Chapter 10: Searching for Hope (2)
Ye Ke plugged the bar phone to a speaker and set it to radio mode. He remembered the FM broadcast domestic channel band should be 87-108 MHz. If there were any vital news, then it should be on this channel and put on repeat every second and every hour.
"To those listening to this and to our dear fellow countrymen, I speak today a grim news. We are experiencing a catastrophic event that is unlike anything we have encountered in the past and throughout history. It's like an epidemic, violent and comes so suddenly without notice. Our former friends and relatives turn to horrible monsters to the point we can't recognize them any longer. They are no longer who they once were.
"However, I firmly believe that as long as we remain united, we will be able to survive through this great ordeal. At present, there are only two cities infected, City S and City Z. But worry not. We are working on a vaccine to combat the virus. We're sure this will be over soon.
"In order to deal with this situation, we've built a temporary shelter in the seven war zones. If you're a survivor, please go to the shelter as soon as possible. My compatriots…"
This should've been recorded by the chairman on spot and continuously broadcasted on repeat.
Well, at least the outside world is still intact. Hearing of the gospel revelation, Wang Hao grew a little excited. This was the best news he's heard in the past two days.
On the other hand, Ye Ke was much calmer than Wang Hao after hearing the contents broadcasted on the radio.
So far, there were only two second-tier cities infected but even so, the two cities were considered a high-density population. The number of people infected was too large to imagine. According to the country's strategic countermeasures, the city would have surely be blocked by the military. One would need to go through the refugee shelter and be examined to be able to pass through.
Moreover, the situation outside is far from good as the people in power would like the masses to think. Do they want to accommodate a temporary shelter for survivors in the two infected cities? A wrong move. Surely they'll rely on the nearby cities and build a temporary shelter there. One way or another, there'd be a person infected who managed to escape.
Vaccines to combat the virus… although a comforting word, it doesn't exist.
But how the higher-ups managed to alleviate the masses' worries was much better than he imagined. If they were to induce fear, then according to his guess, the whole entirety of China would fall into a state of panic and anarchy.
Regardless, what he believed wasn't too far from the truth.
The city's wide streets were filled with unused vehicles, the city airports and terminals have stopped running, and there's military men armed with live ammunition stationed nearby.
From the south all the way to the northern border, the military established a blockade line. As China has a typically large set of population, the blockade surely can't stop the spread of infection. It could slow the outbreak sure but to stop it? Impossible.
Ye Ke once served in the western war zone. He was stationed in Chengdu and trained in Lanzhou. Also, he knew Suzhou belonged to the eastern war zone. The war zone headquarters should be situated in Nanjing.
Well, no matter. When the time comes and he steps foot out of the dormitory, it'll be the time to figure out what to do.
He knows how to get out. His military experience deemed him fit to do but first, they needed to make preparations. If not, they'd be eaten alive by those monsters before they had the chance to escape.
Besides, the corpses aren't just inside the school, they're outside too. They're everywhere.
"I'll go out to the other balcony, search for things when daylight comes, and look around the room to see if I can find something useful." Ye Ke said.
He thought over the matter for a while and decided to scrounge for other items useful in the other dormitory room. This was the best method and the distance between his balcony and the neighboring balcony wasn't too far. He's also sure that not many were able to get in safely from the infected. This is also the best chances to find more resources and more curtains to solve the problem of the insufficient length of the twisted curtain.
"I'll go too. You search the left side and I'll search the right side."
"Wang Hao, I've been a soldier before. This'll be easy for me and I'll have a lot of time to look around. Please don't argue with me about this. If you die, I'll be lonely." Ye Ke's serious. Though climbing over the balcony may seem an easy feat but it's not if one is not in their best condition.
They could slip and fall. And boom! Dead. Their body splattered all over the ground.
Someone like Wang Hao whose to easy to frighten would be scared witless when attempting such feat.
"Okay… then… pay attention to your safety." Wang Hao sat back down on the bed frustratedly.
"You go ahead and listen to the radio and try all the channels to see if there's any other messages broadcasted."
"Alright."
Ye Ke and Wang Hao ate some biscuits and noodles accompanied by a glass of water. They now only had a few packages of instant noodles left.
Wang Hao ate the food served without leaving any ounce of trace.
Ye Ke looked up and stared into his eyes. He said nothing before turning away. Sometimes, tacit order is more useful than explicit rules.
If he is soft to Wang Hao now, he'll only rely continuously on Ye Ke. Wang Hao won't be able to grow in this new world. Ye Ke wants Wang Hao to become an independent and capable person, to become strong. If he isn't able to adjust, he'll die sooner or later.