Chapter 187 - 176: Perfect Retreat

Chapter 187: Chapter 176: Perfect Retreat

Bihai Building District, a high-end seaside apartment complex invested in by Shuangyang Group.

It had replaced the former position and status of the Xiangti Bay Community. The two communities were separated by just a single street, but their occupancy rates were worlds apart.

One was ice, the other fire.

This place was actually the final destination on Yu Dong’s operational route: rescuing the people in this community.

Because of the community’s natural defenses against zombies and its stockpiled resources, the survival rate here would be significantly higher than in other, more open buildings.

If around twenty people could survive at Golden Sand No. 1 Villa, then there would only be more here.

However, they were currently trapped in their homes by the large number of zombies within the community, too afraid to come out.

Any slight noise would draw swarms of zombies on the ground. It was completely different from the sparse handful of zombies at Xiangti Bay. Over here, killing just two zombies could trigger a small horde...

That was why in his past life, even three months into the apocalypse, Bihai Building District was still swarming with zombies. They were all contained within the community, making it impossible for Yu Dong’s group to even lure them out to kill.

All they could do was watch from across the street, like a helpless husband.

In this life, they had the power.

The group led Lin Xiaojun and his five companions onto the semi-truck, placing them with the logistics personnel. Yu Dong gave Zhao Youcai a special instruction.

"You stay on the truck and keep an eye on them."

"Understood."

In the entire team, perhaps only Zhao Youcai could grasp Yu Dong’s true intentions.

Huang believed that since the world had changed, people could change too. What happened in the last life didn’t necessarily determine this one...

Yu Dong agreed with that sentiment, but he didn’t think it applied to Lin Xiaojun.

’A leopard can’t change its spots. In my past life, I set a trap based on Lin Xiaojun’s nature, using his greed and repressed desires to successfully lure him out.’

’But there’s no time for me to play judge now. Killing them without reason in front of so many people wouldn’t be right, either. I can only wait until we get back to deal with them.’

"Drones, launch!"

Liu Ye’ye, Shen Xinyi, and Yang Ze held their remote controls as three drones took off simultaneously.

The first was a modified drone equipped with a loudspeaker.

After entering the Bihai Building District, it began to play the song "Zombie." Once the zombies on the ground and in the hallways had gathered in the community’s central open space...

Two payload drones dropped four Molotov cocktails toward the horde.

BOOM! BOOM!

The zombies snarled and clawed at the drones in the air, right before the flames rained down on them!

The advanced napalm bombs shattered, and the gelatinous substance exploded outward, splashing across the heads of countless zombies. It erupted in temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius, melting the flesh from their faces. The liquified fat dripped down, fueling the flames and making them even more ferocious!

The fire clung to the zombies’ heads like a cancer, not stopping until their skulls were burned to bare bone.

This process took some time. The zombies ran frantically amidst the flames, spreading the fire as they went. One after another, the flaming zombies shrieked, a terrifying sight to behold.

The two drones returned, were quickly reloaded, and flew out again, dropping another four Molotovs.

BOOM! BOOM!

But there were too many zombies here—several hundred of them on the ground!

The two women repeatedly brought the drones back for reloading and another run, performing the operation several times.

Wave after wave of fire incinerated the vast majority of the zombies on the community’s grounds. Only a few lucky ones that hadn’t been burned to death were left wandering at the edges.

"Combat team, move in!"

The 45-person team charged forward and began to sweep and clear the remaining zombies in the community.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Zombies in many of the apartments were banging on the glass, trying to jump down and feast on them. But... the windows at Bihai Building were high quality. The zombies couldn’t break them and could only keep slapping at the glass.

"Sigh, what a pity. It would’ve saved us a lot of trouble if they could break through... Otherwise, we’ll have to figure out how to breach the doors."

It wasn’t just the glass that was good quality in a new community; the doors were certainly much sturdier than those in the older Xiangti Bay Community.

Yu Dong was quite regretful, but then a thought struck him. ’In that case, we can rescue the living first and just leave the remaining zombies in their apartments. Let’s get the survivors out before anything else.’

So, with the help of the drone pilots, they located the apartments that had both zombies and people inside and launched precision rescue operations.

As for the rest...

"Hello, hello! This is Officer Wang from the Huangyang Port Police Station. Some of you might know me, and some of you might have even been arrested by me, but right now... we’ll let bygones be bygones. Everyone can start fresh."

"The zombies in the hallways have all been cleared out by us. It’s safe now."

"To all survivors in the Bihai Building District, please come downstairs. We have a massive cruise ship base. There’s no shortage of food or water, the system is fair, and it’s extremely safe. You can move in for free."

"Everyone, please pack your things and hurry downstairs! If you wait until we leave, you may never get another chance."

At a time like this, they had to rely on Officer Wang’s uniform and the inherent trust it inspired to make the survivors lower their guard and make a quick decision.

One by one, survivors emerged from the buildings. This popular, high-end seaside apartment complex had been home to many, many people. With several hundred zombies on the ground alone, the number of people who survived here far exceeded any other location.

"Dongzi, now I get why you were so obsessed with the Xiangti Bay Community in your past life... It really is safe in these communities. Even if you’re super unlucky, you can just hide in your own home, shut a couple of doors, and survive for a good while."

Huang Zhiqiang was starting to understand Yu Dong.

Of course, if it were him, he would have chosen to go back to his old home in the Northeast and become an apocalyptic farmer.

Ten... twenty... thirty...

A large number of survivors were led to the semi-truck by the combat team. The once-empty trailer was now packed to the brim.

These survivors, in particular, had mostly been in their own homes and had a lot of personal belongings. Even when leaving, they brought a ton of luggage with them!

"It’s not enough. One heavy-duty truck can’t fit them all. Get another one."

Yu Dong made a satellite call to Lin Mo, asking her to arrange for another large truck to be sent over.

Ten minutes later, the truck, having had a clear route, was in position.

The number of survivors from the Bihai Building District had been tallied. Everyone was downstairs.

A total of 89 living people!

"So many people... This haul is almost half our settlement’s population."

Everyone was astonished.

But Wang Dingbei had already calculated it. "It’s reasonable. This community is within our police station’s jurisdiction, with a permanent resident population of around 3,000. Seven o’clock would have been the peak time for people returning home, so there were more people in the community, and consequently, more survived."

By now, the sky had begun to darken, and some dark clouds were gradually drifting over from the south.

"Perfect timing. Let’s get home before it gets dark."

The strategic objective was complete. They had rescued nearly a hundred people from the two communities, which left both Yu Dong and Officer Wang feeling pretty satisfied.

"Wait!"

Huang Zhiqiang raised his hand. "Dongzi, there’s a commercial street up ahead... I’m begging you, let us clear it out before we go. Please! I can’t stand coming back empty-handed two days in a row!"

"Huang, you’re such a... packrat. Fine. We just called for another semi-truck anyway. Go ahead and clear it, but be quick about it!"

The commercial street they had cleared in his past life was now being cleared once again.

This time, in addition to the small supermarket at Xiangti Bay, there was also one at the entrance of Bihai Building.

The main objective was to loot these two small supermarkets.

"Scavenging team, on me!"

Huang had set up a dedicated scavenging team within the logistics department. They even had custom professional gear: large burlap sacks that they threw anything and everything into.

The group moved like a swarm of locusts. After one pass, the shelves were bare.

They swept items into the sacks with big, swishing motions, not bothering to organize anything. They could just hand it all over to the warehouse staff to sort out later.

"WOOHOO! There’s a tobacco and liquor store over here by Bihai Building! We’ve struck gold!"

Yu Dong hadn’t scavenged this area in his past life. His team hadn’t been interested in tobacco or alcohol, so they never made a special trip.

In this life, with a large team on the cruise ship base, tobacco and alcohol had become hard currency—rare commodities.

Huang Zhiqiang and a large group of logistics personnel quickly emptied the tobacco and liquor store and the two small supermarkets.

Just as the sky turned dark... the two large trucks, fully loaded with people and supplies, made a perfect getaway.

The Xiangti Bay Community was only six kilometers from the cruise ship.

The trucks sped down the wide Binhai Avenue at full throttle, reaching the cruise ship base in just five minutes.

Under the cover of Sun Shan and the other city defense personnel, they drove the trucks inside the first line of defense.

After getting out, they loaded the supplies onto small carts, crossed the wooden bridge over the trench, opened the iron gate, and returned to A Port.

Finally, they brought the vast amount of supplies onto the cruise ship and handed them over to the warehouse staff.

During the handover... Huang Zhiqiang’s scavenging team members looked at the sacks upon sacks of supplies, their expressions hesitant.

"Brother Huang, I heard they’re announcing the new points policy tomorrow."

"Yeah, that’s right. The testing phase is pretty much done. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so no one will be going out. It’s a good time for everyone to learn the new policy together."

"Well... since we got so much stuff for the base, can we... just take a little something? We could save it to exchange for some points later. I’ll just take a carton of cigarettes, nothing else."

The other core members of Huang Zhiqiang’s scavenging team—twelve people in total—were always the ones to handle the supplies and goods until the very end, handing them over to the warehouse staff.

Now, they all looked at Huang Zhiqiang with pleading eyes, waiting for his reply.

At that moment, Huang Zhiqiang felt an invisible but very real weight settle into his empty hands.

"Boss? What’s the call? We gotta be quick. It’ll be harder to take anything once more people show up."

"I’ve seen the combat team guys stuffing things in their pockets while fighting zombies. We never say anything about it."

"Yeah, Boss. They all take stuff, so it won’t matter if we take a little too."

Seeing Huang Zhiqiang hesitate, the others couldn’t help but urge him on.

Huang Zhiqiang looked at the people who called him ’Boss’ and finally gritted his teeth.

"One item each. Nobody takes more than one!"

"Alright!"

The twelve members of Huang Zhiqiang’s scavenging team each picked out a high-value item from the supplies and pocketed it.

As for the remaining supplies... there was still a huge amount left. Their twelve items were a drop in the bucket.

Huang Zhiqiang also felt a little more at ease.

"I knew there was a future in following Boss Huang!"

"Boss Huang is the man!"

"Boss Huang is Brother Yu’s brother, after all. From now on, everyone stick close to Boss Huang, and things will definitely go smoothly for us!"

"Loyalty! Devotion!"

Because he had given away twelve items, Huang Zhiqiang’s prestige among these twelve people began to rise.

The night gradually deepened.

On the ship, everyone was happily eating inside. The increase in survivors made things even livelier. At everyone’s suggestion, the cruise ship’s movie theater was opened today to show a film, commemorating the fruits of their recent struggles.

But at that moment, a dark cloud had already begun to gather over the cruise ship...