Chapter 112 Xue Ran felt a sense of relief...

Bai Xianglei, the captain of the special forces team who had only been in Fangzhou for a morning, had lunch and then drove away from the school to the temporary command center set up by the special operations group.

The special operations team chose another factory building near the chemical plant at the exit of Fangzhou's escape route as the location for their command center, directly modifying it on the existing site of the park. With the park's original outer walls and barbed wire still in place, it was not only easier to defend, but this location could also help Fangzhou guard the escape route.

Of course, the two factories are not directly adjacent; there is still a distance between them, which ensures that no zombies will be attracted by human activity and wander near the chemical plant.

Tian Xuejun promised Fu Qing yesterday that during her daily patrols, she would also take a detour around the chemical plant area to help clear out the zombies, so Fang Zhou wouldn't need to send anyone over every week anymore.

When Bai Xianglei returned, he saw the gate of the abandoned factory wide open, with several trucks coming and going. As soon as the supplies were unloaded, soldiers immediately stepped forward and transported them to different buildings.

Armed soldiers were already on guard at the entrance of the park.

The team members arrived late last night and stayed here for another night, but Bai Xianglei clearly noticed that the park had changed again in just one morning.

He walked into a building in the center of the park. The interior was not yet cleaned up, and the floor was covered with broken bricks and glass. Although a room had been set up as an office, the desks and chairs were the same ones left over from the former factory manager's office. It had only been hastily dusted and was extremely rudimentary.

Tian Xuejun was discussing something with a few others around a map when she was interrupted by a knock on the door. When she saw Bai Xianglei, she was taken aback: "Why are you back so soon?"

She meant that any situation should be reported promptly, but this reporting came a bit too quickly.

Bai Xianglei was also helpless, as plans simply couldn't keep up with changes.

He gave a report on Fang Zhou's extraordinary experience that morning, and concluded by saying tactfully, "Her strength is truly beyond imagination."

Tian Xuejun paused for a moment, recalling the Yongxin Road pedestrian street case she had just heard about from Director Liu this morning during a meeting with the local S City team.

Combined with what Bai Xianglei said, she finally fully realized just how powerful the "human who survived to the end of the apocalypse" really was.

She understood why Bai Xianglei had to come to report immediately. When Tian Xuejun issued the order yesterday, the special forces team's mission was to provide close protection, gather intelligence, and conduct surveillance.

The last point is to prevent that one in a thousand possibility that Fu Qing has other purposes or intentions that are detrimental to humanity or China.

But assuming Fu Qing's abilities are truly as Bai Xianglei claims, then this small team planted around her might not be able to do anything at all.

Tian Xuejun waved her hand, dismissing everyone else in the room, before asking, "Do you think Fu Qing is trustworthy?"

Bai Xianglei was taken aback. After considering it for only a very short moment, he straightened his chest and said, "Although this is just my personal opinion, based on what you told me about Fang Zhou's deeds, plus what I saw and experienced this morning, I believe that Principal Fu Qing is undoubtedly on the side of humanity."

To become the captain of a special forces team, Bai Xianglei is by no means the type who is all brawn and no brains. On the contrary, in Tian Xuejun's opinion, he is often described as meticulous.

She trusted his judgment, not simply because she felt the same way, but also because she believed that Bai Xianglei would say those words not out of mere enthusiasm.

Sure enough, after expressing his intuition, Bai Xianglei paused briefly before providing more concrete evidence: "Yesterday we investigated the identity information of Principal Fu Qing herself, as well as teacher Zhao Yunxiao and student Xue Ran who went out with her, but apart from Xue Ran, we found nothing."

"They seem to have appeared out of nowhere."

In China, without legal status, they had virtually nowhere to go. Bai Xianglei couldn't believe that the two of them had been living in the deep mountains and forests for the past twenty years.

He believes this can only be explained by the existence of the system.

His focus then shifted to: "In contrast to the two of them, Xue Ran's file was very clear and complete, without a trace of forgery. In addition, as the daughter of a martyr, she had a special status and had received long-term special attention and protection from the local government. It would be almost impossible to tamper with her file."

Bai Xianglei even suspected that Fu Qing brought Xue Ran along with the intention of having them investigate his background and further verify the truthfulness of his statements.

“Besides Xue Ran, we also obtained another list of students from Fangzhou. After investigation, the identity information of all the students on the list is true. These two thousand-plus people were just ordinary students before entering Fangzhou, each with their own network of relationships, and each of them has a clean resume. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are from impeccable backgrounds. I believe they are trustworthy.”

Bai Xianglei recalled that when Fu Qing took them on a tour of Fangzhou this morning, every student they passed by would greet their principal.

The sincerity and enthusiasm in their eyes were genuine.

"From my observation, these students genuinely trust Fu Qing and actively chose to follow her."

Bai Xianglei had a really pleasant morning.

Students like Song Rushuang lacked scheming and backstabbing; instead, they possessed a childlike innocence, untouched by society, with a clear sense of right and wrong, and a pure, sincere nature. Perhaps it is precisely these kinds of people who are most accurate in their judgment of character.

Moreover, these few short hours were enough for Bai Xianglei to feel the united atmosphere of Fangzhou.

A great team atmosphere absolutely depends on an excellent and charismatic leader.

Worried about insufficient evidence, Bai Xianglei looked at Tian Xuejun nervously after he finished speaking.

The latter nodded: "I understand what you mean."

“Your strength is already among the best in the army. With eleven team members, if you can’t keep an eye on Fu Qing with such a lineup, there’s no point in sending more people.”

"After all, what she's best at is probably escaping from a human wave." Tian Xuejun added in her mind.

Unlike Bai Xianglei, she knew clearly that Fu Qing had returned from the apocalypse, and she was more moved by the simulation cabin scenario that Bai Xianglei had just mentioned.

“Besides, we have already made a promise that we will only send twelve people into Fangzhou. This is a promise made on behalf of the country, and we cannot be the first to break the promise,” Tian Xuejun said. “So I understand what you’re saying. You can go back now, and I will take care of the rest.”

Bai Xianglei was taken aback, then realized what was happening, and his heart finally settled.

He understood that with Yukiko's words, their team's subsequent "surveillance" missions could basically be changed to "cooperation" and "coordination".

But having received Tian Xuejun's promise, he was still in no hurry to leave and remained standing in front of his desk.

Tian Xuejun raised an eyebrow: "Is there anything else?"

"Uh, Principal Fu Qing asked me to ask you before I left if you have time to hold a tactical meeting this afternoon."

Tian Xuejun: "..."

"She knew you were coming to see me?" Her lips twitched.

Bai Xianglei was also helpless: "I only found out when I went to Fangzhou that the system can detect phone calls or radios made or received inside the campus."

They couldn't contact each other directly on campus, so they had to leave the school. But once he left the school, Fu Qing could easily guess what he was doing.

Even if he wanted to hide it, he couldn't hide it at all.

Tian Xuejun rubbed her forehead. In other words, Fu Qing was also observing and testing their attitude.

They dared not fully trust her, and conversely, how could she dare to place all her trust in them at the very beginning of the cooperation?

However, her probing was more direct and frank.

Even though she knew Bai Xianglei was going to discuss something related to her, she still asked him to pass on a message before leaving... What is this?

While Tian Xuejun was both amused and exasperated, she suddenly realized that she and the higher-ups had made a mistake.

The mistake was treating someone who had struggled alone for years in the most chaotic and cruel apocalypse as a docile and obedient sheep after being socialized.

For the cooperation to proceed smoothly, they must give her absolute and equal respect without reservation, lest they push her away with unnecessary and meaningless probing.

Thinking this, Tian Xuejun felt a chill run down her spine.

She looked at Bai Xianglei: "When was the meeting scheduled?"

Bai Xianglei glanced at his watch: "It's two o'clock in the afternoon, fifteen minutes to go. They'll come over on their own then."

Tian Xuejun nodded: "Notify everyone to prepare for a meeting."

After saying that, she got up and strode quickly to the park entrance to pick up the person.

*

At 2:00 PM sharp, Fu Qing drove with six students to the park where the command center was located.

All six were students from the original elite class. They were among the first to arrive at the school, while the rest were still on their way back.

Although Fu Qing selected five people to form an elite team after graduation, this did not mean that the rest of the elite class returned to being ordinary students. Compared to the others, they had a closer relationship with the principal and would still act alongside Fu Qing most of the time.

The group followed Fu Qing into the heavily guarded park, and couldn't help but look around curiously at the countless armed guards.

But once they were led into the meeting room and sat down, their expressions immediately returned to seriousness.

Tian Xuejun observed this and couldn't help but sigh.

Although she herself was not married, the children of her classmates and friends were about the same age. Fang Zhou's students were completely different from the children she had seen before. The latter were like flowers in a greenhouse, well-protected, while the former seemed to have already experienced the wind and rain in the wild, growing into resilient and strong.

She was the last to sit down, and her gaze turned to Fu Qing. Fu Qing didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point: "I've come to discuss with you the issue of devout believers."

When she introduced the system, she also mentioned the Zombie King and the Devout Organization, so everyone knew about their existence.

But Fu Qing hasn't had time to talk about the more specific details yet.

She gave a general account of how the believers were infected, and how killing them could weaken the zombie king's abilities.

Another huge amount of information, which Tian Xuejun managed to digest with difficulty: "Therefore, the evolution of all zombies is closely related to the abilities of the Zombie King himself. The devout believers—also known as intelligent infected individuals—can retain human minds while possessing zombie abilities. All of these people are infected by the Zombie King himself, and each infection consumes some of the Zombie King's energy. But in return, they are ten thousand times more troublesome than ordinary zombies."

"The Zombie King needs to rely on believers to continuously expand its influence and promote the spread of the virus, such as causing the shelter to fall or infiltrating the ranks of strong humans as friends, and then backstabbing them at crucial moments..." she concluded, "But as long as we kill enough believers, we can significantly weaken the Zombie King's strength."

"Weakening it to a certain extent makes it easier to kill. And once the zombie king is killed, the zombies will stop evolving."

"For example, suppose there are tens of millions of zombies in the world now. The vast majority of them are low-level zombies, one in a thousand are mid-level zombies, and one in ten thousand are special zombies. But as time goes by, low-level zombies may also evolve. Perhaps one day, the number of mid-level zombies may even account for more than half of the population."

"But if you kill the zombie king, all the low-level zombies will remain at their current stage. Only those who have been bitten by mid-level or special zombies will have a chance to become the same high-level zombies. And these few evolved zombies can be dealt with by humans."

"Humanity will then see the dawn of victory over the apocalypse."

She looked at Fu Qing, a hint of expectation in her eyes: "Is that right?"

Tian Xuejun realized that Fu Qing had once again brought hope to humanity.

“Mostly correct, only one point needs correction,” Fu Qing said. “Not all believers have the opportunity to see the Zombie King and be infected by it personally. Many of them are just ordinary people who joined the organization for various selfish reasons and voluntarily promoted the spread of the virus.”

An officer's eyes widened: "How is what they're doing any different from betraying humanity?!"

“There’s no difference; that’s their goal.” Fu Qing shook his head. “Therefore, the hunt for the devout must be put on the agenda immediately.”

“My original plan was to divide all the students into two groups: one group would guard the campus, and the other group would form several teams to go out and find the believers and kill them one by one. But considering the students’ actual situation, I gave them a one-month deadline to return to school.”

"We've been short-handed on campus for the past month, but the task of killing the devout cannot be delayed, so I've come to ask for your help."

Tian Xuejun replied without hesitation: "We will do our best to help in any way we can. Just tell us."

Rather, this was not originally Fu Qing's or Fang Zhou's task.

They just took on this responsibility first.

“Currently, 721 people have returned to Fangzhou, and after evaluation, I believe that 151 of them are more suitable to stay in Fangzhou,” Fu Qing reported.

These are students who excel in infrastructure and farming classes; naturally, their combat abilities are somewhat weaker.

“I will divide the remaining 570 people into 114 teams of five, taking turns going out. What I need you to do is provide manpower to assist the students in hunting down the Devout,” Fu Qing said. “Those infected Devouts, which are intelligent zombies, will be much more difficult to deal with than other zombies. The students are experienced, and their five-person teams will be the absolute core. What you need to do is cooperate with them. While they are fighting, block the roads, evacuate the crowd, and eliminate their worries.”

The people in the conference room looked at each other in bewilderment.

How can a group of soldiers be paired with a group of students in combat?

Even during battles, they can only watch from the sidelines?

One of them couldn't help but say, "Our soldiers can't participate in the battle? But..."

“I don’t need soldiers,” Fu Qing said. “Ordinary police officers, auxiliary police officers, or even volunteers are fine. It might be difficult for them to fight evolved zombies alone, but with students, they can just take care of logistics. This way, you can save your elite forces and send them to places that need them more, such as shelters and hospitals.”

When the virus broke out, people were needed everywhere, and elite forces were especially in short supply.

It's important to understand that not every soldier can be considered elite. Most, even those who have trained, simply cannot hit the fast-moving zombie runners with their guns. They are like powerful generals in ancient warfare; to exaggerate a bit, one of them can be worth a thousand soldiers.

If things go wrong, dozens of people could be killed, some even by stray bullets fired from their own side.

Tian Xuejun and a group of senior executives had been racking their brains over the manpower shortage since last night, so this suggestion was exactly what she wanted.

But doesn't that mean...?

She blurted out, "In that case, wouldn't the task of killing the evolved zombies fall entirely on those five students?"

The infection rate of the evolved zombies is terrifying; they must be killed, but the cost of killing them is equally enormous.

Before this, Tian Xuejun and others had even prepared to use human lives to fill the gaps.

But now, with just a few words, Fu Qing has taken over this responsibility.

At the same time, the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers were taken away.

If what Fu Qing said is true, then Tian Xuejun's side doesn't need to worry about losing manpower, but Fangzhou's students also have no backup.

Tian Xuejun simply could not agree.

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Before Fu Qing could speak, Xue Ran interrupted, “We will make all the necessary preparations, please trust us.”

She said seriously.

Finally, he added in a low voice, "Besides, we've been working together for a long time. If someone with good chemistry joins us, it will only hold us back."

She looked up, her expression seemingly saying: You understand what I mean, right?

Tian Xuejun was taken aback by this sincere and honest statement, which made Fu Qing smile: "Fangzhou is short of people, while you lack elites who can fight against evolved zombies single-handedly. Wouldn't it be perfect if we cooperated?"

After several internal struggles, Tian Xuejun finally relented: "I understand. We can try it for a while first."

Fu Qing nodded, no longer dwelling on "how long to try," and continued, "In addition, once everyone is gathered, whether online or by having them find a way to meet offline, they need to receive unified training before the official operation."

"Xue Ran will be fully responsible for the training."

Xue Ran straightened his back and accepted everyone's scrutiny.

Before she arrived, the principal had told her that, in addition to the initial training, all teams participating in the hunt for believers would be under the command of Xue Ran and several other elite students.

Discovering devout believers, identifying their identities and infection types, assigning appropriately skilled teams, and overseeing the formulation of battle plans all require the experience of a few individuals.

Besides them, no one else could take on this job.

Xue Ran clenched his fist under the table, feeling a sense of relief.

The principal wasn't lying; even if she didn't join the elite team, she could still shine in other areas.