Chapter 86: The Fusion of Bases (Part 1)

Not only the Ministry of Science and Technology, but the entire Special Committee and the human base as a whole underwent a dramatic shift in atmosphere. All work priorities were now wholly redirected toward the eradication of zombies. Departmental meetings followed one after another, and those who once idled or shirked their duties dared not do so now—for the stakes were nothing less than life and death.

The Special Committee officially declared the current conflict a war between species: either the human race would survive, or the zombies would. As usual, the Propaganda Department began with stories of the committee’s idyllic life, then proceeded to announce the latest discoveries, plunging the entire world into a new, solemn mood.

The committee found itself hoping for contradictory news. On the one hand, they wished to hear that other regions remained unaffected—so they could blame their own misfortune on sheer bad luck and take comfort that the overall situation had not worsened. On the other, they secretly hoped that everyone was suffering equally, a kind of grim solace in shared disaster.

But soon, the flood of reports from around the globe left them with no room for such trivial thoughts. The same catastrophe was happening everywhere. Yet most people were reluctant to provoke zombies, so outbreaks often went undetected for some time. Moreover, as the committee continued to wipe out zombies at great cost, they were loath to admit their own heavy losses. Thus, when a base’s signal was suddenly lost, few considered the possibility of total destruction; most simply assumed it was a technical malfunction or a power outage.

In many survivor camps, once initial stability was achieved, there was little drive for progress—nor any real opportunity for it. People simply waited for their respective governments to send rescue.

Before the apocalypse, the world had been mostly stable—save for a few countries thrown into chaos by Western interference, their people still hoping Western powers would descend from the heavens and rescue them in the name of universal values. In the end, the Western powers did indeed fall from the sky, but not as saviors—only as plane crash survivors fleeing for their lives.

Survivors in other nations had once believed they still had hope, but now even that notion had vanished.

The survivor camps in Huairou and Daxing, bordering the Special Committee’s territory, began to reach out to the committee’s base. Those farther away received only psychological comfort from the United Front Department, as the committee felt unable to provide substantial aid for the time being.

“Arrange for the survivor camps in the Mentougou and Huairou mountains to enter the city via the airport expressway,” Li Fengyi mused, finding the situation intriguing. Both camps had contacted them on the same day, requesting a visit at the same time. He calmly gave orders as his mind whirled like a cooling fan. “From the airport expressway exit, have the Ministry of Civil Affairs carry out cleanup operations. Light black smoke in other parts of the city—if anyone asks, say we’re burning zombies.”

On the night when a million zombies fled, Li Fengyi worked through the night with the Armed Forces Department, deploying troops across the Wenyu and Xinfeng Rivers to launch extermination operations to the east and south. Only the northern and eastern garrisons, along with a reserve force in the city, were left behind to hold the fort. He dared not waste a moment—wherever they could fight, they would; whatever ground they could seize, they would take.

The Operations Department accompanied the expedition, ready to draw up defensive plans at any moment according to the cleared terrain. Should a massive zombie counterattack occur, they would immediately take up defensive positions in favorable ground. If all went well, this newly seized territory could prove to be the largest they would control before the situation became clear.

They kept only the minimum modern weaponry necessary for defense. Apart from chainmail, steel-pipe guns, broadswords, and machetes, they took along as many firearms, armored vehicles, and cannons as they could. The situation was simply too complex. In truth, Li Fengyi was gambling—he only half trusted that the Daxing and Huairou forces, whose attitude had always been ambiguous, would not seize the opportunity to annex them. After all, those forces had a vast advantage in modern weaponry, with access to the national strategic arsenal, while the committee had only outdated arms from a militia depot. Worse yet, including retired soldiers, they barely had enough trained personnel for a single company.

If they were annexed, there would be nothing to be done—their weaponry was simply no match. Against zombies, they lacked stamina; against the military, they lacked firepower.

Li Fengyi gave a bitter laugh. “This life, truly…” he shook his head.

Sending out a portion of their people was a way to keep a line of retreat—hoping that, in the worst case, there would be somewhere left to fall back to.

Lighting black smoke was meant to disguise the emptiness within the city. With modern reconnaissance, could they spot the lack of human activity? Li Fengyi wasn’t sure. He’d never been a soldier; perhaps this was just psychological comfort. Do your best, leave the rest to fate—what else could one do?

Li Qiang led the troops into battle, while Li Fengyi and Commander Liu remained to receive their guests. This meeting marked the arrival of a new phase, though whether it would prove good or ill, they had no way of knowing.

For this first negotiation, both sides sent representatives of the second rank—the top leaders would not show themselves so soon.

Mentougou was Beijing’s western military district. According to the emergency plan, they were supposed to escort the central authorities there. Line 1 of the subway was to serve as their military route. Li Qiang and his men had originally been dispatched from the Mentougou garrison, but with the complete annihilation of their force and the disappearance of the central authorities, only three of them survived—rescued by Li Fengyi. Assigning Li Qiang to oversee the extermination campaign was in part due to this connection.

The delegation from Mentougou consisted of a colonel chief of staff from the army and a ministerial-level government official, accompanied by a company of guards—half soldiers, half police.

In Mentougou, the survivors had no independent armed force. It was, after all, a key national military district—the last barrier protecting the central authorities. Their armed forces were divided between the army and government-controlled police and militia. The military had over 10,000 troops; the government, more than 8,000, all fully equipped with the latest arms.

From Huairou, the military, government, and survivor militias all sent representatives. The army’s chief of staff was a colonel, the government sent a district-level leader, and the survivor militia was led by the former deputy head of a major pre-apocalypse company, whose boss was now their leader.

Huairou’s army had over 6,000 soldiers. The government force, mostly police and security personnel, numbered more than 4,000. The survivor militia had over 2,500, all well equipped—they had all found the weapons depots.

Each group brought a company of guards.

Initially, they had suspected the Special Committee was boasting. Even though they had seen the committee’s red flag active within Beijing’s boundaries through binoculars from the mountains, it seemed impossible that anyone could have cleared nearly twenty million zombies from such a densely infested area. They thought the committee was merely seizing political capital.

But as they traveled, they found, at intervals, tall buildings belching black smoke and flames, and heaps of zombie corpses awaiting cremation. The Civil Affairs Ministry’s labor brigades worked under the watchful eyes of steel-pipe-wielding police, their faces growing ever more grave.

Looking toward the city, they saw even more skyscrapers shrouded in black smoke. The delegations exchanged glances, quickened their pace, and sped down the airport expressway. At every checkpoint along the way, guards in chainmail with broadswords and steel pipes moved aside the barricades and waved them through—all had been notified in advance.