Chapter 218 - 202: This Time, It’s Your Turn to Judge Me

Chapter 218: Chapter 202: This Time, It’s Your Turn to Judge Me

Day 55 of the apocalypse. 3:00 PM. Half an hour had passed since the zombie outbreak on the cruise ship.

Yu Dong rushed back with the combat and logistics teams to find Lin Mo leading a group of people cleaning up the aftermath.

A Port was covered in splattered blood, gnawed fragments of viscera, and half-eaten stretches of intestine. Brass shell casings littered the ground.

The lingering, metallic scent of human blood cast a pall over the area.

The zombies had been eliminated, but aside from the guards and the cleanup crew, there wasn’t another living soul in A Port...

A Port was no longer safe.

The members of the combat and logistics teams frowned at the horrific scene.

It wasn’t that they were afraid, but that they found it unbelievable.

"How could Wang let this happen? So many zombies!"

"Holy shit! How many people died...?"

"*Hiss*... I wonder if my new girlfriend’s okay. I scrimped and saved to give her 3,000 points worth of chips..."

"Girlfriend? Is that all you can think about? The base is in shambles, and you’re worried about getting laid!"

Eighty people in the combat team, one hundred in the logistics team.

They made up a sixth of the cruise ship’s population, and their return provided a much-needed backbone for the teetering base.

"Combat team, secure the perimeter! Logistics team, assist Lin Mo with clearing the bodies."

"Jiang, go check on the situation inside the cruise ship."

With that, Yu Dong walked over to Lin Mo.

"Dr. Lin, how did this happen? What went on after we left? And where’s Wang? Why wasn’t he here when all this went down?"

’The call only said there was a zombie wave at the base and that we should get back right away. I never thought it would be like this... This is bad. Really bad.’

"Don’t bring up Wang. The pressure got to him. He’s in his room, drinking... Huang, come over here."

Lin Mo called Huang Henian over. The two of them recounted the entire incident, from the jumping zombies they’d fished out of the water to Wang Dingbei’s iron-fisted suppression when he opened fire on the crowd.

Yu Dong’s eyes widened as he listened.

"The bloated zombies can jump!?"

’He thought about the cargo ship they’d just seen... it had been surrounded by a dense horde of those bloated zombies. Now he knew why they lost contact with the crew, why not a single call got out.’

’Those things must have jumped right onto the ship and started feeding. There would have been no time to react.’

A chill ran down Yu Dong’s spine as he thought about how long they had been fishing up these things.

Huang Henian’s face was ashen.

"It’s all my fault... I was the one who kept fishing up those zombies. This all happened because of me. I have to take responsibility. I got Sister Ying killed... I got everyone killed."

Huang Zhiqiang immediately grew frantic.

"Dad! How can you say that? It’s not your fault! Who could’ve known those things could jump out of the water? We were all watching, and none of us thought anything of it. If anyone’s to blame... it’s all of us! None of us realized what they could do! It’s weird, though... why couldn’t the other ones jump?"

Yu Dong took a deep breath and patted Huang Henian’s back.

"Uncle Huang, Zhiqiang’s right. None of us took it seriously enough... Don’t blame yourself. You’ve got sharp eyes. Go up top and keep a lookout. See if any more of those things are nearby."

"Oh... Oh, right! Okay! I’ll go right now!"

Huang Henian grabbed his binoculars and headed onto the cruise ship, desperate to do something, anything, to atone.

Huang Zhiqiang watched him go, his expression pained.

"Dongzi, you’re not going to punish my dad, are you? He really didn’t mean for this to happen. None of us saw it coming..."

"We’ll deal with that later. Let’s focus on the problem at hand."

Yu Dong pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache building.

"Dr. Lin, what are the casualty numbers?"

"Sixty-two people died from zombie bites or were put down after turning. Nine died during Officer Wang’s suppressive fire. Three are critically injured, and a few others have minor injuries."

This one zombie ambush had cost them seventy-one lives.

They had almost lost an entire combat team.

Among the dead were many people Yu Dong knew, including Grandma Wang Xiuying, a teammate of his from his past life.

Although she rarely took part in the team’s operations, Yu Dong and the others knew she was a responsible person.

She had a sharp tongue, but if she saw someone struggling with a task, she couldn’t help but step in and do it herself.

She had been helping the team re-establish production, bringing them hope for the future.

Yu Dong looked toward the greenhouse area. In a cage, six white rabbits were energetically mating.

The hellscape outside did nothing to quell their primal urges.

These were the little animals Wang Xiuying had been so focused on lately. She’d said she wanted to create a rabbit farm for everyone on the cruise ship. She’d even planned to start growing greens for them at B Port next spring...

But she would never see that day.

Just then, a small, brown Teddy ran out from the container that housed the rabbits. It looked around, confused, then picked up a scent and trotted over to the pile of corpses.

Wang Xiuying’s body was already buried in the pile.

From amidst the pile, the little dog recognized Grandma Wang’s calloused hands. It bit down on her sleeve, trying to drag her body out.

But it was too small, its strength not nearly enough.

Finally, with a few soft whimpers, it curled up and lay on Grandma Wang’s palm, trying to warm her cold hand with its own small body...

Yu Dong’s eyes welled with tears.

"Grandma Wang... I’ll take care of your son for you."

Amidst his grief, Yu Dong began to understand why Wang Dingbei was in his room, drinking alone.

’A police officer had shot and killed nine uninfected civilians in public.’

’Yu Dong couldn’t even imagine the psychological pressure Wang Dingbei must have been under when he opened fire.’

’But back then, if Wang Dingbei hadn’t done it, far more than seventy-one people would have died...’

’The entire cruise ship might have fallen!’

"Youcai, Huang, stay here and help. I’m going to check on Wang..."

’Wang needs me right now.’

Huang Zhiqiang said, "Yeah, go ahead."

Zhao Youcai said nothing, but the look in his eyes as he watched Yu Dong board the ship was particularly profound.

’He was gradually realizing that this incident... might not be entirely a bad thing.’

"Huang, you keep an eye on things here. I have some business to attend to. Sun Yu, with me."

"Ah..."

After Yu Dong was aboard, Zhao Youcai also boarded with several of his trusted men.

...

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

"Officer Wang, I’m back."

The man who opened the door, Wang Dingbei, had shed his usual, favorite police uniform. He was dressed in baggy pajamas and reeked of alcohol, his spirit clearly broken.

He was a completely different man from the one Yu Dong had left behind.

"Have a seat."

Wang Dingbei’s room was plain, a far cry from Yu Dong’s ’Starlight Suite,’ and was the same standard cabin most survivors occupied.

Yu Dong sat on the cramped little sofa and got straight to the point.

"Wang, you did the right thing. Don’t dwell on it. Necessary sacrifices are made so that more people can survive... Remember what I told you about the military in my past life? They weren’t as decisive as you, and because of that, many, many more people died."

Wang Dingbei took a drink, a bitter expression on his face.

"Yu Dong, you think I don’t understand that? It’s just... after I did it, I looked at those nine people on the ground. Some of them were still breathing... the way they looked at me... Can you imagine that look? I can’t stand it."

"You had no choice..."

"I’m a cop. I never thought I’d point my gun at the very people who trusted me. Yesterday, they were laughing and talking with me... Today, I shot them dead. I know they were just scared, just trying to survive, but I still pulled the trigger. I sacrificed the few for the sake of the many."

"Wang, stop thinking about it! All you need to know is that you did the right thing, and we all support you! The people can see the truth. I’m sure they’ll understand in the end."

Wang Dingbei looked at Yu Dong’s earnest face and sighed heavily.

"Yu Dong, I was the one who was always teaching you about using evidence to convict someone, about how trials for the guilty must be just and fair, that we can’t just kill people wantonly. And now, I..."

"Even though there were extenuating circumstances, the facts are the facts. I won’t run from it. There was a security failure on my watch that led to a massive outbreak in the base. And I shot and killed nine civilians. The facts are clear, and the evidence is undeniable."

"This time, it’s your turn to judge me."