Chapter 9: Farewell and Reunion
Lu Ming turned her head and looked outside the car, hoping to see any of them again, but there were too many zombies between them, blocking her view.
She looked back in disappointment, gripped the steering wheel tightly, and while there was still space around the car, she quickly shifted into reverse gear and rushed backwards!
As she took the first step, a sudden surge of anger arose in her heart, prompting her to honk the horn continuously.
Come on! You nasty, disgusting monsters! Come after your father!
Amid the symphony of horns, gunshots, and zombie roars, she didn't hear someone angrily and anxiously calling her name.
But even if she heard it, she couldn't stop.
She backed up all the way to the intersection, swerved the steering wheel to the right, and rushed onto the road opposite to the route Gu Chao and the others had agreed on.
Lu Ming didn't quite understand what she should do. She had only one thought in her mind, which was to go further and further away. As for what would happen next, she didn't know.
Attracted by the sound of the vehicles, a large number of zombies continued to join the pursuit.
If the road conditions were better and the car was of higher quality, maybe she could have shaken off these zombies and driven to an unknown distance.
However, things don't always go as planned.
Just as the car was about to turn, the left front tire suddenly burst because the wheel ran over something.
With a loud bang, the car body slid uncontrollably to the left, hit the roadside telephone pole with a bang, and could no longer move.
The zombies that were already nearby stumbled over, surrounded the car densely, and kept banging on the glass.
At this moment, the people behind her who were guiding the crowd to evacuate on the path also heard the sound. They turned around and saw this scene, and their hearts almost stopped beating.
Gu Chao rushed back first and directed the rescue with gestures.
However, what they didn't expect was...
They were halfway through the run when they suddenly heard a gunshot coming from the car. They were shocked and stopped in disbelief.
The heavy silence made them feel suffocated, and they all thought of a possibility at the same time.
As if to verify their guess, the zombies that had been surrounding the car gradually stopped hitting it, and the zombies in the back row also gave up the chase, following the smell of fresh flesh and blood, staggered around, and walked towards them.
Lin Cong roared: "Why!"
Why didn't she wait for them? Why did she lead the zombies away alone? She could have driven away by herself! Why did she do this?!
Are they so untrustworthy?!
She didn't believe they had the ability to protect her, didn't believe they would come back to save her.
Gu Chao's expression remained calm and he remained silent, but his violently heaving chest and clenched hands with blue veins still revealed a hint of emotion.
There was no goodbye, no last words, and even no one saw her for the last time. She just left like that.
She still gave up.
The weapon he left for her to protect herself eventually became her death warrant.
He should have known.
She didn't trust herself, nor did she trust them.
Yes, they had only known each other for a few days, and they really had no reason for her to trust them. Even they themselves could not guarantee that they would always keep her by her side and take care of her. After all, they still had tasks and responsibilities.
These chaotic thoughts hit his mind, making him lose consciousness for a moment, but he forced himself to wake up in the next second.
Everyone has the right to choose. This is her choice and he can't stop it.
Looking at the gradually approaching group of zombies, he knew that there was no time to reminisce about anything. The living people were the most important.
Gu Chao took a deep breath and said with difficulty: "Let's go."
Several people ran back silently and resumed their original path.
They were still four people, successfully reunited, and were about to meet up with the rest of their teammates. Nothing seemed to have changed, yet something seemed to have changed.
However, this day is destined to become their first unforgettable memory since the end of the world.
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Another sunset and moonrise.
"This way! Come here!"
The four of them were startled when they heard the familiar low shouting, and looked towards the corner of the street in surprise.
Cheng Ming hid behind a store's advertising box and waved over here.
Several people stuck to the wall, quickly eliminated the zombies blocking the way ahead, and quietly approached Cheng Ming.
【Follow me】
Without saying anything, Cheng Ming made a gesture and turned to walk into the alley.
The few of them walked through several alleys and stopped in front of an inconspicuous small iron gate. He raised his hand and knocked on the door gently, two long and two short knocks.
The door opened in response, and a small door was pulled open, and several people quickly slipped in.
Climbing up to the third floor and opening a fire door, Li Hangyuan was already waiting at the door at the end of the corridor.
Several people came in and gave each other a big bear hug.
"Captain! You're finally here! We were so worried!"
After saying hello, the next few people collapsed on the sofa.
Lin Cong collapsed and shouted, "Oh my god, I can finally lie down for a while. These few days are more tiring than a month in the Amazon."
Cheng Ming couldn't help but smile: "You said the same thing the last time you went to Africa. What, Lin Cong, do you really treat the jungle as your home?"
"Now I know what Africa is! I'd rather spend a year in Africa than this awful shit!"
Everyone laughed, but weakly.
Gu Chao lowered his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.
Cheng Ming restrained his expression and looked at the bitterness behind the smiles of several people. He keenly realized that something must have happened in the past few days.
However, he knew that now was not a good time to ask, so he distributed a bottle of water to each person and went to cook.
Cheng Ming was very foresighted. Their landing site was not far from the safe house. On the first day of the power outage, before the chaos began, he had already bought two weeks' worth of food, water, vegetables, meat and high-calorie foods.
Water and gas were also stored, so the few people were finally able to break free from their idle state.
But the bad news is that they must evacuate as soon as possible because there are more and more zombies nearby. If they wait any longer, they will probably be trapped here.
After dinner, the team members finally gathered together and sat around the sofa to analyze the current situation.
The three groups that acted separately exchanged the information they knew.
"The hospital is overcrowded with patients who are in a coma with high fevers, and the cause of their illness cannot be determined."
"The police station, fire department, and government are no longer able to function normally. I don't know where everyone has gone. The scene is in chaos."
"Communications are still interrupted, especially wireless transmissions. I suspect the Earth has suffered the strongest geomagnetic storm in history. The aurora and power outages are signs of this. Satellites may have been paralyzed. Signals can only be transmitted within a certain range, so we are temporarily unable to contact headquarters." Li Hangyuan said finally.
Gu Chao nodded. "Also, the commander also told us not to return to the capital in the short term. He must have received some information. So, we need to consider how we should act during this period of time."
Gu Chao turned to Cheng Ming and said, "Old Cheng, what do you think about zombies?"
Cheng Ming replied, "These zombies outside are probably caused by some kind of virus, just like the Resident Evil. This virus is highly contagious, has no incubation period, and has an extremely high mortality rate. It is mainly spread through body fluids, and whether it is airborne is not yet known. However, judging from recent international news, this virus is probably not artificially developed, or in other words, it is not an existing virus known to humans."
Gu Chao frowned: "You mean..."
Cheng Ming nodded. "That's right. Since it's a new virus, there's no vaccine or cure. Furthermore," he glanced around at his teammates and said gravely, "if the virus is related to the geomagnetic storm, I'm afraid this disorder isn't localized."
Gu Chao agreed, and he was even more concerned about the situation in the capital. He said, "I second that. Also, whether it's due to a geomagnetic storm or a virus, the human body might be altered." He looked at Zhang Rui and said, "Demonstrate."
Zhang Rui scratched his head nervously, and under the unanimous stares of everyone, he stretched out his left hand, and a cloud of mist slowly emerged from his palm.
"Fuck!" Lin Cong's eyes widened. "Am I dazzled? Is this an illusion?"
Others were also surprised, "No, I saw it too, isn't that fog?"
Li Hangyuan couldn't help but reach out and touch it.
Yan Song patted Zhang Rui's shoulder vigorously and said, "Alright, kid, this is considered a superpower, right?"
Zhang Rui scratched his head and said embarrassedly: "I don't know either, but it doesn't seem to be of much use, so I can only release this small piece."
Gu Chao reminded: "Not only that, his strength, speed and endurance have all improved. Now I guess you can only fight him to a draw."
Lin never believed it: "Is this true? Don't brag, boss. Hey, when did this come about? How come we didn't know about it? You've been hiding it so well."
The corners of Zhang Rui's mouth slowly dropped: "That is... after she left."
After hearing this, several people were silent for a while.
In fact, it was very strange. Gu and Zhang had only been with her for four or five days, and the other two had barely been with her for two days. In such a short time, they both recognized a little girl and felt sad for her passing.
Cheng Ming coughed lightly. "Although I know it's not easy, can anyone tell me what happened? Who is this him?"
The tacit silence is not because they don’t want to speak, but because they don’t know how to speak.
Lin Cong said sullenly, "She was just a silly girl. During the evacuation, she drove a car alone to lure away all the zombies, and then..."
Cheng Ming couldn't hide his surprise, and even suspected that Lin Cong had mentioned the wrong person. This kind of thing seemed like something they would do.
Who could possibly be so courageous? And to be able to do this even though they would definitely not agree, it was truly remarkable.
It must not be someone they all knew, otherwise they would have mentioned the name. So, it means they just met each other after being apart for a few days? He was a little curious.
Cheng Ming didn't know how to comfort her. After all, he felt it was a pity and could only say "I'm sorry" dryly.
Gu Chao spoke, drawing them back to their thoughts: "Alright, let's continue the meeting. As of now, the initial symptom of the mutation is a fever of unknown cause, followed by a mutation process. In the past six days, we have seen three different types of zombies. The most basic one has stiff joints and slow movements; the second type moves similarly to ordinary people; and the last type has quick reactions, great strength, and some intelligence, but is very rare. Whether these differences are due to the evolution of zombies or due to differences in their physical constitutions in life is still unknown. Although most of the zombies currently found are the first two types, we must remain vigilant."
Several people nodded and asked about the follow-up plans.
Gu Chao pondered for a moment, then looked at Yan Song. "We were originally planning to visit your brother Yan Wei. He should still be at N University, not far from here. There are too many people there, so we can't stay for long. We'll go find him first, and then take away any survivors there and hand them over to the army. Once we've contacted the capital, we'll make plans for the rest of the day."
No one else objected. Yan Song was even more grateful. He and his brother had grown up together, and he had long been worried about them.
Gu Chao continued, "Since we can't contact the commander, I am now the supreme commander. From now on, all actions must follow my orders. Is there any problem?"
"No!"
"Now, if anyone wants to leave the organization, special approval can be given." No one answered.
"Okay, then the first action is to rescue Yan Wei and search for survivors. We'll rest tomorrow and depart the day after tomorrow. Disband."
"yes!"
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