066 Don’t Let Muscles Replace Your Mind

Li Daniu and Robert’s purpose was to capture a Night Stalker, so when they discovered one, the two of them felt not the slightest fear. Once they confirmed a Night Stalker was inside, Robert began to set a trap.

Just like in the movie Li Daniu had seen, Robert used a steel cable and a car to fashion his snare. The bait, however, was no longer a wild deer—its size was simply too great, and Robert’s travel bag couldn’t fit both a deer and a Night Stalker.

Drawing half a test tube of blood, Robert handed it carefully to Li Daniu.

“Buddy, why use my blood? You’re clearly in better shape than I am.”

Robert couldn’t understand why Li Daniu insisted on not using his own blood as bait.

“I’m squeamish about blood—well, specifically, my own,” Li Daniu replied. Of course, he couldn’t say he was already infected with the virus and couldn’t be sure if a Night Stalker would be interested in his blood.

“You’re a real oddball,” Robert snorted, but said no more. He was long used to drawing his own blood for research.

With easy nonchalance, Li Daniu walked through the door, placed the vial of Robert’s blood on the trap, then calmly stepped back outside, joining Robert behind the cover of a car.

In a city after the apocalypse, cars had become the best cover—there were plenty everywhere.

After a few minutes, a guttural howl echoed from inside the door. Robert immediately recognized the sound; every night, he had fallen asleep while being tormented by countless such cries.

The trap was triggered, the tension transmitted through the cable, and with a crash, the car used as a counterweight tumbled off the bridge behind Robert and Li Daniu. The travel bag, used as the snare, was dragged into the sunlight, dangling in midair. Unlike before, something inside the bag was thrashing and howling.

“It’s a Night Stalker—we’ve got one!” Robert shouted excitedly, rushing forward. Though the travel bag was well sealed, its material allowed them to see the general outline of the struggling creature inside: humanoid.

While Robert was thrilled, Li Daniu remained silent, his gaze fixed on the door.

In the original film, this was where Robert captured not just any Night Stalker, but a female one. What made her special was that her “husband” was the leader of the Night Stalkers, perhaps even the leader of all in the city.

That male Night Stalker not only possessed intelligence far beyond the ordinary but also knew how to use tools. His physical abilities greatly surpassed those of his kind, and most importantly, he was capable of emotion.

To rescue his mate, the Night Stalker set a trap and nearly caught Robert. At the critical moment, Sam intervened, saving Robert—though Sam was bitten during the fight with the infected dogs, contracted the virus, and was ultimately put down by Robert himself.

Li Daniu wasn’t remotely interested in such an extraordinary Night Stalker—if anything, he hoped never to encounter it. After all, compared to brainless monsters, that one would be far more troublesome.

But now, standing in the same place as in the movie, trapping a Night Stalker at almost the exact same time, Li Daniu was deeply concerned that they’d caught the same female Night Stalker.

Sure enough, before Robert could lower the Night Stalker dangling in the bag, a Night Stalker burst out from the door Li Daniu had been watching so intently.

Though it quickly retreated under the sun’s searing light, it stood at the threshold, heedless of the sun burning its face, baring its fangs and howling at Li Daniu and Robert.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Robert immediately turned, gun raised. But when he saw this unusual Night Stalker, he froze. In his experience, Night Stalkers, driven by survival instinct, would never expose themselves to sunlight. For one to thrust its head into the light, ignoring injury, was unthinkable.

Li Daniu wasn’t as surprised as Robert—he’d already braced himself, having seen the movie. The Night Stalker howled at him; Li Daniu picked up a stone and hurled it.

Just then, as Robert turned, gun in hand, the Night Stalker, seeing the weapon, decisively retreated, causing Li Daniu’s stone to miss its mark.

“What a pity,” Li Daniu muttered, unconcerned. It would have been better to kill it on the spot, but as long as they stayed vigilant, it would be manageable.

“Bang… bang!”

Recovering, Robert fired several shots, but the bullets vanished into the doorway with no effect.

“There’s something… off about this Night Stalker,” Robert muttered. He had no mind to bother with the captured one—after all, it was already in the bag. As a scientist dedicated to studying the virus, the unusual Night Stalker was far more intriguing.

“Yeah, it’s the first time I’ve seen a Night Stalker show itself in daylight,” Li Daniu feigned surprise. In truth, he wanted nothing more than to storm in and wipe them out, but worried about how Robert might react.

Darkness posed little problem for Li Daniu, who had mastered the ninth level of the Nine Suns Divine Skill. At his level of internal strength, his gaze was as piercing as a torch—not just a metaphor. In ancient times, with so little light, martial artists would have been helpless at night without some form of night vision. How else could they perform feats of lightness and agility? What if they crashed into a wall?

As for discerning positions by sound, Li Daniu had the hearing, but not the experience. It was like playing first-person shooters: with the same headphones, a veteran could hear where enemies lurked, but a novice might have someone right behind them and not know it until they were stabbed.

“It’s a first for me too.” Robert nodded, “Night Stalkers have the instinct to survive, but with such low intelligence, they wouldn’t harm themselves for no gain.”

“Maybe we caught his wife—of course he’s lost his head,” Li Daniu laughed, speaking the truth.

“Impossible!” Robert replied sternly, “Night Stalkers have no emotions. That’s not just a fact; it’s crucial for us humans. If they had emotions, they’d have intelligence. If a Night Stalker really behaved like this for his wife, humanity would be finished.”

Li Daniu didn’t argue; soon enough, the facts would speak for themselves. In fact, if he hadn’t come here, Robert would’ve fallen into the Night Stalker’s trap tomorrow.

Though Robert thought Li Daniu was joking, when he looked again at the Night Stalker hanging in the bag, he wavered. Aside from Li Daniu’s so-called joke, there was no reasonable explanation for the previous Night Stalker’s behavior.

But if it were true, Night Stalkers could form simple societies. With physical abilities several times greater than humans, and industrial civilization gone, how long could humanity survive against them?

Seeing Robert lost in thought, Li Daniu went alone to lower the bag. He dared not knock out the female Night Stalker like Robert had in the film, not knowing the differences between their physiology and humans’. If he killed her by accident, it would be troublesome.

Robert, coming to himself, rushed over and knocked the Night Stalker unconscious with his rifle butt.

“How did you do that?” Li Daniu asked curiously. Robert had no extraordinary abilities, and with the Night Stalker stuffed in a bag, it couldn’t have been easy to tell its head from its neck.

“Practice makes perfect. I’ve caught plenty of Night Stalkers before,” Robert said with a hint of pride. For an ordinary man to have captured so many was indeed impressive.

Li Daniu nodded, thinking of the wall of photos in Robert’s lab. But he knew that, without his intervention, Robert’s luck would have ended with this very hunt.

Having secured their target, neither man felt like scavenging for more supplies. Robert’s house was already well-stocked for the time being.

Back at Robert’s place, after their usual ritual of masking their scent at the door, Li Daniu hauled the travel bag into the lab.

When he opened it, Robert was stunned—the creature inside was indeed a female Night Stalker.

Ignoring Robert’s daze, Li Daniu found shackles in the lab and secured her to the examination table.

“Should we begin the vaccine trial?”

“Huh? Yes!” Robert took a deep breath. Whether Night Stalkers had intelligence and emotions could wait—now the priority was testing the vaccine’s efficacy.

They woke the female Night Stalker, administered a sedative, then the vaccine.

Robert and Li Daniu stared at the Night Stalker and the nearby instruments, not moving a muscle.

After the injection, her heartbeat and other readings slowly fell, gradually returning to human norms.

But before Robert could rejoice, the Night Stalker suddenly struggled violently, all the data reverting to where it had begun.

“I failed,” Robert muttered, sinking to the floor, ashen-faced.

Li Daniu had been prepared; this played out exactly as in the film.

“Is it because humans are more complex than mice, or because of the difference in body size?” he asked.

“Maybe,” Robert replied weakly.

“From the initial results, the vaccine does work. But perhaps the version that works on mice is less effective on Night Stalkers. Could we use some auxiliary method to reduce the virus’s… activity? Is that the right word?”

Li Daniu couldn’t wait for the arrival of another female survivor, as in the movie, to remind Robert of this solution. He had to suggest it himself.

“Activity? That’s a good term.” But Robert didn’t really consider it—his hopes had been too high, and his disappointment was just as deep.

“I remember, when the virus first broke out, a companion of mine was infected. Normally, he would’ve died or turned in under an hour—but he held out for a whole day,” Li Daniu said, crouching in front of Robert and looking him in the eye. “We were hiding in a freezer at the time. Not just that, a Night Stalker burst in too, but inside the freezer, its strength and speed dropped sharply, even below that of a normal person. We killed it easily.”

Robert’s eyes brightened as Li Daniu spoke.

“The virus becomes less active in cold environments. How did I not think of that? I knew it, why didn’t I think of it?” Robert, almost frantic, dashed upstairs, gathered all the ice from the freezers, and scattered it over the female Night Stalker.

Moments before, she’d been thrashing wildly, but as the ice covered her, she gradually calmed.

Robert gave her another dose of the vaccine. This time, as long as the ice hadn’t fully melted, there were no relapses.

“We need more ice,” Robert said, elated. “Let’s get a couple more freezers—I’ve got enough power for them.”

“No problem, leave the heavy lifting to me,” Li Daniu grinned, eager to set out alone. Now that the vaccine worked, there was hope for his own infection.

“Are you sure you can manage alone?”

“It’s daytime!” Li Daniu waved and strode out of the lab. He’d been itching to act solo—now that the vaccine had succeeded, how could he restrain himself?

Robert wanted to go too, for safety’s sake, but couldn’t leave the lab now—he needed to monitor the Night Stalker at all times.

“Be careful,” he called after Li Daniu, then shouted, “Keep using your brain. Don’t let your muscles do all the thinking!”

Li Daniu nearly missed a step at that. “I did go to college, you know!”