After the news of plant mutation spread, panic also spread. The entire team's marching speed increased a lot. Everyone was trying their best to hurry on their way. They set out earlier in the morning and rested later in the evening. Every night at their camp, all the plants nearby had to be eradicated before they could feel at ease.
Finally, on January 29th, the eleventh day after our departure, we entered the territory of Ning City. However, the sky was gray and humid from the beginning of that morning, as if it was about to rain.
Lin Tantan looked up at the sky, feeling anxious. Was it going to rain? She wouldn't have worried before, but the early appearance of the mutant plants had her on edge.
Historically, in February, most of southern China experiences three days of torrential rain. During this downpour, zombies riot like wildfires and rapidly evolve. Plants, seemingly irrigated with endless nutrients, grow extraordinarily lush, and mutant plants sprout like mushrooms after a rain. Human living conditions become even more dire.
The rain won’t come now, will it?
Facts proved that what you fear will come true. The weather was gloomy all morning. At around ten o'clock, it started to rain lightly. Then the rain got heavier and heavier, and the vision began to be affected. The road condition, which was already bad, soon became muddy and slippery, and many puddles appeared.
This is very detrimental to driving.
The convoy slowed down.
In the middle of the convoy, in the armored vehicle, Zhu Xin muttered to himself, "How can we keep going in such heavy rain? We should wait for a while until the rain stops before we go on."
Xing Guoliang thought for a while and called Ye Xiao: "Captain Ye, it's raining so hard, why don't we wait a while before leaving? We're not far from the base anyway."
Ye Xiao was in the front car of the convoy at this time. After hearing Xing Guoliang's words, he glanced at Cheng Qinan beside him. Cheng Qinan's face was pale. Looking at the white rain curtain in front of him, his expression was not good. He shook his head at Ye Xiao and said, "We can't stop."
Ye Xiao responded to Xing Guoliang, "There are only the last twenty kilometers left. We should hurry up and make it to the destination to avoid any accidents."
Xing Guoliang was a little unhappy. He was almost at his doorstep, what could possibly go wrong? Although he had encountered several waves of zombies along the way, they had not caused much damage. Now that he was almost there, could there still be any danger?
He felt that Ye Xiao was too cautious and was unwilling to accept other people's suggestions.
He didn't know that this was because Cheng Qinan had a premonition that the rain would last for a long time and that it would bring bad things.
Cheng Qinan's premonitions have always been accurate. The more serious the event and the wider its impact, the more accurate his premonitions are.
After hanging up the phone with Xing Guoliang, the intercom rang again soon. A short number appeared on the screen. It was Lin Tantan's number, and Ye Xiao picked it up immediately.
"Ye Xiao, are you still in front of the team?" Lin Tan's voice was a little solemn.
Ye Xiao said: "Yes, I'm here."
"How's the traffic? I mean, is it possible to speed up?"
Ye Xiao looked at the muddy gravel road ahead. In order to bypass the city center of Ning City, they took the road in the suburbs. The road was blocked, and only this gravel road could pass such a large convoy. However, this road has been in disrepair for many years, and the soil is exposed in many places. It is also very uneven, so it becomes very muddy when it rains, and there are many bends.
Ye Xiao said: "It's possible to speed up, but it will be more dangerous."
"Is that so..." Lin Tantan's voice was mixed in with the sound of rain.
Ye Xiao whispered, "Don't worry. If we keep going at this speed, we'll be there in three hours at the latest."
There was a soothing touch in his voice. Lin Tan Tan looked at the needle on the dashboard that had been pushed down to "10," then at the distant view that was moving very slowly past. "Okay, I'm just a little uneasy. I hope we can get to the base soon."
They are such a large team with so many people, so they are usually attracted to zombies. They have encountered many zombies on the road, and now it is raining... It is said that during the three days of heavy rain, anyone who went out had a bad ending. The number of zombies increased dramatically, and the population suffered heavy losses.
But it’s just starting to rain now, nothing should go wrong within three hours, right?
She was trying to persuade herself to relax, but Ye Xiao frowned: "What do you think will happen?"
Lin Tantan couldn't put it into words. It wasn't that she didn't dare to say it, but she was unsure. So she could only say vaguely, "Anyway, I think it's very dangerous when it rains."
Ye Xiao thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I understand." He then contacted Bai Cheng from the fourth team and discussed it with him. He then contacted Xing Guoliang, who was surprised by what Ye Xiao said. "You want to throw away the supplies?"
"We'll leave the supply truck here and come back to get it later, Major General Xing. We've already made our decision. I suggest you do the same. Getting these people safely to the base is more important than getting supplies."
Xing Guoliang felt that Ye Xiao was being unreasonable. With only two or three hours left to go, he was abandoning his supplies? Without supplies, how could anyone survive? Furthermore, his team already had over a hundred supply trucks.
When he left the Ning City base, the food pressure in the base was already very heavy. The situation is definitely more serious now. Without supplies, everything is useless.
So Xing Guoliang decisively rejected the proposal.
Ye Xiao did not force it. Immediately afterwards, in the ten convoys, everyone who had a walkie-talkie or a loudspeaker installed in their car heard Bai Cheng's emergency order to abandon all supply vehicles except those carrying medicines.
The supply trucks are numbered separately, and each truck is equipped with two drivers, all of whom have been specially trained before departure and are more obedient than ordinary people. There is also a plan for abandoning the supply truck. For example, if an emergency occurs and you need to escape urgently, you need to abandon the supply truck, and the drivers all know what to do.
So even though they found the order a bit strange, the drivers still drove their supply trucks out of the convoy, parked them in the wasteland nearby, then quickly got out of the car and caught up with the nearest car carrying people.
These supply trucks included tankers, trucks filled with rice, grains and vegetables, trucks filled with bottled water, and trucks loaded with tents, bedding, pots and pans and other sundries. They were basically bulky trucks that required special caution on rainy days, including the bulldozer that had been leading the way.
Each convoy had more than ten vehicles, with the fourth and fifth convoys having the largest number. When these vehicles left the convoy, the entire convoy suddenly became much more streamlined, the speed increased, and it soon distanced itself from the convoy behind.
"These idiots actually left the supplies behind!" Zhu Xin said excitedly, "Brother Xing, they don't want the supplies, but we do!"
Xing Guoliang frowned. He didn't expect Ye Xiao to really give up the supplies, and so quickly and decisively, as if he was trying to escape at full speed. He felt a little uneasy. Could something have happened to them?
Xing Guoliang asked, "The drone didn't find anything, did it?"
"No, the surroundings are very clean and safe."
Xing Guoliang nodded, looking at the trucks loaded with goods with a bit of envy. Since people had abandoned their trucks, it wouldn't be considered stealing or robbery if he took them. Ye Xiao had no reason to say anything afterwards.
Xing Guoliang then signaled Zhu Xin to arrange someone to drive.
He was optimistic about Ye Xiao, but he also felt that with his personality, he might not be able to get along in the base. In fact, even if he did well, he might not benefit from it. With more supplies, he could support more loyal people. When others had to organize people to search for supplies, he could sit back and relax.
He sighed and let it be.
Naturally, the engines of these supply trucks were turned off and the keys were removed. It took some time to restart them, and they had to move forward and backward one by one before they could get back on the road. In addition, the rain was getting heavier and the road was becoming more and more difficult to travel. After all the back and forth movement, they soon completely lost sight of the ten large convoys in front.
Of course, the people following the army also noticed that the convoy in front had sped up and left. Some of the alert and decisive ones with good car performance directly passed the army and followed them, causing people like Zhu Xin to curse inwardly as if they were following them to be reincarnated.
By this time, the ten convoys had slowed down to around 20 km/h. The view was almost completely white, and the sound of rain pounding on one's eardrums. The windshield wipers swayed back and forth in front of the cars, and every driver stared intently at the rear of the car in front, high beams on, daring neither to get too close nor to pull too far away.
Fortunately, reminders would be given from the intercom and the car speakers from time to time, such as how far ahead the turn was, where there were puddles or obstacles ahead. The front team would remind the back team, and the information would be passed down one by one. This reminder could avoid accidents to a large extent.
In short, Lin Tantan was very nervous, as if he was in a race against time.
More than half an hour passed like this. The GPS map showed that the former security zone, now the Ning City Security Base, was about to arrive. At this time, Jiang Xiaotian in the car suddenly shouted: "Zombies! Tide of zombies! It's a tide of zombies!"
Lin Tantan was startled by him. Qian, who was driving, bent the steering wheel. Lin Tantan held him down and said, "Hold steady!"
She got out of the passenger seat and into the car: "What zombie tide?"
"Look, look!" Jiang Xiaotian pointed at the screen to show her and Mei Bosheng. He had just been controlling several drones flying around by himself. This was the picture taken by one of the drones. Due to the heavy rain, the picture was not clear, but also because of the heavy rain, the drone could not fly high, so the distance to the ground was quite close, otherwise these pictures would not be visible.
In the city buildings and on the streets, zombies with strange appearances and movements came out from the cover, walking back and forth or even running in the rain, and gathering in one direction.
Jiang Xiaotian typed quickly on the keyboard, and the screen of a computer turned into a satellite map. The red signal dot was a drone, and the location shown was the area of Ning City closest to their suburbs. The thick and thin yellow arrows near the red dot were simulated zombie trends, and at a distance was a long blue icon representing their convoy.
In this way, it can be seen intuitively that the thickest yellow arrow at the end... seems to be coming towards their direction, and there is another wave heading towards their backs, which is obviously the team behind them.
"Oh my God, these zombies are crazy! How could they find us from such a long distance!" Jiang Xiaotian was about to report to Ye Xiao, but Lin Tantan dialed Ye Xiao's walkie-talkie number before him.
As soon as the call was connected, Lin Tan Tan said, "Ye Xiao, a zombie tide has appeared!" Jiang Xiaotian followed up, "Captain, your computer is on. I'll transfer it to you."
Ye Xiao said, "Open it, pass it over." There was a moment of silence, and Ye Xiao's voice was steady: "I understand. Don't tell anyone. Xiaotian, continue to pay attention to the zombies' movements and report to me and Bai Cheng at any time."
Then he died. Not long after, Bai Cheng's soft and steady voice sounded, asking everyone to accelerate steadily. This was the right thing to do. If they shouted that a tide of zombies was coming, everyone would be in chaos. If a car suddenly skidded and overturned at this time, it would cause a series of tragic rear-end collisions.
After a while, Ye Xiao took the initiative to contact them. He asked Jiang Xiaotian if he could contact Xing Guoliang behind him.
Jiang Xiaotian tried: "No, it's too far. The walkie-talkie can't reach such a long communication distance. Try to contact him using the military channel."
"I tried, it didn't work."
There is nothing we can do about it.
Ye Xiao no longer worried about this, as everyone was in trouble now.
He looked at two maps, one showing that he was still 4.8 kilometers away from the security zone, and the other showing a yellow eye-catching arrow approaching on the satellite map. His eyebrows twitched.
Then he said something to Bai Cheng, and drove the highly maneuverable pathfinder vehicle directly towards the base.
At this time, at the Ning City base, a lot of people were crowding and scrambling at the gate to get in. Many of them were people from the base. They went out to search for supplies today, but they didn't expect it to rain so heavily suddenly.
"It's raining really hard!" A group of young men, clearly a group, entered the base with weapons in hand. One of them wiped the sweat from his face and patted another young man on the shoulder: "Luckily you insisted on coming back, otherwise we would be surrounded by zombies now."
He looked at the people who kept running outside the base, and the zombies following behind them. Although those zombies were killed by the soldiers on the base walls and sentry posts before they got close enough, the fear of being chased by zombies all the way was really hard to understand for those who had not experienced it. It was almost like being chased by ghosts.
Receiving no response, the young man glanced at the person he had tapped on the shoulder. He saw the other person staring at the rain outside, his face grim as he muttered to himself, "Why is it so early? Did I remember it wrong? This is impossible! Is this an upgraded version of the apocalypse?"
The young man narrowed his eyes, a hint of suspicion flashing in his eyes.
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