The repair work on the Oil City stronghold’s walls was proceeding in an orderly manner.

On the third day after they found the helicopter, Jackals, Ant and the others finally figured out why the helicopter fuselage had been shaking all the time, and fixed it.

"Good thing we stripped the extra parts off that other helicopter, otherwise there’s no way we could’ve found a replacement for that part." Jackals wiped his sweat and said to Third Uncle beside him.

Third Uncle looked at the helicopter, thought for a moment, and asked, "If we fill it up with diesel, how far can it fly?"

Generally, helicopters use special aviation kerosene, though some use gasoline; that mainly depends on the engine.

This Mi‑8 uses an AI‑24V turboshaft engine, so aviation kerosene is the most suitable fuel.

Jackals hesitated, then said, "If we use diesel, the range will drop by eighty percent. It might only manage around 800 kilometers, so even with full diesel, it’s hard to fly straight back. We’ll still be more than a hundred kilometers short."

Third Uncle pondered for a while, then his eyes lit up. "What if we bring diesel with us? Then we can refuel halfway."

"It’s... not impossible. We can give it a try." Jackals nodded when he heard that.

Ant, standing nearby, also spoke up: "Captain, you mean we bring diesel on the helicopter, land halfway, then get out and refuel?"

"Yeah."

Ant looked thoughtful. This kind of operation was kind of interesting.

After that, Third Uncle went to find Li Yu.

He got straight to the point.

"The helicopter’s malfunction is fixed. We can take it back to the Big Camphor Tree Base anytime now," Third Uncle said.

"That’s great. But... is that diesel really okay? I remember you guys said before it has to use aviation kerosene." Li Yu’s face lit up, but when he thought of the fuel issue, he paused and asked.

Third Uncle waved his hand. "It’s fine, we can use it as a substitute for a while. If we can find aviation kerosene later... sigh, that’s probably going to be hard to find."

"We could refine it ourselves though. Don’t we have refining equipment? And that Old Dong’s wife, Kong Shuang, she’s actually a chemical expert. Let her try; it might work."

Thinking of this, Li Yu spoke up.

Third Uncle’s eyes lit up. He thought for a bit and said, "If we can refine it ourselves, that would be ideal. That way it’ll also be less damaging to the helicopter engine."

"Oh right, you’ve been asking when the helicopter would be repaired. Now it’s done. Do you want to head back first, or...?"

Li Yu nodded. "We’ve been out for so long, and we’ve had no contact at all with the Big Camphor Tree Base. I’m a bit worried.

Just in time, we captured those military radios. Once we bring the military radios back, we’ll be able to stay in touch anytime."

Third Uncle looked at the sky. It was still only two in the afternoon. If they took off now, they should reach the Camphor Tree Base by around six in the evening.

So he nodded and said, "Sure, it’s only a few hours anyway. Might as well have Xiao Tie and the others go back too."

Li Yu nodded. "Okay, I’ll head back once, and I’ll come back in a few days.

Also, the walls are still being repaired here; we can’t take too many people away. So this time, not too many should go back."

Third Uncle thought for a moment, then said, "We should at least bring some stuff back, right? Flying an empty bird is a waste of space.

Let me think... why don’t you load some of the Bombs and weapons we captured this time and bring them back? That way, when we haul the rest back by truck later, the load will be a bit lighter."

"Works for me." Li Yu agreed without even thinking.

Once the discussion was over, Li Yu immediately went to find Ju Tianrui and told him to quickly load some of the weapons and Bombs from the vehicles onto the helicopter.

On the other side, Li Yu called over Li Tie, Li Gang and the others, and told them about going back to the Big Camphor Tree Base.

The four of them were all extremely excited.

It wasn’t that they’d never been on a plane before, but just thinking about flying a helicopter back to the base during the Doomsday felt really thrilling.

So they hurried to pack their things and waited to board at any time.

Before departure, Li Yu went to find Third Uncle again.

"Third Uncle, I’m leaving things here to you for now," Li Yu said to him.

Third Uncle said with a squinting smile, "Aren’t you coming back in a few days? Remember to bring me some fruit. Shunfeng."

"Okay." Li Yu nodded.

Half an hour later, Ju Tianrui and the others had loaded the weapons and ammunition onto the helicopter.

This flight back would be piloted by Jackals and Ant.

Jackals hadn’t seen his daughter for over half a month; he really missed her.

Before setting off, Jackals checked the fuel tanks. The main tank, auxiliary tank, and external tanks were all full. Besides that, they put a few barrels of fuel in the cabin. Once the fuel was nearly used up, they could find a suitable place to land and refuel.

With this Mi‑8’s tanks full, it needed a total of 3,700 liters of fuel.

Very soon.

Everything was ready, and Li Yu and the others boarded the helicopter.

Whup‑whup‑whup—

The rotor blades spun faster and faster, kicking up a blast of strong wind on the ground.

Third Uncle and the others watched Li Yu’s group leave.

At that moment, the Cooperative Personnel repairing the walls on the edge of Oil City were shocked to see this scene.

"Was that just now... a helicopter??? They actually have something like that?"

"Those Motorcycle Gang guys died for a reason, I’m serious. But seriously, why didn’t they use the helicopter earlier?"

"I heard they’re called... what was it again? I heard someone mention it last time."

"Big Camphor Tree!"

"Doesn’t sound very badass."

"Not badass? Look at that big chopper and those tanks. That’s badass enough. The name doesn’t matter."

"You’ve got a point."

...

Even with their earmuffs on, they could still hear the helicopter’s noise.

It felt like someone was drilling nonstop with an electric drill, the noise was especially shrill.

They kept flying at low altitude, roughly a little over two hundred meters up.

Generally speaking, helicopters don’t come with parachutes, because there’s no need—helicopters themselves are basically oversized parachutes.

And since they don’t fly that high, a lot of the time the parachute wouldn’t even open before you hit the ground.

However, back at that military district, they’d unexpectedly found seven or eight parachute packs anyway; they weren’t heavy, so they just brought them all.

This helicopter was quite fast, and up high the wind was already strong; with the speed on top of that, it was even worse.

Once the windows were opened, the wind from outside blew everyone’s hair into a mess.

They flew for a while.

Li Yu checked the time; it was three‑thirty in the afternoon. He estimated they’d reach Big Camphor Tree Base around six‑thirty, at dusk.

Time slipped by.

It was now five forty‑five in the evening.

The sun was setting in the west, the afterglow of the sunset spilling over the sky.

The buildings and scenery ahead looked more and more familiar.

They had already entered Gansheng, but they were running low on fuel.

They had anticipated this situation long ago, so Jackals leaned toward the microphone and shouted back to Li Yu: "We’ll find a place to land and top off the fuel. Sit tight."

"Okay." Li Yu shouted back, cupping the microphone.

Jackals circled in the air for a bit. Because they’d been flying in a straight line instead of detouring around the big cities, they had ended up flying directly over one now.

At this moment they were right above a city.

Ant pointed at a high‑rise. It was probably a landmark building—very tall, with a huge footprint.

Most importantly, the rooftop terrace of that building was very large and very flat.

From up high, there wasn’t a single person up there, and not a single Zombie either.

It looked very safe.

Perfect for landing and refueling.

Jackals made an "OK" gesture, then piloted the helicopter toward it.

Whoosh—

With practiced ease, Jackals brought the helicopter down slowly onto the rooftop of that building.

Clack!

Li Yu unbuckled his seat belt, grabbed his Automatic Rifle, and climbed out of the helicopter.

He swept a look around, then stepped onto a higher platform and stood guard.

Li Gang and the others did the same; Dapao, seeing the door that led up to the roof, immediately ran over and shut it.

Li Yu stood at the edge of the dozens‑story‑high rooftop. In the distance was a forest of buildings, ruined yet overgrown with green plants.

Bathed in the last light of the setting sun, standing at such a height, the view was stunning.

Jackals stayed in the cockpit. After Ant climbed out, he called Li Tie and Yang Tianlong over to help refuel the helicopter.

The simplest way was gravity fueling. There was a tank at the wing area.

The refueling speed wasn’t exactly fast, but not slow either.

Ten minutes later, they were done refueling.

"On the bird!" Ant shouted to them.

Li Yu nodded, then called out to Dapao, who was standing guard on the other side: "Let’s go."

Everyone boarded the helicopter.

Just as they got on, and Li Yu buckled his seat belt—

He casually glanced around, and suddenly his eyes went to that rooftop door from before. It seemed like something was moving.

Bang!

At the same moment—

Whup‑whup‑whup‑whup— 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The helicopter lifted off, the rotor spinning and roaring deafeningly.

Had he heard wrong?

No, there had to be someone, or some Zombie, behind that door.

Li Yu stared hard at the door, and at the same time shouted into the microphone to the others: "Look at that door!"

They saw a bulging fist print appear on the door.

That was a metal door!

What kind of strength did it take to leave a fist print like that?

"When you closed the door just now, did you see that fist print?" Li Yu suddenly asked Dapao beside him.

Dapao hesitated for a moment, then said, "I—honestly, I forgot. I didn’t see it clearly."

Li Yu didn’t answer. Staring at that fist print, something stirred in his mind. He said to Jackals, "Uncle Jackal, can you circle this building once? Keep a safe distance, don’t get too close—at least twenty meters out."

Hearing this, Jackals, who had also heard what Li Yu said earlier, was naturally curious too.

So he said, "Okay, but we can’t waste too much time. In another hour and a half it’ll be dark, and flying in the dark is bad."

"Got it."

.......