Chapter 62: The Safe Zone

The bus drove into a more open area, and from a distance, an off-road vehicle approached and stopped in front of them.

He Ze hit the brakes, and a head poked out of the vehicle, revealing a young face. “Hey, congratulations on surviving. Follow me.”

He Ze turned to look at Fu Jingmo, and seeing that he had no objections, he continued driving and followed the vehicle.

The helicopter above had already departed, and the vehicle ahead was moving slowly. Soon, they left the highway and drove onto a dirt road.

Seeing that everything seemed fine, Fu Jingmo returned to the front row of seats.

Shen Rangchen was taking care of Lin Mu obediently. He leaned sideways, letting Lin Mu’s shaking body lean on his shoulder, with one arm wrapped around his side.

A faint scent of grass and wood lingered around Shen Rangchen’s nose. It smelled so good—the scent from Lin Mu’s body was incredibly soothing.

It wasn’t the kind of scent from perfume, but rather a naturally comforting aroma.

Shen Rangchen thought to himself that being with Lin Mu might not be so bad—better than being alone.

Fu Jingmo stood a step away, his cold eyes fixed on the way Shen Rangchen’s lingering gaze fell on Lin Mu. His expression darkened with each passing second.

“I’ll take over.”

He coldly spat out these two words. Shen Rangchen glanced up at him, then stood up and made way.

Why does he look like he’s about to bite my head off? I didn’t even do anything. Shen Rangchen moved to the front passenger seat, pulling out a few talisman papers from his pocket and counting them. Sigh, half of them were gone.

And his Lucy and Gina were gone too. What a pity. He Ze turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye.

This guy is interesting. Normally, he’s so cold and distant, but his expression changes so quickly when no one’s watching.

“What are you looking at?” Shen Rangchen frowned, reverting to his usual aloof demeanor, and turned his gaze out the window.

“…Tch, who wants to look at you anyway,” 

He Ze retorted. The bus jolted heavily as it bounced over a puddle, swerving sharply.

Fu Jingmo held Lin Mu against his shoulder, and reached out to feel his forehead—it was icy cold. This unconscious state was eerily similar to the last time.

It seemed like every time Lin Mu overexerted his energy, he would fall into a coma. A thoughtful expression crossed Fu Jingmo’s stern face.

Mutants typically don’t have this issue; at most, they might be unable to use their abilities.

But what about in the future? What if next time, there’s no one by his side, and he’s surrounded by zombies?

God knows how he felt when he saw Lin Mu hanging over the heads of so many zombies. It was a feeling he couldn’t even begin to describe.

For the first time, he started to doubt whether his own decisions were flawed.

When they were injected with the R1 serum, the only directives from above, apart from the missions assigned to each of them, were to rescue as many uninfected civilians as possible and assist in establishing safe zones.

But that was ‘his’ mission—Fu Jingmo’s mission. What did it have to do with Lin Mu? What right did he have to involve Lin Mu in saving others?

After another half hour of driving, a vast expanse of buildings gradually appeared ahead. The iron fence extended to both sides, and when he looked toward either end, it seemed to stretch on endlessly.

Fu Jingmo glanced at it. The iron fence was electrified—it was an electric perimeter. If zombies attacked, this fence would serve as the first line of defense.

Someone pulled open the large iron gate in the fence, and the off-road vehicle ahead drove in, with the bus following closely behind.

Gunfire quickly erupted behind them, taking down a few zombies that had been trailing the bus from a distance.

Behind the iron fence was the second layer of defense: a tall, cement-brick wall towering under the sky.

Openings were left at about human height. If zombies managed to get through the electric fence, they could be shot at through these holes to attack the zombies outside.

Everyone let out small gasps of amazement. To have established such a secure zone in less than two months after the apocalypse began must have taken immense effort.

These structures were protecting humanity in this post-apocalyptic world, serving as a sanctuary for the survivors.

The brick walls were thick, and at every fifteenth opening stood a soldier, holding a gun and carefully watching the situation outside.

The heavy gates were pulled open, allowing the vehicle to drive inside. However, they were immediately stopped by a soldier with his gun raised.

“Everyone get off the bus and proceed to the inspection room to check for bite wounds.”

One by one, the people on the bus lined up and got off, being led to the inspection room.

Fu Jingmo was the last to get off, carrying Lin Mu in his arms. He glanced around the area. Inside, there was a makeshift cement road. To the left and right of the entrance, many tents were set up, with numerous people living in them.

Further inside were some one-story cement houses, slightly better than the tents.

In the distance, at the center of the settlement, stood rows of detached houses.

Surrounding these detached houses was a ring of cement brick walls, similar to the one behind them, though much lower. It seemed that its purpose was to separate the outer city’s single-story houses from the inner city’s detached homes.

Fu Jingmo raised his eyebrow—this was normal. Even in peaceful times, there were the rich and the poor, so in an apocalypse like this, it’s only natural that those with abilities and ordinary people would have different statuses.

A man who looked like an officer approached him, and two soldiers stepped forward, reaching out to take the person in his arms. However, they were quickly stopped by a cold glare from Fu Jingmo.

The officer waved his hand, signaling the soldiers to back off. He saluted Fu Jingmo and said, “Second Lieutenant, Officer Wen has instructed that you should go to the supervision hall in the central city when you arrive.”

Officer Wen? The woman from the helicopter earlier? She does look somewhat familiar.

“And what about them?” Fu Jingmo asked, glancing at the miners who were being led away.

“They’ll undergo a physical examination first to confirm they have no wounds and are not turning into zombies. After that, they’ll be assigned a place to live.”

“And, your… friend, is he alright?”

What the officer really wanted to ask was whether Lin Mu had been bitten by a zombie, but when he met Fu Jingmo’s cold gaze, he didn’t dare to voice the question directly.

“He’s fine, just exhausted from overusing his abilities. Bring a car around,” Fu Jingmo instructed.

The safe zone was quite large, and considering that they didn’t know exactly where the supervision hall was, it was at least a few kilometers from here.

The officer quickly arranged for a car, while He Ze and Shen Rangchen stood behind Fu Jingmo.

“Wow, this is impressive! This safe zone looks pretty solid, and there are quite a few people here, with so many guns,” He Ze said, looking around with curiosity. The outer single-story houses were packed tightly together, with almost no gaps between them. After all, the more rooms they had, the more people they could accommodate.

A soldier quickly brought over an off-road vehicle. Nearly all the vehicles here were off-road, with high ground clearance and sturdy bodies, making them safer for traveling in and out of the area.

As the four of them got into the car, the soldier looked at Fu Jingmo with eyes full of admiration. “C-Captain Fu, sir, I’m from the 045 unit. Back then, you… you came to our district and… and trained us.”

It was indeed more of a reprimand than training, as Fu Jingmo had taken one look at them, thrown out the two best soldiers from the 045 unit, and left, saying they were too weak.

The designation “113” was something almost mythical in the minds of all the soldiers. Many only knew of the reputation of the 113 unit but had never had the chance to see them in action. They didn’t know how many members were in the unit or where they were stationed.

Their district had barely managed to catch a glimpse of Captain Fu, and there were rumors that there was an even more mysterious special unit behind 113. But whether it was 113 or the special unit, everyone knew that Fu Jingmo was their leader.

He Ze burst out laughing, “Haha, getting scolded? That’s totally something Brother Fu would do.”

The young soldier’s face turned bright red with embarrassment. Fu Jingmo merely glanced up and said, “Drive.”

The soldier floored the gas pedal nervously, and the vehicle lurched forward.

Fu Jingmo frowned and tightened his hold on the person in his arms.

As they drove along, He Ze noticed that many people, having no place to stay, were huddled in blankets right on the street. This sight made He Ze anxious.

“Brother Fu, where are we going to live? Are the houses here expensive? Do you have money to buy one?”

Sigh, before the apocalypse, I slaved away just to buy a house. Am I going to end up doing the same thing now, working 996^[1]The “996 work hours” refers to a work schedule that is common in some companies in China. It means working from 9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days a week. This totals 72 hours of work per week. The … Continue reading in this apocalyptic world just to get a place to stay?

“Shut up,” Fu Jingmo replied, not bothering to engage further, and closed his eyes.

The soldier driving was quite enthusiastic. “Don’t worry, you’re friends of Captain Fu. Officer Wen will definitely arrange a place for you to stay. In the safe zone, everyone’s accommodations are based on their abilities and labor contributions.”

“The central area is reserved for officers and those with strong abilities among the mutants. You all must be really powerful, right? The folks who just returned from Wushi said that Captain Fu’s abilities are unbelievably strong.”

The soldier couldn’t seem to stop praising Fu Jingmo, his words filled with admiration as the vehicle slowly made its way forward. Once they passed the low wall, they were officially inside the central district of the safe zone.

A straight road led directly to the supervision hall at the very center.