Lori Was Pregnant

A dozen minutes later, Rick led his troops to Oak Leaf Street. After discussing tactics with Leon, Rick directly climbed into a Military Truck.

Under his command, three Military Trucks formed a square formation and began accelerating. The enormous battering rams on their fronts were like the Grim Reaper's scythes. With a terrifying roar, they crashed straight into the center of the horde, scattering the Zombies and crushing every enemy bold enough to resist. The front line was pushed forward by a full hundred meters.

Three Security Department employees climbed into the rear compartments of the Military Trucks and began operating the Heavy Machine Guns welded in place there. They did not need to aim too precisely. The three dense streams of bullets formed a terrifying killing zone, and any monster caught in their paths was torn into pieces within seconds.

At the entrance to Oak Leaf Street, more than twenty Warriors carrying assault rifles slowly entered the street. They formed three defensive lines, advancing while clearing out the Zombies that had survived the Heavy Machine Guns.

As the Rifle Squad advanced and finished off the stragglers, the street soon held no Zombies capable of moving.

A faint smile touched Leon's lips as he glanced at the professors and students and said:

"Get in the vehicles quickly. Otherwise, the noise here will soon attract all the nearby Zombies."

Under Leon's direction, everyone arrived quickly and left just as quickly. By the time the Umbrella Corporation convoy departed, only corpses littered Oak Leaf Street.

After the trip to the Polytechnic Institute, the Umbrella Corporation welcomed more than a hundred new members. Leon no longer thought about making any grand moves. Instead, he spent half a month focusing on the base's internal administration.

Without a doubt, after witnessing the horrifying world of Zombies outside the base and seeing the miserable lives of the survivors who had newly joined it, the three professors and more than a hundred students all chose to join the Umbrella Corporation.

Perhaps because young people were bold, willing to take risks, and unwilling to perform dull Logistics Personnel work, the Umbrella Corporation suddenly gained more than forty combat personnel, over thirty technical personnel, and more than twenty Logistics Personnel. Including the scattered survivors recruited over the past half month, the company's population swelled to more than 230 people.

Leon divided the Security Department's combat personnel into three squads, each with more than twenty members. However, since most of them were students without combat experience, the Combat Squads' current task was still clearing the Zombies from the buildings around the base.

Leon wanted to clear out all the Zombies within three kilometers of the base over the next month, pushing the base's defensive line to the true outskirts of the CDC and preventing other Raiders from attacking the base's glass outer walls.

The Engineering Department's work was no easier. All the base's Warrior equipment, vehicle modifications, and production of certain daily necessities currently depended on their help. With the new members joining, Leon assigned them two more tasks.

One task was to figure out how to use the Zombies' foolish intelligence to create trap-like devices that could efficiently reduce their numbers, much like certain tower-defense games.

The other task was growing vegetables. Yes, growing vegetables. Leon was already tired of eating canned food for more than two consecutive months. Fortunately, several of the Polytechnic Institute students came from rural families. Leon also gave them permission to consult the elderly people in the base, hoping they could build a vegetable garden capable of supplying several hundred people within a few months.

The Logistics Department's primary task was also nearing completion. Seventy percent of the apartments on the second basement level of the Underground Parking Lot had been finished, and the entire project was expected to take another week.

As the base's population continued to grow, Leon also assigned two assistants to each of the three administrators, Amy, Quinn, and Andrea. All of them were university students from the Polytechnic Institute, so the women would not be overwhelmed by managing so many employees.

These administrative matters looked simple, but they were quite troublesome in practice. During this period, most of Leon's energy each day went into dealing with them.

Fortunately, after half a month of diligent administration, operations within the Umbrella Corporation gradually got on track. Leon was slowly no longer needed to handle every single matter personally.

That day, Leon came to the Medical Room for Lori's final injury examination. After a month of treatment, Ms. Lori's body was no longer in serious danger, and she was officially ready to leave the hospital.

Shane, Carl, and Rick were all at Lori's side, speaking to her gently and softly. Perhaps because she had suffered blows both physically and psychologically, Ms. Lori had become rather quiet. She knew perfectly well that losing her eyes meant she could only become a burden to her family in this world.

Watching the family support one another, Leon felt moved as well. But there was one piece of news he had to tell them, because even if he said nothing now, they would discover it themselves after some time.

Leon coughed and lightly waved to Shane and Rick, leading them into another private room. Without exchanging many pleasantries, he got straight to the point.

"I have something to tell you about Ms. Lori. I hope you can prepare yourselves mentally."

Shane and Rick's hearts tightened, and they hurriedly asked, "Dr. Castor, what happened to Lori?"

Leon looked into their eyes, his expression serious.

"Ms. Lori is pregnant. Her current mental state is somewhat troubled—she's too negative. This could very likely affect the health of the fetus."

Seeing the two men as if they had been struck by lightning, Leon continued, "I can roughly imagine the problems between you, but fate never gives people the chance to choose. Everyone is simply swept along by the current."

"I hope you can handle this calmly. Don't destroy the sincere feelings between you because of a momentary impulse. Ms. Lori won't be able to withstand another blow either. Think of Carl. Don't let tragedy happen to this child again."

With that, he nodded to the two men, who were still standing there in a daze, and left the room.

On his way back, Leon saw Peggy struggling to carry a box of supplies. The girl had a stubborn look on her face. One hand was wrapped in a bandage while the other held the box. She had refused the help of her tall, burly younger brother behind her and was slowly making her way toward her apartment.

Her independent, self-reliant spirit made Leon look back several times. When he returned to his office, Amy was sitting at a small desk to the side, handling her own work.

When she saw Leon return, a sweet smile immediately appeared on her pretty face. She set aside her work and brought him a glass of ice-cold cola.

"Boss, you're back."

Leon accepted the cola and sat down in his boss's chair. He turned on the computer and, seeing that nothing important had come up, began playing a game called "Red Alert."

He took a sip of cola and said to his little secretary, "When you go downstairs, remember to issue a task to the Engineering Department."

"What task, Boss?" Amy asked, blinking curiously.

"Have them custom-make a prosthetic limb for that girl named Peggy."

He looked at Amy's smiling face and added, "That girl provided great help when I rescued the survivors from the Polytechnic Institute."

"She deserves a reward."