Chapter 324 went too smoothly

Day 25 of the zombie outbreak.

After multiple adjustments, the suspension bridge is now able to rise and fall smoothly.

As for load-bearing capacity, there are no problems for now.

To extend the bridge's lifespan, large military trucks were not driven onto the island; instead, carts were used to transport supplies across the bridge, significantly improving efficiency.

Xie Tu didn't allow all the ammunition to be transported to the island, leaving half a truckload of ammunition on the other side.

Song Liang led his men to continue dealing with the corpses on the island. They used the remaining trailers to haul them all off the island, transported them to an open area in the city, doused them with gasoline, and burned them.

Day 26 of the zombie outbreak.

The defensive wall on the north side was built.

The water level hasn't risen recently, so as long as the small boat mooring point on the north side is blocked, the zombies won't be able to climb onto the island for the time being.

In just a few days.

The island, which was once teeming with zombies, has been completely transformed.

With no more zombies or corpses on the island, it has truly become a safe base located in the city.

In the past two days, survivors who found the flyers have been coming over.

Large numbers of zombies have re-entered the city from the beach, and the survivors are gradually discovering that the zombies are evolving, making the situation increasingly dire.

Going it alone is no longer a viable way to survive.

Only by finding an organization to stick together and support each other can one have a chance to survive.

Team Zero has officially planned to clear out the millions of zombies in the city.

After finishing work in the evening, everyone gathered in a suite on the third floor of the hotel for a meeting.

"Finish it quickly so we can get out of here," Tao Haohao muttered as he slumped onto the sofa.

Duan Xi sat casually opposite him, offering a different opinion, "It's better to go out later. Isn't the base short of food? Should we delay for a few more days and ransack the whole city?"

Although this is also the end times, it has only been less than a month since it started.

Those scattered survivors had only scavenged limited supplies, perhaps just the tip of the iceberg of the city's resources.

They haven't visited large supermarket warehouses, ports, or other places, and they haven't been to Peach Blossom Island either.

In addition, the military base has several warehouses of ammunition.

These are all supplies.

If all of it is removed, this trip would probably be worth more than the No. 88 contaminated zone.

Duan Xi thought it over and over and it seemed more and more feasible: "Then let Qi Ling take the supplies out first, and make dozens of trips back and forth for him!"

Qi Ling had no objection; of course, he hoped to get as many points as possible from this mission.

Ideally, the debt should be paid off in one lump sum.

If there's any left over, that would be even better; then you won't have to go into debt to eat.

Upon hearing this, Song Liang looked at the captain and asked, "Captain, how should this experiment be conducted?"

He was referring to the matter of enabling Qi Ling to leave the contaminated area without relying on a key.

Qi Ling should be able to leave directly.

The problem is that if he goes out and then comes back in, he's very likely to end up alone.

A mutant creature covered in dark matter, once alone, can be controlled however the gatekeeper wants.

Unless Yun Zhao comes along.

But Yun Zhao isn't a mutant, so he can't freely enter and exit the contaminated area; the only way to follow him is with a key.

And isn't it even more worrying that these two are alone together?

"We'll talk about it at the last minute."

Xie Tu didn't elaborate, staring at the map in thought, "Try to bring out as many supplies as possible this time."

The experiment definitely needs to be done.

No matter what, we must let Qi Ling try to get out of the polluted area on her own.

We also need to take the supplies.

The base is short of food; the supplies from this contaminated area alone could probably feed most of the base.

Xie Tu: "As for how to transport them out, try to find more keys and see if we can get them out in batches."

"Okay," the teammates replied.

Yun Zhao did not participate in the discussion.

She nestled on the single sofa opposite, writing and drawing with paper and pen.

The rabbit went over and looked for a while, but couldn't understand what she was drawing at all.

Those stiff lines look completely random, like a child's random scribbles, leaving anyone who looks at them confused.

The rabbit silently turned around and sat down to the side, listening to the captain explain the action plan.

Since the entire city needs to be cleaned up, it's natural to start with the surrounding areas.

Centered on Island B, it gradually spreads outwards...

Yun Zhao listened to Xie Tu's voice while drawing his own picture.

She was trying to connect the five people according to their ages.

Ren Xin, Zhou Yang, Chen Xi, Jing Yao, Dong Hui.

Ren Xin may correspond to her, being six and a half years old, which matches the age at which she walked out of Pollution Zone No. 6.

Zhao represents light.

She doesn't remember anything before she was six years old. What is the meaning of this name? Is it her parents' expectation, or is there another deeper meaning?

Could the sun motif refer to her birth, or the appearance of the sun?

One question remains: how did the gatekeeper know all this?

Does the gatekeeper have the ability to predict the future?

Unable to figure it out, Yun Zhao decided to continue thinking about it.

Zhou Yang, that sixteen or seventeen-year-old high school student, she felt should correspond to a member of the red-crowned crane team.

The diary only mentions Big Knife and Old Bai.

However, the red-crowned crane once mentioned "Da Dao and the others," and the word "they" indicates that besides Da Dao and Lao Bai, she had other friends.

However, none of these people's names appeared in the few pages of the diary that were legible.

Could Chen Xi's diary, which he always carries, refer to the red-crowned crane?

Red-crowned cranes have been here before. Is the gatekeeper trying to inform her of this by controlling these mutants?

Yes, tell her, not everyone in Team Zero.

The red-crowned crane did not eliminate the gatekeeper, but allowed it to pass on a message to future generations.

The timeline of the contaminated area may remain unchanged for a century if it stops at a certain point.

Information can be perfectly preserved.

But what kind of secret would be kept from humanity, not told to one's descendants, and instead passed on through a gatekeeper?

What is the truth behind the disaster?

Is someone watching us from the outside?

Only the eerie contaminated area can shield us from surveillance?

Where is the other person who represents the sun?

Yun Zhao was lost in thought and didn't even hear his teammates finish discussing tomorrow's operation.

The team members yawned and went back to rest.

Xie Tu turned his head and saw that she was lost in thought again.

She had been working with the survivors these past few days, and their relationship had grown quite close. A few bottles of strawberry milk had won over the little girl, who now followed her around calling her "sister" all the time.

Chen Xi was the same; they had even become so familiar with each other that they would call each other by name.

Such behavior is actually very dangerous.

Humans are emotional beings after all. Once they become too attached to these mutant species, they are prone to developing feelings for them, which can backfire and lead to their gradual assimilation into the polluted area.

The rest of Team Zero didn't talk to the survivors at all.

Rabbit, in particular, ignores others when they greet her.

This led everyone to believe that the rabbit had a cold and aloof personality.

Gradually, no one dared to provoke them, and if anything happened, they would go to Yun Zhao and Qi Ling.

Xie Tu got up and walked towards her, unfastened the special device containing the key from his waist, and fastened it to her waist. "Take the key."

That way, even if something happens later, you can get out of the contaminated area in time if you find the key.

Yun Zhao came to her senses, and the key was already in her possession.

She stared at the extra key at her waist, paused for a moment, then looked up and asked, "Captain, do you think the key is useful?"

"How could it be useless?" Xie Tu didn't know why she would say that.

Yun Zhao paused for a moment, then said, "If a smart gatekeeper doesn't want to let outsiders out, wouldn't they give out a fake key?"

Xie Tu's gaze deepened. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know," Yun Zhao said. "I just feel that everything has gone too smoothly."

The zombies posed no threat whatsoever to Team Zero.

To date, all the evolving zombies have only achieved joint flexibility, enabling them to run and jump.

Apart from that, he is still a weakling made of flesh and blood.

One bullet is enough to blow someone's head off.

Team Zero is navigating this contaminated zone with ease, and all operations are proceeding smoothly. They even have ample ammunition to clear out the zombies in the city.

Xie Tu rubbed her head and said, "Don't think about it anymore, get some rest."

The two shared the same idea.

But Team Zero can't just do nothing.