bookbashuk Chapter 48 Arrangement
Chapter 48 Arrangement
When Lu Chen returned to the 5th floor, Gao Yuan was assigning afternoon tasks to several newly joined survivors. He clearly explained who would continue cleaning the 4th-floor corridor, who would take inventory of the supplies brought up that morning, and who would assist Sister Sun in preparing dinner.
Seeing Lu Chen walking over from the fire escape, Gao Yuan closed his laptop and quickly went to meet him.
Lu Chen pulled him aside and began to explain the afternoon's tasks.
Time was of the essence, so he got straight to the point.
"Later, send someone to the rooftop and try to make a large red cloth so that the military can easily identify our location."
Gao Yuan's expression immediately turned serious, and he nodded emphatically: "Understood."
This is the most important thing this afternoon, without exception. It was clearly stated on the broadcast this morning that the liaison team will arrive in Xicheng District between 1 pm and 3 pm. Once they arrive, the way to find their building is entirely by looking at the red sign on the rooftop.
Lu Chen continued, "Besides that, I've now cleared out all the zombies in the entire building."
"We have enough manpower. Your task this afternoon is to collect all the supplies in our entire building as much as possible."
Gao Yuan paused for a moment, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. This morning, Lu Chen had specifically instructed him not to go to the 10th floor, as there were zombies there.
Now Lu Chen is telling him that all the zombies in the building have been cleared out, something must have happened in between.
But he wisely didn't ask; instead, he lowered his head again and diligently took notes in his notebook.
"More survivors will arrive this afternoon. Prioritize clearing out the first and second floors. Floors 3 through 15 can all be designated as residential areas."
Lu Chen thought for a moment, then added, "We need to clean the lobby on the first floor first. It's the biggest and most spacious place. We can have dinner there tonight, and I won't have to go between two rooms anymore."
Gao Yuan immediately nodded: "Understood. Clean the lobby on the first floor first, and make sure it's spotless before lunch this afternoon."
He turned a page in his notebook, looked up, and asked, "What should we do with those zombie corpses?"
During the previous cleanup, the zombie corpses were moved down floor by floor, eventually piling up in an empty room in a corner on the first floor. Now that the entire building is to be occupied, that room certainly can no longer be used as a morgue.
Previously, this would have been a troublesome matter. He dared not burn the corpses openly, since burning would produce thick smoke, which would easily attract zombies.
But that was before!
"Drag them directly to the square outside and pile them up together. Then find some gasoline to pour on them, and burn them all this afternoon."
"Understood." Gao Yuan finished writing the last word in his notebook, snapped it shut, and turned to make the arrangements.
He first called a few young men to find red cloth, then called a few more people to bring mops and buckets to clean the lobby on the first floor, and then asked someone to call Sister Sun over to discuss the dishes for dinner.
Several things were being carried out simultaneously and in an orderly manner.
Lu Chen glanced at his watch. It was exactly 1 p.m.
Normally, one should rest after lunch, since two buildings were cleared out in the morning, and both mental energy and superpowers were exhausted.
But he had no time to rest. It was 1 p.m., and only two hours remained until the military liaison team arrived in the western district at 3 p.m.
Within two hours, survivors from four more buildings will need to be rescued.
He immediately called Shen Qingci and five field staff over.
Shen Qingci was also busy all morning. Although the combat part was handled by the elite zombies, she needed to continuously use her superpowers to investigate the situation on each floor, and her superpower consumption was no less than Lu Chen's.
She had changed into a clean short-sleeved shirt, her hair was tied up, and she looked a little tired, but her eyes were still clear.
"Our goal is to rescue all the remaining survivors in the community within the next two hours," Lu Chen said directly.
The corridor fell silent for a moment; everyone understood the weight of those words.
The entire Xiangyang residential area has a total of 7 buildings, and now 4 buildings remain.
Even if they continue to split into two groups, each group will have to sweep two buildings within the next two hours, which is extremely difficult.
Shen Qingci frowned and was about to speak when Lu Chen smiled first.
"Don't overcomplicate things. Our mission is simply to rescue survivors, and only those who are willing to come, namely the survivors with red cloths hanging in their windows."
Everyone's expressions immediately relaxed. If all that was needed was to rescue those wearing red cloths, then the difficulty was completely different from the way they had cleared them out that morning.
In the morning, they had to determine whether there were people or zombies behind each door, clear out the zombies from every room, and spend time persuading the survivors who were still hesitant.
If we only rescue those wearing red cloths in the afternoon... then the target is clear, the location is obvious, and we don't need to persuade them, which will save at least half the time.
"We won't deal with the zombies locked in the room for now. We can deal with them when we have time. It won't make a difference if we kill them a few days later," Lu Chen said directly.
Lu Chen thought for a moment, then added to Shen Qingci, "If you find any strong zombies over there, you should let me know and bring them back."
Enhancing combat capabilities was a higher priority in his eyes than rescuing survivors.
After all, strong combat power is the foundation for survival in the apocalypse.
Shen Qingci nodded: "Understood."
Next, both sides lined up and prepared to depart.
The group quickly arrived at the entrance of Building 3.
Instead of acting immediately, the group stood at the doorway, looked around at the surrounding buildings, and began to record which windows had red cloths hanging on them.
Lu Chen was responsible for recording buildings 5 and 6. He scanned the buildings from left to right, floor by floor, and quickly wrote down a room number in his notebook every time he saw a red cloth.
Roar—roar—
A zombie's roar came from the direction of the community gate.
Lu Chen looked up and saw a dozen zombies crowding outside the iron gate, desperately trying to squeeze through the bars.
Their bodies slammed against the railing with dull thuds, making the iron bars shake and the chains on the gate clang. These zombies must have been attracted by his loud shouts at noon.
Now that he's seen a living person, he's gone berserk.
"As more and more survivors gather, their activity area will expand, which will easily attract zombies."
Lu Chen muttered to himself, "When I have time, I should clean up all the zombies on the nearby streets."
He gave the order to the elite zombie, who immediately led 10 zombies towards the gate.
Before the dozen or so zombies outside the iron fence could react to their comrade charging towards them, the elite zombie had already led the charge into the horde. One ordinary zombie was swatted away by the elite zombie's claw, and another was cut down by Tie Zhu's blade.
Ten fully armed zombies slaughtered a dozen or so unarmed ordinary zombies at the gate in a completely one-sided massacre.
Within minutes, all of the dozen or so zombies were dead, lying haphazardly on the road outside the gate, their dark red blood flowing down the cracks in the paving stones onto the sidewalk.
Just as Lu Chen was about to look away, his peripheral vision caught several more windows with a red cloth covering them.
Clearly, these survivors had all witnessed the scene of the elite zombie leading the slaughter of the zombies at the entrance.
If Lu Chen's shout at noon was just a verbal promise, then this swift and decisive battle is a real display of strength.
"As expected, in the apocalypse, if you want to convince people, you still have to flex your muscles." Lu Chen said, adding the newly appeared room numbers to his notebook one by one.
He did a quick calculation and found that there were as many as 30 survivors in buildings 5 and 6 who had voluntarily hung up red cloths. This did not include those who were still observing. The difference in efficiency was obvious.
Both sides finished recording. The elite zombie dragged the corpse at the gate to the roadside, closed the somewhat loose iron gate, and rejoined the group.
"Let's get started!"