Chapter 58: Emergency Mission
After so many days of nonstop traveling, no one said it out loud, but both physically and mentally everyone was utterly exhausted. Now that they finally had a place to settle down, all they wanted to do was sleep.
All three apartments were two-bedroom, one-living-room layouts. Now that the three units had been connected, they kept the living room of 501 intact, while the living rooms of 502 and 503 were partitioned off by Zhang Shuoliang using earthen walls. With a bed and a mattress put inside, they could also serve as bedrooms. This way, they effectively had eight rooms in total. Wu Jing and Zhang Shuoliang shared one room, Dongdong slept with Su Ruizhe, and everyone else got a room to themselves.
Before going to bed, Su Ruizhe deliberately set up a comfortable little cat bed for Xiao Hei and didn’t let it sleep on the bed, in case they accidentally… switched with Xiao Hei or something like that.
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Everyone slept straight through until the sun was nearly setting. Lights had already come on throughout the base, and lively, noisy sounds drifted in from outside. Peeking out the window, they saw the street below packed with people—it looked extremely bustling.
“How about we go down and take a look too?” Zheng Jiahe said excitedly. Since the apocalypse began, he hadn’t seen such a lively scene in a long time, and it made him want to join in.
“Sure.” After a brief consideration, Zhan Yun agreed. They could treat it as getting familiar with the base in advance.
After tidying themselves up a bit, everyone headed out together. They didn’t bring Xiao Hei along—there were too many people, and bringing a pet would draw attention and could easily cause trouble.
As soon as they exited the high-rise, Zhan Yun’s group drew quite a few looks. High-rises were clearly a more upscale type of housing, requiring a significant number of work points. Anyone who could afford to live there either had connections or real strength—definitely not people you could casually mess with. What’s more, directly across from the high-rise was the law enforcement unit, with armed soldiers standing in rows, watching the crowd with hawk-like vigilance. If anyone caused trouble, the consequences would certainly be unpleasant.
The probing gazes soon dispersed. Zhan Yun and the others began observing their surroundings. There were truly a lot of pedestrians, almost all heading in the direction of the cafeteria. From far away, they could already smell the aroma of food.
“Let’s go check out the cafeteria too,” Zhan Yun said. Although Su Ruizhe’s spatial storage had everything, they couldn’t keep eating in private all the time. They still needed to show their faces around the base. After all, they were registered with the military, and quite a few people recognized them. It might be fine for a short time, but over the long term it would raise suspicions.
“Sounds good.” No one objected. Even if the free food at the cafeteria wasn’t necessarily tasty, as long as it filled their stomachs, it was fine—this wasn’t the old world anymore.
Following the crowd, they soon arrived at the base cafeteria. The staff working there were all military family members, dressed in uniform olive-green casual wear, calmly and efficiently guiding the constant flow of people inside.
At the cafeteria entrance stood a large sign advertising the recruitment of ten kitchen assistants. The work involved washing dishes, washing vegetables, cleaning pots, sweeping floors, and similar tasks. The pay was three work points per day, with three meals included. This was an exceptionally good deal—far easier than hauling bricks, safe, and guaranteed to keep you fed. Any work points saved could also support one’s family. After reading the notice, many people rushed eagerly toward the registration desk.
Considering the large population of the base, the cafeteria itself was enormous, with three floors. Long tables and benches filled the first and second floors. People collected steaming hot food from the windows on the left, ate there directly, and after finishing, took their dishes to the windows on the right, where staff washed them. Soldiers were stationed throughout the cafeteria—taking dishes away after eating was strictly forbidden. Damaging tableware would result in work points being deducted, and causing trouble carried severe penalties. As a result, order in the cafeteria was quite good.
Of course, taking food away was also allowed. Items like steamed buns could be held directly in hand, but if you wanted to take soup, you needed to bring your own container.
The second floor seemed less crowded, so Zhan Yun and the others went upstairs and queued at the window on the left.
After waiting for more than ten minutes, they received their dinner: a large bowl of hot potato dumpling soup. The potatoes were cut into chunks and cooked together with dough lumps. It looked like a generous portion—definitely filling. With a temporary residence permit, each person could get one serving, along with drinking water in a plastic cup. After handing out the food, the staff member would mark a red check on the back of the residence permit. Drinking water could also be taken away in one’s own cup or bottle.
The base actually encouraged people to bring their own tableware and water cups. Doing so eliminated the need for washing dishes, and those who brought their own utensils were given slightly larger portions.
They found some empty seats and sat down to eat the dumpling soup. The cafeteria was quite decent—the soup was thick, well-seasoned with salt, and both the potato chunks and dough pieces were thoroughly cooked, soft, and satisfying. The taste was actually pretty good.
After finishing a steaming bowl, warmth spread through their bodies.
Once they had eaten everything in their bowls without wasting a bit, they took the tableware to the window on the right.
After heading back downstairs, they noticed that most of the crowd was moving toward the management center—probably to register at the task hall. After all, free food and lodging only lasted three days, and without work points, it would be impossible to keep living in the base.
Since they had nothing else to do, Zhan Yun and the others decided to go take a look as well.
The task hall was packed to the brim. In the white zone, thousands of ordinary people were lining up to register for job placements.
Surprisingly, there were also quite a few people crowded around the counters in the red zone. Zhan Yun and the others looked more closely and saw a sign hanging nearby—it was a recruitment notice for the city defense force. The city defense force’s main task was to assist the military in clearing zombies around the base. Wherever there were living people, there were zombies, and with the city walls not yet fully completed, the consequences of zombies breaching the base would be unthinkable.
They required physically strong men skilled with firearms. The pay was five work points per day. That might not sound like much, but killing zombies personally earned an additional two work points per zombie. Calculated this way, someone with strong combat ability could easily earn dozens of work points in a single day.
Quite a few people were lining up to apply—mostly men who looked robust and strong. Still, the base didn’t accept just anyone. Not only did applicants need good physical fitness, they also had to know how to use guns. Poor marksmanship wouldn’t pass.
As Zhan Yun and the others were watching, Niu Dali happened to spot them at a glance while passing by.
“Hey! Captain Zhan! You guys here to take on a mission too? Perfect timing—the captain told me to come find you. What a coincidence!” Niu Dali said, his face full of enthusiasm.
“No, we’re just looking around,” Zhan Yun replied with a smile. “What does Captain Li want us for?”
Niu Dali glanced around and lowered his voice. “Seems there’s an emergency mission. He wants to ask whether you’d be willing to help.”
Zhan Yun raised an eyebrow slightly. They had just arrived at the base and wanted to rest for a couple of days—they hadn’t planned on taking a mission so soon. But after giving it some thought, he still agreed to go meet Li Ming and hear what the situation was.
Niu Dali arranged for two vehicles and had them taken to the military headquarters located at the rear of the base.
He led them into a conference room on the ground floor of the headquarters building, asked them to wait for a moment, and then hurried off to find Li Ming.
Not long after, Li Ming arrived. He had clearly come in a rush, beads of sweat visible on his forehead.
“Hello, everyone. Long time no see,” Li Ming greeted all the members of Zhan Yun’s team as soon as he entered.
Everyone nodded in return, and then they all sat down together.
“Captain Li, what did you want to see us about?” Zhan Yun asked.
“There’s an emergency mission. If we act on our own, it might not be very safe, so I wanted to ask whether you’d be interested in carrying it out together.”
“What kind of mission?” Zhan Yun asked.
“Solar power equipment. As you know, the base is currently relying on diesel generators. Diesel is being consumed far too quickly, so our power supply is extremely tight. The commanding officer has decided to send us to the Hongyang New Energy photovoltaic generator factory—the largest one in City G—to bring back the large, fully automated production lines and all the finished solar panels there,” Li Ming explained. After a brief pause, he continued, “It takes about two days to reach City G. We’ve already had teams go there for search-and-rescue operations. We originally intended to go to that power equipment factory as well, but there are evolved zombies in the area, and they caused significant losses to our teams. For the safety of both survivors and soldiers, we didn’t force an assault on the factory. That’s why we’re hoping to invite you to join us.”
After spending some time together, Li Ming had complete confidence in the strength of Zhan Yun and his companions.
“I’ve already reported this to Regiment Commander Jiang. If you’re willing to join, not only will you be allocated a portion of the solar panels, but we’ll also give you a solar generator. Of course, if you don’t want to go, we won’t force you. We’d only ask that Mr. Su provide some plant-based weapons—we can exchange work points and supplies for them.” Even as he said this, Li Ming still hoped they would agree to go; otherwise, he wouldn’t have offered such generous terms.
“When would you be departing?” Zhan Yun asked.
“No later than the day after tomorrow. The base population is growing, and the power shortage has to be resolved as soon as possible.”
“Then we’ll go back and think it over, and give you our answer tomorrow,” Zhan Yun said. He didn’t give an immediate reply—he couldn’t decide for everyone on his own. They needed to discuss it first.
“Alright,” Li Ming agreed readily. As long as Zhan Yun was willing to consider it, that was already good enough.
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