157: The mysterious corpse-hunting team

The men lowered their heads, not daring to speak.

Tian Ming glanced at them and asked, “Did you fight?”

The leader stammered, “We saw the helicopter didn’t come, and thought rescue wasn’t coming, so we… that He Zhenjun…”

“Killed him?”

The men nodded slightly, acknowledging it.

Lin Yue, who was beside them, said, “Arbitrary killing, according to our Shelter’s rules, is punishable by death.”

The men were terrified and immediately knelt down.

The leader said, “Boss, we didn’t know the Shelter’s rules. Ignorance is no excuse. Besides, that Fatty He had been deceiving us ever since the Apocalypse broke out. Originally, there was a reserve energy station here, and we could have left, but he kept saying the officials would send rescue.”

Another person quickly chimed in, “That’s right, he was our manager, so we all believed him. We waited for one or two months. At first, there was plenty of food, so we just kept waiting. But after it snowed and got colder, there wasn’t enough to eat.”

“He deserved to die. If it weren’t for him, how could we have suffered so much?”

Tian Ming waved his hand, interrupting them, “Alright, stop talking. If he’s dead, he’s dead. Give your information sheets to Lin Yue. When the plane arrives, get on it directly. What happened before doesn’t count. Once you enter the Shelter, you must abide by its rules.”

Everyone immediately kowtowed in thanks, utterly humble.

“Oh, by the way, did none of you mutate into zombies?” Tian Ming asked with some confusion.

Logically, even if the port area was uninhabited, the number of technical engineering personnel infected with the zombie virus and turning into zombies was too low, wasn’t it?

The leader quickly said, “Yes, but not many, only about twenty or so. We cleaned them up. After that, no one else turned into a zombie.”

“Did you have a physical examination before?” Tian Ming asked.

The leader was stunned, then quickly nodded repeatedly, “We have annual routine physical examinations. The most recent one had an additional sensitization test, like a skin test.”

Tian Ming nodded slightly. Sun Wentao and Pan Ting’s group were also like this. These should be diluted Super Serum, giving these people the ability to resist viral infection.

“What’s your name?” Tian Ming asked.

“Zhao Kai!” the man replied.

Tian Ming nodded slightly, “My Shelter has over six thousand people. Is there any problem if I entrust the unmanned material transfer within the Shelter to you?”

Zhao Kai pondered for a moment and said, “We are only familiar with equipment and management. Achieving unmanned automated management is not an easy task.”

Tian Ming smiled indifferently and said, “I naturally understand that. If you can handle it, the treatment won’t be an issue. When you return to the Shelter later, have Lin Yue take you to see Ji Ruping, the head of the Shelter’s Comprehensive Management Department. She will arrange the specific tasks for you.”

With that, Tian Ming turned to look at Lin Yue.

Lin Yue understood and said, “When the plane arrives, I’ll take you all.”

The few men quickly thanked him again. They were also a bit bewildered. A Shelter of six thousand people was not a small Shelter by any means. They wondered how this young man managed it.

About an hour later, the transport helicopter appeared again. The remaining people boarded the plane, and Lin Yue led them away, while Tian Ming stayed behind.

At this port, containers were piled up like small mountains, totaling about six hundred thousand boxes. However, very few of the items were useful, mostly clothing, appliances, hardware, small ornaments, and electronic products.

Although there were many supplies, for the Apocalypse, these supplies were not essential. As the helicopter flew away, Tian Ming began to replicate samples from these large containers.

There was an endless supply of steel in this place. He could take away hundreds of tons of iron at once. Once he had collected enough samples, he would take some raw materials back.

The port was very large, stretching for several kilometers. Tian Ming collected samples along the way, and they were almost complete. At the easternmost edge of the port area, some footprints suddenly appeared on the snowy ground, along with a large clear patch of ground without snow.

Tian Ming immediately became alert. This place was a hydrogen energy station. The huge hydrogen storage tanks had been emptied, and all the liquid hydrogen inside had been released. This energy point must have been visited by someone, and it was about three kilometers from the management building at the East District Seaport.

At such a close distance, if it were large transport equipment, why didn’t the survivors in the building discover it? Tian Ming was a bit puzzled. Moreover, the energy had been moved out only in the last two days, because the weather had been very good these two days, without snow.

Tian Ming was puzzled and began to cautiously follow the footprints. The footprints were messy, indicating that many people had been there. Their purpose was very clear, all heading towards this hydrogen energy station.

Tian Ming followed the footprints to a makeshift tent. The tent was a camouflage field tent, very crude, likely military-grade.

Inside the tent, Tian Ming found some canned food and several military backpacks containing field tools such as an entrenching tool, a military dagger, and binoculars.

“Thump, thump, thump…”

The sound came from far to near, sounding like more than one motorcycle.

Tian Ming immediately emerged from the tent and followed the direction of the sound.

Soon, he saw three snowmobiles darting out from the distant container clusters, speeding directly towards the energy station. The snowmobiles were also dragging a rectangular sled, with a zombie tied to it with ropes.

Several men in winter combat suits got off the sled. They gathered together, and one of them, who seemed to be the captain, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and distributed them.

Soon after, the men began to smoke.

“Damn it, zombies are getting harder and harder to catch lately. Their mutation speed is too fast. I estimate in another two months, we’ll die in this godforsaken place.” One of them, exhaling smoke rings, complained bitterly.

“Exactly, these guys have even evolved intelligence and know how to use various terrains and objects to escape. One misstep, and we’ll face a total wipeout.” Another person chimed in.

“Alright, stop complaining, let’s get to work.” The captain threw his cigarette butt into the snow and motioned for everyone to start preparing.

They tied the zombie to a steel cable, with the other end of the rope attached to the snowmobile, and then dragged the sled directly from the other side of the port to the seaside.

The loud sound of crashing waves followed, and at this moment, a shuttle-shaped machine was gradually surfacing on the sea.

Tian Ming lay on top of a container, watching everything unfold in front of him. No wonder these people were so stealthy; it turned out they were using the sea route.