54: Preparing for a Breakout

Just then, an officer walked up to Qin Shilei and his group, "May I ask for your name, sir? Our superior would like to speak with you."

Qin Shilei frowned and asked, "May I know why your superior is looking for me?"

The officer hesitated slightly before replying, "It's to discuss the retreat."

Hearing this, everyone was simultaneously shocked.

Had the situation become so dire?

It was just getting dark, and people would be inconvenienced by the darkness. However, zombies track humans by relying on their sense of smell and hearing, and are minimally affected by darkness.

The military choosing to break through under such extremely unfavorable conditions indicated that Ningan City would be difficult to hold until tomorrow morning.

Everyone followed the officer to a restaurant in the city center.

The officer turned to Qin Shilei and said, "Mr. Qin, since the meeting room is quite narrow, please have your companions wait here in the lobby for a moment."

To their left was the restaurant's banquet hall, where many people were already seated. To their right was a closed meeting room.

Qin Shilei thought for a moment and said to An Qian and the others, "Be careful, if anything happens, come to the meeting room and call me."

He turned and followed the officer, knocking on the door and entering the meeting room.

There were already thirty or forty people seated in the meeting room.

On the rostrum at the front were several officers, and below them were twenty or thirty fierce-looking civilians.

As soon as Qin Shilei entered, he felt countless subtle gazes silently watching him.

After Qin Shilei arrived, seven or eight more people came in succession.

Seeing that most of the personnel had arrived, an officer in the middle of the rostrum stood up and said, "My name is Yang Yue, Major General. There are at least 1.5 million zombies outside the city, and we only have less than 30,000 soldiers left, with a severe shortage of ammunition. There are about 100,000 survivors remaining in the city."

"The situation is dire, and our military has decided to break out immediately."

"Multiple Mutated Zombies appeared among the zombies attacking the city just now, causing us heavy casualties, and several defensive lines were almost breached."

"We have gathered everyone here to deal with the Mutated Zombies that may appear during the breakout."

"We hope you can assist in the retreat. This is an order, because if you don't cooperate, we will all die together. I hope everyone considers this carefully."

"We only have ten minutes. You can ask any questions you have."

As soon as Yang Yue finished speaking, he sat down.

The meeting room immediately became lively, with everyone asking the questions they cared about.

Through others' questions, Qin Shilei also learned most of the information he wanted to know.

Through investigation, the north side of Ningan City had the fewest zombies, making it more suitable for a breakout.

Furthermore, three kilometers north of Ningan City, there was a twenty-meter wide river flowing from the northwest to the southeast, then flowing past Ningan City into the distance.

Once this river was crossed and the bridge over it was blown up, the pursuit of the zombies could be blocked.

The task of holding the rear was undertaken by the military, while Qin Shilei and his group only needed to slay any Mutated Zombies that might appear on the flanks and at the vanguard.

All spoils of war obtained would belong to the individuals.

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Yang Yue had his adjutant begin to assign tasks.

"Tang Haotian, Qin Shilei, Li Muzi, and others, you will lead your people to be responsible for clearing the way at the vanguard with us."

The adjutant continuously called out several names, then grouped them together.

"Tang Haotian?"

Qin Shilei looked up at a young man of twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

Tang Haotian was over 1.8 meters tall, gentle as jade, with the appearance of a refined young master. He wore splendid yellow leather armor and carried an ancient longsword at his waist, like a swordsman from ancient times.

Seeing Qin Shilei look over, he made a throat-slitting gesture with his hand at his neck.

The adjutant who saw this immediately suggested, "Mr. Qin, why don't you go to the west to assist with the retreat?"

Qin Shilei replied indifferently, "Everything according to your arrangements, Adjutant."

Tang Haotian sneered, "Cowardly wimp, I hope you don't get killed by zombies too soon."

He paused, then continued, "But don't worry, after you die, I will definitely take good care of those women around you."

Hearing this, Qin Shilei's eyes darkened, and he turned to the adjutant and said, "Adjutant, I think it's better to stay at the vanguard, so as not to disrupt your initial deployment."

The adjutant thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's even better. Only by opening the passage faster and maintaining its safety can we ensure that our breakout proceeds smoothly. We precisely need an expert like Mr. Qin."

He paused again and said sternly, "I also hope you all prioritize the bigger picture. Please consider any personal grudges after we are out of danger."

Hearing that Qin Shilei did not choose to go west to assist with the retreat, a middle-aged man at the very back of the meeting room showed a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

He was Zi Yue, the representative of Dark Moon. He had originally planned to find an opportunity to ambush Qin Shilei during the retreat, but now he had to abandon that idea and focus on how to preserve the organization's strength.

Knowing his mission, Qin Shilei got up and left the meeting room.

As soon as he left the meeting room, he heard fighting from the banquet hall on the left.

"This is bad."

Qin Shilei flashed into the banquet hall and indeed saw more than a dozen people attacking An Qian and her group.

On the periphery, more than ten soldiers were holding their guns and warning, "Stop immediately, or we'll open fire."

Although these soldiers shouted sternly, they did not dare to open fire.

These people were invited by their superior, and if they were to shoot and injure them, it would be difficult to explain.

If they didn't shoot and engaged in close combat directly, they probably wouldn't be able to defeat them, so they could only fire warning shots at the ceiling.

Qin Shilei pushed hard with his right foot, transforming into an afterimage and instantly rushing into the middle of the attacking crowd.

"Bang bang bang!"

The dozen or so people instantly flew seven or eight meters into the air as if hit by a speeding car, overturning tables and chairs in the hall, and rolling another three or four meters before stopping.

"Ah!"

A chorus of screams immediately erupted in the banquet hall.

"Are you all alright?" Qin Shilei asked worriedly.

"We're fine. If we weren't afraid of losing control and killing them, we would have dealt with them with swords long ago," An Qian said somewhat angrily.

"They are all from Apocalypse Home," Zhang Qiang said from the side.

Because there were military personnel present, both sides had been relatively restrained and had not used weapons.

Qin Shilei carefully looked at the few people and found that although they had no obvious injuries on their bodies, their clothes had some stains.

They were likely punch marks and footprints left by the opponent hitting them with fists during the melee.

"Hmph."

Qin Shilei said coldly, "Apocalypse Home, I will make sure they are finished sooner or later."

"Such big words. Let me see how many moves you can take from me."

Tang Haotian slowly walked in.

Seeing Tang Haotian preparing to make a move, the adjutant stepped forward and said sternly, "Young Master Tang, please prioritize the bigger picture and do not make things difficult for our military."

Tang Haotian smiled at the adjutant, then turned and walked out.

Before leaving, he gave An Qian and her daughter an evil, charming smile, "What a pair of peerless mother and daughter flowers. I look forward to your enchanting 姿態 when you lie on the same bed."