The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Things in this world often don't unfold according to logic. The person Yu Qing predicted to carve the inscription never appeared.

There are several possibilities: either he is already dead, or he has hidden himself even deeper, disappearing into the masses and never again caring about what happens in the world.

Ya Shi's people did manage to track down a few people who bought rubbings, but after several investigations, they found that they were all idle people in society with excessive curiosity.

They have never left the town they live in now, and are ordinary people who were born and raised there and whose social relationships are obvious. They could not possibly be the mysterious person who escaped from Guliye.

But they did not come away empty-handed.

Among those buyers, there was one extremely conspicuous figure:
A 130-year-old man, also known as the most typical "walking dead" of the 2C century—lived a muddled life, did nothing, and had no interest in anything, like a living specimen that had been soaked in technology for too long and whose desires had evaporated.

Why would someone like that buy rubbings of the Gurye script?
Yu Qing's intuition was triggered. He surmised that the old man was most likely just a front, acting on behalf of those who truly wanted to destroy the inscribed stones. They were using him to obtain information, wanting to carefully analyze how many secrets had been revealed.

This is a fleeting clue!

The Shengtian organization immediately launched a covert investigation, deploying three low-orbit reconnaissance satellites to keep him firmly in surveillance, not even letting a bionic mosquito that flew into his yard escape.

Further observation only brought more confusion: this person had not had any substantial interaction with any human in the past thirty years. Every day, eighteen humanoid women would carry him from his room to the courtyard to get some fresh air and sunshine, and that was all.

His only "hobby" is repeatedly stroking the cold, bionic skin of the humanoid girl, day after day, like a bizarre ritual trapped in a cycle.

Yu Qing reminded Ya Shi of the changes in the surrounding environment when the transaction took place: "Look at that day, were there any suspicious 'noises' or unusual movements nearby?"

After sifting through massive amounts of data, Ya Shi finally caught an anomaly: at the same moment the walking corpse bought the electronic rubbing, a backpacker appeared on an unnamed hill 800 meters away from him.

“No,” Yu Qing stared at the blurry image, “These days, who would climb a wild mountain that doesn’t even have a name?”

“But there are all sorts of strange people in this world…” Ya Shi said hesitantly.

“It’s not a matter of whether it’s strange or not,” Yu Qing magnified the outline of the man’s backpack. “The structure of that backpack is wrong—it’s not ordinary outdoor gear. Let’s cut in from here and dig down.”

The model quickly deduced the result: there was no food or water in the backpack, nor any camping equipment such as a temperature-controlled tent, and there was a directional, high-speed data stream disturbance that was difficult to track.

Trying to cover it up only makes it more obvious. If the other party had made the purchase openly and honestly, it wouldn't have attracted any attention. Going to such lengths is simply an admission of guilt.

Therefore, finding the climber and to whom he ultimately passed the data became the key to the investigation.

Yu Qing ordered the use of Shengtian Company's "four-dimensional imaging" system to reconstruct the electromagnetic, optical, and physical motion data of the entire mountain and surrounding area along the timeline at the time of the transaction.

The hiker in the video had his face camouflaged and was difficult to identify, but the outline of his backpack, after being enhanced and simulated, was identified as an old-fashioned portable intelligence relay bag—specifically designed for directional, instantaneous, and difficult-to-intercept data transmission.

“The signal is directional. The receiver couldn’t possibly be in the zombie’s yard, 800 meters away. The signal strength wouldn’t be enough, and it would be easily detected by his basic security system,” Yu Qing calmly analyzed. “The target of the signal must be on the mountain. Or, that’s just the first link in the whole chain.”

Ya quickly adjusted its detection strategy, focusing satellites and sensor networks on an area with a radius of 1.5 kilometers centered on the hill, searching for any minute data resonances and physical anomalies.

Sure enough, she spotted it: just as the climbers reached a rock face halfway up the mountain, a miniature sensor disguised as a bird quietly activated on the outer frame of an abandoned weather monitoring station on the other side of the ridge.

Space particle disturbance analysis revealed that the sensor performed a high-frequency data handshake lasting only 1.7 seconds—it did not belong to any known mechanism, yet it was perfectly concealed in environmental noise.

"A springboard!" Dong Hao blurted out, "Climbers send data to this abandoned site, which then forwards it a second time! As long as we figure out the site's historical connections and power source, we can..."

By tracing the path of this ghostly route in reverse, Shengtian's quantum computing center simulated hundreds of possible data exits.

Ultimately, a covert transmission pattern was identified: the data, after being relayed, was channeled to a large, automated data exchange center seventy kilometers away. In the millions of data streams that flow daily, this tiny, unusual injection was like a drop of water falling into the ocean.

The entire plan was as meticulously planned as a neurosurgery operation. The other party did not approach the zombie or directly touch his terminal, but remotely hijacked his digital identity and then used the desolate mountains and abandoned equipment to complete the transfer.

Continuing to investigate in this way is time-consuming and laborious, and may be futile, or even lead to falling into the other party's trap.

Yu Qing realized that he had to break free from the original logic: "Sometimes, if you want to see something clearly, it's not about getting as close to it as possible, but about getting away from it first."

He suggested a change in thinking: instead of focusing on "who bought the rubbings," we should think about "what they will do after buying the rubbings."

Chang Sheng responded: "Of course, we need to analyze how many secrets those Guliye inscriptions actually revealed."

“So the first thing they’ll do upon receiving the rubbings is convene an emergency meeting,” Yu Qing continued. “These people must have personnel or humanoid beings responsible for deciphering them. They should have already downloaded the data when we publicly released the Guliye script information…”

"In other words, if shortly after the zombies 'purchase' the rubbings, some people who previously obtained information about Guliye suddenly leave their usual residences, or there is an unusually high frequency of image data exchanges—then they are the people we are looking for."

“I suspect they won’t use a holographic conference, which is prone to leaks, and are more likely to meet offline and discuss things in private.” Yu Qing’s eyes sharpened. “By cross-referencing all the locations the target went to after appearing, we might get an unexpected answer.”

"But the computational load..."

"We can narrow down the search area: with the location of the zombies as the center, the radius is 100 to 500 kilometers. If we are too close to them, we won't need to steal their identities, and if we are too far away, it will be inconvenient to respond quickly—they should be hiding within this range."

Ya Shi quickly reconfigured the computing power allocation of the Shengtian system, drawing a "suspicious concentric ring zone" with a radius of 100 to 500 kilometers centered on the zombie mansion. Within this area, she began to intensify the screening of all individuals who suddenly exhibited abnormal behavior within twelve hours of the rubbing transaction—especially those who had previously downloaded Guliye research materials.

Seven hours later, a paleographer named Luan emerged. He abruptly canceled all his classes and cut off all regular communication links after the transaction took place, citing "health reasons."

More notably, he drove alone into the northern mountains that evening, eventually losing signal in a forested area known as a "no network coverage area".

At almost the same time, Donghao mobilized two high-definition satellites to conduct in-depth scans of the area and discovered that there was actually a very weak, shielded signal source in the forest, which regularly sent out pulse waves like heartbeat signals.

“It’s a hidden base station,” Donghao whispered. “They’re maintaining minimal communication in the most primitive way…which means their people must be gathering in that area.”

Yu Qing was extremely excited; he was determined to capture them this time! He decided to take a two-pronged approach. On one hand, he would continue to organize Ya Shi's people to trace the ownership and changes in the forest over the past few decades, including who took over the area and what changes they made.

He said half-jokingly, "Even if a rabbit pees somewhere, you can't let it go unnoticed. Everyone who has been there has to be traced back eight generations of their ancestors."

On the other hand, Chang Sheng began to take more direct action.

Chang Sheng ordered the organization of a mixed squad consisting of two people and eight humanoid creatures, disguised as hunting enthusiasts, carrying three large boxes of miniature reconnaissance aircraft disguised as wild birds and insects, to infiltrate the area from three directions.

However, the other party's anti-tracking mechanism was far beyond expectations.

As the team approached the core area, a thin, almost invisible layer of electronic haze suddenly rose from the forest. Not only were communications severely disrupted, but the physiological signals of several team members were even disturbed by a certain directional low-frequency wave, causing them to experience intense dizziness.

"Do they know we're here..." Chang Sheng closed his eyes in the command center. "Maybe through technology, maybe through intuition... or perhaps they've pre-set some kind of environment-triggered defense mechanism."

Yu Qing, however, viewed the issue from a different perspective, believing it further indicated that there was more to the story. In a typical location, such a defense plan would be impossible. Therefore, it was unwise to alert the enemy prematurely.

Chang Sheng agreed with this view and immediately ordered the team to retreat and instead activate Plan B: release hundreds of nanoscale biomimetic flying insects equipped with quantum-coupled sensors.

They do not need to transmit signals to the outside world; they only passively record light, sound, and heat data, and then transmit the information back after flying back to the receiving range.

This time, the other party was unaware.

Seventy-two hours later, the flying insects returned one after another. The pieced-together data revealed an abandoned geological research institute in the forest. Heat sources and periodic vibrations emanated from its underground, suggesting the existence of a small but precisely functioning secret base.

What truly made Yu Qing's eyes narrow was a loose vent cover on the outside of the research institute—on its inside was a very faint yet unmistakable mark. Translated from the ancient script, it meant "Come."

"Come on? What are they trying to say? Are they provoking the outside observers, or is it some kind of incitement slogan?" Yu Qing muttered to himself.

In any case, it seems we've caught them red-handed.

But many questions remain unanswered, and it's not wise to act immediately. He knew this might just be one of the openings his opponent had deliberately created. The real battle was only just beginning.

“Continue to monitor them, remain calm on the outside and do not alarm them on the inside,” Yu Qing said in a low voice. “What we need to wait for is their next move, and then we’ll pin them to the ground when they finally show their faces.”

Ya Shi's work has also made progress. Over the years, a total of 212 people have frequently entered that mysterious forest. Of these, 180 people only went once and never appeared again. The remaining 38 people have multiple records of entering and exiting.

Ya asked, "Should we prioritize investigating those thirty-eight people?"

Yu Qing laughed and said, "On the contrary, we should focus on investigating those 180 people. Those who frequently go there can only be minor figures. Think about it, what big shot would have time to go to such a godforsaken place? Those 38 people are just shrimps taking turns guarding that place."

“But tracking the every move of 180 people around the world, which seems like a simple task, will consume 80% of our computing power. We have much more to do…”

Yu Qing said, "When did I ask you to track 180 people at once? You only need to pick out five or six people to focus on and adjust accordingly."

Of course, there's a technique to choosing these people. You need to select two individuals with significant social influence, two relatively unknown individuals, and most importantly, two individuals who have had prior interactions with Yu Guiyi.

"Isn't Yu Guiyi dead? How did he get involved with you?"

“I suspect that Yu Guiyi is also one of their agents. Now that I think about it, he shouldn’t have the ability or determination to kill thousands of his clansmen silently. It must have been someone behind him who did it for him. If Yu Guiyi had such great efforts, I wouldn’t be sitting here now.”

Ya Shi laughed and said, "So, they thought you were no threat back then, so they let Yu Guiyi handle it himself. Who knew you were such a troublemaker?"

Yu Qing feigned anger and said, "Is that how you talk to your boss? Get back to work. I don't care about the process, but if you can't produce decent results within fifteen days, I'm replacing you. What's that girl next to you called again? She's beautiful and capable; let her replace you."

Ya Shi muttered, "I'll fire her when I get back..."

Yu Qing laughed, "Instead of firing her, you might as well ask your old man to help you get things done. If you fire Zhang San, can you get rid of Li Si too? I have this quirk: any capable girl, even if she has a head like a pineapple, I think she's incredibly beautiful..."

At this moment, Donghao rushed over in a panic and said, "Your Excellency, I have some bad news for you. There has been a suspected man-made volcanic eruption at the foot of a mountain behind Qiongshan..."

Yu Qing was startled and asked, "Are you sure it was done by someone?"

"Based on energy analysis, it was an unknown, massive influx of external heat..." (End of Chapter)