Apocalypse Rebirth: 3000 million won at the beginning

Chapter 2001 The Apocalypse: Is a 99% Mortality Rate Low?
Morning light.

Smoke curls from the kitchen.

The oil city's trading market commercial district, specifically the third secondary street's vendor market, is brimming with a strong local atmosphere.

"Rat cakes~ Authentic, genuine rat cakes made with minced meat, lots of meat, delicious, and a good source of protein~"

"Oh my, look at this little fan! It's so powerful, a must-have for home and travel, and so convenient and easy to carry!"

"Phoenix brand bicycles, old stuff from fifteen years ago, but the quality is top-notch. If you can't afford four-wheeled ones, can't you at least afford two-wheeled ones?"

The third secondary street is very bustling, with many vendors operating 24 hours a day.

In the morning, there are people selling all kinds of food and snacks here, a wide variety of options.

Eating the same corn tortillas can get boring, so many snack-style breakfasts have emerged.

I must say, it tastes pretty good.

For example, wild fruits and vegetables are incorporated into cornbread, then processed and baked.

Another popular food among scavengers is protein starch cake made by grinding insects into powder and mixing them with ground cornbread.

They can't afford meat, but they can get protein from other sources.

Besides food, there are also all sorts of small commodities.

Some scavengers find small items outside, but if they send them to the official scrap metal collection station, they won't get many points for them. So they repair what they can themselves, and entrust others to repair what they can't repair themselves.

Then you can bring them here to sell and earn even more points.

This market is the only one in the entire commercial area that does not charge any stall fees or rent.

This can be considered as leaving the residents with a way to conduct private transactions on their own.

At night, this area becomes filled with streetwalkers.

Although Tingfeng Tower has a great reputation, it's not a place that just anyone can get in; there are height, appearance, and weight requirements.

Some people just want to earn some extra money temporarily by standing on the street, as it offers more freedom.

Therefore, this area becomes extremely bustling at night, even rivaling the bustling atmosphere of the main street.

At the end of the street, Shen Yifan, the captain of the third patrol squad, walked over with his hands behind his back.

He glanced at the side street briefly and then proceeded with his routine patrol.

"Captain Shen, you've arrived!"

"Captain Shen, good morning! Want a pancake?"

"Captain Shen, you look even more handsome today!"

Wherever Shen Yifan walked, the vendors greeted him.

After all, these are the people who directly govern them.

In the trading market, the patrol team has a lot of authority, which is equivalent to a combination of the police in the pre-apocalyptic world, urban management officers, traffic police, market regulators and other aspects.

Great power.

Shen Yifan nodded as he walked forward.

He refused food offered to him by vendors without hesitation.

Who knows if these vendors will turn around and report him to the complaint box after offering him food, especially since there are also inspectors in the market.

He doesn't need to take such a big risk for a bite to eat.

As the regulations governing the trading market become more comprehensive, they not only regulate the residents inside but also the patrol officers who enforce the law.

A patrolman leaned over next to Shen Yifan and asked in a low voice:

"Captain, Captain Cao said that a new ranking system will be implemented today. Do you think our ranks will change?"

Shen Yifan shook his head and said:
"It's unlikely to change. We should still be at level three, but there will be some changes at level five. Level six will probably have similar treatment to the original level five."

"Oh, what's different?" the teammate next to him continued to ask.

Shen Yifan stroked his chin, recalling some of the things Captain Li Zhengping had said to him the night before, and replied:

"The main difference should be in housing, water and electricity, etc. Compared with before, the expenditure points of Level 5 personnel will be discounted, about 60% of that of Level 6 personnel."

In addition, it is explicitly stipulated that Level 6 personnel can only reside in the buffer city. Even if a house in the trading market becomes vacant due to cancellation, Level 6 personnel can only reside in the buffer city.

The rest seem to be the same.

Shen Yifan thought for a moment and then continued:

"Oh dear, the brigade leader only mentioned it to me briefly, he didn't explain it in detail. Anyway, an official notice will be posted at noon today, you can take a look then."

The team member nodded and said:

"If that's the case, it seems the difference between level 5 and level 6 members isn't that significant. By the way, how are level 5 and level 6 members evaluated?"

Shen Yifan answered casually:
"Contribution points, but most level 5 personnel should be able to retain their current level."

As long as you have completed the task more than twice before, you can retain your current level.

The required contribution points are not high. If this contribution point requirement is not met, it means that this level 5 personnel has not contributed much to the oil city, and may be demoted.

"As for the survivors who joined later, they were all Level 6 personnel."

The team member said thoughtfully:

"I see."

They chatted and, without realizing it, had reached the end of the side street.

Continue turning right to complete their daily patrol.

Since Lao Huang and his team only returned to the oil city yesterday, the latest policies issued at the Third Big Camphor Tree High-Level Meeting have not yet been communicated to the grassroots level.

It will take time for the policies and plans to be rolled out gradually so that residents at the grassroots level can feel the impact of the meeting.

However, for the Second Transport Brigade, they had to set off very early that morning.

The scavenger team received a notification yesterday, instructing them to arrive at an undeveloped vacant lot in the western part of Buffer City at 8:00 AM today.

The number of scavengers participating this time was smaller than the previous two times.

Because the factory transporting the vehicle manufacturing equipment to M City this time was relatively small, only a little over a hundred vehicles were recruited, which is far fewer than the previous two times.

However, this time the commotion was much greater than the previous two.

Even the behemoths that haven't been seen for a long time came out along with the armored vehicles.

The scavengers waiting to set off in the open space were somewhat surprised to see this:

"Holy crap, what's going on? How come there are so many more combat battalions this time, and so many more armored vehicles too?"

"I don't know, I'm afraid something might have happened?"

"What else could happen? There were no problems the first two times, so how could there be a problem this time? I think it might be related to Oriental Paradise."

"Oriental Paradise? Hmm~ You know what, you really can't believe it, it's really possible. It seems like this time they're going to send troops to completely occupy Oriental Paradise."

The scavengers watched the approaching behemoth and the nearly ten additional armored vehicles, and began to discuss among themselves.

Rumble~
The behemoth stopped in front of the main force, and then Cannon emerged from it, stood on the roof, and waved to Yang Tianlong ahead, "Brother Long, when are we setting off?"

Yang Tianlong looked at the armored vehicle formation behind the behemoth, a whole row of armored vehicles.

"Where is Captain Xiao?"

"What's behind me?" The cannon pointed behind him. *Tap tap tap*
Xiao Jun stepped out of the armored vehicle, walked up to Yang Tianlong, and asked:

"Captain Yang, when do we set off?"

Xiao Jun was also a first-level officer, and he had extensive combat experience, with even more seniority than Yang Tianlong.

However, his mission this time was not to transport car manufacturing equipment.

They just happened to be traveling with the transport convoy to M City, and were just providing escort for the convoy.

Their main mission is still to go to M City and find Hu Tian!

Therefore, Yang Tianlong still had command of the transport convoy this time.

The armored vehicle convoy did not carry much food or water, but only enough supplies for about ten days.

With the sustainable version of the helicopter, they don't need to stockpile so much food.

The sustainable version of the helicopter has an extremely high flight speed, making it possible to make a round trip between Oil City and M City in a single day, transporting food from Oil City to M City.

Yang Tianlong looked at the sky and asked:

"Weren't they saying that four sustainable helicopters would go together? Why haven't we seen them yet?"

Xiao Jun replied:
"They're still preparing; we won't have to wait for them. We'll catch up with them in no time."

"Alright, let's get going then." Upon hearing this, Yang Tianlong immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and notified everyone, "Let's go!"

Following the formation agreed upon last night, the jumbo truck drove at the very front.

Two armored vehicles followed closely behind.

This time, two combat battalions and two militia battalions were deployed, along with a transport battalion for escort and defense, bringing the total number of combat personnel to over 1000.

This resulted in a situation where there were more combat personnel than transport personnel.

The combat battalion already possessed formidable firepower, a fully armored vehicle convoy, and its personnel were all seasoned veterans, making it a force to be reckoned with.

The behemoth took the lead, driving at the very front of the convoy.

Yang Tianlong sat inside the armored vehicle, staring at the footage from the drone.

After a moment, he suddenly remembered something, so he immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and asked Li Qi, "Li Qi, have you prepared the list of supplies sent by Oriental Paradise?"

Li Qi quickly replied, "Everything's ready, it's all in the car."

During the days that Yang Tianlong and his team returned to headquarters for a meeting, Oriental Paradise also underwent significant changes.

In recent days, some scavenger teams have also gone to Oriental Paradise to deliver food, medicine and other supplies there, and then bring the supplies they found in Oriental Paradise back to Oriental Paradise.

The oil city even sent several professionals to accompany the scavenger team to specifically examine and inspect the supplies, make an assessment, award corresponding points, and then exchange them for food and medicine.

Oriental Paradise developed extremely rapidly, attracting the first batch of survivors under the recruitment of Miao Wei and his team.

After successfully exchanging for the food and other supplies they needed, the first group of survivors went to call other familiar survivor teams.

One pass ten, ten pass a hundred.

In just over ten days, the number of survivors who moved into Oriental Paradise surged from a hundred or so to over a thousand.

After all, Nanshi was densely populated before the apocalypse. Although it had experienced so many natural disasters, and even though the population was now less than one in a hundred, the population base was still there, and many survivors could still emerge from the nooks and crannies.

Do not underestimate the human body's ability to survive in the face of extreme natural disasters and environments.

Throughout history, there have been numerous examples to illustrate this point.

Ancient Ice Age.

When humans were still apes, the mortality rate was extremely high.

According to research, human ancestors experienced a catastrophe 80 to 90 years ago, in which 98.7% of people died due to extreme weather and the inability to find food.

This kind of extreme weather is no less severe than the natural disasters in the apocalypse, and may even be more ferocious; it is a true catastrophe!
Extreme cold that lasts for long periods, sometimes tens of thousands of years.

It is highly destructive, causing a huge impact on the global ecosystem. Only a few plants and animals can survive, while the vast majority of species face extinction, and the balance of the ecosystem is directly broken.

In extreme cases, most of the world's landmass is under a 240-meter-thick layer of ice.

The entire Earth was frozen into a giant snowball.

Even under these circumstances, the ancestors of humankind still had a survival rate of 0.03%.

It's easy to imagine how incredibly resilient humans are!
Even in ancient times, the most devastating population calamities that China experienced never exceeded a situation where only one in ten survived.

When Qin conquered the six states, the population was halved, dropping from 3000 million to 1500 million.

Of those who survived the Five Barbarian Invasions, approximately one-fifth survived.

The data is inconsistent and inaccurate due to the Ming-Qing transition, but the most exaggerated estimate is that the survival rate was about one in ten.

The apocalyptic disaster and zombie crisis are far more ferocious than the natural and man-made disasters of ancient times.

Assuming that less than one in a hundred survives, the mortality rate would be as high as 99%.

However, given the country's huge population, it is very likely that there are still tens of millions of survivors nationwide today!
even more.

Therefore, it is quite normal that in the eighth year of the apocalypse, Oriental Paradise was still able to gather so many survivors in just half a month.

Most of the survivors who did not survive were cautious, did not easily trust others, and often hid in secluded places.

Oriental Paradise caused quite a stir in Nanshi. Most of the survivors in the surrounding area were watching and dared not go to Oriental Paradise. If they had all gone to Oriental Paradise, the number of people gathered would have been far more than a thousand.

The convoy was impressive.

The Jumbo has a speed limit of 55 kilometers per hour, so the entire convoy was not traveling very fast.

In addition, the giants are too heavy to pass over some elevated bridge surfaces with weak load-bearing capacity, which prevents them from taking the shortest route.

Half an hour after they started driving, four permanent helicopters suddenly appeared in the sky.

Zizzi~
The voice of He Ma, the captain of the first squadron of the helicopter brigade, came through the walkie-talkie:
"Captain Xiao, we are in position!"

Xiao Jun opened the cover on the top of the armored vehicle and saw four sustainable helicopters flying in the sky. He picked up the walkie-talkie and said:

"Okay, got it. Contact Captain Yang Tianlong and ask him what he needs. You can cooperate with him and go ahead to scout out the road conditions."

“Okay,” He Ma replied simply, and then contacted Yang Tianlong.

Because of the availability of the permanent helicopter, there is no need for an advance team to scout the road ahead.

The configuration of four sustainable helicopters is absolutely amazing.

It has fierce firepower and can fly continuously in the air, with a maximum speed of 500 kilometers per hour, which is extremely terrifying.

ground.

The scavengers' vehicles in the convoy, on a dump truck.

Sha Xin peeked out and saw four helicopters in the sky, following the convoy.

He couldn't help but frown. "It feels like this time is a little different."

His right eyelid kept twitching, giving him a vague sense of unease.

I have a feeling that something bad will happen on this trip to M.

Besides his intuition, he also sensed something was amiss from the official's behavior.

Why would they send out so many armored vehicles, and even four of the rumored perpetual helicopters, for no apparent reason?

(End of this chapter)