Chương 194: The Morning's Boomerang Strikes at Night

Zoe woke up the exact moment the first batch of meat hit the boiling pot. Evelyn had ended up staying after all. It wasn't necessarily just because she wanted a hot meal. Perhaps the rich aroma wafting from the communal pots outside had triggered an instinctual revulsion toward the compressed field rations and energy bars she'd been surviving on for days. Or perhaps she simply wanted to observe Vince's daily life up close.

"How is the zombie horde looking? Who's on watch right now?" Vince fished a slice of meat from the pot with his chopsticks, only for Zoe to immediately snatch half of it away. Left with no choice, he dipped his remaining half in sauce and stuffed it into his mouth. He mumbled the question to Evelyn, who was sitting next to him.

"Their movement speed is normal. Raven is still at the very front. Marcus and Cole went to relieve the first shift, and the rest of the team is resting at the gas station..." She looked as though she hadn't eaten real meat in ages. Although she took small, polite bites, her chopsticks never stopped moving. Her relentless pace earned her frequent, hostile glares from Zoe, who was sitting on Vince's other side.

"Are the military rations for officers really that bad?" Vince finally couldn't help but ask, noticing she wasn't holding back in the slightest.

"We only brought field rations and protein bars. We scavenged some vacuum-sealed food along the way... but it isn't very good," Evelyn replied coolly.

"I thought you were the kind of person who..." Before Vince could even finish his sentence, Evelyn smoothly cut him off.

"You thought I was the kind of person who is so entirely focused on the mission that I wouldn't care if I had to eat tree bark?"

"Pfft— cough, cough, cough!" Hearing Vince get choked on his own words felt incredibly vindicating for Zoe. She couldn't hold back her laughter, but ended up inhaling sesame paste down the wrong pipe, coughing until tears welled up in her eyes.

"Eat slowly, no one is fighting you for it..." Claire, sitting next to Zoe, gently patted the girl's back while her own mouth kept chewing furiously. It was obvious both of them were absolutely famished. The arrival of this unexpected guest hadn't dampened their appetites in the slightest. Even Cody, completely wiped out after half a day of manual labor, simply lent an ear to the conversation while focusing entirely on shoveling food into his mouth. But Vince didn't respond to Evelyn's quip.

Instead, his brow furrowed deeply, and he tilted his head, listening intently... All the vehicles had been fully modified. The makeshift chop-shop downstairs had closed for the night, leaving only the bustling, noisy chatter of the crowd gathered in the distance to eat their dinner. Yet, amidst that ambient noise, Vince caught a faint, highly discordant creak. It sounded like heavy steel groaning under immense pressure, or thick cables snapping one by one.

"Shh—what is that sound?" Vince suddenly reached out and shut off the induction cooker. He walked over to the window, peering out into the darkness. Zoe, who had been fiercely battling a piece of mutton a second ago, froze instantly. With half a piece of meat still in her mouth, she remained perfectly still, terrified of making a single sound. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

The room fell dead silent, save for the hum of the cooker's cooling fan and the scrape of chairs as the others stood up. Night had fully fallen. The floodlights directly below their building had been turned off and relocated to the supermarket area. Over there, the crowd was still gathered in small groups, holding various lunchboxes and containers, chatting and eating their meals. The group around the dinner table was alarmed by Vince's sudden shift in demeanor.

They knew he wouldn't act this hyper-vigilant unless something was seriously wrong. But even Vince wasn't entirely sure what was happening. The distant sky was pitch-black, and that subtle crackling sound continued to echo faintly. Rumble— Vince suddenly felt a faint vibration travel through the floorboards beneath his feet. Then, a low, unsettling sound rolled in from the distance, like heavy thunder.

"That's not thunder... something just collapsed." Evelyn was the fastest to react. She was already standing next to Vince, staring out into the distant night sky with him. Just as Vince was thinking this scenario felt incredibly familiar, the walkie-talkie at Evelyn's waist abruptly crackled to life...

"Evelyn! Bad news, a building collapsed!" A frantic male voice shouted over the static. Vince couldn't tell who it was.

"Which building?" Evelyn asked with terrifying calm.

"The scorched office building a few hundred meters south, across the street from the gas station!"

"The entire thing came down! It completely cut off the road! Marcus and Raven are still south of it monitoring the horde, they haven't come back yet!"

"I'll go check!" Before anyone could even react, Vince vaulted onto the windowsill. Before his words even finished echoing in the room, a loud crack rang out as the concrete sill shattered under his explosive takeoff. He was already landing on the adjacent rooftop. A split second later, the walkie-talkie resting on the coffee table beside Claire began to blare.

"Cook all the meat! Whatever you can manage! Pack it all up, raw or cooked, and get it into the vehicles! Be ready to move out at a moment's notice!" Vince's voice barked through the speaker.

"And Zoe, do not follow me! Stay home and eat your dinner! You need your energy restored, listen to me!" Hearing Vince's orders, Claire, who had been standing up in confusion, immediately scrambled to pull out another electric pot and flicked the original induction cooker back on.

"Wyatt, execute today's designated contingency plan! Now!" Evelyn also raised her radio. She knew it was impossible to reach Raven from this distance. Although she was deeply worried about the safety of her scout team monitoring the horde, Vince had already rushed to the frontline to investigate. Panicking here wouldn't solve anything. She forcefully calmed herself and began directing the personnel stationed at the gas station. However, thinking it over, she realized remote commands weren't enough.

They had originally planned to rest for another full day tomorrow; mobilizing everyone right now was going to be chaotic.

"Get yourselves ready. I need to head back!" Evelyn grabbed her jacket, rushed downstairs, and sprinted all the way toward the crowd gathered by the supermarket.

"Evelyn!" Clint had been coordinating with Ben to organize the vehicles and the civilians. His radio had also received the distress call. Seeing Evelyn sprinting back, he quickly stepped out of the crowd. Ben and his core team had also learned what happened through Clint and followed him out. Ben had heard Vince's broadcast over the radio earlier; since Vince hadn't given him any specific new instructions, his job was to stick to the original plan and coordinate with Evelyn's people.

"You stay here and continue assisting Captain Ben with the coordination..." Evelyn ordered Clint. Then, she stopped in her tracks and raised her voice, shouting toward the crowd:" All soldiers! Fall in!" The crowd immediately rippled with movement. A dozen men wearing tactical vests pushed their way out of the throng. In complete, disciplined silence, they fell in behind her and began sprinting eastward. Back in the apartment, the group began moving with methodical efficiency.

Seth, who had the most stamina left, dragged a cutting board into the living room and began rapidly slicing up the thawed meat. Once chopped, he dumped the pieces into the second electric pot to boil them before scooping them out to pack. Meanwhile, Claire physically forced Zoe down at the table. Joined by Cody, the three of them began stuffing their faces with massive bites of food.

"You going out there right now won't help anyone. Getting full and recovering your stamina is the highest priority... Listen to him! Eat first, ask questions later!" Claire chewed a mouthful of meat while forcefully pacifying Zoe, who had completely lost her appetite due to anxiety. With that, Claire dumped an entire plate of raw meat into the vigorously boiling broth... Vince sprinted eastward across the rooftops.

He had traversed these roofs so many times over the past few days that he knew every elevation change and gap by heart. In just over ten seconds, he reached the eastern intersection. The floodlights from the gas station in the distance were still burning brightly. Under their harsh glare, an overwhelming, apocalyptic cloud of yellowish-grey dust was visibly surging into the sky from across the street...