Undead

Chapter 10

Zhou Rong's worst-case scenario had finally come true. He stood on the roof of the factory, lowered his military binoculars, and gazed thoughtfully at the horizon.

The autumn sky stretched out, clear and vast.

The distant City B was in ruins, like a massive tomb between heaven and earth.

"The national shortwave communication is interrupted, the base's communication is cut off, and there's no response to the location signal we sent. It has been a whole week, and City B's military district must have fallen, yet there's been no nuclear cleansing..."

Zhou Rong murmured, "What is going on?"

A climbing sound came from behind him as someone spoke casually, "Perhaps the military districts with the ability to launch nuclear bombs have all fallen, and even the most fortified fortresses can't resist internal collapses – you know that, right?"

"Yan Hao," Zhou Rong said seriously, "if you start talking like Si Nan, I'm going to punch you, really."

Yan Hao chuckled and handed him a cigarette.

"Oh," Zhou Rong was a bit surprised. "You still have supplies?"

"People gave them to me."

"The People's Liberation Army shouldn't take anything from the people..."

"The People's Liberation Army stands guard, carries gas canisters, and eats a cigarette, that won't get me disciplined. Go ahead and smoke."

With the autumn wind blowing and the sky high and far, Zhou Rong and Yan Hao stood face to face, smoking for a while. In the courtyard in front of the factory, men were busy installing barbed wire, women were feeding chickens and planting vegetables, occasionally chatting.

Zhou Rong flicked the cigarette ash and said, "Once the defensive construction is done in a few days, I will go to City B military district alone to investigate. You guys wait for my message."

Yan Hao immediately frowned, "Are you crazy? Do you know how big City B is? How are you going to get a helicopter?"

"..."

"If City B military district has fallen, there will be tens of thousands of zombies crammed into the shelters. Do you want to risk your life to find out? What's the point?"

Zhou Rong held a cigarette between his fingers and stroked his chin, taking a long time to say, "I find it a bit strange. How did this virus originate, how will it develop, and why did City B's well-fortified military district fall? Tell me there wasn't a strict epidemic quarantine procedure in the shelter is something I don't believe. But if every survivor entering the shelter went through quarantine, why did the virus still break out from within?"

"Unless," Zhou Rong said in a deep voice, "the virus mutated and evaded the known quarantine methods, just like those nurses in City T who got infected without being bitten."

Yan Hao suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

Zhou Rong continued, "From a broader perspective, we are the top special forces team in the entire North China region, the most formidable, with the highest level of secrecy. We are also currently the closest team to City B. If even we hesitate to act, no one will ever know what happened to City B's military district."

"From a smaller perspective, if we don't figure out the direction of the virus mutation, our small shelter won't be able to sustain for long. It's not safe to hunker down in a corner when the entire nest is overturned. We are so close to City B, how can we just stay put?"

Yan Hao remained silent for a long time and finally admitted, "You make a good point."

Zhou Rong shrugged gentlemanly and extinguished the cigarette butt.