CHAPTER 329: CHAPTER 1: RESTARTING HOPE_2

He nodded slightly in agreement, "This matter isn’t too difficult to handle, basically, we just need to bring in some people from outside, primarily young women."

In fact, the atmosphere within the shelter had been slightly restless in recent months, and Zhou Qingfeng had already sensed it.

However, everyone was still haunted by the threat of the X Virus, and there wasn’t a strong desire to venture out for exploration and expansion. But since Old Xiao mentioned it, it indicated that this issue was urgent and needed to be addressed quickly.

"Let’s hold a mobilization meeting," Zhou Qingfeng decided, "and organize a small exploration team to thoroughly search the towns surrounding the shelter."

The meeting place was set at the ’Haunted House Cinema’ in the playground, as it was spacious enough.

Some key posts in the shelter required people to stay on duty, so around sixty to seventy members attended the meeting. Those who couldn’t be there would have to hear about it later.

Before the meeting started, the cinema was noisy.

The creaking sound of moving old seats, the greetings exchanged among acquaintances, and the whispered conversations all blended into a chaotic background noise.

Xiao Jinlang cleared his throat, grabbed a microphone, and coughed twice loudly to quell the noise, "Brothers, quiet down, please observe the meeting’s discipline!"

Once the voices subsided, Old Xiao continued, "The virus outbreak has wreaked havoc worldwide, and we’ve been holed up in the shelter for a year now, luckily avoiding a disaster.

But hiding like this isn’t a solution. Sooner or later, we’ll have to interact with the outside world. The main issues are as follows..."

Xiao Jinlang, being older, spoke with a calm and powerful tone, fair in his dealings, and capable of convincing people. When he spoke, everyone listened intently.

"Firstly, we lack professionals. Take doctors, for instance; there are doctors in the shelter, but medicine is an extensive and complex field.

We’ve stockpiled a lot of expensive medical equipment, but lack skilled operators. These treasures are piled up in the warehouse, of no use at all, which is a waste."

"Secondly, we still lack people; our male-to-female ratio is highly imbalanced. I wanted to call ’brothers and sisters,’ but looking around today, it’s all brothers..."

When it came to "lacking people," the atmosphere was slightly serious; but as soon as "lacking sisters" was mentioned, all the men couldn’t help but laugh, instantly catching Old Xiao’s real purpose for the meeting.

"Let’s cut to the chase. Today is mainly to unify our thoughts and mobilize. We need to organize a search team of a dozen people. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to speak..."

Before Old Xiao could finish speaking, someone in the room impatiently raised their hand and shouted, "Not robbing money, not robbing food, just snatching fine foreign women, I want two!"

The audience burst into laughter upon hearing this.

Someone immediately chimed in jokingly, "Why don’t you ask for three or four? In today’s world, a bowl of instant noodles can really trade for a foreign girl!"

The previous speaker quickly waved their hand and said earnestly, "No, no, two is enough, three is a bit much, four... totally unbearable!"

The laughter in the cinema grew louder, filled with a rare lightheartedness in the post-apocalyptic world.

Some people began to seriously discuss practical issues. One person, frowning, said, "It seems like all the people in the towns near our shelter are dead, I’m afraid there’s no one to take in."

"I don’t recommend taking people in nearby," another person immediately shouted, "This could easily expose the location of the shelter. We have more than twenty Warthog attack aircraft and can fly to farther places to take people in."

"Yes, yes, it’s better to keep the shelter’s location confidential. Otherwise, with all the resources we’ve stockpiled, once discovered by other forces, it will inevitably cause unnecessary trouble."

"Just the two thousand tons of gasoline and diesel we’ve stockpiled are scarce resources that cannot be replenished in the short term. Better to be cautious."

"Taking people in peacefully is the best approach, try to avoid using force, otherwise, our hundred or so people can’t withstand the loss.

Engage in external exchanges as much as possible through commercial trade. Of course, we must appear strong enough to prevent others from coveting us."

No one opposed going out to search, only some differences of opinion existed on specific details.

Zhou Qingfeng stood up and expressed his opinion, "Let’s conduct a thorough search around the shelter first, take in whoever we can, and eliminate whoever we cannot."

The implication of these words was clear—avoid any potential threats near the shelter. If there are other survivor forces, either bring them in or eliminate them.

This was bound to be a brutal task, but no one raised any objections.

The exploration team’s roster was quickly finalized. Currently, there wasn’t much going on in the shelter, and many were eager to venture out, with an overwhelming number of volunteers signing up.

Zhou Qingfeng personally led the team, choosing Chen Rui and Kongges as deputies, taking along the communications officer "Gray Shark," and a first aid doctor named Roger.

Marco, who had previously gone missing, also rejoined the team. He was good at socializing and spoke multiple languages, making him a suitable interpreter, capable of handling encounters with Spanish-speaking survivors.

Jennifer, originally the school nurse, could serve as the team’s nurse.

Moreover, as one of the few women in the team, she might find it more convenient to establish relationships during the exploration. After all, the shelter was located in the United States, where the majority of the population were still white.

The team consisted of a total of twelve people, fully armed, equipped with five modified electric pickup trucks, and corresponding drones.