Edge of the Apocalypse

Chapter 104: Chapter 98: "Liar

After watching Yu Dong and the others disappear into the distance through her binoculars, Qiao Ping picked up the satellite phone Yu Dong had left behind and made a call.

"Uncle, it’s just me now. Tell me the real situation on your end."

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then Qiao Yunliang let out a deep sigh.

"You could tell..."

"We’re family, after all."

As her surname suggested, Qiao Ping had taken her mother’s family name. Her mother was the dominant figure in the family, and she was closer to her mother’s side.

Her uncle, Qiao Yunliang, was the person she was closest to, aside from her parents.

Although she wasn’t particularly interested in climbing the social ladder, she had picked up a thing or two from being around it and was quite well-versed in the art of conversation.

For the past two months, her uncle had seemingly reported both good news and bad, but he’d claimed the overall situation was spiraling upward and looking great, which left everyone feeling very encouraged!

But in reality... she could sense a different undertone in the things her uncle deliberately left unsaid.

’Her uncle probably wouldn’t lie outright, but... the situation in Yanhai City might not be as optimistic as he claimed.’ Now that Yu Dong and the others were out, it was the perfect chance to have a heart-to-heart with her uncle.

Since his niece had seen through him, Qiao Yunliang decided not to hide it from her anymore.

"Remember the first time I told you about the climbing zombies? In the middle of that night, a climbing zombie snuck into our camp and bit three people. Those three turned quickly and killed another fifteen. It was total chaos. My men opened fire in the dark... They killed the zombies, but they also took down nineteen of our own brothers. In total, thirty-seven dead, twenty-five wounded. The losses were devastating."

When Qiao Ping heard about the losses, her first thought was that it didn’t seem like that many people. Why would he call the losses devastating?

Suddenly, a crucial question occurred to her.

"Uncle, I don’t think you’ve ever told us... how many combat personnel you command in total. Thirty-seven people shouldn’t affect the big picture, right?"

Qiao Yunliang gave a bitter laugh.

"You’ve never been in the military; you don’t know our structure... Yanhai City is a prefecture-level city, a fourth-tier tourist city, not a strategic location. We don’t have many standing troops here... In all of Yanhai City, there were only 376 soldiers, spread across all the districts. On that first day, 90% of them turned, and many more died in the initial conflict. Right now, under my command, I have a total of only five professional soldiers. Not 500, not 50, just five!"

Qiao Ping’s mind went blank.

She had guessed that things weren’t going smoothly for her uncle, but... five?

It was a number she had never imagined.

In a city as large as Yanhai City, with its population of 3.1 million, there had only been 376 soldiers. In the end, only five of them had made it under Qiao Yunliang’s command.

"Five... just five. Uncle, how could you possibly say you’d fight your way to me in three months? That’s completely impossible!"

"The combat personnel I’m currently commanding are mostly militia, along with a small number of armed security forces... 369 people in total. That’s only because we responded quickly and, with a bit of luck, captured the Zongshan Civilian Training Base early on. That’s how we managed to gather and arm these people so quickly. The situation in other areas... is even worse."

"Then... then losing thirty-seven people means you lost one-tenth of your combat personnel?"

Qiao Ping immediately understood. No wonder her uncle said the losses were devastating.

A single climbing zombie had wiped out one-tenth of Yanhai City’s armed forces!

Qiao Yunliang said helplessly, "That’s right... It’s my fault. From the very beginning, I misjudged the zombies’ capabilities. I thought they were all unchanging and didn’t prepare more rigorous fortifications in advance."

Qiao Ping comforted him, "At least now you know some zombies can climb. In the end, they can’t stand up to bullets. You just have to push forward more steadily, a little more slowly, that’s all. No need to rush."

’She could understand that. She would just have to wait a little longer.’ Besides, she had already prepared herself to give birth in Xiangti Bay.

"But there have been too many accidents! Our forces can handle zombie hordes, but we can’t handle idiots! Do you remember that idiot who hid the fact that he’d been scratched by a zombie? He turned in the middle of the night and infected a large number of the civilians we’d rescued. By the time we realized, the panicked civilians and zombies were all charging our camp together. My soldiers couldn’t open fire on the civilians! They could only fight the zombies hand-to-hand! But some of the people who rushed in... had already been bitten, already infected. They were right behind my soldiers... and they turned!"

Hearing this description, Qiao Ping could just imagine how terrifying that day must have been. Those soldiers... by the very people they had personally rescued...

"Idiots are more terrifying than villains!" Qiao Ping cursed.

Qiao Yunliang took a deep breath, seemingly remembering the brothers who fought alongside him for Yanhai City.

"That time, we lost half our men... Pingping, I haven’t called you much this month. It’s not because I don’t care about you. It’s just that I’m afraid... I can no longer tell you when I’ll be able to reach you. The accidents... there are just too many."

Qiao Ping’s heart sank. She collapsed into her chair and fell silent for a long time before she spoke:

"So... all this time, you were just placating my friends, telling them the zombies would be defeated soon, that peace was just a matter of time... it was all... a lie. You were tricking them into taking care of me for your sake, right?"

"No, I didn’t lie to them. There will be peace! But... not right now. Our strength is limited, but the strength of the collective is limitless! The true power of our country... I believe they will definitely find a way! You have to believe it too! If you stay alive... you’ll see hope! Until then, my men and I will continue to fight to wipe out the zombies in Yanhai City, until that day comes!"

Her uncle went on, offering more words of advice, but Qiao Ping’s mind was wandering, and she couldn’t take any of it in.

’She could always tell her uncle was holding things back when he called, but she never thought... he was holding back this much.’

’Peace... order... Heh...’

’Qiao Yunliang is just developing his forces out in the Zongshan Suburbs, and it’s already this difficult. For him to fight through the most prosperous and populated Urban Area of Yanhai City to reach Xiangti Bay... when would that ever happen?’

’Qiao Yunliang hadn’t lied. He’d just never mentioned these bloody casualty numbers.’

’He wanted me to hold onto hope, to make sure that I, a pregnant woman, wouldn’t be abandoned by my current team as a burden. He was using his status to protect me one last time.’

’But Uncle, doesn’t this... make us liars?’

Qiao Ping looked out the window. Yu Dong and the other five had already disappeared from view.

They were out there preparing for a time of peace that might never come.

And this was all because Zhao Youcai had listened to her, believed that order would soon be restored, and thought that gold was about to become a high-value currency in the post-apocalypse.

The Xiangti Bay team had gone on a dangerous mission because of ’false information’.

’Captain, you have to come back alive... Otherwise, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.’

Two lines of hot tears streamed down Qiao Ping’s face.

At that moment, in the first-floor lobby of Building Two.

Sun Shan was lying on a comfortable sofa, fast asleep under a blanket, with a walkie-talkie resting by his ear.

As he slept, he felt something tickling his face.

He groggily opened his eyes and saw Yang Yi’s fair, delicate face right in front of his. A strand of her hair fell onto his face, startling him.

"What the fuck! What are you doing?"

"Brother Sun, don’t you think you’re just like a dog?"

"I think you’ve got a serious problem. Get lost! Stop bothering me!"

"Isn’t it true? Only by diligently standing guard for them here will they deign to toss you some scraps... you’re still just a watchdog."

"If you’ve got nothing better to do, go bang your head against a wall. Don’t come here with your crazy act. What’s it to you, anyway!"

"I was just thinking... if Zhao Wenjie hadn’t come in and taken you hostage back then, wouldn’t you still be upstairs, eating from your endless supply of food, enjoying your own private space, and doing whatever you wanted... instead of being stuck down here waiting to open the door for people."

"What are you trying to say?"

Sun Shan sat up. He noticed that Yang Yi was carefully made up today and had a faint, pleasant fragrance about her.

"You hate Wen Jie for what he did, right? He’s abandoned me now. So... you and me... how about we get some revenge on him together?"

Yang Yi’s breath was fragrant as she spoke, and Sun Shan stared, transfixed.

"H-how do we get revenge?"

"However you want to get revenge~"

Yang Yi’s soft little hand slipped under the blanket...

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