Chapter 26 Debate
The safety zone command center, a room converted from the original air-raid shelter management office, was filled with smoke, and the atmosphere was so heavy it could be wrung out.
Around a simple long table sat the core decision-making body of the current security zone: several military representatives led by Commander Li Zhenguo, and several former government officials in charge of logistics, medical care, and people's livelihood.
There was only one issue, and it was the one that concerned life and death: whether and how to organize a large-scale migration to the Dawn Base, 500 kilometers away.
"We must leave! And quickly!" Commander Wang, in charge of defense and mopping-up operations, spoke in a loud voice, with the decisiveness unique to soldiers. He slammed his fist on the table covered with maps. "Everyone knows that the supplies here won't last more than two months! When winter comes, it's just waiting to die! Rather than sitting and waiting to die, we should concentrate our forces and fight to the death! We have weapons, soldiers, and even people with superpowers. Escorting tens of thousands of people is not impossible!" He was a staunch advocate of relocation, believing that staying meant certain death.
"A desperate gamble? Commander Wang, you make it sound so easy!" Director Chen, in charge of logistics and supplies management, immediately retorted. He adjusted his glasses, his face ashen, clearly worried sick about the supplies. "The migration of tens of thousands of people! Where will the food, medicine, fuel, and vehicles come from? How will the route be planned? How will we deal with the zombie hordes and mutants along the way? This isn't a breakout; it's pushing everyone into a fire pit! What are the chances of success? One in ten? Or half a in fifty?" He was a conservative, believing the risks were too great and that it was better to hold the line and wait for other possible opportunities.
"Hold on? With what can we hold on?" Commander Li Zhenguo finally spoke, his voice low and hoarse, filled with immense exhaustion and pressure. "Director Chen, you know better than I how much rice and medicine are left in the warehouse. Wait? What are we waiting for? For supplies to fall from the sky? Or for a god to come and save us?" His words were like cold water, splashed on the heads of everyone who still harbored illusions about "holding on."
The head of the medical team, Professor Liu, an elderly man with gray hair, said tremblingly, "Migration... how many casualties will there be on the way? The elderly, children, patients... what will happen to them? Should we abandon them?" His words touched upon the most cruel moral dilemma, causing everyone present to fall silent for a moment.
Abandoning the weak is the most brutal unspoken rule in the apocalypse, but its naked exposure is still unbearable.
“We can evacuate in batches! Prioritize the safety of our personnel and key technical staff!” Commander Wang said through gritted teeth, avoiding Dean Liu’s gaze.
"What's the difference between that and a massacre?!" Dean Liu stood up agitatedly.
"Does staying together and dying together make any difference?!" another officer couldn't help but growl.
The debate quickly escalated to a fever pitch.
Military representatives mostly favored the risky relocation because they knew the consequences of running out of ammunition and food; while civilian officials and logistics personnel preferred a safer approach, fearing the potential for huge casualties and responsibilities during the relocation.
"What's the route? The signal is intermittent, the map is incomplete, and it's 500 kilometers away—every step is fraught with danger!"
"What about vehicle maintenance? We simply don't have enough fuel!"
"Will people with superpowers follow orders? Are they willing to escort ordinary people?"
"Even if we get to Dawn Base, will they accept so many of us?"
One sharp question after another was raised, each one like a heavy shackle.
The meeting room was in complete chaos, with people spitting and shouting, their faces red and necks bulging.
Commander Li Zhenguo rubbed his throbbing temples, staring silently at the map on the table, covered in markings and question marks. He had to make a decision—a decision that could lead everyone to survival, or it could push them toward even greater destruction.
Just then, a communications soldier rushed in and handed over a newly sent telegram.
After reading it, Li Zhenguo's expression turned even more unpleasant.
He raised his head, looked around at the now quiet crowd, and slowly said, "We just received a vague signal that the logistics park security zone to the north... appears to have experienced a large-scale internal conflict, the reason being... the complete depletion of supplies."
This news, like the final death knell, struck everyone's heart.
Director Chen opened his mouth, but ultimately slumped helplessly into his chair.
Commander Wang took a deep breath, his eyes becoming even more determined.
Commander Li Zhenguo stood up, his gaze sweeping over everyone, and made his final decision:
"Immediately begin developing a detailed relocation plan! At the same time, block information, prioritize the preparation of supplies, and integrate all available vehicles and armed forces. We... have no way out."
The heated debate at the top level was ultimately brought to a halt by the harsher reality from the outside.
Migration is no longer an option, but the only way to survive.
In the safety zone of the North Logistics Park, the pent-up despair finally erupted like a powder keg that had been ignited!
riot!
The incident began when a truck carrying a small amount of food overturned during distribution, spilling the already meager amount of food onto the ground.
The starving crowd instantly lost their minds, breaking through the already ineffective cordon like a flood, and frantically pounced on the food!
"Rob it!"
"Let's fight them!"
"If you don't give us a way to survive, nobody will have a good time!"
Roars, cries, and sounds of smashing instantly engulfed the entire park!
Long-accumulated resentment, anger over unfair resource allocation, and the fear of starvation were all unleashed at this moment! People attacked the search team members and local bullies who had oppressed them, plundering anything they could see, and order completely collapsed!
Lin Jiaojiao and her family huddled in the cold shipping container, trembling with fear as they listened to the deafening chaos outside. Ruan Chenyang was ashen-faced, while Lin Wanyun clutched her festering arm, her eyes filled with terror.
"It's over...it's all over..." Lin Wanyun murmured in despair.
Just then, the iron door of the container was suddenly pulled open! A figure appeared at the doorway. It was a well-known superhuman in the park named Black Snake. His ability was to keratinize his skin, giving him amazing defensive capabilities. He was also ruthless.
He had previously looked at Lin Jiaojiao with ill intent on several occasions.
At this moment, Black Snake looked at the three people inside the container, who were like frightened birds, and a cruel smile appeared on his face. He held a few precious antibiotic pills and a small roll of clean bandages in his hand, and waved them around.
"Come with me. This will cover you, and we'll provide protection along the way." His gaze fell directly on Lin Jiaojiao, his intentions clear. "Otherwise, you can stay here and wait to die."
Lin Jiaojiao's face was ashen, and her body trembled violently.
She understood what this meant. Her self-respect, her pride, her resentment were crushed in the face of an absolute threat to her survival.
She glanced at her ailing and dying parents, then at the chaotic scene outside that resembled hell.
Staying means certain death.
By following him, at least... there was a glimmer of hope, even if that hope required exchanging her most cherished possession.
She bit her lower lip so hard it almost drew blood.
Finally, after a few suffocating seconds of silence, she seemed to have all her strength drained away. She lowered her head and spoke in a barely audible voice, trembling with shame:
"...Okay. I'll go with you."
She finally and completely let go of her ridiculous and fragile pride, putting a price tag on herself in exchange for the right to live.
Black Snake smiled with satisfaction and tossed the medicine to Lin Wanyun.
Lin Wanyun and Ruan Chenyang looked at their daughter with a complex mix of emotions—the relief of being rescued, the shame of being parents, but more than anything, a sense of relief and selfish acceptance.
They tacitly agreed to exchange their daughter's sacrifice for their chance to live.
Lin Jiaojiao stood up numbly, without even glancing at her parents again, and followed the black snake out of the container that held countless nightmares for them.
The black snake roughly grabbed her waist, and she stiffened but did not resist.
Escorted by Black Snake and his henchmen, the family of three struggled through the chaotic rioting crowd.
Black Snake's keratinized skin deflected several chaotic attacks, and they managed to seize a dilapidated van that could still be started, along with a small amount of food and fuel scavenged from the chaos.
As the van jolted and sped out of the logistics park, which had become a scene of carnage, Lin Jiaojiao glanced back through the stained windows at the ruins filled with flames, thick smoke, and screams.
That place holds her pride, her dignity, and certain aspects of her being a "human being."
She turned her head, staring blankly at the unknown road ahead, her nails digging deep into her palms, leaving crescent-shaped bloodstains.
They embarked on their journey to Dawn Base. There was no hope, only a numb instinct for survival; no future, only a precarious present dependent on the strong.
Lin Jiaojiao leaned against the cold car window, feeling the black snake's nauseating touch, her mind filled with boundless darkness and a twisted thought:
“Ruan Ning… if you’re still alive… you’d better be worse off than me… otherwise, what does all that I’ve endured even matter…”
Like stray dogs, they struggled through the desolate wasteland towards the rumored "dawn," their souls already utterly corrupted by the riots and the trade.
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