Heavy rain, day 30.
The world's low-lying corners have been largely submerged.
The continuous days of heavy rain were not only a physiological hardship for humanity but also a psychological one.
People never knew if it would continue to rain tomorrow.
They didn't know if they would even have a tomorrow.
In this apocalyptic atmosphere, pessimism continued to spread.
N City, Salvation Army, inside the factory.
Outside the factory, there were still zombies everywhere, but the people inside this tall fence looked not much different from the zombies.
In fact, from their eyes, it felt like these people were even more insane, rampant, and brutal than the zombies.
At this time, the Salvation Army had only a little over 300 people left.
Cannibalism was truly terrifying.
This heavy rain was a test of humanity and a collapse of morality.
Under the heavy rain, it was impossible to distinguish between morning and night.
Unbeknownst to anyone, the heavy rain gradually lessened, changing from a downpour to a drizzle.
In the sky, a faint ray of sunlight, like a shy maiden, quietly lifted a corner of the dark clouds, shining down upon the earth.
The heavy dark clouds also seemed to be slowly dispersed, weakened layer by layer.
The falling rain, like a fierce Northwest strongman singing of the Great East River, transformed in an instant, becoming like a gentle Jiangnan woman.
From explosive ferocity to a trickling drizzle.
It took only a little over ten minutes.
In the sky, the sunlight no longer seemed shy, becoming increasingly bold, transforming from bashfulness to a more fiery and daring presence, freely casting its light into every corner.
That ray of sunlight was a fiery red, hanging in the West.
It was already dusk.
The setting sun, red as blood, shone on the base's wall, where the lower part of the wall was mottled.
But at the higher parts of the wall, under the continuous washing of the rain, the surface was exceptionally smooth, like a mirror, reflecting the sunlight onto the zombies below the wall.
The zombies also slowly became calm, their distorted faces illuminated by the reflected light.
Zombies disliked light and slowly retreated, surging towards the dark places in the forest, but the forest was clearly too small to accommodate so many zombies.
So, more zombies walked further away.
Everyone in the base watched as these zombies retreated like a tide; the sound of rain lessened, and the zombies' roars gradually disappeared.
All was silent. The world seemed to quiet down.
From some unknown corner, a frog croaked, followed by the chirping of an insect.
As if testing, after the sounds, they encountered no danger, so they grew bolder, and the chirping of insects and croaking of frogs became a continuous chorus.
The accumulated water on the wall slid down, dripping onto the ground, making a pitter-patter sound.
Everyone wanted to shout loudly, but seeing the retreating zombies not far away, they were afraid of attracting them back, so they suppressed their inner joy.
The zombies! They finally retreated!
They succeeded!
"Big Brother, the zombies finally retreated!" Li Hang, next to Li Yu, said to Li Yu. His face was beaming with a happy smile, and in the sunlight, his face seemed filled with golden light.
"Mm." A faint smile crossed Li Yu's lips.
To Li Yu's right was Song Min, who had applied earlier to help resist the zombies, but Li Yu told her to heal her injuries first before coming to help.
It wasn't until a few days ago, after her wounds were mostly healed, that Li Yu allowed her to come out and help. Not letting men overshadow her, Song Min killed zombies very quickly, and her strength was also extremely strong.
At this moment, Song Min was filled with even more emotion. She deeply knew how difficult it was to resist a zombie horde. Last time, she almost died in the zombie horde. And this time's zombie horde was undoubtedly unprecedentedly long-lasting, but she didn't expect that under Li Yu's leadership, relying on the power of the wall and everyone's unity, they managed to get through it with surprisingly little danger.
Furthermore, during this zombie horde, everyone got enough rest, and each person was able to fully utilize their strength. The entire organization's structure and the perfection of its systems increased everyone's internal recognition of the base.
Having resisted zombies together, especially this long zombie horde, required mutual warmth and mutual help. This undoubtedly strengthened the feelings among them.
Some people faced difficulties and endured them together.
Some people, in the midst of difficulties, slaughtered each other and devoured each other raw.
The essence of all this was nothing more than food!
This was a cruel world. If one could avoid starving to death, then one could still care about propriety and integrity, but when on the verge of starvation, the evil of human nature was infinitely magnified, pushing them to do things they could never have imagined before.
Cannibalism!
In any era, without the leadership of a great, epoch-making figure, people would find it very difficult to persevere.
More often, people disregarded empty promises and focused more on tangible benefits.
First, survival, then ideals.
The food crisis was, besides zombies, the most important factor in the apocalypse, if not the most important.
For the base, although there were many food stockpiles, there was still a lot of unhulled rice.
However, it was always necessary to plan ahead and solve this problem before the food crisis arrived.
Not only Li Yu thought of this problem; Second Uncle also thought of it.
He walked over from the wall and said to Li Yu, "Yu Zai, we should be planting late rice now. It's June, so we need to seize the farming season."
Li Yu nodded upon hearing this and said, "I was just thinking about this problem. This heavy rain dragged on for too long. Thankfully, it stopped now, otherwise it would have been too late."
Second Uncle then said, "Alright, then I'll make the arrangements. Our original 5 mu of land, and those terraced fields in the mountains, can probably all be planted. The river water is abundant and warm now, so we need to hurry."
Li Yu immediately said, "Some of the vegetables and corn we planted before were all ruined by this heavy rain, so we'll have to replant them."
Second Uncle said, "Good," and then went down from the wall. He needed to prepare in advance. He had also stockpiled some hybrid seeds before, sealed away, which could be stored for several years.
But now they were basically unobtainable, so they could only use conventional seeds and cultivate their own seedlings. These self-retained seeds did not have the yield of hybrid seeds, but they were carefully selected, and their purity was still quite good.
Moreover, many of the seeds chosen were original strains, not second-generation seeds, and these original strains could maintain a certain purity up to the third generation.
Farming was a big deal. Second Uncle and the others would be busy for a while. Grandpa had farmed his whole life and was most skilled at this kind of planting.
Years ago, Li Yu's father and uncle told Grandpa not to go to the fields anymore, as it was too tiring. They would give him some living expenses for retirement each month, so he could enjoy his old age.
However, the old man couldn't be persuaded and simply couldn't stop. At over 60 years old, his body was still very robust.
So, he also managed some fields, not planting as much as before. This busy life made them feel at ease and secure.
