"Alas, you're right. It's best to focus on getting our own affairs in order now," Zeng Yilong sighed, knowing he couldn't rush things.
"But Brother Lin Yuan, don't you have much ammunition left?"
"We still have some rifle and pistol rounds, and a good number of grenades and smoke bombs. Sniper rounds are also plentiful. The light machine guns can't fire anymore; several barrels are warped, and the rest have jammed."
(No one thinks a single heavy machine gun round can take down just one zombie, do they?)
"Then we're in a similar situation. Rifle and light machine gun rounds are interchangeable. We have two barrels left for ours, and the rest have also jammed," Zeng Yilong added, intending to offer some ammo. It turned out both groups were in much the same state.
"This battle has set us back to square one," Lin Yuan quipped, though the reality was stark. Without heavy and light machine guns, they would be defenseless against a large horde of zombies.
They would need to be even more cautious in future operations.
"Let's not dwell on it. If you encounter any trouble later, call us immediately. Although we're short on ammo too, we'll do our best to get there."
"Will do." Zeng Yilong's group handled the cleanup today. Lin Yuan had initially refused to give them any nerve spheres, and it was only after Jiang Ziqi stealthily placed one that he relented.
Zeng Yilong, unaware of this, suddenly furrowed his brow as another thought struck him. "Right, Brother Lin Yuan, the zombies that came this time were so strange, heading straight for you. Is it related to that red-haired zombie I saw today?"
Lin Yuan was taken aback by the question and didn't know how to respond immediately. After a moment, he deflected, "I'm not sure about that. Perhaps there's something here that attracts zombies."
"I hope no more strange things happen. Today really gave me a scare."
"Don't worry, don't worry. I refuse to believe these zombies have taken a liking to me and want to be with me forever," Lin Yuan joked.
"You jest, Brother Lin Yuan…"
"…"
After escorting them to the Linjiang Dead End, Lin Yuan and his group turned back. If they lingered any longer, it would be past midnight.
Upon returning home, seeing that his teammates hadn't slept yet, Lin Yuan asked Wang Yixin and Wu Tian Qin Xia to prepare some supper, and they all ate together.
"Comrades, our young Comrade Sun Qin truly accomplished a great deed today. Let's give him a round of applause!"
"Clap clap clap, clap clap clap…" The team members had witnessed Sun Qin's performance firsthand and applauded enthusiastically, making Sun Qin, the center of attention, feel quite bashful.
As if called upon by a teacher to introduce himself in class, he stood up, bowed, and began, "Respected teachers, dear… Pui pui pui, force of habit. Brothers and sisters, please excuse me. I was just thinking on my feet. Luckily, Brother Lin Yuan gave me a bullet, which I've been wearing around my neck, and it actually proved useful today."
"Hey, son, you were out of bullets then. How did you manage to fire that bullet in such a short time?" Qin Xia asked first after applauding.
Although she worked as a cook and deputy head of logistics in the team, her combat performance today was no less than that of the male members.
Hearing his mother ask the first question, Sun Qin felt a little embarrassed. He cleared his throat and then spoke with a more serious expression, "The situation was extremely critical. I saw that my brilliant and mighty Brother Lin Yuan was about to be bitten by a zombie." As he said this, Sun Qin glanced at Lin Yuan, whom he saw as the captain who fought the most zombies amongst the youngsters.
It was a vivid memory.
"Pfft, hahahaha," Wu Tian, sitting next to Lin Yuan, couldn't help but laugh. "Lin Yuan, look how you scared him. He's almost as bad as my sister."
The entire team now knew of Wu Mengyao's reputation as a child-tyrant.
Wu Mengyao: (ಡwಡ)!!
Lin Yuan: (；一_一)～
Sun Qin continued, "Then I felt for the bullet around my neck. It was too late to load it into the magazine, so I directly pulled back the bolt, shoved the bullet into the firing chamber, aimed with precision, and fired. It blew the zombie's head clean off, hahahahaha (ಡwಡ)hiahiahia."
Hands on hips! Absolutely hands on hips!!!
"Hahaha, good job!"
"…"
The celebration of surviving the ordeal finally concluded late into the night, and they prepared to welcome a new day.
…
In the days that followed, no new zombies came to trouble them at Fengming Mountain. However, the zombies across China gradually began to follow the pace of international zombies, also starting to move in clusters.
On December 16th, the Huaxia Anti-Biological Warfare Command Center announced the confirmed appearance of command zombies, with their mutation level unknown.
Whether this was a conspiracy or natural selection remained to be seen.
However, Lin Yuan leaned more towards the explanation of natural selection. When a species reaches a certain population size and has high-level individuals with a degree of intelligence, phenomena like group aggregation are easily observed.
Or, put more simply, when the zombies' food source depleted, they would naturally migrate to areas with abundant food.
Neither HSAC nor the more mysterious organization could possibly control all the zombies globally; at most, they could control a portion, much like the zombies that had attacked them before.
Only a small fraction were controlled, while the majority were herded, attracted by sounds and fixed signals.
Similar to signals like, "There's food here," or "Food here."
Fortunately, the weather was getting colder. Regardless of the south or north, the movement of all zombies had been affected. They had no protective covering, and their mushroom-like bodies couldn't withstand the fierce cold fronts. Only high-level mutants and some alpha mutants could resist the cold.
Speed was no longer their advantage, so major safe zones were counter-attacking nearby small cities, counties, or prefecture-level cities.
These cities were often key cities along railway lines. Capturing them would also lay the groundwork for restoring the railway network later.
As for the major metropolitan areas, they were not ready to act yet; their personnel and troops were still too few, and they had to proceed step by step.
And on January 2nd, shortly after New Year's Day, the Shuzhou Tianfu Safe Zone notified Lin Yuan and his group of the rescue time.
Rescue would be conducted five to seven days before the Spring Festival.
This timing was before the agreed-upon date with Carol Anna, and he already had his own ideas about what she had said.
Before the safe zone's rescue arrived, Lin Yuan took the opportunity to visit Fushui Village in the southern suburbs of Qingshe County and left a note behind the weapon cabinet.
If Carol Anna understood, it would be fine. If she didn't, he wasn't afraid of her causing trouble at the safe zone.
…
Time continued to pass. Lin Yuan and his group were still waiting for rescue. They had eaten more than half of the harvested potatoes. Finally, on February 5th, 2024, the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month.
At 10:32 AM, under the gray sky, five helicopters appeared in their sight.
Most of the team members dropped their work, overcome with emotion, tears streaming down their faces as they were too choked up to speak. They simply raised the red flag in the center of the square.
Zeng Yilong and his group, who had been invited, cheered even louder.
The red flag emblazoned on the fuselage shone brightly, more dazzling than the sky at that moment!
Seven months.
The country had finally come to bring them home!