I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 518 - 416: Flame Country’s Response

"Lucia wants to negotiate with the rioters? What’s going on? Weren’t they preparing for a violent suppression before?" On the Hai Zhu, two captains were gathered to discuss this issue.

"According to the intelligence provided by Lucia, it seems the rioters can’t hold on any longer. They are terrified as a virus mutation has occurred in the area they control, causing the infected to become aggressive like zombies." The captain of the Hai Zhu explained to the captain of the Xu Gou, while placing a document in front of him. It was a photo of a "zombie" that had been taken.

Looking at the photo, the Xu Gou’s captain, even with his extensive experience, was startled by the hideous "zombie," whose mouth tore at the corners from being open too wide and whose face was covered in blood.

He picked up the photo, staring in surprise at the Hai Zhu’s captain, and asked uncertainly, "Is this thing real? It’s not an April Fool’s joke, is it? Don’t foreigners love April Fools’ Day and Halloween? Could this be a festival prank?"

It’s not that the Xu Gou’s captain didn’t believe it; it was just too shocking for him to accept immediately.

However, the captain of the Hai Zhu shook his head and affirmed, "It’s true. Those rioters calling themselves the ’Revolutionary Army’ even delivered a live ’zombie’ to Lucia’s officials to strengthen their case.

Besides, these ’zombies’ are alive. They’ve become aggressive because the mutated virus has eroded their nervous systems, not because they’ve turned into the walking dead like in movies."

"Isn’t this more like rabies?" The Xu Gou’s captain was significantly relieved. The threat posed by the cinematic undead was still too daunting.

As long as it’s not something that horrifying, dealing with rabid humans wouldn’t be too stressful.

After all, Flame Country’s military now has Titans and heavy mecha, weapons that wouldn’t be pressured even by movie zombies. As long as they’re willing to use bullets, a zombie siege can be suppressed.

But the Hai Zhu’s captain dashed those hopes, saying, "Don’t be so optimistic. This mutated virus is also highly contagious. According to Lucia’s official reports, there’s no evidence yet that it can be transmitted through the air, but it being spread through droplets is already extremely dangerous!"

"What do we do now? Have we reported this to our country?" Upon calming down, the first thing the Xu Gou’s captain thought of was reporting back home.

"Relevant information has been reported back. There are no new instructions from home yet, so let’s remain passive for now and concentrate on epidemic prevention and vigilance." The Hai Zhu’s captain was also troubled by this, which is why he had called the Xu Gou’s captain to discuss: "Do you think we should recall the people from the ground and have the Ark ascend to a safe altitude?"

Currently, the two Arks are at a relatively low mooring altitude, but if necessary, they can ascend to a height of one or two kilometers to maintain distance from the ground. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

There are still some people left on the ground, mainly reinforcement troops responsible for maintaining the helicopter that delivered the Titan and guarding the supplies on the ground.

It’s not that the captains of the two Arks are unsympathetic, leaving rescuers on the ground after a long journey when they came to help. However, transporting Titans and heavy mecha onto the Ark is quite troublesome. Using airships for transport is challenging at mooring altitudes.

Also, considering Lucia’s official request to use the Titan to suppress the riots, they hadn’t transported the Titan and heavy mecha onto the Ark but had instead set up a temporary camp below the Ark, stationing the Titan, heavy mecha, and reinforcement troops there.

If they are to raise the Ark now, they must consider recalling the people because at a height of tens of meters, they can still send people down for support. At one or two kilometers high, even transferring supplies becomes inconvenient.

"Let’s maintain the current altitude for the time being. Lucia’s situation, though dire, doesn’t yet threaten us," the Xu Gou’s captain shook his head. Although Lucia’s situation is catastrophic, it doesn’t warrant raising the Ark to one or two kilometers above the ground.

The Ark has three altitude levels: the mooring height of about fifty meters, the hovering height of around three hundred meters, and the safe cruising altitude of over one thousand meters.

Under normal circumstances, the Ark stays at the hovering or mooring height and only ascends to a safe altitude when facing danger or on the move.

"Though there might be no immediate threat, being cautious is better. I think we should at least rise to the hovering altitude," the Hai Zhu’s captain suggested taking a safer approach.

The captain of the Xu Gou considered it for a moment and then nodded, "In that case, let’s ascend to three hundred meters. For the time being, we won’t evacuate the ground personnel. We’ll send two airships down to have them ready for a quick evacuation if necessary."

"This sounds acceptable and relatively safe," the Hai Zhu’s captain agreed with the suggestion.

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While the captains of the Hai Zhu and Xu Gou were discussing how to deal with the situation in the Lucia Capital, the domestic side received the news they relayed back.

The news of the virus mutation was also alarming back home. Although the information shared by Lucia indicated it was a virus eroding the nervous systems of the infected, rendering them aggressive, and not a bio-weapon capable of raising the dead to walk again, the domestic officials remained tense about the situation.

The top leaders urgently convened a meeting to discuss how to handle the situation and sent inquiries to various national research institutions, asking if they had any solutions for this predicament.

However, most research institutions, having never faced such a case, could only offer suggestions on epidemic prevention.

Only Chen Xin’s Research Center, with Chen Xin’s technological prowess, proposed some different recommendations.

"To deal with ’zombies,’ soldiers can wear power armor or specially reinforced protective suits. Since the infected are still human, with limited threat from biting, proper epidemic prevention should suffice," Chen Xin casually responded to the leaders’ inquiries, "As for vaccines and treatments, those are for professional medical experts to handle. My contribution can only be in providing necessary medical equipment. I previously had the idea of creating a medical capsule, which might be of some use in this area."