Chapter 759 - 630: Far-Reaching Impact

The aftermath in the mountain camp is certainly important, but the rescue in the Satellite Village at the foot of the mountain is equally urgent.

Compared to Celestial Horse Island, the situation in the Satellite Village is much worse!

The houses in the village are not all newly built concrete structures; some are former earthen brick houses, almost all of which have suffered severe damage...

Fortunately, no one was hiding in those broken houses, nor did anyone choose to use the earthen brick houses as residences; at most, they were used to store some insignificant odds and ends, not even as warehouses.

However, the shattered doors, window frames, tiles, and bricks caused significant harm to other houses and people...

The Satellite Village was more than just a mess. The shockwave swept through quickly, and many people didn’t even have time to receive the news, let alone evade it. Many were bleeding from head injuries, some were knocked unconscious on the spot, others broke arms and legs, with cries of pain echoing continuously.

The attack of the zombie horde was certainly dangerous, but this disaster, whether considered a natural or human-made catastrophe, was no better. Blood splattered on the broken walls, people of uncertain fate lay among the ruins and rubble, and children’s cries wafted through the village...

Fortunately, the stock of zombie thalamus was abundant. The Yama Corps’ task was to deliver medicine to the severely injured immediately, which was not only a rescue effort but also an opportunity to stabilize people’s morale.

When people learned that the Yama Corps possessed the Spirit Medicine capable of healing, their sense of belonging to Celestial Horse Island was further enhanced.

Treating the wounded was only part of the aftermath work; there were many other things to handle. Dinner was certainly not in the picture, as everyone was busily engaged in their urgent work.

The darkness on Celestial Horse Island didn’t last long; within an hour, light was restored. The lighting equipment was a bit rough, but it sufficed.

The location of the zombie generator was fortunate—it wasn’t completely damaged. The zombies were derailed due to the shockwave, requiring only slight adjustments to restore their working state, though re-establishing the wiring was a very tedious process. Jia Shiqin simply connected a few high-power lamps directly from the generator.

The lamp posts were as thick as a thigh, almost illuminating the entire Celestial Horse Island, with even the highest point, Jingxin Garden, bathed in light. Even the shadowed areas were cleared of darkness due to light diffraction.

The Satellite Village wasn’t as lucky as Celestial Horse Island. The subsequent zombie generators were relatively crude, all failing to withstand this shockwave. Not only were they shattered, but the zombies used for power generation were freed. Fortunately, Zhang Su issued a timely warning, and people acted immediately to kill the zombies, or else the consequences would have been disastrous.

Without the zombie generators, there were still fuel generators, which posed no difficulty for temporary use.

Humans need light, and working in the dark is always full of stumbles and great mental pressure. But after regaining light, the deteriorating situation improved dramatically, and things were much better.

The leaders of several subdivisions were uninjured during this shockwave, as they were the first to receive the news. As beneficiaries, they were also on the front lines in the aftermath work.

Whether former leaders or combat roles, upon seeing Zhang Su personally descend to participate in the rescue, none dared to stand high and aloof and watch calmly.

Zhang Su wasn’t the kind of leader who only held a bullhorn. In addition to working on the ground during rescue operations, he was also putting his brain to work, issuing orders and assigning tasks to others while handling affairs himself. Both muscle and brain were in action.

Facts proved how important a good brain is during major incidents!

Many people were bewildered in the chaotic environment; they hadn’t lost the ability to act, just briefly lost the ability to think. As long as someone gave accurate instructions, they could execute tasks well.

Until 9 PM, after four or five hours of aftermath work, Celestial Horse Island had gradually quieted down, and order was restored in the Satellite Village.

"This disaster resulted in 128 severe injuries, 275 minor injuries, and two deaths. The two were elderly, found breathless. All severely injured were given medication, and some lightly injured, considering bodily factors, also received medication. The gold content in the scientific research is rising; without medicinal help, the death toll would have surged!"

In the Celestial Horse Island parking lot, under the shadow beside the fire-breathing zombie box truck, Yuwen was reporting the situation to Zhang Su, both seated on askew, damaged chairs, each holding a cigarette.

According to several medically experienced individuals, without the Yama Corps’ medicinal assistance today, at least fifty people would have died, and many more would gradually wither away in the future...

For a camp with a barely approaching 800 population, a death toll of fifty is an alarming number!

Seeing Zhang Su only smoking silently, Yuwen continued, "We haven’t had time to tally the losses of supplies, but from visual assessment, food loss won’t exceed 5%, which is comforting. As for other materials, the damage ranges from 5% to 20%, all within tolerable limits.

But there is an annoying matter. The piled zombie corpses at the foot of the mountain were scattered, some flying hundreds of meters into the opposite farmland. Gathering them again is labor-intensive."

"Additionally, 36 houses in Village No.1 suffered varying degrees of damage, among which ten are temporarily uninhabitable, and Village No.2 fared better with 25 houses damaged and five uninhabitable.

The most serious is Village No.3 due to geographical factors, with over fifty farmyards damaged and thirty-two houses uninhabitable. These figures don’t even consider the old earthen brick houses, of which fewer than one in ten remain."

"Ah!"

Zhang Su exhaled a puff of smoke, looking at the busy companions among the dwellings, said somewhat wistfully, "The degree of damage to the houses is worse than I imagined. Is there a problem with accommodating people?"

"There’s no need to worry about this; each village originally accommodated around two thousand people. Even with some house damage, housing over two hundred people is still more than enough, and I have led people to handle it, though it has not yet been re-registered. In addition..."

"The newly installed radio repeater also had issues. The guards returning from West Camp Village reported no personnel injuries, but the river channel accumulated quite a bit of waste again, and house collapses were not severe, likely due to West Camp Village’s better economic condition and solid building materials."

"The situation was a bit rough on the way back; some trees blocked the road, and we had to walk through the fields..."

"The condition of several guard posts is not optimistic, especially the eastern watchtower..."

Piece by piece, Yuwen collected news from all directions and reported them one by one.

"Thank you, Old Yu!"

After Yuwen finished his report, Zhang Su patted his shoulder and looked towards the east, whispering, "Today’s explosion was too terrifying."

"It must have been that thing exploding, right?"

Yuwen closed his notebook, lit another cigarette, and, as a core member of the camp, knew some secrets despite not being involved in research.

"Yes! The thing we feared most still happened. You must have smelled it too, the unique faint fragrance in the shockwave, that’s the scent of Venom Liquid!"

"I smelled it; I really don’t know which unlucky guy set a Venom Zombie on fire, ignorance is fearless."

Yuwen lamented powerlessly.

Upon discovering that igniting a zombie turned it into something like a god-possessed entity, Celestial Horse Island basically prohibited using fire attacks against zombies. Later, it was further discovered that Mutated Zombies could produce explosives, deepening Yama Corps members’ commitment to not using fire attacks.

Unfortunately, not everyone acts like them; some still think burning zombies is easy, and even if ignited zombies go crazy, setting some traps in advance can also avoid danger.

Normally, there’s no issue, but abnormal situations always arise!

Now this happened...

A large purple flower bloomed in the sky, not only resulting in its own destruction but also causing damage to other survivor camps several kilometers away...

The impact wasn’t limited to Celestial Horse Island; in Qin City, only the North District survivors relocated to Celestial Horse Island, while the Central and South City sections, along with other survivor camps, experienced the unexplained earthquakes followed by shockwaves, shattering windows and paralyzing people.

The southern counties farther away also had varying degrees of impact; the shockwave weakened considerably after being undermined by city buildings and didn’t harm those camps, but it surely stirred speculation among people.

The biggest problem is in Grape Valley!

The once delicately balanced large horde of zombies became notably agitated after the shockwave passed, distressing the informed survivor forces.