Other than the two sentries and the little survivor girl named Sophie, Nathan Cole swiftly organized everyone else and threw them into a frantic water-storage operation.
During this time, Nathan also called his parents and told them to find a way to stockpile food and water.
Everyone worked until the latter half of the night, finally filling every container they could find with water.
With this water, their short-term needs for drinking and cooking were covered. Even their most basic physiological need—using the toilet—would not be a problem for the time being.
After that intense bout of work, Nathan dragged his utterly exhausted body back to his room and fell into a deep sleep the instant he touched the bed.
The next morning, shortly after seven, Daniel Ward carefully knocked on Nathan's door and called softly, "Commander, wake up. Breakfast is almost ready. Time to get up."
Nathan jolted awake from his sleep, rubbed his groggy head, and tried hard to clear his mind.
After getting up, he quickly walked to the door and flipped the switch. When he saw that the electricity was still on, he could not help letting out a breath of relief.
As long as there was still power, things were all right.
Nathan took out his phone and checked the signal. The screen showed that service was still available.
He opened several forums, which were flooded with all kinds of posts from survivors. The overwhelming majority were pleas for help, every line filled with fear and helplessness.
Of course, there were also a tiny number of fools daydreaming about becoming kings and conquerors.
Most worrying of all, there was not a single message from the authorities. This undoubtedly indicated that official forces had been completely paralyzed by this unprecedented disaster.
After all, with the virus's horrifying infection rate of up to eighty percent, the consequences would be unimaginable if mass zombification occurred in densely populated places such as government offices and military bases.
After washing up and getting dressed, Nathan took Daniel to Apartment 501 for breakfast.
After the meal, Nathan gathered Ethan Blake and Ryan Foster to begin planning the day's clearing operation.
First Squad would clear Unit Two of Building One, while Second Squad would go clear Unit One of Building Two.
Once the plan had been made, Ethan suddenly spoke up. "Commander, after yesterday's battle, First Squad has used too much of its rifle and shotgun ammunition. We urgently need an ammunition resupply."
Hearing Ethan's words, Nathan smacked his forehead, silently reproaching himself.
He had been so focused on storing water last night that he had forgotten something as important as replenishing the soldiers' ammunition.
Nathan promptly opened the System panel and skillfully selected the [Logistics] option from the reinforcement menu.
He selected one crate of 5.45mm rifle ammunition and one crate of 12-gauge shotgun shells.
After making his selections, he asked the System, "System, if I use virtual deployment for the ammunition resupply, will it also cost additional reinforcement points?"
The System's electronic voice soon sounded in his mind. "Commander, small ammunition resupplies do not require additional reinforcement points. However, once your force expands later on, air-drop delivery is recommended. It will improve resupply efficiency and reduce unnecessary expenses."
Hearing that he would not have to pay extra reinforcement points for now, Nathan breathed a small sigh of relief. Otherwise, the additional reinforcement-point cost might have been higher than the ammunition itself.
Nathan led Ethan and Ryan quickly down to the first floor, then gave the System an order. "System, deploy the selected ammunition resupply through virtual deployment."
"Understood, Commander. Deducting 10 reinforcement points. Please select a drop location."
Nathan concentrated as he operated the virtual display, ultimately placing the ammunition crates in the previously vacant Apartment 102.
Once the deployment was complete, two olive-drab rotomolded ammunition crates appeared inside the room.
The crates had recessed grooves on top and raised ribs along the bottom, a simple yet practical design.
Nathan stepped forward and carefully examined them. Stenciled prominently on the side of the rifle-ammunition crate were the words: 1,500 rounds (on clips), 26 kg, 40 × 30 × 24.
"All right, the ammunition crates are here. Resupply yourselves," Nathan said.
At his words, Ethan stepped forward. First, he skillfully removed the lead seal wire from the crate, then flipped open the side latches. With a soft click, the ammunition crate opened smoothly.
Inside were packets of vacuum-sealed ammunition, along with five complimentary magazine loaders.
Ethan took empty magazines from the dump pouch, fitted a magazine loader onto one, then tore open a carton of ammunition. He removed a stripper clip from the three-clip pack and pressed all ten rounds into the magazine at once.
Throughout it all, Nathan stood beside him, silently studying Ethan's movements.
Afterward, Victor Hayes, Felix Monroe, and several others came over in succession to replenish their ammunition.
Once resupply was complete, every soldier from both squads set out to continue the clearing operation.
Nathan and Daniel walked out of Apartment 102. Nathan's gaze swept across the zombie corpses strewn haphazardly through the hallway, and his expression grew especially grim.
In order to collect water without interruption last night, they had been forced to temporarily move the zombie corpses from the apartments into the hallway.
But those corpses had now become a thorny problem.
Not only were they an eyesore, but as time passed, decomposition would easily breed all manner of bacteria.
Nathan was deeply conflicted. He wanted to clear the bodies away, but he was severely short on manpower.
Yet if he did not clear them, this place had so much stored water that it would certainly have to serve as a temporary foothold for now. Leaving the corpses unattended could easily cause contamination.
After thinking for a long time, Nathan sighed helplessly. He decided that once he earned more reinforcement points later, he would summon another infantry squad and conduct a thorough cleanup.
After Ethan and Ryan led the soldiers out of Unit One, First Squad headed directly for the neighboring Unit Two, while Second Squad moved quickly toward Building Two.
Before the apocalypse broke out, the rampant spread of the virus had driven most people who caught it to stay at home.
When they unfortunately turned into zombies, they were therefore mostly trapped inside their homes.
Likewise, very few people had been active within the residential compound, so there were not many zombies outside either.
As Second Squad neared Building Two, the sharp-eyed soldiers spotted several zombies wandering aimlessly below the building.
Ryan immediately signaled for the unit to halt. The soldiers swiftly crouched down, raised their weapons, and watched the zombies ahead with vigilance.
However, the instant they stopped, those zombies seemed to sense their presence. A bloodthirsty gleam suddenly flashed through their formerly vacant eyes, and then, roaring, they spread their arms and lunged at them.
Compared with their clumsy, sluggish movements when they had first turned yesterday, these zombies were clearly much more coordinated and considerably faster.
Obviously, the zombies were gradually adapting to their transformed bodies and becoming increasingly dangerous.
With no other choice, Ryan and Deputy Squad Leader Zhang Xingang raised their rifles without hesitation, aimed at the charging zombies, and opened fire.
"Pop! Pop! Pop!" After a burst of muffled gunfire, the zombies collapsed completely to the ground. Putrid blood sprayed everywhere like fountains, forming pools of dark-red blood across the pavement.
Just as Second Squad was about to continue, a window on the seventh floor of Unit Two in Building One was violently shoved open.
A middle-aged man leaned out of the window and shouted, "I'm here! I'm still alive! Come save me!"
He was the resident of Apartment 702 in Unit Two, and he had been lucky enough not to contract the virus.
But his wife and child had not escaped misfortune. Both had been infected.
Yesterday at noon, when his wife and child transformed into zombies, he had been cooking in the kitchen.
When he saw his wife and child with savage expressions rushing at him, he panicked and desperately knocked the zombies down with a mixing bowl and a spatula at hand, then dived headfirst into the bedroom to hide.
Fortunately, newly transformed zombies were not very nimble, and the furniture in the apartment obstructed them, allowing him to narrowly escape disaster.
But his zombified wife and child had kept wandering outside the door. Their terrifying roars and the sound of their scratching against the door panels had made his whole body tremble, leaving him too frightened to go outside.
While hiding, he had vaguely heard constant noises coming from Unit One. They seemed like gunshots, but he could not be certain.
Thus, he endured in fear until the latter half of the night, when he finally drifted off into a hazy sleep.
When he woke this morning, he had remained by the window watching what was happening outside.
After witnessing Second Squad kill the zombies, he was so thrilled by the arrival of the military that he could no longer suppress the terror in his heart. Disregarding everything, he opened the window and began shouting.
Hearing his cries, the soldiers from both squads below were all shocked.
Golden Fortune Gardens was very small and bordered the street. Shouting so loudly could easily draw in zombies from outside.
If their firearms had not been fitted with suppressors and loaded with subsonic ammunition, they would not even have dared fire just now.
Ethan hurriedly stepped back several paces and frantically waved at the man above, signaling him to go back inside first.
The man seemed startled by Ethan's gesture and suddenly ducked back inside. Seeing this, everyone could not help breathing a sigh of relief.
But before they could recover their composure, a few seconds later, the man leaned out the window again. This time, he was holding a metal basin and a spatula.
As he shouted himself hoarse, he wildly hammered the metal basin with the spatula.
"I'm here! Apartment 702 in Unit Two! Come save me! They're right outside the door! I don't want to die..."
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"
The man's shouting intertwined with the pounding of the metal basin, carrying far into the distance.
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