Chapter 237 - 221: The Corpse Tide Didn’t Come, the Harsh Winter Arrived

Chapter 237: Chapter 221: The Corpse Tide Didn’t Come, the Harsh Winter Arrived

All the survivor settlements near Binhai Avenue spent a nerve-wracking night.

The cruise ship base had warned them that a massive zombie horde might appear during the night, telling them to pack their things and be ready to flee to the ship at a moment’s notice.

Despite the multitude of settlements, each filled with capable people, not a single one truly had the ability to withstand a zombie horde.

They all had to come to the cruise ship.

The closest settlement to the Urban Area was the Olympic Sports Center Settlement. It housed over a hundred people, who had taken turns keeping watch all night. They saw no unusual activity, just the same as always...

Song Jinchuan and his people had kept their vehicles running all night, loaded with all their best supplies, but the call never came.

Ji Luo’s group was farther away. They had reinforced their research institute again and again. They had also prepared a reinforced and raised cargo ship of their own. If the zombies headed for their rural area, they would take refuge at sea, rendezvous with Yu Dong’s group, and board the cruise ship.

Most importantly, they had an extremely dangerous, muscular, mutated zombie at their base. They planned to kill it and burn the body before they left.

Meng Dongqing hadn’t slept a wink, spending the entire night conducting experiments with her team.

"Professor Meng, it seems the horde isn’t coming. You should get some rest..."

"There’s no time to rest. This zombie is of immense research value. Its viral sample is different; its lethality is significantly lower. Our first inactivated vaccine might be created from the strain extracted from it... If this specimen dies, our progress will be set back to square one."

Meng Dongqing had been researching inactivated viral vaccines for a long time.

But whether she extracted and cultivated strains from common zombies, climbing zombies, or bloated zombies, none had yielded an effective inactivated vaccine.

They couldn’t even pass the mouse trials...

Not until Yu Dong brought her this new type of mutated zombie half a month ago. It was clearly different from the others, a completely different evolutionary path. The virus inside it had even split into another form...

With the experimental vaccine they created, the lab mice survived for several days after injection before dying... This was an unprecedented result.

This virus gave her hope for an inactivated vaccine.

The mouse trial proved they were on the right track. There were still some issues with the inactivation method and screening process for the vaccine; they hadn’t completely eliminated the activity of the S-virus.

And all of this depended on that special mutated zombie. Yu Dong had said it might be the only one in all of Yanhai City... If it were disposed of, it would be a devastating blow to her vaccine research.

She had to hurry!

It would be best if she could develop an effective inactivated vaccine before the horde arrived, even if it had only passed animal trials... Then she would have a reason to bring the zombie onto the cruise ship.

Of course, it was best if the horde didn’t come at all. The research institute had a full set of vaccine research equipment, allowing her to experiment freely. Yu Dong had even managed to find the chemical reagents she was missing.

...

Day 81 of the apocalypse was a particularly special day for Yu Dong.

It meant that he had now survived longer than he did in his past life, and his precognitive ability... had expired.

The last thing he had been able to foresee was this terrifying zombie horde.

He had gathered all the manpower and resources of the entire cruise ship to fight this battle!

Everyone on the cruise ship, along with Qiao Yunliang’s troops, had spent a tense night.

And yet... the horde didn’t come.

Qiao Yunliang rubbed his throbbing temples and said to Yu Dong, "Did the future change?"

"Yes... it changed, but that’s to be expected. The horde is in the city. It could come a day early or a day late. We can’t let our guard down. It could be tonight or tomorrow night... It’s bound to come eventually."

Qiao Yunliang nodded. "Starting today, I’ll have my men rest in shifts, ready to face the horde at any time."

"Yes, we’ll do the same."

Although the horde hadn’t arrived, Yu Dong felt a strong sense of crisis. They absolutely could not relax. They had killed many zombies, but it was still just a small fraction of the total in Yanhai City.

The true horde in the core Urban Area had always been there, a force so massive it was terrifying.

Once a horde of that size arrived, their corpse pits would be filled in an instant, and it would then submerge one building after another...

Even after all this time, Yu Dong still remembered the terrifying horde from that final night in his past life.

They couldn’t relax!

They had to face this horde in peak condition.

At Yu Dong’s strong insistence, the cruise ship remained on high alert. All production work was halted, the combat and logistics teams no longer went out, and the military rested and recuperated on board.

The Olympic Sports Center Base, closest to the Urban Area, continued to monitor the city. Yu Dong required them to report their status every twelve hours.

Lin Mo disseminated the news of the impending horde to all the survivors on the cruise ship through internal channels.

Under the pressure of this life-or-death situation, the cruise ship’s inhabitants were more united than ever, everyone doing what they could to contribute.

The combat team and the military no longer had time to squabble over their previous disputes.

With their survival uncertain and their home on the brink of destruction, no one cared about who had better discipline. The priority was to live; they could talk about the rest later.

...

Time passed, day by day...

In the blink of an eye, it was Day 90 of the apocalypse.

Ten days had passed since the date of the horde that Yu Dong had "predicted."

There was still no movement from the city, and problems were beginning to crop up everywhere internally.

Lin Mo looked at the various tasks piling up. She knew they couldn’t go on like this.

The horde hadn’t come, but the cruise ship was about to collapse under the strain!

"Yu Dong, we need to hold a senior leadership meeting on the ship right now. Our situation is not looking good..."

Lin Mo convened this meeting. The leaders and deputy leaders of the cruise ship’s six major teams—twelve people in total—attended, along with three military representatives.

After ten days of being on high alert, everyone on the cruise ship was clearly in poor shape.

Although there had been no battle, the taut nerves and oppressive atmosphere had left everyone exhausted.

The seating arrangement this time was noticeably different from before.

Yu Dong and Lin Mo sat on one side, while Qiao Yunliang, Advisor Li, and Zheng Zhonghu sat on the other.

Seated below them were the leaders and deputy leaders of the six teams, as well as Wang Dingbei, a member of the original leadership group who had been specially invited to attend.

The head of the Business Team, Qiao Ping, was absent as she had just given birth, so Lin Zhixue was attending in her place.

"Since everyone is here, I’ll begin. Today, I need to report to you all on the current logistical situation of our cruise ship."

Lin Mo took out her pages of reports.

They contained everything about the cruise ship. Only she, the grand steward, knew the full details; Yu Dong only had a general idea.

When it came to the ship’s logistics, Yu Dong had great faith in Lin Mo.

Just as he had trusted Qiao Ping in his past life.

"We are facing major problems with our cruise ship’s hull, inventory, and economy."

"Winter has arrived. The temperature this year is much lower than in previous years. It’s only the end of December, but the nighttime temperature has already dropped to minus twenty degrees. That’s much colder than usual. We’re in for a harsh winter, as I’m sure you’ve all noticed, right?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Most of the people here were from Yanhai City. In previous years, the lowest temperature at the end of December would be around minus ten degrees, and it would be above freezing during the day. This year was clearly much colder.

The ice outside no longer melted even during the day.

Yu Dong had known this would happen. In his past life, he had already felt the intense cold by Day 80 of the apocalypse.

"Thanks to our large stockpile of heavy fuel oil, the ship’s heating is currently stable. We also have enough coal in the lower decks for warmth. Most people haven’t felt the effects, so that part is manageable. However, this harsh winter poses a very significant danger to our cruise ship."

"I’d like to ask Team Leader Chen of the Ship Affairs Team to come up and give his report."

Chen Guangzong understood the situation. He had now fully integrated into Yu Dong’s group. The cruise ship’s crew was very cooperative, and he even considered himself one of the founding stakeholders.

He walked up, gave everyone a dry chuckle, and then began to speak:

"Anyone who used to work around here would know... this cruise ship never comes to Huangyang Port in the winter. It’s too cold here. Both navigation and maintenance become major challenges. It usually only sails in warmer regions, like the southern cities or abroad."

"This is the ship’s first time spending a long winter in a port with temperatures of minus twenty degrees... We’re facing more problems than we anticipated. Our engine room crew has been constantly repairing various issues caused by the low temperatures—pipes, generators, boilers... it’s all very troublesome, and it’s only going to continue."

"But that’s not the critical issue. The critical issue is... the port is freezing over. We’ve been taking out small boats every day to clear the ice, trying to prevent the propellers and rudder from getting stuck in thick ice when we need to set sail."

"But as the temperature continues to drop, the widespread freezing of the surrounding seawater is inevitable. Gradually... our cruise ship will be frozen solid in the port, unable to move."

"In other words, as the low temperatures persist, we are about to lose our ability to navigate. Or rather... even if we could force our way out now, we would face numerous threats from floating ice in the sea. We absolutely wouldn’t be able to go wherever we want. It would be risky."

"Finally, our Ship Affairs Team has had too many malfunctions to repair lately. We need to recruit more technicians. I’ll leave the arrangements to the leadership."

Chen Guangzong’s words caused an uproar!

The cruise ship would soon be unable to sail!

But the horde hadn’t even arrived yet!

If the horde came and they couldn’t leave... A Port was surrounded by the sea on three sides. They would have nowhere to run!

This was the worst possible news!

Lin Mo had actually wanted to tell Yu Dong this twelve days ago, but she didn’t want to shake everyone’s resolve. She had planned to bring it up after they dealt with the horde, so she kept it to herself.

Now, they had to know... leaving wasn’t as simple as just deciding to go.