64: Chapter 64 Disaster Prevention and Emergency Response Group

The blizzard showed no signs of stopping, and under the cover of night, the city fell into an unprecedented silence.

Yet, inside the top-floor Shelter of Jinding Phoenix City, strands of warm light and swirling steam seeped out.

In the living room, the dining table had been temporarily extended, with five people sitting around it as the hot pot boiled, filling the air with a rich aroma.

Zhao Wei picked up a piece of beef cooked to perfection and took a big bite. "Damn, this is what it means to be alive!"

Zhang Tianjin added two plates of marbled beef to the pot, grinning, "Eat up, who knows if we'll be stuck gnawing on canned food tomorrow!"

Zhou Cheng, meanwhile, precisely managed the timing, boiling lobster and squid while bringing out his own custom seasoning.

"I'll add some mushrooms in a bit. It can't be all meat. We've got plenty of supplies in the fridge, but we need a balanced diet."

Ye Nanxing said nothing, simply and silently taking several portions of fresh fruit and a crate of imported drinks from her space and placing them on the table—

Kiwis, blueberries, cherries, and even sliced cantaloupe and chilled coconut juice.

The group was instantly stunned.

"Nanxing, what time do you think it is? You still have fruit in your space?"

Sun Hao exclaimed.

"I thought we'd never be able to eat cherries again in our lives."

Zhao Wei bit into a toothpick.

"If you hadn't said that, I would have almost thought we were back in peaceful times."

Zhou Cheng smiled as he took a drink and sighed.

"It's a blessing that we followed Nanxing; this hot pot is even better than a New Year's Eve dinner."

But at this very moment of warmth, the doorbell rang—"Ding-dong."

The five of them instantly changed expressions, the atmosphere suddenly tightening.

Zhao Wei reached back and grabbed a stun gun, while Zhou Cheng immediately turned off the lights, putting the room into alert mode.

Ye Nanxing signaled for everyone to stay calm and walked to the door, using the peephole to confirm the identity of the visitors.

—It was the property manager and two resident representatives wearing thick down jackets, holding stacks of folders in their hands.

"Hello, are you Ms. Ye? We are the property management staff from the Jinding Phoenix City Homeowners' Committee."

"Why are you looking for me?"

Ye Nanxing's tone was indifferent, her gaze slightly cold.

The middle-aged man in the lead explained with a cautious smile:

"Well, hasn't the weather been too abnormal lately? Last night, there were a few incidents... where 'neighbors suddenly fell ill.'"

"We are planning to establish a 'Disaster Mutual Aid Group.' Every household must send a representative to join so that in case of any abnormalities or sudden illnesses, we can promptly notify each other and handle rescue operations."

"Is this an order?"

Ye Nanxing said coldly.

"No, no, no, don't misunderstand. This is just a self-organized group... After all, the situation outside is unclear right now, and we need some kind of organization, don't we?"

Zhang Tianjin walked to the door and whispered.

"Should we just refuse? We aren't going to be staying here permanently anyway."

Zhou Cheng rubbed his chin and whispered:

"Don't be in a rush to refuse. This group might let us hear about the movements of other people in the complex... With so many of us gathered on the top floor, we'll be suspected sooner or later. It's better to join voluntarily and keep an eye on the 'wind direction'."

Ye Nanxing pondered for a few seconds before finally nodding.

"Give me the materials, I'll take a look."

Inside the living room, Ye Nanxing sat on the sofa, her gaze fixed on a holographic screen floating in the air.

She had just joined a seemingly ordinary community resident group, named:

[Phoenix City · Disaster Prevention Emergency Group]

She had originally thought that in this high-end residential complex with an occupancy rate of less than 30%, there wouldn't be many active residents.

But after Ye Nanxing joined, she was shocked to discover—

The group members actually numbered as high as 197!

[No. 201: Everyone, please be careful! Last night, a household in our building suddenly started acting very strangely, and this morning, the property management took away two corpses!]

[1903: Really? My husband said he heard a woman screaming upstairs last night...]

[2201: Wasn't it said to be carbon monoxide poisoning?]

[2301: Bullshit! My kid saw the corpse with its mouth open, and its face was blue! How could it be gas?]

[1902: Something isn't right... I just saw the property management people all wearing those fully enclosed hazmat suits! And they moved very quickly, taking the corpses away in just a few minutes!]

[2301: Is this really just carbon monoxide poisoning? Have you ever seen an entire floor sealed off for carbon monoxide poisoning?]

Ye Nanxing's gaze grew a few degrees colder.

"It seems the problem has already appeared in this complex," she murmured.

Zhao Wei sat to the side, cleaning his gun while looking disdainful.

"The government's suppression efficiency is truly high: public opinion control, video blocking, and death notifications are all being handled with ambiguity."

"But no matter how dense the common people are, they aren't fools."

Zhou Cheng was organizing the captured network data, casually sending the group screenshots to the local storage terminal.

"At least with this group, we have an early warning system."

"The public today is... much more vigilant than we imagined."

Ye Nanxing said nothing, instead staring at one of the new messages on the screen:

[1102: Just now in the parking lot, I saw a man crouching on the ground eating raw meat... It really wasn't acting. I was so scared I didn't dare make a sound and retreated straight back into the elevator!]

[1201: ...What?! What the hell are you talking about?]

[1102: It's true! He was biting into half a raw pig's trotter, and his teeth were covered in blood! I took a photo with my phone, but it wouldn't upload; the system blocked it!]

[Administrator: Please remain calm, Resident 1102. The property management has initiated temporary security measures. Residents, please try not to go out, minimize panic, and do not believe or spread rumors.]

[1102: ...I'm not spreading rumors! He really isn't human anymore! His eyes were white!]

The next second, Resident 1102's message disappeared, and their profile picture turned gray.

They had been forcibly muted.

Zhao Wei sat up straight immediately: "This is interesting. The coordination between the property management and the government is quite fast."

Ye Nanxing, however, narrowed her eyes, her voice low.

"It's not the property management; it's likely the government intelligence system that has intervened in the property management's backend."

"This residential complex has already been exposed to the surveillance of national security agencies."

"...This group must be kept."

The next morning.

The blizzard still hadn't stopped, and the thick layers of snow turned the outskirts of the city into a silent white graveyard.

The off-road vehicle carrying Ye Nanxing and the others glided through the snow like a ghost, quietly driving into this forgotten industrial zone.

This warehouse was the largest automobile transit base in all of North China. Originally, it served as a centralized delivery point for major brands and 4S dealerships, stacked with unregistered new cars, special-purpose vehicles, dual-use military and civilian off-road vehicles, and an entire batch of private custom vehicles that had not been opened to the public.

Beneath the snow-covered ground, this seemingly abandoned logistics transit base was actually the largest vehicle reserve center in the entire city.

The location locked by Ye Nanxing as a "Level 1 Harvesting Target"—

The perimeter of the Fenglin Automobile Transit Base.

The car carrying Ye Nanxing and her group stopped under an overpass five hundred meters away, headlights extinguished, and the entire team approached on foot.

Zhang Tianjin walked in the lead, a shotgun slung across his body and a dagger hidden in his sleeve, his eyes scanning the surroundings as he mentally calculated the positions of cover where one could hide, ready to counterattack at any moment.

He wasn't afraid, but alert—in the Apocalypse, killing people was faster than zombies.

"No signs of human movement, only tire tracks... A group came here beforehand, but they likely didn't go inside."

Sun Hao crouched in the snow, binoculars pressed to his eyes, his left hand controlling a drone circling overhead.

Everything was normal in his field of vision, but he still didn't dare to be careless.

"There's no heat source in the main warehouse building, but there's residual heat on the west side of Warehouse No. 3, as if an engine had just been turned off."

Zhao Wei, carrying his equipment pack, confirmed the footage fed back from Sun Hao's drone and said firmly, "Give me three minutes, and I'll blow a path open."