Doomsday America.

Chapter 279 The Last Night

A few days ago, when they returned to the Livingston temporary camp with high hopes, everyone was wearing radiation suits and carrying equipment for a thorough scan before finally settling in. Although they hadn't used those things in the following days, they were now piled up in the supply tents, not yet sent back to the farm! Thinking of this, Gavin finally showed a rare smile, then instinctively nodded slightly and replied into the radio, "Thanks for the reminder, Charlie. The good news is, we don't lack radiation protection equipment, and we also have professional, military-grade radiation detection devices!" "By tomorrow morning at the latest, after sunrise, we won't need any more time to prepare; we can immediately begin our flight to New Orleans!" "Charlie, Big Ivan, and every guy, I promise, this will be the last night before dawn, and what you and I need to do is stay on both ends of the radio and safely get through this night!" "Besides, I must say one more thing."

"Big Ivan, you're fucking amazing! You're the best rocket pilot I've ever seen, no one else comes close!"

At this point, Gavin disconnected the communicator, giving the space to the crew returning to the cabin.

Upon hearing Gavin's words, Ivan immediately burst out laughing in the return capsule. He chuckled and ruffled Charlie's hair, then playfully poked Richard's face with his other hand. Richard, who was slumped in his seat barely breathing, managed to turn his head and glare at Ivan after being poked twice.

Beside him, Shinya Kobayashi, after a brief silence, quietly took two and a half steps back, pressed himself against the wall, and sat down on the ground.

Noticing Kobayashi's actions, the others looked at each other and then sighed in unison.

Amidst the sighs of the crowd, Charlie spoke softly to the crew inside the return capsule:

"Stop sighing, guys, we all know he made the right choice."

"Although... this correctness undoubtedly means we have to endure loneliness for a while longer, I actually feel that the time spent in the return capsule might be our last safe time." "The Earth isn't what it used to be, and there aren't any relatives at home waiting for us to give them hugs." "Once we leave the return capsule, and then our spacesuits, we'll have to face the threat posed by the zombie fungus."

"In that case... damn it, it's not such a bad thing that we can have another quiet night."

"The only downside is, damn it, I'm a little hungry, sigh..."

At this point, Charlie raised his left hand, controlled the water pouch on his spacesuit, and poured the vodka he had prepared into his mouth. Of course, he didn't drink it all at once, but took a small sip, and then began to chuckle and sigh.

Seeing his expression, Big Ivan pursed his lips and then took a small sip of vodka as well.

After downing the liquor, Ivan visibly became much more energetic, and he remarked to the others with a sigh:

"This is the taste! Haha, I'm so grateful to myself for choosing to break the rules back then."

"Guys, stop sitting there, let's have a drink. We'll probably be dealing with hard liquor in the future!" "Until one of us actually turns into a zombie."

"Or perhaps, until we fully understand the habits of the zombie fungus."

"Until then, every day will be filled with the unknown. We could be infected by the zombie fungus and manipulated into zombies at any moment." "And strong liquor is our last line of defense!"

"However... Richard, I'm afraid you won't be able to enjoy this wonderful thing!"

"Well……"

Hearing Ivan's words so close to his ear, Richard sadly raised his head.

The painkiller had reached its peak effect; he was still unwell, but the pain was no longer torturous.

He simply tilted his head back with difficulty, looked at Big Ivan who was still sipping his vodka, and said softly.

"Don't say anything that would upset me at a time like this, Ivan. Although my mouth and stomach are no longer suited to absorbing alcohol, if Gavin hasn't found us by the time we've used up all our medications," "then you can pour the vodka from my spacesuit onto my wounds as a final disinfectant." "But anyway, don't worry about me, you should drink up."

"I only have external injuries. Unless the wound gets infected, I shouldn't be too upset tonight, and I don't need any extra concern from you." As he said this, Richard's condition actually improved a little.

The painkillers worked really well; after he was no longer tormented by pain, even his thinking became much clearer.

Richard's words, however, prompted Charlie to chuckle and pat Richard's backside as he lay sprawled in the driver's seat, teasingly saying, "Don't worry, Gavin will find us. We still have a large amount of dye to release in our return capsule."

"Tomorrow, after Gavin and his group get close, I'll release the dye. I believe that orange-yellow fuel will make the water bodies within a radius of several kilometers stand out." With that, Charlie picked up the communicator and spoke to Gavin.

"Gavin, we can't hear you anymore, because we're drinking too much, hahaha~"

"Tonight is destined to be a night that will lead us into sweet dreams, and I believe that everything will be completely different when tomorrow comes!" "So, it's time to say goodnight, my good friends on Earth."

"Because we both need rest so we have enough energy for tomorrow's party!"

"Don't forget, Gavin, you promised us you'd throw us the biggest party ever, didn't you?"

"I don't care if you stand me up or not, we're both taking this seriously!"

At this point, Charlie hung up the phone and then simply sat down next to Richard, leaning his massive life support system against the chair Richard was reclining in. The others also sat down and began sipping their drinks.

And Gavin.

After ending the call with the astronauts, the four helicopters outside gradually returned.

Once the last helicopter returns, Gavin will have to hold a short meeting.

Of course, these meetings aren't particularly serious.

Old Feng had already lit a fire, and Gavin sat directly in front of it, while the other men crookedly circled around it, some sitting, some lying down. Meanwhile, Gavin was holding a rabbit leg, which he was slowly roasting over the fire.

Edward killed the rabbit with a throwing knife during dinner.

Perhaps the rabbit was curious about the fire. Edward, seeing it lying only about twenty meters from the fire, simply killed it with a throwing knife and gave the leg to Gavin. Gavin, while roasting the rabbit leg, kept an eye on the fire and called out to stop Eugene and Steve's loud laughter. Just half a minute earlier, Eugene had been talking animatedly, gesturing wildly and shouting to Steve and Old Feng, "During a military operation in the Middle East, I was wounded and taken to a field hospital, and I accidentally bumped into a woman with a huge breast!" "That's right, my elbow hit her breast!"

"I was going to curse, but... damn it, this woman is fucking sexy, I can't bring myself to curse!"

"So I immediately said to her, 'Dear nurse, if your heart is as soft as your breasts, you will surely forgive me!' The nurse then saw my boots from above my head and licked her lips at me!"

"She told me that if my penis was as hard as my elbow, she would wait for me in the jeep outside Barracks 14 tonight!" "Just kidding, comparing hardness to an elbow, that would be underestimating me, so I ran to the jeep just after 11 o'clock."

"But when I opened the car door, I realized I wasn't dealing with just one woman, but two women and one man. And the word 'back down' doesn't exist in my vocabulary. That night, I slept with all three of them, and each one at least twice!"

Before anyone could react, Eugene burst into a satisfied laugh.

Gavin, holding the rabbit leg, coughed twice, interrupting his laughter, and said...

"Fuck you, Eugene, your bragging gives me a headache."

"Let's not even talk about how this kind of plot would be written in some kind of joke book. Just look at your so-called dictionary—I really want to know how many words are in it?" "Ten? Or even more than ten?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin gave Eugene the middle finger without any politeness, then put the rabbit leg to his mouth and took a bite.

He continued speaking as he chewed.

"Dinner time is over. Stop fucking bragging around the fire!"

"Everyone get some rest early tonight. We'll get moving as soon as the sun rises tomorrow morning!"

"The target location is New Orleans, you all understand that, right?"

Gavin turned and glanced at his men, who all nodded in response.

Seeing that everyone responded, Gavin nodded and continued.

"Very good. I don't think anyone is unaware of New Orleans' location, right? It's directly east of us, right on that coastline." "According to the intelligence provided by the astronauts, there are at least two nuclear power plants near New Orleans, and over forty days of neglect will inevitably lead to their self-destruction." "A nuclear leak is unavoidable, so everyone must wear radiation suits tomorrow. Before we rest, everyone take your radiation suits back to your tents!" "OK!"

Hearing Gavin's words, Eugene gave Gavin a thumbs up.

Edward, meanwhile, spoke softly to Gavin and the others.

"The boss is right. A nuclear power plant can't just quietly disappear without water, power, or management." "Even after the power outage, the nuclear power plant can still operate for a short time, but that time will definitely not exceed three days."

"Without cooling, a nuclear power plant core meltdown is inevitable. This process will melt through the reactor pressure vessel, causing the molten core to leak to the bottom of the containment vessel outside the pressure vessel." "If it were just a leak, it wouldn't be so bad, but the reaction between the high-temperature molten material and the concrete will produce large amounts of non-combustible gases, such as hydrogen and carbon dioxide, causing a sharp increase in pressure inside the containment vessel." "And once the pressure inside the containment vessel reaches its limit… Boom!"

"You don't want to see that."

"And after the containment vessel continues to rupture, the molten material will continue to erode the foundation of the nuclear power plant, which will take about eight to nine days." "By then, even the groundwater system may be contaminated by nuclear fuel, and nuclear radiation will continue to spread to other surrounding areas through the groundwater and soil!" At this point, Edward couldn't help but rub his forehead.

Anything related to radioactivity was something he least wanted to deal with when he was in SEAL Team Six.

Because the damage caused by radiation is invisible, but this invisible damage is extremely dangerous!

This is fucking disturbing!

As Edward fell silent, not far away, Old Feng watched Gavin silently chewing on a rabbit leg and softly reminded him:

"Boss, if Edward is right, then... during the self-meltdown of the nuclear power plant, wouldn't a massive explosion occur due to pressure exceeding the containment threshold?" "Hey, Feng, what do you mean 'if I'm right'? I've studied nuclear threat emergency response plans!"

Edward quickly called out to Old Feng, and then continued to explain to Gavin.

"Boss, besides the pressure explosion caused by nuclear fuel breaching the containment vessel, the spent fuel pool at a nuclear power plant, once it loses its cooling, will gradually evaporate and boil until it bursts into a raging inferno!" "Anyway, since there's more than one nuclear power plant around New Orleans, I can guess with my ass that the area is definitely a mess!" "Wait!"

Before Edward could finish speaking, Old Feng continued speaking to Gavin from the side.

"If there's another explosion and fire at the nuclear power plant, wouldn't that attract all the zombies in the vicinity?" "And there's no shortage of nuclear radiation around the power plant..."

"so……

Old Feng let out a long sigh, then swallowed hard before continuing.

"Therefore, the zombies with tough mushrooms that we saw a few days ago were not caused by nuclear radiation."

"If it's like this even without nuclear radiation, what would happen to zombies that are actually exposed to nuclear radiation?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Old Feng rubbed his cowboy hat hard, feeling a tickle on his scalp.

And Gavin…

Seeing the men around him fall silent instantly, Gavin swallowed the rabbit leg meat in his mouth and said softly.

"Feng, Edward, you are both right."

"Nuclear power plants are inherently dangerous, nuclear radiation is inherently terrifying, and the zombies that will inevitably be drawn to the area by the sheer force of the power plant's self-destruction will certainly undergo further changes. I bet they'll look at least more disgusting than the zombies we usually see!"

"But our goal tomorrow is not to attack the nuclear power plant, nor to fight the irradiated zombies."

"Tomorrow, we'll simply search for the astronauts, find them, and take them away—that's all!"

"If possible, I'd even prefer our planes to complete tomorrow's mission without even landing, and then get out of the New Orleans area as quickly as possible to go home and enjoy our retirement!" "So, don't worry about the nuclear power plant issue."

"Those problems are bound to be serious, but they're too far removed from us!"

At this point, Gavin clapped his hands lightly.

"Alright, that's all for now. Let's get some rest, everyone."

"By the way, before we rest, let's chat with our families and tell them we won't be going home tonight."

Gavin had brought more than one radio with him this time, so even though they were far from home, the message quickly reached them. Actually, their families weren't too worried anymore, because this wasn't the first time Gavin and his friends had stayed out all night!

When it was the first time a field worker truly didn't go home, the guys at home were incredibly nervous.

When a similar situation occurred a second time, the family members had no choice but to adapt.

As for now…

Just minutes after Gavin spoke home, the news spread throughout the entire manor, and the men relaying the message seemed utterly unconcerned. Only those with deeper connections to the field crew, like Nikita, Winnie, and Horst, tossed and turned on that night. But time waits for no one, and even though Nikita at the manor couldn't hide her worry, Gavin, at the temporary camp at Lake Winston, didn't sleep well either. The sun rose precisely on the horizon.

Facing the gradually brightening sunrise, Gavin controlled his breathing and glanced at his gloves through the helmet visor.

Immediately afterwards, he raised his right hand and waved it lightly in the direction of the helicopter.

Then, the thirteen of them went to five helicopters, which roared into the air and headed straight for Orleans.