CHAPTER 330: CHAPTER 1: RESTARTING HOPE_3

All the vulnerable parts of the pickup trucks were fitted with thick armor plates, and even the windows were reinforced with sturdy bulletproof grilles to ensure the maximum safety of the team members.

That night, after deliberation, it was decided to be fully prepared and ready to set off the next day.

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Kongges also attended this mobilization meeting for the exploration concerning the future of the refuge.

As the meeting dispersed, night had quietly fallen, with only a few desolate streetlights casting dim yellow light within the "playground" refuge, stretching shadows across the ground.

This refuge was well-situated, neither deeply buried underground nor hidden within a mountain, but simply made use of an abandoned playground.

At a glance, it seemed exposed on all sides, with no apparent safety, and enemies could potentially surge from any direction.

Having lived here for a year, Kongges gradually grew accustomed to this "sense of insecurity," even finding it more comfortable than imagined.

If all the people were truly trapped in oppressive underground or cave dwellings, the residents would likely suffer a mental breakdown in no time.

This semi-open environment, on the contrary, retained the convenience of contact with the outside world and the rare chance for fresh air.

Kongges slowly walked to the dormitory along the path illuminated by the streetlights.

As he passed by the cultivated vegetable gardens and fields, the distinct sounds of cicadas and frogs in the summer night clearly reached his ears, composing a somewhat raucous yet lively rural nocturne.

There were no professional agricultural experts in the refuge, and following the virus outbreak, fertilizers and pesticides became scarce.

Zhou Qingfeng had only stockpiled some quality seeds back then but couldn’t possibly back up the entire extensive system of agricultural science, machinery, and technology.

Despite this, several hundred acres of land surrounding the refuge were cultivated, with vegetables and fruits planted meeting the residents’ needs.

Moreover, they also attempted to grow potatoes, soybeans, and wheat, having harvested two seasons, though the yield was far below what was produced before the apocalypse.

As for fish, chicken, and pig farming, small-scale operations were conducted within the refuge, but the main sources of meat, eggs, and milk for the hundred or so people remained those piled-up canned goods.

A sufficient supply of cans, endless cans, a vast variety and number of them, theoretically enough for a lifetime.

In practice, after just a month, almost no one in the refuge could endure the cans, the mere smell making them nauseous.

"But to have survived this long is already quite fortunate." Kongges, recalling a year of life in the refuge, felt countless emotions surge in his heart.

The collapse of world order was visible to the naked eye.

Initially, some news still trickled from the "White House" through the media, which were extremely lively and bustling. But soon, all the media seemed to have been consumed by a virus and completely vanished.

Afterward, personal shortwave radio stations began to rise, with the airwaves packed with distress signals from all directions.

Desperate cries filled various channels, with people hoarsely screaming for food, water, and salvation.

Before long, the voices on the shortwave radios gradually subsided, akin to the sea after a storm, leaving behind an unsettling silence.

"Gray Shark" once said that the current radio environment seemed to have regressed by a hundred years, with the spectrum unusually clean, where even a simple Yagi antenna could receive faint signals from thousands of kilometers away.

This precisely indicated that many places had likely seen their populations... die out.

Within the refuge, they dared not casually send out radio messages, fearing that hostile forces might discover their existence through radio triangulation.

The world seemed to have entered a dark forest age, where any exposure could bring about devastating attacks.

However, it wasn’t viable to hide like moles in the refuge forever.

Human beings are inherently social creatures, needing to communicate with the outside world, to see if there are other survivors, if any sparks of hope still linger.

This exploration mission aims to break through this suffocating silence.