Rejecting Tsinghua and Peking Universities: I Will Lead Harbin Institute of Technology to World Lead

"Lin Feng, where are you?"

When the call connected, Old Chen's voice came through, unusually hurried, with faint background noise of hurried footsteps and low conversation.

Lin Feng had just finished three years of theoretical deduction within the system space, and his consciousness reconnected with reality. Holding his slightly warm phone, he looked out the window at the twilight over the Harbin Institute of Technology campus: "Professor Chen, I'm at Harbin Institute of Technology. What happened?"

This was the first time he had sensed such a clear sense of urgency in the old man's tone.

"The matter is complicated, and it's not convenient to discuss it over the phone." Old Chen spoke rapidly and decisively, "I'll arrange a private jet immediately. You must come to Beijing right away. Immediately!"

"it is good."

Without asking a single question, Lin Feng hung up the phone and immediately summoned Zhao Weiguo. Orders were relayed down the chain of command with remarkable efficiency. An hour later, the special plane was already waiting on the dedicated runway at Harbin Airport. With a roar of engines, the plane soared into the deepening night sky, the city lights outside the windows rapidly shrinking and receding into the distance.

Two hours later, the special plane landed at a military airport on the outskirts of Beijing.

Mr. Chen's car had been waiting quietly by the runway for some time. The car door opened, and Mr. Chen stood beside the car. The night wind ruffled his gray hair, and his face looked unusually solemn under the cold white lights of the airport.

"Old Chen." Lin Feng stepped forward quickly.

"Get in the car, we'll talk on the way," Old Chen said succinctly, opening the car door.

Zhao Weiguo consciously stopped and watched the vehicle drive away, quickly merging into the traffic of Beijing. The atmosphere inside the car was tense. Old Chen pursed his lips, his gaze fixed on the flashing streetlights ahead, still not offering any explanation.

Lin Feng didn't urge him, but sat quietly, the tension in his heart that had long since eased began to tighten again. What could make Old Master Chen so secretive, personally come to pick him up, and interrupt all his schedule, was no small matter.

The vehicle didn't head towards the familiar Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Instead, it passed through multiple checkpoints and drove straight into the heart of the CAS. This is a core research area that is difficult for outsiders to access, with the highest level of security.

Finally, the vehicle stopped in front of an unmarked gray building. The building's exterior was simple, even somewhat old, but the multiple security measures at the entrance, including biometrics, metal detection, and energy scanning, indicated its unusual nature.

"Come with me." Old Chen said in a deep voice as he swung open the last heavy alloy door.

Behind the door was a long, coldly lit corridor, the air thick with the smell of disinfectant and an indescribable chill. Observation windows lined both sides of the corridor, but most were dark behind them. Footsteps echoed clearly in the empty passageway.

They arrived at a door at the end of the corridor. Old Chen verified his identity again, and the pneumatic door hissed open.

Instantly, a ferocious roar surged forth like a tidal wave, pounding against eardrums!

Lin Feng's pupils contracted slightly.

Inside the door was a massive circular observation laboratory. At the center were several independent observation chambers separated by high-strength bulletproof glass. And inside the chambers—

It's a wild beast.

But this was no ordinary beast. It was a massive Siberian tiger, its once-mighty fur now filthy, its muscles bulging unnaturally, and murky saliva dripping from its mouth. Most terrifying of all were its eyes—a chaotic, blood-red, without pupils, without focus, only pure, all-consuming madness. With its claws, powerful enough to shatter steel, it was relentlessly and painlessly smashing the glass before it. Each impact produced a guttural thud in the specially made glass, and cracks spread visibly.

In the adjacent compartment, several mutated, wolf-like creatures lunged at the air in contorted postures, their jaws seemingly dislocated and stretched to their limit, revealing gleaming white, mutated fangs. In another compartment, several birds, most of their feathers missing and their beaks deformed, frantically rammed against the ceiling.

Frenzied, ferocious, and filled with the most primal destructive urges. They are not like living beings, but more like killing machines whose instincts have been completely twisted by some force.

"This..." Lin Feng frowned.

"It's not over yet." Old Chen's voice was unusually heavy as he led Lin Feng deeper into the laboratory. "Keep watching."

They passed through a thicker isolation door and entered the second section.

The roars here were more intense, mixed with indistinct, guttural sounds that seemed to be squeezed out from deep in the throat.

Lin Feng's gaze swept over the observation cabin, and he suddenly stopped.

Inside are "people".

At least, they were once human. They wore tattered, stained clothes, both men and women, their bodies twisted and rotting to varying degrees. They had the same bloodshot eyes, the same ferocious expressions, the same madness. They used their heads, hands, and every part of their bodies to frantically ram the glass barrier, reacting even more violently to Lin Feng and Old Chen as they approached, their teeth slamming against the glass, leaving streaks of saliva and blood.

One of the "people" possessed extraordinary strength, smashing the reinforced glass and creating spiderweb-like cracks, immediately triggering a piercing alarm. Several researchers in fully enclosed protective suits rushed forward and released a high concentration of sedative gas through the nozzles on the cabin wall. The "person" gradually slumped down in the struggle, but its blood-red eyes remained fixedly staring outside.

"This is the first unusual incident to occur in a port city on the southeast coast about half a month ago." Old Chen's voice rang out after the piercing alarm subsided, each word like a heavy stone. "Initially, stray animals and a few homeless people became unusually violent and attacked passersby. The local police intervened, but ordinary police equipment was insufficient to subdue them, resulting in injuries and deaths instead."

"The situation escalated rapidly, with more citizens and pets becoming infected and mutated. They are extremely aggressive and... appear to be contagious. People bitten or scratched by them will develop the same symptoms in a very short time."

Old Chen pointed to the "people" behind the glass, his fingertips trembling slightly: "In the end, it was the emergency response forces stationed nearby that were dispatched, using heavy firepower, and... they had to completely destroy the head and central nervous system to eliminate most of them. These are the ones who were captured alive."

He turned to look at Lin Feng, his eyes filled with deep worry and a hint of barely perceptible coldness:

"Based on our current understanding of the clinical manifestations, transmission patterns, and pathological features..."

Old Chen paused, took a deep breath, and uttered that chilling phrase:

"This is so much like... no, it's almost exactly like what's depicted in movies and literature—"

"Zombie virus."

The frigid air in the laboratory seemed to freeze instantly. Only the tireless sounds of impact and roars from inside the observation chambers, like the prelude to the apocalypse, echoed repeatedly in the enclosed space.

Lin Feng slowly shifted his gaze from the frenzied figures and looked at Elder Chen: "Was it deliberate?"

"All the evidence points to this," Professor Chen said, lowering his voice further. "It's impossible for a virus in nature to cross the species barrier and simultaneously modify and spread so effectively and efficiently to humans and multiple animals in such a short period of time. There must be a highly organized biotechnology force driving this."

"Our intelligence network and the Pangu System are working tirelessly to trace the source, but there's no clear clue yet." Old Chen took a step closer, his voice unusually serious. "Lin Feng, the situation is critical. This is unlike any challenge we've faced before. It directly targets life itself, the very foundation of civilization. If it spreads..."

The consequences are self-evident.

Lin Feng silently gazed at his former compatriots behind the glass; they were now nothing more than monsters driven by instinct. His mind raced, temporarily setting aside the planetary terraforming theory he had just perfected within the system space, and instead focusing on a rapid analysis of the current crisis.

Zombie virus... biological weapon... global crisis...

"Old Chen," Lin Feng finally spoke, his voice as calm as if he were discussing engineering parameters, "I need all the research data, including virus samples, pathology reports of infected individuals, transmission models, and all battlefield records from the troop response. Immediately, right now."

"Furthermore, notify the highest levels of government to activate the highest-level national biosafety emergency response plan. Lock down all known and potential infected areas and strictly control the movement of personnel and supplies. Meanwhile…"

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes:

"We need to prepare for the worst and be ready with... the most thorough countermeasures."

Old Chen nodded emphatically: "These are already underway. But we need more than just defense and isolation; we need a solution to the root of the problem. Lin Feng, this time, we may have to rely on you again."

Lin Feng didn't reply, but instead turned his gaze back to the howling zombies.