Chapter 09

B Military District, the emergency contact room.

“The a.n.a.lyst report came out. All Omegas have been genetically identified, but the target is not among them.”

Emergency red light flashed across the face of the female researcher who was sweating and out of breath due to sprinting.

A man with a star on his uniform shoulder had his head buried deeply into his palm. After a few seconds, he looked up at the woman: “I know.”

The old man picked up the satellite phone in front of him and entered a string of numbers. After half a minute, the phone was answered: “Major General Qian, please report the result.”

The old man opened his mouth, but didn’t make a sound.

The silence speaks for itself.

“We will check all the cities in dc918 for a thorough investigation. If the aircraft really crashed, it would have left traces somewhere.” The voice at the other end of the phone was also very heavy. The voice paused a bit before asking: "Is there any news about the situation of the special secret team unit-188? "

"……I sent all my eight squadrons out. Three were confirmed to have fallen, two are missing and failed to return. The sixth squadron lead by Major Zhou team rescued hundreds of trapped people, but after the rescue helicopter was infected, we lost contact with them… “.

Major General Qian took a deep breath to stabilize his emotion, when he continued his voice had somewhat turned harsh: “I can send the last two teams out, but we need more information about the target. Otherwise, like looking for a needle in the haystack, this mission will be impossible to accomplis.h.!.+"

“I can’t do it.” The person on the other side refused, "In the past six months, the target has been in sole contact with Vice Minister Guo. All information about his ident.i.ty is highly confidential, and Vice Minister Guo has confirmed his death during the transfer."

Major General Qian was angered: “Ident.i.ty is unknown, appearance is unknown, the only one who knows is an extremely vigilant political with unclear stance. How will my people be able to find this person? Should we just broadcast news about the target in all major cities and wait for him to come knocking at the door himself?"

"……"

“To avoid the possibility of him running away because of alpha pheromone, all of my special soldiers have been disguised as a beta and went into the zombie-filled land. But it is still not working! Maybe the target really has died in the plane cras.h.!.+"

“If he dies,” The voice on the other end of the phone began, sounding cold and clear: “All our current hopes will die alongside him…"

Major General Qian breathed deeply into the phone and closed his eyes. Just as he was about to say something, there was a sudden loud crash from the corridor outside.

Several researchers quickly got up, their faces pale. Major General Qian turned back in tense silent.

BANG!

Again, this time closer.

“They… They are coming.” Major General Qian gulped, hung up the phone, and took out his hand gun.

In the deadly silence, a third bang sounded from near the door before stopping.

Everyone's hearts was beating frantically as they stared at the closed metal door. A sound similar to a beast's impatient grunt was heard outside, and after about 10 seconds, another sound finally rang out:

BANG!

The room began shaking violently. All the people looked wide-eyed at the metal door, horror reflected in their terrified eyes.

The next morning, six o'clock.

The skylight peeked faintly from behind the clouds, and the air was filled with the smell of salty moisture. The awaken survivors began talking among themselves, looking out the windows while still wrapped in their makes.h.i.+ft blankets.

Zhou Rong had taken his people to the highway to check for abandoned vehicles. They raided what's left of those vehicles' fuel tanks, transferring them to a few barrels with transparent hoses. The smell of gasoline filled their noses, but all of them ignored it as they stood guarding on the roadside.

The group departed at half past six and arrived at the industrial area at seven o’clock. The minibus stopped before a fertilizer factory.

Yan Hao led the team to circle around and cleaned up more than a dozen of zombies before finally giving a signal for the other survivors to come in.

The factory building was in a mess. There was blood everywhere, but not much damage to the facility itself- the backyard even had an acre of vegetable patch and a few chickens. The more than 30 survivors were divided into workers ‘ dormitories. Under the leaders.h.i.+p of Ding s.h.i.+ and Zhang Yingjie, the men conducted a large-scale cleaning to repair the barbed wire and further explore the surrounding environment. Meanwhile the women found pots, pans and gas tanks in the kitchen and took up the responsibility of cooking.

Zhou Yi stood on the edge of the front yard faucet, was.h.i.+ng his face with the slightly yellowed water coming out of the rusty tap.

“The ground is high, the building is firm, the barn is stored, and the nearest resident is five kilometers away. While waiting for contact from the military base, we can stationed here for the time being and then act accordingly later.” One of the special force members, Guo Weixiang, reported.

Zhou Rong didn't answer. He put his head under the faucet for a few seconds, before standing straight and shook his head to get rid of the droplets.

“Although there is no electricity, there are diesel generators in the factory. Yan Hao is registering the survivors’ information and is preparing to organize a security team to ensure that there are people patrolling 24 hours a day…"

“Two days,” Zhou Rong suddenly interrupted him.

Guo Xiang: “?"

“If there is no nuclear bomb launched at City B in two days, I’ll go to the B Military District myself. The rest of you stay here with the survivors and wait for news from me.”

Zhou Rong lifted his T-s.h.i.+rt to rub his face, the camouflage trousers hanging low on his mermaid line, revealing a st.u.r.dy eight-pack abs. His words made Guo Weixiang anxious, he followed behind him and said: “You can’t go, Rong Ge! To reach the military district you'll have to go across the entire B city. Unless you can fly there, you'll surely be dead, and you can't grow wings!"

Zhou Rong glanced at him with a teasing gaze: “Why don't you call your grandfather to send me a helicopter, second generation young master?”

Guo Xiang answered helplessly: “If I can contact him, I'll even ask him to send you a F-22 combat plane . One wrong move, and you'll die.”

“Rong Ge!” Suddenly Chun Cao came out of the factory: "Come here, we’ve found a….."

The two men's first thought was a corpse, but unexpectedly Chun Cao pulled hard at Zhou Rong's hand and said two words with face full of tension: “…pregnant woman. "

Zhou Rong: “Hah?!"

Zhou Rong put his head into his palm, feeling a headache coming.

"……What’s your name?" Si Nan who was seated in the canteen asked gently.

There were only six women among the survivors, two of whom were in their twenties. They were probably friends as they had clung to each other along the way. At the end of September, the weather was cool, and one of them was dressed very thickly. Everyone initially thought that she was merely a little fat and may be feeling cold.

Who knew she was actually six months pregnant.

“w.a.n.g, w.a.n.g Wen…” The pregnant woman replied, “I am very strong, I can work…”

The beautiful girl beside her moved to stand in front of the pregnant woman and said: “She doesn’t eat much, she doesn’t need anyone to take care of her. We’re not going to drag people down. We can run fast, we were able to follow everyone running out of the mall, weren’t we? "

Si Nan shared a look with Yan Hao.

“Don’t leave her behind." The girl pleaded again, looking at the two young men in front of her.

The man on the right was handsome, but he rarely talk. He always appeared cold, totally unlike a soft-hearted person.

On the other hand, the special soldier on the left was more well-balanced. He had protected the survivors in the minibus during their escape, and acted more warm and intimate in general.

“We can eat less.” The girl formed a plan in her heart and leaned her body toward Yan Hao. She tried to squeeze a few drops of tears from her eyes and begged:” This world is not easy for everyone. Her husband was trapped in T city, we don't even know whether he is alive or dead. How can a pregnant woman survive if she is left alone? Please handsome brother, I know you are a good person. My name is Wu XinYan, you can call me YanYan…"

Wu XinYan was a really beautiful girl, so her pitiful appearance tugged at everyone's hearts.

Unfortunately, Yan Hao took no notice of this. He stared at w.a.n.g Wen's belly for a long while, deep in thought. Beside him, Si Nan said: “Six months, too late to abort.”

His words was a statement of fact, but in the ears of the two women that wasn’t the case. w.a.n.g Wen's face turned pale.

Yan Hao hurriedly tried to calm her, “Don’t cry, we also don’t want to make you abort! It’s just.. if you have a baby… what about the diaper, the baby powder, etc… “

Amidst this chaos, he caught a glimpse of Zhou Rong’s figure at the canteen doorway. He rushed to get up and said: “I'll go and ask our team leader.”

In the eyes of these people Zhou Rong was a ruthless person. Wu XinYan panicked and grabbed onto Yan Hao's hand as the man was about to walk by: “Big Brother, please!”

Yan Hao immediately pulled his hand out from the girl's grasp and instinctively looked at Si Nan, “It's fine, I’ll help you,” before quickly trotting toward Zhou Rong.

'……Why are you looking at me?' Si Nan thought in confusion.

And then he glanced at Wu XinYan’s eyes– the girl looked at Yan Hao like he was their savior, her gaze filled with wors.h.i.+p and hope.

'Oh, he was afraid I’ll tell Zhou Rong.' Si Nan concluded. He looked at the backs of the two men a few meters away from him and thought: There must have faced a lot of difficulties in their love affair.

“Don’t send her out." After listening to the situation, Zhou Rong gave a decision: “There are more than 30 people who don't know each other here. Let the pregnant woman and her friend stay on their own and instruct them not to walk around too much.”

Yan Hao nodded.

“Give her one egg from the backyard every day and don't let anyone else know. Everyone has great mental stress now, they are as tense as a bow string. Before we can regain contact with the base, it is better to avoid conflict."

Yan Hao nodded once again. He saw Zhou Rong turning away to go and asked, “Where are you going, Captain?”

“To find something in the storeroom.”

"Looking for what?”

Zhou Rong opened his mouth to answer but stopped when he caught a glimpse of Si Nan from the corner of his eyes. He realized that the young man was sitting together with Yan Hao before and felt his heart sink slightly.

"……Nothing." Zhou Rong smiled and said, “I'll get two boxes of beer so we can get together at night.”

Zhou Rong went to the storeroom to move a few boxes of things to the back of the factory building, before picking up the boxes of beer. At night, he called all the people to the canteen and gave a short speech.

“We are currently unable to contact the military district, but please rest a.s.sured that the government and the army will not abandon any survivors. The food supplies we brought from T city are all stored in the storeroom, and those will be enough to support us up to three months. During these three months, I believe that we'll be able to find a refuge base for everyone."

“Regardless of our previous situation, the fact that we are still alive and sitting here today is worth celebrating.” he said. “We will not abandon anyone, but please also help and support each other." Zhou Rong lifted up his beer and continued, “Thank you all, let's toast for all of us.” After saying this, he took two big gulp of his beer.

The survivors felt moved. Some people took the initiative to come forward to toast, and some others began to introduce themselves: “I'm a salesman. I was meeting with a customer in the mall that day…”

“I’m the mall's security guard…”

“I worked in the hospital as a surgeon…”

"Surgeon?" Zhou Rong interrupted.

He stood up and took the middle-aged surgeon by the hand, pulling him to the side: “How lucky! What diseases have you treated?"

"…… Ah? "

“How about delivering a baby? Do you know how?”

“A little… A little bit. There was one time I have to a.s.sist.."

Zhou Rong patted his shoulder and said, “I really respect those who devoted themselves to save injured people!”

The middle-aged man, Zheng, obviously saw the scene of Zhou Rong with the doctor at T City's mall, and was alarmed to witness his change of att.i.tude from arrogance to deference. He quickly toasted and offered a stiff smile, saying that he could do anything and was willing to obey the team's requests.

Meanwhile, Wu XinYan got up and took a seat beside Yan Hao with a can of beer in her hands. She said shyly: “h.e.l.lo. Thank you for this afternoon…"

She had he head bowed, long hair brus.h.i.+ng over Yan Hao's shoulder. He hair was very thick and soft, with a peculiar faint fragrance oozing from it,

Surprisingly, without waiting for her to finish, Yan Hao hurriedly stood up from the table and said, “Ot's nothing.”

Wu XinYan's “I want to toast in your honor” was left stuck in her throat. Yan Hao walked past her and took a seat at another table.

During this time Si Nan was eating a noodle cake. When he saw Yan Hao coming over with a panicked face, he tried to catch the man's gaze and asked 'what's wrong?' with his eyes.

"……"

Yan Hao’s eyebrows were long, his eyes bright with a pair of double-fold eyelids- his appearance was clearly something that could melt any girl. When he looked serious and focused on something, few people could bear to look away from him.

“What do you want to say?” Si Nan asked after swallowing his noodle cake.

Yan Hao didn’t answer his question and asked instead:” What are in those boxes at the back of the factory building?"

“Ah, Zhou Rong said you guys have no more bullets, so I want to find some nitric acid, glycerin and iron sc.r.a.ps to try to make soil bombs.”

Yan Hao fell silent for a moment.

Si Nan raised one eyebrow, feeling a bit unsure, but still waited politely for Yan Hao's respond.

After a while, the other man finally whispered:

"…The team captain is busy, you don't have to ask him. Next time you want to look for something, you can call me. If you need any help.. You can call me whenever you want. "

His att.i.tude was so serious that for a few seconds Si Nan couldn’t understand what was happening. But he suddenly remembered the relations.h.i.+p between the two betas in the team and immediately felt enlightened. He answered: ” Okay.”

Yan Hao hung down his head, hiding the little smile on his face. After a few seconds, he got up and walked away.

Unedited, will be replaced with the edited version soon.

Meet Yan Hao, the man who needs to give up chasing after our dear Si Nan! 0/

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