With the new regulations announced, the broadcasts were entirely focused on this matter. Originally, many people had planned to celebrate the upcoming year 2015 tomorrow, but now, it seemed like no one was in the mood anymore.
The entire safe zone was in an uproar—but so what if it was? At this point, only those with food and weapons held any real power. After a month, people were gradually coming to terms with reality. These days, just staying alive had become a luxury.
On his way back, Ling Qingyun saw many disgruntled people gathering in protest. The safe zone was already packed to capacity—there was simply no room left for more. But none of that had anything to do with him, did it?
When he returned to his residence, he saw Gu Jiabao and Jin Xiang waiting at his door. “You need something?” he asked.
“We do! Brother Ling, you’ve heard about the new laws, right?” Gu Jiabao said. With the new rules in place, it was certain that many people would now choose to venture outside in search of food…
“I heard… What about it?” Ling Qingyun asked, opening the door to let them in.
“Now that food rations have been cut in half for people working in the safe zone, we want to join your team,” Jin Xiang said. As a doctor, his current ration of food coupons was just enough to get by. But what about Gu Jiabao? He couldn’t just let him go out there alone. After much thought, he figured it was better for the two of them to head out together.
There were already quite a few doctors in the safe zone. Major surgeries were no longer performed, and most medical tasks had been reduced to basic bandaging. At first, the real doctors handled everything, but over time, some completely unqualified people had been placed in the medical teams—unable to even lend a proper hand, yet still receiving the same food rations.
Jin Xiang knew very well: even if he didn’t leave on his own accord, someone like him would eventually be squeezed out. Better to take the initiative now and go out with Gu Jiabao to see what they could find.
“No problem. Just go talk to Zhang Yi,” Ling Qingyun said. Then, remembering his plans for the next day, he added, “I’m planning to leave the safe zone tomorrow. You two can look after my place. If I don’t come back, everything inside is yours.”
“Brother Ling, how can you say something like that?” Gu Jiabao asked in surprise. Ling Qingyun often went out on missions but had never said anything like this before.
“I’m going out alone tomorrow,” Ling Qingyun said, placing all his meal coupons into Gu Jiabao’s hand. “Take these.”
“I can’t accept them, Brother Ling. How about I keep them for you? I’ll return them when you come back,” Gu Jiabao quickly replied.
“That works too. Use them if you’re ever in trouble,” Ling Qingyun smiled.
“Thanks for always taking care of us. Be careful tomorrow,” Jin Xiang said. He didn’t understand why Ling Qingyun was doing this, but it was true that Ling Qingyun had shared food with them many times these past days.
The three fell into an awkward silence, but outside, explosions suddenly rang out.
“What’s going on?” Many people screamed and hurried to higher ground. At this moment, the loudspeakers in the safe zone finally explained—the area outside the safe zone was being bombarded.
One bomb after another fell outside, destroying newly built walls, surrounding trees, houses, and scattered zombies. The bombing range gradually expanded outward…
It was both a deterrent and a way to clear the perimeter of the safe zone.
That night, the sound of bombs never ceased. When Ling Qingyun woke the next day, he learned that the area dozens of miles outside the safe zone had been bombed. This meant zombies approaching would be easily detected, and the area outside the walls adjacent to the safe zone could now be inhabited.
On January 1st, New Year’s Day, the safe zone’s broadcast didn’t play any greetings or wishes for a happy new year. Instead, it repeatedly encouraged everyone to go out and look for food. Everyone also knew how the safe zone planned to get those already living inside the safe zone to leave—the promise was that anyone who left to live outside would receive thirty jin (about 15 kilograms) of grain.
At the same time, the safe zone would send personnel to maintain security in the outer city and begin recruiting people to build a larger wall, aiming to enclose the entire outer city.
At first, the safe zone didn’t have walls either, but now they’ve been built, right? The outer area doesn’t have walls yet, but it will in the future! Some people are already getting restless—all for that 30 jin of grain.
Ling Qingyun could roughly guess why the safe zone was doing this. The inner area had already opened up large farmland, occupying a lot of space, and they were planting high-yield crops like potatoes that would probably be harvested soon. With the swelling population in the inner area… riots and unrest could easily break out.
Many people could foresee this. Recently, there had been quite a few murders in the safe zone. If things continued like this, the safe zone would definitely gradually collapse. In chaotic times, harsh measures were unavoidable. Democracy and equality had already become a joke.
To survive, one must be strong!
Before, there were still many news reports online, mostly about rescuing survivors. Now, such news was rare. Although many survivors still hid in houses in the city and couldn’t go out, the country no longer had the capability to rescue them. The hardest-hit areas worldwide were densely populated places, and rebuilding required finding cultivable land and sparsely populated areas.
Ling Qingyun carefully inspected the single dorm room one last time before picking up a mirror.
He touched his forehead and saw the strange jade pendant appear there again. At the same time, familiar words appeared before his eyes—
Name: Ling Qingyun
Merit: 949 points
Level: 2 (Level 2 functions unlocked)
Maybe if he went out one more day, he could reach level three, but once the opportunity to leave came, he didn’t want to wait even a day.
After packing enough food, he sought out Zhang Yi one last time. Finally, fully armed, he drove his Hummer and left the safe zone.
Maybe this time he would die outside, maybe he would return, but that didn’t matter to him. What mattered was whether he could find Zhuang Cheng.
Alone, he couldn’t just shoot zombies freely on the way anymore, nor did he feel like it. What appeared in his mind was the map he had looked at countless times. Without hesitation, he headed toward that construction site.
Zombies… maybe because the place was quite remote, there weren’t many zombies near the construction site—but there were still some. Some of these zombies had died right at the beginning and were therefore very intact. Once humans turn into zombies, they don’t rot. If they didn’t have pale, bluish skin, blank expressions, and slow movements, they wouldn’t look very different from humans.
Of course, most zombies had become zombies after being bitten. These kinds often had missing arms or broken legs, and their bodies were inevitably covered with rotting flesh soaked in blood, giving off a terrible stench.
Ling Qingyun’s journey went relatively smoothly. He even ran over a few zombies with his vehicle, and the sound of gaining merit echoed in his mind. But as he approached the construction site, he found his hands trembling uncontrollably on the steering wheel.
He couldn’t help but look at every zombie outside the car window—at their faces, at their clothes—because maybe Zhuang Cheng was among them now…
The same place, the same zombies. Perhaps after they escaped here, no one else had come back, so the place hadn’t changed much. But there was no longer that person who had fled with him…
The off-road vehicle sped forward and finally stopped where Zhang Yi’s truck had been parked before. Beyond this point, the vehicle couldn’t go any further!
Ling Qingyun stared blankly at the window where he and Zhuang Cheng had jumped down back then. It wasn’t close, but with his current eyesight, he could see it clearly.
He looked for a long time until zombies swarmed over, pounding on his vehicle’s windows. But the windows were reinforced with a protective film, so they wouldn’t break anytime soon!
Through the window, he could see many strange faces—few intact ones, but many with bite or claw marks.
Ling Qingyun pressed his hand against the glass, unable to describe the feelings in his heart. Among these zombies might be Zhuang Cheng, and those who were not Zhuang Cheng were all the killers who had harmed him!
He opened the sunroof of the Hummer and climbed onto the roof. The Hummer was tall, and zombies couldn’t climb up. He planned to sit there today and kill zombies! As for what would happen in the end, he hadn’t thought that far yet.
He pushed his eyesight and hearing to the limit, taking down zombies quickly, one shot at a time, swiftly eliminating the ones around him.
“Rescued one soul, gained one merit point.”
“Rescued one soul, gained one merit point.”
“Rescued one soul, gained one merit point.”
That voice echoed in Ling Qingyun’s ears from time to time. He estimated that he was probably close to leveling up.
But even if he did level up, what was the use? Could it bring things back to the way they were? Could it bring Zhuang Cheng back to his side?
He didn’t know why, but although many places had started to see mutated zombies lately, there hadn’t been a single one here. Ling Qingyun didn’t care about that—wasn’t it easier to kill zombies when they weren’t mutated?
He didn’t know how much time had passed. Ling Qingyun snapped out of his daze and realized he was out of bullets.
Since he had no bullets left, then he’d just use the spiked mace! Ling Qingyun swung his mace, smashing the skulls of the zombies surrounding his vehicle. He was already a little exhausted, but he was determined to kill all the zombies here before resting. Of course, that rest might turn out to be permanent.
Suddenly, a long howl pierced the air—a sharp, high-pitched sound. As it rang out, almost all the zombies fell silent…