As night fell, they arrived at H City.
Following the pre-planned route, they chose the university town area on the outskirts of H City. According to the information they received, about a tenth of the city's remaining population, roughly a hundred thousand people, were still here. The university town area, however, had been almost entirely evacuated by students from other places at the beginning of the apocalypse, so it should be largely deserted now.
But there would be no shortage of zombies.
Considering the concentrated housing in that area and the ease of unified management, they decided on that location.
According to the plan, the main force would first find a safe place to temporarily halt, while the vanguard would proceed to clear out zombies and mutated creatures, creating a safe living environment for the main force to follow.
This vanguard consisted of over four hundred people from the main force and over two hundred from Lu Huaqing's side. It included Zhu Lin, Chong Yan, and other important characters from the plot, such as the male lead Zhu Yujue, the original and fake female leads, and the antagonist Lu Huaqing. Lu Huaqing led his group, while Zhou Chuan led theirs. Zhu Lin and Chong Yan were meant to be mascots.
Both she and Chong Yan acted like mascots, but no one truly saw them as such.
As dawn broke, their vehicles entered the university town. As expected, they were greeted by zombies upon arrival. This university town spanned over ten thousand mu, and before the apocalypse, it housed about a hundred thousand university students. Those who hadn't fled in the initial period and were later trapped here had likely all turned into zombies. There were thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, and many felt an unprecedented pressure.
But they had no retreat.
There was no absolutely safe place left in the country, or even the world. The roads were perilous, and to stop meant clearing a safe zone. To stay here, they needed to clear at least one campus.
They had gathered enough information from the group and brought along a few students who had attended these universities. Finally, they decided to clear the largest campus first, which was H University.
A female sophomore student from before the apocalypse led the way.
She pointed to the simple map she had drawn: "H University has three main gates: the main gate, which is the South Gate, is here. Here is the East Gate, and here is the West Gate. The university has a total of 22 dormitory buildings, mainly concentrated here and here. Buildings 1 to 17 are on the left, 18 and 19 are behind these, and the remaining four buildings are on the East Gate side."
"Do you know how many dorm rooms are in these 22 dormitory buildings?"
"I'm in Building 14. Our building has over four hundred rooms, but the scale of our dormitories varies. Buildings 11 and 12 are the largest, with about 600 rooms each."
"Then let's estimate there are ten thousand rooms. Coupled with the teaching buildings, H University has enough rooms to house everyone if there are no other requirements. Let's clear this area first, then figure out how to deal with the surrounding areas. Let's discuss the combat plan."
Zhou Chuan pointed at the map: "We are here now. Walking about a kilometer forward will bring us to the South Gate. Based on pre-apocalypse zoning, the zombie population will be highest in this area. So, we'll split into two groups and enter from the East and West Gates. We'll kill what we can, and if not, we'll try to herd them towards the south. As long as we drive them out, we can use fences to block them. Guarding only the three gates will save a lot of effort."
"Agreed. How should the people be assigned?"
Zhou Chuan looked at the group in the vehicles, his gaze finally settling on Lu Huaqing: "Mr. Lu, we're splitting into two groups. Which side would you like to lead your people to?"
"I only brought over 200 people. That seems a bit unfair."
"Then what is your suggestion?"
"Let's divide the ordinary ability users and soldiers equally. Give me another 100 people. You and I are about equal in strength, and so are the ability users under you. Miss Zhao and her boyfriend are the strongest, so put one on each side."
"I won't!" Chong Yan was the first to object. "I don't want to be separated from A Lin."
Lu Huaqing smiled slightly and looked at them calmly.
Zhou Chuan seemed troubled.
Zhu Lin squeezed his hand and said calmly, "Yes, we won't act separately. If you truly feel there's a significant strength imbalance, you can all go to one side, and the two of us will guard the other."
When these arrogant words came from her mouth, no one objected.
But this arrangement wasn't entirely reasonable.
Zhou Chuan looked at them, knowing that these two were like conjoined twins and had never been apart.
"How about this: Miss Zhao, you go with Mr. Lu's group. Mr. Lu, send two ability users from your subordinates over to us. What does everyone think?"
Lu Huaqing shrugged. "I have no objections."
Neither did anyone else.
The final team assignments were made: Zhou Chuan, along with ability users from the main force, and the regiment commander from Lu Huaqing's side and another powerful ability user would enter from the East Gate. The rest would enter from the West Gate.
Zhou Chuan's arrangement clearly had its own considerations.
He sent over 100 people to his side, mostly soldiers without abilities. He was worried that Lu Huaqing wouldn't value their lives. With Zhu Lin and Chong Yan watching, Lu Huaqing would likely not dare to act rashly.
On the other hand, although the two people coming to his side couldn't control Lu Huaqing's fate, Commander Mu's presence could restrain him to some extent.
Commander Mu had not awakened any abilities, yet Lu Huaqing had consistently designated him as one of the team's "captains." This was clearly due to his influence over those soldiers. Lu Huaqing dared not act against him and even had to appease him somewhat to maintain the loyalty of those soldiers.
After dividing the teams, they split into two routes. Zhu Lin and Chong Yan sat in the leading vehicle, heading towards the West Gate.
This was once a prosperous, beautiful, and thriving university town. Now, it was in ruins. Many places showed signs of destruction, trash was everywhere, wrecked vehicles could be seen on the road from time to time, and there were even rotting corpses and bones by the roadside. However, perhaps due to the size of their group, apart from the initial horde of zombies, they had not encountered any attacks so far.
Lu Huaqing sat in the same vehicle with them.
"I still don't know what kind of ability this gentleman has?"
Neither of them reacted. He glanced in the rearview mirror. They were leaning against each other intimately, with their eyes closed, resting.
"Miss Zhao, I heard you have water-element abilities, but when you acted that day, it didn't seem like water. Or perhaps your evolution level is quite high, and you'll develop something unexpected in the future."
"It wasn't, indeed." Zhu Lin lied without batting an eye. "Water abilities have more applications. For example, I can draw out all the water from your body, or inject water to cause water poisoning or even make you explode. Or I can envelop you in a water sphere, causing you to suffocate to death on land."
Lu Huaqing's expression instantly turned grim.
"That was just a minor skirmish that day. I wouldn't resort to using my abilities for that."