novelsite Chapter 40 We will not abandon them, but they must walk their own path!
Chapter 40 We will not abandon them, but they must walk their own path!
"Xiao Lu! Come out quickly!"
Zhao Ze's voice was heavier than ever before, like a heavy hammer slamming against the iron door of the cabin.
"An emergency alert has been sent across all channels from Jinling City: a massive tidal wave of floating corpses is surging in from the eastern coast and is expected to reach our current location in twelve hours!"
"The notice orders all survivor fleets to immediately proceed to the designated coordinates to jointly construct humanity's...last line of defense!"
Lu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of intense light appearing in them.
He opened the door, and Zhao Ze's face, covered in blood but filled with anxiety, instantly came into view.
The atmosphere inside the captain's cabin was extremely oppressive.
Zhou Hai and Su Li were already there. The joy of breaking through to level 4 had vanished, replaced by a heavy feeling like an impending storm.
"What's going on?" Lu Sheng walked into the captain's cabin, his gaze falling directly on the hard-won map on the table.
Zhao didn't waste any words, and pointed heavily on the map: "These are the coordinates of the assembly point officially announced by Jinling, located in Zijin Mountain, the highest mountain range in Jinling City."
He raised his head, looking at Zhou Hai and Lu Sheng with a complicated expression, his voice hoarse: "I've calculated it. At the maximum speed of our modified Blaze, we can reach the safe coordinates in two hours."
Note: (18 nautical miles/hour × 2 hours = 36 nautical miles, converted to international standard kilometers: 36 nautical miles × 1.852 kilometers/nautical mile = 66.67 kilometers)
He paused for a moment, then uttered the second half of his sentence with difficulty.
"But... if we take the rest of the fleet with us, at their fastest average speed, it will take at least... thirty-three hours."
Thirty-three hours.
The zombie horde arrived twelve hours later.
This means that if they are taken along, everyone will be caught up, torn apart, and swallowed up by that massive floating zombie horde before reaching the safe zone!
An incredibly cruel, yet incredibly realistic choice, like a cold noose, was placed around the necks of the four core members of the Blazing Flame Fleet.
Is it to abandon the hundreds of survivors who were just grateful to them and try to survive on their own?
Or... for a vague and uncertain promise, should we take everyone with us and perish in the belly of floating corpses?
The captain's cabin was deathly silent.
Everyone's breathing became heavy.
"Oh shit!"
Zhou Hai slammed his fist hard onto the solid iron tabletop, making a loud "thud"!
His rugged face was etched with pain and struggle.
The vow that "as long as I stand, I will never abandon anyone who chooses to believe in us" still rings in my ears.
But in the apocalypse, the least valuable thing is a vow.
The most taboo thing is the Holy Mother.
He abruptly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, staring intently at Zhao Ze and Lu Sheng, practically forcing out the words through clenched teeth: "We...must survive!"
The core of the Blazing Fleet cannot die!
Zhao remained silent.
He didn't refute, but his hands gripped the giant hammer so tightly that his knuckles turned white and the veins bulged.
He couldn't bring himself to say the words "abandon," but reason told him that Zhou Hai's decision was the only right choice.
The atmosphere within the team was incredibly oppressive.
"Who said we were going to abandon them?"
Just then, Lu Sheng's calm voice broke the deadlock.
The three of them turned to look at him.
Lu Sheng walked up to the map, his face showing no struggle or hesitation, only an absolute calmness that revealed his complete understanding of the situation.
"We will neither abandon nor burden."
He pointed a finger lightly at the map, his voice clear and firm: "Captain Zhou, how much diesel fuel do we have left in our warehouse, the kind we got from Monkey Three?"
Zhou Hai was taken aback, and subconsciously replied, "There are five more large barrels, weighing over a thousand jin in total..."
"That's enough." Lu Sheng nodded, and a bold and meticulous plan instantly took shape in his mind.
"Give half of all our reserve fuel to the ships with propulsion systems behind us."
"Let those boats use ropes to tow those unpowered rafts, forming a temporary mutual aid fleet."
"At the same time, we will provide them with enough food and fresh water to reach their destination!"
"We give them the tools and hope to survive, but they must walk their own path!"
The words fell.
Zhou Hai and Zhao Ze's eyes widened instantly!
This plan...
This plan is absolutely ingenious!
It neither hindered the Blazing Flame, preserving the mobility of the core team, nor compromised Zhou Hai's promise to the greatest extent possible, giving ordinary survivors a way to live!
In this cannibalistic apocalypse, to have done this much is truly the epitome of benevolence and righteousness!
"Good! Good! Good!" Zhou Hai slapped his thigh, all his previous dejection and struggle vanishing. His eyes, looking at Lu Sheng, were filled with undisguised admiration and ecstatic joy. "Do it that way! Damn! Lu kid, your brain works too well!"
He turned and rushed towards the broadcasting room.
Soon, Zhou Hai's loud and firm voice, broadcast through the Blazing Flame's public address system, reached every ship behind him.
When the survivors heard that the massive horde of floating corpses was approaching, and that the Flame Fleet would not only not abandon them but would also distribute their invaluable fuel and food, after a brief silence, the entire sea erupted in cheers and cries as loud as a tsunami!
"Waaaaah...we...we weren't abandoned!"
"Long live Captain Zhou! Long live the Blazing Fleet!"
"Thank you! Thank you all!"
Countless people knelt on their rafts, bowing and weeping in the direction of the Blazing Flame.
They knew that this might be the best fleet they could encounter in the apocalypse.
The handover of supplies and the formation of the fleet were completed swiftly with extremely high efficiency.
Half an hour later.
Under the gaze of nearly a hundred survivors, a mixture of gratitude and reverence, the engines of the steel behemoth, the Blazing Flame, roared deafeningly. The bow turned, leaving a long white trail on the sea, and with unstoppable momentum, it sped off toward the Jinling coordinates!