Chapter 671: Yin Shan Mountain Range!
Chapter 671: Yin Shan Mountain Range!
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
After eradicating the troops of Outer Mongolia, Yue Zhong had gained a huge amount of resources. He made use of them to launch an assault in the direction of Hu He City.
The big-head Mutant zombie did not continue to harass Yue Zhong, instead, it summoned the zombies from Hu He City and made their way further northeast.
After collecting the 3 million zombies from Hu He City, the entire horde swelled to a size of over 4 million again.
Yue Zhong watched the horde advance towards the northeast, and although he was extremely worried in his heart, there was nothing he could do to impede them.
Yue Zhong had somewhat guessed that the commander behind this horde wanted to amass as many zombies as it could, before seeking him again. If the numbers were to exceed 10 million, then it would truly be a nightmare for humanity. This was what Yue Zhong was most afraid of.
There were over ten billion zombies in China, if they were to gather, just one billion of them could overrun Yue Zhong and his bases.
The zombies continued north, allowing Yue Zhong to swiftly recover the cities, and rescue the emaciated survivors from various corners.
Many survivors were assigned to work in the different factories.
As the numbers of survivors swelled, other than the military factories, the rest of the steel, coal and clothing factories began to operate again.
The entire Central Plains soon regained some semblance of society, as well as prosperity.
The Yin Shan Mountain Range seemed endless, and after the apocalypse, countless mutant plants had overrun the entire place, while Mutant Beasts had herded together. It was not a place that humans could survive in.
One particular bespectacled male, who was haggard and only dressed in a simple turf-woven fabric, his skin tanned, was currently searching for food carefully on the ground. His name was Lei Yun.
He was a botanical expert before the apocalypse, and when the apocalypse happened, he had followed a number of survivors as they fled into the mountain range.
At the start, the city was filled with zombies and Mutant Beasts. It was easier to survive in the Yin Shan Mountain Range then.
However, the mountain range started to evolve as well, with countless plants transforming into man-eating plants. What was once edible disappeared, and animals also started to mutate and hunt the humans. What was the scariest was that some people gathered together to lord over the rest. The lives of the ordinary people became extremely tough. Lei Yun was one of the survivors that escaped from the cruel factions within the mountain range.
His eyes suddenly brightened, as he crawled on the floor and dug the ground with his callus-filled hands, obtaining a stalk of edible wild grass.
After digging out that wild grass, Lei Yun continued to look around for food.
Although there was plenty of vegetation that can be seen on the Yin Shan Mountain Range, most of them were inedible. Lei Yun saw some people bursting apart, with vines growing out from within. On top of that, there were some who even spat out blood, before turning into corpses.
Lei Yun was also relying on his prior knowledge of botany to find some wild grass that could be eaten. As to those he didn’t recognize, he didn’t dare consume.
As he bent down, there was the sound of rustling in the tall grass nearby. He went rigid, only to discover 5 militants dressed in grey clothes, with blades and shields on their backs appearing in front of him.
"There’s somebody! Not bad! Looks like our group is pretty lucky!" One of the men had scars on his face and as he laughed, his expression looked savage.
Lei Yun’s face flashed with despair, and he threw the wild grass in his hand, turning around to run.
In the Yin Shan Mountain Range, the humans were scarier than Mutant Beasts. They would capture ordinary people to be slaves after they were utilized, they would consume these slaves like wild beasts.
There were Mutant Beasts and wild vegetables that were not existences normal humans could deal with, at the same time, edible vegetation was rare. In comparison, humans were the weakest link, and also a form of food.
The man with scars was instantly enraged and he charged right after Lei Yun, "Damn it, you dare run after seeing this senior, are you tired of living!!"
Lei Yun had starved constantly, and his body was malnourished. There was no way he could handle the man with scars. In just a few steps, he was grabbed by the man, who pushed him down onto the ground.
Lei Yun immediately yelped in terror, "Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I know which wild vegetation can be eaten, please spare my life!! I can help you look for food!"
The leader, who was a burly man with deep-set eyes, spoke solemnly, "Tiger, don’t use too much force. If you kill him accidentally, we won’t even get our merit points."
Tiger immediately let Lei Yun go, but not before staring at him, "Got it! Kid, don’t run! We don’t even want your wild vegetables! If you dare run again, even if this senior was to be reprimanded by the higher-ups, I will still hack you!"
The man with deep-set eyes asked Lei Yun coldly, "Kid, what’s your name?"
Lei Yun trembled a little as he looked at them and replied carefully, "I’m called Lei Yun, I was a botanist before the Apocalypse. I can recognize many Mutant Plants, and find at least 5 types of edible plants."
Xu Wei pulled out a chocolate bar from his clothes and handed it to Lei Yun, "I’m Xu Wei, the captain of the Scum Battalion, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Company, 3rd Platoon, 1st Squad. We’re here on orders to look for survivors in the mountain range. Lei Yun, do you know if there’re any other survivors out here?"
Tiger’s face turned black, "Captain! Can we not report our full names? The title of the Scum Battalion is too humiliating."
The rest of the armed men chuckled bitterly.
Xu Wei’s face was indifferent, "It’s a fact. Those who are in the Scum Battalion, which of us are not scum? If you want to get rid of such a label, other than working hard to gain merit, there’s no other way."
Lei Yun received the chocolate bar with care, his eyes turning moist. These chocolate bars were something he would not even eat before the apocalypse. Now, any single one could get him a night with a woman.
Lei Yun suppressed the urge to swallow the entire thing together with the wrapping, as he assessed the 5 men in front of him, "I know the situation of a faction that’s about a 100 li from here."
Lei Yun pointed to a small hill, saying, "Atop that hill, there’s a faction calling themselves the Tiger Head Clan. There’s a leader, 5 fighters, and 13 women. The leader is called Nangong Tian Feng, and his weapon is a thick blade. The 5 fighters all use wooden bats."
Inside the Yin Shan Mountain Range, it was already something for these small factions to possess a melee weapon. After all, they had mostly brought along worthless currency at the time of their escape.
Hearing this, one of the soldiers became excited, "Captain! 19 survivors, this time we can gain 95 merit points. Adding to our past efforts, if we save a few more, we can finally gain freedom from the Scum Battalion!! Let’s go all out!!"
Searching for survivors in the mountain range was a dangerous job. The task was delegated to these scums. For every survivor found, the party would earn 5 merit points, equivalent to killing 5 zombies. Ordinary scums would need 40 merit points to regain their freedom as citizens. Thus, these soldiers were extremely excited.
Yue Zhong wasn’t worried that these soldiers would run. After all, in the Yin Shan Mountain Range, danger was everywhere, if they tried to flee, with their ordinary strength, they would just become meals for the Mutant Beasts or nutrients for the Mutant Plants.
Although the training was tough for the Scum Battalion, they still suffered casualties on missions like this. In certain situations, they even had to become cannon fodder. Those who went against orders would be directly executed. They could eat their fill, and from time to time, there was meat. At the same time, when cleaning up zombies in cities, they would scavenge for resources and get to keep some for themselves. Compared to the wild, it was a lot better than in the Scum Battalion.
At the same time, if any of those who fled from the Scum Battalion were caught, they were instantly executed or sent to become research subjects. These people were thus afraid of Yue Zhong.
Xu Wei frowned and asked, "Are there any Enhancers up there?"
Lei Yun eyed the weapons on their backs with envy, "No! Nangong Tian Feng used to be some small-time hoodlum and learned some martial arts. He shouldn’t be an issue for you guys."
A ferocious glint appeared in Xu Wei’s eyes, "Good!! Brothers! Let’s go!"
The Tiger Head Clan turned out to be some mountain cave, and there was only one man who was wielding a wooden bat, patrolling outside with obvious boredom, from time to time, looking into the cave.
Inside the cave, there were the sounds of moaning.
"Do it!" Xu Wei came up carefully and shot towards the man with the wooden bat.
When the man saw Xu Wei with his huge blade, he immediately turned pale and kneeled, "Spare me, Lord!! Spare me, Lord!! I surrender!!"
"That easy?" The rest of the men were speechless upon seeing this scene.