Rise of the Wasteland Chapter 59 - Chaos Emerged

Chapter 59        Chaos Emerged

“I’ll need vehicles, manpower, and a base for now,” Zhou Qingfeng looked at the virtual screen projected by the armband-computer on his wrist. He then asked Lena Fox, “Where do you think would be the best location to be our base?”

“Do you have any options to choose from?” asked Lena Fox. The debutante was still in a trance due to the brutal massacre by DogMeat. She was still feeling dizzy, and thus could not think about much.

“We have two options. The first location is the NYPD headquarters on Clover Street in Manhattan. The buildings are strong, spacious, and have plenty of armaments. Most importantly, no one would be there with us.”

“However, there are some obvious disadvantages. That place lacks food, water, and fuel. Furthermore, it’s harder to defend if there’s only two of us. It’s simply too big.”

“Our other option would then be the prisons or islands near New York. They’re relatively independent areas. Their internal facilities are perfect and there’s no need to worry about our living supplies there. However, there are still disadvantages to staying in such a place. For example, there are around thousands of prisoners inside Rix's jail. There’s no way both of us can deal with them."

Lena Fox was brainstorming too, “What if we get ourselves a large cruise ship that weighed over ten thousand tonnes? Those ships have the perfect living facilities and can house hundreds of people for a long period of time."

However, Zhou Qingfeng disagreed, “That could be our long-term goal. However, it can’t be done if there’s only two of us, at least, for now. You’ve lost all your connections and I’m not even familiar with the current world. Hence, our first priority would be to recruit a group of people.”

“We’ll go to the NYPD headquarters then. I don’t really want to stay in the prisons. Moreover, the NYPD headquarters are now empty,” Lena Fox was instinctively annoyed at the thought of staying in the prisons.

Zhou Qingfeng sighed as he, too, did not want to stay in the prisons. However, he was pretty sure that someone would go there instead. He or she will then unite them to build a large-scale organized crime group. He was terrified when he thought of thousands of people running rampant in the streets of New York.

“Alright then, we’ll head to the NYPD headquarters,” Zhou Qingfeng nodded his head as he agreed with her.

They were still discussing about their next destination when the students who were forced by Zhou Qingfeng to work as their slaves interrupted them. Their main task was to move the various equipment and accessories of the Babylon’s Smartlab into the mobile command vehicle. However, after a few trips, the number of people had dropped by a few.

“Where’s the others?” Zhou Qingfeng yelled in anger. He initially wanted eight slaves to work for him. There were, however, only three left.

“They’ve fled… escaped, and they’re now hiding inside the building. I did advise them not to leave. But, they refused to be slaves.” A fat student who was carrying the accessories replied him. He appeared to be exhausted by the look on his sweaty face.

Zhou Qingfeng pouted and Lena Fox who was standing by his side sighed, “It seems like we can no longer count on these students. They’re simply too self-centred.”

There were originally more than sixty people in the Babylon’s Smartlab’s staff. More than a dozen cops and military personnel who were among them had disappeared and the remaining security guards had escaped. Half of the remaining laboratory researchers had also escaped.

Rezzo, the lab director, and both his lab assistants who were stunned by Katrina were the only people among those who were captured by Zhou Qingfeng left. Fortunately, under the guidance of both the lab assistants, they were able to gather all the basic accessories required for DogMeat.

“Well, fattie, don’t be afraid. Just tell me your name."

"My name is Roma, Ernst Roma."

"Alright then, Mr. Roma. I now appoint you the supervisor. You have the authority to direct the rest of the people to work."

Zhou Qingfeng even gave Roma a Glock 17 handgun, "Just pull the trigger if anyone dares to flee."

Fattie Roma almost cried when he was forced to take the gun. He did not escape as he was too afraid of the consequences. However, he was now a supervisor for the devil. He turned around and looked at both his companions who did not escape. He could clearly see the fear in their eyes.

"Cheer up, Mr. Roma. Our future is bright. We’ll head to the medical school right now, as our team needs experienced bio-pharmaceutical researchers," Zhou Qingfeng then brought his subordinates along with him and together, they headed to the medical school of Columbia University.

As the CEO of Fox Foundation, Lena Fox was extremely familiar with the bio-pharmaceutical experts in New York. Therefore, under her guidance, Zhou Qingfeng had direct access to the best bio-pharmaceutical research team in town.

Due to the massive amount of staff and supplies, Lena Fox had to drive a truck in order to load all of them.

Meanwhile, Zhou Qingfeng was making a decision about his next destination. He did not head directly to the NYPD headquarters. Instead, he brought the team along with him and drove to the Society of Divine Word building.

There were around one to two hundred professionally trained members in the society. Among them were chefs, waiters, security guards, and management staff. It was a team that could be used straight away upon the completion of the power transfer. Moreover, the team was much stronger than the slaves who were captured by Zhou Qingfeng in the campus of the university.

Fattie Roma was shocked when he looked at the emerging chaos in Manhattan on his way back to the building of the Society of Divine Word. The cataclysm started at six o’clock in the evening. However, it was already ten at night as they had spent quite a lot of time handling the supplies as well as recruiting their team members.

Due to the loss of the traffic police, the traffic light system had also been messed up. Every street in Manhattan was blocked by vehicles and a large number of overwhelmed citizens were walking on the street - they were trying to find their way home.

More tragedy had occured in that time span. There were many people who got trapped in the subway and could not get out. There were even people who hid inside buildings after realizing what happened. However, as time passes, the situation will only worsen. Many people would be trapped inside the building and die slowly.

The NYPD logo was printed on the mobile command vehicle. Thus, a lot of people approached Zhou Qingfeng to ask for his help. Those people rushed towards the vehicle and started beating at it. The people inside the vehicle were terrified when they saw the situation.

"Damn police, what the hell is going on? Why is there no one to take charge of traffic? I just want to go home now. My wife and children are waiting for me to have dinner."

"I’ll lodge a complaint as you guys are simply wasting the taxpayers’ money. Give me your police ID, I want to meet your boss.”

“I order you to get off the vehicle immediately and solve the problem for me. I have to rush to the airport, but I’ve been trapped here for more than three hours."

The mobile command vehicle looked like a boat made out of a leaf when it tried to move in the crowd. The vehicle was extremely wobbly and may be overturned at any time. Zhou Qingfeng was outraged as he was unable to move forward. Hence, he opened the glass window and fired into the air.

Dhuk Dhuk Dhuk… Zhou Qingfeng held a loudspeaker in his hand and he tried to yell at the crowd after the burst of gunshots, “Idiots! I’m not a cop. I’ll kill anyone who dares to block my path. Now, follow my order. You’ll have to leave New York immediately. That would be the only way for you to survive!”

Roma who was sitting inside the vehicle wore a bitter smile on his face as he saw the infuriated Zhou Qingfeng crushing all the vehicles that blocked his path after resuming his journey. Roma then said to the twenty or more people who got captured by Zhou Qingfeng, “Looks like we’re not experiencing the worst. At least, we’re much better off than the people on the street.”

Chapter end