You were supposed to hoard supplies, why the heck did you hoard zombies!

"Hand over thirty percent?"

"Then our men below..."

Farmer Liu was still hesitating, but suddenly, one of his subordinates burst in, shouting at the top of his voice, "Disaster has struck the north again! The group that sold us alcohol has also been devoured by rats!"

"What?"

"Where did you hear that from?"

A man inside the room immediately stood up and asked.

All eyes turned toward him.

Everyone's face was filled with terror.

The alcohol sellers?

Upon hearing these three words, everyone in the room had realized who the guards had referred to as having been eaten by rats.

It was a brewery located in the northeastern part of the Jiangbei District.

The brewery was occupied by a few workers.

Taking advantage of the grains stored for brewing, these workers had quickly expanded their influence in the surrounding areas, reaching the peak of their power with over a hundred enforcers at their disposal.

Unfortunately, they later clashed with Li Wanhao, and Wu Yue, leading an armed force, gave them a severe lesson.

Since then, they had been subordinates to others,

but they were still not weak.

After their defeat, the original leader had been executed by Wu Yue, who replaced him with a more compliant individual. Subsequently, the brewery's enforcers were also equipped with homemade shotguns produced in Wanhao District, enhancing their strength even more.

Who would have thought that this brewery would become the second colony, after the water purification plant, to be wiped out by a rat swarm?

The distance between the two was more than ten kilometers.

Could it be that these rats could fly?

No one knew.

The only certainty was that the last bit of hope in the farmers' hearts had been utterly shattered by this news.

Because the situation at the brewery and the purification plant was completely different.

Its location wasn't in the city center.

But in the suburbs.

This meant that the land beneath their feet could very well be unsafe at that moment; who knew if several large rats might suddenly emerge from the toilet?

Thinking of this possibility, the people inside hurriedly instructed their men to seal off the outside latrine.

To be extra cautious, even the well in the courtyard was blocked with stones.

But they still didn't feel quite safe.

As everyone frantically paced around, Farmer Liu finally hardened his heart and declared, "Pack up, we are leaving here immediately!"

One of the brothers reflexively asked, "Leaving? To where?"

"Jiangbei Base."

"And take all those slaves with us."

"If I'm not mistaken, it's these people that the company desires the most."

————————

Almost simultaneously, all sorts of settlements in Jiangbei became chaotic, and an already unstable situation suddenly became even more dangerous.

Rebellions, riots, and even many people tried to flee the city with their families.

The already dangerous streets now harbored an increased number of bandits.

They charged into the crowds, shouting excitedly.

Murder, looting.

Blood flowed on the filthy streets, attracting hordes of zombies and packs of dogs roaming the various streets. For a time, the entire Jiangbei seemed to have turned into a hell on earth.

The situation inside Wanhao District was not much better than outside.

After several riots, the normally bustling market street was devoid of any vendors shouting their wares. The only remaining sights were the execution platforms in the square, still bearing traces of blood that had not yet dried.

The dark alley was still gathering crowds, with the leading man looking humbly at the middle-aged man dressed in a suit and leather shoes.

"Director Liang, we've paid the money, when do we leave?"

"Everyone needs to have an idea."

By this time, Liang Zhijie had completely shed his past dejection and, dressed just as neatly as Lu Yong, he resembled the business elites commonly seen in the once-civil society.

With the company's help, they had completely transformed and become the largest private brokers in Wanhao District.

Or rather, human traffickers.

But the people they trafficked were all sold to the company.

Since rats had attacked several small settlements around Wanhao District again, the survivors here could no longer sit still, all wanting to flee the place.

But the once freely accessible Wanhao District had now tightly closed its gates, and exiting was more difficult than reaching the heavens.

Thus, Liang Zhijie and Lu Yong transformed again and started the smuggling business.

Previously, they had to pay for people.

Now?

They needed to spend no resources or currency at all; just by spreading the word that they could help people escape, these survivors would crazily cram themselves into the cage.

They even had to hand over some of their possessions to the two men.

And call it a hardship fee.

Their original backer was the chief of urban management, Zhang Meng, whose assistance ensured that they could smoothly bring workers out of Wanhao District every time.

But now, to prevent a massive outflow of people, Zhang Meng had banned recruitment.

Therefore, the two found the gatekeeper in the east.

Money talks.

Most of these hardship fees ended up in these bottomless pits.

Money paved the way, and batch after batch of survivors were continuously brought out of Wanhao District by the two men, eventually all sent to Jiangbei Base, which was urgently reinforcing its defenses.

To avoid causing panic among the locals, Jiangbei Base had temporarily not utilized zombie workers.

Therefore, all the work had to be completed by these survivors.

Meanwhile, having returned from the mining outpost, Xu Lin immediately took the lieutenant to meet Zhang Ye, and after reaching a mutual agreement, this remnant army was formally integrated into the combat department.

Besides serving as the commander of his original troops, the lieutenant also took on the role of combat consultant for the entire combat department.

His first task was to thoroughly perfect the various systems of the company's combat department.

From daily training to mission rewards and penalties, everything was covered.

The survivors who came from various parts of the city, either seeking refuge, through trade, or lured by the staff of the intelligence department, were all uniformly trained to ensure that every citizen could fight when faced with danger.

The supplies they carried, aside from personal items, were all taken to the company's warehouse for centralized management and distribution.

For a while, everyone in the company-controlled area was busy as can be.

Days passed, one after another.

The frequency of rat infestations in the city was increasing more and more.

The Wanhao District in Jiangbei eventually could not escape its fate of being attacked by the rat swarm. Li Wanhao and his men held out for about a week, but eventually, due to excessive casualties, were forced to retreat to the suburbs.

Along the way, Zhang Meng suddenly made a move, using the support of his subordinates to successfully seize power.

Li Wanhao was killed on the spot with a steel pipe.

His brother, Li Rong, was grief-stricken, but was forcibly taken away by the alert Wu Yue, and the two quickly disappeared on the highway leading to the neighboring city.

Several days later, Dr. Zhao in the laboratory finally placed two bottles of formulations in front of Zhang Ye. Your next chapter awaits on My Virtual Library Empire

One bottle contained an improved virus.

It could cause the rat swarm to die off massively in a short time.

The other was also a contagious virus, which could make any infected mutant creature develop a special preference for rats. When combined, the two viruses could completely eradicate the rampaging rats from the city.

Soon, the virus was released into the city.

The offensive of the rat swarm quickly weakened and eventually vanished from the survivors' sight, while the company seized this opportunity to take control of the entire Sanjiang City.

The end of the book.