Chapter 167 Summary

Gao Yuan circled the same spot several times, finally returning to where he had started after confirming that no zombies were following him.

Seeing his team, Gao Yuan slowed his pace, and then he came to a complete stop.

"Disinfect me, I'm covered in zombie blood."

Li Jingang and Panxin put on their gas masks and each took a disinfectant spray in hand as they approached Gao Yuan. They used up a total of four cans of the spray before considering Gao Yuan's preliminary disinfection complete.

Reeking of a strong alcohol smell, Gao Yuan met up with Shi Lei and the others.

Despite being very tired, Gao Yuan sat down on the ground, while Shi Lei asked with concern, "What happened out there?"

The fact that the mission hadn't been successful was clearly evident from Gao Yuan's forced return.

Gao Yuan took a deep breath and said, "I almost got trapped. There were too many zombies. The strategy I used wasn't quite right."

The disappointment on Shi Lei's face was obvious. He nodded and spoke in a low voice, "It's okay, the most important thing is that you're not hurt."

Gao Yuan stood up from the ground, then said calmly, "However, I think it's still possible to succeed, but we need to find the right method this time."

Shi Lei hesitated for a moment before asking, "You want to go in again?"

"Of course, I definitely need to make another trip. Got any paper? My eyes are stinging from the alcohol."

"Use water to wash it. Tell me what happened out there."

Gao Yuan reached for the water bottle being poured out, washed his eyes slightly with the drinking water, and said, "There are a lot of zombies, a huge number. My initial strategy was to run straight in, but that won't work. Sooner or later, you'll be blocked by zombies, and once that happens you're done for. I can't hold out for long, and the dual-weapon strategy also doesn't work. If there are too many zombies, you just can't swing through them."

After a moment of thought, Shi Lei said, "Your battlefield recorder was on, right? Let's watch it together to help you analyze and think of countermeasures."

"It was on the whole time. I want to head back to the base now to make a shield, and it'll have to be at night when I go back into the city. Because if zombies can't see people, they won't get too agitated."

Although the plan was to push through in one go, since that proved impractical, naturally, preparing to fight back another day was the only option. Gao Yuan and Shi Lei, as special forces members, wouldn't make the mistake of stubbornly charging down a dead-end.

"Contact headquarters, we're retreating. Ask them to get ready for the pickup."

Without a second's hesitation, Shi Lei immediately made the decision. And while waiting for the signal corps to contact headquarters, he curiously asked, "What about your hand grenades?"

"I threw them away. They proved useless, and without them, I was a bit more agile. Next time I'll carry more food and just a few grenades as backup. Also, I want to bring some devices that can create a continuous noise to attract the zombies' attention and clear a safe space for myself."

"Good, any other ideas?"

"Not at the moment, I'll think about it slowly."

Experience is always gleaned from practice. Even though this operation was aborted mid-way, Gao Yuan came back alive, first and foremost, and he had accumulated valuable experience.

Experience, as always, is precious and always has been.

Headquarters had been contacted, and with nothing left to say, the group returned to the underground base's entrance at top speed for disinfection, then took the electric carts swiftly back to the command center.

From entering Ji City to leaving, it had been one hour and twelve minutes, and the entire process had been recorded on the battlefield recorder, serving as valuable footage for commanders to watch and learn from.

In the state of war, all actions were driven by speed. By the time Gao Yuan had changed his clothes, his recorder had already been set up in a meeting room, ready for playback.

The reason it hadn't been played yet was that they needed Gao Yuan to be present in person.

This was valuable firsthand footage, the first of its kind showing a human mutant fighting zombies and the current situation inside Ji City. So, from various perspectives, this recording was extremely precious.

When Gao Yuan entered the meeting room, he was startled to find that even Li Wen had come.

Since Li Wen had shown up, that gave Gao Yuan an idea of how high-level this after-action review and analysis meeting was.

"Comrade Xiao Gao, everyone has been waiting for you. Please, start by explaining the content of the recording," someone said.

"Yes."

Gao Yuan picked up a small stick and stood beside the projector screen.

Initially, he had nothing much to say, but the recording continued to play. After a while, Li Wen lowered his head, pressed his forehead with his hand, and took a sip of tea.

"Chief, are you feeling unwell?"

"Oh, no, it's just that the footage is so shaky, it's making me a bit nauseous. It's nothing serious; I'll be fine in a moment," Li Wen replied.

Gao Yuan's recorder camera was mounted on his chest, so the footage he shot was bound to be unstable. It swung back and forth, enough to make Li Wen feel dizzy.

Finally, zombies appeared on the screen. Gao Yuan cleared his throat and said, "Zombies started to appear here. At first, I didn't notice them until they were close by, um…"

It didn't seem like there was much to explain...

As the footage continued, Gao Yuan stuttered, "From here, the number of zombies increased. On the streets, the terrain was quite narrow, making it impossible to use speed to get away from the zombies."

A general turned to whisper something to another general beside him, and someone else was taking notes in a notebook.

Gao Yuan still felt as if there was nothing to say until his recording showed a large horde of zombies.

This wasn't like the movies. Watching the camera suddenly charge at high speed into the midst of the zombies prompted a general to let out a deep gasp.

There was no movement from Gao Yuan, only the zombies in front of the camera falling one by one, and blood dripping onto the lens before sliding off, then refocusing on the hideous faces of the zombies up close.

The action was too swift; when Gao Yuan's camera suddenly burst out from the crowd of zombies, Li Wen couldn't help but exhale loudly.

"Um, there were too many zombies; I had no place to hide, so I had to push through them. It didn't take long, but it was very dangerous, and in that brief time, I used up most of my strength. At that point, I was already feeling a bit drained, but that sensation was temporary. After a brief rest, I quickly recovered," Gao Yuan explained nonchalantly.

After Gao Yuan's explanation, Li Wen frowned and said, "But what if you hadn't recovered, or if you hadn't had the chance to recover?"

Gao Yuan thought for a moment then said relaxedly, "Then I would've been finished."

Li Wen said nothing more, but he looked very solemn. Only after Gao Yuan had finished explaining the entire video and the situations he encountered, did Li Wen finally speak gravely, "This footage is extremely valuable. Leave the analysis to the professionals. As for me, I have only one thing to say, Xiao Gao, you should not continue on this mission."

Gao Yuan was taken aback for a moment, then he spoke up loudly, "That won't do, Chief. I've got all the next steps planned out. I'm fine, really."