At night.
Ngo Hao and the survivors here sat around a campfire, chatting. Around the fire, several wooden sticks were propped up, with fish skewered on them.
The aroma of grilled fish floated in the air.
In the clear mountain spring, there were small fish. They would cast their specially made fish baskets, and the small fish would swim right into their nets. Sometimes, having some fish to eat made life relatively good.
"Brother Ngo." Luong Tuan passed over a grilled fish.
"Thanks."
Ngo Hao took the fish. Just smelling it, he could tell it was fragrant. He thought of the processed meat from the shelter before, and the thought of it was terrifying, even making him want to vomit.
He brought the fish meat to his mouth. It was delicious, the taste truly wonderful.
"Have you all looked at the 'Zombie Illustrated Guide' I gave you?"
Ngo Hao thought it was very necessary to inform them of the situation outside. Although he had never been to the Sunshine Shelter, in his heart, that place was a god.
Luong Tuan said, "We've looked at it. To be honest, it's a bit hard to believe."
The scenes recorded in the illustrated guide were truly magical. If it weren't for the trustworthy feeling Ngo Hao gave them, they would have thought it was a prank.
Ngo Hao smiled and said, "It's very normal, after all, you haven't seen it with your own eyes. But I guarantee it's all true."
Luong Tuan nodded, feeling a little yearning for the Sunshine Shelter. "We believe it's true, but the distance is really too far. No one knows what dangers we might encounter along the way."
This was also his biggest worry.
If it were absolutely safe, he would definitely take the whole group there.
"Sigh, what a pity. I used to have a satellite phone that could contact them, but something happened, and the satellite phone was damaged. Otherwise, I could have contacted them."
Thinking of what happened before, Ngo Hao was also filled with anger he couldn't vent. He could have smashed anything, but he had to smash his satellite phone, so that later, when something came up, he could only talk about it and couldn't take any real action.
"Let's take it slow. At least this place is temporarily safe. It can be considered a place to stay in the apocalypse," Luong Tuan said.
The grilled fish in Ngo Hao's hand was now only a skeleton. He then placed it to the side. It could be ground into powder and fed to the pheasants.
"Are the parents of these children all here?"
He looked at the children playing with mud not far away and asked curiously. Perhaps only children could live a carefree life, unaffected by the outside world.
Luong Tuan shook his head. "Not anymore. When our previous shelter was breached by zombies, a total of eight vehicles tried to escape. But there were too many zombies, and there were also many of the evolved zombies mentioned in the illustrated guide. Four vehicles were thrown by the zombies. We watched helplessly as the people in the vehicles were pushed out and eaten by the zombies. And the parents of these children were in those vehicles."
Ngo Hao looked at this group of carefree children. Perhaps these children also understood in their hearts that their parents were gone, and from now on, they were all alone. Fortunately, there were other uncles and aunts to take care of them.
"Brother Ngo, why didn't you go to the Sunshine Shelter?" Luong Tuan asked.
Ngo Hao said, "To find my mom."
Luong Tuan nodded. "You will find her."
He knew this might be a hopeless matter, but no matter what, having a goal meant having motivation. Some things didn't need to be said so clearly.
"Thank you." Ngo Hao also hoped that a miracle would really happen, but he knew that such a miracle was very difficult to achieve.
It was getting late. The sleeping place Luong Tuan arranged for Ngo Hao was a simple, extra room. There was no one on the ground anymore, only the campfire was still burning, bringing a trace of warmth to this cold night.
In the wooden house.
Luong Tuan was with another companion.
"Brother Tuan, is he trustworthy?"
"He can be trusted. I can feel it. At least he saved our lives."
"Mm."
And in another wooden house.
Ngo Hao didn't fall asleep, but quietly listened to the movements outside. Although he knew the survivors living here were probably not bad people, after going through some things, it was better to be a little more vigilant.
After confirming there was no movement.
He then relaxed, lay there, and rested for a while.
Thinking about the situation here.
It was indeed very safe.
The outermost wooden railings could indeed block ordinary zombies, and even if some zombies broke through, it wouldn't matter. Living in the trees, it was impossible for ordinary zombies to climb up.
Occupying a favorable position, they could easily hunt and kill zombies.
...
Early in the morning.
Hoang City Sunshine Shelter.
"Good morning."
"Good morning."
Lam Pham greeted the passing people with a smile. When the first ray of sunlight shone on the ground, the crowd seemed to be injected with strength, waking up early and starting to work.
Although there weren't that many things that needed to be done, for them, it was as if they didn't know what to do if they didn't do something.
At this moment, he saw Old Chung and the others gathering.
"Old Chung, where are you guys going?" Lam Pham walked over and asked.
The people gathered at the scene were all Awakened, Old Chung's team, and Dam Thanh's group.
The steel beast was parked there, and behind it were armored vehicles, and even a modified truck.
Old Chung said, "We're preparing to collect some supplies in the city."
Although the supplies they had saved were plentiful, and Tang Dao was also growing crops, and the shelter had also opened up farmland, in the apocalypse, supplies were very important. The more they collected, the more secure they felt.
For such a large shelter, the amount of supplies consumed every day was also very huge.
"Oh, looking at your formation, I thought you were going to other places," Lam Pham said with a smile.
Old Chung said, "We're not thinking about other places for now. We want to first collect the supplies in Hoang City properly. A lot of supplies can't be used now. Our target this time is canned food, flour, dried vegetables, and snacks."
"Mm, that's a good idea," Lam Pham nodded and said.
He knew that most of the supplies in Hoang City hadn't been collected. What they had collected before was just a drop in the ocean. Transporting the supplies to the Sunshine Shelter for safekeeping could also stabilize people's hearts.
Gradually, the personnel gathered, and everyone was wearing armor. Although there were no zombies in Hoang City, safety was still something that needed more attention.
At this moment.
Co Hang came over, waved to the people who were going out to collect supplies, and then returned to Lam Pham's side. "Little Pham, want me to take you to see the warehouse that was just sorted out a while ago?"
"Sure, let's go take a look," Lam Pham said.
Soon, he and Brother Hang went to the said warehouse.
Co Hang said, "Now our shelter has more and more survivors. Thousands of people every day is a huge consumption. We've always been mainly eating grain. Fortunately, there's enough grain to last for a long time. Now we've started planting our own, so it's not too much of a problem."
The warehouse Brother Hang was talking about was a large building within the shelter.
He pushed open the door.
And walked in.
"This is the first floor. It's all for storing non-staple foods. Before, it was what children liked to eat. Now, we adults sometimes have to rely on snacks too, hahaha..." Co Hang said with a laugh.
The snacks included jerky, canned fruit, potato chips, spicy strips, and so on. In short, snacks with a long shelf life would be stored here.
This floor wasn't full yet, just occupying a small space.
There were specially made shelves, arranged in an orderly manner, so it wouldn't look messy.
Lam Pham thought that if this entire floor were filled with snacks, for the children who came here, it would definitely be an unimaginable temptation. They might even say... we like it here.
He was just protecting the shelter. The real development of the shelter still depended on Co Hang and all of them.
Soon, they went up to the second floor.
Co Hang said, "This place is prepared for storing medicine. We'll store all the medicine from hospitals and pharmacies here, sorted by category. In the future, medicine will be one of the most important supplies for us humans, second only to food. Professor Ha and his group of scientists are already sorting through materials, thinking of making basic medicine themselves. It's just that the difficulty is a bit high, and they're still in the preparation stage."
Lam Pham understood that it was very difficult to make medicine. It required a lot of things, and it wasn't something that could be made just by thinking about it.
Of course, he had also heard from Professor Ha that for basic illnesses, they could try to treat them with traditional Chinese medicine. After all, the Sunshine Shelter had traditional Chinese medicine.
Doctor Hua, a former hospital expert, was also an expert among the survivors on the other side of the Hoang City shelter.
Lam Pham said, "Everything will take time. I think as long as everyone works together, it will definitely get better and better. I've always believed in this."
He firmly believed, and had never doubted, the power of hard work.
Co Hang smiled and patted Lam Pham's shoulder. "Yes, you're right. I also believe that everything will become better. It's because of your protection that we can really show our skills."
Co Hang didn't dare to imagine what the result would be if Lam Pham didn't exist in the apocalypse.
He thought that there probably wouldn't be any Hoang City Sunshine Shelter. The living would be scattered, forever shrouded in fear, let alone their lives, even their basic needs would be hard to guarantee.
There were indeed a lot of supplies in the city, but who had the ability to find supplies in a city full of zombies?
"Me? I'm just special," Lam Pham thought of how he could get ability points by killing zombies. He felt very helpless. The more he killed, the more powerful he became. Perhaps this was the favor of heaven.
Co Hang didn't know what Lam Pham meant by special, and didn't take it to heart.
Soon.
Lam Pham finished looking at the newly prepared warehouse. Everything was very good. Just as he reached the first floor, he saw a few sneaky figures, peeking from behind the shelves, and there were also very quiet voices.
Although the voices were very quiet, they still reached his ears.
"Sister Phi Phi, I want to eat spicy strips."
"Don't call me Sister Phi Phi. If someone hears, they'll know for sure that I did it."
"Oh, I see, Sister Phi Phi."
"You're so annoying. Here are your spicy strips."
"Hee hee..."
"Van Van, what do you want to eat? Tho Tho wants to eat potato chips. I have to bring some potato chips for little sister Tho Tho."
Standing at the top of the stairs, Lam Pham and Co Hang looked at each other.
Both of them smiled helplessly.
They hadn't expected these little rascals to sneak in to find snacks.
Looking at the open window.
It seemed these little rascals had climbed over the wall and entered. They didn't take the main door, but had to climb over the wall. They really had some ideas.
"Ahem."
Lam Pham pretended to cough.
Clatter!
It sounded like something had fallen to the ground. From the sound, it seemed to be potato chips.
"We've been discovered! Van Van, hurry and lead us away!" Phi Phi whispered.
Van Van used her telekinesis, and they floated up, intending to float out through the window.
"Stop," Lam Pham said.
A very familiar voice.
It was Uncle Lam's voice.
It scared Van Van so much she didn't dare to move. And Phi Phi and Dinh Dinh, who had just floated up, fell to the ground with a thud.
"Ouch, ouch."
"My butt hurts so much."
They rubbed their bottoms. Fortunately, the height wasn't high, otherwise they would have been shattered into many pieces. Just as they were about to complain to little sister Van Van, they saw Uncle Lam and Uncle Co Hang.
Phi Phi and Dinh Dinh both stood up stiffly, standing very straight on the spot.
They called out sweetly.
"Hello, Uncle Lam. Hello, Uncle Co."
At this moment, they were like children who had done something wrong, obediently shrinking their heads.
Lam Pham smiled and walked over to them, patting their heads. "What are you guys sneaking around for?"
Dinh Dinh lowered her head. The packaging of half a spicy strip was sticking out of her pocket. It was obvious she had left in too much of a hurry and hadn't put it away properly.
"Uncle Lam, I was the one who brought my little sisters here to steal snacks." Phi Phi raised her head, thinking that as the big sister, she had to take responsibility. After all, the position of big sister was hard to come by. To win over the masses, you had to take the most beatings. Otherwise, how could you bear such a status?
Dinh Dinh said in a small voice, "I was the one who wanted to eat spicy strips, so I asked Sister Phi Phi to bring me here to steal them."
Van Van said, "Me too..."
Lam Pham saw their appearance. What else could he say? "Alright, don't always say 'steal, don't steal.' If you want to eat, just come in openly and take it. Sneaking around, what if you get hurt? Go on, see what you want to eat, and take some. You should also bring some for those little brothers and sisters."
For the children in the apocalypse to grow up happily, this was what he wanted to see the most.
Any hardships and difficulties in the apocalypse should be resolved by them, the adults.
"Ah, thank you, Uncle Lam."
Phi Phi's eyes lit up, and she quickly urged Dinh Dinh and Van Van to go and get some delicious snacks.
Dinh Dinh and Van Van immediately went to the shelves to look for snacks.
"Phi Phi, how's your studying recently?" Lam Pham asked. Although it was the apocalypse, he was still relatively concerned about the children's studies. Only with knowledge could they arm their minds.
He thought of those people in the organization. They were all very smart, but they used their intelligence to develop terrifying serums, turning normal humans into monsters.
Phi Phi was most afraid of being asked about her studies.
Before Phi Phi could speak, Dinh Dinh, who was looking for snacks, said excitedly, "The teacher said Sister Phi Phi has made a lot of progress. In the test a while ago, Phi Phi got sixty points, reaching the passing standard. The teacher even specifically praised Sister Phi Phi."
From her tone, Dinh Dinh seemed genuinely happy for Phi Phi.
Phi Phi looked at Dinh Dinh. Good sister, it would have been fine if you didn't say anything. Why did you have to expose my background?
"Really? That's not bad. How much did Dinh Dinh get?" Lam Pham asked with a smile.
Chatting with the children could make one's mood extremely happy.
Dinh Dinh said, "I'm too stupid. I only got ninety-eight points. There was one question I had already done, but I still got it wrong. Van Van is the amazing one. She gets a hundred points in every test."
Phi Phi: ...?
Lam Pham: ...?
Co Hang: ...?
Phi Phi sighed in her heart. If she could, she really wanted to write an essay titled "My Sneaky Little Sister Dinh Dinh."
She really wanted to ask her little sister Dinh Dinh, Are you praising me or dissing me?
Soon, they had chosen their snacks.
Lam Pham said, "Phi Phi, uncle has high hopes for you. Study hard. Let's aim for seventy points next time, okay?"
Phi Phi looked at Uncle Lam, blinked, and really wanted to say... This time was me performing far beyond my usual level. Can you not force it?
But she still pretended to be very confident.
"Mm, I will definitely get seventy points."
"Good, then let's work hard. When you get seventy points, I'll reward you. Okay, hurry up and go to class," Lam Pham said with a smile.
Hearing about the reward, Phi Phi felt a sense of dread.
She really wanted to wave her hand and say, No, I don't want a reward. That kind of reward is really scary.
But she knew that whatever she said would be useless.
"Goodbye, Uncle Lam, Uncle Co. We're going now."
With that, Phi Phi led her two little sisters away like a gust of wind.
Watching their departing backs.
Lam Pham looked at Co Hang on the side. "Brother Hang, a life like this is the goal we've been working towards all along."
"Yes, it is."
Co Hang understood what Lam Pham meant.
The smiles on the children's faces were forever imprinted in their hearts. To protect those smiles, they had been working hard all this time, never thinking of giving up.
...
In the mountain forest.
Ngo Hao took a deep breath of the fresh air. As expected, the air in the mountains was the freshest.
The children were eating roasted sweet potatoes and pheasant eggs.
These were things the adults couldn't bear to eat and had specifically saved for the children.
This action made Ngo Hao believe that the survivors here were definitely not bad people. Otherwise, why would they carry these burdens, and why would they give the limited nutritious food to the children?
"Sigh, what a hard life."
The apocalypse was the most unfair to children, because for children, they had no ability to survive. Even if they didn't encounter zombies, they would face all sorts of difficulties in life.
After breakfast.
Ngo Hao wanted to take a look at the surrounding situation. Hunting in the mountains, drinking from the river, it perfectly illustrated this kind of situation.
Walking in the mountain forest, the surrounding trees were towering, blocking out the sky. Such a quiet life gave people a feeling of being in a paradise.
As if nothing had happened at all.
Ngo Hao stepped on the slightly damp ground of the early morning. He could smell that fresh fragrance. This scene, compared to the apocalypse outside, formed two extremes.
"An environment like this seems really nice. Unfortunately... it's just one place."
Ngo Hao lamented, not saying much more about it.
Soon.
He reached the foot of the mountain and looked at the desolate land in the distance. With the disturbance of the apocalypse, everything had formed two extremes compared to the past. He looked for a long time, but couldn't even see a ghost.
Suddenly.
Faintly in the distance.
A group of moving heads appeared.
Ngo Hao stood up and looked curiously, wondering if they were living people. But soon, he dismissed that idea... and his expression instantly changed drastically.
Zom... zombies.