“What we need now are team members, the survivors.” Hou Ying gave his reasons for choosing this route, “We already have a lot of crystal nuclei. I have calculated that there are 1,191 level 1 zombie nuclei and 207 level 2 nuclei. All these are the reasons and capital for us to expand our team.”
Before a few people objected, Hou Ying continued, “I know that you have a plan to leave these nuclei to your surviving comrades in the army base… I don’t want to pour cold water on you. If your surviving comrades are still in the army and live for a full month in the apocalypse, then they must have the ability to protect themselves, and they will make progress like the zombies or faster than them, just like us. So no matter what the situation is when we get there, these first-level nuclei will have little effect.”
“I think you are psychologically prepared for the dangers we will encounter along the way. We are in such a small place but we have almost died several times, I really dare not say that we can reach the destination smoothly with only eleven of us. Who knows if there are level four zombies out there? Maybe there is a lot of level three zombies? So we need people.”
Hou Ying solemnly looked at them, “My requirements are not high, but anyway, I don’t want any of you to die in front of me.”
At this time, at the beginning of the apocalypse, Hou Ying and everyone else, who was groping and fumbling around, thought for survival, for strength, not for ambition.
Everyone was touched and sat up straight for a moment.
Jiang Tao wiped his face and said, “Brother Hou is right. In fact, to tell you the truth, after hearing about Yecheng’s filth, I was not grateful to any survivors’ base. I feel that… Yecheng isn’t the inventor of experimenting on ability users, nor will it be the last one. The larger the base, the more likely this will happen. Before we have enough self-protection capabilities, I don’t want us to fall into the quagmire.”
Hou Ying pursed his lips, “I gave up the road of Yecheng for this reason. Xuanyuan, you should understand why I chose this way, right?”
Li Xuanyuan nodded his head solemnly.
As soldiers, they cannot tolerate such evil, but the facts of the last days tell them that they are no longer heroes who punish evil and promote good, but also ordinary humans struggling to survive. It’s not that he never thought of going back to rescue those imprisoned subjects, but he never expressed such thoughts once, or that they both tacitly whitewashed peace with each other, and they all bore the conscience of “forgetting” those suffering ability users.
They can’t stop the evil, because that is the more severe test that the last days brought to mankind beyond the virus.
There will only be more and more people in the survivor’s refuge. Not to mention the struggle for rights, the demand for materials will become more and more urgent, which means that they need more ability users and strong self-protection capabilities. Therefore, whether for their own interests or for the overall situation, such experiments will only increase but not decrease.
There are only eleven of them now, barely nine in terms of combat effectiveness, and they are outnumbered. Bringing so many supplies through Yecheng is extremely dangerous, they may even have to pay for their lives by then.
Gongsun Jing sighed and turned to the front of the conversation, “Taking this road, at least, may be able to rescue the single survivors. In the last days, it is not easy for anyone to live.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
In this way, all the people unanimously passed the resolution, carefully planned the itinerary for the new route, and circled out several preferred locations that could be temporarily stationed, so that everyone could keep in mind. Then the meeting ended.
The next day, several people split up.
Jiang Tao used steel to transform and reinforce the heavy truck, worked with Li Xuanyuan to dismantle the armored car, and transformed the front of their heavy truck with bulletproof and explosion-proof materials, leaving the general materials to be used. Qiao Daye wandered around the ten-kilometer highway and drove back a large cargo truck with less damage as a temporary means of transportation—their targets were all aimed at another heavy truck left in the steel plant.
Those who are free are all helping to collect and sort the materials and pile them up neatly according to categories in the parking lot of the service area, which is convenient for Li Xuanyuan to carry them to the car with his ability.
Eleven people were so busy that they finally packed their supplies from 5 a.m to 3 p.m, they then set off.
The container is heavily jammed in front and is heavily loaded—nearly 35 tons of fuel oil, two large industrial generators, and the remaining armored materials, steel, a forklift, and two pairs of small forklift tongs. One-third of the space left in the regular layout remains for heavy materials in the industrial zone.
It is worth mentioning that this heavy truck was also raised one layer by them to create a mobile dormitory. The frame was made of steel, and then three layers were made with a layer of industrial tarp and a waterproof membrane. Even if there was a rainstorm, they won’t worry.
Oh, and more importantly, they dismantled the comfortable bed in the hotel and placed it here. Six 1.5-meter-long beds were placed one by one, which are spacious and comfortable. It may be sweltering and hot in summer, so they also deliberately moved a wall-mounted two-stand air conditioner with adjustable heating and cooling. For this reason, they also chose a light and fuel-efficient family generator, which is placed on the top of the heavy truck with some pots and pans.
The food was all on the truck behind, which was full. The space on the roof is also used. Simply use a layer of cloth and rope to put bulky and lightweight daily necessities like toilet paper and towels on it.
Because of the slower speed of heavy trucks, it took a little longer on the road. When they arrived at the industrial park, it was too late to collect some things from the steel factory they visited earlier.
Hou Ying and Meng Hanghai played the role of cooks. After a few people had a good meal, they divided the industrial park into four areas and then divided the team into three teams. They decided who would stay and who would be in charge of which area tomorrow. After confirmation, they went to bed early on the second floor of the heavy truck.
The soft light wandered through the small air-permeable window in the moonless and starless night. When Qiao Daye came out to take over the vigil in the second half of the night, he saw the rare gentle smile on Jiang Tao’s face with his legs crossed and a cigarette in his mouth.
Early the next morning, Li Xuanyuan went downstairs to simply wash and did a hundred push-ups on the spot and then took the tools to restore another heavy truck from the iron and steel plant that he had previously removed the tire and motor. Hou Ying watched this moment from the ventilation window, and then happily got out of the car along the fixed steel stairs on the wall of the heavy truck. He brushed his teeth and couldn’t help but smile at Li Xuanyuan, who was lying under the heavy truck to repair the car, and asked, “Good morning~ Why are you doing that so early?”
Li Xuanyuan, who was biting a dual-purpose wrench, glanced at him coldly, seeing the toothpaste foam on the corner of his mouth, he withdrew his gaze disgustingly.
Hou Ying had a boring talk and went back to wash his face again—with Liu Zhan, the level 3 water ability user, they don’t lack water right now. Jiang Tao ran around the factory early in the morning and boiled the water before warming up. Yes, the service is very attentive.
When Jiang Tao came back from morning exercises, Hou Ying also cooked breakfast.
He greeted Li Xuanyuan in a loud voice and went upstairs to wake up Wang Hehe and Meng Hanghai who were sleeping heavily. Wang Hehe was sweating all over his body. He wanted to cry but couldn’t, “Uncle, I don’t feel very good, or let’s not go out today?”
Hou Ying was startled and asked him carefully about the cause and effect. But Wang Hehe’s ability level is too low, or it may be that he and Hou Ying’s levels are too far apart these days, his ability to dream of the future are far less clear than before, and he can’t explain why. Until he sat at the folding table and saw Qiao Daye who was drinking porridge, he paused for a while then pointed to the other person and said, “Uncle, the person I dreamed of is him.”
Qiao Daye blinked his eyes. Before he recovered, he subconsciously said with a smile, “It can’t be a colored dream, can it? Hey, Brother Hou, your family education is too successful. Look at this child—”
“Shut your stinky mouth.” Gongsun Jing scolded angrily, but Ji Yao hurriedly asked, “Is it a good dream or a nightmare?”
“…It’s fuzzy. I can’t see clearly. Anyway, I feel terrible.”
Wang Hehe said hesitantly.
Qiao Daye didn’t care much and said, “The last time we were injured, your divination was good. Now that the third and fourth level zombies are dead, what can happen to me.”
Wang Hehe said angrily, “Last time my uncle and they at least came back alive!”
This terrible premonition has tortured him almost to a nervous breakdown, and Qiao Daye’s indifferent attitude stimulated him even more.
Listening to him yelling like this, let alone others, even Qiao Daye himself was shocked.
Everyone is paying attention to this matter. If Hou Ying and the others were seriously injured last time but Wang Hehe’s clairvoyance ability didn’t warn him, this time that he saw Qiao Daye will be in danger, it will only be more tragic than that at that time.
Hou Ying made a decision and said, “Lao Er happened to guard the second half of the night last night. Today, he will stay to rest, Gongsun, you also stay to look after him. For the rest of us, Xuanyuan, Lao Su, and I are responsible for the first and second districts according to the original plan. Brother Tao, Ah Zhan, and Yaoji will form the third team. You must remember that supplies are only secondary, and everything is based on our own safety.”
Originally, Jiang Tao intends to stay behind to repair the car, but now he has made the adjustment. Several people have no opinion. Although Qiao Daye is not happy, he dare not object.
The two teams went to the fuel plant and drove the two large trucks that Jiang Tao and the others had identified yesterday. They moved separately according to the plan. By noon, everything is going well.
This industrial park is an old industrial area, most of which are heavy industries. With enough fuel and steel, other heavy industrial products are a burden to those who are short of manpower and limited transportation space.
Therefore, Hou Ying discussed with them to designate four areas to collect necessary supplies. Among them, in the first area, there is a hardware factory for military parts. Li Xuanyuan said that the underground workshop of this factory makes domestic bullets—although they already planned to use their abilities as their main weapon, it’s much better to have this than none. In the second zone, on the edge of the industrial park, there is an instrument processing plant. In addition to various industrial measuring and detecting instruments, there is also a shortage of satellite navigators for private cars.
In the third district, their target is a fiber chemical plant suspected of violating regulations. It sells dog meat with sheep's heads, and what they do inside is actually high imitation brand-name clothes and shoes. In the last area, there is a pharmaceutical and chemical factory. Originally, their team arranged Gongsun Jing to collect some drugs but now she’s left behind. Naturally, they can take all the drugs they can take away, and talk about it later.
The actions of the two teams are very purposeful, so in the morning they went to the second and fourth districts on the edge of the industrial park first, then rushed to the first and third districts in the afternoon.
In the afternoon, Hou Ying drove. After the three of them drive into the factory, Li Xuanyuan is not in a hurry to go to the underground factory. Pick and choose the hardware first and sweep a full ten boxes of goods, which instantly occupied half of the space of the truck. Most of the parts Hou Ying had never seen before. Then, leaving Su Fenghe on the ground for cover, Hou Ying and Li Xuanyuan set off for the underground factory.
“There are zombies.”
Hou Ying reminded him before he went to the underground factory.
Although this industrial area has been swept clean by them, there are still fish slipping through the net on the ground, let alone the underground factories they haven’t been to in-depth. But fortunately, the zombies’ ability below is generally level 1, and there are only two level 2 zombies. Li Xuanyuan directly let the vines drill into the zombie’s head to take away the nucleus, even a little drop of blood did not appear. Hou Ying sighed that these 100 zombies couldn’t bear Li Xuanyuan’s move. And compared with his own tasteless hearing ability, he couldn’t be more worried.
“Fuck, you didn’t say that they also make guns?”
Hou Ying was distraught looking at the various guns hanging on the whole wall of the underground factory, his hands were itchy for a while.
Li Xuanyuan contemptuously said, “That’s for testing bullets.”
Hou Ying suddenly realized, no wonder there are so many types of guns, but there are only one or two each. Li Xuanyuan took him on a tour of the nearly 1,000-square-meter factory to see what they’re going to take away. Li Xuanyuan began to deliver the packed bullets to the factory, while Hou Ying helped seal the unsealed boxes—such delicate work, using Li Xuanyuan’s ability to do it, is a waste of time and energy.
When he got busy, Hou Ying suddenly heard a noise, he looked behind his back, only to find that there was nothing there. He shook his head and erected his ears to listen but still couldn’t hear anything. He frowned deeply. He said to Li Xuanyuan, “Xuanyuan…I feel as if there was a strong energy wave just now but it’s not like our ability—Xuanyuan! Is this direction towards the steel factory?!”
He suddenly pointed to the position behind him. Li Xuanyuan was startled. The two of them also thought of the prediction Wang Hehe said in the morning, they were suddenly shocked!
“with only eleven of us…” Who is the 11th? There are the 5 soldiers, plus our hero and the 4 he rescued.
Huh, that’s weird. I tried remembering all the members of MC’s team but they only add up to 10 🧐🤔 Maybe it’s a typo in the raws?? Haven’t really realized that when I was translating this chap
Yes, I think so too, a few chapters later it says ten.
Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️
OMG what could it be? A zombie? or a new companion??