Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Lan Lili’s Gift
The death of Jiang Shilong led to the complete destruction of their heinous gang.
The key members on Jiang Shilong’s side had all been killed. Ye Fan inquired about the remaining people from his parents and other survivors. Two more who helped Jiang Shilong commit crimes were also identified and dealt with by the Red Alert Soldiers.
The few remaining lackeys hadn’t done anything too evil, so Ye Fan left them under the supervision of everyone, having them do labor as an observation of their behavior.
The oppressive force hanging over all the survivors had been lifted, and everyone was grateful to Ye Fan.
But at this moment, Ye Fan faced a choice.
His father’s attitude was unlikely to change; despite standing firmly with him on Jiang Shilong’s issue, he refused to leave with him.
Ye Fan understood his father’s thoughts; having lived here all his life, and with the entire world in an apocalypse, going elsewhere might not be any better than here.
Moreover, worried about his daughter, it was even less likely for him to leave.
Although his mother didn’t say much, it was clear she shared the same sentiment as his father.
The firm stance of his parents left Ye Fan with only two paths.
One was to first find his sister and then leave with everyone; the other was simply to stay.
Leaving with everyone wasn’t very feasible. Taking the train for that section of the journey was manageable without much danger, but the train could currently only reach the station in Mei City, which was where Ye Fan and his group had come from.
Beyond that, the railway was blocked by two derailed trains.
Taking a hundred people through the city to return to the villa area was unrealistic. A large group would more easily attract zombies, and if surrounded, the consequences would be dire.
The only solution was to stay.
Staying here meant starting over, and Ye Fan would undoubtedly have to take on greater responsibility.
Ye Fan pondered for a long time in Jiang Shilong’s room on the second floor.
Though he didn’t want to attract too much trouble, some of what his father and Jiang Shilong said was right.
Humans are the most important resource in a post-apocalyptic world; without humans, things won’t work.
Without people planting crops or raising livestock, someday his Red Alert Soldiers would face a food shortage.
Would he have to make the Red Alert Soldiers take up hoes and farm?
They have military prowess, and Ye Fan didn’t want to waste that.
Aside from food, all sectors in this world need people, and Ye Fan didn’t want to live in a dead and barren world one day.
"Looks like we’ll have to stay; even if I take my parents back to the villa, I still need to come back here to find my sister. Going back and forth is a waste of time, not to mention those vehicles can’t get through, having no impact on firepower."
After making this decision, Ye Fan immediately started planning the next step.
The location of Donghua Grand Restaurant was favorable, on the edge of town and near the wilderness, temporarily safe from being surrounded by zombies.
To make it safer, he first needed to eliminate the zombies in town.
The town had a population of thirty thousand. He checked the radar and estimated roughly twenty-five thousand red dots.
Besides the survivors here, some had fled to other places, and others had been eaten.
Twenty-five thousand zombies were neither too many nor too few; clearing them wouldn’t be easy.
Especially since Ye Fan had other matters to attend to.
One task was finding his sister. Having found his parents, and with his sister attending high school not far away in Lingshui Town, he must go see her.
Another was bringing the Su Family Sisters and Gao Dongliang here. Since they were temporarily staying here and not returning to Coal City, he couldn’t leave them there.
Ye Fan left two Conscripts in Prosperous Mountains and Rivers’s villa area for protection, which suffices for minor problems but wouldn’t ensure safety in serious danger.
After consideration, Ye Fan decided to have Scout Xu Haoran return with four Three-star Conscripts to bring several people back from the villa area.
More people would make it cumbersome; this number was sufficient for crossing the city without issue.
His task was to bring them back. As for the mining vehicle and Tiger Assault Vehicle, they couldn’t be brought over for now and had to be left behind. The mining vehicle’s thick armor and locked doors made it impossible for anyone to get in, let alone drive it away.
As for the Tiger, Ye Fan had no other way at present.
It wasn’t within radar range, so he couldn’t even retrieve it if he wanted to.
With Xu Haoran and the four Three-star Conscripts gone, Ye Fan’s firepower here was immediately reduced.
He still needed to allocate some soldiers to defend Donghua Building while also taking some to rescue his sister, and then clear the zombies in Chengguan Town.
Thus, Ye Fan felt his forces were stretched thin.
Fewer defenders made it unsafe, and fewer people rescuing his sister was even worse because her location was a standard urban area.
Lingshui First Middle School had over ten thousand students, undoubtedly making it a massive zombie den.
Even taking everyone there wouldn’t be safe, let alone with the troops spread thin several times.
Ye Fan thought it was time to expand his forces.
Additionally, his officer rank needed to be upgraded to Company Commander.
"Should we enter the town now and start killing zombies? The number seems insufficient...."
As he pondered, a voice suddenly came from outside: "Stop!"
Li Biao and Wang Hu were guarding the door, and now someone had approached.
"Hey, you two brothers, I’m Ye Fan’s classmate, my name is Lan Lili, can I go in and speak with him?"
Ye Fan felt a bit displeased. He had investigated Lan Lili; she sought pleasure by following Jiang Shilong, but hadn’t done any other bad deeds, just acted arrogantly, which saved her life.
However, people didn’t like her, so Ye Fan had simply assigned her to chop pork as punishment.
He didn’t expect her to dare approach him; did she think he would accept her like Jiang Shilong?
If so, she was utterly laughable. Though Ye Fan hadn’t had a girlfriend, he wouldn’t be interested in such a woman.
But he still wanted to hear what she had to say.
"Let her in."
Wang Hu opened the door, and Lan Lili walked in.
She carried a backpack and wore a low-cut blue top, slightly lowered. Once inside, she smiled at Ye Fan.
Ye Fan’s face was ice cold, glaring at her, and Lan Lili’s smile soon froze as she quietly adjusted her clothes upward.
"What do you want?"
Seeing Ye Fan’s attitude, Lan Lili’s intent to ingratiate herself vanished without a trace.
But she still gathered the courage: "Ye Fan, I know you may dislike me, but I have to explain for myself, even if I didn’t voluntarily submit to Jiang Shilong, he wouldn’t have spared me. We women are too weak in this world; I’ve seen him kill women who defied him, and I don’t want to die...."
Ye Fan waved his hand: "Don’t bother; that’s your issue, I’m not interested. Besides, aren’t you alive now? As long as you work honestly, no one will bother you."
"Yes, yes, but Ye Fan, after all, we’re classmates. You’re making me cut pork, which I really don’t have the strength for, and I can’t endure the looks from others. Give me a chance to sew clothes, please?"
Ye Fan looked at her coldly: "Why should I?"
Lan Lili wanted to cry but didn’t dare, setting her backpack in front of Ye Fan: "Here is the cash Jiang Shilong collected. He later found it useless and gave it all to me. I’m handing it over to you, please give me a chance."
Ye Fan meant to have her throw these things out, but when it hit the table, it made a clanging sound.
"How much cash? It’s heavy."
"Oh, not much, just over a hundred thousand in cash, and the rest are some gold and silver jewelry, collected by Jiang Shilong in Chengguan Town over this time."
Ye Fan pulled the backpack over and looked inside, eyes lighting up.
He didn’t care for the messy cash, but the gold and silver were genuine.
The apocalypse had just begun, and some people hadn’t adapted, still valuing cash and gold, Jiang Shilong included, so he collected a lot. Besides cash, Ye Fan estimated three to four pounds of gold and silver jewelry!
Unexpectedly, Lan Lili delivered perfect timing.
Since she’d be inefficient at chopping pork, yielding minimal results, Ye Fan didn’t mind giving her a break.
"Alright, I’ll take this; you can go and do sewing. Someone outside will arrange it for you."
"Thank you, thank you, old classmate, thank you, Ye Fan!"
Lan Lili expressed her gratitude and left, seemingly snagging a great deal.
After Lan Lili left, Ye Fan immediately took out the gold and silver.
"Beep beep~~~! Officer, precious metals detected, they can be converted into money. Convert them?"
"Convert all."
"Conversion successful, congratulations, officer, for acquiring 2300 Gold!"
It turned out to be over four pounds worth of gold, which thrilled Ye Fan.
Now, he could upgrade to Company Commander privileges!