Chapter 41 – Rescue Operation
Translator: Jostena
Editors: Callis & Dragon
When Zhao Bing found that he had awakened a fire ability, he was naturally surprised and happy. He was surprised that this unimaginable ability would appear, and happy because he didn’t turn into that kind of man-eating monster. With this ability, Zhao Bing’s first reaction was to return to the army camp immediately to rescue his comrades. Only, he hesitated when considering the disparity in power between the two sides.
“If you want to save others, I suggest, that you first settle down near the barracks and figure out what the situation in the barracks is, then make plans.” The barracks were often located in remote and hidden locations and didn't even have any markings on the map. So Zhan Yun continued, “Where is your barracks? We can send you over.”
Zhan Yun did not immediately mention anything about helping the soldiers save their comrades. Both sides needed a little time to build trust. They first needed to clarify the situation over at the barracks.
“Really? Thank you so much!” Zhao Bing had no idea that the people they met by chance, would be so earnest. When he woke up, he also heard from the other soldiers, that when he was comatose, they not only helped to treat everyone, but also helped fight all the zombies that tried to get in. They also sealed all the entrances and exits to avoid the invasion of those zombies.
Zhao Bing asked a young soldier to go to the second floor to check the situation outside. After all, with the doors and windows blocked, the zombies had no way to enter the building, and they gradually drifted outside. Now there were only an odd number of zombies wandering in the hospital.
“Lieutenant, I think I saw a vending machine in the building behind this one.” The young soldier said excitedly.
The building behind them was the hospital’s inpatient department. The second floor should be the dining hall. Facing the window of the building, the young soldier could see the white vending machine at a glance. There must be food and water in it, these were the things that they lacked the most now.
Zhao Bing heard this and his eyes brightened. The damn weather was too hot. Even indoors, it was hot enough to sweat heavily. The saline he drank last night had also already been metabolized completely.
He went to the second floor window and observed that the two buildings weren't too far apart, but the temperature outside was too high. If he ran out, even if the distance wasn't too far, there was still the sunlight. It would be very easy to get a heatstroke, not to mention the zombies outside.
“I’ll go!” He couldn’t let his soldiers starve with him. After awakening his fire ability, his tolerance of high temperatures had improved slightly. If he went, he could get more.
“Lieutenant! How can you do this?” The soldiers cried out, they were unwilling to let Zhao Bing take risks. Zhao Bing was their backbone, so they couldn’t let him take the risks.
“Then, let’s go together.” Zhan Yun suddenly opened his mouth and said, “You guys can go there and then rest there itself. There is no need to return back to this building.”
These soldiers stayed up for nearly two days without sleeping. They ate many crackers, but the weather was so hot, that this simple food would not be able to support them for long without additional food and water. Helping them get food without exposing the space was the best solution at the moment.
“Xiao Zhe, can you drive?” Zhan Yun looked at Su Ruizhe.
Su Ruizhe immediately shook his head. He was only seventeen years old when the apocalypse came, and he had no way to get a driver’s license. Of course, even if he was eighteen years old, he would not have been able to take the exam, and the reason was very simple — he had no money. After the apocalypse in his last life, although he fled, he wasn't the one who drove. Therefore, he did not learn to drive at all.
“Lao Song, you go drive, take Xiao Zhe and Dongdong and rush over first. The others and I will take Lieutenant Zhao’s military car.” The rear baffle of the military car could be pulled down. It would be more convenient to shoot and fight from the rear, and more convenient for wounded soldiers to sit in.
“Okay.” Nobody objected.
Once the decision was made, everybody was ready to go. Zhao Bing handed his spare pistol to Zhan Yun. “Brother Zhan, I’ll give you a gun, but do not use it to fire unless it's to defend yourself.”
Zhan Yun laughed and took out his gun. “I also have a gun. I forgot to tell you that I am a policeman.”
Zhao Bing was stunned for a moment, and quickly laughed. No wonder he felt a sense of familiarity with Zhan Yun's skills and behavior, he was originally from the system.
Zhang Shuoliang used his powers directly to push down the earth wall he had built before. The nearby zombies heard the movement and surrounded them. Then, they were killed by soldiers one by one.
“Quickly! Don’t stay in the sun for too long!” Outside, the sun was really hot. Shining on the skin, there was a hot, burning sensation.
While the zombies were attracted by the other people’s shooting, Song Chengshu opened the door of the driver’s seat and climbed in. Su Ruizhe also went into the car with Yu Dongdong. The soldiers also helped the wounded ones into the military cars, and then Zhan Yun's group followed.
“Go!”
The two cars immediately set out and rushed towards the hospital building behind them. This time, Song Chengshu drove his car directly into the gate, followed by the military car. The lobby of the hospital department was used as a parking lot.
Zhang Shuoliang was the first to jump out of the car. Under the others' cover, he blocked the door with an earth wall, and closed all other windows. Aside from blocking out the sunlight, it also prevented zombies from entering.
The group got out of the car and climbed up from the first floor to the second floor.
The second floor was indeed a dining hall, which was fairly clean. There were only some bloodstains at the entrance. In the back of the dining hall, they saw the vending machine. Most of its contents were drinks. There was less food; only a dozen chocolates and a dozen packets of potato chips. The chocolate had melted completely under the high temperatures but the potato chips were still edible.
The soldiers wolfed down their food, and Zhan Yun took only a few bottles of water and drinks without touching the soldiers’ food.
“Are you hungry, Dongdong?” Adults could bear it, but children couldn’t, and the kitten was probably hungry too.
In the end, Dongdong shook his head sensibly, but his stomach made a gurgling sound, and his little face suddenly turned red.
“Eat quietly in the back and don’t make any noise. Can you do that?” Su Ruizhe lowered his voice and said.
Yu Dongdong blinked with a pair of big, black eyes and nodded heavily. The kitten in his arms, which seemed to be bothered because of the hot weather, also gave a cute meow.
The soldiers were eating and did not pay attention to the movement on their side. A few of them were sitting there. It was no problem to keep Yu Dongdong away from view.
Su Ruizhe took out two sandwiches for Yu Dongdong, and prepared some canned fish for the kitten. Two little ones ate silently.
When they had enough to eat and drink, they lay down on the table and rested. When it was dark, they would act immediately.
* * * * * * * * *
Waking up from sleep, they saw that the sun was about to set. They all went downstairs together, opened the blocked door, took their cars, and drove towards the barracks.
The position of the barracks was rather skewed. They drove north for more than an hour, through an industrial area, and arrived at a small village.
“The barracks is another two miles north, it’ll be easy to spot once we get there. Let’s take a rest here first. There’s nobody here, let's get off.” Nearby zombies had been cleaned up by the army, and the survivors of the village were taken to the barracks. So, the village was now uninhabited, and they could just hide here.
“Then, Xiao Zhe and I will take Dongdong and Wu Jing to the barracks and check on the situation. You just wait here for news.”
“Be sure to be safe. Those people might not be good people.”
“I understand.”
Zhan Yun took Su Ruizhe with the other two and left, while the others stayed.
They hadn't driven too far when Zhan Yun asked Su Ruizhe to replace it with the oldest model of jeep available with them. Their off-road vehicle was a bit too eye-catching.
Driving the jeep, he kept to the direction Zhao Bing had told him to, and sure enough, he saw the barracks. There were four or five people at the door with guns in their hands, standing guard with an air of importance. There were torches on the wall and two towers in the barracks. When they saw them coming, the guards at the door immediately raised their guns and shouted, “What are you doing?!”
Zhan Yun stopped his car, laughed, and got out. “We are survivors. I heard there is a military camp here, and we want to join.”
Both Su Ruizhe and Wu Jing got out of the car, hung their heads behind Zhan Yun, and looked at the door with big eyes.
“Join?” One of them took a look at their group and immediately sneered, “Have you brought any food?”
“No, not much…” Zhan Yun took a small plastic bag from the car. There were only a few bags of milk and some snacks in it. It was useless.
“Scram, we don’t accept people here!” Those people heard and immediately drove them away impatiently.
“Eh… Please be a gentleman. Let us go in…” Wu Jing also cried and said. Her face caked with mud, no matter how much she rubbed, it looked dirty and ugly, and her voice was very harsh because of the deliberate increase in pressure.
“Scram!” The men were too impatient to continue talking to them. They raised their guns and threatened, “We’ll shoot if you don’t leave!”
“You, you… How could you be like this…?”
“How could we be like this? Don’t you see what the world is like now! Get out! Don’t make me say it again!”
Zhan Yun and the others had to go back to the car dejectedly and drove away.
“Oh, a person with three burdens, has nothing and still dares to talk! Are you kidding?!” In the distance, they could hear the cynicism coming from behind.
Zhan Yun had already retracted his previous expression and glanced at those people through the rearview mirror with a deep look, a cold arc at the corner of his mouth.
He drove around the back of the barracks, pretending he didn’t know the way. Without arousing suspicion, he wrote down the external defense structure of the barracks.
The first chapter is finally here and Dragon was still triggered about the saline water thing. Here’s what she had to say about the part where the author said that Zhao Bing’s metabolism finally took all the water:
Dragon: Ohoho, big words from someone who does not understand chem