Chapter 70 Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland 33
The upgraded system's scanning function was far more powerful than Zhou Jue had imagined.
However, for a whole week, Zhou Jue drove his modified black SUV, traversing almost every corner of Kyoto, but the results were consistently disappointing.
There was no organized army, no operating official shelters, and not even a decent survivor settlement.
This once bustling metropolis is now reduced to two things: aimless zombies and a few scattered survivors struggling to survive in the cracks.
And so, Zhou Jue searched by day and cultivated by night. After a week, he hadn't found any official forces, but he had gained several thousand more zombies and his system energy points had also increased considerably.
In the underground parking lot of an abandoned shopping mall, she discovered a small team of seven or eight survivors. They were emaciated, their eyes filled with vigilance and despair, barely holding off the scattered zombies outside, relying on the complex structure of the parking lot and a few wrecked cars.
Zhou Jue did not show herself. She did not trust anyone and did not want the existence of the power armor to cause unnecessary trouble or covetousness.
She simply wrote down the address of the previous "Kyoto Shelter" and a simple map on a piece of paper from a distance, marking a relatively safe route. Then, she wrapped a small stone in it and threw it precisely from a vent to the feet of the group of survivors. With the threat cleared, the area now had defenses and food, making it a decent shelter.
After doing all this, she quietly left. She could offer limited guidance, but the path was for them to walk themselves.
"It seems that relying on the authorities is impossible."
Zhou Jue stopped the car, looked at the fruitless scan results on the map, and made a judgment in his mind.
The Kyoto base, once the largest official stronghold, may have taken away the last organized resistance force in the country with its destruction.
She turned the car around and started heading back towards her makeshift base. Since she couldn't find any organization, she would have to rely on herself.
As she drove, she planned her next move. She had considered using the Kyoto base as a base, but it was too conspicuous and obvious. While no one might notice it for a while, the risk of exposure would be too great in the long run. She needed a more secluded and safer place.
Just as she was driving for three days and about to leave the Kyoto area, the system suddenly issued a notification.
[Warning: Large-scale human life signal aggregation detected 3 kilometers ahead.]
[Energy signal analysis... indicates the presence of a defensive power grid and operating generator units.]
[Initial assessment: A newly established survivor base.]
Zhou Jue immediately drove the car off the highway and hid in a dense forest. He then activated the stealth mode of his power armor and crept over silently.
Soon, a base built on an abandoned highway service area came into her view.
The base was surrounded by tall barbed wire fences, which were electrified and emitted a faint buzzing light. Armed guards patrolled back and forth from several watchtowers made from converted shipping containers.
The base is quite large, accommodating at least a thousand people.
Zhou Jue did not rush in. Instead, he found a high vantage point on the periphery and used the long-range listening and thermal imaging capabilities of his power armor to observe the base for several hours.
She quickly pieced together the basic information about the base.
The leader of this base is a woman.
Through snippets of conversation, Zhou learned that this woman named Qin Wan had been the head of the logistics department at the Kyoto base. In the early stages of the "sleep-talking syndrome" outbreak, she keenly sensed something was wrong. Without hesitation, she disobeyed her superiors' orders to "hold out and await reinforcements," and instead used her authority to secretly gather a group of uninfected logistics personnel and some conscious soldiers. With a shipment of vital supplies, they successfully broke through before the base was completely overrun.
This decisiveness and judgment even impressed Zhou Jue.
However, as Zhou Jue observed more closely, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper; this base was not peaceful.
Internally, it has clearly split into two camps.
On one side was the "pro-war faction," led by the original base soldiers who had broken out with Qin Wan. They believed that they should not abandon Kyoto, but should unite with other official bases to immediately organize a counterattack, reclaim their homeland, and restore order.
On the other side was the "conservative faction," mainly composed of Qin Wan, the logistics personnel, and the ordinary survivors who joined later. They believed that the base's strength was still too weak, and a rash counterattack would be tantamount to throwing an egg against a rock. Moreover, they didn't even know who their opponent was; going there would only mean certain death. The most urgent task was to strengthen defenses, stockpile supplies, establish a foothold in this wasteland, and then gradually develop.
At this moment, a heated argument is taking place in the meeting room that has been converted from a service area.
"Supervisor Qin! We can't wait any longer! Everything we have is in the Kyoto base! Weapons, equipment, data! If we go back now, we still have a chance!" A burly officer in combat uniform slammed his fist on the table, his emotions running high.
Qin Wan's voice sounded calm but weary: "Captain Wang, I understand how you feel. But tell me, what do we have to fight back with? Less than two hundred of us who can fight? To face all the monsters in the entire base? That's not bravery, that's suicide!"
"Monsters? They're just our fellow citizens being controlled! We have a way to awaken them!"
"What method? Did you find the source of that 'whisper of God'? Do you know how to block it? You know nothing!" Qin Wan's voice suddenly rose: "I will not let anyone else die in vain for this hopeless charge!"
The conference room fell into dead silence.
Zhou Jue, who was high up, silently withdrew his gaze.
She shook her head, turned and left; she wouldn't stay in this place.
She admired Qin Wan's decisiveness, but had no interest in a team plagued by internal strife. She certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to tell them that she had single-handedly resolved the threat from Kyoto.
That wouldn't bring gratitude, only endless trouble, suspicion, and strife. She didn't want to be a savior, much less get involved in any power struggles.
Since this doesn't work, let's keep looking.
Zhou Jue returned to his off-road vehicle and pulled up a map of this world. Besides the Kyoto base, this country had four other large official bases, located in the southeast, west, and central directions respectively.
"Then let's go take a look."
In the following period, Zhou Jue embarked on a long journey around the country.
She drove like a lonely ghost, traversing the dilapidated city and desolate wasteland.
She went to the "Hope" base in the East and found that there was a separation between the military and the government, with the two sides locked in a power struggle.
She went to the "Lighthouse" base in the south, which had become a hierarchical slave society ruled by a minority, where ordinary people were treated like livestock.
She went to the "Bastion" base in the west, where warlords were fighting each other for territory and resources, and the chaos was even greater than that of the wasteland outside.
She went to the Chinese "Dawn" base, which was orderly but operated under a suffocating social system that ranked people by their genetic superiority. It was lifeless, like a huge, sophisticated prison.
Having witnessed the ugliness of human nature and the cruelty of the end times, Zhou Jue's heart grew increasingly cold.
Indeed, not all countries are countries of the people, and she felt genuinely proud of her motherland.
While traversing a vast, uninhabited mountainous region, she unexpectedly discovered an ideal location: a huge basin surrounded by mountains, accessible only through a narrow pass, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. The basin contained rivers and forests, far from human habitation, and rarely saw any signs of zombies.
It's simply a perfect paradise.
Zhou Jue used the system to record the coordinates of this place in detail as a backup.
When she completed her reconnaissance trip and returned to the vicinity of "Grass Platform", there was very little time left.
[Warning: Main Quest: Survive for 30 days and build a shelter that can safely sustain 100 people. Time Remaining: 3 days, Progress 15/100]
[WARNING: Side quest 'Slay the Chimera', time remaining: 3 days.]
"It's time to get down to business."
Zhou Jue's eyes narrowed, and he stepped on the gas. The black SUV sped off in the direction of "Titan Industries".
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com