The entrance was sealed off again. Inside Apartment 302, Li Fang had stopped crying and slumped on the bed to rest.
Cao Chengping felt deeply uneasy, his eyes darting about.
Who would have thought that the killer who came just now wasn't some lunatic? He was here to rescue people.
Now I can survive.
But I've also offended the man in charge.
What am I supposed to do? I have no bargaining chips at all. What if he takes revenge over this?
In times like these, even if he kills me, no one will care.
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. Cao Chengping's face gradually paled, and his eyes began to lose focus.
Beside him, Li Kai had pulled on his pants and walked toward Li Fang, filled with guilt.
Li Fang hurriedly shrank back. "What are you doing? I'm warning you, that man said you can't do whatever you want! If you dare touch me, I'll tell him."
Li Kai's throat bobbed. Hesitantly, he reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a damp, yellowed sock, stiff as a shell, and held it out to Li Fang.
"Li Fang... I got carried away just now. Put your sock on before you get cold."
Li Fang's face instantly contorted in anguish. "Get the hell away from me!!"
Li Kai stood there, the hand holding the sock frozen in midair, unsure whether to extend it farther or pull it back.
In the end, he stuffed it back into his pocket and silently returned to his seat.
When he turned his head, he saw that Cao Chengping had curled up in another corner, trembling uncontrollably.
Li Kai weakly waved a hand at him. "Hey, what's wrong with you?"
Li Fang glanced over and said bitterly, "Now he's scared? I hope he dies!"
On the sixth floor, in Sun Ya's apartment.
Zhang Wan had put aside the makeshift armor she was sewing and was cooking in the kitchen.
Fu Hu held a rock in both hands and kept doing squats.
Fu Qingdai was holding two bricks. After just a few squats, her slender legs were already shaking violently.
She pushed through a few more repetitions, then finished her workout.
Walking over to the pig-feed sack, she picked up the spoon resting on it and scooped out some protein powder.
But as she brought the spoon to her mouth, she stopped.
She turned toward Su Jin with a miserable expression. "Bro, can I skip this? It tastes like pig shit..."
"Eat it!"
With tears in her eyes, Fu Qingdai took a big mouthful of feed, puffing powder out of her mouth.
Su Jin sat at the tea table, examining the notes on the rat experiments. The two elderly men across from him drank hot tea.
Sun Ya took a sip. "You've read the findings. The infection has a latent period, and its effects can be delayed. But the sample size is too small, so these observations could also be due to individual differences. Some individuals absorb too little of the gray substance to become infected."
"With that in mind, I still had Cheng Du and Liu Min stay across the hall. I didn't lock them in, just put a seal on the door. They don't seem to pose any risk at present, but their circumstances are different from ours, after all. They weren't as cautious about the rainwater. You and Fu Hu's family are safe, and that goes without saying for Wei and me. For everyone else, it's best to isolate them for observation for a while, just to be safe."
"As for those three you mentioned... their willpower is far too weak! And they're short on supplies. I suggest observing them carefully and leaving them in their own apartment a while longer."
"Right." Su Jin closed the notebook. "In another two or three days, all the gray substance outside may dissipate on its own. At that point, living creatures will become the only sources of contamination. We need to prepare ahead of time. I want to find some vehicles to barricade the residential complex, then gradually organize the people here."
"Will that help?" Wei De asked. "As the temperature rises, the zombies will become more active. Vehicles alone will have a hard time stopping them, and making too much noise will attract more zombies. We can't stay holed up in this complex forever, either. That would just be waiting to die."
"I've considered that. The vast majority of people were sealed indoors, so there shouldn't be many zombies on the streets. Even if the vehicles can't stop them, they can give us a buffer."
Su Jin continued, "For now, we need to buy time and space. Those Flesh Balls can give people special abilities. I plan to divide the survivors in the complex into groups first, distribute supplies to them one by one, and have them keep waiting indoors. Meanwhile, I'll hunt the zombies trapped inside apartments, looking for Flesh Balls and gathering supplies."
"I'm sure I can find some. Then we'll let the uninfected people out, train them, and organize them into units. With an organized force, and some of its members possessing special abilities, we'll be much safer. After that, we can gather firepower, find a position that's easy to defend and hard to attack, establish a base, and carry out search-and-rescue operations throughout the city."
"What do you two think?"
Wei De nodded in agreement.
Sun Ya waved a hand. "I agree with everything up to organizing them into units. But establishing a base inside the city... I don't support that. There are enormous numbers of zombies, and we'll be severely short on firepower."
Su Jin listened closely.
"I suggest heading straight out of the city to the military base once we've organized everyone in the complex. There's no shortage of food, medicine, or fuel there. With guidance from Old Wei and me, we can use heavy weapons to rapidly expand our position. Your plan is too slow. The survivors in the city can't wait that long, and the risks will be even greater in the long run."
Su Jin frowned. "The military base is dangerous. You suspected yourself that the army might have taken the first wave of the impact. There should be a high concentration of zombies there. And once we reach the outskirts, there'll be far more wild animals, almost all of them infected. There are insects, too. We still don't know whether insects can be infected."
Sun Ya made a calming gesture. "Infected creatures aren't afraid of the cold, yet we still haven't seen any sign of insects. That makes the likelihood of insects being infected very low. Besides, our observations of infected specimens show that they don't tend to gather in groups. Until they find something to attack, they just wander aimlessly."
"In other words, if the soldiers were infected and turned into zombies, they've probably dispersed by now, after all this time. Infected wild animals have had their natural instincts distorted, so they won't stay in their usual gathering places, either. The zombies will be scattered thinly over a wide area, and sound won't carry easily."
"Now look at the city. The moment we launch a major operation, the noise will attract zombies, and the noise those zombies make will stir up even more... There's a high chance of forming a zombie horde. Without heavy firepower, everything we've built could be swept away in a single attack."
"That seems... a little too aggressive, doesn't it?" Su Jin said hesitantly.
"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures." Hidden worry colored Sun Ya's gaze. "Old Wei and I are both getting on in years... We could fall and die just going downstairs. What will you do when we're dead? Can you find another weapons expert? Heavy weapons aren't like guns. You can't just pick them up and use them."
Su Jin lowered his head and smiled. "Don't worry so much. I'll protect you both."
Sun Ya shook his head and said solemnly, "Xiao Li, we deeply admire your character, and I'm very touched. But you can't protect us forever, and you might not be able to keep us safe."
"To give you an immediate example, Old Wei has heart disease. He has less than a month's worth of medicine left. It's imported medication he had a pharmacy order for him. Even if we wanted to get him more now, we couldn't."
"Mr. Wei." Su Jin hurriedly turned to Wei De. "What medicine do you need? Why didn't you say something? We need to find a way to get it for you ahead of time."
Wei De waved a hand and smiled. "Taking it makes me feel better, but not taking it won't necessarily kill me. There's no need to take risks for my sake."
With that, he slapped his knees and stood.
"All right, it's about time. Let's go see how those rats are doing."
Before you continue