When they gathered at the gate at seven in the morning, Shen Shian discovered that the military trucks in the base were not three, but five. They were neatly parked on the open ground outside the gate, and the soldiers next to them were ready to go.
A tall man and five soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms walked to 27 survivors, including Shen Shian and Chen Nan—this was the total number of people who volunteered to join the garrison in the base and went to the city to search for supplies.
“First of all, everyone is welcome to join today’s material search operation.” The man’s voice was like a reminder. “In order to prevent newcomers from not knowing me, let me introduce myself first: I am the person in charge of this Cigarette Factory Base and the chief commander of the search operation, Luo Wei. Well, you can call me Captain Luo. These five soldiers are the leaders of the five search groups. After you are divided into various groups, you can ask the leader on the road if you have any questions. I have only one request for you. That is to obey the command. The command of the team leader can change everything. If the team leader asks you to do something then you do that something, understood? Good. Remember, zombies are not that bad, as long as we keep calm and follow the command, we should come back alive. Ready to go!”
Shen Shian and Chen Nan were divided into the first group. The team leader’s surname was Tao, and his name was Tao Yuan. He was not only a team leader but also the vice-captain of the garrison. Probably to maintain his image as the vice-captain, his face was really tense despite his cute appearance. Even his words were simple and concise.
After a brief introduction, they took them to the first truck. Commander Luo Wei was also in this car, sitting in the co-driver seat.
A total of 138 people participated in the search operation, which was distributed to about 25 people in each vehicle.
As soon as Shen Shian and the two of them got into the car, a soldier whistled at them. “Is this the newcomer who just arrived yesterday? This weapon is awesome!”
Shen Shian’s longsword was obviously not an ordinary weapon, so other people were not embarrassed to say that they want to see it. They only borrowed Chen Nan’s thorn stick and carefully looked at it. “Oh, this guy kills zombies. The hardness is similar, but the color is not right. Unless it is a professional weapon, how can the metal be this sharp?”
Shen Shian had already told Chen Nan how to answer this question. “It’s a mutated aloe thorn,” Chen Nan said. “I stumbled upon it on the way. It was probably affected by the virus and grew to a dozen meters high. It took a lot of effort to cut off the thorn.”
“Mutated aloe thorn? My dear, there must be hundreds of aloe thorns? Where did you find them? Is it far from here?”
When Chen Nan said that it was near Province A, the soldiers couldn’t hide their regrets. “If it’s closer, we’ll cut it down and tie it to the stick. Each one will be equipped with one piece, then we will be powerful enough to kill the zombies easily.”
Chen Nan was a little puzzled, “Don’t you have a gun?” The gun must be better than the aloe thorn.
“Bullets are limited, so we rarely use them. The captain said that we can’t shoot unless there is an emergency. We usually use melee combat,” A soldier knocked on the military knife on his belt, “it’s still good to use a cold weapon. By the way, my name is Niu Quan, and welcome.” At first glance, these two people were experienced. These kinds of people were what they need the most.
Tao Yuan, the leader of the team sitting across from him, looked at the two of them. “So you two are from Province A? Province A is not close to here. Why didn’t you join the security base nearby and instead run here for thousands of miles?”
Shen Shian said, “We are going to the capital, I have a family there.”
To reunite with family.
The atmosphere inside the truck changed almost instantly. The eyes focused on Shen Shian not only included understanding, support, and admiration, but also obvious envy.
Shen Shian thought a little and understood where this envy came from: According to the information he obtained, Cigarette Factory Base was formally established within the second week after the apocalypse. In terms of time, these soldiers were unlikely to have a chance to go home.
After the outbreak of the virus, almost all survivors hoped for the rescue of the army, hoping that the heavily armed soldiers would come over as soon as possible to rescue themselves and their families and escort them to a safe zone.
Few people will remember that these soldiers also have family members. In this type of eschatological disaster, their family members were also affected and needed urgent help. However, unlike ordinary people, soldiers were restricted by military orders and could not even rush home to confirm the safety of their families.
It was very difficult to be regarded as a savior, hope, and patron saint, but there was no way to stay by the closest family members to protect them.
This alone was enough to make people respect them.
“Hey,” Niu Quan took the lead to break the silence a moment later, “Coming all the way here, have you encountered anything other than mutant aloe?”
Shen Shian nodded, “Mutated goose.”
After he described the appearance of the mutated goose, everyone in the car gulped. “F*ck, that goose is enough for us to eat for several days.”
“Are there any other mutated creatures?”
“Mutated zombies.”
“Mutated zombies? It’s about the same speed as normal people, right? We know that these are everywhere in urban areas.”
Shen Shian took the opportunity to ask, “Are there a lot of mutant zombies in the city?”
“Many, many, but less than ordinary zombies.” Niu Quan thought about it. “It’s about twenty or thirty percent, it’s very difficult to defeat them.”
Twenty to thirty percent, much lower than Lin’an County. The city where the tobacco factory was located is called Qujiang City. It was a third-tier medium-sized city with a large area and a resident population of about 4 million. After Shen Shian experienced the Lin’an County incident, he had speculated that the more zombies are gathered, the faster their evolution. The number of zombies in Qujiang City must have exceeded two million, but because of the large area and the population density was not high, it was difficult to form the tens of thousands of people on the county plaza that have become zombies at the same time and have been together for a long time. Because of the special environment, the proportion of mutated zombies was lower than that of Lin’an County, which to a certain extent just verified Shen Shian’s speculation.
After thinking for a while, Shen Shian asked, “Have you ever encountered a zombie with an ability?”
“Zombies with an ability?” Everyone’s eyes were focused. “What does that mean? Zombies can evolve abilities?”
Shen Shian nodded his head and briefed them on what happened in Lin’an County Plaza while also hiding his process of annihilation. “…The zombie’s ability was to form a wind blade in the air to carry out long-range attacks, each time forming three, and the attack range was about 400 meters. If it only had this it would not be so difficult to deal with, but the difference was that the zombie could control other zombies.”
Waiting for other people’s reactions, Luo Wei, the commander sitting in the co-driver, turned his head and looked over the window with a dignified look. “You mean, the zombie has wisdom and self-awareness?”
“Yes, the zombie being manipulated was equivalent to having a unified brain, they will no longer be easily disturbed by noise and other factors, and will also use tactics.” Shen Shian continued, “However, the intelligence level of the power zombie is not high, similar to inferior mammals, and the number of zombies that can be controlled is limited. I guess it should be related to the degree of evolution. The higher they have evolved, the greater the number of zombies that can be controlled. The limit of the zombies it could control that we encountered was about 10,000 zombies.”
The sound of inhaling air could be heard clearly inside the truck. “One zombie controls 10,000? There is wisdom to use tactics? How can we defeat them?”
“It’s not just this terrible thing! If, as this brother Yun guessed, the amount of control is related to the degree of evolution, if one day a zombie evolved to a zombie king that can control millions of zombies, then what is the fight?!”
“People haven’t evolved abilities yet, and zombies have evolved one, f*ck!”
Shen Shian understood, “So you have never encountered a zombie with abilities?”
Niu Quan shook his head, “No, it would be a big loss to encounter such a zombie.”
Someone said, “Maybe this kind of power zombie is very few, and there are a total of two or three in the country, it is impossible for us to just meet one.”
“In any case, you must be more careful in your future actions.” Luo Wei said to Shen Shian, “Thank you, this is a piece of very important information.”
After driving for more than 40 minutes, the truck gradually entered the urban area of Qujiang City. The drivers were familiar with the road, along the way, they could clearly notice the traces of having been collected many times in the surrounding areas: there were few living zombies, many dead ones, and every once in a while there would be ruins formed after the explosion.
After driving for another half an hour along the main road, the truck stopped at Luo Wei’s order.
Everyone got out of the car. There were dozens of zombies scattered around the road. Hearing the movements, they were quickly and silently cleaned by the soldiers with military knives. The soldiers then formed a protective ring around the truck in a serious alert manner.
Luo Wei spread a map on the front cover of an abandoned car, and waited for the five team leaders to reach them. He raised his hand and beckoned, “Brother Yun, brother Chen, if you are interested, you can come and see.”
The map was a map of Qujiang City, and the content was very detailed. Luo Wei first pointed to the current location of everyone. “From the cigarette factory to here, we have collected this area, and almost all the zombies have been cleared.”
Then he drew a circle hundreds of meters away from the main road. “Today’s goal is this mall. It is said to be the largest comprehensive mall in Qujiang City, and also one of the places with the highest zombies density in the urban area. It is more difficult to break through, but if we succeed, we can return home with a full load today.”
In the same direction, Luo Wei drew a circle about 300 meters away from the mall. “Group 3 and group 4, you take the materials to this point, everyone should already be familiar with the process, right? Group 5 scout nearby areas to see if there are any survivors in the buildings, and come back to gather within an hour. The other groups are on standby.”
The leaders of the three groups asked, “How long is it set today? Is it still twenty minutes?”
Luo Wei thought for a while, “There are many zombies near the mall, let’s set it for half an hour.”
“Understood!” The team leaders turned around and issued the order. “The survivors who participated in the search operation stay where they are, and the rest follow me!”
A group of more than fifty people carrying backpacks and weapons hurried towards the destination, and disappeared after turning around the intersection.
Team leader Tao Yuan explained the specific plan to the survivors who participated in the operation for the first time. “The places where group 3 and 4 are going to, we call them burial sites. Their task is to set traps at the burial sites to bury time bombs. They will use audio, speakers, blood and other tools to attract as many zombies near the mall as possible. After half an hour, the bomb explodes and the zombies will be resolved in one go.”
“But,” Chen Nan asked, “Wouldn’t the blast sound attract more zombies? The burial site was only a few hundred meters away from the mall. If there are too many zombies gathered twice, they may run to the mall, right?”
Tao Yuan nodded, “That’s right, so after the first explosion, group 3 and 4 will bury the second time bomb, the time will also be set to half an hour.”
Chen Nan suddenly realized that the first explosion would bring in all the zombies within the scope of the explosion. At this time, the second explosion would eliminate the zombies and they would not be afraid of attracting more zombies.
Shen Shian asked, “Are you using this method for the first time?” If not, this could explain the debris on the road.
“This is the fourth time,” Tao Yuan explained, “Because the stock of explosives is limited, it will only be used when we encounter big targets like shopping malls.”
It turns out like this. Such a method could undoubtedly clean up a large number of zombies in the fastest and most convenient way, which greatly reduces their risk of death, so many survivors could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Tao Yuan frowned, and the doll face was extremely serious. “Although there are explosives, there is no guarantee that the search operation will be safe. Some zombies may not be attracted by the sound and still stay around the mall, or the zombies attracted by the explosion may exceed expectations, and the bombs cannot completely eliminate them. In short, all accidents can occur, so be careful when moving, and move in and out quickly. Since everyone chose to participate in the operation, I am afraid that no one wants to die recklessly here? If you want to return to the base safely with supplies, then give me a 100% spirit.”
The survivors looked awkward, and then sucked back the breath they had just let go.
Chen Nan asked, “So what are we going to do now?”
“Wait.”
Forty minutes later, the first explosion exploded. Ten minutes later, all members of group 3 and group 4 returned. Almost half an hour later, the sound of the second explosion echoed repeatedly in the complex.
Luo Wei gave the instruction, “Start!”