Chapter 239: Emergency Meeting
Elder Shaw and the other two didn’t question Lily Hart’s words.
But there was no time for a detailed discussion. Time was too tight. With only an hour left, they had to prepare as quickly as possible.
Elder Shaw closed his chat with Lily Hart and ordered as he walked out the door, "Call an emergency meeting."
The assistant who was always by Elder Shaw’s side immediately notified everyone required to attend.
Two minutes later, in the main conference room.
Elder Shaw kept it brief. "A zombie horde is coming. All departments are to prepare to repel the attack immediately."
His words sent the room into an uproar. A zombie horde? Where did this information come from? Was it reliable?
Besides, the Light Brain could detect large-scale zombie movements, so why hadn’t it issued an alert?
"A zombie horde? Where? From what direction? When will it arrive?"
"Is this information credible? What if it’s fake? If it is, we’ll be mobilizing for nothing."
"Exactly. Supplies are already scarce. A mobilization like this will just waste more of them."
"Everyone, stop asking questions and get ready! The horde will be here by the time you’re done arguing! Our lives are on the line!"
Seeing them on the verge of a shouting match, Elder Shaw felt utterly exhausted.
The zombie horde was the most important thing right now, not these pointless squabbles.
He slammed his hand on the table and roared, "Enough!"
The large conference room gradually fell silent. All eyes turned to Elder Shaw at the head of the table, though a few were filled with resentment.
"Logistics, take inventory of all supplies. Distribute what’s necessary and prepare for a long battle!"
"Commander of the Guardian Corps, assemble everyone! I don’t care if they’re on leave or off-duty—get them all here!"
"Diplomacy, go negotiate with the base commanders who’ve arrived recently. Get them to provide support."
As the orders were issued one after another, everyone instantly found their resolve. Whether they agreed or not, they now had to act fast.
Fortunately, everyone had experience dealing with zombie hordes, so they were able to mobilize quickly.
Still, a few raised objections, led by Quentin Carter. He voiced his strong disapproval, "And what if there is no horde? Won’t this be a waste of resources and time?"
Elder Shaw gave him a long, hard look, his heart filled with profound disappointment. "If there is no zombie horde, I will step down from my position as leader."
Quentin Carter’s expression was complex, a mixture of doubt and distrust, but also a hint of glee and satisfaction.
Elder Shaw stood up and left the room, followed by ten superpower user bodyguards.
The Guardian Corps and the superpower users were quickly assembled before the North Gate.
This was the direction from which Elder Shaw had said the zombie horde would arrive.
Meanwhile, the survivors inside Central Command were moved to the underground air-raid shelters.
...
Outside Central Command, Lily Hart was directing the ordinary survivors, who had been camped out here for a long time, to move as close to her RV as possible.
The RV’s maximum protection radius was fifty meters, but she usually only kept it active up to ten meters.
Given the special circumstances, Lily Hart extended it to its maximum range.
No one knew why, but the moment they heard zombies were coming, they began moving toward the RV in an orderly fashion.
They all believed that Boss Hart would protect them.
But Lily Hart could only do her best by getting everyone inside the RV’s protective field; there was nothing else she could do.
Everyone was very cooperative, squeezing in bit by bit. They abandoned their bedrolls, pressing up against one another.
It was a tight fit, but they managed to include nearly every ordinary survivor.
For those who couldn’t quite fit, Seth suggested, "Have them wait in the factory for now. It’s not like they can operate the machinery anyway."
His superpower hadn’t awakened right away; he had started out as an ordinary person, so he understood the need for mutual support.
Lily Hart nodded. "Alright. Be careful."
She glanced down at her Light Brain. Dozens of miles north of Central Command, the screen was a dense cluster of red dots.
Each red dot represented a zombie, but they were so densely packed on the screen that they were no longer distinguishable. It was just a solid mass of red on the move.
Owen Warren came up behind her. "I’ll do my best."
He would do his best to control as many zombies as possible and keep them from harming people.
Lily Hart nodded, but an inexplicable sense of panic crept into her heart. She had a bad feeling about this.
’Usually, when I get a feeling like this, something bad is bound to happen!’
All Lily Hart could do was make every possible preparation to protect herself and those around her.
Fifteen minutes until the horde arrived.
She saw patrol lights on Central Command’s walls flicker to life one after another.
Normally, only one was lit every so often to save power, but now, all of them were on.
Meanwhile, the survivors inside Central Command finally saw the alert for the approaching zombie horde appear on their Light Brains.
’How... sluggish of them.’
When Quentin Carter saw the flashing red notification on his screen, his expression turned utterly foul.
On the walls, cannons that hadn’t been seen in a long time were now mounted, each flanked by two superpower users.
It wasn’t just cannons; there were other long-range firearms as well.
Lily Hart watched Central Command’s series of defensive preparations. They looked quite thorough.
She let out a small sigh of relief.
She checked her Light Brain again. Less than five minutes until the horde arrived.
But strangely, more than half of the red dots were gone. ’Where did the other half go?’
She zoomed out the map and her heart sank. She immediately called Elder Shaw.
It was noisy on his end, and Lily Hart couldn’t hear clearly. She just repeated the same four words over and over, "Watch the East Gate! Watch the East Gate!"
Elder Shaw’s mind snapped to attention. Although the other three gates had members of the Guardian Corps on duty, ninety percent of their forces were concentrated at the North Gate.
He immediately diverted forty percent of the forces from the North Gate to the East Gate.
With only two minutes to go, the superpower users on the walls could already make out the figures of the zombie army.
It was a vast, dark mass, like a surging ocean wave in the dead of night. It stretched as far as the eye could see, rushing toward Central Command with unstoppable momentum.
Owen Warren stood inside the RV, concentrating. A thin sheen of cold sweat coated his forehead.
He slowly opened his eyes, shook his head hard, then closed them again a moment later to refocus.
The survivors huddled together outside the RV fell silent the moment they saw the swarming mass of zombies.
Just moments before, they had been chatting and laughing, talking about what good rewards they’d seen that day or how many zombies they’d killed.
But now, faced with so many zombies, they didn’t dare make a peep, clamping their mouths shut and breathing as lightly as possible.
They were terrified that the zombies would turn on them...
But they had apparently forgotten that zombies were creatures that sensed heat.
They go wherever there are more people.
The main horde continued its assault on Central Command, but it could still spare a small detachment to come have a little appetizer outside the walls.
But even this "small" detachment was more than enough to give them a world of trouble.
The survivors on the outer edge of the crowd, watching the zombies draw nearer and nearer, felt their fear skyrocket.
They desperately pushed backward, and the shoving quickly devolved into chaos, even causing a stampede.
People shouted, trying to restore order, "Stop pushing! Stop pushing!"
"Easy for you to say from the inside! Why don’t you try being out here?!"