The streets of Luzhou were littered with zombies lying on the ground, all of them too severely dehydrated to stand. Rats, meanwhile, had appeared on the streets with impunity. These rats, which usually fed on garbage in the city, found themselves unable to find food after human activity ceased. They were forced to forage everywhere, and the fallen zombies became their prey.
The rats cautiously bit the zombies a couple of times but found them still motionless, seemingly different from humans a month ago. They continued to gnaw on the zombies, and many of the rats that ate the zombies' flesh and blood began to grow larger. The zombies, however, lacked the strength to even drive away the rats, and could only let them feast.
Under normal circumstances, rats would not dare to bite humans. But when starving, things were different. Starving rats, unable to find food, began to prey on the immobile zombies in the streets, eventually becoming so full-bellied that they were clearly living a good life.
However, at this moment, human voices could be heard from the distant streets, shouting, "Brothers, keep up! The zombies here are all dehydrated too!"
Upon hearing the human voices, the rats instantly hid in the sewers, though their bodies had grown significantly larger, making it somewhat difficult for them to burrow.
Yang Chang, leading more than a hundred people, rushed into the street and saw the zombies lying on the ground everywhere. He quickly said, "Brothers, quickly deal with these zombies. Remember, no survivors! Also, the corpses will be cleared by the logistics team, so we don't need to move them."
As he spoke, Yang Chang swiftly decapitated a dying zombie. The other team members also took action, all wielding cold weapons. However, dealing with the zombies had become much simpler, as these zombies had largely lost their ability to move.
Guo Pinming and Cao Fuelie also led their teams to kill zombies. For now, all they needed to do was kill the zombies, and that was enough. Shen Feng, on the other hand, ventured deep into the city to search for traces of mutated zombies. He worried that too many of his people might scare away these mutated zombies, as they already possessed basic intelligence. Therefore, Shen Feng planned to hunt the mutated zombies alone, as he could already move through the city as if no one was there.
Yu Renshu also wanted to hunt mutated zombies, stating, "The Self-Help Association has wasted over ninety evolution potions on me, and I cannot stand idly by. Therefore, I want to contribute my own strength to the Self-Help Association."
Upon hearing this explanation, Chang Jianyi sneered inwardly, thinking, "I know exactly what you're thinking. Aren't you just trying to get close to Shen Feng? You wish!"
Therefore, Chang Jianyi said with a serious expression, "Doctor, I understand your desire to contribute, but you have just recovered from a serious illness and cannot engage in strenuous activity. Therefore, you should lead your people to transport the zombie corpses. This is also a very important task."
Yu Renshu had no choice but to follow orders and lead her people to transport the corpses. The logistics and transportation teams cooperated to transport the corpses from the city to the Yangtze River, and then threw them into the river. The rolling river water would carry away the zombie corpses. This was done to prevent the outbreak of plague, as a shortage of medicine would be a troublesome issue when dealing with epidemics. To avoid casualties from the plague, it was better to dispose of the corpses.
Meanwhile, Chang Jianyi was organizing everyone to move. The base in Hezhou was no longer needed. Weren't the reinforced concrete houses in the city more comfortable to live in? Wasn't a Simmons mattress more comfortable than a wooden bed? Especially since the city's electrical circuits were already well-developed, with bright lights, which was much better than narrow and dark sheds.
The urban areas near the dam were the first to be occupied. After a simple cleanup, people could move in. The dam had also begun to supply electricity to the city. With electricity, human civilization could continue to develop, and the speed of information transmission, as well as other aspects, could achieve a qualitative leap.
After moving into the city, the survivors all believed that the previous disaster had ended, as they were living in the city again and would no longer face the threat of zombies. Once all the zombies were cleared, they would continue to rebuild a beautiful world.
However, Shen Feng, who was roaming the city, discovered something amiss. He noticed that plump rats were often seen in the city. If the rats were just generally fat, it would be fine, but when a rat could grow to forty or fifty centimeters long, something was wrong. It wasn't a guinea pig, so why such a large size?
Thus, Shen Feng drew his Dragon Slaying Sword and killed a rat with one strike. He found that the rat still had little resistance and was easily killed.
"Are the mutated rats this weak? Should I try to breed them?" Shen Feng muttered to himself.
Ordinary rats could not possibly grow that large, so Shen Feng believed he had killed a mutated rat. But this was strange, were mutated rats this weak?
Shen Feng's idea was simple: since the rats were so weak and could grow as large as rabbits, why not breed them for meat? He just didn't know if such an idea would be approved, as eating rats was still too fantastical. What if they contracted a disease?
While Shen Feng was lost in thought, he quickly turned a corner and entered the next street, where he witnessed a shocking scene. Hundreds of rats were gnawing on zombies on this street, and these rats were also very plump. Shen Feng rushed to the street entrance, and the mutated rats immediately turned to look at him, their beady eyes constantly darting around as if observing Shen Feng's movements.
"Hey, a bunch of beasts!" Shen Feng shouted. Instantly, the fear etched in the rats' genes surfaced, and they quickly scattered. In just one minute, the rats on the street disappeared.
Shen Feng was very pleased with his performance, muttering to himself, "Back then, even Zhang Fei's roar at Changban Slope was not as imposing as mine, right?"
What was the threat of hundreds of mutated rats? Weren't they all scared away by his roar? Shen Feng felt quite good about himself. However, he then considered that a hundred mutated rats posed no threat, but what about a thousand? Or ten thousand? Mutated rats were tricky to deal with. They usually hid in dark places like sewers and garbage dumps. And when their numbers increased, the threat to humans also grew!
"It seems that mutated rats also need to be dealt with appropriately!" Shen Feng said with a preparedness mindset.
Originally, Shen Feng thought that zombies were the greatest enemies, as their numbers and threat were the most troublesome. But besides zombies, animals also seemed to mutate, not by losing intelligence like zombies, but by becoming physically stronger. If all animals underwent similar mutations, then after dealing with the zombies, other animals would also be dangerous existences. If rats could grow so large, wouldn't tigers be even more dangerous?
Fortunately, there were no zoos in Luzhou, so Shen Feng didn't have to worry about tigers escaping from a zoo. Otherwise, a large tiger preying on the city would be very dangerous. But then again, with hundreds of thousands of zombies roaming the city, even a tiger would have been eaten, and wouldn't have survived until now.
The zombies occupying the city seemed to have both pros and cons. The disadvantage was that these zombies had to be killed to reclaim the city. The advantage was that with the presence of zombies, the danger posed by other mutated animals was reduced. If wild animals also began to attack humans, it would be a disaster.
Shen Feng spent half a day surveying the main urban areas of Luzhou and confirmed that there were no longer any dangerous existences within the city. If there were still any corpse kings, it would be terrible. However, at this time in Luzhou, besides zombies, the only threat to humans was mutated rats. These creatures were as large as stray cats and were quite numerous, requiring timely clearance.
Hu Lai, following Chang Jianyi's orders, contacted the hundred people guarding the granary. Li Xiang was nervously guarding the granary, always worried about a zombie attack. However, upon hearing that Shen Feng was reclaiming Luzhou and that there were no longer any combat-effective zombies in the city, he was relieved. It seemed his task of guarding the granary was over.
Hu Lai also brought an order to prepare to transport all the grain from the granary. This grain would be stored in a safe place and guarded by specialized personnel. This grain was enough to sustain many people in Luzhou for two years and absolutely could not be lost.
Everyone understood that if they couldn't quickly organize grain production in the next few years, the existing grain would eventually be consumed. Therefore, agricultural production was imminent. Unfortunately, it was already late autumn, and besides planting some beans, most other crops could not be planted.
Li Xiang began to organize his subordinates to transport the grain and asked Hu Lai, "What are our future arrangements? Have the leaders decided?"
Hu Lai quickly replied, "The leaders have decided to establish a City Lord's Mansion to uniformly manage Luzhou's affairs. We will establish new departments in the future, and Luzhou will also be renamed Jiangyang. City walls will also be built. It seems we will continue to live on."
"Alas, we can only do as the leader says," Li Xiang said softly.
Before, Li Xiang had been fantasizing about the army coming to rescue him, which would restore life to its previous state. But now it seemed that as long as the zombies were not eliminated, his life could not return to the past. Moreover, even if all the zombies were killed, labor was extremely scarce, and it was unknown how many years it would take to recover the population.
Luo Qing stayed near the radio, patiently recording the messages from the radio. They were all about the army annihilating so many zombies in such and such a place and achieving great victories. Luo Qing had heard such things too many times. Originally, Luo Qing thought that the progress of reclamation was very fast, but after she learned about the population in the east, she completely understood that killing hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of zombies every day was insignificant.
At this moment, Luo Qing suddenly noticed that headquarters seemed to have sent a communication, so she quickly connected and said, "This is the Self-Help Association's base. Is there anything?"
"We have observed that your base is undertaking large-scale combat operations. We are inquiring about the specific situation and request that you report your progress at any time," the headquarters personnel said.
Luo Qing did not expect headquarters to want to connect to their combat situation and did not know how to respond. So, she directly said, "The president and vice-president are not here, so I cannot answer. Please contact us again later."
Upon hearing Luo Qing's words, the headquarters personnel remained silent for a moment and then continued, "Combat operations for reclaiming cities require approval from headquarters. The Self-Help Association's unauthorized reclamation of cities has violated relevant regulations. Please have your president or vice-president come to respond, otherwise..."
"What did you say? The signal here is bad, I can't hear you. Goodbye!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Luo Qing quickly interrupted the other party and hung up the phone.
Afterward, Luo Qing said to the people around her, "Unplug the power supply and remove the batteries. No one is allowed to answer the phone. I'm going to find the vice-president to explain the situation now."
Afterward, Luo Qing, panting, found Chang Jianyi, who was directing the relocation in the city, and quickly explained the call from headquarters, asking worriedly, "Vice-president, have we violated military regulations? What should we do now?"
Upon hearing Luo Qing's report, Chang Jianyi smiled and said, "You did a good job. Pretend you know nothing. We will contact them after Luzhou is reclaimed."
Luo Qing asked worriedly, "But is this really okay? It's just writing an application, and headquarters shouldn't refuse it, right? By acting on our own, aren't we making headquarters unhappy?"
Chang Jianyi said confidently, "If we wrote an application, that would be wrong. We are not military personnel, so why should they agree? We are reclaiming our homeland, and they have no reason to stop us. Once the city is reclaimed, it will be a fait accompli, and we won't have to obey their orders anymore."
Luo Qing left with doubt. Although she still had many questions in her heart, at this moment, she could only follow the vice-president's instructions.