Rebirth: I Will Win Easily in the Apocalypse

74: Chapter 62: Departure 74: Chapter 62: Departure Having decided to leave, Gu Yanzhi and Song Zhao began preparing for their departure.

Song Zhao had already quit his job, and all the supplies and belongings from home were stored in their space, so there wasn’t much to pack.

However, since they were traveling with Squad 532, they still needed to put on appearances for the outside world.

In the afternoon, Gu Yanzhi and Gu Yanlin organized the luggage they needed to take with them, mainly clothes for changing, food, and water for three people.

By evening, after dinner, the three discussed saying farewell to their neighbors and took the opportunity to warn them about potential changes in City C.

“I’ll go invite everyone,” Gu Yanlin said, helping Song Zhao clean up the dishes, shaking non-existent water from his hands, and then putting on his down jacket and heading out.

Although people no longer lived in the same building as before, they weren’t living far apart now.

Gu Yanlin first visited Uncle Zhang’s family, and with Uncle Zhang’s help, quickly gathered all the neighbors.

Gu Yanzhi’s tent was a three-room tent, much larger than that of Squad 532, with a special living room that comfortably fit a dozen people without feeling crowded.

The floor of the living room was covered with sleeping mats so sitting directly on it didn’t feel cold.

Everyone sat in a circle, and Gu Yanzhi, supported by Song Zhao, sat on the only chair in the living room.

Everyone knew about Gu Yanzhi’s leg injury and tolerated what might seem in other eyes as an impolite act.

Gu Yanzhi shared their plans to leave and also analyzed potential scenarios that City C might face in the future.

Everyone fell silent after hearing this, everyone looked around at each other without speaking.

Among them, some had lived in City C since childhood and never considered leaving to live elsewhere.

Some had worked hard for many years and had only just managed to buy a house and settle down in City C.

Unfortunately, the apocalypse had come, and after enduring so many natural and man-made disasters, they still felt this place was home.

Now, they might be forced to leave a home where they had lived or struggled their whole lives.

The future was uncertain.

For a moment everyone felt incredulous and lost.

“Xiao Gu, do you know if there are other bases nearby City C where we could settle?” Uncle Zhang asked, swallowing hard, his voice slightly hoarse.

Uncle Zhang had lived his entire life in City C and had never thought that he’d have to leave his most familiar place in middle age, leaving him feeling somewhat powerless to accept it.

But Uncle Zhang also understood that what Gu Yanzhi said was correct.

The earthquake had demolished so many buildings in City C that very few habitable houses remained.

As order slowly restored, there would be disputes over housing.

Moreover, he could feel the outside temperature gradually rising.

When the ice melted, even if not flooding the first time, how long would these waterlogged and then frozen houses last?

The most frightening thing was the gradual spread of the prion virus in City C, now threatening his and his family’s safety.

Everyone worked for the government and occasionally heard some outside news.

The conditions at outside bases were much better than in City C.

Other cities had not experienced the numerous natural disasters like City C.

It couldn’t be said that life elsewhere would be very good, but it would definitely be better than the double threat of natural disasters and man-made calamities faced in City C.

Everyone understood in their hearts that leaving City C to enter a base elsewhere could increase their chances of surviving in the future.

When Song Zhao was discussing leaving with Chu Guodong, this issue had already surfaced, and he had asked Chu Guodong in advance.

Chu Guodong provided several bases, some near, some far, but all were officially established bases, ensuring safety once inside.

The nearest was in City N, about 100 kilometers from City C.

The base wasn’t large, and was expected to accommodate only tens of thousands of people.

The farthest base was in City H, about 400 kilometers from City C.

It was the largest of the bases provided by Chu Guodong and was said to be the most developed.

Upon saying this, Song Zhao fetched some paper and a pen and, relying on his memory of the map he’d discussed with Chu Guodong earlier that day, drew the locations of several bases and simple routes.

Some routes were difficult or otherwise unsuitable, which Song Zhao immediately ruled out, leaving only four routes on the paper.

One led to City N, another to City H, with the remaining two roughly 200 kilometers away from City C, one to the south and one to the north—Lou Dong Base and Liancheng Base respectively.

Song Zhao also thoughtfully marked on the paper the conditions required to enter each base, all of which required payment in goods.

City N required 150 pounds of food, City H 100 pounds, Lou Dong also 100 pounds, and Liancheng only 80 pounds, charged per person; children under three years of age were free, children aged three to twelve years old were half price, and children over twelve were charged as adults.

Uncle Zhang and the others discussed it for a long while; Gu Yanzhi listened for some time and basically understood what each person was thinking.

Zhong Junfeng and Yin Meng currently couldn’t leave City C.

In the future, they might follow their teacher, Tao Qi, back to the Capital, so they did not participate in the discussion.

As for the others, Xiao Lin, Gao Zhi, and Sister Li wanted to go to Liancheng because it required less food.

Uncle Zhang, not wanting to stray too far from City C, wanted to go to City N’s base, while Uncle Zhuang preferred to make a big move directly to the larger City H base.

However, Uncle Zhuang still needed to consider Zhuang Nanyang’s wishes, as Zhuang Nanyang was currently serving in the military.

Though he could leave at any time, re-entering the military would be difficult afterward, so Uncle Zhuang still needed to discuss it well with his son.

If Zhuang Nanyang’s unit decided to leave City C like Gu Yanlin and the others, it would be a happy outcome for all.

If not, they would have to find another solution and persuade his son.

After half a day’s discussion, everyone had their own thoughts, but were reluctant to part with such good companions.

Whether traveling together or living together in the future, having such reliable friends was rare, and everyone hoped to stay together.

While they discussed, Song Zhao added on the paper the potential obstacles to reaching each base mentioned by Chu Guodong, such as mountain climbing, needing to cross rivers, or places like City C that had recently experienced earthquakes.

Gu Yanzhi could only provide information; he couldn’t participate in their final decision.

As to where to go, each household needed to consider its own situation.

For someone like Uncle Zhang with a family of three all employed, gathering 450 pounds of food was not a problem.

But for people like Xiao Lin and Sister Li, where one earned and two spent, accumulating even 100 pounds was already quite difficult.

It was getting late, and both Gu Yanzhi and Gu Yanlin were injured and needed to rest early.

Everyone was already very grateful that Gu Yanzhi was willing to provide information.

Knowing that there wasn’t much else Gu Yanzhi and his group could help with, and feeling embarrassed to have disturbed them for so long, everyone stood up, thanked the three, picked up the simple map drawn by Song Zhao, and left.