Chapter 1745 - 952: Ants Moving House, Snakes Crossing the Path (Part 2)

On the way back, the hundreds of vehicles in the convoy stretched out like a giant dragon.

So when they passed the Cross-river Bridge, because the convoy was too long, it drew the attention of the Zombies in the river and even triggered a battle to protect the convoy from the Zombies.

But with just a few vehicles, a dozen vehicles, they shot across in a flash; by the time the Zombies in the river were roused, they had already cleared the bridge.

This time, however, they were carrying quite a lot of oil. There were more than ten tank trucks alone, plus some oil stored in iron barrels loaded in the trucks.

With the infantry fighting vehicles and other trucks added in, the convoy reached fifty vehicles.

This was the largest convoy since the last time Director Li personally led hundreds of vehicles across the river.

Screech—

The vehicles stopped.

One kilometer away from the Cross-river Bridge.

Xiao Jun raised the telescope and scanned up and down the bridge. The sun glittered off the rippling surface of the water, and the Cross-river Bridge itself was empty.

After observing for two minutes, Xiao Jun picked up the walkie-talkie and said to the convoy behind him, "In a moment, everyone is to rush across at the fastest speed. Don’t stop."

"If any vehicle has a problem midway, everyone inside gets out and transfers to another vehicle immediately. Don’t stay on the bridge."

"Half an hour later we’ll send people back to fix the vehicle. Understood?"

As soon as he finished speaking.

Voices of assent came through the walkie-talkie one after another:

"Copy."

"Copy."

"Copy."

....

"Move out!"

Xiao Jun said to the driver.

Roar!

The vehicle surged forward at once, taking the lead and charging toward the bridge.

Very soon, the lead infantry fighting vehicle reached the bridge.

Rumble—

Ripples spread across the water beneath the bridge as one Zombie after another broke the surface.

But Xiao Jun and the others ignored them. Right now their job was to get across this several-kilometer-long bridge at maximum speed.

As time passed, more and more vehicles drove onto the bridge.

More and more Zombies surfaced. Some gathered around the piers that descended into the water, others swam toward the shore.

By the time the last vehicle got onto the bridge, one Zombie finally wriggled up onto the mudflat and started for the bank.

Three minutes later, Xiao Jun drove off the bridge.

But he didn’t stop; he had the driver keep going. Parking here would only create a bottleneck for the vehicles behind.

One vehicle after another rolled off the bridge.

By the time the last vehicle came down off the bridge, there were already dozens of Zombies charging along the shoreline below.

Even so, Xiao Jun and his people were still one step faster.

The driver of the last vehicle glanced at the Zombies barely ten meters behind and let out a breath of relief.

"You little bastards, like this you still think you can catch us."

As the vehicles sped on, the distance between them and the Zombies grew greater and greater.

After another five minutes, Xiao Jun picked up the walkie-talkie and had the vehicles behind report their numbers.

Hearing that no vehicle had fallen behind, Xiao Jun finally relaxed.

He said to the driver, "Slow down a bit, let the rest of the convoy catch up."

"Got it." The driver reduced speed, and the gaps between the vehicles behind shrank.

Another four hours passed, and they finally reached Xiu Shui County.

But by then it was already afternoon.

At the Transfer Station in Xiu Shui County, Zhou Tian and the others saw the distant convoy approaching via drone.

He turned to Ant, who had arrived here just an hour earlier, and said:

"Xiao Jun and his group should be here. I’ll go open the gate for them."

Ant nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead. We’re staying here for the night as well. Tomorrow we’ll head back to Big Camphor Tree Base together with Xiao Jun’s group."

He Bing and his team had traveled by Helicopter, moving several times faster than Xiao Jun and the others on land.

So even though they had set off several hours later than Xiao Jun’s convoy, they had reached the Transfer Station first.

Oil City.

Ju Tianrui watched the Mobile Switch Blade, which He Bing and the others had tested twice this morning, then told Dong Tai to activate it again.

The Mobile Switch Blade slowly began to rotate, emitting a grating sound of metal on stone.

With no Zombies present, the friction between the sharp blades produced a piercing screech that made one’s scalp crawl.

"Not bad. Running perfectly. Shut it down," Ju Tianrui said to the team member behind him.

The team member walked down from the wall and went into a room, where he pressed a button.

The Mobile Switch Blade mounted on the wall shut down at once.

Bang, bang, bang.

Deprived of power, the Mobile Switch Blade began to retract, lowering vertically to lie flat against the wall.

Under the sunlight, the sharp blades reflected cold flashes of light.

In this room that controlled the Mobile Switch Blade, several diesel generators and batteries were stacked up—these were the power source for the blades.

To prevent them being submerged during heavy rain, they had raised the batteries and generators half a meter off the ground.

And the drainage system in Oil City had been upgraded, so the kind of flooding that had occurred inside the city during the last torrential rain and flash flood shouldn’t happen again.

.....

Big Camphor Tree Base.

Li Yu received news from Ju Tianrui that Xiao Jun and his people were already on their way back to Big Camphor Tree Base.

Judging by their schedule, they should have reached the Transfer Station by now.

With that batch of oil from Oil City about to be transported back, the Transfer Station would soon be temporarily dismantled, and the personnel there would return to the base.

It was also time to start preparing for the people in the five Satellite Cities to pack up and return to Big Camphor Tree Base.

The five Satellite Cities did have walls, and Outer City personnel assigned to protect them.

But at that level of fortification, they could not withstand the natural disaster that was coming in a few days.

What’s more, this was a continuous natural disaster; with walls barely ten meters high, it was very likely they’d be breached in the first wave of torrential rain and Zombie Tide.

Even if they somehow held out, once the natural disaster hit, people from Big Camphor Tree Base would not be able to go out and resupply the Satellite Cities with food and other materials.

Given the current state of the Satellite Cities, there was absolutely no way they could survive this natural disaster.

This was not the first time Extra Staff and Cooperative Personnel had been withdrawn back to Big Camphor Tree Base.

It was just that, ever since the Satellite Cities were built, although there had been the occasional shower, they had never evacuated.

This was the first full-scale evacuation order Li Yu had issued since the Satellite Cities were completed.

Moreover, this time the personnel were spread out widely, and there was a lot of equipment and supplies. Evacuating all five Satellite Cities would be a massive project.

Li Yu set down his headset, his brow tightly furrowed.

He walked out of the duty room and was hit by a stifling hot wind, the kind that makes it hard to breathe.

The sky was full of birds, many of them flying toward Big Camphor Tree Base.

During previous natural disasters, a lot of birds had chosen to shelter in the buildings around Big Camphor Tree Base.

Li Yu had even intentionally opened the gymnasium to let those birds inside.

Later it turned into a kind of migratory instinct: whenever a natural disaster was about to arrive, those birds would naturally fly toward Big Camphor Tree Base.

Since they were not short on food, Li Yu ordered that the birds were not to be harmed.

A dragonfly fluttered in front of Li Yu’s face.

He lowered his gaze to the base of the wall and saw, as expected, countless dragonflies skimming low over the ground.

Outside the wall, he even spotted a black-and-white snake slithering through the trees.

The three wolfdogs that always followed Li Yu seemed to have grown low in spirit and a bit agitated.

All of it seemed to be foreshadowing something.

Thinking he should go talk to Second Uncle, Li Yu turned to Li Haoran in the duty room and asked, "Where’s your dad? Where is he?"

"He’s over at the repair yard in the Second Outer City," Li Haoran replied.

"Okay."

Li Yu came down off the wall and walked a few steps.

Then he saw a swarm of Ants on the ground, apparently moving house.

The dense mass of Ants made Li Yu pensive.

According to the twenty-four solar terms, when Ants move house and snakes cross paths, heavy rain is sure to come.

Animals and insects are more sensitive to the weather than humans.

Li Yu’s eyes grew resolute, and he strode quickly toward the Second Outer City.

The evacuation of the five Satellite Cities was now urgent.

They couldn’t wait any longer; the evacuation had to be arranged as soon as possible.

If they kept delaying, there simply wouldn’t be enough time.

The people in the Satellite Cities, the Extra Staff, the older Cooperative Personnel—he had already decided he would shelter them.

But what about all the newcomers?

Li Yu was still torn over whether to let them come inside to take shelter.

If he didn’t let them in, then in this natural disaster, maybe one in five at most would survive.

.....

(Asking for monthly ticket)