Chapter 177 - 168: East or West?

Chapter 177: Chapter 168: East or West?

Wang Dingbei and the others carried the bodies of their former colleagues to the back courtyard of the police station. They covered each one with a blanket, using them as makeshift body bags.

"Sigh... Brothers, there’s no time to give you a proper burial. Time is short. When peace returns, I’ll come back and do right by you."

"Let’s go."

When they returned, they found Huang Zhiqiang had already led a team to quickly ransack the police station from top to bottom.

The three police cars by the entrance were packed to the brim. The drivers had to hunch over just to squeeze into the cramped cockpits.

Yu Dong was stunned.

"Huang, what in the world did you stuff in there?"

"Instant noodles, bottled water, canned luncheon meat, sausages, police-issue greatcoats, chargers, a printer, A4 paper, computer towers and monitors, and a ton of toilet paper rolls, storage boxes... It’s all useful stuff, don’t worry!"

Yu Dong listened and thought... ’It’s actually pretty useful. Stockpiling more isn’t a bad thing.’

"Alright, not bad. Huang, you’re in charge of scavenging from now on."

"Holy shit, that’s awesome!"

The three people who could drive steered the police cars over the greenbelt and onto Binhai Avenue, speeding off toward A Port in a flash.

Before the apocalypse, this road was only for bicycles. When they cleared the port, the zombies on the road were also dealt with, so it was wide and clear.

The rest of the main group continued back along the route from D Port.

Along the way, Wang Dingbei muttered to himself incessantly.

"Our station was actually taken out by a single criminal."

"There were two Type 92s and two shotguns in the station, plus at least 300 rounds of 9mm ammo and 100 shotgun shells. All gone!"

"That damn criminal! He deserves to die!"

Wang knew his old station’s inventory like the back of his hand, and the more he talked, the angrier he got.

"Alright, Officer Wang, you’ve been saying that the whole way..."

"I didn’t really feel it at first, but now I feel like I just went out and lost four guns."

"Try to look on the bright side. At least we got a ton of handcuffs. It wasn’t a total loss."

While they grumbled, Yu Dong was trying to figure out how that suspected spy had managed it.

Thanks to Officer Wang and his team’s actions, Yu Dong had gotten this person locked up in the police station early on in this life. It was a relief, as he no longer had to worry about being tailed and having his operations exposed.

Later, because he was busy with securing the cruise ship, he hadn’t given the man another thought. He’d figured the guy was a dead man for sure, trapped in the police station. But unexpectedly... he had escaped.

’How did he escape while locked up, and then manage to shoot and kill all nine of the zombified station staff?’

This time, Yu Dong truly couldn’t figure it out.

But Wang had a point. He didn’t actually have any major grudge against this person. Yu Dong didn’t think the man was tailing and surveilling him out of personal enmity. It was because of... Zhou and Mei. After the apocalypse, they no longer had superiors. They had likely gone off to survive on their own and probably wouldn’t go out of their way to hunt him down.

Everyone returned safely to A Port. A Port was divided into an inner and outer safe zone. The three police cars were parked in the outer zone, where a dozen or so logistics personnel were unloading them, carrying the goods through the container-wall defense line and into the inner safe zone.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE~

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE~

Two excavators were digging a trench. Their buckets continuously dug down, churning up soil and gravel. The beginnings of a moat were already taking shape.

Above the anti-zombie moat, there were two two-meter-wide wooden plank bridges for temporary access between the inside and outside of A Port.

A group of people with shovels was loading the mixture of gravel and earth dug up by the buckets into large, 1.5-meter-high wooden crates lined with huge bags.

"It’s full! Forklift!"

A man shouted, and a forklift on standby immediately slid its forks into the gaps at the bottom of the wooden crate, lifted it, and transported it to the junction between A Port and B Port before setting it down.

About a dozen of these large wooden crates were already lined up neatly here. Each one was absurdly heavy; there was no way a few zombies could push them.

"Nice work, Sun. This is a great idea. It blocks the route for zombies coming from B Port, too."

Hearing Yu Dong’s praise, Chief Engineer Sun Shan chuckled.

"I’ve played too much tower defense. I can’t stand seeing a gap in the defenses... The gantry crane can’t reach over here, so we can’t move containers. This was the only way. Besides, it’s a waste not to use all this sand and dirt."

"I took some measurements today. It’s only 195 meters from here on the B Port side all the way to the cheval de frise defense line. These wooden crates are 1.2 meters wide, so 164 of them will seal it completely."

"Oh, and if we leave a channel in the middle for large vehicles to get through, we can use 10 fewer crates and just block it with a couple of chevaux de frise."

Sun Shan pointed at the port, laying out a blueprint for a zombie-proof fortress.

Yu Dong clapped Sun Shan on the shoulder. "You really are my apocalyptic tower defense engineer. Great job! You’ve got spirit, and you’ve done us proud!"

"Hehe~ I used to only play tower defense games on the computer. I never thought I’d get to command so many people to play tower defense in real life one day."

No joke, Sun Shan had been on cloud nine these past few days. He was even dreaming about adjusting the tower defense plans for Huangyang Port.

After crossing the wooden bridge and opening a sheet-metal door, they entered the interior of A Port.

This entire vast space had been made extremely secure by the two outer layers of defenses.

Huang Zhiqiang said with emotion, "Dongzi, did we really build this? This is incredible. To secure such a well-defended, resource-rich territory in the apocalypse."

"This is a Reincarnator’s foresight, okay! Dongzi, I don’t know why you were so obsessed with that crappy community in your last two lives, but this time... we have strategic depth, we have boats, vehicles, and roads. Even if a zombie horde comes, they won’t be able to take us out! I dare say, as long as we play it safe and don’t get reckless, this will be your last reincarnation! We’ll definitely live to see the day all the zombies are cleared out."

Zhao Youcai said confidently.

"Dongzi, if it really doesn’t work out, there’s always next time. We brothers will still follow you!" Huang Zhiqiang said.

"Uh... you make it sound like I can reincarnate many times."

"Can’t you?"

"I don’t know... I don’t feel anything different about myself. It’s already been three times... They say things don’t happen more than three times. Maybe heaven only gave me three chances. If I die in this life, I might be gone for good..."

Yu Dong had no idea why he had reincarnated three times. It just happened. But before each death... the pain and fear were very real, followed by the world turning to black.

"That’s why I’m saying this is the last time! We’ll pincer the zombies with the army, solve the zombie problem, and then become a major power! We brothers will go down as legends of the apocalypse."

Zhao Youcai was very optimistic, probably because he’d gotten a gun and taught the zombies a harsh lesson, making him think they weren’t such a big deal.

But only Yu Dong truly understood... zombies weren’t that simple. Whether it was the climbing zombies that would later appear in Yanhai City or the various viral mutations and infection methods mentioned on the radio in his last life, it all pointed to one thing: the zombies were constantly evolving.

There would likely be new challenges in the future.

"Let’s not talk about that. Since we’re alive, let’s just do our absolute best. We need to deal with the zombies quickly, before they have a chance to change!"

"Rest for an hour, then we move out again!"

「Lunchtime.」

A couple of sailors wanted to have a few drinks, but after a sharp reprimand from Yu Dong, they didn’t dare mention it again.

"This afternoon, we’re going to push out along Binhai Avenue. We’ll clear out the zombies near this road and turn it into the main artery for leaving the port."

The value of this road was no less than that of the cruise ship.

Yu Dong had his eye on it early on. He had even studied it with Xufeng before the apocalypse. This famous cycling route in Yanhai City snaked along the beaches of more than half the city. They could turn it into Yanhai City’s post-apocalyptic lifeline, using it to enter the city and return to the suburbs.

At this point, Huang Zhiqiang said, "Then let’s head west this afternoon. Turn left out the gate, follow Binhai Avenue, and push all the way to the research institute to rescue Lawyer Ji."

This was the strategy they had decided on earlier.

"The research institute has a lot of medical equipment and a professional virology lab. I remember one of the survivors, some woman, is in biology. She told me yesterday she wanted to study the zombie virus..." Zhao Youcai said.

"With more people, you get all sorts of talent..." Yu Dong mused.

Hearing they were planning to head west, Zhao Wenjie, who had rarely voiced his opinion on major matters, became a bit anxious.

"Brother Dong, why don’t we consider heading east? The west is just suburbs. There are only a few scenic spots, fishing grounds, and villages along the way, and then it’s all just vast farmland. Fewer people means fewer zombies, but there’s not much value there. Just going that way to save one lawyer... isn’t that a huge waste?"

"I think it’d be better to go east. A right turn out the gate leads to a street lined with hotels. There must be a lot of survivors there now. There are also tons of street-front shops, villa areas, tourist zones, large supermarkets, banks, residential districts... We could save a lot of people and get a huge amount of supplies. So, I think heading east is more suitable."

Zhao Wenjie seemed to have prepared this speech in advance. He delivered it all in one go, smoothly and logically, without a single stutter.

His words made everyone think.

West or east? Countryside or city?

The team’s development strategy hinged on this decision.

Yu Dong narrowed his eyes, looking at Zhao Wenjie.

"Wen Jie, the truth is, you want us to go to the Xiangti Bay Community in the east, don’t you..."