Due to the high salary, many people applied, but only a few who met the requirements made it through the screening process. The high salary was not only due to the dangerous working environment, but also because the job required high technical skills.
After strict screening, only about 200 people who met the requirements were selected, which was not enough to fill half of the 500-person demand. Although these skilled workers could increase their proficiency through training, the training period was long, and resources were limited and couldn’t handle much loss, so the temporary decision was to let these people start working and find a faster solution later.
As for Ji Cha, the most immediate impact of not hiring 500 workers was that the pressure on him to cook was reduced, and there was no need to open a new canteen to share the workload. The existing canteen could easily accommodate more than 200 people.
Previously, an old man who was looking for his sister at the T city base came to inquire about the situation from time to time. Finally, he received news that his sister was returning to him in the first two days of October, but he had to wait until the next batch of personnel exchanges, which would be around mid-October.
As long as he could see his family, what did a few more days matter? After hearing the news, the old man thanked them profusely and returned home. Previously, Ji Cha had arranged for someone to help the old man with the rental housing, and now the few empty rooms left in the old man’s house were rented out at market prices. They were rented to several people who worked on the farm, as they were familiar with the area and it was safer for the elderly to live with people they knew.
Renting out the house was a win-win situation. For the tenants, the old man’s house was actually much better than the apartment buildings built by the base. A single room in the apartment was just a single room, but the old man’s house had a large common area. The courtyard alone was very comfortable. For the old man, they didn’t have many expenses. Renting out two rooms meant that even if his sister came from T City and didn’t go out to work, she could still live a stable life.
However, things took a turn for the worse.
When Ji Cha and Liang Jincheng were having lunch together, the team vehicle that went out to deliver meals reported a terrible message upon returning.
“We encountered a zombie horde of about a hundred on the way back. It seems to have split from a larger zombie unit. I don’t know if there is a large zombie horde coming our way.”
Before the soldier who came to report could finish speaking, another guard came in to inform Liang Jincheng, “Captain Liang, we have received a radio message from T City.”
Liang Jincheng immediately put down his chopsticks and followed the soldier out. Ji Cha in the room also became nervous and got up after chewing his food a few times. Liang Jincheng turned around and looked at him, saying, “T City has been hit by a large number of zombies, with a hundred casualties. They are requesting our assistance.”
This was really terrible news, especially at a time when everyone felt a little stable. The harsh reality came crashing down and shattered the surface stability, reminding them that they were still living in an extremely dangerous environment.
“So, a large-scale zombie horde has indeed appeared?” Ji Cha’s mood became even more depressed.
Liang Jincheng nodded confidently, “Most likely, it’s a zombie horde much larger than the one we encountered before.”
After the apocalypse, the rate at which people turned into zombies was significantly higher than the rate of those who remained human, not to mention that many people who turned into zombies also assimilated normal people through various means. C Country was originally a populous country, and after all the turmoil, it is possible that the ratio of normal people to zombies is less than one to ten. This number of zombies is extremely exaggerated and may not be completely eradicated for decades.
Liang Jincheng quickly prepared to leave: “I’m going out myself. You go back to the factory first and wait for me to come back.”
Ji Cha naturally didn’t want him to take risks: “We don’t know what the situation is outside yet, maybe let them go out and investigate first?”
He knew that what he said was a bit selfish, but he couldn’t help being selfish at this time.
Liang Jincheng hugged Ji Cha and kissed him on the forehead, looking at him gently: “Don’t worry, I won’t take any risks for you. Just stay safe at home and wait for me to come back.”
Ji Cha knew he couldn’t stop him, so he agreed and returned to the factory in the afternoon. During dinner, he briefly revealed the news about the zombie attack on the T City base to the people in the factory.
At first, everyone was surprised, but then they became calm. After all, such things were too normal in the post-apocalyptic world, but even if things were calm, it was still not easy.
Wang Qinxue asked Ji Cha, “Will this affect our base?”
Ji Cha shook his head: “The possibility is actually very small. The T City base is very far from here, and there are many routes in between. It’s very likely that they’ll find a way to lead the zombies to other places.”
“But,” Wang Qinxue worried, “if we don’t kill the zombies, isn’t that just a temporary solution? It’s very likely that the zombies will come back after going around.”
Zhang Xing frowned: “That’s true, but what can we do? No one has the ability to deal with so many zombies now. Even if we use all the bullets in the base, we don’t know if we can eliminate even one percent of these zombies. Are we going to use bombs for the rest? That would cause even greater impact on the already brutal environment.”
At this moment, Zhang Qinqin, who had been sitting next to them without speaking much, suddenly spoke up.
“Or maybe we can change our thinking. Instead of thinking about how to eliminate zombies, why don’t we think about how to use them?”
Ji Cha turned to look at her. “What do you mean?”
Zhang Qinqin explained, “I read in the news before that some people overseas choose not to bury their loved ones after cremation, but instead scatter the ashes in the sea or under trees. I did some research and found that almost every substance in human ashes is a good fertilizer. Although zombies carry the virus, the material after being burned into ashes shouldn’t change, right? Farms are currently lacking natural fertilizers. If we can make use of it…”
As she spoke, the several men who had been expressing their opinions earlier all stared at her in shock.
Zhang Qinqin couldn’t help but hesitate, “Uh, I just said it casually…”
“I think this proposal is great,” Ji Cha’s eyes lit up. “Although it may be difficult to execute, this approach is definitely worth considering.”
Wang Qinxue slapped his thigh, “Exactly! It’s killing two birds with one stone and getting rid of potential troubles.”
“In that case, if we really want to turn this idea into reality, don’t we need zombies that can be used at any time? Who will handle this, and isn’t it dangerous?” Zhang Xing asked.
Ji Cha nodded, “This is just an idea. I still need to discuss it with Jincheng. If it is feasible, it would be best, but if it is not, there is no way around it.”
Worried about Liang Jincheng, Ji Cha stayed in the factory for two days. Fortunately, on the third day, a guard came to pick him up and told him that Captain Liang had returned.
Without hesitation, Ji Cha went back to the apartment with the guard.
The T base was attacked by zombies and has lost about 200 people so far, but luckily, the attacking zombie group was not the main force, and the main force had deviated from most of the living areas of the base and headed for the mountains. Therefore, the losses of the T base can still be recovered.
Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.
“The biggest damage this time is not personnel, but food. Because the breach of the zombies happened to be one of T City’s planting areas. Due to the possibility that the zombie virus may infect these planting areas, their base’s grain harvest in the second half of this year may be greatly reduced. Therefore, I hope to adjust the agreement we signed last time a little bit, increasing our allocation rights for metal and mineral resources, and in return, we should support them with more food.”
Currently, S City base is not short of food, and if they provide more in the second half of the year, Ji Cha is even more confident that they can meet the needs of the T City base. Besides, switching to a higher allocation of resources is definitely a huge profit for the S base.
“That’s no problem,” Ji Cha said. “Currently, except for some meat resources, we are not very abundant, but there is already a storage capacity for vegetables and staple food.”
As he spoke, he thought of what he was more concerned about: “So, what is happening with the zombie group now?”
Liang Jincheng took off his clothes in front of Ji Cha and went straight into the bathroom, speaking with Ji Cha while showering with the door open. “Do you know a tourist attraction in Q City called Q Lake?”
“Of course, why?”
Although Q Lake is called a lake, it is actually a dried-up lake that has been dry for many years. The reason why it is a famous scenic spot is because it is deep enough, large enough, and its edges are almost a cliff, as if God had placed a large basin here but forgot to fill it with water.
“I talked to Feng and the others and we plan to work together to lure all the zombies that are still wandering nearby over to one side. If successful, we can trap the zombies in place and don’t have to worry about them crawling up.”
Ji Cha immediately thought of the zombie disposal plan they had discussed at home: “Can we burn them after disposing of each batch?”
Liang Jincheng half-closed his eyes and looked at Ji Cha through the water droplets: “Hmm?”
Ji Cha proposed the idea of turning the burned zombies into fertilizer and the more he spoke, the more he felt it was a good idea: “I remember there aren’t many dense trees around Q Lake, and the bottom of the pit is also clean. Burning them won’t affect other things, and it can also prevent the problem of the zombies piling up higher and higher. We can continuously lure zombies in the future.”
Suddenly, the three problems of how to deal with zombies, how to sustainably deal with zombies, and how to profit from it were all solved.
🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺
I just looked at the toc and we’re almost done with the story😲 I originally thought this would have hundreds of chappies. Kinda wanted this to be longer tbh😓