Apocalyptic Reincarnation: Start with a 30-million Bonus

Chapter 538: Chapter 492: Evacuation to the Water Tower (Combined)_2

The primary purpose of constructing this research institute was to unravel the secrets of the zombie’s body and discover a solution to the zombie problem.

Even if they couldn’t completely solve the zombie issue, the secondary goal was to identify some weaknesses of the zombies through research to develop better coping methods for future encounters.

Previously, Bai Jie and Xiao Lan dissected zombie corpses and studied their composition, eventually discovering an important characteristic: the bodies of zombies are highly flammable with a very low ignition point, only two-thirds that of diesel.

This discovery proved crucial, so later during a Zombie Tide, Li Yu resorted to using gasoline which proved to be quite effective.

However, it was too costly and excessively depleted resources.

Moreover, the duration was not long, as once ignited, zombies didn’t burn en masse like dry firewood.

Thus, this method had its pros and cons and was only suited for the most urgent situations.

This time, the diesel found by Old Xie in the basement was a great help; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to cope with such an intense Zombie Tide, nor could they have sustained their efforts for so long.

At 10:30 AM, though it was daytime, the sky was still dark, and the sunlight couldn’t penetrate the thick clouds. Though better than at night, it was still not very clear.

”Captain, we only have one barrel of diesel left, the rest is all used up,” Dapao said to Third Uncle.

Third Uncle frowned slightly; he knew that the vehicles they drove in had gasoline, but he decided not to use it yet; they could still hold out by retreating to the Water Tower.

If they used up the gasoline in the vehicles, what would they do when the Zombie Tide receded? Walk back?

This area was already desolate, and with the apocalypse having lasted so long, much of the gasoline in the vehicles had been taken by other Survivors, so finding gasoline was really down to luck.

Looking at what seemed like an unending wave of zombies, Third Uncle sighed. Everyone had been without rest since 6 PM the previous day until now at 10:30 AM.

Nearly 17 hours of high-intensity activity and constant mental strain had exhausted everyone, both physically and mentally.

Their physical strength had reached a critical point.

So, Third Uncle said, ”Let everyone pack up and retreat to the Water Tower. Also, pour half of the last barrel of diesel down to buy us some time for the evacuation, and try to transport the rest to the Water Tower.”

Dapao nodded and then left.

”What? We’re retreating to the Water Tower?” Li Gang asked from the rear door.

Dapao unilaterally poured the diesel over the fence and replied without turning, ”Yes, so we’re pouring the diesel here to buy time for your evacuation. Your position is the furthest from the Water Tower, hurry and pack up first.”

Understanding the urgency and indeed feeling fatigued, Li Gang didn’t question further and quickly instructed his brothers to pack and prepare to move to the Water Tower.

The Water Tower, with a base diameter of just 10 meters and a top platform of less than 15 meters, covered an area of less than 150 square meters—barely enough to accommodate over forty people, giving an average space of only three square meters per person.

This didn’t even take into account the space occupied by food, bedding, tents, firearms, medicines, etc.

At the main gate.

Li Tie had already moved all the things to be taken up, and now he was at the top wall of the gate.

He went to his father, and with some concern, he said, ”Dad, although we did a general search in the building below just now, when I was fighting the enemies last night, I saw a few of them ran away. I didn’t have time to pursue them. Should we search again before we go up to the Water Tower?”

After thinking, Li Hongqian said, ”No need, if we leave the fence, they surely won’t survive either. Let’s evacuate quickly.”

Then he signaled Old Lu and others to evacuate; by this time, Li Gang and others had already gone up.

Climbing the thirty-meter-high Water Tower was risky without any safety measures and carrying firearms and ammunition, especially against the blowing wind and rain.

However, this was the situation now; if they fled here, there were no other options.

Li Gang, Yang Tianlong, and others were among the first group to reach the Water Tower, followed by Old Lu and his group.

Then it was Old Zhou and his group.

Once everyone was up, and looking back at the back door where they had first evacuated, zombies had already started climbing in.

At the front door, Third Uncle and Old Qin tossed two Hand Grenades into the mass of zombies to slow their entry.

After throwing, they ran at full speed.

Each holding a gun, they ran looking back occasionally, perhaps due to the grenades, zombies at the front door hadn’t climbed in yet.

But at the back door, zombies had already climbed in and were less than 50 meters from them.

By this time, Third Uncle and Old Qin had successfully reached the base of the Water Tower, looking up at the thirty-meter-high tower; the lowest part was an iron ladder, allowing passages one at a time only.