Chapter 5

Ye Xiao sent the information on those “important targets” to his teammates. A fair-skinned young man read it and frowned. “This doesn’t make sense.”
Ye Xiao knew what he meant. “It’s an order personally issued by Major General Min,” he said.
Major General Min was their direct superior.
The pale young man’s frown deepened.
“No,” the hot-headed man among the six snapped, losing patience. “The first family, fine, they’ve served the country. The two scientists, we can accept them. But what are those last two? That mother and daughter, probably someone’s mistress and illegitimate child. That Cai, isn’t he some useless grandson of some big shot? These are important people?”
Ye Xiao sighed. “It’s an order.”
“This is using public power for private ends! We’re not anyone’s mercenaries!” the hot-head muttered, still visibly upset. “We just flew over, Yang City is a goddamn hell. No one’s managing it. Shouldn’t we be sent to the army? Folded temporarily into local police or paramilitary? Isn’t that better than just rescuing a handful of people?”
“Jin Province has no garrison; those military districts…” the pale youth began to explain. “Right now the whole country, indeed the whole world, is in the same situation. They can’t attend to this right away. As for the local security forces…” He trailed off and looked to Ye Xiao.
Ye Xiao nodded slightly. “The higher-ups aren’t entirely clear either, but Yang City’s security forces have probably been compromised. The intent from above is to send troops as soon as possible to organize survivor evacuations.”
But that city was likely to be abandoned.
In plain terms, it meant they were being told not to get involved: rescue the targets and leave.
The thought left Ye Xiao feeling some resentment.
They had returned only to be caught in a cataclysm. Their first call was to superiors to get instructions for the next steps, to do something for their stricken country and its suffering people. Instead, their commanders didn’t call them back to the army or issue significant directives, instead, the moment they learned their location they hastily ordered them to rescue people nearby.
Admittedly, they were only a handful. No matter how capable, facing a city of two million in chaos they couldn't do much, at best they could serve as private bodyguards for some connected people……
He glanced at the pale young man; they exchanged a look and both understood the worry in each other's eyes.
There must be something wrong at the central command.
At that moment someone sitting at the far end suddenly spoke: "Captain Ye, I don't feel good about this." He looked a little pale as he met Ye Xiao's eyes. "This mission isn't right, something's going to go wrong."
At his words the others' expressions shifted. Ye Xiao asked seriously, "Do you know any specifics?"
This man was Cheng Qinan. They'd found him while on a mission, a Chinese fellow who couldn't stay abroad any longer, so they brought him back. He was a bit of a weakling, but he had a remarkable gift: a powerful sixth sense, almost prophetic. His danger warnings were uncannily accurate.
They were supposed to fly straight to the capital today, but while passing over Yang City, Cheng suddenly demanded an emergency landing.
At that moment his face had gone ashen, as if something terrible would happen if they didn't land. The others trusted his instinct and descended immediately, and because of that, they escaped disaster.
Cheng shook his head. "I can't sense the details, just that it's not good..." He trailed off, his expression growing strange. Then, hesitantly: "A turn of events is coming, we might run into something good?"
The Hot-Tempered One couldn't help asking, "So is it good or bad?"
Cheng said slowly, "It was bad before. Now there's some good mixed into the bad. The last time I felt this way was when I discovered that gold mine."
The others: "......"
"You still didn't get that gold mine in the end," someone muttered.
Ye Xiao knew he wouldn't get more from him, so he turned to the pale young man. "Old Bai, what do you think?"
Bai Cheng spoke softly: "First, I still believe this order is unreasonable. But since Major General Min issued it personally, no matter how unreasonable, it seems we have no choice but to comply."
Several pairs of eyes fixed on Old Bai. He continued calmly, "Second, our team's nature is special; we've never had dealings with the district troops. Without approval from above, it's inappropriate for us to go anywhere."
This was the awkwardness of their situation.
"Third, our biggest problem is that we know too little about the present situation and nothing about what's happening at the center. So my suggestion is: we still go into Yang City and carry out the mission, but proceed cautiously and act according to circumstances."
The phrase "act according to circumstances" made several of them laugh. Sure, following orders is a soldier's duty, but they weren't fools or machines. If someone higher up tried to take advantage of the chaos to boss them around, they wouldn't obey blindly.
Ye Xiao asked everyone, "What do you think?"
They exchanged glances and smiled. "Then let's go. It'll be interesting to see what Cheng Qinan's 'good thing' actually is."
The guy who'd been fiddling with his laptop suddenly raised it. "I've taken control of some of Yang City's surveillance cameras."
Ye Xiao thought for a moment and smiled. "All right then. Get ready, we're moving out."
Not long after, in a villa district of Yang City an elderly retiree received a notice: stay home and wait, help was coming soon.
Two scientists trapped in an office received the same message.
Then a mother and daughter hiding in a basement were notified.
The last was a male student at North University Town. Since the zombies appeared he'd called his grandfather countless times, but had only been told to wait. He clutched his phone like a last hope. Finally the phone rang again, this time from an unfamiliar number. He answered with trembling hands: "Hello?"
"Is this Cai Chengliang? I'm Ye Xiao," said the steady male voice on the phone. "Where are you right now?"
Cai nearly burst into tears. "It's me, it's me. I'm at my school, in the main auditorium. There are so many zombies outside, please come save me!"
"Stay calm. It's nearly dark; don't wander around. We'll try to get there tomorrow." The man gave him a list of instructions, which he memorized, nodding repeatedly. After he hung up, meeting the eager looks of his classmates, he exclaimed, "Someone's coming to save me! I'm going to be rescued!"
"Who are they? How many?"
"They're some really skilled soldiers, special forces, I think." Cai was so happy he didn't notice the expressions on his classmates' faces.
That night, throughout the auditorium people kept sneaking messages to friends and classmates outside or nearby.
"Tomorrow there'll be soldiers at the auditorium. Try to make your way here so we can leave together."
"There'll be rescue tomorrow. Yes, come to the auditorium."
"Get your group organized and contact us tomorrow..."
Word of the rescue spread rapidly through North University Town, passed from one to ten to a hundred.
......
Meanwhile Lin Tantan was worrying about the approaching dusk.
Her progress wasn't smooth. Even though she tried to take routes away from crowds, she kept running into zombies: ducking one moment, racing them the next, detouring sometimes, other times gritting her teeth and fighting.
By dusk the map showed she'd only advanced seven or eight kilometers in the right direction.
And now zombies became much more active at night; she had to find a place to spend the night.
She had her eye on a villa district: tall compound walls topped with electrified wire, more zombies outside than inside, and each villa fitted with sturdy iron gates and railings that looked solid enough not to be broken by the zombies' current strength.
The problem was how she could scale the wall and, while all those zombies inside watched, get into a villa that would accept her and be free of the undead?
Ideally it would be an empty house, but how was she supposed to know which one was vacant?
No time to worry. Night was closing in, the wind picked up, and the zombies grew more restless. She picked a spot where they were fewer, fired her green straps again, looped them over the top of a wall pillar, took a running leap, and cleared the wall before the zombies outside could react.
She hit the ground hard.
Ouch, ouch, ouch!
How many times had she treated herself like a sack to be dropped today?
The wandering zombies in the villa compound lunged at her. Using her limb powers, she scrambled onto the second floor of the nearest villa, only to find a dense ring of zombies gathered below.
Lin Tantan panted, balancing on the poor little decorative ledge that jutted out, inching toward the second-floor window. She finally made it, then turned and, of course, there was a zombie face pressed against the glass.
Why are you everywhere?!
Big deal that you have numbers!
Lin Tantan felt utterly despairing.
Just then, the window of the villa across from hers opened. An old woman stood in the frame, waving urgently at her. "Young lady, come over here!"