The Self-Aid Association began its smooth reclamation of cities, with zombies being thrown into the Yangtze River by the truckload. The corpses flowed downstream and were discovered by troops stationed by Yiling at the Three Gorges. They then reported it upwards, and upon receiving the news, Chen Yide could only shake his head and say, "Those fellows in Luzhou are causing trouble. However, once Chongqing is reclaimed, everything will be easier. I don't believe they'll dare to disobey!"
Chongqing is located downstream of Luzhou, and it only takes half a day to travel from Chongqing to Luzhou. At this time, Chongqing was being reclaimed by the army, and five thousand soldiers had already begun attacking the zombies in the city. General Chen believed that Chongqing would be reclaimed in a short period, and then it could radiate to several surrounding provinces, deterring those with ambitions from emerging.
A young man beside General Chen asked in confusion, "Does Luzhou really need so much attention? It's not a particularly large city, nor is it a major transportation hub. Even if the people there are ambitious, it shouldn't be such a cause for concern, right?"
The young man wore a military uniform but lacked the aura of a soldier, suggesting he had only recently joined the army.
General Chen smiled, found a few photos from his document bag, and handed them to the young man. "Ke Yiming, take a look at these photos, and you'll understand. It's not that I don't take them seriously, but they have the capital for us to do so."
Ke Yiming quickly refused, "No, no, I'm just your bodyguard. How can I look at these top-secret documents?"
General Chen explained, "Although you are my bodyguard, you are not my direct subordinate. Under normal circumstances, you shouldn't see these photos. But this is a special situation. The people in these photos are likely to be your future enemies. What will you do if you don't know them?"
Upon hearing this, Ke Yiming no longer refused. Since there might be enemies among them, he couldn't decline any further. Understanding the enemy's characteristics was crucial for victory in battle, wasn't it? Ke Yiming then took the photos and began to examine them. The first was a photo of a woman. The subsequent photos showed a scene of giant waves washing over zombies, captured by satellites from the sky. They weren't particularly clear, but they indicated what had happened.
In fact, the scenes of Shen Feng battling zombies had been under satellite surveillance for the latter half of the engagement. The clouds had just cleared at the time, allowing high-altitude satellites to capture the battle. Therefore, headquarters had already grasped Shen Feng's capabilities.
"A water-element ability user, and likely at the second tier, otherwise, they couldn't control such a large volume of water. Truly troublesome," Ke Yiming commented on Yu Renshu in the photo. Since this woman was an ability user, she was not simple. However, after using this move, she seemed exhausted, posing little threat.
Next, Ke Yiming picked up the next photo and found a person in military uniform, but it was noted that this person had retired. The photos below also described abilities. This person drove a car into the zombie horde, then detonated the vehicle, while he himself hid in an iron ball, surviving unharmed.
"This ability user can probably control steel. The threat is manageable, but they shouldn't be able to defeat me," Ke Yiming continued. In his opinion, Guo Pinming's ability was such that he only needed to maintain distance and then kite him to death, without needing to pay too much attention.
The next photo was of Shen Feng, taken when he was in college. He looked very young and somewhat sunny, though he appeared unhappy in the photo. "So young," Ke Yiming couldn't help but frown.
Ke Yiming had thought that being so young, he was already among the cream of the younger generation. He hadn't expected there to be ability users even younger than himself, which made him quite displeased.
General Chen smiled and said, "This young man is called Shen Feng. He should be under twenty this year, meaning he's only nineteen, just two years younger than you."
Ke Yiming picked up the next photo and discovered it recorded Shen Feng killing a zombie king. Around Shen Feng, countless zombies were blown away, while he and the zombie king were in the center. The outcome was simple: Shen Feng had killed the zombie king.
"Probably a wind-element ability user. Although rare, headquarters has encountered them before. It seems he's only a second-tier ability user, so I can still win," Ke Yiming made this assessment. Although wind-element ability users were rare, Ke Yiming had seen them before and thus had combat experience.
General Chen continued, "Normally, out of ten thousand people who survive after being rained on, only about one can gain abilities, and they are even fewer. But Shen Feng can reach the second tier, which shows how good his talent is. It seems your Ability User Association only has about twenty people, right?"
When Ke Yiming heard this question, he nodded in agreement. "Since the zombie outbreak, we ability users have been discovered and trained by the country. However, there are only twenty-three of us. Most have gone to the battlefield, while a few, like me, have been assigned as bodyguards."
"You wouldn't be unwilling to be an old man's bodyguard, would you?" General Chen asked with a smile.
Ke Yiming quickly shook his head. "How could I be? You are guarding such an important place as the Three Gorges, ensuring the power supply for several downstream provinces. How could I possibly be unwilling? On the contrary, once the eastern region is reclaimed, the next step will be to reclaim the west, and I will definitely be the vanguard. I'll be too happy to complain!"
General Chen suddenly sighed. He stood by the riverbank, watching the flowing water, his mood somewhat somber. "If it were just zombies, the east could be reclaimed in a few years. I'm afraid there are other things."
"What things?" Ke Yiming quickly asked.
"Nothing, nothing. You don't need to know yet," General Chen waved his hand.
Ke Yiming immediately realized that it wasn't "nothing," but rather that his clearance was insufficient, and he wasn't qualified to know such things. He became curious. Could it be that besides zombies, there were other dangers in the world?
Ke Yiming pondered carefully but couldn't figure it out, as he had too little information. Thus, he took out a pack of cigarettes, offered one to General Chen, and lit another for himself. Without using a lighter, he extended a finger, and a flame immediately appeared. After lighting their cigarettes, they continued to watch the river, chatting intermittently. In any case, the zombies around the Three Gorges had all been cleared, so there was no danger, and everyone didn't need to be busy.
...
It took five days for the Self-Aid Association to finally reclaim most of the urban areas of Luzhou. During this time, the radio had not been turned on, and even the batteries had been removed. The military, having learned of Shen Feng's attitude, decided not to contact him, giving Shen Feng some peace. The members of the Self-Aid Association were extremely tired every day, especially those in the combat and logistics teams, who were the most hardworking among everyone.
Shen Feng killed all the mutated zombies he could find in Luzhou, resulting in only over thirty. These mutated zombies were those who had escaped during the decisive battle a few days prior. Unfortunately, they were too slow. Shen Feng found these zombies and killed them one by one with a single sword strike, which was just enough to produce more evolution potions and cultivate more evolved individuals.
The zombies had lost their ability to resist due to dehydration. The combat team only needed to swiftly kill these zombies. However, the combat team had to kill one hundred thousand zombies every day, meaning each person had to swing their sword at least a hundred times to achieve this. Thus, after a full day of fighting, the members of the combat team could barely lift their arms.
Such hardship was worthwhile because there were no large-scale zombie infestations in Luzhou anymore. There were still scattered zombies outside the city, but within the city, all zombies had been cleared, except for the occasional mutated rats, there were basically no other animals to be seen.
In the evening, Shen Feng held a meeting as usual, saying a few words before dispersing the assembly. The most important task at hand was to establish the City Lord's Mansion. Shen Feng naturally took on the position of City Lord, but before that, he made a show of politeness.
"If anyone feels they are capable and believe their talent surpasses mine, please feel free to nominate yourselves. We will vote democratically. Whoever gains support will become the City Lord," Shen Feng said with a serious expression.
Upon hearing Shen Feng say this, everyone quickly waved their hands, stating their inadequacy and inability to take on the role. Even those who were capable claimed to be insufficient, as becoming City Lord wasn't truly about who had talent, but who had the most supporters. As the leader of the Self-Aid Association, Shen Feng was naturally the best candidate!
At this point, anyone who took him seriously and stepped forward to nominate themselves would undoubtedly be escorted out by Shen Feng and his men.
Afterward, Shen Feng reluctantly became the City Lord of Jiangyang and announced the appointments of various officials for the City Lord's Mansion. Zhou Xiaoxiao was in charge of urban planning, including the construction of city walls. Yang Ye was responsible for organizing the restoration of production, including recruiting personnel for factories. As for Tu Xuhuai, he became the official in charge of personnel transfers. Then, Shen Feng announced that Professor Chu Yangtian would become his advisor. No one had any objections, likely believing the old man had rich experience.
As for the subsequent handling of the Self-Aid Association, everyone was still waiting. Shen Feng had not yet announced how the members of the Self-Aid Association would be settled, as he hadn't thought it through. It was originally a casually formed guild, but it had become so massive that it couldn't be disbanded so easily. At the very least, consideration needed to be given to what everyone should do in the future.
After the meeting, Shen Feng returned to his residence and began browsing the internet. The place where Shen Feng was currently residing was a luxurious villa. Only Shen Feng, Chang Jianyi, and Chang Haojie lived there. Chang Haojie, having nothing to do all day, liked to bring some children home to watch television. Although there was no signal, these children found a shop selling pirated discs, and after finding good TV shows or animations, they would bring them home to watch.
Chang Jianyi worried about her brother watching unhealthy discs, so she often searched for them. If any such discs were found, she would break her brother's intentions with her bare hands.
At this moment, Shen Feng was online, but the only websites he could access were important official ones. It was a time of crisis, and the internet, such a crucial means of dissemination, was completely controlled. Therefore, even if Shen Feng wanted to play a few games, he couldn't, so he resorted to browsing the news.
Currently, zombies had broken out globally, and the official websites were reporting on the disaster caused by the zombies. Some countries with small territories had already been wiped out. Even if there were survivors, they couldn't make any sound. And there were quite a few such countries. It could be said that apart from some major powers, small countries were basically facing disaster.
Countries in East Asia were doing relatively well, with no cases of national annihilation. After all, it was the "monster room" of East Asia, and their resistance to disasters was far stronger than in other regions. It could be said that the Northern Hemisphere could still fight zombies and maintain basic organizational capabilities, but the Southern Hemisphere was essentially finished!
As Shen Feng was browsing the news, he suddenly received an email. The email read: "Mr. Shen Feng, if you are interested in underground websites, you can enter the following URL. This site allows for the trading of supplies and the exchange of intelligence. It was created specifically for civilian organizations. With the advent of the apocalypse, everyone should help each other."
Shen Feng was immediately surprised. He had only been online for a short while, and someone had already contacted him online. Could personal information leaks be so severe?
Out of curiosity, Shen Feng clicked on the URL below. After entering, he began to register. After backend verification, Shen Feng obtained an account. Upon entering this so-called underground website, he was astonished. This website seemed far from simple. Here, he could see a great deal of news that was not available on the official website.
"Introduction to the types and levels of zombies, and how to deal with them?"
"How should humans evolve?"
"How many ability users are there? I saw two ability users today!"
"Mutated wild boars appeared here, and I killed them with traps and a gun."
"Dragons have appeared in the ocean. I have pictures here."
On the information exchange page, there were countless posts. Here, one could see introductions to zombies and mutated beasts. Moreover, looking at the locations of these people, they came from all corners of the globe. However, it could be confirmed that this was a Chinese website, and it was not officially managed, as many dark comments could also be seen here.
Out of curiosity, Shen Feng casually posted a thread. The title was simple: "Please call me a dragon slayer. I killed a mutated python over fifty meters long."
Shen Feng also attached two pictures to the post: one was a picture of the giant python he had killed, and another was a picture of roasted snake meat. After all, pictures speak louder than words. To enhance credibility, Shen Feng also changed his account name to "Dragon Slayer Warrior" and his avatar was also a python.
Shortly after the post was published, numerous comments appeared: "The楼主 (OP) is amazing! To be able to kill such a large mutated beast, you must be an ability user!"
"Not necessarily an ability user, perhaps just a stronger evolved individual. The python's eyes have knife wounds."
"My focus is different from yours. I just want to know, is python meat delicious?"
"I care about this too. Is python meat delicious? Is there any left in stock?"