Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Not for the first time, Wang Chao wished that they would be able to split up to cover more ground. He had briefly seen the thoughts in Li Dai Lu's head and knew what she was hoping to get out of this impromptu trip to the city center and there was no way he could get everything on her list in the time frame that she had stated.

Now he understood why she scoffed when Rear Admiral Zhou Gang Jia sent her, Liu Yu Zeng and Chen Zi Han to grab supplies. After all, anyone can go out and pick up things, but ensuring that they came back to the base with them was a whole other story, and he didn't seem to trust Cao Mu Chen's team as much as he originally thought.

It was one thing to send them across the world and trust them to complete their mission, but it was a completely different level of trust to send them out for things that would be a matter of life and death on a personal level. He would see where this mission went before making any further decisions on them.

"Wang, Liu," came a voice over the radio.  Picking up the mic, Wang Chao clicked the button to open communications.

"Go."

"How much further?"

Wang Chao paused before answering. He looked around outside of his window. It was still pitch black outside, but he was able to roughly make out where they were. "10 minutes out," he said, coming to a conclusion. They would take care of the city center first. There should be a mall coming up soon that they could raid.

"How long does it take to build a communications tower?" he asked, looking at Jiang Ming Tao from the rear-view mirror.

The answering scoff was enough to make his knuckles go white on the steering wheel.

"I told her already that it wouldn't be possible to build," came the reply as the other man stared out into the darkness.

"And I told you that you weren't replaceable. Guo Bi Ming, how long would it take you to build a communications tower?"  Guo Bi Ming looked back and forth between the General and his team leader before cautiously answering. "If we have all the tools, the supplies, and working electricity, then about two weeks."

Wang Chao nodded his head. Li Dai Lu wanted the towers built and in place within four months, so even if they didn't pick up all the supplies today, there should still be time to get it all done.

'You don't have to reinvent the wheel,' said the soft, melodic voice inside of his head. 'There should be plenty of cell towers in the city. Maybe we can take them down and repurpose them somehow.'

Wang Chao grunted at that idea. She was right. There should be more than a few cell towers around here that they could use instead of having to build their own. 'Good job, little girl,' he said to her and felt her smile through their connection. However, he was now getting out of range for his telepathy and whatever she was going to say next was cut off.

"How long would it take to have one of these cell towers up and working?" Wang Chao asked, this time completely ignoring Jiang Ming Tao and going straight to Guo Bi Ming.

"Seeing as there is no electricity, there is no way to get them up and working," said Jiang Ming Tao, answering the question that was not meant for him. 

Tired of the bullshit, Wang Chao pulled out his 9mm and aimed it directly at the head of the man in the back seat.  "That was not what I asked or said. Try to pay attention," he said, dividing his attention between the man and the road.

"If we had everything that we need, it might take us a couple of days to uninstall everything and then reinstall the working components. But Jiang Ming Tao is correct, we would need some form of electricity to make them work properly."

"Can you install their own solar panels onto the towers to generate the power needed?" asked Wang Chao, driving with his left hand while holding his handgun steady at Jiang Ming Tao.

"Do you have working solar panels?" asked Guo Bi Ming excitedly.

"At the last count, there should be around 170 panels with 300 batteries," said Wang Chao, repeating the information that Li Dai Lu had given Jiang Ming Tao. Whether or not those were the only ones that she got her hands on was an entirely different story.

"Given the size and the amount of power the batteries can store, that should be more than enough to supply all of the towers in the city and still leave some solar panels for our building," admitted Gua Bi Ming, almost rubbing his hands in delight.

Since Jiang Ming Tao's primary specialization was communications, Guo Bi Ming was willing to take a step back for the good of the team, but that didn't mean that he didn't have as much passion and knowledge for communications as the other man. After all, unlike his teammates, he went to University A before joining the military after he got his degree in Science and Technology.I think you should take a look at

He was also just really, really good at being a sniper, and was happy to accommodate his team and go wherever they needed him.

"But the electrical components have all been destroyed by the terrorist attack at the beginning of November," pointed out Jiang Ming Tao, not willing to be left out of the conversation. 

Wang Chao quickly looked at the man who was sitting extremely calmly for a man that had a gun pointed at his head. "And what makes you think that it was a terrorist attack?"

Jiang Ming Tao shrugged his shoulders, refusing to look at the other man.

"We heard rumors," said Feng Dong Yang, answering the question. "Country M was looking to do a mass attack on a bunch of other countries, all at the same time. Ours was just one of many on the list."

"Does that mean that Country M still has power?" asked Wang Chao confused.

"No," replied the man beside him. "I heard that Country S had plans to send out their own EMP at the same time to make sure that Country M didn't get any benefits in the long run."

"Huh," said Wang Chao, deep in thought as he pulled into the underground parking lot of the biggest mall in City J. Waiting for the other two vehicles to park around him, his mind continued to race over what he had heard. If Country M deliberately sent out the EMP to several countries, then that meant that they had planned this thing for a long time.

First, the genetic mutations in order to create apex predators, then an EMP to make sure that no one was able to successfully fight back or even survive.

Li Dai Lu said that maybe 15% of the population of Country K survived the first decade after the apocalypse came, was that Country M's plan? To make sure that they could remain the most powerful country in the world?

Wang Chao shook the thoughts out of his head. Even if Country M did it deliberately, it didn't really matter at this point. The world had already gone to pot and he didn't think that was going to change simply because he found out who probably pressed the button.

Unless they planned to invade their country in a few years when they were too weak to fight back. But Li Dai Lu never mentioned that happening. So maybe Country S really did manage to get their own EMP off before shit hit the fan.

First things first though… supplies.

"We are going to split into two teams," said Wang Chao as he got out of his SUV and walked over to where the rest of the men were waiting.

"Liu Wei will be in charge of one team. You will start at the top floor and work your way down. My team will begin in the basement and work our way up," he started as he looked around at the men that stood in front of him. In all honestly, he didn't really want any of them on his team.

Now he understood why Li Dai Lu was so paranoid all of the time. He had come to understand just how hard it was to trust people when your own life was on the line. Even being able to read their minds was no guarantee about their true nature. After all, wasn't he willing to put his little girl in their hands to keep her safe?

"Why can't I lead my own team?" asked Cao Mu Chen, somewhat respectfully. Wang Chao understood that as a Captain, it was a complete slap in the face for an outsider to come in and take over a team.

"Because we can't trust you," Liu Wei said, saving Wang Chao from answering.

"It's just supplies," protested Cao Mu Chen as he looked at Liu Wei.

"And that is the reason why we can't trust you. You think that supplies are not that important, but we know that they could be the difference between life and death," said Wang Chao, not willing to continue on with the conversation.

  "Jiang Ming Tao, Feng Dong Yang, Guo Bi Ming, and Cao Mu Chen will be with me, the rest are with Liu Wei. We will meet back here in six hours. Dismissed," said Wang Chao. 'And remember step one if you need to,' he sent to Liu Wei. Seeing the slight nod from the other man, Wang Chao felt a little better.

Unfortunately, that feeling that he had in the pit of his stomach since he left Li Dai Lu's side was about to come out in full force.