The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH196

Chapter 196 — Satellites

Evidently, He Qiankun hadn’t only called Luo Xun. After notifying him, he also gathered Xu Mei and Yan Fei. Everyone crowded into their room, huddling around the computer screen.

Staring at the image He Qiankun had intentionally kept open at the top, they saw a dense, teeming mass of black. It looked like a surging dark river flowing across a vast, stark white landscape.

“What… is this?” Everyone was a bit bewildered at first. The white parts were easy to identify—it was snow—but what was that black mass?

He Qiankun didn’t say a word. He scrolled the mouse to zoom in on the picture. It was a satellite photo, which they recognized the moment they spotted the serial number in the corner. As the image enlarged piece by piece, the pupils of those with quicker reflexes dilated. After a long silence, someone finally spoke up. “A zombie tide?”

He Qiankun nodded. He turned around to look at the people behind him, then with a mysterious expression, clicked open another image and a document. “I brought these back when we went to the base this time. Today, while looking for something else, I remembered that this folder usually stores fairly important information, so I casually flipped through it and found these.”

With that, he cleared his throat and pointed at the newly opened file. “Weren’t we wondering before where the zombies that passed by our doorstep went? They all… went abroad.”

Yes, they went abroad.

The massive zombie tide that had passed near their small base had headed straight west. They marched past several cities of various sizes west of City A and stepped into the western deserts. Like a stubborn army that wouldn’t turn back until hitting a wall, they kept pushing west, marching out of Asia, passing through the Middle East, and advancing slowly toward the European continent…

The group stared blankly at the screen, seemingly unable to fully process the meaning of He Qiankun’s words for a moment.

“Are there any other zombie tides?” Luo Xun was the first to regain his composure. Although there did seem to be something directing the zombie forces, his personal feeling was that the commander was likely a zombie rather than a human. Even if a smart-type zombie emerged to coordinate the ranks, their fundamental nature remained that of a zombie, and their behavioral patterns still followed zombie logic.

“Yes, but they vary in scale!” He Qiankun was clearly very excited as well, immediately pulling up several other files. “The people at the base have only gathered some raw data and analysis reports so far; they haven’t compiled them together…” Speaking, he opened a few more photos. “Here is a zombie tide in the south. Its numbers aren’t as massive as the one that passed us, but it’s not small either. Besides that, there are some scattered small-scale ones… If it hadn’t been winter with snow everywhere while these tides kept moving, it would have been hard to pick them out from the map without a careful search. Look here, this seems to be a base in the south; these zombies appear to be besieging the city. And this one… is in India. Even though there’s no snow over there, look at this—this dense, teeming mass is all zombies! The density is even higher than in our country!”

The photos were taken from scattered locations, and the relevant documentation was scattered all over the place, interspersed from time to time with reports from various bases, news, and even newly created files. Let alone Luo Xun and the others, even He Qiankun and his tech-savvy peers found their heads spinning just looking at it. He couldn’t help but complain, “They didn’t even hire dedicated data clerks to organize this stuff. It’s just shoved in here haphazardly, a piece here and a piece there. Just now, a ton of files were dumped directly outside the folders. Wu Xin and I have been sorting through it for ages…”

Luo Xun pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Is there any way we can set up a satellite dish here and intercept these signals ourselves?” There was originally a satellite signal receiver on the roof of this building. However, it had probably been used for satellite TV before. Li Tie and the guys had checked it previously and confirmed it wasn’t broken; they just didn’t know if it could pick up these military frequencies.

The group froze for a second. Li Tie suddenly slapped his thigh. “We can! We can! We know the waveband the military uses for satellite signals. We’ll just have to adjust the size and direction of the dish, and then there’s the encryption issue…” The few specialists immediately huddled together to discuss the logistics.

Yan Fei also spoke up. “As long as I can analyze the material composition of that dish, I can replicate it. I’ll go up and take a look in a bit.” He then looked at Luo Xun. “You want to receive this data to monitor the zombie tides?”

Luo Xun smiled, seeing how quickly Yan Fei caught his drift. “We can handle small groups of zombies. But if a massive zombie tide is active nearby or heading straight in our direction, we won’t be able to leave the base or travel too far during that period. Being able to detect them in advance is incredibly vital for us.”

The information they currently possessed was all “stolen” from the military database during their trip back to the base. It was secondhand data by default, and by the time they discovered it, who knew how many days had already passed? It had long lost its real-time value. If they could receive these signals directly at home, that was when the data would truly become useful to them.

With that, he patted the guys on the shoulders. “If we intercept these signals, will it expose our base?”

After discussing it a bit more, Li Tie shook his head. “It shouldn’t be a major issue. Aside from our base, we know many other bases are using satellite signals to communicate and receive information. There are also places that aren’t formal bases but had the equipment to receive signals before the apocalypse, and for various reasons, they can still pick them up now. As long as we don’t communicate back or actively transmit signals, there won’t be a problem.”

Luo Xun finally set his mind at ease. “That’s good. This matter isn’t too urgent for now. The closest zombie tide won’t reach us anytime soon. As long as we don’t provoke the areas where zombies are heavily concentrated, they won’t necessarily come looking for us. Just assign a few people to take turns processing this every day.”

After discussing the matter, everyone felt a great weight lift from their shoulders. When they lived out in the wild before, their greatest worry was: if a massive zombie tide came attacking, could they hold the line? Or what if they suddenly ran into a zombie tide while out scavenging? They couldn’t count on being as lucky as last time, having such a massive expanse of mutated farmland nearby to hide in. Therefore, being able to predict the movement patterns of large-scale zombie tides in advance was incomparably precious to them.

The plans shifted once again. Yan Fei went up to the roof to study the pre-existing satellite signal receiving equipment. Finding that he could replicate it using their household materials and metal, he immediately created several dishes of different sizes according to Li Tie and the guys’ specifications. As for how to operate them, they would have to wait until the tech team finished their research.

Afterward, Yan Fei went back to reinforcing the exterior metal defense structures, while Luo Xun, Zhang Su, and little Xinran returned to the metal corridor—to collect crystals.

Xu Mei joyfully carried the massive, fiery red crystal back to her room to store it, then pulled Song Lingling along to continue organizing their supplies. The university students were currently discussing satellite signals and decryption, so everyone considerately left them to their mental labors. Well, except for Wang Duo, who still tagged along by Zhang Su’s side as a errand-running grunt.

After a whole day of hustling, the group gathered for a briefing in the evening. Everyone showcased their progress for the day, providing a basic summary and assessment of their completed tasks.

Xu Mei reported, “There are too many items and they’re too disorganized. Today, we only managed to organize the jars and bottles in the kitchen. The pickle crocks Brother Luo made before are all set up too. We’ve hung curtains across most of the first floor, but the remaining fabric isn’t enough; we’ll have to make some more to finish the second floor. These tasks are quite tedious, but if we carve out some time to slowly chip away at them every time we return, we’ll get it sorted. Not to mention we still have to completely remodel the interior later.”

Yan Fei remained unsatisfied with the volume of metal. “Once the exterior metal is refined, it shrinks to about two-thirds of its original volume on top of the existing foundation. After this, the basement, the newly excavated basement rooms, and the tunnel walls will all need the same treatment. The metal we have at home is absolutely insufficient. I estimate we’ll need to haul back the entire elevated highway we visited yesterday, along with the adjacent railway tracks and their sections inside City A, to cut it close. And that’s not even counting the metal needed to install the water heating system inside the rooms.”

Next came the good news from Li Tie and the guys regarding their satellite signal research: “We mounted the new dish Brother Yan made this afternoon to test it out, and we can receive a signal!” Finishing his sentence, he intentionally pressed his hands down, signaling everyone to hold their cheers. “However, the dish can only be mounted outside the metal frame. If it’s inside, we barely get any signal—Brother Yan’s frame blocks signals too effectively… But we can just make a few extra dishes. In case passing zombies or mutated animals break one, we can just mount another one later!”

Finally, there were the fruits of the treasure-hunting team, commanded by Luo Xun, executed by little Xinran, protected by Zhang Su, with Wang Duo as the helper and the puppy spectating, which had reaped the greatest harvest of the day.

Looking at the brilliant mound of assorted crystals piled like a small mountain before everyone on the table, Luo Xun shrugged helplessly. “I couldn’t help it, the volume was just too massive. We didn’t have time to categorize them…” Alright, they were clearly the most visible high-earners of the day.

The group spent another full day calibrating the newly erected satellite dishes, organizing household junk, reinforcing defense measures, and harvesting and sorting crystals. Once everything was handled, the Otaku Team drove their vehicles out of the base once more, racing toward their target location to continue retrieving metal to reinforce their little nest.

They kept their guards up along the way, terrified of running into the two canines that had been frolicking wildly last time. Fortunately, their luck held out, and they found no trace of them even after reaching the orchard. It was just a pity that more than half of the fruit trees there had been flattened, though luckily quite a few survivors remained, their branches still heavy with blossoms, blooming in a lively display.

They did encounter a few mutated animals along the journey. Setting aside those far in the distance, some were simply loitering by the roadside. Fortunately, those mutated animals weren’t aggressive at all, behaving much like the stray cats, dogs, or sparrows hanging around the streets before the apocalypse.

Of course, the sparrows they ran into came in all sizes. The small ones were the size of pre-apocalyptic sparrows, but the large ones could grow to the size of a mature rooster. It was truly a wonder how they managed to fly given how incredibly round they were.

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