Chapter 198 - 183: Yu Dong on Duty, Waterway Navigation

Chapter 198: Chapter 183: Yu Dong on Duty, Waterway Navigation

Fifth floor of the cruise ship, the office area.

The area had been converted into large offices, each marked with a hard plastic sign.

[Combat Group], [Logistics Group]...

[Greenhouse Group], [Fishery Group], [Chemistry Group]...

And at the very end, [Cruise Ship Base Leadership Group].

After leaving the conference room, Yu Dong came to his office to start his shift.

This office was for the three of them. They had agreed to take turns being on duty to ensure someone was always here to handle ship affairs.

Due to their division of labor, Yu Dong and Officer Wang would be going out more often, so Lin Mo would have to be on duty most of the time. But with the heavy rain today, and it being the first official day, Yu Dong decided to take the first shift.

Officer Wang had gone to fiddle with his radio, and Lin Mo was still distributing point chips and explaining the economic policies.

The large office, with its three sets of desks and chairs, was empty and bare, devoid of any documents or items for now.

Yu Dong sat in his office chair, leaned back, and found it very comfortable.

’Chen is still a capable man.’

Chen Guangzong and his men had taken care of setting up these offices and providing the supplies, and they had done a rather professional job of it.

Over the past few days, while the three of them were busy drafting policies, they had discussed the former captain, Chen Guangzong. They unanimously agreed that he was still useful. He knew this cruise ship better than anyone, and many of the crew members were his former subordinates, which made it easy for him to get things done.

Most importantly... if they ever encountered a zombie tide they couldn’t fend off, they would have to rely on him to command the cruise ship and get it moving.

This was the fundamental reason why Yu Dong had let him off the hook and allowed him to save face back then.

After discussing it, the three appointed him as the leader of the [Ship Affairs Group], with Officer Jing Yanwei, who was responsible for long-term security on the ship, serving as deputy captain to supervise him.

’We finally got it all sorted out. Lin Mo is a real SSR—so useful, I love having her around.’

The organizational structure and the detailed regulations were primarily designed by Lin Mo and her team; Yu Dong and Officer Wang merely made some additions.

The way the groups were divided this time also resulted in an outcome that satisfied all three parties.

Yu Dong was in charge of external combat and logistics, Wang handled security and ship affairs, and Lin Mo focused on the economy. There was no dispute regarding city defense; Sun Shan had been doing a remarkable job, so he would continue. Liu Ye’ye was just a member of the city defense group in name only.

’If you only look at the results, the three of us work together quite well.’

’But...’

Sitting here alone, Yu Dong couldn’t stop his mind from replaying the moment yesterday when Officer Wang brought up the "Reincarnator’s Benevolence Paradox" in front of everyone.

To be honest, it had bothered him all night.

The theory was correct, and Officer Wang’s concerns were logical. But... he was the Reincarnator in question, and he trusted his own judgment about whether or not he was on the right path.

Yu Dong didn’t believe he would become the kind of person who would kill indiscriminately.

That one paradox from Officer Wang had directly undermined his leadership, which was evident in the voting pattern.

Only his four die-hard supporters had voted for him; the others either voted for Officer Wang or abstained.

Officer Wang had planted a seed of doubt in everyone’s minds, which meant everyone would be more cautious when it came to carrying out his prophecies.

’Oh, Wang, Wang... I really have a love-hate relationship with you.’

Yu Dong shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it. After all, the current outcome was good, and the trial had indeed had a positive effect.

It was better than the three of them deciding to privately execute Lin Xiaojun.

Yu Dong didn’t like to dwell on things that had already happened. He preferred to assess the pros and cons and then move on.

But if... if he could go back to the day he hijacked the cruise ship, Yu Dong wasn’t sure if he would bring Officer Wang along again. Maybe just having Officer Xiao would have been fine.

RING RING RING~

The satellite phone in the office rang.

It was Qiao Yunliang.

Yu Dong answered the call. A grim voice came from the other end, "Is the meeting over?"

"Yeah, I’m sitting in my office by myself."

"Perfect. Then I can speak frankly with you."

"That’s more like it, Qiao. In this life, we have to be open with each other. We can’t make the same mistake of hiding things like in the last one..."

Yu Dong still held a bit of a grudge against Qiao for deliberately lulling them into a false sense of security with good news in their past life.

Otherwise, maybe... they wouldn’t have died.

Yu Dong really wanted to see the cruise ship base that Wang had established in their previous life.

"The news I shared back then was all true, with no embellishment or exaggeration. It’s just that we’ve run into a problem now, and I need to give you a heads-up."

"Oh?"

"We’re running low on ammunition... For the past five days, in order to maximize our gains during what you called the ’pure zombie period,’ we didn’t conserve any ammo. We fought our way through a main road all the way to Binhai Avenue. This consumed a massive amount of our ammunition, and now we don’t have enough to clear the zombies along the twenty-plus kilometers of Binhai Avenue."

"How much ammo do you have left?"

"We mostly have light weapons, mainly old Type 56s. Right now... we have about one standard combat load per person, maybe two or three hundred rounds each."

"Is that so... That’s really not much. No wonder you only have 370 combat personnel this time, even with your advance preparations. You’re short on guns and ammo, aren’t you?"

"Yeah. Most of our weapons are from the militia training base. Arming 370 people is our absolute limit. We only have this much because the base had a training mission recently; otherwise, we wouldn’t have any of these guns or ammo."

"So what’s the plan? Where can you get more ammo? I’m short on it over here, too. I’m reluctant to even fire the few guns we have."

"Well... there are two places. One is the military sub-district warehouse. That’s where Yanhai City’s largest ammunition stockpile is. It’s used for both training and wartime. If we could get to it, we wouldn’t have to worry about ammo for our upcoming operations, and we could even get some main combat weapons. But it’s very far away, in the northwestern part of the North River District. To get there, we’d first have to get to you via Binhai Avenue, then continue west along Binhai Avenue for about 20 kilometers, and then head north for another 6 kilometers. The journey is extremely long."

"The North River District... That is far. Much farther than the research institute. Plus, the North River District is Yanhai City’s biggest tourist area, so there would be a huge number of tourists-turned-zombies. It’s unrealistic to think we can fight our way through with the weapons we have. What’s the other option?"

"The other option is the public security detachments in each district. They all have some ammunition stored. But if we go for those, we won’t be able to rendezvous with you via Binhai Avenue. Besides, the ammo resupply wouldn’t be enough. We’d be using it as fast as we collect it, so we wouldn’t be able to build up a stockpile..."

"That’s a problem... Officer Wang also mentioned the public security detachments, but it’s a huge challenge on our end, too. We haven’t decided whether to go for them yet. So what’s your plan now? Can’t you produce your own ammunition?"

"Yanhai City doesn’t have an arsenal for ammunition production. And as for reloading our own... we don’t have the technology or materials right now. So for the time being, our only option might be to hit the security detachments for some ammo, use more melee weapons, conserve what we have, and slowly build up a stockpile. Then, when the time is right, we’ll make a move on the military sub-district warehouse."

Hearing this, Yu Dong had a sudden flash of inspiration.

"Wait! I just thought of a great idea that will let us rendezvous quickly. Then we can go get the ammo and equipment from the military sub-district together."

"Oh?"

"By sea! We don’t just have the large cruise ship here; we also have two cargo ships and many fishing boats. I’ll have our sailors take a cargo ship to a port near you to pick you up. All you have to do is fight your way from Binhai Avenue to the nearest port, and you can board the ship and come over by water!"

Qiao Yunliang made a sound of surprise, then thought for a moment.

"That’s actually feasible. After we get onto Binhai Avenue, there’s a place called Bailu Fishing Port about two kilometers to the west. We could board a ship there."

"It’s a solid plan! It’s supposed to be light rain tomorrow, which is perfect since the zombies won’t be as active. I’ll have the sailors take a ship to Bailu Fishing Port. You sweep your way there and meet up with them. Then you can come to Huangyang Port, pick up our people, and we’ll all head to the port in the North River District together. Once we disembark, we’ll make a beeline for the military sub-district!"

"Sounds good... I’ll discuss the feasibility with my people. Wait for my call."

Qiao Yunliang hung up and discussed it for a while longer. An hour later, he called back with an answer.

"We’re doing it. We move at dawn tomorrow!"

A slight smile touched the corners of Yu Dong’s lips.

Rainy days were the best time to act. The rain would interfere with the zombies’ hearing and sense of smell, and they would even seek shelter from it, making the roads much clearer.

’Heaven is on our side.’

If they helped Qiao Yunliang secure the massive supply cache at the military sub-district, Yu Dong’s group would also get a batch of firearms. Fighting their way through the entirety of Binhai Avenue would be a small matter then.

The future of Yanhai City was looking bright!

Just as Yu Dong was formulating a battle plan for tomorrow, there was a knock on his office door.

"Come in."

From outside, a middle-aged woman with thick, black-framed glasses walked in.

"Leader, when can you send me to the research institute? I can only begin my virus research there."

Meng Dongqing, 40 years old, a biological scientist.

For her alone, the leadership team had created a dedicated group: [Biological Virus Research Group].