Cooking Gourmet Meals in the Apocalypse

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Safe Zone Attacked

The Platoon Leader nearly collapsed onto the ground. Fortunately, the soldiers caught him in time.

But Captain Lu was already gone.

When Captain Lu saw Chen Xing turn and run, he immediately followed her inside.

The fact that she could sense the danger without even seeing the zombies proved she already knew the camp wasn’t safe.

’If she said run, all he had to do was run.’

”What about these people?” Captain Lu asked. He had run into the building, but as a soldier, he couldn’t just abandon the civilians.

He wanted to hear Chen Xing’s opinion.

”In a situation like this, you can’t save anyone. Just keeping yourself alive would be a feat in itself,” Chen Xing said bluntly.

Most of the civilians here were the old, weak, sick, and disabled. Even if you protected them while they fled, they were too slow to possibly outrun the zombies.

The building wasn’t sturdy enough, either. Aside from the iron main gate, the room doors were all wooden. The zombies could smash through them with just a few hits, so hiding was unrealistic.

”I’ll go inform everyone to evacuate!” Captain Lu decided this was the only thing he could do. Without even taking the time to report to the Platoon Leader who had just come in, he ran toward the broadcast room.

Yan Caini had followed the Platoon Leader inside. Her face was ashen with fear, and she was holding her breath, not daring to cry.

”Barricade the door!” Chen Xing knew what Captain Lu was trying to do—buy as much time as possible for the civilians to evacuate the building.

The soldiers at the entrance were supposed to take orders from the Platoon Leader, but Chen Xing’s tone was so commanding and absolute that they had no choice but to obey and help barricade the door.

The bottom half of the main gate was made of very sturdy iron, so for the time being, the entrance was blocked.

”All personnel, evacuate through the rear exit immediately! All personnel, evacuate through the rear exit immediately...” It was Captain Lu’s voice.

He didn’t explain the specifics of the situation, only urged everyone to leave quickly.

The civilians were already on edge. As soon as the broadcast started, they all poured out of their rooms and swarmed the back door, jostling to get out.

The back door led directly to the mountain behind the building. The zombies would have to go all the way around to get there, and for now, it hadn’t caught their attention.

Desperate to live, the civilians were moving surprisingly fast.

But in their fear, everyone wanted to be the first one out, which led to pushing, shoving, and even trampling.

Seeing everyone surging toward the back door, Yan Caini was desperate to escape for her life and tried to shove her way into the crowd.

Chen Xing grabbed her, yanked her back to her side, and said, ”The old, weak, sick, and disabled go first!”

”Let go of me...” Yan Caini was scared to death. She struggled and pleaded with the Platoon Leader for help. ”Platoon Leader... I’m a delicate woman! I should get priority too!”

’Who gives a damn if you’re delicate or just an idiot?’ the Platoon Leader thought, wishing he could be the first one to escape.

As he shoved his way forward, he pretended to be maintaining order. ”Everyone, don’t push! One at a time to avoid anyone getting trampled!” And with that, he slipped to the front of the line and bolted out the door.

’So much for ’the people’ or being a ’soldier’; all he cared about was saving his own skin.’

Yan Caini grew frantic. Chen Xing’s grip kept her from leaving, and the horde of zombies at the main gate was growing more ferocious. They were in danger of breaking through at any moment.

Chen Xing’s grip loosened. She paid Yan Caini no more mind, her cold, sharp gaze fixed on the retreating figure of the Platoon Leader.

’Letting him get away would really piss me off!’

About two seconds later, the Platoon Leader’s leg suddenly gave out.

He felt a sharp pain and stopped to touch his calf. His hand came away covered in fresh, red blood.

’My life is more important!’

The Platoon Leader paid the blood no mind. He dragged his injured leg and continued to run up the mountain, but his pace was noticeably slower than before.

Meanwhile, zombies had begun to appear from around both sides of the building, chasing after the people who had fled up the mountain.

”The elderly, the sick, and anyone with mobility issues, follow me!” Chen Xing’s voice boomed. As soon as she finished shouting, she ran toward the basement.

The ones left at the back were those with the most trouble moving. Even if they made it out of the building, their chances of survival were slim.

She was the first to reach the basement and immediately ran from room to room. Everywhere she went, she collected items with a wave of her hand.

She had scouted the entire building earlier but hadn’t seen a supply warehouse. Since the basement had been guarded at the time, she’d naturally guessed that’s where the storerooms were.

This was the perfect opportunity to grab the supplies, and as a bonus, it would give this group of people a place to hide.

The slow-moving crowd only began to flood into the basement after Chen Xing had already cleared out several rooms.

”Thirty people to a room!” Chen Xing shouted, continuing to collect items as she directed them.

Most of the people who came down were elderly, and they were surprisingly cooperative, lining up to enter the rooms starting from the first one.

By the time she had finished clearing out the entire basement, almost everyone had made it down.

”Everyone, bolt your doors and don’t come out for a few hours!” Worried she wouldn’t be heard over the crowd, Chen Xing had to yell.

As the sounds of bolts sliding into place echoed one after another, Chen Xing turned to head upstairs. Just then, she heard the sound of the heavy iron main gate finally giving way under the zombies’ assault—the sound of shattering metal.

Worried the zombies would pour into the basement, Chen Xing sprinted upstairs. She killed a few zombies that were already coming down the stairs, reached the first floor, and fought through the horde to slam shut the iron gate that led to the basement.

The main lobby was in chaos. Zombies were everywhere. Some were heading out the back to chase the people on the mountain, while even more poured in through the broken main gate. The soldiers who had been holding the door had long since scattered.

Thankfully, most of them were elite soldiers, each capable of taking on ten men, and they were using their own unique skills to escape.

Chen Xing, of course, had no reason to linger. She hacked her way through the zombies and successfully escaped through a first-floor window.

And right behind her were Captain Lu and Xiao Wu.

Chen Xing was speechless. ’Everyone is supposed to be saving themselves. What’s the deal with them following me?’

”We figure our chances of survival are better with you!” Xiao Wu said, seeing that Chen Xing had noticed them. He laid on the flattery even as he fought off zombies.

When the two of them had made it back to the lobby, they had seen Chen Xing emerging from the basement and had naturally fallen in behind her.

Fair enough.

Chen Xing said nothing more and ran up the mountain with the two of them.

The soldiers who had barricaded the door and escaped just moments before them were now cornered by zombies on the hillside, fighting for their lives. Out of ammunition, they were using their rifle butts to fight.

’But judging by their stamina, they should be able to shake off the zombies.’

Chen Xing was about to ignore them and keep running up the mountain.

But Captain Lu and Xiao Wu couldn’t.

These were their brothers-in-arms, men they had been through hell and back with. They couldn’t just stand by and watch them die.

Seeing that Captain Lu intended to save them, Chen Xing knew she couldn’t just ignore the situation.

’If I help Captain Lu, I’ll get stuff to collect!’

She immediately pulled several packs of ammunition from the bag she always kept on her and tossed them over.

’A small contribution of ammo now for a bigger reward later.’

Captain Lu and Xiao Wu began clearing zombies from the perimeter, quickly regrouping with the dozen or so other soldiers.

The commotion they were making naturally attracted more zombies.

The group didn’t dare to linger and immediately continued their run up the mountain.

After they ran for a while, the number of zombies thinned out. Aside from the horde still tailing them, they only encountered a scattered few.

However, the ground was littered with corpses.

There were bodies of civilians and soldiers, as well as the corpses of zombies.

Judging by the gruesome scene, almost none of the people who had escaped earlier had survived.

”It’s the Platoon Leader...” one of the sharp-eyed soldiers spotted his body on the ground.