CHAPTER 474: CHAPTER 457: REWARD

When Li Yu arrived at the Outer City with these items in tow.

At this moment, the rain drizzled, slightly dampening Li Yu’s shoes.

In the Outer City, the people with He Chao lit up with excitement when they saw Li Yu, especially the goods he was carrying behind him.

The sight of Dapao pushing a cart with half a pig on it stirred even greater excitement; it had been a long time since they had tasted meat in this post-apocalyptic world.

Seeing Li Yu approaching, He Chao stepped forward and said, "Director Li, what brings you here?"

Li Yu cracked a slight smile and said softly, "The other day, I said I would reward you all, these items behind me are the rewards for you."

Feeling a bit embarrassed, He Chao rubbed his hands together and said, "This doesn’t feel right, how can we accept this?"

Though embarrassed, he didn’t mean to refuse.

After all, his brothers were drooling over those things.

Li Yu chuckled and said, "Stop being so darn polite, hurry up and have someone move them."

He Chao grinned and quickly instructed people to start moving the items inside.

Seeing their smiling faces, Li Yu felt his heart warmed by their joy, and his own mood greatly uplifted.

After staying for a while, Li Yu visited Captain Luo and then left the area.

Once Li Yu had left, He Chao stood in front of the pile of goods and addressed everyone, "These items are awards from Director Li, acknowledging our contributions in the recent actions.

Inside, everyone gets a set of clothing, and as for the pork, it will be divided evenly according to the number of people..."

Hearing what He Chao said, the crowd grew more excited.

Indeed, these were the rewards promised to them; they did not expect it would be these highly-desired items.

Conversations bubbled up among them:

"Director Li is really generous, I never thought I’d be able to eat meat again."

"Yeah, that’s right, it’s wonderful. I think joining the Big Camphor Tree Base is the best decision I’ve ever made in my life..."

An older man said to his son, "When it’s distributed, I’ll give you my share."

The son shook his head and responded, "If you don’t eat, neither will I. With our numbers, everyone can get three to four pounds, which is quite a lot."

The son refused again, his young face set with determination.

The old man sighed and said, "In the midst of the apocalypse, we are fortunate. We must be grateful."

The young son replied, "I know."

...

The rain kept falling, and the number of zombies outside the wall gradually increased.

The fence was slowly being surrounded by zombies, and the ditches that were initially dug outside the base were now filled with zombies.

Standing atop the wall, Li Yu gazed at the ditch and murmured, "The depth of the ditch is sufficient, but it seems that its width is still lacking..."

After the ditch was filled with zombies, the next wave of zombies trampled over those in the ditch, reaching the base of the wall.

Witnessing the countless zombies, especially those that filled the ditches, Li Yu suddenly felt a wave of tiredness. These zombies seemed endless.

Each rain brought a new Zombie Tide, and each tide meant countless zombies beneath the base—a sense of despair.

Li Yu composed himself and let loose his crossbow, striking down one of the zombies.

As night fell, Li Yu slowly returned to the duty room to rest after nearly an hour standing on the wall.

Meanwhile, Li Haoran took over Li Yu’s previous post.

At this moment, Yutong was also resting. Seeing her hair drenched, Li Yu fetched a towel and approached to wipe her hair.

Yutong, feeling the tenderness of her beloved, smiled with her lips, content in silence.

Ever since she and Li Yu came together, Yutong often accompanied him quietly, just watching him.

Not speaking, and it was very beautiful.

After wiping her hair, Li Yu said softly, "When this rain stops, I need to take a trip to the neighboring city. You better not come along this time."

Yutong looked up in surprise, a hint of anger in her tone, "Didn’t we agree before? Wherever you go, I go. I won’t leave your side."

Li Yu rubbed her head, letting the remaining moisture in her hair evaporate, and said, "I know these last few days have been hard on you, I want you to take some rest."

Yutong said, "You’ve had it harder than me; I want to go with you."

Li Yu felt helpless and did not persist further.

Gently holding the delicate beauty before him, he caught a faint fragrance from the tip of his nose, and his little brother down below became a bit restless.

Sensing the change behind her, Yutong of course knew what it was, glanced nervously at the door, and said shyly, "You’re still on duty, don’t mess around."

Li Yu suppressed his urge and said with a smile, "Not now, so how about after my shift ends?"

Listening to this insufferable man, Yutong buried her head in his chest like an ostrich.

Seeing this, Li Yu laughed out loud and then left the duty room.

Watching Li Yu’s figure, Yutong thought of the firmness she had just felt.

Her face slightly flushed, her whole body a bit feverish, heating up.

...

The Big Camphor Tree Base has faced the Zombie Tide before, and by now, a set of reasonable and standardized duty schedules has been established.

It ensures that everyone in the base can contribute while also getting sufficient rest and sleep.

With these repeated Zombie Tides, everyone has become less fearful and more accustomed to them.

The tall walls provide a tremendous sense of security.

In the Outer City, Captain Luo listened to the zombie howls near his ear, yet he could not see any zombies.

It felt so close, yet it also felt so distant.

He couldn’t help but wonder about the current situation of Elder Ye at the Headquarters Base, and whether everything was going well there.

At the same time, as he entered the gate, he saw the walls of this base, not only tall but also surprisingly wide.

Walls over three meters thick seemed to be enough to hold off the zombies.

By contrast, the headquarters’ walls were less than four meters high, which were only built later on.

Compared to that, the security at the Headquarters Base seemed much lower than at the Big Camphor Tree Base.

It was a profound sentiment.

According to his observation over the past few days, he found that although there were men, women, old and young on the wall, all were extremely disciplined, which was commendable.

What a strong team it was.

Captain Luo was deeply moved by his reflections, feeling a complexity within.

Li Tie, who had rested for quite some time, saw his wounds heal and joined the work of resisting the Zombie Tide.

Li Yu saw Li Tie coming up and advised him to go back and rest, but after Li Tie showed his wound to Li Yu, proving it was completely fine, Li Yu let him be.

Recent rains have made drainage a particularly important issue. Li Yu, right at the beginning of the rainfall, had emphasized this with An Ya, who was in charge of agriculture.

Currently, it was the growing period for the rice, and if the water drowned the rice crop, it could easily lead to rotten crops.

Hence these recent days, An Ya had been busy with this matter, and Xiao Shi, also due to the rain not departing with Captain Luo to the south, remained to help.

And so the days passed by.

The rain lasted continuously for a week.

This long stretch of rainfall brought significant pressure to the Big Camphor Tree Base, but they were not facing it for the first time, and indeed, they had grown accustomed to such frequent zombie sieges.

April 15th.

In the evening, the rain suddenly stopped.

The sky was clear and completely blue.

As the sun set over West Mountain, it was like a maiden full of spring affection at the turn of a corner, seeing her desired groom, suddenly tucking away her brightness, hiding herself behind the mountain, only showing half of a face blushing shyly, with an unusual tenderness.

The brutal rain and the gentle sunset offered everyone at the base a sigh of relief.

After the rain, always more gentle, the setting sun’s reflection.

This bout of rain came to an abrupt halt.