Chapter 243 – Self-Promotion

While heading upstairs, Ling Mo finally had a chance to ask.

“Who exactly are you…”

As soon as Ling Mo started speaking, Sun Zeya smiled and said, “We’re a twenty-person search squad, primarily tasked with gathering medicine and survivors. We set out for X City ten days ago. Tom is our squad captain, and I’m the vice-captain.”

She finished in one breath, then looked at Ling Mo with her exceptionally bright eyes. “You’re wondering where we’re from and if there’s a military base, right?”

Ling Mo nodded. In fact, he had a ton of questions on his mind, but he figured it would be better to be a bit patient if he wanted answers.

At this point, Tom, who was walking ahead, suddenly fell back a couple of steps, turning his head to say, “Every survivor asks that. But it’s not classified information. Do you know about the hydroelectric plant between X City and A City?”

“Yes, I do,” Ling Mo thought for a moment.

This province is characterized by its basin terrain. While X City is located in a plain area, A City to the north is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and beyond that, it’s all continuous mountain ranges.

The largest river in X City originates from A City, and the hydroelectric plant built between the two cities is said to be the largest in the entire province.

As a native of X City, Ling Mo had heard of the hydroelectric plant, though he had never been to A City or seen the plant himself.

Of course, being a homebody who has never even visited the neighboring city isn’t something to be proud of…

“Do you know there’s a military district near the hydroelectric plant?” Tom asked again.

“No, I don’t…”

“That’s normal. Most civilians wouldn’t know,” Tom said with a smile.

Although his smile was somewhat simple and honest, Ling Mo felt an urge to punch him. Is he messing with me?

“I can tell you he’s not joking. It’s just that he’s grown so much muscle, it’s pushed his brain to the side,” Sun Zeya whispered in Ling Mo’s ear, laughing softly.

Her breath carried a faint mint scent, and the warmth on Ling Mo’s ear made him feel a bit numb all over.

Although this woman had now let go of his shoulder, she still stayed very close to him. If the staircase weren’t so narrow, Ling Mo would have definitely moved to the side.

“Is your main base in that Military District?” Ling Mo pressed on.

Tom nodded, “Yes, I was originally stationed there, and several other soldiers here are from there too. But Sun Zeya, for example, was a detective in A City. Most of the others are either retired military personnel or police officers from A City. We also have some forest armed police… basically, people with some skills. At times like this, it doesn’t matter where you come from. As long as you’re willing to follow orders, we’re willing to accept you.”

As he said this, Tom gave Ling Mo a meaningful look.

However, Ling Mo rolled his eyes inwardly, thinking to himself that with Ye Lian and the three girls, there’s no way he could join them.

Following them back was just to gather some information.

Fortunately, their behavior didn’t seem forceful. They probably hadn’t even considered that someone might not want to join them.

From Tom’s explanation, Ling Mo understood a bit more about the situation.

Tom had quite a background. He had undergone international special forces training and had just returned to the country shortly before the disaster struck.

Talking about the outbreak of the disaster, Tom still seemed shaken…

In fact, Tom believed that their initial response was relatively calm.

The disaster emergency mechanism was activated, their resistance was swift and effective, and potential threats from bites were quickly addressed…

But no one expected people to suddenly mutate. After a few instances of that, the survivors’ morale completely collapsed.

People were on edge, pointing guns at anyone nearby. When trust breaks down, effective resistance becomes impossible.

At this point, a hint of darkness flashed in Tom’s eyes, “Those were hard times for everyone…”

This period of panic lasted a long time. It wasn’t until half a month later that they emerged from hiding and started clearing zombies from the Military District.

By the time they had cleared out the zombies, their food supplies were nearly exhausted.

To survive, they had no choice but to go down the mountain to A City.

While searching for food in A City, they gathered some survivors, mainly focusing on capable individuals like Sun Zeya.

“It’s not that we didn’t want to save people, but at that time… it was hard enough just to protect ourselves,” Tom said somewhat helplessly.

“So… you guys are self-organized?” Ling Mo felt a bit disappointed. He had originally thought they were a purely military organization, but now it sounded more like a “private” base.

“Haha, there’s no need to be upset. Most of the facilities in the Military District are intact, the location is excellent, and there’s a nearby water source… Plus, we’ve been broadcasting signals via radio. We’ve already received a response from an Air Force Corps. This means…” Sun Zeya’s expression became serious, her eyes even brighter, “Humanity isn’t finished yet.”

Ling Mo’s heart was stirred.

Indeed, it didn’t matter whether they were official or not, as long as some military strength remained.

In reality, there wasn’t much distinction between official and “private” anymore.

However, to consolidate all the resistance forces, something akin to a government or central hub was still necessary.

Ling Mo hadn’t expected that, despite having guns and cannons, it took them half a year to establish a foothold…

Noticing the different look in Ling Mo’s eyes, Tom coughed and said, “Although we haven’t completely wiped out the zombies in A City, we’ve cleared an area, established a defensive line, and gathered some survivors. With limited weapons and ammunition, this is the best we could do for now. But A City is just a small city with limited resources, so this time we dispatched three teams to X City to check out the situation, collect some urgently needed supplies, and bring back some survivors…”

So they were testing the waters… But being able to establish a defensive line and create a refuge area in A City was already quite remarkable.

If it weren’t for the lack of information, Ling Mo wouldn’t have had to stay glued to that radio every day.

Who would have thought that the neighboring small city already had a refuge area?!

“Once we pass the information to that Air Force Corps, they’ll assist us. Then we’ll use the same method as in A City to create a quarantine zone. Unfortunately, we have too few people and not enough weapons,” Sun Zeya continued.

“Got it…” Ling Mo nodded thoughtfully.

A soldier walking ahead suddenly turned around and said, “Let’s hope there aren’t too few survivors; otherwise, all this effort would be pointless. Our main goal is to save people, right?”

His expression was serious, and there was a hint of sorrow in his eyes.

“He’s from X City too…” After the soldier turned back around, Sun Zeya whispered to Ling Mo, “Seeing X City like this is hard for him.”

“I figured,” Ling Mo sighed inwardly.

“So, you guys aren’t really on an official mission; it’s all self-initiated actions, right?” Ling Mo asked.

Sun Zeya smiled, “Of course it’s a mission. We have twenty teams with clearly defined roles. Major decisions are made by a vote among the twenty captains. Smaller matters within each team are discussed by the captain and vice-captain. Not bad, right?”

“Uh… sounds pretty good…”

Ling Mo thought to himself, *You’re really going all out to sell yourselves, trying to recruit me, huh…*

Even during Tom’s explanations, he kept hinting that they were short-handed and couldn’t find enough survivors…

“Though I admire what you’re doing, I really can’t help…” Ling Mo thought to himself.

However, he felt quite relieved after hearing all this. At least his long-held hopes weren’t in vain.

Given the special nature of Ye Lian and the three girls, Ling Mo didn’t harbor hatred toward the zombies, but he also didn’t want humanity to perish because of them.

Organized armed resistance was the only way for humanity to survive. Otherwise, with the next wave of zombie evolution, the survivors in the cities would be in even worse shape.

By this time, the group had reached the second floor. The floor was clean, but there was a musty smell from clothes, causing Ling Mo to sneeze several times.

Ye Lian quickly reached out to pat Ling Mo on the back. However, she might have been a bit anxious and flustered by the crowd, so the pat was strong enough to make Ling Mo stumble.

“Ling-Ge, are you okay?” Xia Na grabbed the corner of his shirt to help steady him.

“Cough, cough…”

“Smack!” Li Yalin also gave Ling Mo a pat, but her target wasn’t his back.

Ling Mo felt a sharp pain on his butt, nearly jumping up. Luckily, Sun Zeya and Tom were already ahead and didn’t notice.

“Cut it out, Ye Lian was patting my back to help me. What were you trying to do by smacking my butt?” Ling Mo glared at Li Yalin.

Before she could respond, Xia Na chuckled and said, “When you get patted on the back, you cough. We’re curious what happens when you get patted on the butt…”

“…” Ling Mo slapped his forehead and said, “Actually, if you pat each other’s chests, some interesting things might happen. You should try it.”

“Really?…”

Ye Lian’s eyes lit up, and she turned to look at Xia Na. After a moment of hesitation, she suddenly gave her a pat.

“Ah!”

“How does it feel?” Li Yalin asked curiously.

“It hurts a bit and feels kind of tight. It might have jiggled a little.”

“The last part must be an illusion,” Ling Mo said with a smile. “With your cup size, it’s impossible for it to jiggle… Wait, it really did jiggle a bit. Looks like you’re really putting in an effort…”

At this moment, Sun Zeya seemed to hear something and turned her head back with a puzzled look. “This way,” she said.

After walking through a narrow corridor, they came upon a large room.

This seemed to be a shop as well, but everything had been pushed to one side, and the other side was piled with dirty clothes to form makeshift beds.

The windows were already covered, and a candle was placed in one corner of the room, casting a dim light.

As soon as Ling Mo walked in, he saw about seven or eight people sitting on the beds. Judging by their mental state, they were clearly very different from Sun Zeya’s group.