Luzhou had nearly 100,000 survivors from Yuzhou. These people were constantly consuming Luzhou's food supplies. Even though Luzhou's granaries had not been breached, the current population was simply too large. In peacetime, a lack of food would not be a serious problem. However, at this time, all regions were tightly controlling their food supplies, not allowing any to flow out. Therefore, the amount of food consumed by Luzhou was extremely severe.
Because of this, the people of Luzhou resented the people of Yuzhou. After all, their own resources were being occupied by others. If they were still to show a pleasant expression, it would be too amiable. The people of Yuzhou were also hoping for the fighting in Yuzhou to end quickly, so they would no longer have to live under someone else's roof.
In reality, such a situation had already occurred, even before the doomsday descended. Every place, more or less, had instances of xenophobia. The simplest reason was the possession of resources. Locals hated outsiders competing for resources, which led to them losing what seemingly belonged to them.
In Yuzhou, fighting was ongoing day and night. Outside the stadium, the corpses of zombies had piled up to a height of five to six meters. At this point, it was impossible for even a tank to charge out, because the entire area around the stadium was occupied by zombie corpses! Not to mention tanks, even trucks couldn't break through!
Cheng Ke walked inside the stadium, looking down at the ground, his face filled with worry. Previously, his biggest concern was whether the zombie king in Yuzhou was hiding some scheme. But the reality was not like that, because the zombie king was merely sending out hundreds of thousands of zombies to attack the stadium every day. All these zombies were killed outside, unable to cross the threshold. Things were proceeding according to the original plan.
However, at this moment, Cheng Ke suddenly noticed that there was a lot of foul-smelling stagnant water on the ground. If it were just sewage, Cheng Ke wouldn't have cared. But the stagnant water on the ground at this time was likely corpse water. Over a million zombies had already died outside, and in another two days, there would be even more zombies. However, the current zombie corpses had already caused a great deal of trouble! Although it was autumn, the corpses had begun to rot, and waves of stench swept through the stadium.
If it were just the stench, it wouldn't be a problem. After all, there would only be more flies and insects. All they needed was for helicopters to deliver a batch of insect repellent. But as the corpses rotted, they also released a lot of water. Once this water fermented, it would become extremely foul-smelling. Most importantly, this corpse water would cause bacteria and viruses to breed. Once an epidemic broke out among the population, not only would their strategy fail, but they themselves would also be in danger.
"What's the situation with the sewers? Why can't the stagnant water here be drained?" Cheng Ke asked someone beside him.
The soldier quickly led Cheng Ke to the drain opening and found that the water flow here showed no signs of movement. It seemed the sewer was blocked. Otherwise, the stagnant water inside the stadium would have already flowed away. In the current situation, with hundreds of thousands of zombies still attacking the stadium day and night, they had no time to inspect the sewer pipes!
"Damn it, why didn't I consider the issue of corpses? The sanitary conditions are too poor now. If an epidemic breaks out, the plan will be ruined!" Cheng Ke was extremely annoyed at this moment, wondering why he hadn't considered the issue of corpses when formulating the plan. It was just that when he led his men to retake cities, they hadn't encountered a situation like Yuzhou. At that time, after killing zombies, they simply threw the corpses into the Yangtze River.
Now, it was too late for Cheng Ke to regret it. The plan for killing zombies was indeed perfect. Although they hadn't found the zombie king, most of the zombies in Yuzhou had been killed here. The zombie king could still command fewer than 1.5 million zombies. These zombies could all be dealt with in another week. But at this moment, the zombie corpses had brought a huge crisis!
"Could this be something the zombie king planned? To have these corpses piled up here, create a plague, and cause us difficulties?" Cheng Ke suddenly speculated.
Just then, a soldier suddenly rushed to Cheng Ke's side and whispered, "Regimental Commander, the General wants to see you. He wants you to go to his tent quietly."
Cheng Ke was filled with confusion upon hearing this. He didn't understand why the General wanted to see him at this time. It wasn't time for a meeting. Could it be that he had something specific to tell him? So, Cheng Ke went to the General's tent with his doubts. Outside the tent, two personal guards stood. Upon seeing Cheng Ke appear, they handed him a mask and whispered, "Wear a mask when you go inside."
Cheng Ke suddenly had a bad premonition, so he put on a mask and walked in. The moment he walked in, he saw General Wang lying on the bed. He had his eyes open and was also wearing a mask. Seeing Cheng Ke appear, he said weakly, "You're here? I can't hold on any longer, but I can't fall. Do you understand?"
Cheng Ke quickly nodded and said, "I understand, General. If you fall now, the morale outside will be in chaos! Therefore, I will definitely keep this a secret. General, how are you now?"
General Wang said helplessly, "I probably have the plague. A few days ago, when I was eating bread, it accidentally fell on the ground. I couldn't bear to throw it away, thinking that as an evolved human, I probably wouldn't get sick so easily. So I ate the bread. I didn't expect the bacteria and viruses to be so powerful. Even as an evolved human, I couldn't resist the plague!"
When Cheng Ke heard the name of the disease, he was stunned. The plague! In other words, if the plague was not well-controlled, an epidemic would spread among the population. No wonder he needed to wear a mask when entering the tent; it was all to prevent infection!
"I'll contact the Three Gorges area immediately and have them send military doctors and medicine. You'll definitely be cured, General!" Cheng Ke said quickly.
At this time, all the fighting in Yuzhou was commanded by General Wang. Now that the soldiers hadn't suffered any casualties, the commander had fallen, which was truly unacceptable. Moreover, if General Wang fell, who would command the subsequent battles? It could be imagined that General Wang's accident now would immediately lead to a series of disastrous events.
However, at this moment, General Wang struggled to sit up and said, "Don't contact the Three Gorges area, otherwise the soldiers will know my condition. I've already found a way to contact them and have them send medicine. I can still hold on. As for commanding the battle, you must bear the heavy responsibility!"
Cheng Ke quickly nodded and said, "I have no problem commanding the battle, but General, you must receive the best treatment. If something happens to you, our team will definitely fall apart. Please don't force yourself!"
General Wang slowly lay down and said, "I'm already over fifty years old. Let me die if I have to. As long as I can witness the recapture of Yuzhou, it will all be worth it. According to your plan, hold on for another week, and most of the zombies in Yuzhou will be killed. Then, recapturing Yuzhou will be a natural progression. Therefore, I cannot leave. I must stay here and watch Yuzhou be recaptured."
"Please rest assured, General. Many zombies have already been killed. In a while, the zombies in Yuzhou will be cleared out," Cheng Ke said quickly.
In fact, Cheng Ke was not confident at this time because he found that he couldn't figure out what the zombie king's intentions were. It had already sent nearly two million zombies to their deaths, yet the other party was still sending zombies to their deaths. What was the reason? Could it be a feint, using zombies to attract their attention while the zombie king quietly left?
However, in the current situation, there was no other way but to persevere. Besides, it was never heard that zombies would voluntarily leave a city. It seemed that even if zombies died, they wouldn't leave the city. Therefore, when recapturing a city, the usual practice was to kill all the zombies before restoring the local organizational capacity.
Afterward, Cheng Ke left the tent and began to direct his subordinates in battle. The most important task was to prohibit eating unpackaged food, not drinking raw water, and disinfecting the stadium every day. Now, the plague had appeared. Although it had only appeared on the General, this thing could easily turn into an epidemic. Once all the soldiers were infected by the epidemic, it would be the end of them!
Cheng Ke hoped to quickly deal with the zombies in Yuzhou and then quickly move to a clean place. The plague was not untreatable, it was just that the conditions for treatment were not available at the moment. Therefore, all they needed to do was race against time, kill all the zombies in Yuzhou, and defeat the zombie king. Then, the battle for Yuzhou would be over, the mission would be completed, and victory would arrive!
However, on the second day, Cheng Ke woke up from his dream and suddenly found the stadium unusually quiet. He quickly went to the roof of the stadium and looked at the zombies outside. They had all stopped in the distance, surrounding the stadium, but not charging forward. Seeing this scene, Cheng Ke felt utterly dejected. What he most hoped for was for all the zombies to attack. As long as the zombies started attacking, the battle could end sooner.
But at this moment, the zombies were merely surrounding them and not charging forward, which was very strange!
"Could this be the zombie king's ultimate goal?" Cheng Ke suddenly thought. If the zombie king deliberately lured them into the hinterland, used the zombie corpses to block the surroundings of the stadium, preventing the soldiers from breaking out, then it would make sense. The zombie king wanted to trap everyone here to death!
The saying "invite the enemy into the urn" was probably describing such a tactic.
Cheng Ke looked at the zombies surrounding the stadium in the distance, feeling a sense of confusion. At this moment, a quick victory was no longer possible. The zombie king was no longer attacking, but instead continuing to drag things out. Meanwhile, if they stayed, a plague might break out. And breaking out was now impossible.
"Desperate!" Cheng Ke suddenly had this thought. They could no longer kill zombies because as long as the zombie king didn't order the zombies to continue attacking, their men couldn't take the initiative to attack. Because to leave, they first had to pass through the nearby, tens of meters wide pile of corpses. This would inevitably lead to contact with corpses, and the plague would appear more easily!
Cheng Ke lowered his head and thought carefully about what to do next. Should he request missile support from headquarters? Perhaps, with luck, they could kill the zombie king, and then the battle in Yuzhou could be resolved. However, doing so would require a large number of missiles, and headquarters would likely not approve.
But, at this moment, Staff Officer Li also walked to the rooftop and looked at the zombies in the distance with a high-powered telescope, muttering to himself, "I knew it, why did these zombies suddenly stop fighting? So they got sick!"
"What? The zombies are sick?" Cheng Ke heard Staff Officer Li's voice and immediately looked up, asking, "How do you know?"
Staff Officer Li handed the telescope in his hand to Cheng Ke and said, "Look for yourself. The zombies in the distance are all staggering. It's obvious that these zombies are sick, otherwise why wouldn't they attack?"
Cheng Ke quickly took the telescope and looked at the zombies in the distance. It was indeed true. There were many zombies opposite them, but upon closer inspection, many of these zombies had fallen to the ground, and some zombies were walking aimlessly. Among them, some zombies would fall down as they walked. Seeing this situation, Cheng Ke immediately understood.
"The zombies have the plague!" Cheng Ke said decisively.
Even evolved humans would get the plague, let alone those who mutated from humans. Naturally, they would also get the plague. At this moment, Cheng Ke understood everything. The zombies didn't have as much intelligence as he imagined. The reason these zombies weren't attacking was because an epidemic had broken out among the zombies!
Previously, Cheng Ke hadn't considered the issue of zombies getting sick because he wasn't a professional in this field. Whether zombies would get sick was a matter for the laboratory to research, not for him to observe. But at this moment, Cheng Ke realized that the issue of zombies getting sick directly related to their victory or defeat. He immediately felt relieved. Indeed, humans couldn't resist the plague, and even evolved humans found it difficult to withstand it, but zombies were even less likely to endure it!
"There's a chance, there's a chance, we can win!" Cheng Ke thought to himself, his mood gradually becoming excited. They could receive medical support, but the zombies couldn't. In that case, the plague had actually helped them in recapturing Yuzhou!