Chapter 233 - 217: Arriving at the Ammunition Depot

Chapter 233: Chapter 217: Arriving at the Ammunition Depot

Layers of coal were laid in the corpse pit by dump trucks, mixed with various flammable materials and industrial blowers that could be activated at any time.

The place could be turned into a 1,000-degree incinerator at a moment’s notice, ready to burn any zombies that fell inside to ash.

"Yu Dong, did you know that Huangyang Port is the largest coal port in the north? They even have dedicated coal trains. When I was young, public safety wasn’t as good as it is now. People were always trying to steal coal, so we used to stand guard at the coal train station... Heh, so many years have passed in the blink of an eye. Who would have thought that in the apocalypse, the coal from Huangyang Port would prove so useful again."

Qiao Yunliang looked back on the past, feeling quite emotional.

"The coal reserves at D Port are truly insane. We don’t have to feel bad about using it to burn zombies."

Coal could be used freely, but oil was another story.

The cruise ship base was currently running on the fuel from B Port’s oil depot, the cruise ship’s own reserves, and the oil they had stockpiled earlier.

Even in the apocalypse, oil remained the key to their survival.

Generating electricity, producing heat, chemical manufacturing... none of it was possible without oil.

Qiao Yunliang watched the master strategist Yu Dong. This kind of large-scale fortification for dealing with a zombie horde wasn’t actually that complex. The key was the concept. As long as the idea was sound and one had the courage to think big and act decisively, you could handle a horde even without firearms.

In contrast, the few smaller hordes they had dealt with before were defeated by brute force, relying on suppressive fire. Even though most of their guns were small arms, a smaller horde couldn’t withstand such a downpour of bullets.

He silently committed Yu Dong’s methods for dealing with zombies to memory, digesting and learning his techniques.

BZZZZZ~

The drone team took flight!

ROAR!!!

ROAR!!!

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

The drones, baited with live fish and sound, lured the tourist zombies blocking the road along their designated path and into the corpse pit. Then, they lit the fire... BOOM!

Flames soared and black smoke billowed.

Everyone watched the scene from two kilometers away from the zombie horde fortifications, perfectly safe.

"It worked! The horde was lured in!"

Qiao Yunliang and his men were thrilled as they watched, but Yu Dong felt a slight sense of worry.

Today was the 72nd day of the apocalypse. In his past life, the massive horde that had swept through the entire city arrived late on the night of the 80th day. If the horde in this life was on the same schedule, their time was running out.

’We have to fight our way through Binhai Avenue in the North River District from here within eight days, then head north for five kilometers to reach the military sub-district and secure the armory.’

Moreover, the military was now extremely low on ammunition. They were under orders not to open fire unless they were in immediate danger. Qiao Yunliang had already made them all switch to using spears.

All the spears in Yu Dong’s warehouse had been taken. To make up for the shortfall, Ji Luo’s carpenters had handcrafted more. They had a timber farm with plenty of high-quality wood, as well as a small wood processing factory, so churning out some polearms was easy.

Following Yu Chengfei’s advice, the newly crafted weapons were all three-meter-long pikes, which were safer and more powerful for stabbing zombies.

The soldiers’ generally superior physical conditioning allowed them to handle such weapons.

But this also meant that Yu Dong’s group had temporarily lost the military’s firepower and could only rely on their old methods to advance.

The great fire burned for an entire day before the horde was more or less dealt with.

「Early the next morning.」

"Combat team, advance!"

"Logistics team, quickly clean out the incinerator pit, get it back in working order, and prepare for the next horde."

Yu Dong directed the two teams to move quickly.

Qiao Yunliang also commanded his soldiers, "Move out with the cruise ship’s combat team!"

Although there had been some friction and awkwardness between them recently, there was no time for that once the fighting started. Killing zombies came first!

The soldiers and the combat team charged forward.

Stray zombies on the road were quickly dealt with.

"Logistics team, clean up the battlefield and bring the vehicles over!"

Time waited for no one. Yu Dong left the rear to the logistics team and charged ahead with his people.

They still needed to advance another 10 kilometers along Binhai Avenue to reach the spot Qiao Yunliang had mentioned for turning north.

The logistics team had expanded to nearly 200 people. With a fleet of large and small vehicles, they threw all the zombie corpses from Binhai Avenue and the surrounding area into the incinerator pit to be burned, rapidly clearing the area.

They had to ensure the route remained clear.

Another team, separate from the main force, also arrived today: Gao Yan’s Ranger Corps.

The nine of them, map in hand, came to the side of the new anti-horde fortifications and looked toward a nearby country road.

"Our target is this village. Let’s go. We’ll check out their pig and chicken farms."

They had discovered that the cruise ship was paying extremely high prices for live animals!

A single small rabbit could sell for 200 points.

This was a special points policy Lin Mo had implemented to restore animal husbandry, but very few people ever arrived with live animals in tow.

Gao Yan planned to go into the village, catch some live chickens and pigs, and get rich quick, completing his team’s initial capital accumulation.

These minor matters were not the concern of the main force. They were focused on the grand strategy.

The Ranger team, however, didn’t have to worry about such things. They fought for gold coins (chips).

BZZZZZ~

On the battlefield ahead, drones flew rapidly, speeding up the process of luring zombies. The military had also borrowed several drones from Yu Dong, which were operated by soldiers on their team who already knew how to fly them.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Molotov cocktails rained down as if they were free, covering the zombie groups in a blanket of fire.

Everywhere they went was filled with flaming zombies running around in chaos.

Occasionally, the fighters would get hit and take some damage.

This accelerated push, ordered by Yu Dong, also led to a much higher injury rate for the team. Fortunately, everyone had armor, so there were no fatalities.

Yu Dong even brought the cruise ship’s 30 newly trained reservists to the battlefield!

He also gave them his last 20 Python Compound Crossbows. Although they were single-shot, 20 crossbows still provided a significant boost in firepower.

These were the last of Yu Dong’s reserves. All that was left in the warehouse were two high-draw-weight Medusa 450 compound crossbows. They weren’t very efficient and used a hand crank to draw, making them even slower. He left them at the base as backups.

The 30 men and 20 crossbows gave their clearing speed a small boost!

Whenever they encountered a small horde, they would lure it into the anti-horde fortifications.

The group advanced rapidly!

In the blink of an eye, the fires had been burning for five days!

During this time, thanks to Zhao Youcai’s supervision, the combat team’s discipline had improved significantly, and they hadn’t given the military any more cause for complaint.

...

「Day 77 of the apocalypse.」

Yu Dong and Qiao Yunliang led their people and successfully passed through the 10-kilometer-long, densely tourist-populated area, arriving at Liu Village Port.

This was a strategic point Qiao Yunliang had marked.

"If it weren’t for those floating things in the sea, we could have reached this place long ago and made a beeline for the armory..."

Unfortunately, Yu Dong still didn’t have a good method for clearing the bloated zombies floating in the sea. He could only lure the ones in the shallows to be killed; the deep sea was still too dangerous.

’Three days left... no, actually, only two days. Are we going to make it in time?’

As the day of the horde drew closer, Yu Dong grew increasingly anxious.

The 80th day of the apocalypse was the day he had died in his previous life.

Now, with his death day approaching, Yu Dong felt like so many things were still not in place. He needed to prepare so much more...

’The city defenses need to be strengthened. Should I have them dig another moat?’

’Is the silent quarantine zone too narrow? Should we push it out further?’

’Are the cruise ship’s supplies enough? If we really can’t win, how many days can we survive if we sail out to sea?’

He was always worrying...

Qiao Yunliang could also tell that Yu Dong had become noticeably more anxious recently.

"Don’t worry. This route is one our troops use for training marches. It’s all in the mountains where there are very few people. If everything goes smoothly, we can cover these five kilometers quickly. We’ll be able to load up the ammunition and guns and head back today."

The price for taking this shortcut was that their large vehicles couldn’t get through.

So, the shared-bike brigade set off, their destination: the military sub-district’s armory!

As it turned out, it wasn’t that there were few zombies in the mountains... there were none.

Occasionally, they saw a zombie corpse or two lying by the roadside, already badly decomposed.

Without a single fight, at noon on the 77th day of the apocalypse, the group reached the mountains near the military sub-district’s armory.