Chương 171: Quenching Thirst with False Hopes

"T-twenty thousand..." The people standing beside Vince exchanged bewildered glances. Even Ben had a blank expression on his face as he muttered the number. The concept of 'tens of thousands' was completely beyond their current scope. Even if they brought every single grain of food they possessed, would it be enough to feed that many people for even three days? And that was just food. In just four short months, a long, brutal winter would descend upon them. Clothing and fuel would both become massive problems.

Assuming these people even survived until then, that harsh winter would be far more terrifying than the zombies. If they scraped together every ounce of food hoarded in Vince's old residential complex, it would probably only feed twenty thousand people for a few days. As time dragged on, the scavengeable food surrounding the Quarantine Zone would be swept completely clean. The people inside would have no choice but to risk venturing further out to explore and scavenge.

If they were lucky, they might find a few warehouses or supermarkets, sacrifice a few more lives, and maybe—just maybe—scrape by and survive the winter. As for waiting until next spring to plant crops... Irrigation, fertilizers, security issues... Even though Vince didn't know the first thing about farming, he knew that agriculture wasn't an overnight process. No matter what kind of miracle alien sweet potato strain they had, a single incubator full of seedlings wasn't going to feed twenty thousand mouths.

"If we only look at the sweet potatoes themselves, a single season won't yield much. But it's not just the potato—the vines and leaves are completely edible, nutritionally comprehensive, and easy to preserve..." Evelyn explained to Vince.

"Furthermore, the asexual reproduction characteristics of sweet potatoes mean this batch of cuttings can achieve exponential growth in just one season. Given our current situation, if we want to harvest the maximum amount of food using the minimum amount of manpower and arable land, sweet potatoes are practically the optimal solution...

"As long as we survive the initial famine, we can plant sweet potatoes and legumes next year. Once that happens, the survival zone will essentially stabilize..."

"Sigh, but that's a problem for next year. What about this winter...?" Vince felt that his own methods were far more efficient than Evelyn's, but his was a predatory style of survival. At its core, he was no different from the other survivors scavenging through the ruins. His hunting grounds were simply larger, and his prey more unique. Even though he felt Evelyn's 'sweet potato salvation' plan was somewhat unrealistic, he couldn't exactly offer a better alternative.

Her plan still hinged on the survivors scavenging their way through the first bitter winter. Moreover, farming to feed twenty thousand people would require an incredibly vast expanse of arable land. And the armed forces required to maintain the basic security of such vast farmlands would be an astronomical number. But just as Evelyn said, as long as all of this could stabilize, establishing a self-sufficient safe zone might actually be possible.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. It represented a genuine effort to rebuild civilization—an attempt to drag order back to this wasteland. What would truly sustain people through this winter had to be hope.

"Fuel actually isn't that scarce. As for food, we have maps to all the strategic supply reserve warehouses. However, the vast majority of what's stored there are unhusked grains and corn. Even if we figure out a way to transport it all back, we'd still need a massive amount of manpower to process it." Evelyn also knew that these sweet potato seedlings wouldn't yield enough food to sustain tens of thousands of people through the winter, so she had prepared a partial short-term plan as well.

"So, at its core, this all boils down to how we deal with the zombies..." Vince nodded, pondering the situation.

"Linjiang is a port city. Fundamentally, it doesn't lack coal or food supplies. The real problem that needs solving is how to retrieve them..."

"Exactly. That's why I said your ability to preserve the crystals is likely far more valuable than you estimate. Aside from their varied, bizarre abilities, just the pure enhancement to physical constitution makes Awakened absolutely invaluable to humanity as a whole." Speaking about her actual field of research, Evelyn suddenly grew a bit excited, her eyes shining brighter.

"Although my research hasn't made much progress yet, and I have no idea how these powers take effect and circulate within the human body—let alone how they multiply physical performance several times over without drastically altering a person's outward appearance... I firmly believe that unraveling this series of secrets is the only way we will ever completely resolve this catastrophe."

"So that's the ultimate goal of your entire convoy?" Vince asked, slightly confused.

"When we first deployed, this convoy had only one mission: escort Raven—who we believed at the time was the only Awakened in existence—and our entire research team to the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone as quickly as possible. They have better equipment and a much larger armed force." Having explained their goals and theories, Evelyn cleanly summarized the answer to Vince's question.

"But shortly after we set out, we picked up Travis's group and Dr. Harvey Liu. We discovered that Awakened weren't unique; they appear randomly.

"Although we didn't hear any reports of similar personnel at the Linjiang University Quarantine Zone back when shortwave radio was still operational, I am certain Awakened have appeared there as well, and they have likely begun their own research.

"Because of that, the importance of a single Awakened like Raven has drastically decreased in the short term. Conversely, the importance of the sweet potato seedlings we brought along, and those agricultural scientists, is constantly rising." Vince completely understood this shift in mindset. After all, before Bruno appeared, he had also thought he was the only one. He'd assumed the key to becoming an Awakened was bound exclusively to himself, which was why he had spent so much time studying his green Health Bar.

Bruno's Awakening had shown him that Awakened were essentially just lucky gacha pulls among the survivors. Realizing that had taken a huge weight off his shoulders.

"Since your goal was to reach the Quarantine Zone as fast as possible, why risk pushing through the zombie hordes on the Outer Ring Road? Why did you absolutely have to come to this gas station?" He wasn't entirely sure what route Evelyn's convoy had taken, as he'd never been to Mount Ji. But logically, following the Outer Ring Road should have been a much smoother ride. Why would they risk pushing deeper into the urban districts? He asked, genuinely puzzled.

"We lost our only fuel tanker during the battle before last. So, prior to our most recent engagement, we had to siphon almost all the fuel from our vehicles to make Molotov cocktails and ignite the road to cut off the pursuing zombie horde." Hearing Vince's question, Evelyn began to recall the sequence of events.

"We searched for gas stations using our maps, but the ones along the way were either too small and already sucked dry, or had exploded and burned to the ground. So, we camped just outside the Outer Ring Road and deployed drones for reconnaissance."

"You guys still have drones? You actually have a signal? They work?" Hearing the familiar term, Vince couldn't hide his surprise. Although he didn't own a drone himself, he had heard people in his neighborhood talk about them. In the very beginning, someone had tried using a drone to scout the situation downstairs. They could barely control it inside their apartment, but the second it flew out the window, it instantly crashed.

As a result, Vince hadn't seen a single intact, functioning drone since the apocalypse began.