Chapter 50: Chapter 50: News from the Broadcast
After dealing with the foreign teacher, Ye Fan led the people into the swimming pool.
As he pushed the door open and appeared at the entrance, Ye Luo felt as if she was seeing a deity.
Her brother stood there in a military uniform, bathed in light, making it almost unbelievable for her eyes.
Ye Fan looked at the dumbfounded sister and laughed, "What’s wrong, Xiaoluo, don’t recognize me anymore?"
Ye Luo stood up and came to Ye Fan, first pinching his face hard.
"A bit rough to the touch, seems real."
Ye Fan: "....."
Ye Luo then took off Ye Fan’s hat and saw his buzz cut.
Ye Fan thought other hairstyles were troublesome to manage, so he always kept a buzz cut.
"Sure enough, it’s really my brother, my buzz-cut brother!"
The fear of the past few days seemed to find an outlet, as Ye Luo hugged Ye Fan’s neck, tears streaming down, "Brother, you’re really alive, I knew my prayers worked."
Ye Fan patted Ye Luo’s little head, "What did you pray for?"
"I prayed... what about mom and dad?"
"Mom and dad are both fine."
"That’s great, it must have been the prayer working. I prayed for our whole family to survive safely, and if it succeeded, during our looks test, I’d even give you 40 points so we both could be just passing."
Ye Fan’s face turned black, looking around at the Red Alert soldiers, "Why are you all just standing there? Quickly, see if there’s anything of value here?"
"Xiao Jing, what are you laughing at? The looks test is just a prank app, not valid."
"Understood! In my heart, the officer is a man full of mature masculine charm, just like my father!"
Ye Fan, with a headache, gestured for Xiao Jing to leave, thinking, do all the Red Alert soldiers praise people like this?
The Red Alert soldiers spread out and began searching the swimming pool.
By now, Ye Luo had calmed down, pulling Ye Fan aside, asking why he became an officer.
Ye Fan could only use the old excuse again, saying the military is confidential, specifics cannot be disclosed, and he was urgently promoted to search for comrades scattered everywhere.
This reason pacified his sister, and Ye Fan then looked at the room full of students.
One can say Smith managed this place with heart, scavenging the supermarket outside the school gate and gathering quite a lot of food supplies.
However, the students’ situation was not good; there weren’t many blankets for them to use, many had to share a thin blanket and could only huddle together for warmth at night.
Some students got sick, but there was a severe lack of medicines, although Smith collected some food, he didn’t get any medicine, and when Ye Fan arrived, he saw more than twenty sick students.
Many students’ uniforms were torn, with no spare clothes to change into, all looking listless, unkempt, and in poor spirits.
Some of the students even knew Ye Fan, and now they looked at him with eyes full of hope.
This made Ye Fan, who initially just wanted to take his sister away, pause.
Since he could care for those in Chengguan Town, wouldn’t it make sense to do the same for these regarded-as-younger students?
From the zoo to the school, a relatively safe route was cleared, taking them back shouldn’t be too difficult.
As Ye Fan pondered how to settle these students, Xu Haoran reported from the second floor.
"Officer, there are some items in Smith’s room."
"Alright, I’ll go up and take a look."
Ye Fan told Ye Luo to chat with classmates, assuring them not to worry, while he went to the second floor.
Upon arriving, Ye Fan saw a set of broadcast equipment.
He sat in Smith’s chair, turned on the broadcast.
The broadcast still worked, with a gentle twist of the knob, some voices came through.
"This is the Daqing Mountain Prison Base. We have a 300-strong armed team led by Leader Xing Hai, with solid defense structures to ensure the safety of survivors. We are now admitting survivors from the Coal City surrounding areas. As long as you work and follow management here, safety is guaranteed. Additionally, Daqing Mountain Leader Xing Hai offers a reward for finding a group of survivors in military uniforms, who are impostor soldiers active in the Coal City Region. Whoever provides accurate intelligence will receive generous rewards."
"We are the Hot Spring Resort Base. Our base currently has over 4,000 people. The base environment is good, located in the suburbs with few zombies, and the year-round spring brings us endless water supply. Commander Dai Yu is a warm-hearted person, and his well-equipped troop can fully ensure everyone’s safety... "
"Are there any living people? Can anyone hear me? I’m Chen Hao from Dawangzhuang Village. We’re short of many supplies here, winter clothes, coal, also lacking seasonings and 23-pistol bullets. Can anyone trade with us? I currently have enough food to spare some white flour for trade."
"First, let me introduce myself. I am Liu Long, from the Hardware Mansion in the outskirts of Coal City. I’m willing to trade, but that white flour won’t do, it can only be exchanged for other food, not bullets. Who has mutant beast meat? If you have, I’ll trade anything for it."
"You’ve said so much, can’t someone organize this? I see there are a number of survivors around the Coal City area. Arrange a time and place, let’s meet up. Not many people are left in this world, better to get acquainted rather than fight when we meet."
"I agree, let’s count how many of us big brothers have been talking around this time? Seek to organize, I’m currently short on gasoline."
"Is anyone able to rescue? Are there any troops left? Seven of us are trapped in Fengyun District, Baihua County..."
"I’m telling you, there’s no hope. I’m in Coal City, and I saw a massive armored zombie; can’t even be killed with bullets. Several of us collecting supplies died to that zombie, hahaha! It’s all over!"
Ye Fan listened for a while; the broadcast often had people speaking, some had established bases, and some were survivors calling for help.
The total population of Mei City is sixty to seventy million. Based on mutation probability, at least several million or even ten million should survive.
But with more survivors dying over time, surely not that many remain; a couple hundred thousand to a million would be remarkable.
Moreover, after listening to the broadcast for so long, Ye Fan found no bases organized by government personnel or military.
He heard about the army’s situation from Jiang Shilong, but government presence was missing, making him wonder what exactly was happening.
Now several bases have been established around Coal City, with Hot Spring Base and Daqing Mountain Base being among the larger ones.
The villa district incident had caused Ye Fan’s team to have a falling out with Daqing Mountain’s Xing Hai, who was still looking for Ye Fan’s group through the broadcast.
Ye Fan wasn’t afraid, but listening to other information gave him a new idea.
Trading goods is a good strategy; though Ye Fan doesn’t have much in hand now, it’s not difficult to gather with his soldiers.
Not to mention other places, just collecting all supplies from Chengguan Town would be enough for Ye Fan’s use for a while.
Besides, Ye Fan heard someone was buying mutant beast meat, something he has quite a lot of, and feels should be very valuable.
As the apocalypse progresses, surely some have discovered the benefits of mutant beast meat.
The special nature of Ye Fan’s collected resources, however, is that he requires gold and silver.
People say in times of peace it’s antiques, in times of chaos it’s gold, but this chaos is not the same as the past chaos.
This is not chaos, but an apocalypse where to survivors, gold is still worthless, doesn’t quench thirst, not tradable, no stock exchanges and no gold reserve involvement, not much use.
Providing survivors gold is less practical than offering them some rice.
So, wouldn’t trading goods for gold be a good method?
Ye Fan tried to use the broadcast to communicate, but after fiddling for a while, he couldn’t quite figure it out.
"Forget it, try again after returning, didn’t Gao Dongliang say he was good at broadcasting? Will study with him."
At this moment, Ye Fan realized the importance of a base.
Without a base, one is like duckweed without roots, with no survivors coming in willingly, and even in trade, likely looked down upon.
But where to establish his base? How to name it? Moreover, what identity should he assume? These are matters worth discussing.
Signaling people to carry the broadcast away, Ye Fan got up and left Smith’s room, preparing to return.