549690339 , “Hmm?”, Wang Tao rolled over and sat up., He went to the window and slowly turned the tuning knob of the radio., “Crackle… Red Stone Survivor Base… crackle… providing water, food… crackle… safe… crackle… repeating… Red Stone Survivor Base… crackle…”, “Red Stone Survivor Base…”, Wang Tao muttered to himself, rubbing the stubble on his chin., Judging by the name, it must be the Survivor Base in Red Stone County., According to the official announcement online prior to the incident, due to the suddenness of the event, there wasn’t much time to prepare, and the plan was to build a Survivor Base in every city., Huangfeng City’s Survivor Base was located in Red Stone County., The reason for selecting that location was because it housed a military force and had some defensive measures in place, which could be utilized immediately., However, during the days of the virus outbreak, there was also an infection within the military, resulting in chaos. Especially after the breakdown of communications, Wang Tao had no idea whether the base in Red Stone County still existed., Now that he had heard news of the base in Red Stone County through the radio, Wang Tao was quite pleased., If they were still broadcasting, it indicated that they must have managed to control the situation to some extent., But without hearing any news about a counterattack or rescue, it seemed they were only able to defend themselves, and that was about it…, In any case, this was good news. It also provided Wang Tao with motivation and a goal—at least so many survivors were still alive, so how could he die first!, “Crackle… crackle…”, The radio played for a while and then went silent; he couldn’t tell if it was shut down intentionally or if there was some problem., Hopefully, it was the former., After a silent prayer, Wang Tao turned on the walkie-talkie., Similar to the radio, the walkie-talkie was also switched on once every night, but while the radio had transmitted a few times, the walkie-talkie had been silent up until now., It was understandable, after all, without a relay station, the range of this kind of civilian walkie-talkie was only about two or three kilometers, so it was normal not to hear anything., However, perhaps it was his luck tonight following the news he had received on the radio, his walkie-talkie finally picked up some activity!, “Crackle… this is… crackle… Shuize University… Survivor Base… crackle… if received, please respond… if received, please… crackle…”, Listening to the intermittent voice inside, Wang Tao’s eyes lit up., Shuize University was a school nearby, about five kilometers away from his Happy Community—it seemed from the message that someone might have established a Survivor Base at Shuize University?, Shuize University had only been built in recent years; it was situated in a rather remote location with sparse population, but it was close to Huangfeng Film City, and many students went there to work part-time., Wang Tao had visited Shuize University a few times. His impression of it was neither particularly good nor bad; it was just an ordinary school., Not far from Shuize University, there was a security force of about a dozen soldiers. If these soldiers hadn’t suffered a large-scale infection or deaths, then it should have been possible for them to establish a small Survivor Base…, Wang Tao pressed the PTT button on the walkie-talkie., “I received you, I received you.”, Wang Tao didn’t reveal any detailed information about himself since he didn’t know the exact situation on the other side; it was better to be careful., But there was no response to what he said., “Crackle… Shuize University… Base… if received, please… reply… repeat…”, “I received you, I received you, I received you.”, Wang Tao repeated a few times, but after waiting a while, there was still no answer from the other side., “Could it be that my walkie-talkie’s power is too weak?”, Wang Tao suddenly felt a bit depressed., The principle of walkie-talkie communication can be simply understood as, centered around a person, the signal radiates outward. In the same terrain, the higher the power, the further the signal can be transmitted., The four walkie-talkies Wang Tao scavenged from Apartment 602 are all ordinary civilian models, with a communication distance of probably just two to three kilometers. The walkie-talkies from Shuize University, on the other hand, might be high-power ones, capable of communicating over five kilometers., That means their signal transmission distance is far, allowing Wang Tao’s walkie-talkie to receive it, so Wang Tao was able to hear them., But Wang Tao’s walkie-talkie signal was weak, unable to send that far, hence what he said couldn’t be received by them., This was somewhat frustrating, as Wang Tao wanted to learn about the situations of other survivors., After a few more tries and confirming that communication was impossible, Wang Tao shook his head., “Sleepy time!”, Although he couldn’t communicate through these two signals, it was still good news, at least it meant humanity hadn’t been wiped out…, Wang Tao had his best night’s sleep in days that night., The next day., Wang Tao woke up just after six, and as soon as he finished washing up, he heard a knock on the door., Upon opening the door, it was Ding Yuqin. She came to cook breakfast for Wang Tao., After a brief workout, Ding Yuqin finished cooking. Making sure Wang Tao didn’t need anything else, she went back to her place. Wang Tao had not asked her to stay for breakfast, after all, they had agreed that she would only cook one meal for him., After breakfast, Wang Tao began to don his gear., He suddenly realised how slowly one dresses alone, but he was too lazy to call Ding Yuqin back. Once dressed, he went to the second floor and knocked on Apartment 202’s door., “Little brother, you’re here! Come in quickly!”, The bald uncle hurriedly opened the door for Wang Tao., Wang Tao had previously said he intended to learn all the locksmith’s skills but hadn’t had time the past two days, causing a delay., Now, having scavenged Apartment 601 and temporarily secured enough food, he planned to master all the locksmith skills before dealing with the zombies in Apartments 101 and 102., The principle of locksmith techniques was not difficult, especially with an old master teaching hands-on. It mainly depended on practice, the more one practiced, the more skilled one became., It seemed that Wang Tao indeed had a knack for it; he was a quick learner. Anyway, the bald uncle consistently praised Wang Tao for being talented, saying that it took him two weeks just to qualify. But at Wang Tao’s pace, he might be ready in another two days., And indeed, as the bald uncle had said, Wang Tao spent another two days, plus the previous learning time, for a total of three days, to learn all the locksmith techniques including key duplication — he had obtained a small key duplication machine from the old master in exchange for some food., “Your learning ability is too strong! I have nothing left to teach you now, it’s all about practice from here. Practice is more important than theory…”, The bald uncle was somewhat emotional., “Haha, thanks a lot for these two days, Uncle!”, Wang Tao laughed and expressed his thanks., Of course, he didn’t just offer verbal thanks, he also gave the bald uncle quite a bit of food, which was a fair exchange., “Mutual help, my man!” The bald uncle first smiled and then suddenly looked a bit melancholic, “I hope my wife and kids can also meet someone as good as you…”, In response to being given a compliment, Wang Tao didn’t express any specific stance. Curious, he asked:, “Where is your family now?”, The bald uncle took out a family portrait from his pocket, gently caressing it., “They all went back to the countryside to visit relatives. The countryside is much safer than the city! Before the internet was cut off, my wife talked to me, she said that there were hardly any people left in their village, naturally, there were very few zombies too, so it was safe to hide at home… Sigh, I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again…”, The countryside is very safe, huh…Wang Tao encouraged:, “Of course, there’s a chance!”