Chapter 238 - 222: Will Yu Dong’s Prophesied Zombie Horde Still Come?

Chapter 238: Chapter 222: Will Yu Dong’s Prophesied Zombie Horde Still Come?

After hearing what Chen Guangzong had to say, Yu Dong finally realized that one of his planned escape routes was no longer viable.

Before the apocalypse, he had accounted for the cruise ship’s immense size, comfortable conditions, and vast stores, but he hadn’t factored in the threat the low temperatures would pose to such a large, complex vessel.

The harbor would freeze!

A cruise ship wasn’t an icebreaker; it couldn’t just leave whenever it wanted...

The fact that the zombie tide hadn’t arrived had already left Yu Dong on edge these past few days. This bad news was a fatal blow. It meant they had to adjust their strategy...

Qiao Yunliang began tapping his left foot. This was a thorny problem.

It also made him realize... he needed to find a new retreat route for the army.

Lin Mo continued, "Next, I’ll talk about our inventory and economic problems... which are just as serious."

"The cold winter has completely wiped out our previous fishing operations. We haven’t been able to catch any sea fish recently. What we’re eating now are the fish and shrimp we caught earlier and froze in cold storage, and we’re about to run out."

"We have... too many people on the cruise ship now. According to my latest count, the number of people living on board has reached 1,655. Their daily food and drink is a huge drain, and the supplies stored on the ship are basically gone... Our main source of grain now is the granary at Port C."

"Our basic supplies like rice, flour, oil, and beans are sufficient, but our reserves of meat, vegetables, and fruit are extremely low. The greenhouse’s output is limited, and we won’t be able to start harvesting the rabbits we’re raising until next summer. We can no longer... provide the same quality of meals as before. We’ll have to start putting canned and packaged food on the table."

Some supplies were already running out.

"No wonder the menu’s felt a bit off lately... Tofu pudding for breakfast, mapo tofu for lunch, and stir-fried bean sprouts for dinner. We’re just eating beans."

"We’re eating beans as our vegetables."

"The greenhouse vegetable output is just... far too little for the 1,655 of us on the ship."

"I thought we had tons of frozen beef in the warehouse? Is that all gone too?"

"We went through it so fast... If only there were fewer people, sigh."

"We’ll have to cut back, or we won’t make it."

"At least no one will starve. We have enough rice, flour, and oil. The nutrition is just a bit lacking..."

The topic of supplies, something that affected them all personally, sparked a flurry of discussion.

Yu Dong sighed softly.

"There are pros and cons to having so many people... The total amount of supplies is still too low."

Lin Mo continued, "On top of that, the cruise ship’s financial situation is very poor. The Combat and Logistics Groups have 310 members in total, all with very high pay and benefits. We’ve been paying their wages all this time, but they haven’t brought any supplies back to the ship. This continuous drain on our stores has shattered our financial balance."

"Our economy relies heavily on external scavenging by those two groups. The Ranger Squads are few and not yet operating at scale. Therefore, if the Combat and Logistics Groups stop working, our internal economy will face huge problems. We must resume work to restore a healthy economy."

"So, in response to the current situation on our cruise ship, I propose the following five points for everyone’s discussion."

"1. Temporarily stand down from the zombie tide threat and resume production for all work groups."

"2. The Combat and Logistics Groups must begin external operations. They have to find supplies to maintain our economic cycle, with a focus on finding meat and fruit, for example, at the cannery in the North River District..."

"3. Focus on restoring our livestock and expanding greenhouse production. We need to find live chickens and ducks. We have more than enough feed to raise these animals for their eggs."

"4. Downgrade the cruise ship’s dining hall service from two meat and two vegetable dishes to one meat and one vegetable dish. Increase the supply of staple foods, and revoke the à la carte privileges for the Combat and Logistics Groups. We must tighten our belts for the winter."

"5. Prepare for the fact that our cruise ship will be immobile this winter."

"That is all I wanted to discuss with everyone in today’s meeting."

A zombie tide crisis and a winter crisis were about to push the cruise ship to its breaking point.

Lin Mo couldn’t hold out any longer. They had to make a change.

Their good days were over.

They could no longer enjoy the lifestyle they once had.

The apocalyptic winter had already begun to slowly eat away at the cruise ship base.

At this, Qiao Yunliang added with feeling, "Our situation is the same... We don’t have enough supplies, the quality of our meals has been dropping, and we also need to go out and find more resources."

"Yu Dong, perhaps the world has undergone a unique change because of the changes we’ve made... Let’s put the matter of the zombie tide aside for now."

"Let’s focus on living well and resume clearing out zombies at our previous pace."

Yu Dong’s gaze swept over everyone below. They were all tired now; no one supported his zombie tide response plan anymore.

Ten days had passed since the date he’d given for the zombie tide, and people were gradually losing faith that it would ever come.

He could see it in their eyes.

Just then, Yu Dong was pondering a question...

Where exactly did the zombie tide go?

What triggered the zombie tide in his past life?

Why hasn’t it appeared in this life? What went wrong?

Yu Dong had been thinking about it for days and had narrowed the problem down to the most likely variable...

In this life, the army hadn’t self-destructed along with the zombie tide at the Zongshan Civilian Base.

They had left and come over to Binhai Avenue to join him.

And that might have been a critical condition for triggering the zombie tide.

’So, in this life... there won’t be that kind of zombie tide?’

Yu Dong kept thinking about this question, but he had no answer, and no one could give him one.

At this moment, even he, a Reincarnator, was lost.

He was no longer certain about the future, and the very thing he had been guarding against... had suddenly vanished.

From this point on, Yu Dong would have to rely on his own experience to move forward, not his foreknowledge.

Now, everyone was looking at Yu Dong, waiting for his decision.

Yu Dong didn’t hesitate.

"I agree with all five of the points Lin Mo made. But while we resume production, we must maintain a contingency plan for the zombie tide and be ready to return home to deal with it at a moment’s notice."

Qiao Yunliang and his men said little, clearly not intending to get involved in the cruise ship’s internal affairs. They were just here to listen in on the current situation.

Decisions made by Yu Dong and Lin Mo could be implemented directly.

After listening from below, Wang Dingbei thought about Yu Dong’s previous misjudgment of the number of zombies at the Yanhai Bank Headquarters, as well as this mistake with the zombie tide.

He gained a new understanding of a Reincarnator’s abilities...

’Even a Reincarnator isn’t omniscient. He only knows what happened in the previous timeline, not what happens in this altered one...’

’Blindly trusting a Reincarnator will lead to disaster.’

Wang Dingbei updated his "Reincarnator Benevolence Paradox" theory. A Reincarnator’s predictive ability wasn’t always effective; it needed to be viewed critically.

After the meeting, the cruise ship temporarily lifted the high alert for the zombie tide.

They began to resume daily life and production.

The cruise ship’s winter meal standards were drastically lowered, and some of the privileges for the Combat and Logistics Groups were revoked...

This caused some dissatisfaction within the Combat and Logistics Groups, but Zhao Youcai and Huang Zhiqiang both suppressed it. They knew they had to get through these hard times together.

Besides, with unlimited staple foods, it wasn’t like they would go hungry.

Once production resumed, the Combat Group, the Logistics Group, and the army began to take action.

They headed for the North River District to take the cannery—the very same factory Yu Dong used to frequent for purchases.

It had considerable reserves inside.

The troops, now supplied with ammunition and weapons, were exceptionally fierce, slaughtering zombies all along the way!

With 370 people mowing down zombies, RAT-A-TAT-TAT, Yu Dong’s Combat Group couldn’t even get a hand in.

Moreover, the army took everything from the places they cleared, not leaving a single thing for the Logistics Group.

This left the two groups trailing behind the army, eating their dust.

Zhao Youcai said, "Heh~ Still holding a grudge against us, are they?"

"Since we’re not fighting a zombie tide, I say we might as well just split up. We’ll divide everything and go our separate ways... It’s the middle of winter, and I have no desire to be out here bickering with them."

Yu Dong had also noticed that once the seeds of conflict were sown... it was hard to go back to the way things were.

That evening, Yu Dong went to find Qiao Yunliang.

"Qiao, I think it’s time for you guys to establish your own base..."