Chapter 270 - 242: The Last Bullet

Chapter 270: Chapter 242: The Last Bullet

Besides, his failure to woo Lin Zhixue wasn’t because he wasn’t good enough. No one else had succeeded with her either. A cold goddess like Lin Zhixue simply wasn’t interested in playing games with men.

Day 129 of the apocalypse. Nine days until the New Year.

Some things you either do zero times or countless times.

Once you break through a psychological barrier, you start to see many things for what they truly are.

Yu Dong had realized... he would never be the same person again. He had been the one limiting himself all along. The labels of "good leader" and "good man" were just frameworks he had built for himself based on the values of the old world.

They weren’t what he truly wanted.

What he wanted was to save the world and to love the ones he loved.

Today, Yu Dong temporarily set aside his work and went to find Liu Ye’ye.

"Ye Ye, I’ve been running away from this. I always wanted to put off dealing with my feelings... but I don’t want to hesitate anymore. We’ve been through so much together. Nothing can tear us apart, and we shouldn’t have any regrets in this life. I like you. Can I hold you?"

’To hell with being a "good man"! Who knows if we’ll even survive? Why should I make myself and the person I love suffer?’

Perhaps ever since he decided to support Professor Meng’s experiments, he had already learned to let go of what other people thought.

Before Liu Ye’ye died in his past life, she had said that if she had to die... he had to be holding her.

Yu Dong didn’t want her to be alone anymore!

Liu Ye’ye looked at the sincere Yu Dong, biting her lip hard.

"Senior... if only you had said this before you got together with Sister Xinyi, I would have been so, so, so happy. But now..."

"I just think you’re shameless."

Liu Ye’ye turned and walked away, leaving a stunned Yu Dong behind.

...

Day 135 of the apocalypse. Three days until the Spring Festival.

The weather cleared up today, and the temperature rose slightly.

Although things had been difficult for the cruise ship base recently, it was just as Qiao Yunliang had said: they weren’t at the breaking point yet.

The people of the Dragon Country could endure as long as they had food to eat and a warm place to live.

The key was that everyone was in the same boat, weathering the storm together.

To alleviate the recent anxious atmosphere on the cruise ship, Lin Mo organized people to tidy up the warehouse. They dug out a lot of stickers and decorations and went outside to find some lanterns and candles.

They began decorating the ship, giving the crowded vessel a hint of New Year’s cheer.

"Just a little longer... We’re almost through this harsh winter."

Lin Mo muttered to herself as she looked at the cruise ship base.

The cruise ship base had survived this abnormally cold winter by relying on its large fuel reserves and the granaries at Bing Port.

No one talked about quality of life anymore. Huddling together for warmth and just staying alive was enough.

Once spring arrived and the ice thawed, there would be fish to eat, and they could start farming on a large scale.

Inspired by Lin Mo, everyone began preparing for the first New Year of the apocalypse.

Qiao Yunliang’s team still went out on missions every day, but they hadn’t found any trace of Cai Hong recently. He had vanished into the zombie horde.

The horde in the city was too large, and the mutation rate was extremely high. Even with all their preparations, Qiao Yunliang wasn’t confident they could take it on.

The cruise ship couldn’t move right now, so there was no need to provoke the horde. Qiao Yunliang planned to lay low and wait things out a little longer.

"Today, take some men to the dried goods wholesale market in the North River District. Find some dried vegetables. We can soak them later and have them with our canned meat... The New Year is almost here. We have to at least make everyone a meal of dumplings."

Qiao Yunliang instructed his subordinates.

For Northerners, the New Year isn’t complete without dumplings.

No matter how difficult it was, he had to make sure the 3,700 people on the cruise ship got to eat them for the New Year.

These past few days, Yu Dong had finished everything he wanted to do and was now focused on practicing the great spear with Yu Chengfei. Occasionally, he would also borrow a gun from the military to practice his marksmanship. Qiao Yunliang didn’t give him a hard time about it, but there was a condition: someone had to be assigned to watch Yu Dong practice, and the gun had to be returned immediately after.

Yu Dong and his people were not allowed to carry firearms.

Other than that, Qiao Yunliang didn’t cause any more trouble for Yu Dong or his people. He simply led the cruise ship and the survivors of Yanhai City forward according to his own principles.

Having trusted Qiao Yunliang this one last time, Yu Dong was not disappointed.

By now, Yu Dong had learned from experience: you couldn’t trust everything Qiao Yunliang said, but his public announcements could be taken at face value.

’Maybe when spring comes, Qiao really can call in the Wilderness Battle Corps... and that will solve the problem.’

Although the zombies in the city were evolving faster and there were many mutated ones, the harsh winter had also frozen a considerable number of them to death. The survivors’ movements weren’t as vigorous as before, and as long as the military didn’t disturb them, both sides were temporarily leaving each other alone.

All they had to do was wait for the heavy firepower to arrive and start blasting.

...

Day 138 of the apocalypse. New Year’s Eve.

"To celebrate the arrival of the New Year, the cruise ship will have power all night long!"

"To celebrate everyone’s first New Year in the apocalypse, each person can receive a red envelope of 100 points from the cruise ship today!"

"At 8 p.m., there will be a variety show in the grand conference hall. Seating is first come, first served."

"Don’t worry if you can’t get a seat. The movie theater will be open for free tonight, with popcorn and drinks at half price!"

"And of course, there’s the traditional activity: everyone making dumplings together!"

Qiao Yunliang’s voice came over the ship’s broadcast, sparking wave after wave of cheers across the vessel.

The people of the Dragon Country had always taken the New Year very seriously.

Especially now, during the first New Year after the apocalypse, those who had survived... had even more reason to celebrate.

Yu Dong, Huang Zhiqiang, Yan Yikai, Zhao Wenjie, and the other core team members gathered in Yu Dong’s Starlight Suite. The table was covered with canned goods and packaged food, and each person held a drink.