activa-t Chapter 39, First Mission
Chapter 39, First Mission
Because Qin Yuan smashed the partition window in the middle of the car, he and Lin Yun also heard what the people behind them were saying. However, Lin Yun didn't know how well the car had been modified, so only Qin Yuan was so angry that he almost lost control of the car, causing the five people behind him to jolt violently.
Lu Yuan and his five companions were shivering uncomfortably in the back cargo box. Qin Yuan and Lin Yun were also uncomfortable in the driver's cab. They turned the air conditioning to the lowest setting. Even though the two drivers in front felt cold, the cargo box in the back, which was cooled by the partition window in the middle, was still so hot that the group of people were sweating.
In their team, Qin Yuan and Lin Yun are both experienced captains, while Lu Yuan and the other four, apart from Lin Xiao, are practically complete novices when it comes to the apocalypse.
Before they left, they had actually discussed in their dorm whether they should just run away. They had chosen to come to the safe base to warn others about the viral rain and to prepare for zombie attacks. Although they had made a small mistake, the situation was thankfully resolved perfectly; the rain had stopped, and the zombies hadn't besieged the city. Anyway, Lu Yuan had his spatial ability; they could live a life of luxury wherever they went. Why stay in the base and annoy the other survivors?
Lu Yuan had hesitated at first, but he was also worried about the unstable factors in his body. Staying at the base would only be harmful to others, so in the end, the five of them unanimously agreed to the escape plan. Before leaving in the morning, they packed everything in the dormitory except for their personal belongings into Lu Yuan's spatial storage.
The most awkward thing now is not knowing how to tell Qin Yuan and Lin Yun. After all, these two are real soldiers. Even though things are like this in the base, they still took on this most difficult task.
Therefore, Lu Yuan and his five-person team all knew that unless the base really kicked them out, or they turned into zombies and were certain that they would become zombies, they would absolutely not leave with them.
After exchanging glances, Lu Yuan and his group of five decided to help Qin Yuan and Lin Yun complete this arduous agricultural product task first, and then find an opportunity to leave.
After the truck swayed and rattled for more than twenty minutes, Lu Yuan and his team could see the outer perimeter of the farmers' market through the windshield. This farmers' market was the largest and most important agricultural product trading market in G City. It was said to have its own power supply, so the command center chose this place as the destination for this mission. After all, the municipal power supply had been cut off for a month, and in other smaller markets, most of the goods would probably have rotted.
The car turned into the market gate, but they didn't see a single zombie. They didn't know if there weren't any here, or if they were hiding. The seven people didn't dare to get out of the car rashly, so they continued driving slowly forward.
The farmers' market is a vegetable market right inside. It's clear that when the virus broke out, all the vendors went to the quarantine area immediately. The vegetables in the trucks and on the ground were just left there and the vendors left. So there were rotten vegetable leaves all along the way. Luckily, they kept the windows closed and the air conditioning on, otherwise you could smell the mixed smell of rotten vegetables, fruits and meat in the market.
After passing the three rows of fresh fruit and vegetable trading areas at the market entrance, drive further in to the refrigeration area. Nowadays, some fruits and vegetables are grown in the best production areas to ensure the best taste, and then transported through a refrigeration chain. During transportation, the temperature and humidity inside the cargo box of the transport vehicle are kept consistent with the origin. Once in each city, they are sent to this refrigeration area where the temperature and humidity are consistent with the origin for storage.
This agricultural product trading market in G City only started operating in the second half of last year. When it was built, it was touted as G City's largest fresh produce trading market, boasting that its water and electricity were independent and would never be interrupted during municipal maintenance. I heard that the fees for merchants to move in were quite high at the time.
The group arrived at the refrigerated area, thinking they might find something useful there, so they parked their car in front of a cold storage unit and prepared to get out. Gu Nanfeng observed the situation and, just to be on the safe side, suggested everyone put on portable gas masks, since the vegetables outside were completely rotten, and they needed to be aware of the toxic fumes coming from there.
After getting their gear ready, Qin Yuan and Lin Yun got out of the car first. They looked around but didn't find any zombies. Then they went around to the back of the car, opened the cargo box, and let Lu Yuan and the other four people get out.
Zhong Qiang had planned to land in a cool way, but when he jumped down, he stepped on a rotten vegetable leaf and almost fell flat on his face.
Once inside the cold storage, all seven of them understood why there weren't even any zombies here—what a load of rubbish about self-sufficient water and electricity! Even through their gas masks, they could smell the pungent stench.
The group quickly retreated back into the truck. Qin Yuan got in and immediately started the engine, turning on the air conditioning and air purification system. Everyone took a while to cool down before taking off their gas masks.
"Holy crap, what kind of biological bomb is this?" Zhong Qiang, the curious little guy, secretly pulled open his gas mask a bit before getting on the bus, and then suffered a serious injury. As soon as he got on the bus, he grabbed Lu Yuan and asked for candy, "Lu Xiaoyuan, Lu Daddy, please give me a life-saving medicine."
Seeing that they had all calmed down, Qin Yuan took the mints Lu Yuan offered and angrily picked up his walkie-talkie to contact command. As soon as the call connected, command heard Qin Yuan's furious curses.
After Qin Yuan unleashed a string of profanities, the operator at the command center was still completely bewildered. Could it be that Captain Qin, who used to be so easy to talk to, had really turned into a zombie?
Lin Yun took the walkie-talkie and calmly reported the mission situation of Team 0788, detailing their departure and arrival times, as well as what they saw upon entering the mission area.
The operator at command center was momentarily stunned, then immediately called her department head, and then the command center leader. Unexpectedly, it was base commander Wang Qiang who arrived.
Wang Qiang was originally the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee. After the outbreak of the virus, he organized several anti-zombie operations in the municipal government office. He was very capable, so after joining forces with the provincial party committee command, the provincial party committee command directly appointed him as the commander of the command center of G city.
It was also because of Wang Qiang that the city's central hospital was chosen as a safe base. He listened to Lin Yun's report over the walkie-talkie and immediately ordered someone to summon the current head of the agricultural department.
This man, Li Jun, was originally a minor leader in the Agriculture Bureau. When the virus broke out, he forgot to bring a document that his leader needed to attend a meeting. His leader called him back to the office to get it. He had just entered the office and was still feeling angry when he heard the broadcast that the quarantine area had been overrun. He was overjoyed.
He then stayed in the municipal government office area and moved with the command center to a safe base, where he became the current head of the agricultural department.
He arrived at the commander's office trembling. No one said anything to him, but he knew what had happened. The largest agricultural product trading market in G City advertised itself as having its own power and water supply, but it was never open on weekdays and relied on municipal water and electricity. After the virus outbreak, the municipal power and water supply were cut off, and he guessed that everything there had rotted long ago. That market was not even as good as a large supermarket in the city with its own power generation system.
"Why didn't you say anything during the meeting last night?" Wang Qiang slammed his hand on the table as soon as he saw him come in. He knew there were bound to be some spies and opportunists in their team, but now that they were facing a major crisis, it was unacceptable that these people were still so oblivious to right and wrong.
"I, I..." Li Jun's large, beady eyes darted around in their sockets. He glanced at the other department heads in the office, knowing that no one would stand up for him now. But he hoped that even after being dismissed, he could still stay at the base and have a job, so he decided to take the blame himself. "I didn't expect this either. They have their own electricity and water supply, but they haven't opened up the market. I couldn't have predicted that..."
Li Jun kept making excuses, but never mentioned that before the meeting last night, he and several other department heads wanted these twenty-odd people to leave the safe base, since they were all unpredictable factors. In particular, several people from the Health Department, Medical Department, Registration Office, and Material Management Office were eager for these unstable factors to leave as soon as possible. So they made several plans, and their first target was the 0788 Material Team.
He was quite pleased with himself when he suggested going to this market. He figured there were probably no supplies there, but such markets were crowded and likely to have a lot of zombie activity. The person in charge of the supplies management department even said they would be given a beat-up car, but even if they managed to drive it safely to the market, the car wouldn't be able to stop the zombie attacks, and if they couldn't get back, so be it.