The various tasks in Nameless City are proceeding in an orderly fashion under Lin Yu's supervision. Among these, arranging for the squads to go out and kill zombies has been prioritized.
These newly reorganized teams need an opportunity to gel, and only through extensive practical combat can their fighting capabilities be improved.
The nearest towns outside the city were likely scoured previously, so it is estimated that there won't be much in the way of supplies, nor will the zombie numbers be too high. Such towns are ideal for them to practice.
After all, many low-level ability users are still in the various teams, and the number of ordinary survivors is even greater. If these people are to survive in the future world, they must bravely face zombies themselves. Lu Heng and the others have no intention of supporting so many useless individuals. If these people cannot even kill zombies by forming groups, then there is no need to waste more food on them.
Of course, this does not include those who are weak or women and children. Lu Heng cannot force these people to kill zombies at gunpoint. Most of those brought to Nameless City have family members with slightly higher-level ability users.
For those who are truly unable to go out and kill zombies, Lu Heng will arrange some work within the city.
...
After the personnel within the city underwent two days of intensive training, the day finally arrived for them to go out and kill zombies.
That morning, Lu Heng stood on the outer city wall, watching the dense crowd below, who were orderly and silently leaving Nameless City one by one.
Each of these teams was assigned three or four sixth-level ability users. These sixth-level ability users were all carefully selected by Lu Heng and were the first batch of ability users whom Lu Heng had uniformly upgraded to the sixth level.
They were all retired soldiers from before the apocalypse, possessing rich combat experience and good command skills. In military operations, as long as the team members could follow orders, Lu Heng believed they could completely wipe out the few zombies in the surrounding towns.
Lin Yu stood beside Lu Heng, looking at the crowds still assembling within the city, preparing to leave. "Brother Lu, these people have also trained in the city for two days and are aware of this clearing operation. You also killed the high-level zombies in the vicinity earlier, so I estimate they shouldn't encounter any significant obstacles when they go out this time."
Lu Heng nodded. He wasn't worried about these matters. If the useless were to die, so be it. These people still needed more tempering to become true warriors.
After assembling at the city gate, each team heading in a different direction, led by their respective captains, set off. Lu Heng stood on the city gate until the last team departed, only then did he and Lin Yu descend from the wall.
"Let's go to the warehouse. I'll put some things in there. In a few days, you can arrange for people to decorate the city."
Lu Heng had also mentioned to Lin Yu his plan to liven up the city's atmosphere as the New Year approached. Lu Heng intended to use the festive atmosphere to dispel the accumulated helplessness in people's hearts after the apocalypse, though he hadn't quite figured out the specifics at the time.
However, Lu Heng had lanterns and other such items in his spatial storage. He planned to put them all in the city's warehouse first and then arrange for people to install them after he finished with these two days of work.
...
The various teams that had gone in different directions returned to Nameless City as scheduled before nightfall. The returning personnel were first placed into the barbican according to their respective squads, and then managing soldiers came down to inspect each returning person and the supplies they brought back.
Of course, the most important thing was to check if anyone was injured and had not reported it. However, the possibility of this was not high. After all, it took a considerable amount of time for these people to return. If anyone was scratched by a zombie during combat, they would quickly turn into one of their kind and would not be able to walk back without others noticing.
Lin Xue was also brought out at this time. Although it could not control zombies yet, it could sense whether someone was infected or if zombies were mixed in with the vehicles carrying supplies.
Lin Xue stood on the city wall, sensing the waves of people below. It then shook its head in Lu Heng's direction. "Master, there are no zombie auras below."
"Mm, once the inspection below is finished with this batch, they can be released," Lu Heng nodded and said to Lin Yu.
"Brother Lu, the number of people has still decreased quite a bit."
"The law of natural selection in the apocalypse must be followed. I believe that after this battle, those who survive will no longer be unfamiliar with combat. Perhaps fewer people will die next time," Lu Heng said softly, looking at the tired crowd below.
Thus, people were released into the city in waves. Afterward, the captains of each squad, carrying the supplies they had harvested, went to the newly organized courtyard near the city gate.
As agreed, after killing zombies outside, they were to organize and register the harvested supplies. Those that needed to be handed over were to be submitted directly.
Lin Yu also arranged for people to register them, not only recording the supplies brought back each time but also assigning points to each team based on the items they submitted and the number of zombies they killed.
After registration, the leaders of these squads would take the items and low-level crystals they were entitled to back to their respective residences. They would not need to go out tomorrow. They would distribute today's earnings according to their labor. For those who died in combat, their rightful share would be left for their families.
Of course, there were also those who died alone with no family or friends. Their earnings would belong to the team collectively and would be counted in the next distribution of earnings after the next zombie-killing mission.
Lin Yu was quite satisfied with the reported data. After statistics were compiled, the several squads had obtained over sixty thousand crystals in total from this operation. Each squad took about half of the one to three-level crystals, and over twenty-three thousand four-level crystals were submitted.
They also collected some winter clothing and quilts for heating, which were found in several of the besieged cities.
When the apocalypse first began, the weather was not yet cold. At that time, people collecting supplies in those cities would not have thought to collect such winter items. Most of them were collecting various types of food and drinking water.
Later, after the bandits occupied this city, there were very few survivors coming from nearby. The bandits were too lazy to collect supplies themselves; raiding and plundering were much easier than dealing with zombies. Therefore, those who went this time were able to find so many cotton clothes and quilts.
After all, facing zombies meant death if injured, but when encountering survivors looking for supplies, even if they didn't gain anything, they rarely lost their lives.