Inside the brightly lit duty room.
He Xiaoya, somewhat afraid, hugged her father.
He Chao hugged her back, allowing the doctor to examine her.
Her temperature, when tested with a thermometer, was a high 40 degrees Celsius.
The little girl’s face was flushed red, and she shivered all over, constantly saying she was cold.
Yu Tong, standing nearby, handed her a scarf for warmth.
The little girl politely replied, "Thank you."
After a careful examination, Meng Yu said, "We need to bring down her high fever first. If she has such a high fever for too long, it can easily damage her brain."
He Chao also knew Meng Yu; she had been the one treating people when he was in Liberation City.
The little girl also recognized the doctor and relaxed considerably.
Meng Yu said, "He Xiaoya’s condition likely requires an IV drip. She might need to stay inside the base."
Upon hearing this, He Chao’s heart tightened. Even with immense reluctance, he prioritized his daughter’s illness. He explained to her, telling her to rest well inside while he had some matters to attend to outside.
He Xiaoya was somewhat unwilling, but under He Chao’s patient persuasion.
Although He Xiaoya was very young, surviving in the apocalypse had matured her greatly. She quickly understood her father’s good intentions and realized the immense effort and sacrifice he had made to get her in.
So, with tears in her eyes, she nodded slightly.
Before leaving, He Xiaoya’s head was somewhat muddled from the fever, but she still clutched her father’s hand and said, "Dad, I’ll wait for you inside."
Upon hearing this, He Chao, a man in his dozens, dared not look down. His reddened eyes made him try his best to keep his head up.
Farewell is always unavoidable.
Lao Xie and Lao Lü, who were present, felt a strong resonance upon seeing this scene.
They also had a daughter.
Precisely because they witnessed this scene, they were even more grateful to be able to join the base.
Although they wanted to speak up for He Chao, recalling the eventual collapse of Liberation City, they had finally found a stable and powerful base.
The fact that people couldn't just enter freely was also a good thing for them.
This meant that the base’s leaders prioritized internal stability.
Since the leaders’ perspective was for the good of the people in the base, why should they, as members of the base, object?
It was best to follow Li Yu’s arrangements.
After letting He Chao and his group in, they weren’t given additional food, as they had recently exchanged some food and were not particularly lacking for the time being.
They were given a few tents to temporarily shelter them from the rain.
And then they were not given much more attention.
Night fell.
Outside the wall, the zombies continued to roar.
The rain was incessant, and the zombies slowly gathered, growing in number.
East.
Safe City.
Old Wu stood at the main gate, watching the people inside the base continuously resist the zombies.
He then turned to the person beside him and asked, "Have you seen Captain Tao and his group return yet?"
The person beside him shook his head and replied, "No, we wanted to go out and look, but it’s been raining these past two days, and there are zombies everywhere."
Thump-thump-thump-thump~
A series of footsteps approached.
It was Hua Chuanlong, Ke Hanyu, and Lao Zhuang.
Hua Chuanlong’s face was anxious. As soon as he approached Old Wu, he said, "Old Wu, it’s been days, over a week now.
According to the journey, they should have returned by now, or at least there should be some news. Now there’s no news at all. We should send some people to check."
Old Wu glanced at him. He knew very well why Hua Chuanlong was so concerned: his younger brother had also gone to Xin City on this trip.
Although Hua Chuanlong often cursed his brother, he genuinely loved him.
At this moment, with Captain Tao and Hua Chuanxiong having been in Xin City for so long without any news, Hua Chuanlong was more anxious than anyone.
Old Wu made a calming gesture with his hand, signaling him to be patient.
Then he continued, "More than a week ago, the snow melted, the roads were wet and slippery, so their speed must have been slow, and the distance is so far.
Don’t worry, they all brought guns, and there are so many of them. Nothing serious should have happened. Let’s wait a bit longer."
Hua Chuanlong hesitated, wanting to say something more.
Old Wu added, "Among us, my worries are no less than yours.
But the urgent matter at hand is to quickly find a way to resist these zombies.
Look at this rain; it hasn’t stopped since yesterday and is still going on. The zombies are increasing. After the last zombie horde, our bullets are critically low; we have very few left."
As soon as this was said, Ke Hanyu and Hua Chuanlong frowned. This problem Old Wu mentioned was something they also faced.
Meanwhile, Lao Zhuang, upon hearing this, felt a different kind of sensation. They had the most people. Previously, under the intimidating power of those with guns, they could only pay protection fees. But now, these people were running out of bullets.
However, thinking about this, he also felt some concern. Although they had to pay protection fees before, those people had indeed protected them through successive zombie hordes.
Now.
Old Wu’s face was filled with worry. Safe City was vast, and its population was large. The more humans there were, the more zombies were attracted.
At this moment, the zombies outside the iron gate were densely packed, surrounding Safe City; within a hundred meters, it was completely filled with zombies.
Captain Tao and his group hadn’t returned, and already facing a food crisis, they were now facing a zombie horde in the rain—adding insult to injury!
Thump-thump-thump-thump~
A rapid series of footsteps approached.
Old He rushed to the front of the crowd, panting, and said, "This is bad, the West, West, the West side railing has been breached by zombies. Everyone responsible for that area just died."
Upon hearing this, everyone’s faces changed in unison.
Zombies got in?!
Old Wu quickly said, "Old Hua, Old Ke, Old Zhuang, the urgent task now is to drive the zombies out first. Otherwise, the consequences are unimaginable.
No more talking. Xiao Luo, you take thirty men—no, I’ll go myself. Xiao Luo, you stay here at the main gate and hold them off. Don’t let any more zombies in.
Old Hua, you all also send people to go together, quickly!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly looked at Lao Zhuang and remembered the several hundred civilians still in Safe City. Although they didn't have firearms, they had knives and spears.
At such a critical moment concerning Safe City’s survival, they also had to contribute!
So Old Wu said to Lao Zhuang, "Lao Zhuang, quickly go and contact everyone. Tell them to go to the West Gate to resist the zombies.
Right now, we’re all in this together. If we don’t drive the zombies out of the West Gate, we’ll all die!"
Perhaps fearing Lao Zhuang might be reluctant, his voice at the end carried a subtle hint of threat.
Lao Zhuang was also worried that Safe City might be destroyed because of this, so he immediately said, "Alright, I’ll go inform everyone now."
With that, he ran off.
Old Wu sighed after watching Lao Zhuang leave.
He then drew the gun from his waist and said to the people around him, "Let’s go, to the West Gate."
At the West Gate, a two-meter-wide section of the iron railing was damaged, presumably by something, and zombies were continuously pouring in.
On the ground, there were more than a dozen patches of red bloodstains. The zombies, like locusts, had completely devoured the people.
