Chapter 699 – Preparing in Advance
Zhang Yi pulled out two guns and handed them to Yang Xinxin.
“These two have minimal recoil—you should be able to handle them. Still, make sure you keep practicing. You don’t need to be a sharpshooter, just use them for self-defense.”
“One is loaded with regular bullets, for dealing with ordinary people. The other is loaded with Origin Bullets, for fighting superhumans.”
Yang Xinxin happily took the guns from him.
Zhang Yi giving her weapons clearly meant—he was taking her with him.
Right in front of him, Yang Xinxin expertly disassembled one of the guns, inspected the inside and the magazine, then reassembled it seamlessly.
Seeing the surprise in Zhang Yi’s eyes, Yang Xinxin giggled. “Actually, I’ve been practicing shooting all along! I don’t need you to remind me—I know how to handle myself!”
Zhang Yi couldn’t help but laugh. “So you’ve been scheming for this from the start.”
Yang Xinxin’s face flushed with embarrassment. “Why don’t you just stay here and sleep tonight?”
Zhang Yi froze for a second, then smiled and shook his head. “Stop it.”
“When we get to Blizzard City, I’ll get you a proper combat suit.”
Her legs had only just recovered recently—her stamina wasn’t great yet.
One way or another, Zhang Yi was going to ask Zhu Zheng to get Yang Xinxin a black combat suit.
Anyone who followed him needed to be just as protected as he was.
“When the time comes, Hua Hua will stay with you and handle your safety.”
“I’ll keep you as close to me as possible on the battlefield. But if we run into a powerful superhuman, you get away from me as fast as you can.”
Zhang Yi carefully explained all the things Yang Xinxin needed to watch out for in battle.
The tenderness in Yang Xinxin’s eyes grew deeper and gentler—melting like water.
“Brother, you’re so good to me.”
The next morning, Zhang Yi summoned the leaders of the major base factions to his home.
He explained the details of the failed Moon of Corrosion siege to Xiao Honglian, Xing Tian, and Chen Jingguan.
The three of them were visibly shaken, full of concern.
Zhang Yi told them, “Good, you’re scared. That’s what I want. From now on, all of you stay inside your bases and don’t go anywhere.”
“Especially you,” he turned to Chen Jingguan. “If the enemy attacks Tianhai City, it’s most likely going to come from the sea. Your people need to watch the coast closely.”
Chen Jingguan looked nervous. “I’ll make sure someone keeps a close eye on the sea! They’ll have a hard time getting past—it’s not like we don’t have patrols out there.”
“Oh?” Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow. That was news to him.
Chen Jingguan explained, “Not sure if it’s the Jiangnan District navy or East Sea District, but they do conduct patrols along the coast. We’ve encountered them on past sea trips.”
Zhang Yi frowned. “If there’s a navy patrolling, then how did Moon of Corrosion manage to cross the sea?”
Chen Jingguan replied, “In these conditions, naval patrols are mainly to stop large fleets from invading. Smaller targets can slip through.”
Zhang Yi immediately thought of the prophet-type superhuman among Moon of Corrosion—his doubts faded.
That ability probably helped them exploit the patrol gaps and sneak through.
Especially now, with extreme cold making naval operations even harder, it was impossible to fully guard the entire southeastern coastline.
Zhang Yi looked seriously at the three of them and reminded them, “Linhai City is already gone. Jiangning City… is nearly wiped out too. I don’t want Tianhai City to be next. So be careful.”
That was all Zhang Yi could do. If something really happened in Tianhai City, his top priority would be the people inside his shelter.
As for the three bases—whatever happens, happens.
The three nodded fervently, visibly more alert. They didn’t dare be careless now.
Each of them planned to immediately relocate their people into their respective underground shelters, halting all external operations for the time being.
Just then, Xing Tian seemed to think of something.
He said to Zhang Yi, “Hey, what about the other small groups in Tianhai City? Should we check in on them?”
Zhang Yi gave him a sidelong look. “Since when do you care about that kind of thing?”
There were still a few small factions left in Tianhai City, but after Yuan Kongye’s purge, most had been wiped out or were barely hanging on, just scraping by.
Xing Tian chuckled, “I normally wouldn’t care, but this one’s an old friend of yours.”
“An old friend of mine?”
Zhang Yi was about to laugh it off, but then a figure popped into his mind.
He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t mean… Li Jian, do you?”
Xing Tian nodded. “That’s the one.”
Zhang Yi’s gaze grew distant with nostalgia.
Before the apocalypse, he and Li Jian had worked at the same company.
Li Jian was the head of finance, while Zhang Yi was a low-level supervisor in logistics. They didn’t interact much.
But deep down, Zhang Yi had always respected Li Jian.
He was one of the rare people who had managed to keep his humanity in the apocalypse.
A true “good man,” in the traditional sense.
Zhang Yi wasn’t capable of being like him—but that didn’t mean he didn’t admire it.
After all, who would willingly live each day scheming and killing just to survive, unless life forced them to?
Zhang Yi asked, “How’s Li Jian doing now?”
Xing Tian replied, “After Followers of the Snow God fell, Li Jian teamed up with a few of their surviving superhumans and formed a small group. They’ve gathered about 30 to 50 survivors.”
Zhang Yi sighed deeply. “That guy always has to do the ‘good guy’ thing. Makes the rest of us look like villains.”
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Yi said to Xing Tian, “Have them join your group. With Tianhai’s population so low, you could use the manpower.”
Since Zhang Yi had spoken, Xing Tian naturally agreed.
Gao Changkong’s return had once again stirred the situation into something more complex.
Zhu Zheng lavished him with praise and made it clear he hoped Gao Changkong would achieve new glory in the upcoming Moon of Corrosion purge.
All of Blizzard City, top to bottom, basically assumed that Gao Changkong would lead the third assault.
At this point, everyone was pinning their hopes on him.
And Gao Changkong—what was he doing?
Instead of responding to all the congratulations, he returned to Blizzard City and immediately led his team to Zone E.
Zone E was the poorest area in the entire city.
The people living there all did the dirtiest, hardest labor—the very bottom of the barrel.