Although there seemed to be many military bases, compared to the vast Hua Nation, only a little over fifty survivor bases remained, and most of them had fewer than ten thousand people.
Only a dozen military bases had populations exceeding that number, and the largest was XZ, with more than a hundred thousand people.
Presumably... the survivor base in XZ was where the people from the ruling class were staying, right? When the chaos began,
those people should have all fled to XZ for shelter.
As for the population base, simply put...
Building defensive facilities required... people, right?
Investigating and exterminating monsters and zombies also required manpower.
And most importantly, developing and reproducing required... people as well.
Therefore, after these survivor bases achieved initial stability, they immediately contacted the central government and submitted their names,
hoping to receive the nation's support.
So...
"These people... even in the apocalypse, they're still thinking so far ahead. They really have worked hard..."
Why did I say that?
Actually, it was just a simple deduction.
The most crucial factors were the government and the XZ Survivor Base.
Those high-ranking government officials taking shelter in the XZ Survivor Base, even the people standing at the very top of the nation, had currently taken no measures
to manage or control these survivor
bases. So... how could they win over the people while bringing these regions under their jurisdiction?
It was simple. They just had to offer an olive branch.
And this olive branch was probably the sheet of paper in my hand, right?
As long as these survivor bases wanted to develop, then... fine! Join me, and I'll promote you. I'll also invest large quantities of supplies
to win over the people for each survivor
base.
This move...
"Brilliant!"
Indeed... this move was truly ingenious.
For the government, with no way to control these military facilities and no choice but to let them do as they pleased, the only brilliant tactic was this:
It could make them willingly come under the government's authority, let survivors throughout the country learn of the government's existence, and also prevent direct support from being given to the survivor bases,
which could otherwise result in a warlord-style independent situation where "the general in the field need not obey the ruler's commands."
That way, all the survivor bases that had already been established would be unable to resist the government, which had practically become an empty shell,
because the people would not be willing to oppose the government.
What was more, the most crucial thing marked on this sheet of paper was the safety of the survivor bases.
If the nation had investigated them one by one, that would have been unlikely. They had probably evaluated them based on the information each base reported.
But why was only XZ marked as an S-rank safety level?
It was telling all survivors that only the place where the government was located was truly powerful.
Faced with this situation, no one except a madman would resist. They could only obediently come under its command.
And what about the survivor bases that wanted to resist, or rather, the survivor bases that wanted independence?
Fine... First, your name would not be on the list. The government would not promote you and might even criticize you. After all, in an age like this, the leader of a survivor base was practically an emperor in his own territory. It was impossible for some shady dealings not to occur.
Once those dealings were exposed, your survivor base's reputation would plummet. The survivors would choose to leave rather than stay in such a place.
Second, it was even simpler. If the government dared to do something so bold, that proved it definitely still had some trump cards in hand. It was not afraid of you slipping completely out of its control.
And that trump card was probably...
With my finger pressed against the paper, I looked at the fifty-some survivor bases. In my mind, a form of deterrence emerged—one of the most powerful forces in the peaceful world.
"Nuclear weapons!"
Chapter 48: It Hurts So Much
A day had passed, yet the heavy rain continued. I sat by the window. I... hadn't slept at all that night.
Why?
Because it hurt...
My stomach had ached terribly all night. I was so irritable that I couldn't fall asleep no matter how much I tossed and turned. With no other choice, I opened the curtains, sat on the windowsill, draped a bedsheet over myself,
and watched the rain all night.
My mood had calmed considerably, but I was dead tired, and the pain in my lower abdomen was growing worse. The sticky, uncomfortable feeling down below was especially irritating.
"Sigh..."
After letting out a long sigh, I finally understood something after making it through the night.
"Sanitary pads... really are a great invention."
Watching the heavy rain still pouring outside, it looked like I wouldn't be able to do anything today. Carrying my exhausted body, I changed into one of the legendary san!i!tary! pads!
Yesterday's sheet of paper was placed beside the bed. I had memorized the contents, including what monsters to guard against and how to deal with them, in my little notebook,
then put it in the solar-powered backpack.
I casually grabbed a packet of instant noodles and began eating them dry. I really didn't feel like cooking noodles now. My period had tormented me all night,
and all I wanted was to eat something and get a good night's sleep.
Strangely enough, I felt somewhat better during the day. I didn't know whether it was because a night had passed and the pain had eased with time.
Speaking of which, I truly had no experience with this. I was figuring everything out from scratch. Sigh... who could blame me? Before the apocalypse,
I had merely been an innocent gentleman...
Ahem.
Regardless of how things had been before, what I had to consider now was how to survive. For example, the information brought by this sheet of paper.
No matter what those so-called higher-ups were thinking, at least for me, it had arrived like lifesaving rain.
Food...
Although I wasn't short on supplies at home, and had enough to survive another month, I couldn't live on instant noodles every day, could I?
Weapons...
As luck would have it, I had a Type 64 in my hands, but I was short on ammunition. Now, the bullets had arrived.
In any case, no matter what, I could only wait until tomorrow.
However, there had always been one question in the back of my mind. The arrival of this helicopter was extremely strange. Logically speaking, the nearest military base to the city where I was located was
in SY. Even if I drove on the expressway from here to the survivor base in SY, it would take two or three hours, let alone after the apocalypse. There was basically no chance of making it there in time.
So logically speaking, this city shouldn't have received any leaflets.
After all, it was too far away. The number of people who could reach the survivor base was probably less than one or two out of ten.
"An investment with returns that don't match... That makes no sense."
I muttered to myself and considered every possibility, but even before I fell asleep, I still couldn't figure anything out...
Just like that, another entire day passed.
I didn't know whether it was because of menstrual cramps, but I slept for a full day, from the morning of the twelfth until the early hours of the thirteenth.
By then, the heavy rain outside had become a light drizzle. It pattered against the ground, gathering into a stream
that flowed along the curbs on both sides of the street
and into the drainage ditches.
In a daze, I got up. After climbing to my feet, I first glanced at the two weapons on my chest, then touched my still faintly aching lower abdomen. After letting out a long sigh, I sat
up. The first thing I looked at was the spot outside the window where I had parked.
My vehicle was still parked outside. The pickup truck and the Yamaha were sitting there quietly. Some zombies had also gathered sporadically nearby. Perhaps it was because that
Mutant Monster had died. Since the night before last, I had occasionally seen some wandering figures.
I glanced down at my wristwatch. It was a fine thing—a Longines ladies' watch, and a fully mechanical one at that. It needed no maintenance, and its waterproofing was absolutely fine.
However, it could display only the date, not the month, which was rather inconvenient. It seemed I should get an electronic watch or clock. As for power... the solar
panels should work.
Sitting on the windowsill, I waited to see what would happen today. Since the helicopter had said it would be three days later, if the eleventh counted, then it should be the thirteenth.
If the eleventh didn't count, then it should be the fourteenth.
Who knew whether they would count the eleventh? So today, I planned to sit on the windowsill and wait. Surely, when they dropped the supplies, there would be some kind of
marking or notice, right?