Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Hometown
Inside the train carriage, there were only a few zombie crew members, and Xu Haoran easily dealt with them using a silenced pistol after opening the door.
Arriving at the train’s head, Xu Haoran checked the dashboard only to find the train was out of power.
"Officer, this train’s electrical system is under maintenance and currently has no power to run."
Ye Fan suddenly felt a bit of a headache; this was the fastest way he could think of to get home. If the train couldn’t move, going home would be a problem, as the journey of over a hundred kilometers might take two more days to walk.
"Can’t you repair it?"
"I can drive the train, but I can’t repair it."
Ye Fan thought for a moment; apparently, the only solution was to create an engineer.
Fortunately, after selling off the watchtower, the money in his hand was still sufficient. He immediately opened the Red Alert page and selected an engineer on the soldier page.
"Officer, creating an engineer will take ten minutes. Please wait patiently."
gold was spent, and he only had forty left.
Ten minutes later, the door of a carriage behind opened, and a refined man walked in.
In military uniform, with a safety helmet, a yellow vest, carrying a large toolbox, he saluted Ye Fan: "Officer, Engineer Huang Jie reporting!"
Ye Fan returned the salute: "Tell me about your capabilities."
"Reporting, officer. An engineer in Red Alert is a tech unit that can repair, occupy, has some manufacturing and learning capabilities, but its combat strength is only equivalent to an ordinary person."
"What can you repair?"
"I can repair almost anything."
"Can you repair this train’s electrical system?"
"No problem. It’ll take half an hour."
"Alright, go ahead."
The engineer opened the door and entered the driver’s cabin and got busy.
Ye Fan watched for a while but soon felt dizzy, so he stepped out.
The Red Alert soldiers were already sitting neatly in the carriage, each carrying their military backpack and firearms, feeling like a unit on a special mission.
Ye Fan couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction; these were his soldiers, with unwavering loyalty.
At this time, Nana spoke: "Officer, the number of troops has exceeded twenty people. Please determine the personnel allocation."
Ye Fan then realized that unknowingly, the troop count had exceeded twenty.
Eleven conscripts, nine here, and two in the villa of Prosperous Mountains and Rivers.
Six army soldiers, one scout sniper, two medical staff, and one engineer.
Additionally, there were two military dogs.
The total number was twenty-two, including the dogs, making it twenty-four.
However, he didn’t quite understand what Nana meant by personnel allocation.
"Officer, allocation refers to the fixed number of personnel in each combat unit, like a squad’s, a platoon’s, or a company’s number."
Ye Fan understood that in the real world, Qin Han’s combat squad number ranged from six to ten people, depending on the unit.
Now, his combat unit’s personnel needed to be determined by him, like how many people per squad.
If calculated at eight people per squad, with twenty-four people, they barely made a platoon.
But within that, there are different roles, such as engineers and scout snipers, which can’t really be categorized into combat squads.
Special units should be directly managed by the platoon.
Also, medical staff and military dogs can’t be part of the combat unit.
Ye Fan thought for a moment, "When can I upgrade to company commander level?"
"Officer, when the number of your regular combat personnel exceeds twenty-four, you will be promoted to company commander."
"Alright then, let’s assign eight people per combat squad, limited to regular combat personnel, meaning army soldiers and conscripts, excluding other combat units."
"The total combat units in a platoon will be set at thirty-two, excluding vehicles. As for a company...let’s wait until I become a company commander."
Ye Fan calculated, twenty-four regular combat units, each squad equipped with one military dog, and a platoon with two medical soldiers, then adding the scout, sniper, and engineer, it’s almost fully staffed.
However, he didn’t plan to start appointments immediately; at least he would wait until his troops grew stronger. After finding his family, he would immediately rise to company commander level.
After a busy day, Ye Fan ordered them to start eating.
The buns made by the Su Family Sisters were indeed fragrant, but a bit cold. Thankfully, the Red Alert soldiers wouldn’t suffer from health issues as long as they didn’t eat rotten or spoiled food.
After the meal, Engineer Huang Jie finally finished his work.
"Officer, the electrical system has been restored, and the train can operate now."
Ye Fan was overjoyed: "Xu Haoran, start the train immediately, the target is Chengguan Town in Lingshui County."
"Understood, officer. Arriving in half an hour!"
The bullet train started and slowly glided on the tracks, catching the attention of some zombies in the distance.
They staggered towards it, but couldn’t keep up with the train’s speed as it quickly disappeared from their view.
After a short while, the vehicle’s speed increased to over 200 km/h. Although the apocalypse had just entered its second week, the power plant was still operating. However, Ye Fan estimated that in at most half a month or twenty days, the power from the plant would stop, plunging the world into darkness.
While there was still electricity, survivors could hold on, but once it stopped, many would be at a loss and forced to come out of hiding, starting a more primitive way of life.
At that time, casualties would definitely increase dramatically, heralding a new wave of disasters.
Ye Fan wasn’t sure if this world could be saved, but he didn’t want to see it deteriorate further.
The best outcome would be finding his family, but what then?
Ye Fan gazed at the scenery outside, lost in thought.
*********
The train left Coal City and entered the wilderness, traveling some distance before a new town appeared ahead.
Lingshui County bordered Coal City and wasn’t far away, with Chengguan Town lying between them—Ye Fan’s hometown.
However, Chengguan Town didn’t have a high-speed railway station, so Ye Fan often took a bus home. If he took a train, he would alight at Lingshui and then make a twenty-kilometer return trip.
But this time was different. The train was driven by his own people and could stop directly at Chengguan Town.
As Chengguan Town appeared within his view, Ye Fan felt a pang of homesickness.
He was deeply worried that his parents might have perished in the first wave of crisis.
It was a very real possibility.
But he held onto the hope that since he managed to survive and had such a fortuitous encounter, his parents might have survived too.
If heaven had favored him, it should show mercy to his family as well.
The train stopped at the closest point to Chengguan Town, with no worries about blocking other vehicles. It had engines on both ends and could set off at any time if needed.
Ye Fan led everyone off the train.
They were only two kilometers away from Chengguan Town, a distance they could cover on foot.
He first opened the map to survey the surroundings.
Chengguan Town was of medium size, with a population of around ten thousand. Approximately three thousand of them lived in the town.
With the outbreak of the biocrisis, if a large portion of those three thousand turned into zombies, it would be considerable; but after experiencing many challenges, Ye Fan was no longer very concerned.
With his twenty-something members all highly skilled, as long as they had a defensive position, three thousand zombies weren’t much of a problem. Even more than three thousand could be dealt with over time.
Ye Fan didn’t close the radar screen; he wanted to see the situation here through the radar.
As the team advanced towards the edge of Chengguan Town, Ye Fan paused.
He felt a chill in his heart.
Because on his radar, he could see his own home.
His home was a single-story house, without the overlapping situations of apartment buildings, and there were no blue dots there!
This indicated there were no survivors at home.
"Could they really be gone?" Ye Fan felt sad.
But he also noticed another point: there were no blue dots at his house, nor were there any red dots.
That meant there were no zombies at home either.
"Could they have gone out when the crisis hit? That’s unlikely; they usually take a nap at noon."
With a shred of hope, Ye Fan expanded the map, searching within the entire Chengguan Town.
"Hmm...there are a lot of blue dots here."
He quickly locked onto a location, the Donghua Grand Restaurant in the western suburbs of Chengguan Town.
This was a restaurant that hosted banquets for joyous or solemn occasions in the town, and Ye Fan himself had dined there several times.
The restaurant was quite large and relatively far from the town center.
The radar map displayed nearly a hundred survivors there!
During the journey, Ye Fan had spotted many blue dots but hadn’t cared much. This was different.
With so many survivors, it meant his parents could still be alive!
"Let’s go, and check out that restaurant!"