Zombies continued to advance towards the base above Hezhou, but a large number of them became stuck in the mud. Those who luckily walked over their companions' bodies immediately faced the围攻 of the crowd. The saying "the more people, the greater the strength" sometimes had a stronger psychological effect, because when a large number of people stood beside you, everyone would believe that their side would definitely win.
Chang Jianyi watched the zombies still running over foolishly and finally felt relieved, because as long as the zombies did not show strange evolution, it would not be difficult to clear them out.
Just then, a middle-aged strong man walked up to Chang Jianyi and said directly, "Vice President, we must resolve the zombies more quickly. With the current methods, it will take us at least half a month to retake Luzhou."
Chang Jianyi turned her head and glanced at the big man, recognizing his identity. This person was Guo Pinming, a retired veteran. He had been rescued from the granary a couple of days ago and had voluntarily joined the combat team of the Self-Help Association. His family had all turned into zombies, and he ultimately could not bring himself to deal with his zombie-turned family, so he hid upstairs. Later, he was rescued by Yang Chang and his men. Because he hated the appearance of zombies, he was quite brave when killing them.
"It's better to be cautious. There might be strange mutations among the zombies, so haste makes waste. Half a month is half a month. As long as the goal is achieved," Chang Jianyi said with a smile. She didn't care about the slow progress. What she worried about most was underestimating the enemy and causing unnecessary casualties on her side. If that really happened, it would be bad.
Guo Pinming quickly said, "Vice President, of course I know that being steady is a good thing, but the people in the city might not be able to hold on. It's fine if the power is out, but once the water supply in the city is cut off, relying on the water stored at home, they definitely won't be able to last long. Once most of the people in the city are dehydrated, the number of people who can be saved will be very, very small!"
"Is the water supply insufficient?" Chang Jianyi really wanted to say, "What do their lives have to do with me?" But since she was the Vice President, saying such a thing now would be inappropriate. After all, if someone in a high position did not care about the people below, they would not gain their support.
Therefore, Chang Jianyi began to use delaying tactics and said directly to Guo Pinming, "Let's wait until the surrounding zombies are cleared first. When we search for survivors nearby, we will check if there are many dehydrated people. If there aren't many, we will continue with the plan. If there are many dehydrated people, we will hold another meeting to discuss."
Guo Pinming left helplessly. He knew very well that the residents in the city needed help. After all, the domestic water supply all relied on the water plant. At this time, with no electricity or water in the city, it was bound to make it difficult for people in the city to survive.
The battle lasted for the entire afternoon. Chang Jianyi found that there were enough zombies accumulated in the riverbed, so she began to give the order, "Open the floodgates and drown the zombies below!"
Yang Ye in the command center immediately ordered the gates to be opened. Instantly, the mighty Yangtze River waters rushed down. The zombies in the waterway did not understand what was happening, and then they saw the surging waves coming. Before they could react, they were submerged by the river water and then washed downstream. If no one salvaged them, these corpses would follow the Yangtze River into the ocean, eventually becoming food for fish and shrimp.
The battle continued for the entire afternoon. The survivors in the base had all started to attack the zombies to some extent. Even the women had picked up stones to throw at the zombies. It could be said that after today's battle, the fear of zombies among the people in the base had greatly reduced. When they discovered that the zombies were so stupid and so easily killed, their fear disappeared.
Fear usually stems from the unknown. Because the specific situation of the zombies was unknown, people were afraid of their appearance, just like humans the first time they saw tigers. At that time, humans were very afraid of these behemoths. But after humans learned more about tigers, they had ways to deal with them, and their fear dissipated by more than half.
Seeing the zombies being eliminated as usual, Chang Jianyi felt much more relaxed. At this time, she had a feeling that as long as the plan continued, the zombies in Luzhou could indeed be resolved, provided that there were no significant changes among the zombies.
Luo Qing said softly, "Vice President, according to estimates, about 40,000 zombies were killed today. However, most of these zombies were stuck in the mud and could not move. Only a small portion of the zombies were killed. It is estimated that only 5,000 zombies were killed by the people in the base. Guo Pinming performed the most outstandingly, killing eighty zombies by himself, which is the greatest contribution besides the evolved individuals."
"Then he will be rewarded today. He will be invited to attend the meeting tonight. Also, select a well-performing person from the girls, and I will reward her as well!" Chang Jianyi was not very concerned about such trivial matters. After all, she was an evolved individual who had evolved twice, and ordinary evolved individuals were no longer her match.
At dusk, Shen Feng returned with a grim expression. Seeing his expression, Chang Jianyi made a guess. Could it be that the situation in the city center was not good?
When Shen Feng returned, he happened to see the combat team members rescuing survivors around. Their coordination was now very strong. Some people were rescuing people, while others were transporting food. The current leader of the transportation team was Hu Lai. Because he was skilled at driving, he was appointed as the team leader and was rewarded with a bottle of serum.
Shen Feng looked at the busy people and could only shake his head slightly. These people all thought that their side could successfully retake Luzhou, but they had no sense of urgency about the impending crisis. It could only be said that this was their last carnival. When the news from the city center was announced, they probably wouldn't be able to laugh anymore.
Chang Jianyi came to Shen Feng's side and asked softly, "How is it? Is it very serious?"
Shen Feng nodded slightly and said, "Extremely serious. Let's go eat first. We will convene a meeting tonight to discuss. Perhaps we will have to prepare to relocate to a safe place."
Chang Jianyi quickly went to arrange the meeting for the evening, and the rescue of survivors gradually slowed down. Many people who stayed at home originally thought that the Self-Help Association would come to their rescue, so they did not go out actively. Unexpectedly, the Self-Help Association began to retreat at this time, which made the survivors at home fearful. Could it be that these people were not going to rescue them? So, hundreds of people went downstairs to seek refuge with the Self-Help Association. The Self-Help Association did not stop them, but took them back to the base together.
Humans are social animals. Only by staying with many people do humans feel safe. Otherwise, if a person lives alone for a long time without communicating with the outside world, their mental state can easily become problematic. Even shut-ins interact with the outside world through the internet, at least not feeling lonely mentally.
During dinner, Shen Feng had no appetite for the food in front of him because his mind was not on the food but on what to do next. A zombie horde within a five-kilometer radius was terrifying to think about. Even in the city, zombies within such a large area would number at least hundreds of thousands. If it were in a plain area, it might be even more.
As soon as the zombies officially began their attack, the base could only defend Hezhou, and without the help of reinforcements, it would eventually be broken through. Therefore, the best option at the moment was to transfer the base to a place without a large number of zombies and where it would not be under significant threat.
Finally, it was time for the meeting. Shen Feng convened the members of the Self-Help Association and began to explain the situation. Evolved individuals also attended the meeting. Guo Pinming also attended the meeting because of his good performance during the day, but he sat at the very back. After the meeting, Shen Feng would publicly award the evolution serum.
The Self-Help Association had only been established for a month, and a hierarchical order had already begun to emerge. Those sitting at the front were naturally Shen Feng and Chang Jianyi. Yu Ren Shu also held the title of Vice President, so she sat beside Shen Feng. The leaders and deputy leaders of the various teams sat down separately. The evolved individuals sat below according to their respective factions. Therefore, what the mentor said was correct: "Outside the party, there is no party, only imperial thinking; inside the party, there is no faction, only strange phenomena."
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Shen Feng walked to the stage and said in a deep voice, "I have to tell everyone some bad news. In the city center, at the Grand Hotel, there is a command-type zombie, and its range of control over zombies reaches five kilometers. It has currently controlled hundreds of thousands of zombies. As soon as it starts to act, we definitely won't be able to stop it, because the controlled zombies are not mindless. They are fighting each other under the command of the command-type zombie!"
"Hundreds of thousands of zombies?" Everyone was stunned when they heard that there were so many zombies in the city center.
No one had ever seen a scene with hundreds of thousands of zombies. Just thinking about an endless stream of zombies surging like a tide and attacking the base was completely unstoppable. The large numbers of zombies killed before were either burned with gasoline or drowned with river water. In short, the number of zombies killed by humans was very small. Now, with hundreds of thousands of zombies being controlled, who could stop such a large number of zombies if they attacked?
The conference room immediately fell silent. One could hear a pin drop. It wasn't that the people present were timid, nor was it that they were too afraid of zombies. It was that the gap between the enemy and ourselves was too large. The total number of people on their side was only a little over ten thousand, but there were hundreds of thousands of zombies in the city. Moreover, these zombies would not foolishly rush over, but would be commanded by zombies with a certain command ability.
Since the Self-Help Association began to eliminate zombies, they had killed at least hundreds of thousands of zombies. However, at least a hundred thousand of them were killed using terrain and water and fire. If they lost the advantage of the terrain, their base's combat effectiveness would be insufficient. The zombies could charge without any scruples, but if anyone in the base was bitten by a zombie, they would likely turn into a zombie. Therefore, in previous battles, Shen Feng had never let ordinary people fight zombies, because they would only cause trouble when fighting.
Shen Feng looked at the silent conference room and asked, "Why is no one speaking? Are you all scared? Even if you are scared, you must speak!"
Shen Feng knew why these people were silent. They were all worried that retaking Luzhou would encounter trouble, and great trouble at that. Hundreds of thousands of zombies would also be commanded. Their side only had a little over ten thousand people, a tenfold difference in troop strength. Especially considering that the combat team only had a little over a thousand people, the difference in combat effectiveness became even greater.
"President, why don't we go for assassination? Just like you did a couple of days ago, find the command-type zombie and kill it. That way, the zombies won't have a commander?" Yang Ye said first.
Shen Feng shook his head slightly and said, "Last time was just a matter of luck. We happened to find the command-type zombie on the street, so we succeeded so smoothly. But this time it won't work. There are hundreds of mutated zombies staying in the hotel. We can't even infiltrate it. Because as soon as we show ourselves, we will definitely be discovered. The entire five-kilometer radius is full of zombies, and there is no place to leave. Assassination is absolutely impossible."
"Since the command-type zombie opposite is not making any moves, why don't we take this opportunity to rescue the survivors on the outskirts of the city? When we have enough manpower, we can start fighting the other side!" Zhou Xiaoxiao proposed.
Shen Feng shook his head slightly and said, "There is no time. We must decide the future of the Self-Help Association today. The zombie horde not making any moves now does not mean they won't make any moves in the future. Who can guarantee when the zombie horde will start fighting? Is it tomorrow? Or the day after tomorrow? No one knows! And we only have two choices: either fight the zombies, or transfer quickly. This place is no longer safe."