novel
| ← Ch.108 | Ch.110 → |
Since the location of the accident was a long distance from the southwest base, most people on base did not see any problems since the roads needed military access. They did not get the details until the next day when Luo Xun and company went to the barracks.
Captain Guo's face was solemn as he spoke to the group."Today, we'll be temporarily transferred to the outer wall, boss's orders. We're deepening the metal foundation as far as possible. They received the news last night about the eastern base, it had been breached."
So they temporarily assigned the metal users to add to the foundation. After all, the outer walls would be in danger once other zombie animals emerged.
Everyone looked solemn, no one said anything and hurried into the truck headed towards the outer wall.
In the car, one person asked for more details from the captain."Captain, how is the eastern base?"
Captain Guo shook his head."Situation is not good, said the base door was broken... a few helicopters were mobilized, but we'll need to wait to see how many people can be rescued."
He was not clear about the specifics but knew that the eastern base wall had been destroyed. Plus people suddenly turned into zombies inside, which lead to the survivors using their last strength to block the last fortifications.
However, it was very necessary to have backup barracks built in base.
Not long after the car drove to the outer walls, the team began today's work.
They needed to directly deepen the metal walls. Yan Fei first experimented to find methods and tricks before the other metal ability users started working.
The crane followed the four, holding a lot of metal. On the side, Luo Xun and several others were responsible for protecting the ability users, block possible attacks. But the current possibility was lower since there was a newly dug moat creating a river about five meters wide.
Outside the moat, there was a newly created earthen walls along with other walls made of wooden poles. This sort of fence became the first set of defensive fortifications.
The outer fence, while not practical, could stop the zombies long enough for the defensive soldiers to respond.
The huge iron gate faced the drawbridge, if there was an emergency, the suspension bridge could be raised at any time, allowing the base to be completely isolated from the outside world. Now, two surveillance watchtowers were connected to the bridge on the other side of the moat, carefully observing the surrounding area.
Ordinary soldiers and base survivors were clueless, but the higher ups on base were clear about one thing - the last attack had used a lot of the ar craft. If this case was not too urgent, they would definitely not send out the last few helicopters left!
And if any of these helicopters were lost... without an escape, they would have to go to war.
After eating lunch, the sun was high in the sky as they climbed up the walls to continue work. The outer wall foundation was originally only three meters, for safety reasons they needed to increase it to five meters.
If there was time, it would have been better to make the foundation ten meters deep, but that would affect things like water supply and sewage systems. They would have to wait for the construction experts on base for a solution.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Luo Xun suddenly squinted into the distance and spoke in an unsure tone."Plane?"
Several black dots were in the sky to the northeast. Many other busy people stopped and looked as well. Sure enough, the sound of rumbling came after, the points became clearer - helicopter!
"Are they from the eastern base?" Luo Xun was not quite sure.
In his past life at the time of the incident, he happened to follow a team into the city for a mission. He heard that the base had dispatched helicopters and rescued some people, but the details were not clear.
Under the eyes of the crowd, the plane flew over the wall and into base. Some other people on base also noticed, they stopped and pointed into the air.
The eastern base was different from the smaller bases, in some ways, the east and southwest bases were benchmarks for the apocalypse. They were also the only safe places for survivors. Once survivors learned that the eastern base was destroyed, what would happen?
How would it be possible for a base to continue when turbulence and fear started from within? Perhaps the people on base would snap from the pressure and do something dangerous. But the base ignored the potential loss of the eastern base and rumors of a zombie siege.
After seeing the helicopters fly to the barracks, people who had been quietly worrying about rumors were circulated. The eastern base was destroyed before the military had announced any news.
Many people began to desperately contact their friends and relatives, warning them to stay on base and not leave for missions. Those with friends and family outside tried to call and send text messages.
More people were reinforcing their doors and windows in fear that someone would try to rob their homes.
Luo Xun and Yan Fei were on there way home in the afternoon when they saw a few people on the roadside fighting over a piece of broken board. Both sides were red with rage and not willing to retreat. For a few metal boards, people were willing to fight so fiercely.
The next morning, news of the destroyed eastern base was known entirely to the public. Not long after, a few survivors came in trucks along with a few helicopters. Then a succession of private cars entered through the base gates, these were independent survivors. The leaders and technical/military personnel had been sent on the military trucks and helicopters.
The southwest base feared that zombies were following behind these people, might arrive at any time.
A meeting was held at the southwest base fort with those who had escaped from the eastern base. Who had escaped from the base - how was the eastern base destroyed?
The higher ups from the eastern base were disgraced, their expressions became ugly upon seeing the asking side's confusion.
"Up until now, we did not clearly explain the matter! First, the sudden message said that people were being killed in the streets by zombies then the gate was also being attacked by a swarm of zombies! They couldn't even shut the gate!"
The southwest base people were surprised, one asked."Were there any people on the scene."
The leader of the eastern base slammed the table."Dead on the spot! When we got the news, the zombies had already reached headquarters!"
"But if we don't figure out why, the same thing will happen here sooner or later, where else can we go? Even if you want to go to the Tibet plateau, you need enough petrol. Not to mention getting out alive!" The southwest base leader also hit the table.
In terms of identity, leaders in the eastern base were generally higher than southwest base, fortunately both sides were not completely at odds. The two leaders were acquaintances and had exchanged information during the apocalypse.
But now that they were together, one side wanted to pressure the other with their background. Southwest base leaders were not afraid, why should they be? Their labor force was not smaller than them!"
"That is outrageous!" The other leaders knew that they were in southwest territory and still dared to ask this sort of thing?
But it was the apocalypse, who asked for their territory to be attacked? After the end of the world, the world was fragmented into groups similar to ancient warlord clans. Before, the southwestern base had to obey the instructions of the eastern base. But the phoenix that fell into water was inferior to a chicken, so they had to swallow their pride.
The meeting continued for more than half a day without any results. The southwest base staff could not find any information from the eastern base. They could only follow previous preparations to prevent future accidents.
The standoff lasted a full ten days, the people in the southwest base began to wonder if the zombies were full from eating the inhabitants of the eastern base. Test results marked in red were placed in front of the leaders.
"Water... a sudden increase of virus concentration in the water?" The leaders were not calm and their eyes widened.
"What's going on?"
"How can it suddenly increase?"
"Did you find anything in the water?"
The person in charge of the test explained."Water pollution suddenly increased, we cut off the water once the issue was found, how to deal with it. If the water problem cannot be quickly solved, I am afraid survivors using unclean drinking water will suddenly mutate into zombies..."
"Suddenly become a zombie?!"
"Eastern base! Eastern base!"
Due to food hygiene problems that caused people to turn into zombies, the southwest base began to strictly monitor water safety. There was only one pipe that brought water from outside the city. For safety, the base made a reservoir, all in flowing water had to be disinfected twice, sedimented and inspected before actually entering base.
With this method, the increased management and processing had decreased the water flow into the city, but not by much.
But now...
"First stop the city's entire water supply citing troubleshooting. Immediately mobilize all the water users in the army to add water to the backup tanks." One leader commanded.
Another man got up."I'll go ask the eastern base people if there was a similar situation in the city before the zombie attack."
The results of the inquiry were alarming, the eastern base had lacked drinking water treatment, they had not gone through the effort of creating a complete set of water purification devices! The southwest base had clearly told them about the issue! They had done nothing!
Those unharmed who fled to the southwest? Higher ups who drank special water supply - after water purification tablets and disinfection, the water had a smell. So those people drank water produced by water ability users. Thus they had no idea of the problems with the drinking water in the eastern base.
Few survivors were careful enough to place tablets or distill drinking water. These steps were too troublesome, who would thoroughly clean water? The average family boiled it for a while, even boiling multiple times was beyond some people's limits. If the water flowed into base... the consequences would be terrifying.
Now that the main cause of the eastern base incident was found, the problem was not terrible. What was scary however, was problems occuring internally and externally at the same time!
"Quick, man the gate! Don't let anyone in without careful investigation! Everyone has to go through inspection before being placed, open the gate for a certain number of people at a time!"
They suddenly remembered that the survivors from the east base came on large scale at once. Their base almost had the same incident!
Once the news was spread, martial law was imposed. The people who were out of town were forced to stay out of the city for the time being and wait until the alarm was lifted.
The city gate was completely closed, the entrance rules were also modified a bit. There was testing before the official registration before entering town in order to know that entrants did not have the zombie virus. After the check, a certain number of doors would open. Even vehicle inspection had become more detailed.
The metal wall team had finished the deeper foundation today. They had gone around the base and back to the gate to finish up.
From a distance, they heard noises from inside the gate, the group curiously looked over and vaguely saw some sort of dispute. Some people waiting around the gate were arguing with the military.
"What's the matter?" Luo Xun whispered as he looked over.
Captain Guo was bored so he lifted his hat."I'll go see, you continue working, the wall is almost done!" He trotted down the wall.
Did not expect this guy to enjoy gossiping.
Luo Xun and Yan Fei silently exchanged glances. Yan Fei continued working with the small mountain of metal beside him.
Not long after, the team had finally finished as Captain Guo came back with news. The team cheered - the wall was finally finished!!
Captain Guo laughed as he walked over."All finished?"
"Right? The time was much faster than before."
Although the results were underground where everyone could not see, they used the metal already there in order deepen the foundation. It was a lot quicker than the major project before.
"Captain, what's going on at the door." One soldier inquired.
"Over there?" Guo quieted everyone down since no one wanted to go in person."Martial Law..."
"Martial law? What's the matter?!" Everyone was surprised and rushed to ask.
"It's not clear what's going on, only that the gates and water supply have been temporarily closed. Everyone coming in must be checked and only let in once a certain number have reached at a time."
The group looked at each other, their minds raced. They all thought of the same possibility: that the crisis in the eastern base would be repeated in the southwest.
Since the work was done but the team did not have notice to return to base early, Captain Guo told everyone they could return home.
He turned to the couple."Keep cell phones on, if there is a situation, the military will send. I will contact you as well."
The two nodded and said goodbye before returning to their car. Luo Xun sent Li Tie a message as well. Not long after the others knew about the closed gates and temporary water shortage. However they needed more information, their superiors revealed that the southwest base might have an incident.
Without any other details, the couple could only go home. Xu Mei and Song Lingling saw them on the sidewalk."Just now the broadcast said there were issues with the water supply. Water users can create emergency water supplies, and the base is gathering the ability users."
Luo Xun looked at Song Lingling, who shook her head."I was not ready to go, caring for people, washing dishes and then creating water... I don't have enough mental strength."
Currently the two floors were using Luo Xun's purification equipment, the rest relied on Song Lingling to make clean water. It had been a while since the water on base was decreasing. Now that is not possible to use the water supply, they could only rely on Song Lingling's abilities.
Luo Xun knew that the apocalypse would occasionally have water and power outages. The situation in his past life was worse than now, problems would occur every few days. Otherwise he would not have prepared so many bottles and jars to fill with water before the end of the world.
But with the growing area in his home, water storage was not equal to consumption, no way around it.
"Get everyone to save as much drinking water as possible. Need to make sure that the vegetables at home have enough water. We'll listen to the radio and be careful while out." Luo Xun ordered.
There were two days until the zombies were supposed to attack.
The late August sky darkened over the gate. At dusk, the soldiers in the watchtower were scanning the area vigilantly. For safety reasons, some of the buildings close to base had been dismantled. Some land near the city had been restructured as farming land.
Although the mutation rate of crops outside base would be higher, there was not enough land on base to support the people. Even if zombies could appear around the fields, mutated food was better than nothing.
Of course, for safety reasons, the land was chosen where there was a reduced chance of zombies passing through.
"What's that over there?" A soldier suddenly pointed towards several figures on the road.
The other man quickly lifted a telescope."Not clear since they are wearing a hat... Wait, they're walking strangely!"
| ← Ch. 108 | Ch. 110 → |