Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

”What do you mean, ’blowing smoke’?” Secretary Chen could no longer sit still. ”Comrade Gu Chen, watch your wording.”

Gu Chen rolled his eyes internally. ”So when you all said you’d start transferring people to the Ark in half a month, that was all just hot air.”

Secretary Chen laughed, exasperated. ”There are so many steps, and they have to be completed one by one! Alright, let’s not talk about the Ark for now. Let’s discuss the immediate problem.”

”Comrade Xiao Gu, I’ve noticed your attitude has been less than positive lately, and your conduct has been a bit... casual.” ’And he’s always talking back to us old comrades!’

Comrade Xiao Gu snorted inwardly but mumbled aloud, ”Old Chen, it’s not like this is the first day you’ve known what I’m like.”

”Fine, let’s get down to business.” Gu Chen flipped over one of the photos and pointed at it. ”These sandstorms at the Gushang Base... they include mutated bugs?”

”Correct.”

”So, the situation on our end isn’t entirely clear yet. The few comrades who were moved to the lab only tested positive for a strange toxin. We’re not yet certain if it’s related to the mutated bugs.”

Lu Wei stared at the photo under his fingertips, frowning for a long moment.

In the photo, a swirling sandstorm made it nearly impossible to make out any human figures.

But in the foreground, a mass of green things was clearly visible, crawling all over a pile of white bones.

”Then we still need the lab to produce a detailed report as soon as possible.”

”The current situation is that Gushang Base and the several smaller surrounding bases can no longer hold out,” Secretary Chen said with a grave expression. ”Comrade Gu Chen, this mission is extremely serious. You absolutely cannot let your guard down.”

”See what preparations you need before you leave. It would be best to set out tonight. But at night... it’s just too dangerous.” Secretary Chen couldn’t help but sigh.

”Go to Gushang Base, search for survivors, and bring back as many as you can.”

”All superpower users in the base are at your command. If that’s not enough, recruit from civilian teams as quickly as possible.”

”If the sandstorms really do contain mutated bugs, how can we guard against them?” An older comrade across the conference table couldn’t help but ask. ”Won’t it be too unsafe for Gu Chen and the others to go out?”

”We’re trying to save people, not lose a group of our own in the process. I think the top priority should be to protect the lives of these young comrades.”

”Director Zhou is right.”

”Besides, has the zombie tide here really completely receded? Couldn’t it return in force? If Comrade Xiao Gu and his team leave and the tide comes back, how are we supposed to handle it? All these problems need to be thought through.”

Zhai Ruobai was speechless. ’Just split Comrade Xiao Gu in two and use both halves, why don’t you?’

Gu Chen, however, put on an ”I’ll listen to the leadership” expression and looked at Secretary Chen. ”Old Chen, what’s your call?”

Secretary Chen glared at him, half amused and half annoyed. ”Bring your girlfriend along. Just treat it like a vacation.”

Gu Chen couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

’Who the hell goes on vacation to a bug-infested disaster zone?!’

’My girlfriend doesn’t even like bugs.’

”As for our situation here, please rest assured. We are confident the zombie tide has begun to retreat. Its complete withdrawal is just a matter of time.”

”So, you see, what we’re lacking right now is time.”

”So, Secretary Chen, are you suggesting they take a plane through the strong winds and sandstorms??”

”That’s not appropriate!”

Seeing that the conference room was about to descend into another war of words, Gu Chen silently pushed back his chair, gathered his things, and bowed to the leadership. ”Then we’ll go and get ready!”

”We await the organization’s orders at all times!”

All the members of Team A shot to their feet in unison, roaring ”Yes, sir!” with full vigor. The group of old comrades rolled their eyes at the volume, shaking their heads with helpless exasperation as they watched them file out.

Someone couldn’t help but curse with a laugh, ”Little rascals.” Then he fixed his gaze on Old Chen. ”Old Chen, I’m telling you, if anything happens to Xiao Gu, how are you going to explain it to the Gu Family? The old man is eighty this year; he can’t take that kind of shock.”

”What could happen to him? He’s the craftiest one in the world. Relax, nothing will happen.”

”It’s a bug infestation! Don’t be ridiculous.”

”So what if it’s a bug infestation? You can all rest easy. I couldn’t say for sure before, but now you have nothing to worry about. You know why? Xiao Gu has someone watching his back now.”

...

Yang Yiling kicked over a metal trash can in the corner, his face dark as he remained silent for a long time.

”Ling, what do we do now? Where are we going for support?”

”Ling, are we just going to let it go after Gu Chen and Team A disrespected and accused you like that?”

”Let it go? What else do you want to do? We’re colleagues in the same department. Are you going to take a knife to him? If you touch a single hair on his head, do you think the Gu Family would let you off?”

”I didn’t say I was going to attack him. I’m just pissed off that they treat our Ling like that. The Tongjiang Tunnel incident was over a year ago. Why do they have to bring it up every single time? It’s so damn annoying.”

”Besides, it’s not like Ling did it on purpose.”

Yang Yiling’s face was grim. ”The higher-ups will definitely send him to the largest base, Gushang Base, for the search and rescue.”

One of them couldn’t help but sigh in relief. ”Then if we go to a smaller base, the journey will be shorter.”

”What’s with you, Lu Zhigang? You’re chickening out before we even go? You think we’re not as good as those guys from Team A?”

The young team member named Lu Zhigang, having been called out, met Yang Yiling’s aggressive eyes for a second before quickly lowering his head, not daring to look again.

He didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t help muttering to himself, ’But isn’t it true?’

’Team A is obviously way stronger than us. Not only do they have a wide variety of superpower users, but they also have more high-level ones.’

’Honestly, the gap between Group B and them isn’t small at all.’

”Ling, Ling, I heard that for this mission, we can recruit some people with high Superpower Ranks from civilian organizations to go with us. The pay for the mission is really high.”

”Members of superpower user teams should be willing to join us for that high reward.”

”Why don’t we get a head start on Team A, recruit a few more high-level superpower users, and head out on the mission together?”

”Like the highest-ranked person in our base, that Sixth-rank Gold Ability User.”

”Right, right, I heard they’re the captain of the Starfire Team. Rumor has it the members of their Starfire Team are all pretty strong. Why don’t we just recruit all of them?”

The gloom on Yang Yiling’s face lifted slightly. Without a second thought, he nodded. ”Do you know where they live?”

”Ling, you’re planning to go find them personally?” The team member looked surprised.

”What else?” Yang Yiling shot him a glance. ”You said it yourself, they’re the captain of the Starfire Team, a Sixth Rank Gold Element user.”

’If you don’t show enough respect, how can you expect them to do you a favor?’

”Alright then, let’s go invite them now.”

”Find out which cubicle they’re living in right now.” Yang Yiling took a deep breath.

He refused to believe it. So what? Did they really think that without Gu Chen, he, Yang Yiling, couldn’t accomplish anything significant?

Truth be told, his abilities weren’t actually any worse than Gu Chen’s. It was just that the opportunities he got from the higher-ups were clearly few and far between compared to what Gu Chen received.

’If they don’t give me a chance to prove myself, how can I ever demonstrate my capabilities?’

”Ling, I found out.” A team member hurried over to his side and whispered, ”The rest area of the lab on the second basement level.”