Ling Qingyun’s frenzied behavior drew others to follow him, but in the end, he was reprimanded. Now that the number of zombies was increasing rapidly, what they should absolutely not do was waste bullets!
The person who stopped him, who had jumped onto their truck at the intersection of two vehicles, didn’t say much. Still, Ling Qingyun regained much of his composure.
He had never learned how to shoot properly, and his aim was indeed poor. Ling Qingyun lowered his gun, looking at the zombies appearing intermittently on the road with a complicated, hard-to-define mood.
After the reprimand, the special forces soldier stayed in their truck instead of leaving. “I know it’s hard for you all emotionally. Who isn’t feeling this way? Your squad lost one person, but the seventh squad is down to only three. And the survivor they rescued, you know her situation? Her entire family is dead. Now, she’s all alone…”
Ling Qingyun sat down heavily on the ground. Other people’s matters were not his concern, what he cared about was only Zhuang Cheng.
Zhuang Cheng had always been good to him. The only time he avoided Ling Qingyun was when he was a delinquent right after middle school. At first, Ling Qingyun thought Zhuang Cheng was trying to distance himself. He even thought he had misunderstood Zhuang Cheng. It wasn’t until later, when Zhuang Cheng hurriedly took leave and came to get him out of the police station, that Ling Qingyun felt a bit better. Looking back, Zhuang Cheng’s attitude during that period was sometimes warm, sometimes cold… But after that, when they got back together, that never happened again. Maybe it was then that Zhuang Cheng realized his feelings for him.
Thinking about this, that Zhuang Cheng had feelings for him so many years ago—Ling Qingyun couldn’t help but feel a sweetness in his heart, immediately followed by a flood of sadness from deep inside.
How could he have been so oblivious? Was he brainwashed by all those things about brotherhood and loyalty? That’s why he thought Zhuang Cheng was just an ordinary brother? But if he were just an ordinary brother, who would come clean your room on weekends? Who would rush over when you got hurt?
All these years, he had thought he was strong, that although he owed Zhuang Cheng a lot, he was protecting him too. But someone like Zhuang Cheng, who never causes trouble, wouldn’t he be fine without Ling Qingyun’s protection? And what about him? Without Zhuang Cheng’s care, what would he have become?
The truck was loaded with all sorts of medical equipment, supplies, and medicines. Once they entered the safe zone, someone would come to organize everything. Upon entering the safe zone, everyone had to stay in the observation area outside for an hour, including the survivors who escaped there. This was to prevent infected individuals from entering the safe zone.
At the very beginning, when the safe zone was urgently established, there wasn’t enough protection. Many infected people managed to enter the safe zone hidden by their still-living family members. These people later turned into zombies and caused some disturbances. Fortunately, the safe zone was large enough, and the zombies weren’t strong, so the situation was controlled.
During this mission, the survivors rescued from the hospital were not only the woman from the maternity ward and Jin Xiang and Gu Jiabao. There were also two doctors on duty in the office, a nurse on duty in the infusion room, and a married couple staying in a single room who survived. Besides these people, several survivors who had starved or died of thirst were found in some remote rooms. They had been unlucky, their locations had no food at all.
Actually, if everyone had realized the situation a little earlier, more people could have survived. Unfortunately, when some people began turning into zombies, many patients ran out of their rooms to see what was happening…
After completing the one-hour observation period, Ling Qingyun received several paper coupons—currently the standard currency in the safe zone. Right now, the safe zone assigns tasks or farmland for survivors to cultivate, and in return, people are paid either with coupons or food. These coupons can be exchanged for meals in the safe zone’s cafeteria, although a single coupon is only enough to fill the stomach of a small woman or child.
Those who risk their lives on missions, like Ling Qingyun, earn more coupons. Just from this latest mission, he received twelve. The safe zone also provides weapons. Meanwhile, people who stay inside to farm or build walls usually earn only four coupons per day, with a bonus of one or two for outstanding performance.
The rescued survivors, being new to the safe zone, were each given a subsidy of five coupons, referred to as “meal coupons.” Jin Xiang and Gu Jiabao were also assigned sleeping quarters, but since Ling Qingyun had immediately joined Zhang Yi’s team, he qualified for a single dorm room. Jin Xiang and Gu Jiabao had to sleep in the factory dormitories.
Ling Qingyun glanced at Gu Jiabao beside him, while Jin Xiang, having collected their assigned supplies, was now negotiating with the staff at the registration counter.
“What’s he doing?” Ling Qingyun asked. After all that had happened, his emotions had finally stabilized. At this point, regret was useless. The only thing he could do now was kill as many zombies as possible to avenge Zhuang Cheng. More than anything, he desperately wanted to return to that construction site to find out what had happened afterward.
“I don’t know either,” Gu Jiabao replied. “Brother Ling, now that we’re in the safe zone, what should I do?”
“Tomorrow, go register with the people in charge of construction. Work on building houses and the wall. If you work hard, you can earn five coupons a day,” Ling Qingyun said. He couldn’t be bothered to think too much about these things, so he didn’t know the details well.
“Isn’t there any other kind of work?” Gu Jiabao asked quickly.
“There’s farming, but it’s best if you already have experience,” Ling Qingyun replied.
“I’d better stick to building houses then.” Gu Jiabao knew himself well, he had always been the pampered one in his family and couldn’t even tell wheat from rice. Farming was out of the question.
Just then, Jin Xiang came back, holding a set of keys in his hand. “I applied to join the hospital staff here in the safe zone. They’ve assigned me a single dorm room.”
So technical professionals were treated well too. Ling Qingyun nodded in acknowledgment. Jin Xiang was clearly adjusting quickly to the current circumstances. The other two surviving doctors were still visibly shaken and probably wouldn’t think to apply for anything until the next day.
Work in the safe zone was just like work before the catastrophe, there were different “salaries” and varying levels of difficulty. But now, in the safe zone, the demand was likely very different from before, and there were no more labor protection laws or anything like that.
“Let’s go eat,” Ling Qingyun said. They had only eaten rice balls for lunch and were already very hungry.
“Yes! I want to eat!” Gu Jiabao chimed in immediately. Earlier, he’d eaten one of the rice balls distributed to Zhang Yi’s squad during the mission, just plain white rice. He was absolutely craving the taste of meat and vegetables.
The safe zone had several cafeterias. The one Ling Qingyun usually ate at had been converted from the largest factory warehouse. It offered all kinds of food, but if you wanted quantity, you had to sacrifice quality. If you wanted quality, you wouldn’t get much quantity. Some people even traded food they’d brought with them into the safe zone for extra meal coupons, just so they could eat more.
“What are they eating?” Gu Jiabao asked, pointing to some people gnawing on strange-looking food. Among them were men in brand-name suits and fashionable women in high heels, people who once looked refined, now disheveled and dirty, munching on grayish rice balls.
“Mixed grain rice balls. The main ingredient is brown rice,” Ling Qingyun replied. If you wanted to feel full, you had to choose the cheapest option, the mixed grain balls.
“Is there anything else to eat?” Gu Jiabao asked. He saw a child with a bowl of porridge, others eating white rice with side dishes, and even someone chewing on a vacuum-sealed chicken leg.
“Better food just costs more. What do you want?” Ling Qingyun asked. People on missions received rice balls, so they didn’t usually eat inside the safe zone during the day. Even though he’d only been there two days, he’d already gone on two missions. The first day, Zhang Yi paid for his meal, so now he still had twenty meal coupons on hand, enough for all three of them to have a decent meal.
They spent one coupon per 2 taels (about 75g) of rice, and got 1 jin 6 taels (600g) total. They spent three coupons on a pack of pickled vegetables, another three on a bowl of tomato and egg drop soup, and with the six coupons remaining, plus three more from Jin Xiang, they got three boiled eggs.
It was already considered a very generous meal, but the three of them ate in silence, each wondering if they’d ever get to eat like this again.
“As a doctor, I can get eight meal coupons a day,” Jin Xiang said. “But should I be saving them just in case there’s nothing left later?” He wanted to save up his coupons for emergencies, but he wasn’t sure if they’d even be able to get food in the future.
Ling Qingyun wasn’t thinking that far ahead. He’d lost everything. Now, he was just living one day at a time. Back then, he used to work hard to save money—but that mindset no longer suited this new world. As for meal coupons, if they were spent, they were spent.
The three men devoured everything on the table. As for tomorrow, Ling Qingyun had another mission, and people on missions received food, so he had nothing to worry about.
People on missions not only receive food but also get twelve meal coupons. This is meant to encourage more people to go out and kill zombies and scavenge supplies.
After dinner, Ling Qingyun headed toward his assigned lodging, a small worker’s dorm room in a factory built on the outskirts.
Surprisingly, Jin Xiang and Gu Jiabao were going the same way. After exchanging addresses, Ling Qingyun learned that Jin Xiang had applied for a dorm just one floor above his. Gu Jiabao’s assigned factory dorm wasn’t there, but given their close relationship, the two of them definitely chose to live together rather than separately.
It was already 2014. Almost everyone had a smartphone with easy internet access. With the apocalypse having arrived, things like phone bills no longer mattered. Ling Qingyun’s phone could connect to the internet, but because of his bad mood over the past two days, he hadn’t bothered to check the news. Now, however, he planned to take a look.
Zhuang Cheng… For as long as he lived, Ling Qingyun swore he would fight zombies to the death! He had to find a way to kill all the monsters that had killed Zhuang Cheng!
Right now, the most common news online was about zombies. After only a short time browsing, Ling Qingyun saw a news post featured on the homepage.
Yesterday, someone posted online saying they had seen an unusually strong zombie in their residential community. They witnessed it breaking down a door and entering a house to grab the survivors inside, and they were worried it might come to break their own door next.
At first, the comments below blamed the shoddy construction of the building, criticizing the original poster’s community as old and poorly built. But then the original poster uploaded several photos. In the same community, some rooms with the same type of door were surrounded by zombies, but none of the zombies could break those doors. However, that powerful zombie had managed to break open another door that night…
Now the post was on the homepage, with an editor’s note: “Could zombies be getting stronger? Are they evolving or mutating?”
That single sentence stirred up a huge controversy…
Similar reports appeared elsewhere too, about zombies with greater speed and strength showing up in many places.
Ling Qingyun stopped reading. If zombies were evolving, killing them would be even harder from now on. But at this point, aside from killing zombies, he didn’t know what else he could do!
Work hard like other survivors to stockpile food and survive? Or, like some people, risk life and limb so their families could have a better life? Now that he had lost everything, what meaning was there in those things?