ALL NOVEL Chapter 86 - The Meeting
The courtyard here was very different from the convoy’s courtyard. In the military academy area, there were five villas surrounded by more peripheral land, and many single-story houses had been built on the open space using earth-type abilities.
Each building had been categorized and marked with various signs.
The convoy members had never seen a military district courtyard from the time before the apocalypse. As they entered, they found it new and interesting, but upon further inspection, it seemed no different from what they had expected. The use of land seemed even more cramped compared to their own courtyard. After a quick survey, their gazes shifted, and they followed the others to stop at the entrance of Building 18.
A sign on Building 18 read “Meeting Hall.”
Qian Jinxin pointed to a bench outside and said, “You all wait here. With so many people, not everyone can come inside.”
After saying that, he led Bai Qi and the others into Building 18.
Inside the villa, the hall had an enormous redwood conference table, and some of the original furniture had been removed.
Tang Ruo looked around and noticed that in just two days, the place had been arranged to resemble the conference rooms she had seen on TV in her past life, where powerful figures gathered.
Of course, it was much smaller.
At the table, several people in military uniforms had already taken their seats.
Qian Jinxin and Mr. Hu walked to their respective spots and sat down.
Bai Qi and the others followed, noticing nameplates on the table, indicating that these seats were fixed. They didn’t sit at the table but instead stood behind the two men.
Soon, a soldier brought over a few chairs and asked Bai Qi and the others to sit behind Qian Jinxin.
Over there, General Zhou and his son also had seats by the conference table, and Dr. Cao, like Bai Qi and the others, was given a chair by the soldiers.
Before long, all the surviving political and military officials from City A had arrived.
When Wei Lan entered, he saw Bai Qi and the others sitting behind Qian Jinxin. She paused for a moment, then nodded at him, acknowledging each other.
Once everyone had arrived, Yuan Chao, sitting at the head of the table, waved his hand. The soldiers behind him started handing out A4 papers to the important figures present.
Qian Jinxin looked at the paper for a while, then passed it back to Bai Qi.
Similarly, the others did the same—after reading it, they passed it to the people behind them.
Bai Qi took a look at it and found that it listed the casualties, ammunition losses, and the number of zombies killed during the recent clearance of a nearby hospital.
“The current situation is not looking good. Yesterday, our people lost over a hundred soldiers just clearing a nearby hospital, not to mention the loss of ammunition… If this continues, manpower and weapons will be the biggest issue moving forward,” Yuan began after everyone had gone through the document. “The human race’s battle against this virus may burn for much longer before it is extinguished. The situation is extremely unfavorable for us. It seems our preparations were insufficient, and we still need to discuss the future plans in detail to give the people at the base some confidence.”
General Zhou frowned. “Previously, when we were in the West District, we discussed focusing our forces here to retake the city center, but from the looks of it, that is going to be difficult now.”
“This operation cost so many lives because we previously underestimated the number of zombies in the hospital. Our people have also underestimated the scale of the virus.”
“Regarding the plan to retake the city, we must now think it over carefully. We shouldn’t rush in. With five million people in the city, we don’t know how many are survivors… If there are no survivors left, then we’ll be facing five million zombies. Our current forces only number a little over 40,000, and fighting one-on-one would lead to mutual destruction…”
Previously, many soldiers in the military were infected with the virus. After gathering those who could be assembled at the West District Military Base, they discovered that there were only 40,000 soldiers left in A City.
Yuan nodded. “For now, we can only focus on stabilizing the base before considering the retaking of the city,” he said, looking around. Upon noticing that Qian Jinxin had brought two new faces, he didn’t show any surprise. He calmly moved on to the next matter.
The next topic was the task at the nuclear power plant. He asked which of the senior military officials present would be willing to take on the assignment.
However, the response was complete silence.
Given the unclear situation, the big shots were certainly unwilling to send their subordinates to test the waters.
After some discussion, no suitable solution was found.
General Zhou spoke up, “In three days, the base’s walls will be completed, and the interior will be completely secure. If necessary, we can reconvene tomorrow to discuss this further. Right now, manpower is scarce, but we can issue a mission and have the ability users within the base join the nuclear power plant task.”
Yuan pursed his lips, his face darkened as though it had been smeared with ink.
However, he didn’t argue with General Zhou. His forces had already suffered heavy losses, and he couldn’t afford to challenge General Zhou at this point.
Otherwise, how could General Zhou dare to be so bold in front of him?
It was actually Hu father who, upon hearing this, let out a cold laugh. “So General Zhou is now aware of the manpower shortage?”
Yuan turned his head toward Hu father.
He was indeed curious about what had caused the usually quiet Hu to speak up so sharply at this meeting.
“Hu, what do you mean by that…” General Zhou frowned. “It sounds like you’re dissatisfied with me. We are all working for the base, so if you have something to say, just speak your mind.”
Hu father was no longer afraid to tear off the mask. “General Zhou, let’s speak frankly. Yuan just mentioned the manpower shortage, and yet Zhou Shao, as the base’s patroller, allowed people to cause chaos within the base. After capturing the ones who provoked trouble, they were released without punishment. Isn’t that just encouraging the evildoers?”
“Oh?” Yuan turned his head slightly and looked at Zhou Shao. “Is this true?”
“I…” Zhou Shao had only joined the military government after the outbreak of the apocalypse. He had always remained silent during meetings, never speaking up. Suddenly being questioned by Yuan, who seemed calm and composed, made Zhou Shao momentarily flustered. He almost couldn’t get the words out.
“Shuguang, is this really true?” General Zhou asked.
Hu father replied, “Do you think I have the leisure to joke with you all at this meeting?”
“Is it that your subordinates acted without your approval and caused trouble?” General Zhou tried to provide an excuse for his son.
Zhou Shao immediately caught on. “Right, I don’t understand this matter either. Yesterday, I was patrolling the outer wall, and didn’t come to the base hall until evening. The people there didn’t even mention this to me…”
General Zhou said, “You need to properly manage your subordinates. You’re a second lieutenant now, and you can no longer act recklessly.”
Zhou Shao lowered his head and replied obediently, “Yes.”
Then, General Zhou looked up and said to Yuan, “I’ll have someone look into this. The situation outside is still unclear, resources are scarce, and the base has just been established. People are still unfamiliar with the rules and regulations, so it’s inevitable that some lawless individuals will take risks and break the law.”
Yuan nodded reluctantly. “Right now, the base’s facilities are still under construction, and people’s hearts are unstable. We must avoid any further reckless actions. You are all role models, and if you don’t enforce the law strictly, then everyone will start to disregard both the law and morality.”
Hu Haotian glanced at Bai Qi and pursed his lips.
The implication was clear: he was not satisfied with the outcome.
But he also knew that they had no real influence here for the time being. Just getting this result from a few words from Hu father was already a stroke of luck.
Bai Qi noticed Hu Haotian’s gaze and gave a small smile.
“Be patient,” his smile seemed to say.
Hu Haotian felt that he understood the meaning of his smile.
So, he calmed himself and sat back down.
After this matter, the discussion shifted to the details of the base’s construction.
Topics like greenhouse construction, vegetable cultivation, and water sanitation were discussed.
Hu Haotian and the others felt a headache coming on. These topics were as confusing to them as listening to technical math formulas.
Really, being a government big shot is not easy. It’s much harder than being an average citizen.
That saying is really accurate—it’s easier to be a beggar than a lazy official.
If there’s a next time, it would be better to just stay an idle person.
Once everything was done, General Zhou had the soldiers distribute an A4 sheet of paper to everyone.
“This paper contains some of Dr. Cao’s research on zombies over the past month,” General Zhou said. “Cao Min, please explain it to everyone here.”