Welcome to the Wasteland

Chapter 59: First Sight of Chaos

“I need vehicles, manpower, and a base.” Zhou Qingfeng pulled up a virtual projection from his armband computer and asked Leila Fox, “Where do you think would be the best place to set up our base?”

“Do you have any options?” Leila Fox asked. Due to the gory carnage that ‘Dog Meat’ had caused, the young woman was still in a daze. She felt dizzy and was unable to think.

“We have two options. One is the headquarters of the New York Police Department on Cloth Street in Manhattan. It has a solid structure, ample space, and a large number of weapons as well as equipment. The most important thing is that no one will try to fight over it with us at the moment.

“However, the police department has some obvious disadvantages as well. It lacks food, water, and fuel, and the space is too big. It would be impossible to defend with just the two of us.

“The other location would be a prison near New York or an island. Both the prison and the island could be called independent areas with relatively complete facilities. For the time being, there’ll be no need to worry about living supplies. However, the disadvantage is that those places are already inhabited. For example, Riker’s Island Prison holds thousands of prisoners. We won’t be able to deal with them with just the both of us.”

Leila Fox thought hard. “Perhaps we could get a large cruise ship, one that can support the weight of tens of thousands of tons. A large cruise ship has living facilities that can support hundreds of people for a long time.”

Zhou Qingfeng opposed her idea and said, “Getting a cruise ship could perhaps be our long term goal, but we won’t be able to acquire one with just the two of us now. You have lost all your connections, and I’m not familiar with this world. The most important thing right now is to recruit a group of people.”

“Then let’s choose the police headquarters. I don’t want to go to the prison. At the very least, the police headquarters is empty now.” Leila Fox hated prisons instinctively.

Zhou Qingfeng sighed silently, he didn’t like the prison either. However, someone would go to the prison to unify the prisoners there and establish a large gang. It was terrifying to imagine a gang of thugs with about thousands in numbers roaming New York.

“Alright, let’s go to the police headquarters.” Zhou Qingfeng nodded in agreement.

As the two were discussing their next destination, the university students who had been forced to become laborers by Zhou Qingfeng began stirring up trouble. The students had been tasked with loading the Babylonian Intelligence Lab’s equipment and accessories into the mobile command vehicle. However, after a few rounds of going back and forth, their numbers decreased very obviously.

“Where are the others?” Zhou Qingfeng asked furiously. He initially had eight laborers, and there were only three left.

“They escaped… escaped, and hid in the building. I advised them not to leave, but they refused to become slaves,” a fat student carrying equipment said. Seeing that he was sweating profusely, he was obviously rather exhausted.

Zhou Qingfeng pursed his lips. Leila Fox, who was standing next to Zhou Qingfeng, sighed and said, “It seems like we can’t expect too much from these university students, they’re too selfish.”

The Babylon Intelligence Lab originally had more than 60 people. Among them, more than a dozen police and military personnel had disappeared. Additionally, the security guards had also fled. When Zhou Qingfeng came out to reclaim the mobile command vehicle, more than half of the remaining laboratory researchers also fled the place.

Only the laboratory’s supervisor Rezo, who had been knocked out by Catarina, and his two assistants were managed to be caught by Zhou Qingfeng. However, the good news was that with the help of the two assistants, they managed to collect most of the spare parts for ‘Dog Meat’.

“Alright, fatty, don’t be afraid. Tell me your name.”

“I’m Roma. Ernst Roma.”

“Alright, Mr. Roma, you are now my appointed supervisor. You have the right to direct the rest of them to work.” Zhou Qingfeng also handed Roma a Glock 17 pistol and said, “If anyone dares to flee, shoot them.”

When the fat student, Roma, saw the pistol that had been thrust into his hand, tears started to roll down his weeping face. He had not fleed because he was afraid. However, he had now become the demon’s supervisor. When he turned back to look at his companions who had not fled as well, he could see a hint of fear in their expressions.

“Alright, Mr. Roma, look alive. Our future is bright. Now, we’ll head over to the medical school, our team needs some experienced biopharmaceutical researchers.” Zhou Qingfeng led his lackeys and headed toward Columbia University’s medical center.

As the Fox Finance Group’s CEO, Leila Fox was very familiar with the New York biopharmaceuticals. With her help, Zhou Qingfeng captured the most famous biopharmaceutical team at Columbia Medical Center.

Subsequently, there were too many people and materials, and Leila Fox had to drive over another stolen truck to load them.

Then, where to next? Zhou Qingfeng did not want to head over to the police headquarters directly. He led his team and drove back to the New York Sacred Heart Society building. With Leila Fox present, he wanted to persuade the people in this society to accept his authority.

There were one to two hundred professionally trained people in his community. There were cooks, waiters, security guards, and management personnel. It was a team that could function efficiently right away and was much better than the students Zhou Qingfeng had grabbed from the Columbia University campus.

On the way back to the New York Sacred Heart Society building, Fat Roma stared blankly at Manhattan which was beginning to show the first signs of chaos. The disaster began at 6 p.m. Transporting the resources and capturing the personnel took a lot of time, and it was already 10 p.m.

Due to the disappearance of the traffic police, the signal light system had become a mess. Several Manhattan streets were almost blocked by various vehicles. A large number of people who were at loss could be seen walking back and forth on the streets, trying to find a way to get home.

That was not the only sight they saw. Many people were trapped in the subway and could not get out. Additionally, many people hid in high-rise buildings as they felt something was wrong. As time went by, the situation only became even more chaotic, and many people ended up being trapped, dying gradually.

There was a New York Police Department logo on the mobile command vehicle, so many people ran up to Zhou Qingfeng’s vehicle for help. These people swarmed the vehicle, banging the body of it incessantly and giving the people within the vehicle a shock.

“Damned police, what the hell is happening? Why is no one managing the traffic? I want to go home, my wife and children are still waiting for me to have dinner.”

“I want to complain about you. You’re wasting the taxpayer’s money. Tell me your badge number, I want to talk to your supervisor.”

“Get down, I’m ordering you to solve this issue right now. I have to rush to the airport, but I’ve been trapped here for three hours.”

Amidst the turbulent crowd, the mobile command vehicle resembled a little boat. It swayed violently as if it was about to capsize at any moment. Zhou Qingheng, who was unable to advance, became enraged. He rolled down the window and fired at the crowd.

Tu tu tu… after a series of gunshots, Zhou Qingfeng grabbed the loudspeaker and roared at the crowd, “Hey, idiots, I’m not the police. If anyone blocks the road again, I’ll kill you. Now listen to me and get out of Manhattan immediately, leave New York. That’s your only way out!”

As he watched the furious Zhou Qingheng start driving along the road again, and even ram into or crush vehicles that were blocking his path, Roma, who was sitting in the car, smiled bitterly. He turned to the twenty or so people who had been captured and said, “I suppose we’re not the ones who have it the worst. No matter what, we’re still doing better than the folks on the street.”