97: Chapter 97 Live together, or die together!

Guo Shu advocated for hiding, "There are supplies and defensive facilities in the Underground City. Although there are many zombies outside, they show no signs of attacking the Underground City."

"If we stay in the Underground City, we should be able to hold out until the extreme cold arrives. The zombies probably won't have it easy during the extreme cold, either. By then, cleaning them up shouldn't be difficult."

Wu Shu objected, "What if the extreme cold doesn't come, or what if the zombies can adapt to the extreme cold weather?"

"By then, there will only be more zombies. They won't retreat, they won't starve to death, and they might even continuously evolve and level up. One day, we won't be able to hold them off and will have to go out, and without leveling up, we will just be food on their plates."

"Cleaning them up will be easy? There are zombies everywhere outside. The number of survivors who can kill zombies is so small. We'll be swarmed by zombies not long after going out. At that point, not a single person will return."

"That's still better than sitting in a cage waiting to die."

The arguments grew louder and louder. The Great Leader did not stop them; he let them argue. This was his habit: let everyone voice the worst-case scenarios, then discuss countermeasures.

Xu Wanning hadn't spoken the whole time. She sat there with her hands folded on her knees, her eyes fixed on the map on the table.

The map roughly marked the locations of various cities. Jing City had ten million zombies, and other cities wouldn't have fewer. The total number of zombies must exceed three hundred million.

In reality, it might be even more. Besides the cities, there might be some in the wilderness as well.

Now, the number of survivors in their country was estimated to be 350 million. In other words, the number of survivors and zombies had reached equilibrium again. This was definitely not a coincidence.

Once everyone finished arguing and calmed down, The Great Leader spoke.

"Our supplies can last for a while. With Wood Ability and Water Ability users, food and drink will certainly not be a problem, and medical treatment won't be an issue either."

"However, the next phase is high-temperature weather. Nobody knows whether high temperatures will harm the zombies. Nobody knows how many years it will take until the extreme cold, or even if the extreme cold will come at all."

"We will prepare for two scenarios. First, while the zombies are inactive, we will place all machine guns in the surrounding buildings. Afterward, we will attack directly from indoors and not go outside."

"Second, we will continue production to ensure the supply of daily necessities."

"Once things go wrong, we will all retreat underground and plan our next move."

Xu Wanning did not object. She leaned more towards clearing out the zombies; hiding away was definitely not a long-term solution.

After the meeting, the Mission Hall refreshed with new tasks. Each team actively accepted tasks, took the thermal weapons issued by the country, and set off for their chosen buildings.

Xu Wanning discussed it with Lu Chengyue, and they chose the adjacent hospital and shopping mall.

Everyone went home to pack their things and prepare to move. Underground cities suitable for living had been dug under each building, so they could just go down and rest during the day.

"Ningning, if one day I unfortunately..." Lu Chengyue was very afraid of fate. In his past life, he had died, so perhaps in this life, he could only live for three years.

Xu Wanning dropped the clothes in her hands, turned around, hooked the back of his head with one hand, pulled him down, and kissed him.

This kiss was not gentle; it was forceful. Her teeth bumped against his lower lip, and the taste of blood spread.

Her hand slid from the back of his head to the back of his neck, her fingers tightening, pulling him closer. The events of her past life kept repeating in her mind, and she couldn't help but tremble slightly.

She was scared—very scared that Lu Chengyue would disappear.

Lu Chengyue did not move. He let her kiss him, his right hand finding her lower back, wrapping around her, and holding her tight.

After a long while, Xu Wanning finally let him go. Forehead against forehead, her breathing unsteady, she said, "That possibility doesn't exist. We will both be just fine."

The two of them were not in the same team, destined to be unable to stay at the same task location. She was already feeling uneasy, and with Lu Chengyue saying that, she felt very anxious.

"Ningning." Lu Chengyue held her tightly.

"The two of us—either we live together, or we die together!"

Xu Wanning released his neck, grabbed his right hand, and pressed it firmly against her chest. Through her clothes, through her ribs, the heartbeat transmitted to his palm—very strong, beat after beat.

Lu Chengyue looked down at her, raised his hand, and stroked her cheek. "Okay."

After packing up, the two went out to wait for their teammates.

Grandpa Zhou brought Zhou Ke and the others over. "Ningning, I have decided to bring my apprentices who have Supernatural abilities to join the Weapon Manufacturing Institute. I will entrust the remaining apprentices and my eldest grandson to you."

"Okay." Grandpa Zhou was already old; there was no need for him to follow her out fighting and killing every day. If he stayed at home, she could also feel more at ease.

The crowd lined up and walked out. Zombies were blocking the street. Wind Ability users cleared the way, blowing them to the side and opening up a path.

The journey that originally only took ten minutes took over an hour.

Xu Wanning and her group entered the hospital, while Lu Chengyue and his group went to the shopping mall.

The top floor of the shopping mall happened to be a furniture store, which had beds, so they didn't need to place beds separately.

The hospital went without saying; there were plenty of beds and compartments. They could sleep wherever they wanted.

Just as Xu Wanning was leading people to install the thermal weapons, Lu Chengyue walked in from the window, startling her. "You..."

Lu Chengyue hugged her and gave her a kiss. "Jiang Yishen made a connecting corridor; we can come over at any time."

Xu Wanning curiously went up to take a walk. "That's great. Then you guys should come over and live here too; there are many rooms on this side."

"Okay." Lu Chengyue called out, and Li Jingran and the others came over one after another.

Wen Shuyang lay on the window looking at the zombies outside. "Why are they motionless? It's too unscientific."

Xu Wanning frowned. "They are waiting for something. Do you think the second Acid Rain has arrived early? As long as they are showered by the Acid Rain, they can level up again?"

Everyone shook their heads blankly; no one could figure it out.

"Eat, sleep. There's a tough battle to fight tonight."

Xu Wanning brought out a table of food. Everyone sat around a few tables, eating whatever they got; no one was picky.

After eating, they played mahjong for a while, then went back to their rooms to sleep.

Xu Wanning slept with Lu Chengyue. The two hospital beds were pushed together, but it was still a bit narrow.

Xu Wanning had her back to Lu Chengyue. He pulled her into his arms, his right hand wrapped around her waist, his palm resting on her lower abdomen.

Her back was pressed against his chest, and their heartbeats throbbed in sync.

Xu Wanning kept her eyes open, unable to sleep at all.

"Can't sleep?" Lu Chengyue pinched her hand.

"Yeah." Xu Wanning pursed her lips. "A-Yue, I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid of dying after you guys."

Making her go through sending off one person after another again—she was afraid she couldn't bear it. She had thought that by being reborn and informing the authorities about The Apocalypse, she could change everything.

But things were developing differently from what she had experienced before, and she felt a bit helpless.

Lu Chengyue's palm tightened slightly on her lower abdomen, his thumb gently rubbing the back of her hand. "Don't be afraid. None of us will die."

He hadn't thought much when he said it before, but now that Ningning brought it up, he realized how painful those words sounded.

Xu Wanning turned over in his arms, facing him, looking into his eyes. "Yeah."