When they left the supermarket, Luoying Pavilion's team had disappeared. Xiao Lou didn't want to blame the team leader. Being attacked by her teammate without any warning, her handling of the situation was indeed very decisive. Dragging things out could have resulted in the entire team being wiped out.
When she finally understands that she can carry her teammates through the game, she might feel guilty.
Xiao Lou gathered her thoughts, looked around, and finding no Infected nearby, said reassuredly, "I remember there's a pharmacy on the way. Let's stop by and buy some common medicines. CEO Shao's cold needs to be treated as soon as possible."
Yu Hanjiang nodded readily: "Let's go."
There was a pharmacy nearby. Due to the paralysis of traffic in the city center and the outbreak of the epidemic in Central Square, people in the vicinity were either dying or running away, the streets were in chaos, and all the shops along the street were closed.
The pharmacy by the roadside was locked and empty, which was good news for Xiao Lou —no one in the pharmacy meant there was no danger of being attacked by the Zerg.
In this situation, there's no time to worry about whether or not to pay for the items; the pharmacy door is locked, so we have to break it open.
Yu Hanjiang whispered, "Everyone, step back."
His teammates quickly stepped back, and Yu Hanjiang took out his weapon, aimed at the glass door, and fired a shot. With a "bang," the glass door shattered instantly, and shards of glass flew everywhere.
Yu Hanjiang dodged aside, and after the glass shattered, he kicked open the broken door and walked into the pharmacy first.
His teammates followed him inside. Xiao Lou recognized most common medicines and quickly grabbed some medications for colds, fevers, headaches, and diarrhea from the shelf. He also took disinfectant swabs, iodine, and medical gauze. In case anyone had a wound, the Zerg loved blood, so it had to be treated as soon as possible, and bandaging the wound was also essential.
Xiao Lou took out a few more bottles of medical alcohol and said, "Medical alcohol has a higher concentration. It comes in packaging like Mineral Water, which makes it easy to carry. It can also be used to splash on an infected person to help it burn."
Yu Hanjiang helped him carry a few more bottles: "Your backpack is already full, so bring a first-aid kit to store the medicines separately."
Xiao Lou brought a plastic medicine box from the pharmacy, sorted the medicine and medical alcohol inside, and nodded to Yu Hanjiang: "That's fine."
Yu Hanjiang waved his hand: "Withdraw."
After leaving the pharmacy, walk past the corner and you'll find Lao Mo's renovation company.
Just as everyone reached the entrance of the renovation company, an Infected suddenly lunged down the wall, nearly knocking Xiao Lou over!
Yu Hanjiang reacted quickly, kicking the other person away and pulling Xiao Lou into his arms, saying, "Go inside quickly!"
Old Mo opened the door, and everyone quickly entered the decoration company. Yu Hanjiang casually put down the large iron gate and locked it from the inside.
Looking out the window, Xiao Lou, still shaken, said with a pale face, "It seems that these Infected have acquired the characteristics of the Zerg. They can climb buildings at will, or attach themselves directly to buildings and jump down to launch a surprise attack."
Yu Hanjiang frowned: "I've observed that the Infected crawling outside is probably alone. There are no signs of a large number of Infected activity nearby. It's very likely that the Infected are still busy chasing and biting the natives in the city."
It's only the first day, and those who stayed home and didn't go out, as well as those who were cautious and quick to move around, have not yet been infected.
Challenger is not yet surrounded by the Infected army.
Xiao Lou stood by the window and carefully observed the area. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found that there were indeed only one or two Infected creatures nearby. He said, "It's safe for now. Let's get something to eat."
It was already 2:30 pm when everyone realized they hadn't eaten anything that day.
Ye Qi's stomach was growling loudly. Lao Mo turned around and got the electric kettle, boiled a few bottles of mineral water, and said, "My conditions here are limited, so let's just make do with instant noodles for lunch."
In the survival chamber, everyone was already quite content to have instant noodles to eat.
The instant noodles we bought this time were all in bags, making them easy to pack in our backpacks. Xiao Lou also thoughtfully bought a few plastic lunch boxes. After boiling water, everyone soaked their noodles in their own lunch boxes. The aromas of different flavors of instant noodles filled the air, and the smell of the food calmed everyone down a bit.
During lunch, no one discussed the Zerg, and everyone tacitly avoided mentioning Infected, focusing instead on quickly finishing their food.
After a simple lunch, Liu Qiao and Qu Wanyue volunteered to wash the dishes. The plastic lunchboxes could be reused, and if conditions allowed, they could continue to prepare hot food in the future.
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Old Mo, do you have a computer here?"
Mo Xuemin nodded: "Yes. The design department of the decoration company has computers available for designers."
Lao Mo's renovation company on Spade 8 isn't very big; it's just a roadside shop of about 200 square meters, divided into small offices for the design, finance, and engineering departments. He met with a client in the morning, and everyone in the company went out for lunch, so Lao Mo locked the door and went to the square to find his teammates. Now that the company is empty, it has become the team's temporary base.
Yu Hanjiang said, "Let's look up some information online."
In a modern setting, obtaining information in an escape room is much easier than in ancient times. Just like how CEO Shao manipulated the stock market using a computer in the Financial Crisis escape room, this city also has computers. The Zerg won't destroy the city's circuits and network in a single day, so the computers can still access the internet.
The group arrived at the design department, Lao Mo turned on his computer, and Yu Hanjiang quickly searched for information on the web.
The authorities are still trying to suppress public opinion and have not released the truth about the "parasite invasion." However, after experiencing the traffic jam in the city center at noon and the horrific scene of being bitten and attacked, the entire city has been completely plunged into panic.
Many residents posted online, saying things like, "Everyone, please don't go out these next few days! There are crazy people biting people everywhere!" and "Is it rabies?" "Medical students say it's not rabies; it's probably an infection from an unknown microorganism!"
"Those infected people are terrifying. I saw one bite off my classmate's ear with my own eyes." "Our school is already on holiday. More than half the students have mutated. I'm so scared, I'm hiding at home and afraid to go out..."
Panic quickly spread across the internet.
The sky above the city was clear and blue, but dark clouds hung heavy in everyone's hearts.
Yu Hanjiang knew that these people could only stay at home for three or four days at most. Soon, the city would be without water and electricity—since the insects knew to turn off the heating, they would naturally damage the water and electricity systems, forcing the indigenous people to come out of their homes.
A power outage is tolerable, but a sudden water outage without notice raises serious concerns. How many residents have the habit of storing water at home? Without water to drink, they'll quickly become restless…
Yu Hanjiang estimated: "Within three days at most, a large-scale human-insect conflict will break out in the entire city, and the number of Infected will multiply. We need to find a way to relocate as soon as possible."
His teammates stood behind him, listening to his instructions.
Yu Hanjiang entered the keyword "map" into the webpage, and a map of the entire city was indeed displayed before everyone.
The city is divided into five administrative districts: Central District, Xitang District, Nanchuan District, Beiyang District, and Dongguan District. The names of each district correspond to the directions of east, west, south, and north, making them easy to distinguish.
Yu Hanjiang zoomed in on the map and carefully observed the distribution of buildings.
His teammates looked at the densely packed map and were completely baffled, but Yu Hanjiang was a policeman who often had to analyze the possible escape routes of criminals when catching them, so he was extremely professional at reading maps.
Upon observing the city's architectural layout, he immediately deduced the city's plan and made a decision, pointing to the eastern part of the map: "Let's go to the east of the city."
Everyone looked puzzled.
To make it easier for his teammates to understand, Yu Hanjiang explained in a low voice: "From the map layout, the central area and the western Tang area are the city's financial and trade centers, with many large commercial plazas. These two areas are the most prosperous parts of the city and have the highest population density."
The man's long, slender fingers lightly traced the northern area on the map, and he said, "Beiyang District is the university town."
The city's universities are all located here, making it equally difficult to control an outbreak.
"Nanchuan District is an ecologically livable area with the city's largest wetland park. The environment here is beautiful and the air is fresh, making it very suitable for people to live in. This also means that a large number of residential communities will be concentrated here, with many high-rise buildings and newly developed housing projects. The Zerg can climb on buildings, so going to the south of the city would be suicide for us."
His gaze sharpened, and he finally said, "Dongguan District is a logistics distribution center. Usually, urban logistics centers have a large number of factories used to store goods such as vegetables, fruits, and building materials. Express delivery companies also have their logistics points here. Low-rise buildings are more advantageous for us. Moreover, logistics distribution centers are usually relatively remote and desolate, making them the first choice for avoiding insect swarms."
Everyone suddenly realized what was going on.
Ye Qi looked at Yu Hanjiang with admiration: " Captain Yu is amazing! He can glean so much information just from a map..."
Shao Qingge joked, "After all, Captain Yu often outwits those cunning murderers and tries to guess their hiding places. Captain Yu is more professional at looking at maps than the rest of us."
Xiao Lou also had great admiration for this man.
Once inside the Spade Secret Room, Yu Hanjiang's combat skills were put to full use. His years of experience dealing with criminals, along with his quick wit and composure, gave his teammates complete confidence in his decisions.
With such a reliable team leader, everyone has more confidence in clearing Spade 8!