Chapter 171 - 170: Drawing a Cake to Sate Hunger

Chapter 171: Chapter 170: Drawing a Cake to Sate Hunger

"This is also our way of repaying you for saving Wang Zhong. It’s impossible to say what this gift is truly worth, but you know our current situation. For now, it’s just a promise..."

Lin Fan looked at Ye Qingzhou, silent for a few seconds.

He had to admit that a professional’s perspective was far more comprehensive than he’d anticipated.

He really hadn’t given much thought to the issue of status before. Or rather, he’d subconsciously assumed that as long as he kept getting stronger, his power would be enough to steamroll any and all rules.

But Ye Qingzhou had reminded him that the very act of steamrolling the rules was a hassle in itself, especially in an unfamiliar environment where one needed to acquire resources and establish order.

’It’s not a matter of being afraid, just of it being a nuisance.’

He understood the weight of this gift. Once a team becomes an official unit, its cohesion is instantly elevated to a whole new level.

"I understand. I’ll take that promise," Lin Fan finally said, accepting the identity of "Colonel Lin."

"So, what’s your plan moving forward?"

He looked at Ye Qingzhou across from him and asked earnestly.

"Reporting!"

Ye Qingzhou cleared her throat. Just as she was about to speak, she heard Yu Wentao’s voice from outside the tent. She looked to Lin Fan, her gaze questioning.

After all, as of a moment ago, Lin Fan was now the highest-ranking commander of this unit and the superior officer to everyone inside the tent.

Even though it was her own subordinate, Ye Qingzhou would still need to seek Lin Fan’s permission to let him enter.

"Come in."

Lin Fan understood Ye Qingzhou’s gesture after only a moment’s hesitation and called out in response.

The tent flap was thrown open, and a group of people filed in.

Yu Wentao and Cheng Qi, who were in the lead, gave Lin Fan a military salute before taking their places at Ye Qingzhou’s side.

Meanwhile, Liu Bin, Zhang Ziyi, Chu Zhaotian, Xu Qian, and the others following them nodded to Ye Qingzhou’s group across from them before moving to stand by Lin Fan’s side.

"Wang Yuanhua said he’s not one for meetings, so I had him go back to watch over our people. There are a lot of them to keep an eye on..."

Liu Bin moved to Lin Fan’s side and handed him a booklet as he spoke.

"This is a complete inventory of all our supplies."

"Good. It’s best if you all hear what comes next," Lin Fan nodded. He took the booklet, flipped through it, then closed it and turned back to Ye Qingzhou.

"Colonel Ye, please continue."

"Yes, of course."

Ye Qingzhou closed an identical booklet that Yu Wentao had handed her. It seemed to be a copy of the one in Lin Fan’s hands.

"As you heard on the radio, Colonel Lin, our previous mission was actually quite simple: to escort me, Cyan Bird, the other six researchers, and some equipment and supplies to the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone."

As she spoke, she gestured toward another tent outside—the one housing the other researchers.

"Are they also involved in research on the Awakened?" Lin Fan asked.

"No. I’m the only one left who’s researching the Awakened. The others... they all died on the way here.

"We call it Awakened research, but with only Cyan Bird as a single test subject, we have no control group. Progress has been incredibly slow. We’re basically just covering the fundamentals..."

Ye Qingzhou shook her head.

"Those other researchers are more important than us right now. They’re scholars from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences...

"If research on the Awakened is about focusing on the future, then what they can do is far more relevant to our immediate present than anything I can offer..."

’The Academy of Agricultural Sciences...’

Lin Fan mulled over her words in silence.

"Winter is coming..."

Ye Qingzhou glanced at the watch on her wrist. Her voice was light, but it carried a distinct chill.

"They’re carrying a batch of fast-growing sweet potato seedlings, preserved in an incubator. If we can get them planted before mid-August, we can harvest a crop of sweet potatoes in late autumn. At the same time, we’ll get a large new batch of seedlings. Only then will we have enough to plant next spring and fend off famine..."

Food.

So that was it.

It dawned on Lin Fan. He finally realized that he and Ye Qingzhou’s group approached problems from completely different angles.

Even though he now had over a hundred people with him, food hadn’t been a serious short-term concern for him as he grew ever more powerful.

His residential complex had over two thousand households. Even by a conservative estimate, if each household had enough food to feed one person for three to ten days... between this entire complex and the one across the street, as long as they cleared out every apartment, the rice, flour, grains, and oil would be enough for his people to survive for half a year.

Half a year. Lin Fan had never imagined he’d be living here for another six months. His original plan was to pack up his family and move to the quarantine zone in a week or two at most. After all, he had a full tanker of fuel and an RV all ready to go.

’As for what to eat in the quarantine zone? The government would obviously handle that. They’d set up a quarantine zone, so they couldn’t just let everyone starve, right?’

Most of the people who had frantically rushed to the quarantine zones in the early days of the apocalypse must have thought the same way.

Even Lin Fan himself, his first reaction upon hearing about the quarantine zone had been the same.

’Survive first. If you’re dead, what’s the point of thinking about food?’

For ordinary people, staying trapped in a residential building instead of going to the quarantine zone was a dead end. The zone offered at least a chance of survival.

But the safer a quarantine zone seemed, the more people it would attract, and the more insecure it would ultimately become.

After all, food didn’t just respawn in shop windows or residential buildings. The quarantine zone couldn’t conjure food out of thin air as he could.

"Are you in contact with the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone? What’s the situation there really like? What kind of yield can you get from that batch of sweet potatoes? How many people are there?"

’Since Ye Qingzhou brought it up, she must not be guessing blindly. If I can figure this much out just from her words, they must have considered far more.’

Her gaze faltered for a second, as if she were rapidly searching for information in her mind. Then she nodded and said gravely,

"At the very beginning of the outbreak, the radios were still working. We made contact not only with the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone, but with several others as well.

"The Jishan garrison is just a defensive unit. We have the personnel, but not much in the way of weapons and equipment. We have almost no reserve ammunition for our heavy firepower. But Linjiang University... it’s a different story."

At the mention of the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone, even Liu Bin and his men leaned in to listen intently. After all, that place was their hope.

"According to the intel from our last successful communication, the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone was established by the remnants of two combined arms brigades that were stationed in the suburbs of Linjiang, in coordination with surviving local government officials.

"They have three to four hundred surviving soldiers. If they integrate police officers or conscript a militia, their armed forces could number over a thousand... As for civilians, there could be over ten thousand. It wouldn’t be impossible for there to be twenty thousand..."