Xin City North, 319 National Highway.
Da Zhangshu Base.
The last time Lao Xie and the others gathered for a dinner party, they were all surprised by the Big Camphor Tree in the center of the base, jokingly saying, "Let's just call this the Da Zhangshu Base."
Later, Li Yu thought about it and felt it wasn't bad, so that's what it was called.
Under the warm sun, apart from the on-duty personnel, everyone else stayed inside, either in their rooms or in the underground planting base.
Li Yu woke up early in the morning. The weather was truly cold, with temperatures around minus twenty degrees Celsius. If he didn't have to go out, he wouldn't.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh ~
In the underground gym, Li Yu, who had just run seven kilometers, got off the treadmill, wiped his sweat with a towel, and slowly took a sip of water.
"Big Brother, Second Uncle just looked for you," Li Yuan said from the stairs, facing Li Yu.
"Okay, got it." Li Yu went directly to the bathroom next to the gym and took a hot shower.
After showering, Li Yu dried his hair, put on thick clothes, from thermal underwear inside to a windbreaker, and finally a coat over it.
Wearing a black wool hat, Li Yu walked out of his home.
Today was Second Uncle's shift. Even when Second Uncle wasn't on duty, he often stayed by the main gate.
In the guard room, the door was wide open, and Li Yu brought in cold air.
Li Yu quickly closed the door: "Second Uncle, you were looking for me."
Just as he was speaking, he saw Third Uncle sitting there as well, and added, "Third Uncle."
Second Uncle stood up and moved a stool next to Li Yu for him to sit.
"Your Third Uncle and I were just talking about something today, which is Mr. Wang, who escaped from He Park previously," Second Uncle said.
"Hmm, I know. There's nothing we can do, Mr. Wang ran too fast. It's so cold now, we can't really go out and look for him," Li Yu said after thinking.
Second Uncle nodded. He continued, "Yes, I was just talking to your Third Uncle about this. Your Third Uncle said that at the time, they were clearly about to find Mr. Wang, but then a bunch of zombies appeared, and they had to retreat."
"Your Third Uncle's idea is to go back there and look again after a while. If there's a hidden danger, I believe you're also uncomfortable," Second Uncle said with a sigh.
Li Yu's expression was also not good. Mr. Wang was like a fishbone stuck in his throat. To be able to prepare for escape in advance, to be so cautious and plan so thoroughly, showed that Mr. Wang was an extremely difficult person to deal with.
Moreover, Mr. Wang probably knew their approximate location. Now, with them being in the open and him hidden, this feeling made everyone very uncomfortable.
"Hmm, I've thought about this too, but the weather is so cold now, Third Uncle, it's still too dangerous for you to go out," Li Yu said with a sigh.
Since December began, the temperature, like in November, has continued to drop, reaching minus 25 degrees Celsius now, and even exceeding minus thirty degrees at night.
Once the temperature reaches minus 35 degrees Celsius, ordinary cars are prone to freezing and cannot be started without preheating.
Furthermore, the distance is so far, hundreds of kilometers, a long journey, and after so much time, finding this person is like looking for a needle in a haystack, requiring a lot of effort.
Second Uncle also said, "I was just trying to persuade your Third Uncle as well. In such cold weather, over such a long distance, and after so much time, there's really no need to go looking now. It's better to wait until the weather gets warmer and then see. But it's also uncertain, it's already been so long."
Li Yu let out a long sigh: "Then let's wait and see. For now, we still need to strengthen ourselves."
Since the addition of Lao Xie and others, their overall strength has greatly increased, plus they have so many firearms and ammunition.
However, facing various unknown threats still sounded an alarm in Li Yu's mind.
The base has grown from an initial twenty-something people and a few guns to over ninety people now, with more than eighty people capable of fighting with firearms.
In Li Yu's memory, even in the apocalypse a few years later, this would already be considered a medium to small-sized team, and with all of them armed, they were already a force not to be underestimated!
In his memory, many slightly larger forces, after experiencing several natural disasters such as heavy rain, drought, and blizzards, as well as zombie attacks, coupled with the food crisis, many large forces disbanded and scattered into small groups.
But even so, long-term planning must be done. The expansion of personnel has already reached a bottleneck, and it's not good to blindly recruit people whose backgrounds are unknown.
So, without increasing the quantity, they could only improve the quality of their personnel.
Thus, Li Yu began a new round of personnel quality improvement plans for the training base. Although the temperature is very low now, it is still very warm indoors, and there is even a specific area open for everyone to conduct combat training.
On the other side.
Eastern city outskirts.
Safe City.
Through two days of inquiries, Mr. Wang had now almost figured out the details of Safe City.
Just as the Toothless Man he met a few days ago said:
The strongest force here is Wu Jianguo, leading people who came out of the original army. Their numbers are the smallest, less than fifty people, but they have the most guns and are the most powerful!
Then there's another group of dark forces, about a hundred people, who also have twenty-something guns, and have been secretly fighting with Wu Jianguo.
There's also a group led by a corporate boss. They also have over a dozen guns and possess the most supplies, positioned between the dark forces and Wu Jianguo.
The last force, with the largest number, over a thousand people, is formed by various small groups of ordinary survivors. They huddle together for warmth, but there's some internal disharmony, and they are the weakest in strength.
Among these forces, Wu Jianguo holds control over the entire base. However, often, the dark forces led by Hua Chuanlong and Ke Hanyu sometimes conspire together, which gives Wu Jianguo a headache.
The four forces occasionally had friction, with undercurrents surging.
But it was well controlled. Although there had been a few bloodshed incidents, no large-scale conflicts or struggles occurred.
As the weakest party, the survivor alliance force often played a neglected role.
Mr. Wang had only managed to inquire about these things for now. For this information, he had spent two packs of biscuits.
"The fourth force is definitely not worth considering; it's too weak, and there's no need to join them," Mr. Wang thought.
"Although Wu Jianguo and his group are the strongest, if I join, will I have an opportunity?"
"If I join this dark force team led by Hua Chuanlong, what can I bring to them?"
"What can I use to attract them?"
At any time, if you want to gain a position or achieve a goal, you must understand what the other party wants, and then use benefits to drive them to cooperate with you, ultimately allowing the other party to get what they want while also satisfying your needs.
Mr. Wang was in his room on the second floor, deep in thought.
