention.
Of course, those corpses also needed to be handled.
Naturally, certain powerful individuals would engage in beneficial exchanges with Xia Jin.