Section 6: Persistence ()

Judging from the map, Yiqian is just a small dot located at the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, represented by hollow single-line symbols. However, this does not mean that it is unknown. In the archives of the National Urban Management Center, Yiqian is a small city with a population of more than 300,000.

Maybe it was because he never passed the math grades when he was in school! Zhang Wancheng never had a clear concept of numbers. Hundreds or thousands, he could barely have a bit of intuitive concept in his mind. As for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, he really couldn't imagine what a huge existence it was.

Except for the more than 100 people staying in the air-raid shelter, almost all the residents of Yiqian City died.

Zhang Wancheng couldn't guarantee that his guess was completely correct. Perhaps, in other corners of the city, there were survivors who were as lucky as himself.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder. His left hand subconsciously hugged the assault rifle in his arms, and his right hand reached into his plastered pocket, and he struggled to take out a pack of wrinkled "Red River" cigarettes.

This is the military ration. When we set out, we thought that the so-called rescue mission was just a formality and a drill. Therefore, Zhang Wancheng only brought two packs casually. Unexpectedly, he was trapped here all the time. With the supply completely cut off, even smoking became a rare luxury.

He took a deep breath of the lit cigarette, letting the thick smoke wander in his lungs for a long time. Until his face turned purple and red due to lack of oxygen, he reluctantly sprayed out the smoke carrying nicotine slowly, completely covering himself.

Although it was just a moment of enjoyment, Zhang Wancheng did not relax his vigilance. His eyes were staring at the triangular intersection facing him all the time. After a few days, he had already engraved all the details of the entire block in his mind. As small as every stone, every mud pit, or a piece of paper that suddenly fell, would attract his attention.

There is a tilted bicycle in the middle of the street. It is next to the triangle frame of the frame, and it is leaning against a human head.

That was Lao Wei's head.

He is Zhang Wancheng's squad leader, a volunteer soldier who joined the army in 2010. He is a very kind person. He is not tall and always shows a row of very white teeth when he smiles.

When he received the call for help, the 705th Infantry Regiment drove into Yiqian as fast as possible. After entering the city, Zhang Wancheng saw the first horror scene that could only appear in the movie.

Countless mutants, all over the body, rushed from the streets. They waved their long sharp bone blades and chased the escapees who were crying for pain. Every time they waved their swords, they would take away a living life. Those eyes that emitted blood-red light even during the day were so terrible and cruel.

The chaotic crowd broke through the army's defense line, and the mutant creatures that followed immediately rushed into it. The soldiers caught off guard had no time to react and were stabbed through the body by bone blades covered with viruses.

Zhang Wancheng saw with his own eyes that in order to protect the two girls with white faces, the burly team leader pulled out a dagger and roared at several mutants who were very close to each other, but was torn to pieces by the other party on the spot.

From beginning to end, the rescued girl never even looked at the leader. It seemed that being rescued by someone with his life was simply a matter of course.

Old Wei was cut off his head by a sneak attacker who suddenly appeared behind him. As for his body, he was nowhere to be found.

Under the guidance of a policeman, Zhang Wancheng and several soldiers protected more than 100 civilians into the nearest air raid shelter. Through the observation hole set on the surface, he saw a scene that made his hands and feet cold.

All the killed people, soldiers and civilians, stood up again after a few hours. Their muscles were as strong as hormones, and their skin became dark, and the right hand, which should have five fingers, had turned into a sharp bone blade about a length of about mites.

It seemed to be an unknown virus. At this rate of spread, there will be no living residents in the entire Yiqian City.

Zhang Wancheng, who understood this, no longer had any hope for breaking through.

The rain is still falling.

Lao Wei's head was so rotten that he could not see his original appearance. The swollen eyes that were soaked in water almost bulged out of the frame, and the fallen hair was hanging on it, as if weeds inserted in the strange soil at will. The rotten meat on the neck showed a disgusting whiteness, and a few exposed black blood vessels were covered with fat maggots. They were squirming back and forth in the rotten meat foam, enjoying and sucking this extremely rich and rich meal of rotten meat.

According to the design, the maximum number of personnel that the air raid shelter can accommodate is only one hundred. Although the excess escapees make the space a little narrow, they are not too crowded. At least, they can lie close together and rest.

The distress signal transmitter set up in the window has become the hope in everyone's eyes. However, as time goes by, the survivors' expectations and desire for life are gradually replaced by despair and helplessness.

Since it was not during the war, no food was placed in the air-raid shelter. Although there was a tap water pipe passing through the ground that could meet daily drinking needs, the threat of hunger that enveloped everyone's heads made the survivors have some alternative eyes.

When they just escaped into the air raid shelter, the survivors had more or less a little food to eat. A few slices of chewing gum, and the girls' handbags were always necessary for plums and dried fruits... There was a young man who seemed to have just bought something from a fast food restaurant and was actually carrying a "KFC chicken" in his hand.

With the sergeant badge on his shoulders, Zhang Wancheng, who had the highest rank, naturally became the commander of all soldiers. According to his orders, everyone must hand over the food in their hands and send it to him in a regular manner. Unexpectedly, this normal order in the army or in an emergency actually aroused strong opposition from most people.

"You are interfering with the personal freedom of citizens. What power do you have to collect our food? Don't think that it is an extraordinary time to do something. I have already recorded your military badge number. As long as I leave here, I will report this to your superiors."

The person who said this was a middle-aged fat man in a suit, half-bad forehead, claiming to be a director. While accusing him righteously, he took out a pack of Taiping comb biscuits from a genuine leather bag and chewed them. It seemed that the swallowing speed was a little slower, and this thing that should belong to him would become the food of others.

Zhang Wancheng could only sneer at this. After checking the safety facilities at the air-raid shelter entrance, he sat around with eight soldiers, formed a small defense circle, and watched all the movements around him vigilantly.

He knew very well that relying solely on the little food in the hands of the survivors, he might not be able to hold on for even twenty-four hours. Once the physiological tolerance limit is reached, these hungry people can do anything.

Because the incident happened suddenly, I and the soldiers did not carry much food. Two bags of standard packed compressed dry food were only enough to maintain the body consumption for 48 hours. If you save some, it would be barely enough to last for four to five days.

"Don't distribute food to anyone. Even if you watch them starve to death, you must not give them food-"

Zhang Wancheng is not cruel by nature. A few years ago, when floods broke out in Sichuan and he was carrying out rescue and disaster relief with the troops, he had received systematic survival and life-saving training. While ensuring sufficient drinking water, humans can live on the stored fat in their bodies for a long time. According to theoretical basis, each kilogram of fat can supply the energy needed to survive for four days. Even if the food supply is completely cut off, they can live for at least one week.

In this era of abundant food, people's concern about nutritional intake is far less than how to reduce excess fat in their bodies. In Zhang Wancheng's view, except for those girls who are too slim and full of skinny temptations, the rest of the survivors are not at all in a short period of time.

Three days later, what he was most worried about finally happened.

Hungry people began to become restless. Although the fat in their bodies was enough to sustain life, driven by physiological effects, they began to do everything possible to find something that could be used as food.

"Distribute your compressed dry food to everyone. The army serves the people, and you can't watch us starve!"

He is still the fat director with big ears. Until now, his words are still full of the majesty of the past: "Take out all the food and distribute it to me. I am the highest-level administrative official here, and you must obey my orders-"

In response, Zhang Wancheng raised the butt and smashed the guy to the ground.

He must ensure that he has a certain amount of food in his hand. This is definitely not selfishness, but the greatest reliance for everyone to get out of here alive.

At the most critical moment, a little bit of biscuit crumbs can also bring back the dying life from the brink of death. Moreover, the soldiers must have enough physical strength to bring everyone together to launch a counterattack when the rescue troops arrive.

Not only others, but after a few days, the soldier had not yet entered the rice. Although the tingling intestines and spasm-like stomach bags were always tempting him to reach out to the biscuits, he always rushed under the faucet, opened his mouth wide and filled it with heavy cold water, forcing himself to sit in front of the dry food bag to guard it vigilantly.

"Protecting the lives and property of the people is our obligation, and this is also the greatest responsibility of being a soldier-"

This was the only belief in his mind and the first course that all the Republic soldiers received when they enlisted.

A week passed and the situation in the air-raid shelter became more and more serious.

Few people talk, and survivors no longer discuss various topics related to escape as they did at the beginning. They spend more time lying on the cold ground, staring at the gray cement walls above their heads, and salivating unconsciously, and their eyes are empty and unconscious. They look like living zombies.

Theoretical basis shows that it takes at least a long time for a person to starve to death. However, under the threat of physiological hunger, few people can resist the confusion of thinking caused by negative effects in the body.

If reinforcements do not come again, they will never be able to hold on.

Many people began to gather together and whispered to talk about various things that could be used as food. People began to chew nails and hair, and some began to develop a strong interest in the feces they had excreted before, while more people were talking about which companions in the air-raid shelter should be eaten first...

The soldiers were still guarding the little left. Under Zhang Wancheng's strict order, only those who were on alert and were weak in body could get ten grams of dry food melted with water.

Escape is just a luxury. Mutants who wander on the streets at any time cannot give survivors such an opportunity. Once a living person appears, they will be like vultures hovering over the dying prey, storing each other into countless pieces of flesh and blood.

In order to avoid accidents, Zhang Wancheng concentrated all the women on his side. At least, under the protection of weapons and bullets, the possibility of them being eaten by men was greatly reduced. Despite this, whenever he woke up from his sleep, he would always see a terrible green light emitted from the eyes of those weak women, like a hungry wolf.

Women are also humans. When they are extremely hungry, they can still eat men.

"If reinforcements don't come, we have to go out to find food. Even if we die, we must let these people survive-"

Fortunately, just the morning after Zhang Wancheng said this, the sound of a propeller rotating at high speed came from the sky outside the observation hole.

Three huge "Nighthawk II" vertical take-off and landing transport aircraft hovered in mid-air. As their height gradually decreased, dozens of soldiers wearing gray-green camouflage uniforms, with yellow-bottomed five-star patterns on their chests and left arms jumped out of the open cabin. They quickly put the weapons in their hands on the ground, forming simple fortifications based on buildings and objects on the street. Within a few minutes, three streets in different directions had been completely sealed, with thick barrels emitting terrifying light, aiming at the end of the empty road.

"Run out quickly, our reinforcements arrived-"

Just as Zhang Wancheng shouted loudly, thin black figures also emerged from the opposite side of several streets. The mutant with slender legs and feet was taking advantage of their unique physical advantages to get closer quickly at a speed that people could not imagine.

"boom--"

A dull sound erupted from the newly built position. As the sound pointed, a mutant man who was a hundred meters away shook and fell to the ground. His black head, full of terror, had been shattered by a warhead with a huge impact.

"Hold the position and transport everyone onto the plane, quickly-"

Zhang Wancheng saw it clearly that the shooter was a young warrant officer. He was holding a g180s heavy sniper rifle. Every time he pulled the trigger, the part above the shoulder of a mutant would completely explode.
Chapter completed!