Chapter 267 - 242: The Last Bullet

Chapter 267: Chapter 242: The Last Bullet

So, scattering the survivors across different bases had been a decent compromise up until now.

Now, nowhere outside was safe anymore.

And all because they’d let Cai Hong escape!

Yu Dong decided he needed to go have a talk with Qiao Yunliang.

When he arrived at Qiao Yunliang’s office, he was met with a thick wave of smoke.

Qiao Yunliang put down the lit cigarette in his hand and rubbed his tired, scratchy eyes.

"Oh, it’s Yu Dong. Come on, have a seat."

Qiao Yunliang pointed to the sofa beside his desk, then personally went to brew a cup of tea for Yu Dong.

"You don’t look like you’ve been sleeping well lately... Have some tea. Strong tea is great for waking you up."

Watching Qiao Yunliang casually brew tea and chat, acting as if everything was perfectly fine, Yu Dong sighed.

He just couldn’t be like Qiao Yunliang, pretending as if nothing had happened.

"Qiao, I’m not going to beat around the bush. I want to know what you’re going to do about Cai Hong. It’s been two weeks since he escaped the research institute, and you still haven’t caught him."

"Our men... they can’t catch him. He just has to dive into a horde of zombies in the city, and we can’t follow. Right now, all we can do is wait... wait for him to come out, and then we’ll take him down from a distance."

"And what if he never comes out? You know as well as I do that the number of mutated zombies is increasing. They’re getting harder and harder to fight. Life on the cruise ship is getting tougher by the day. No one dares to go out for supplies anymore. If this keeps up, we might collapse on our own before the zombies even get to us. Time is not on our side."

"If there’s no opportunity, then we can only wait, conserve our strength, and build it up. Panicking... what good would that do?" Qiao Yunliang took a deep drag of his cigarette, the weight on his mind seeming to pour out with the white smoke he exhaled through his nose.

"On the cruise ship, at least we can eat our fill of steamed buns and pickles, and we have heating. We’re still a long way from collapsing. For now, everyone just has to endure the hardship so we can get through this together. Besides... time isn’t necessarily against us. Once the Wilderness Battle Corps arrives, we can launch a counterattack. What kind of mutated zombie can withstand a direct hit from a main battle tank?"

"When will they get to Yanhai City?" Yu Dong was skeptical this would actually happen.

"If there are no surprises... they should be here next month, after spring begins."

"Their journey might not be smooth, and we might not be able to hold out that long... We have to rely on ourselves!"

Yu Dong sighed. This was a lesson from his second life: it was better to save yourself than to wait for others to rescue you.

In his last life, he hadn’t made it long enough to be rescued by Qiao. In this life, could Qiao really hold out for the Wilderness Battle Corps’ rescue?

"We’re also actively preparing for battle. Don’t worry."

These past few days, Qiao Yunliang had been busy discussing how to deal with the zombies with his subordinates, creating numerous strategic plans and barely taking any time to rest.

Yu Dong nodded. Seeing that Qiao was genuinely working hard, he felt a little better. If Qiao had been neglecting his duties and instead was fixated on him and his people... then Yu Dong would have truly misjudged the man.

"Qiao, I came to see you today about something else, too."

"Go on."

"Give me a key that will allow me to earn your trust in the next life. I need two things from you: one, an unalterable, objective fact about you, and two, a private secret you would never reveal to anyone."

Yu Dong felt that Ji Luo’s Triple Key method was more scientific, and that it would greatly increase his chances of success.

Qiao Yunliang looked at Yu Dong, contemplating for a moment.

"Although I don’t believe that another Qiao Yunliang you meet in the future would still be me... if you need it, I can give it to you. To help facilitate a partnership between you and the Qiao Yunliang of another world..."

The two of them discussed it for a while and settled on two good keys. Combined with Yu Dong’s ability to predict the results of two drawings for the Double-Color Ball lottery, the Triple Key was complete.

After getting his answers, Yu Dong gave Qiao Yunliang a long, deep look before walking out of the smoke-filled office.

’Qiao, if there really is a next life, don’t think things will be this comfortable for you...’

Just as Yu Dong pushed the door open to leave, he saw Zhou Jian Country.

"Hey? Yu Dong, good, you’re here. Come on, put in a good word for me."

"Huh? What for?"

"I need to make a trip back to the Capital Laboratory! I’ve told you several times, and I’ve told Commander Qiao several times, but no one is making it happen!"

Now that he mentioned it, Yu Dong did remember Zhou telling him about this a long time ago. It was just that he hadn’t been in any position to help... so the matter had been put on hold.

It wasn’t until after Qiao Yunliang took charge that things changed. He needed Zhou’s chemical engineering research and had Zhou work for him, so he promised that once they found a helicopter, he would have a pilot take him back to Kyoto.

"Zhou, why are you so determined to go back to Kyoto? With the population density over there... I’m afraid very few people could have survived. Do you really have to go?"

"Because the world has undergone such a massive change, this might be our chance to observe that four-dimensional particle."

"But isn’t that something your physicist colleagues should be doing? Would it even be useful for you to go? In a place like Kyoto... you don’t actually think your colleagues survived, do you?"

"The four-dimensional particle is an extremely special entity. When it appears, its unique gravitational force alters the structure of the surrounding airborne particles. This creates a special element wherever it appears. If this new element is present, it proves the four-dimensional particle has passed through. I can then use elemental tracking to see the path it has taken..."

Zhou didn’t care whether Yu Dong understood or not. "Anyway, this is very important. I have to go to our laboratory’s observation station and see if there has been any change in this element."

Yu Dong only half-understood. "Even if you do observe it... then what? Do you even have the resources to research it? And what good would the research do? What’s the point if we don’t eliminate the zombies first?"