22: Settling in Haishi

"Now that our house is gone, we might as well go to Sea City."

Lin Wan said.

"I agree. Capital City is no longer suitable for living because of the earthquakes and acid rain. There are fewer and fewer people here, so the number of zombies has decreased a lot too."

Xia Yue was the first to support the idea.

Shen Mo Chi and Xie Ji Chuan naturally had no objections.

They had originally planned to leave after the New Year anyway.

Capital City was severely damaged; many places had started to collapse, and the roads were difficult to traverse. If it were to be restored, it would have to be replanned and rebuilt, which would take at least two years even with intervention from The Authorities.

But now, they probably wouldn't have the time to worry about it for a while.

After hearing Japan's plans, they were even more certain about where to go next. Being in Huaxia, knowing another country's ambitions, they couldn't just sit back and watch!

Uncle Wang was the same as ever; he would go wherever they said.

Lin Wan knew, however, that in her previous life, Shen Mo Chi's first base was in Sea City.

She didn't know what his considerations were at the time, or if he had discovered something.

However, she had died in the fifth year of the Apocalypse and had always avoided him, so she had no way of knowing what happened later.

She only remembered that by then, there were already many bases of various sizes across the provinces and cities, but she didn't know exactly where Japan's base was hidden.

In that case, it would be better to uproot them now while they were still in their early stages! To eliminate future troubles.

They all understood the saying: "When the nest is overturned, no egg stays unbroken."

In her previous life, Lin Wan lived here for nearly half a year and only moved away when the zombies appeared.

In this life, the zombies appeared earlier, and because she had made a trip to Japan, it triggered a series of chain reactions.

They probably wanted to avoid drawing attention, so they chose the currently sparsely populated northern Capital City to strike first; other cities would inevitably follow.

But it was too difficult to investigate, so they could only start from the root. Once the root was pulled, the rest would naturally be easier to handle.

This was also one of the reasons why Lin Wan had discussed building a base with Shen Mo Chi back then.

If you didn't lack food or clothing in such an environment, you would inevitably attract the attention of certain ill-intentioned people.

If you had to be sneaky, then what was the point of hoarding so many goods?

Furthermore, without their own power, in a situation like today's, anyone with some firearms could just come and blow everything up. Did they want to keep running around forever, with no fixed home...

Shen Mo Chi and the others weren't the type to stay obscure either.

In her previous life, he had a system and achieved twice the result with half the effort, which was how he was able to establish the first base so quickly.

Combined with his own abilities—being decisive in killing, cold, and ruthless—he made those with ill intentions tremble with fear!

In this life, he lost the system because of her. Although he could still achieve it on his own, Lin Wan had her space.

So, of course, she would stay with him and, just like in the previous life, contribute to the reconstruction of Huaxia in the early stages of the Apocalypse.

Only when Huaxia was completely stable could they enjoy their freedom without any worries.

This process might take five or ten years, but they were all young and not afraid.

The group settled on a general direction: first, they planned to go to Sea City to find a suitable place to stay.

Then, they would find the main base of the Japanese and root out the villains among the people!

The helicopter from those people earlier was a great tool.

Both Shen Mo Chi and Xie Ji Chuan knew how to fly it.

They headed south all the way.

Lin Wan looked through the binoculars at the devastated land, feeling quite distressed.

What was once thriving and peaceful had been ruined in just a few short months.

By the time they reached Sea City, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

To avoid drawing attention, they put away the helicopter before entering Sea City.

Lin Wan took out two off-road vehicles from her space.

They drove all the way toward the heart of Sea City.

Lin Wan sat in the passenger seat, observing the road conditions along the way.

"The floods in the south must have just receded not long ago; the mud has frozen hard!"

Shen Mo Chi knocked away several zombies that rushed toward them.

"Yeah, just like that person said, there were no earthquakes here, so the roads are still fairly good. It really is a good choice for building a base."

"Right. For now, we need to find a place to settle down first. Otherwise, constantly going in and out of the space will easily expose us."

Once they entered the city, they put away the cars and switched to a more ordinary, worn-out pickup truck.

The streets were filled with gaunt, emaciated people wrapped in thick cotton coats, walking with hurried steps.

They carried knives and clubs, moving in and out of every shop, occasionally dealing with zombies that lunged at them. Some people held moldy bread, eating it with great relish.

After more than three months, people had already accepted this reality.

They began to follow their instincts; the survivors were fighting desperately to stay alive and hold on until the end of the Apocalypse.

Having caught their breath, The Authorities also began to carry out work based on the current situation.

Shelters were being established in various provinces.

However, since Huaxia had a massive population, although many had died, the majority were still alive.

So it was difficult for The Authorities too. For now, they focused on the big picture, gathering talent first and building infrastructure better suited for the Apocalypse.

The rest was left to the law of the jungle—survival of the fittest. This was the Apocalypse.

There were two types of shelters: one for those who met the official criteria, such as scientists, structural engineers, agricultural experts...

The other was for ordinary people who could provide labor or resources.

Even so, people fought tooth and nail to get in, and many simply couldn't.

So, with the encouragement of The Authorities, many people began to form their own teams.

After all, in a time when people would fight to the death over a single steamed bun, not to mention the zombies...

Huddling together for warmth was safer than fighting alone and made it easier to survive. Some of these teams eventually became the foundations for many bases of various sizes.

They gradually figured out a set of survival methods that belonged to them.

Lin Wan's team moved forward until about ten o'clock in the morning, when they selected a sparsely populated area. They decided to split up and search for a suitable house.

Lin Wan observed as she walked, occasionally killing a few zombies. She avoided high-rise buildings where people clearly lived.

She also avoided places that were too dilapidated or too close to the street.

They all carried walkie-talkies and communicated every ten minutes to ensure everyone was safe.

Finally, she spotted an unfinished building.

It was eight stories high and had clearly just barely been completed.

What caught Lin Wan's attention was that only the sixth and seventh floors actually had windows. Although the glass was broken, there were clear signs of renovation.

It seemed that some people had previously bought units in this unfinished building, but even if it was unfinished, the mortgage still had to be paid.

Ordinary people might spend most of their lives just to afford one such home.

So, some would spend their own money to renovate and move into unfinished buildings while slowly fighting for their rights.

Since there was no human presence here, there were basically no zombies.

And because it was an unfinished building with ventilation on all sides and no cover, few survivors came here to live in this cold weather.

Lin Wan went all the way up to the sixth floor, to unit 601.

She pushed open the dusty, deformed security door.

It seemed that when the zombie outbreak occurred, this place hadn't been spared either.

The living room had creamy-white floor tiles and white walls; it was a three-bedroom, two-living room, one-bedroom, one-bathroom layout.

The window glass was shattered, and as the draft blew through, the entire home was bone-chillingly cold.

Well, there was no furniture, but the basic renovations were already done.

To her surprise, the house opposite, 602, was the same.

Except this one had wallpaper and used gray flooring.

She went up to the seventh floor, 701. Only the unit on the east side was renovated; the one opposite was still an empty concrete shell.

But this was already very good; it was like being handed a pillow just as she was getting sleepy.

Presumably, these three households had agreed to renovate and live together so they could look out for each other.

Lin Wan took out her walkie-talkie.

"I found a place. Walk toward the west; there's an unfinished building."

"Copy that."

Lin Wan looked around, and before long, they all arrived.

"This is a great place! Sister Wanwan, it's practically tailor-made for us."

"Yeah, with a little tidying up, it should be quite nice."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's start! When the time comes, A'Chu and Lin Wan will stay in 701."

"Yue Yue and I will stay on the west side of the sixth floor, 602, and Uncle Wang will stay on the east side, 601. The lighting is good there."

"Sigh, I'm sacrificing myself to help you guys out..."

Xia Yue exposed him without mercy.

"I think you just think the eighth floor is too high and climbing the stairs is tiring."

Everyone burst into laughter, and the matter was happily settled.

The materials were all ready.

Lin Wan remembered there were dozens of boxes of renovation materials in the containers; she had also collected quite a bit during her previous looting sprees.

A week later, the three units looked decent and clean.

They even installed a security door at the entrance from the fifth floor to the sixth, covered in sharp spikes.

This was something Xie Ji Chuan and the others had made as a spare before, and it happened to come in handy.

They also placed high-power electric wires on the stair handrails. The safety measures were top-notch.

The stairwell from the eighth floor to the seventh was also firmly sealed to prevent anyone from coming down from the roof.

With that, they had officially settled in Sea City.