Chapter 85

Ye Xiao still disagreed, but Lin Tantan made her meaning plain: if he was going out, he wouldn't go without her, no leaving unless she went along.
To go out in the dead of night with no lights to rescue someone, and a familiar face at that, what if emotions ran high and someone panicked and got themselves killed? She couldn't stop him, so she'd be his insurance.
Ye Xiao said, "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to me."
"If you're that sure, it shouldn't be a problem to bring me along, right?" Lin Tantan replied.
Ye Xiao argued that it would be dangerous for her to go. That only convinced her more: if it was that dangerous, how could she not come? If necessary, she could save lives.
Ye Xiao couldn't persuade her. He watched her fall silent for a long time, feeling anxious and helpless and, in a strange way, touched, so much so that he barely noticed the discomfort he'd been feeling.
Lin Tantan used her earth ability to conjure a small platform, sat cross-legged on it, and prepared to stand her ground with him to the end.
The mutant rats in the puddles were roused by the noise. They shook themselves off, padded over to snuggle up to her. Lin Tantan pulled the little hamster from her arms, coaxed a few nuts out of it, and handed them around; two large swans woke too and honked a couple of times.
The backyard suddenly came alive.
Lin Tantan stroked one, rubbed another, brushed their fur and used a small flame to singe it smooth, the grooming made their coats softer and sleeker, and any tiny pests were dealt with. Every mutant rat loved it; it felt good and looked better.
But they seemed to sense the tense air between the two and behaved unusually obediently, not nearly as rowdy as usual.
As she worked she said, "You don't have to hesitate. I'm not someone who needs constant guarding, not to brag, but in the squad, no, in the whole base there's no one more confident than me at facing zombies and coming back in one piece."
Ye Xiao thought of her many tricks, the zombies would likely be dead before they ever got close, and of that golden, bell-like metallic barrier she could create. He had to admit she wasn't wrong.
Lin Tantan added, "And even if you wait until dawn to go, I'm coming with you."
Ye Xiao said helplessly, "Tantan."
Lin Tantan said, "Don't argue. It's not up for discussion. Besides, I haven't been out in a long time. It's good to see what's become of the outside world, wouldn't want to get so comfortable we forget how to kill zombies."
Ye Xiao didn't think she needed to put herself through that, but she had decided, and he couldn't change her. When she was stubborn, there was no negotiating.
He did relent a little: they wouldn't leave after three; they'd wait until dawn.
Lin Tantan looked him over; seeing his expression wasn't too forced, she relaxed. Daylight rescues weren't so dangerous. In the past when Ye Xiao left the base he'd brought people back, survivors found along the way or those trapped by zombies, and none of those missions had gone wrong.
She was a bit curious, though, about who Han Ying really was to make him care so much.
Ye Xiao said, "We grew up in the same compound and were very close; our families were close too." Although after enlisting they'd joined different units and their paths diverged, they'd still trained together, faced each other in exercises, and met on real missions.
As he spoke Lin Tantan watched him and could hear the genuine warmth in his voice. If she hadn't already pried open the corner of the wall herself, she might've worried that Han Ying was his true confidant, even Bai Cheng would have to step back, because clearly Han Ying had a deeper bond with Ye Xiao.
Lin Tantan turned to Bai Cheng and asked if he knew Han Ying. Bai Cheng said he did, they'd met and worked together, and described him as frank and straightforward.
Bai Cheng said, "I've told you, Ye Xiao was adopted. I don't really know his childhood, but it probably wasn't pleasant; Han Ying helped him a lot." He sighed. "Don't be mad at Ye Xiao. Han Ying came begging at his feet, he couldn't just do nothing. The fact that he restrained himself and didn't rush off immediately shows he thought of everyone." Given the current state of the squad, if Ye Xiao insisted on mustering people to go right away they could pull it off, but as they said, sending people out now to rescue others would be trading your own people's lives for strangers'.
Han Ying's life was valuable, but the squad members had no obligation to sacrifice themselves for a stranger.
Ye Xiao had thought of that. He worried for his old friend, but he wasn't willing to put innocent people at risk.
Lin Tantan looked thoughtful. So that's the story. If Han Ying is really to be saved, she hoped he could hold out until dawn.
Once three o'clock passed, Ye Xiao returned to his usual self and rose to prepare. He reestablished contact with Han Ying's side, and using the most detailed maps and his recent knowledge of the terrain near the base he guided them to a good hiding spot. Then he readied everyone for the rescue.
He pulled together the two strongest combat squads, requisitioned several medics, and loaded them into the empty vehicles best suited to carry people. They formed up at the parking lot by the base gate, ready to roll.
Dawn was breaking.
Lin Tantan sat in the lead van, dozing sleepily. This was the same vehicle Jiang Xiaotian had stayed in during the migration; there was still equipment inside. Jiang Xiaotian himself was leaning to one side, napping, and behind the wheel was Mei Baisheng, eyes half-closed.
The three of them had, in a way, returned to that van.
When a rooster in the compound, kept in a pen, crowed in the distance, the three woke at once. Jiang Xiaotian yawned, "Aren't we leaving yet?"
He wasn't usually one to leave the base, but because this rescue concerned Ye Xiao's old acquaintance and required precise positioning and communications, and because he didn't trust others to handle that well, Jiang Xiaotian had personally stepped in. Mei Baisheng had also come along to help and driven.
Lin Tantan glanced at the gray sky. "Almost time?" Just then the passenger door opened and Ye Xiao climbed in. He looked at Lin Tantan with a hint of apology. "Sorry to have troubled you. Are you very tired? It's okay to sleep a bit first."
Jiang Xiaotian; Mei Baisheng: "We're tired too, we deserve some gentle, soft-spoken care!"
Lin Tantan rubbed her eyes. "Don't be so formal, besides, I insisted on coming. Can we get moving?"
"I've already cleared it with the gate, they'll open early to let us out. We're leaving now." Ye Xiao told Xiaotian and Meimei, "Thanks for your hard work today. We'll cook a meal later and have a drink."
Gentle, soft words? Not happening.
But the two of them chuckled; Mei Baisheng grinned, "You said that." With that he started the engine.
The car reached the base gates. Two heavy, solid doors slid aside on electric tracks, emitting a distinct mechanical groan.
As soon as the gates opened the car drove out, followed closely by the others.
Lin Tantan sat in the back, leaning over the driver and front passenger seats, eyes wide as she watched outside.
When she had entered the base it had been the end of January; in the blink of an eye more than two months had passed. Compared with most people she’d lived almost a pampered life, she hadn't left the base even once and had no idea what the outside world had become.
It was still before dawn; looking out everything had a sickly blue-grey cast. Outside the base, apart from a single road kept clear by tire tracks, the rest was littered with corpses, some fresh, clearly killed by people on the walls last night; some older, left where they fell for days; others missing limbs yet still struggling, shrieking sharply when they saw the car.
Ye Xiao glanced over and waved his hand; the struggling zombies immediately dropped dead.
Apart from the bodies, there was trash and abandoned cars strewn across the ground. The farther from the base you looked, the more littered it became, silent, desolate, dilapidated. Houses, near and far, stood with darkened doors and windows like haunted shells.
The cold morning wind blew through the car window. Looking at this apocalypse, Lin Tantan felt a pang of desolation.
Seeing her watching intently, Ye Xiao said, "Want us to switch positions so you can get a better view?"
Lin Tantan shook her head. "No, I can see fine from here."
Because vehicles ran back and forth every day, the road from the base to the nearest town was clearly defined. Once they entered the town the terrain tightened and visibility dropped, and danger began to close in.
Because dawn hadn't fully broken, the zombies were in their last active period. Lin Tantan suddenly saw one leaping between buildings three or four stories high, moving like an agile monkey; in the shadows of the structures a few staggered shapes flickered by, and from somewhere came the rasping roars of the infected.
There were wild dogs digging through piles of rubbish, enormous rats peeking from manholes, and black, sharp-screeching birds circling on rooftops.
All of it lent the place a tense, dangerous air.
And this was only the town nearest the base, the danger level here was the lowest. Most people couldn't leave the base at all; if they did, they could only wander around nearby.
Ye Xiao signaled over the radio for the cars behind to fall in; Jiang Xiaotian began typing. "The beacon's still at the original position, they haven't moved." He launched two drones from the car roof to start capturing images of the area.
Lin Tantan watched outside a while longer, her neck growing stiff, so she sat down beside Jiang Xiaotian and watched the images on his screen.
It was getting bleaker by the minute; compared to just over two months ago the city had decayed a great deal.
As the sun climbed the zombies became rarer, though groups still burst out suddenly as if ambushing them. Each time they were dealt with immediately by Ye Xiao and the people in the following vehicles.
Driving with frequent stops, having left at five, they finally neared the location at eight.
There the place was surrounded by a horde. The whole street was clogged; having caught the scent of humans, the zombies wouldn't give up easily. Even with slanted daylight signaling the end of their night, they refused to leave.
The approach of the vehicles alerted them, those on the outer edge all turned at once and then bolted, racing toward them with hoarse, frenzied cries.
A few cars had been positioned into a defensive perimeter using the terrain. Ye Xiao and Mei Baisheng stepped out, but Lin Tantan stayed inside. She watched the rotting, snarling zombies charging the front of the vehicle and was startled by their speed, so fast that in an instant the dozens of meters felt like they'd collapsed.
But before they could get close, visible and invisible powers hurled them aside. Even those that leaped at the car were swiftly dispatched.
Tornadoes ripped up through the horde; streaks of flame and lightning crashed down among them.
"Caw! Caw!" the birds cried. Lin Tantan looked up: several jet-black birds circled overhead, eyeing the living on the ground, while on high rooftops stood a few doglike creatures, also poised to make a move.
Damn, ordinary people really wouldn't last. But the two combat squads, plus Ye Xiao and Mei Baisheng, packed real firepower; powers and ammunition poured out, cutting the zombies down like chopping vegetables, and the birds in the sky were shot out of the air.
Suddenly a roar came from the rear. Lin Tantan got out of the car and saw a new pack of zombies burst onto the street behind them.
"Earth casters, block them!" someone shouted. Several earth casters immediately raised a wall of earth from the ground.
Lin Tantan frowned slightly. With a light press of her foot, a gigantic earthen wall rose up in the street. It shot upward in seconds to three or four meters, and kept rising, so wide it sealed off the entire road.
The earth-type ability users who'd been straining to raise the wall froze.
They watched in stunned silence as the wall climbed to seven or eight meters. Previously, even if an earthen wall held the zombies back for a while, they'd quickly pile up like a human tower and clamber over it. But a seven- or eight-meter wall... there was no way they'd scale that anytime soon.
The threat from the rear eased at once, and the zombies ahead had largely been dealt with.
The ground was littered with zombie corpses, making the road difficult to drive. Two wood-type users sent out vines that quickly swept the zombies off the central route so the vehicle could pass.
They soon reached the place where Han Ying had been surrounded. It was a bank: the main door had been shut from the inside and the roll-up shutter pulled down, but both the glass front doors and the shutter were on the verge of being smashed by the zombies outside.
Ye Xiao cleared the remaining zombies at the entrance, called out to Han Ying a few words, and someone inside quickly answered. Ye Xiao sliced through both doors with a few wind blades, revealing the scene within the bank: corpses strewn across the floor, blood everywhere. Behind the counters, a few men and women stepped out, guns in hand, their clothes stained with blood, watching the newcomers with wary eyes.
Ye Xiao looked at the man walking in front; Lin Tantan did the same. He was a tall, sturdy fellow, probably about Ye Xiao's age, but his face was buried in a heavy beard, his hair thick and uncombed. He looked utterly weathered.
Facing Ye Xiao, who had fought all the way here and yet was almost free of dirt, the man seemed like someone from another generation.
Ye Xiao looked at him and let out a relieved breath: "Han Ying."
Han Ying grinned at Ye Xiao and gave him a thump on the chest. "You brat, you actually came!" With that they clasped each other in a fierce, bear-like hug.
Ye Xiao, who had arrived without a speck of dirt on him, was immediately hugged into filth; a huge bloody handprint smeared across him.
Lin Tantan's mouth twitched. Once the two men separated, she turned to Han Ying: "You're hurt."
Han Ying blinked, looking at this pale, pretty woman who seemed entirely out of place here: Lin Tantan.
Ye Xiao introduced, "Han Ying, this is Lin Tantan, Wood-type."
He didn't explain their relationship. For one, this wasn't the time or place to go into details, and for another, it wouldn't have been fitting to introduce her any other way. Lin Tantan was out here as a Wood-type ability user, so that was how he presented her.
Then Ye Xiao asked, "How badly are you hurt? If you can still walk, we should get out of here. How many of you are left?"
Han Ying glanced at Lin Tantan but didn't press. He called the others out from inside, a sparse assortment of men, women and elderly, less than a hundred in all.
Han Ying touched his face and spoke hoarsely, "The others were all lost. After we got into the bank we found many infected; more died. This is all that's left. Will the vehicle hold us?"
"It'll hold. Get on." It wasn't just that there was room, Ye Xiao had arranged the vehicles for hundreds; now most of them would be going back half-empty.
Han Ying ushered everyone aboard while Lin Tantan watched with a detached eye. These people, having gone through a night of life-and-death struggle, looked dazed and numb. Most tellingly, their gazes toward the rescuers were cold; a few even showed open hatred.
Lin Tantan raised an eyebrow; her dark suspicion had, she realized, come true.
It was a complicated situation. They'd called for help in the middle of the night, but the others hadn't come then; they only set out at dawn. The rescuers had their reasons and difficulties, of course, but what would the people being rescued think?
They'd think: why didn't you come sooner? If you'd come earlier, so many wouldn't have had to die. What's the point of arriving this late, the dead can't be brought back.
Gratitude, which should have been natural, could be warped into something else. Forget thanks, it's entirely possible for them to vent the fear and hatred born of losing loved ones on the rescuers.
If they weren't acquaintances, the best course after such an initial failure might be to keep away, anything said afterwards could do more harm than good. Lin Tantan's guess had been right.
Thankfully, only a few wore those hostile looks. Han Ying wasn't among them, he seemed not to mind that Ye Xiao had arrived only now.
She looked at Ye Xiao. His expression was calm as he spoke with Han Ying and scanned their surroundings. He, too, had noticed the looks from some people; his face betrayed nothing, but Lin Tantan knew him well enough to be sure it mattered to him.
As long as he knew, that was enough.
Once everyone was aboard, the convoy hurried away. Only minutes after they left did the earthen wall, long pressed against by hordes of zombies, collapse with a crash, sending many zombies tumbling.
Meanwhile, Han Ying rode in Lin Tantan's vehicle. He was indeed wounded, he'd been shot and had bled heavily. Apparently, after they entered the bank someone suddenly noticed a person grabbed by a zombie and panic broke out; in the chaos someone fired in fright and then others fired back. It became a massacre. Han Ying was hit during that confusion and had bled a great deal.
Ye Xiao quickly removed the bullet while Lin Tantan tended his wounds.
Han Ying thanked Lin Tantan and then said, "So you're the legendary Lin Tantan."
Before Lin Tantan could answer, Ye Xiao frowned slightly: "You knew?"
"Of course," Han Ying teased Ye Xiao. "I have contacts in the capital. Anyone who can reach them knows the name of the only tri-type ability user. Thanks to her I even found out you were at the Ning City base, her reputation far outstrips yours now."
Ye Xiao's expression soured. "You say you're heading back to the capital, you don't need to come to Ning City to get there. Did you come out of your way on purpose?"
Han Ying sighed, "Not really out of the way, we're actually pretty close to Ning City anyway, figured we'd drop by to see you." He paused, ran a hand through his hair, and went on, "I'll be blunt. I have orders from above to take the tri-type ability user with me."
Seeing Ye Xiao's face change, he hurried to add, "It's not like some people who would just seize her. My job is to persuade you properly, to convince you to come back too."
He sighed. "I've heard your powers have grown strong, and with this young woman, you're being wasted here in Ning City. You didn't know? There are several especially dangerous zombies lingering near the capital. By the Academy's classifications they're already level‑four, and showing signs of evolving toward level‑five, a real menace. Ordinary people are dead meat if they meet them. The few ability‑users who might beat them are either under strict military control or kept like prized possessions, never allowed out to take risks."
Lin Tantan said bluntly, "So you want to coax Ye Xiao back to go fight those zombies?"
Her voice was cool, dropped a few tones, carrying a hard, displeased undertone. Han Ying glanced at her in surprise; he knew she was a tri‑ability user, but still thought of her as someone under Ye Xiao. Now, as he spoke to Ye Xiao as a friend, she suddenly interrupted... she had even blurted out "You're hurt" earlier.
Han Ying smiled at Lin Tantan. "Young miss, you don't know how terrible a level‑four zombie is, how many people it can kill. If we let them keep evolving, one day we won't stand a chance. So we have to kill them while there's still a chance."
Ye Xiao frowned and was about to speak when Lin Tantan said coldly, "Your sense of duty is admirable, I suppose once you get to the capital you'll be the first to rush in and fight them yourself."
Han Ying, as if oblivious to her sarcasm, straightened and declared, "Of course. If I had the ability I'd go myself. Even if I don't, I'd still try, someone has to make sacrifices. If everyone shrinks back, humanity has no hope."
Lin Tantan: "……"
So he really was an idiot.
She turned away and fell silent, even stopping the treatment, the bleeding had stopped anyway. Let a hot‑blooded fellow like that use his own burning heart to heal himself.
Then Han Ying went back to persuading Ye Xiao, repeating "for the motherland, for the people" over and over.
Ye Xiao said calmly, "I don't plan to head north right now."
Han Ying frowned. "I know you and Min Yande have some friction. Come with us, Commander Xu values you highly, and we're united; we don't get into the messy business Min Yande's people do. The capital really needs strong ability users."
Lin Tantan thought: Comrade, you're trying to poach someone's talent, could you stop sounding so high‑minded, as if you're rallying people for the salvation of mankind while you bolster your own faction?
She couldn't help saying, "Ning City needs Ye Xiao too, are the people here not human?"
Han Ying frowned. "Listen, young miss, can you not butt in when we're discussing serious matters?"
Lin Tantan was stunned for a moment. Jiang Xiaotian, who'd been grinning like someone watching a fool perform, lifted his head from the computer; even Mei Baisheng, who'd been driving, looked over. Ye Xiao's face went completely cold. "Han Ying!"
He barked sharply, eyes icy, "If that's your attitude, get out of the car now."
Han Ying stared at him in disbelief, sitting up straight from his previous slouch.
Ye Xiao met his gaze with a hard calm. The moment Han Ying had called Lin Tantan "young miss," he'd been displeased. Lin Tantan was his inviolable pride; when Li Qun's people had once spoken rudely to her, Ye Xiao had privately vowed never to let anyone belittle her. He hadn't expected it from an old friend he'd just rescued.
Ye Xiao reached out and beckoned Lin Tantan closer, away from Han Ying, ruffling her hair. He said to Han Ying, "Tantan is the most important member of our team. You're not entitled to keep calling her 'young miss.' And whoever speaks, she has the right to voice her opinion. Han Ying, apologize."
Han Ying froze for a long moment, his face flushing. "You, you…" He couldn't believe Ye Xiao would go to such lengths for a woman!
But he also knew he was in Ye Xiao's vehicle, and Ye Xiao had saved so many of them. He took a deep breath, looked at Lin Tantan, and said in a low voice, "Ms. Lin, sorry. I spoke carelessly, no offense intended. Please don't take it to heart."
Lin Tantan found herself viewing him with a bit of newfound respect. For someone who seemed so brash and rude, he could humble himself quickly, adaptable and resilient.
Still, that underlying "men speak, ignorant little women should keep quiet" attitude, while not harmful to her, was tiresome. She didn't want to keep talking to him, so after a word to Ye Xiao she climbed into the passenger seat. With her gone, the exchange between Ye Xiao and Han Ying cooled; the easy warmth of two old friends reunited had disappeared.
On the way back they encountered a few zombies, zombified animals, and mutated creatures, but handled them easily and were back at the base by eleven.
The car pulled up outside the compound of the Zhengyang Base without entering. Han Ying got out, still a little sheepish, but when he saw the place, four large characters "Zhengyang Base" boldly inscribed above the gate in strong, vigorous strokes, he was surprised. "This is your turf?"
Ye Xiao gave a slight nod.
Han Ying started toward the gate. "You're doing well here!"
Bai Cheng happened to come out with some people and greeted Han Ying with a smile. "You're here, everyone worked hard. I've got a place ready for you to rest; I'll take you there."
But he didn't head into the compound; he seemed to be leading them someplace else.
"…" Han Ying pointed toward the compound. "Not here?"
"Ah, not here. There aren't any spare rooms left; the place I prepared is elsewhere, and the conditions are pretty good," Bai Cheng said considerately. By the time he'd finished those two sentences he had already picked up on a wrongness in the air, mainly between Ye Xiao and Han Ying. Ye Xiao, who had been anxious before they set out, now stood to the side with a cool expression; he treated Han Ying with the reserve of a casual acquaintance rather than the warmth one might expect.
He was a little surprised, but said nothing more than the usual pleasantries; when he heard someone had been hurt he promised to send two wood-type operatives to help.
Originally those wood-type ability users wouldn't have needed him to assign them, after all Lin Tantan was here, but seeing the situation looked off, he immediately put that plan into motion. Those two wood-types weren't even from the medical team; he intended to just pull two people from the clinic outside.
Ye Xiao then said, "Where is it? I'll take them there."
Bai Cheng said it was in the residential building beside the villa district. Ye Xiao nodded and left with Han Ying and the others. Bai Cheng turned and asked Mei Baisheng, who had stayed behind, what was going on.
Mei Baisheng chuckled, "How does that saying go, don't touch a dragon's reverse scales or it will rage. I always thought that sounded a bit ridiculous, but now it seems it's true."
Bai Cheng understood at once: someone on Han Ying's side had probably offended Lin Tantan.
There could be no other explanation; even if Ye Xiao had had a falling-out with him, he wouldn't have looked that grim.
Sure enough Mei Baisheng said, "That guy has a foul mouth, he spoke disrespectfully to Tantan, and the boss got really angry."
Bai Cheng looked at Lin Tantan. Her mood seemed fine; as she walked into the compound she stared in surprise at the bustling scene inside. "Are they moving in?"
"Yes, they're moving in," Bai Cheng replied.
"Wasn't the scheduled time not yet here? Has the place dried out? Aren't there still some finishing touches to do?"
"It's already dry. The finishing is just simple interior work, let them handle that once they move in. They're all eager to live in their new homes," Bai Cheng said with a smile, but seeing the sly grin on his face she sensed there was more to it.
Sure enough, Bai Cheng went on: after these people moved in, he'd have a logistics team clean up some of the now-vacant rooms in the residential building next to the villa district and put Han Ying's group in them.
Lin Tantan: "…"
So they moved people in early to free up rooms for others?
Bai Cheng said, "We originally thought there would be hundreds of people and really couldn't arrange housing on such short notice, so we tried this plan. We didn't expect the number to be smaller than we estimated."
It was a very practical issue, if there had been hundreds, it would have been hard to find a place to house so many. After all, these were Ye Xiao's old friends; you couldn't put them up in terrible conditions. Given that the Zhengyang Base had rows of new housing, you couldn't very well send them to live in shacks, but letting them into the main compounds wasn't an option either, so they just took some rooms first.
Besides, Bai Cheng wanted the compound properly set up before Han Ying and the others entered the base, so he moved the schedule up.
Lin Tantan didn't know about all that. She walked into the compound and watched people busying themselves: those who lived nearby with little luggage walked in by themselves; those coming from farther away with more to move or needing to bring furniture pulled carts or drove small vehicles, ferrying things into the compound trip after trip.
Everyone wore smiles on their faces and didn't seem the least bit tired.
There were thirteen residential buildings in the compound, each only six stories tall, not because they didn't want to build higher, but because reinforcement materials were limited; the higher the building, the greater the engineering demands.
Buildings One through Five were single-person dormitories, suitable for one person and sometimes two. The rooms were long and narrow, each a little over ten square meters, with a balcony and bathroom but no kitchen; residents ate in the mess hall. With more than twenty dorms per floor, these five buildings could house eight hundred to a thousand people.
Numbers Six through Thirteen were compact two-room apartments, suitable for a family. Each unit was about thirty square meters, with sixteen units per floor. Assuming an average of four people per household, they could accommodate nearly three thousand residents.
Of course it didn't work out that neatly in practice. For example, a combat squad leader might be allocated a compact two-room unit; if he were single and didn't care about living conditions, he could swap it for a dormitory spot and free the apartment for someone who needed it more. Logistics personnel might be allocated half a dorm each, but if an entire family belonged to the same team they could pool their allocations and apply for a two-room apartment.
In short, there was a lot of flexibility. Allocations were assigned per person, but people still had to pay a bit in contribution points for housing, larger homes cost more, smaller ones less. Relinquishing a large apartment could even earn extra subsidies; in any case they made sure no one was shortchanged.
Even so, there were still over a thousand people without housing. So getting a place in the compound came down to luck and a lottery; those who lost had to wait for the second batch of houses outside the compound. Although not living inside the compound might feel like a disadvantage or less secure, there were compensations, those houses would often be larger and cheaper.
Assigning housing was full of rules and loopholes that made Lin Tantan's head ache just listening to it; it was tough on the housing office to keep everything orderly. Today, those who had qualified for residency were moving in, carrying their belongings and collecting their room tags to take possession.
The empty houses were suddenly alive and full of energy, and exclamations punctuated the air: "The stairways are so wide!" "The windows are so bright!" "The floors are so even!" "There's a faucet and a squat toilet!", it was as if nothing had changed since before the end of the world.
Watching everyone busy themselves, Lin Tantan couldn't help smiling as she thought of the derelict, haunted houses outside the base. A home was what people longed for most, especially in times of turmoil and danger. A good house settles people's minds, and when minds are settled, people come together.
Some factions, when they saw them building, muttered that they were making a big show, pouring manpower and materials into housing, a topsy-turvy priority. What do they know? Loud slogans don't mean anything; grand promises are worthless if you can't provide decent housing, how can you sustain anything long-term?
Besides, unless someone is ravenous for power, most people simply wish to live well, not to scheme about ruling the world. So helping people live better, improving quality of life and conveniences should be the real priority; building strength or prestige is only a means to that end.
Han Ying kept insisting that someone like Ye Xiao would only be put to proper use in the capital, but to Lin Tantan, helping these people settle down here in Ning City was no less meaningful than sending them to the capital, after all, slaying a few zombies for tens of millions of people hardly lacked importance.