That was a small-scale zombie tide—excluding the zombies still approaching from behind, there were about several hundred zombies, but the military only had about thirty soldiers armed and fighting, a huge disparity.
Yu Yao and Luo Mei’s arrival greatly eased the pressure on those soldiers.
Their ruthless and fierce fighting made even the tough soldiers take notice and steal a few extra glances.
After more than half an hour, several hundred zombies were perfectly dealt with. Yu Yao endured the numbness and soreness in her arms from all the swinging and calmly sheathed her blades.
Luo Mei shook her wrists and came over to Yu Yao, complaining, “Damn, those heads were so tough, my wrists are aching from all the chopping!”
Only then did Yu Yao remember that although Luo Mei’s weapons were sharp, they were short weapons—great for assassinations but not quite ideal for killing zombies.
“I’ll get you a different weapon later.”
Luo Mei quickly shook her head like a rattle drum: “No, no, no, I don’t want your knife! You look so cool wielding dual blades!”
Luo Mei thought Yu Yao wanted to give her one of her knives and immediately refused.
Yu Yao chuckled, “I’m not giving you my knives. I raided an antique weapons shop earlier—there are plenty of weapons. What do you like to use? I’ll find one for you.”
Luo Mei’s eyes lit up: “A broad blade! Do you have broad blades? How many crystals? I’m drowning in debt right now!”
“…???”
What the heck?
Who would want a clumsy, heavy broad blade, especially a pretty young girl?
Just as this thought appeared on Yu Yao’s mind, a man who looked like a military officer in his thirties walked over to them.
He was serious and upright, radiating a strong sense of discipline. The first thing he did was give them a proper military salute.
Then he said seriously, “Comrades, thank you for your help. We are active soldiers from the 28th Army of the Linjiang Military District, ordered to enter the city to rescue survivors and escort them to the Lincheng Safe Zone. May I ask if you wish to go to the safe zone together?”
Luo Mei’s attention was immediately caught. She became interested in the safe zone and asked, “Safe zone? Where is it?”
The soldier replied, “It’s at the Xijiang Hot Spring Resort in the north of the city. There’s a temporary safe zone there. Once the Linjiang base is completed, everyone can move there.”
Luo Mei suddenly became excited and shook Yu Yao’s arm eagerly, saying, “Let’s go, sister! My brother and the others will definitely come to the safe zone looking for me!”
Before the apocalypse, Luo Mei had come to Lincheng alone on a mission.
It was supposed to be a simple escort mission, but as soon as it was completed, the apocalypse broke out.
Coincidentally, her escort’s destination was the Lincheng Second Hospital, where she got trapped.
In the hospital, she saved her mission target but was pushed into the zombies by that person, got injured, and escaped, eventually meeting Yu Yao.
Although she survived, the change in Earth’s magnetic field caused the satellite phone to fail, so Luo Mei lost contact with her teammates.
Her teammates would know her last whereabouts and would come to Lincheng to find her.
Since Lincheng is very large, the safe zone became the best place to gather. As long as they meet in the safe zone, their chances of reunion would be much higher.
Yu Yao thought about it and agreed—it wasn’t good to wander outside forever.
They needed a relatively safe place to rest and heal.
“All right, let’s go.” Yu Yao calmed the excited Luo Mei first.
Then she took out the walkie-talkie that Ji Yan had given her and said, “I’ll inform Ji Yan and the others about the safe zone.”
“Okay.”
Yu Yao then looked at the soldier but before she could ask, he said, “Our mission is to rescue survivors. You are free to do as you wish.”
Yu Yao nodded, pressed the walkie-talkie button and said, “Ji Yan, Ye Zi’ang, please respond if you receive this.”
Soon, a crackling reply came through: “Received, Yu Yao, go ahead.” It was Ji Yan’s voice.
It seemed their distance was not beyond the walkie-talkie’s max range but close to the edge.
“We met a rescue military unit searching for survivors in the new district to take them to the safe zone—Xijiang Hot Spring Resort in the north of the city. Are you coming?”
After a half-minute pause, Ji Yan’s voice came again, “Where are you? We’re coming over now.”
Yu Yao looked around and replied, “Near Zhuyuan Avenue, Jinjiang Garden community. You can see us once you get here.”
“Okay, thank you. We’re on our way.”
After she finished and put away the walkie-talkie, the leading soldier introduced himself, “My name is Fang Yuan. Do you have your own vehicle or will you ride on our military truck?”
“We have a car.”
Fang Yuan nodded, “Okay. We’ll look for a place to spend the night nearby. When we leave, just follow the team.”
He didn’t flatter them despite their strength but said a few words before going back to work.
Luo Mei and Yu Yao returned to the bookstore café to store their supplies.
Looking at the now soggy noodles with meat sauce, Yu Yao sighed deeply.
Luo Mei comforted her, “It’s okay, still edible.”
Yu Yao responded with a hum and together they quickly finished the two bowls of noodles.
Don’t say it—although it was all clumped together, it really tasted good!
Yu Yao almost cried.
She couldn’t help but imagine… if someday she could always stick with Luo Mei, with Luo Mei’s cooking skills and her own supplies…
She didn’t even dare to imagine how happy life would be!
…
After they packed everything up, the two left and drove the car parked not far away, parking it behind the military truck.
Once settled, Commander Fang sent over some water and compressed biscuits.
Luo Mei waved them off and took a bag of potato chips from her travel bag, waving it teasingly at Commander Fang.
Seeing this, Commander Fang understood that they weren’t short on supplies, so he stopped paying attention and went to calm the restless civilians inside the military truck.
Having found a way to reach her teammates, Luo Mei’s mood improved a lot.
No longer forcing a smile, no longer constantly telling herself “no bad news is good news.”
Yu Yao came over and handed her a bottle of water.
Luo Mei took it with one hand and raised the bag of chips toward Yu Yao with the other. “Want some?”
“No thanks, I don’t like cucumber flavor.”
“Cucumber flavor is delicious!” Luo Mei looked puzzled.
“I never said it wasn’t tasty.”
“Then why don’t you like it?”
“Does liking something tasty come automatically? I’m pretty too—does that mean everyone has to like me?”
If that were true, then why had she and the original owner suffered so many unnecessary hardships?
Luo Mei was stunned by this and only after a while burst out laughing.
“Sis, you’re quite narcissistic!”
“Not bad,” Yu Yao said, pulling out a bottle of gummy candies from her backpack and popping one in her mouth.
The two ate snacks and chatted, laughing together.
Unintentionally, Yu Yao noticed a red dot on the map rapidly converging in one location, moving so fast it piqued her curiosity.
Just as she was wondering why there was suddenly a zombie tide there, the walkie-talkie hanging from her waist suddenly crackled to life.
Crackle… crackle…
“…Help… help us…”
It sounded like Tan He’s voice.
“…Don’t… come… we…”
This time it was Ji Yan’s voice.
Clearly, they were in danger.
Tan He wanted Yu Yao to come save them; Ji Yan was telling her not to.
Gripping the walkie-talkie, Yu Yao’s heart jumped. She quickly zoomed in on the detailed map of the zombie gathering point.
Sure enough, she spotted several blue dots frantically running away.
Tsk, what a pain!
Who wants to go rescue them! Her arms were still numb—she couldn’t even lift them!
She instinctively wanted to refuse.
But before she could say anything, she noticed on one of the blue dots a conspicuous treasure chest icon, moving quickly with their movement.
Wait!
There’s treasure!!!
It was this treasure attracting the zombies!!!