The night was tender.
Yet the cold wind knew no romance, the night breeze was like being subrged in icy river water, coming from all directions and clinging to your skin.
Cold.
The temperature differential was too great, with a cool seven or eight degrees, Li Yu was still wearing a short sleeve.
The dayti was too hot, a full 38 degrees.
Li Yu stood on the villa’s balcony for a while, feeling quite chilled, and imdiately went back to his room.
He changed into a warm long-sleeved loungewear, and finally felt his body warm up.
Sigh—
Li Yu reviewed all of today’s events in his mind, one by one.
Since his rebirth, aside from that vague sixth sense which had strengthened.
His mory, and his physical constitution, had also increased a lot.
The events that happened today played back in his mind like a movie, quickly replaying.
"No anomalies found for the ti being, but this Western Alliance poses a great threat," Li Yu muttered.
Then, he washed up, did so skincare, applying so toner to his face.
It was given to him by Yutong, sothing he brought back while out gathering supplies.
It was still within the expiration date, but about to expire soon.
Why not use it if it’s free.
He glanced at the ti, it wasn’t even 10 o’clock yet.
Dinner in the base was early, eaten at 6 p.m., and afterward, he discussed tomorrow’s arrangents with Second Uncle and the others, chatting from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In the past few days, with zombies all around and the dangerous environnt, he hadn’t really rested well, and today, after sitting in the car all day, he felt sowhat fatigued.
Li Yu pulled the curtains shut, lay on the bed, and slowly drifted into dreamland.
.....
The night was uneventful.
The next day at six o’clock, Li Yu woke up on ti, without going outside for exercise, he just did a few pull-ups and push-ups in the room and then washed up.
Dressed neatly in a bullet-proof vest, anti-explosion suit, boots, with a helt in hand, he walked out.
Descending the stairs, he saw an additional person in his sister’s room, it was Xiao Shi.
He closed the door for them and went downstairs.
After breakfast.
He waited atop the wall, having agreed with everyone to set off at 7 a.m.
Ten minutes later, he saw everyone starting to co out one after the other.
Ma Di was also there; yesterday Li Yu had connected Ma Di with Xiao Lan and Bai Jie privately, Bai Jie and another two were well-educated with master’s degrees in biodical science, through communication with Ma Di, they realized that Ma Di was indeed a very knowledgeable person.
Particularly when Xiao Lan and the other learned that Ma Di had published several international professional papers and was the pioneer of a particular niche, their admiration grew even stronger.
It seed that Ma Di was indeed a true expert in the field of pharmaceutical and biological sciences.
Third Uncle and the others also arrived.
Seeing that everyone was present, Li Yu waved his hand and called out, "Let’s set off."
A total of 95 people were set to go out.
Divided into two groups:
Openly communicating with the Western Alliance led by Li Yu, with Dapao, Yang Tianlong, as well as Li Tie, Li Gang, Old Lü, among others, totaling 35 people.
Secretly, the group lying in wait consisted of Third Uncle leading Lai Dongsheng, Old Luo, Old Bi, Old Yi, Old Qin and others, amounting to 60 people.
Previously, during Luo Tianyan’s ti, many firearms were acquired, among them were a lot of assault rifles.
In the Southern region, the hilly terrain was abundant with forests.
Machine guns were too heavy, sniper rifles impractical, assault rifles were the most suitable, so the majority used assault rifles.
Vehicles roared—
After they left, the base was still bustling.
Since the heavy rain so ti ago, which had paused construction of the Second Outer City, work had now resud.
Ding Jiu and Li Yu’s father Li Hongyuan took the lead.
The industrial equipnt recently gathered at the base was also being utilized for food processing and bullet production.
Bai Jie and her team continued their research on zombies and on dicine.
Among them, there was an old traditional Chinese dicine doctor, a senior among He Chao’s group, who was now searching within and outside the base for dicinal herbs cultivation.
The younger children should study.
People responsible for breeding and planting were also busy.
The base was like a wound-up machine, continuously in operation.
....
But speaking of Li Yu and his group after their departure.
On the Unimog.
He Chao was also there; two days before leaving, he had arranged for people to scout the Western Alliance from a distance.
"Where was the last place you saw the Western Alliance?" Li Yu asked.
He Chao thought for a mont and said, "At the small commodities wholesale market."
Li Yu nodded and said, "We have people watching them now. How will we contact those brothers when the ti cos?"
He Chao said, "Heh, just use walkie-talkies. A few days ago, He Bing managed to get so repeaters outside, which, after being installed at the base, increased the coverage from the original 5 kiloters to now 15 kiloters.
This ti, last night, your Second Uncle had him install it in the vehicles too, so we have one in the car as well.
As long as we get close to the edge of Xin City, as long as they haven’t left Xin City, we can reach them."
Interest piqued upon hearing this, Li Yu knew that tily communication was of utmost importance in a post-apocalyptic world.
After learning a bit about it, although he didn’t understand, he felt it was pretty impressive, and he chuckled, "He Bing is doing a good job; we must reward him when we get back."
Despite not letting He Bing join them on this trip, he had other matters to attend to at the base.
In his own words, there were just too many things at the base that needed upgrading and improvent.
Li Yu was happy to see him tinker, and he tried to provide He Bing with whatever he wanted.
And since Li Hang used to study household appliance repair, he had him work together with He Bing.
Strangely enough, the two of them seed like natural partners.
One dared to dream, and the other dared to act; hitting it off, they soon tead up, spending their days at the base figuring out chanics and crafting by hand, of course, all for the sake of enhancing the base’s security and convenience.
Seeing them like this, Li Yu was pleased with their progress.
The vehicles slowly made their way.
After several tens of minutes, they arrived at the outskirts of Xin City.
It wasn’t cloudy today, the sun was out, and the morning glow was radiant.
He Chao began contacting Deng Ben and Shunzi and the others; Li Yu was familiar with them. Back when they were with Luo Tianyan at the base, before the main force arrived, it was these few who were scouting.
Li Yu had a deep impression of Deng Ben. Deng Ben also had a child, whom Li Yu had allowed to enter the Inner City to study, leaving Deng Ben incredibly touched.
Zzzt— Zzzt—
The static from the walkie-talkie buzzed.
Holding the walkie-talkie, He Chao said, "Deng Ben, Deng Ben, this is He Chao, where are you guys now?"
Zzzt— Zzzt—
The static was noisy.
One minute later.
The voice from the walkie-talkie suddenly snapped, "Brother Chao, this is Deng Ben, we are now outside the Governnt Office, the people from the Western Alliance went in yesterday evening and haven’t co out since."
Hearing this, Li Yu took the walkie-talkie from He Chao and said, "You haven’t seen them since last evening till now? Have you seen them at any other entrances?"
The Governnt Office had two entrances. One at the front door and the other at the back door, which was usually closed all year round and sealed with iron locks.
Deng Ben, feeling sowhat excited upon hearing Li Yu’s voice, said, "Director Li, Shunzi is looking out from a building opposite the back door, and so far, they haven’t co out.
However, this morning, on the Governnt Building, Shunzi saw so people flash by."
"Okay, keep observing; we’ll be there soon," Li Yu instructed.
Li Yu and Third Uncle exchanged glances.
To Third Uncle, Li Yu said, "Third Uncle, let’s head over first, and you guys follow behind. Encircle the area around the Governnt Office covertly."
After thinking over it, he had Yu Lei join him in his vehicle.
This ti, Li Yu planned to use a soft approach followed by a hard one; if they couldn’t be persuaded gently, then force would be necessary.
If they didn’t know what was good for them, then all of them would be killed. Let’s leave it at that.
.....
Without mincing words, Li Yu and the others drove their vehicle closer to the Governnt Building.
Inside the Governnt Office, there were a total of three buildings.
But all three buildings were interconnected, with trees and flowers planted in front and back.
On the 7th floor of the center Governnt Building, by one of the windows, two soldiers were patrolling and watching the main entrance.
The door to the Governnt Building was tightly shut, with no one guarding it.
At this mont, Li Yu and the others slowly approached the outside of the Governnt Office.
The two in the building who were watching the door saw Li Yu and his companions’ vehicle almost imdiately.
"There’s activity outside, Huang Zheng, go downstairs and let Brother Jun know. I’ll keep watch here," one of them said.
Huang Zheng nodded and imdiately headed downstairs.
Descending to the fifth floor, he passed by two rooms and saw the employees of the pharmaceutical company they were protecting still sound asleep in those rooms.
He felt a flash of annoyance.
Originally, their mission was to protect them, to let them develop an "Antidote" for the Zombie Virus. But at the base, they never saw them engaged in research; instead, they spent their days drinking and having fun.
When resources beca scarce, they still took special care to provide them with the best food and drink.
But these people didn’t show any appreciation; instead, they treated their protectors like bodyguards, barking orders.
So ti ago, Gan Gaojie had even demanded that Huang Zheng find him won. Huang Zheng, disgusted, cursed him as an idiot, which led Gan Gaojie to cause trouble for him at every turn.
They had talked to a few leaders of the pharmaceutical company, and while there was so initial adjustnt in behavior, they soon relapsed to their old ways.
The atmosphere in the team was deteriorating; more and more were voicing their dissatisfaction.
From the beginning in the East, where they protected them all the way to the West, they lost most of their comrades, their precious lives now exchanged for these so-called "hopes of humanity."
Initially, they all felt that their sacrifice was worthwhile. Yet, after more than a year, those so-called researchers had not achieved any results - that would have been forgivable since research can be difficult, but they had not even been doing research work, getting involved in various other activities instead.
Their behavior had caused discontent among the military personnel, and they had discussed this with Camp Commander Ju Tianrui, but the Camp Commander was also in a difficult position.
What could he do? He was ordered to protect them, as the fate of the world depended on them.
Now, unable to reach their superiors, they bore the pressure, although they were aware that these people were becoming more unreliable.
Still, deep down, there was a glimr of hope that perhaps these people could develop an "Antidote," leading the world back to the beginning.
However, his disappointnt was growing, and his patience waning.
Because these so-called pharmaceutical company employees were becoming more and more outrageous.
This ti out, they found the base too boring to stay in and wanted to co out to find supplies.
Even if they were seeking supplies, these people were of no help and kept endangering themselves, not following orders; if not for their protection, they would have been killed by Zombies long ago.
After arriving, they didn’t participate in scavenging for supplies but slept in until midday, injuring an innocent local a few days ago, and yesterday even comnted about seeing a woman who looked good, wanting to "visit" her.
They were stopped by Brother Jun in the end.
"These leeches! Damn it!" Thinking of his comrades who died protecting them, the disdain in Huang Zheng’s heart grew even stronger, and he cursed out loud.
———
There’s more to this later
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