Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 259 Death Lockdown
In the early morning, the clouds cleared and the fog dissipated.

The rising sun dispelled the chill accumulated overnight, and Ouyang poked his head out of an SUV that was now just a wreck.

Beside him sat a charred skeleton, its blackened bones barely held together, seemingly about to fall apart at any moment.

Ou Yang's gaze fell on the highway outside the car through the glassless car window.

This is a north-south highway. When I first arrived here a few days ago, the road was clear, but in just a few days, the road surface is covered with debris.

In the distance, a drone flew low overhead. Ou Yang immediately shrank back into the car, curled up into a ball, covered himself with a tattered cloth, and stared intently through a hole in the cloth at the half-exposed rearview mirror.

The broken rearview mirror had a very narrow field of vision, but it was his only way to observe what was outside the car.

A moment later, the drone flew overhead, and the highway was quiet and there was nothing unusual.

Ouyang poked his head out again and immediately saw several people crawling out of the wreckage of a vehicle not far away. At the same time, under the car, in the bushes, in the drainage ditch... a dozen or so old Americans emerged from some nook and cranny and ran south along the road.

The cautious ones use the wreckage of vehicles along the way to avoid obstacles; the reckless ones simply run wildly without thinking.

Ou Yang smirked. Wasn't this just courting death?
The thought was still lingering in his mind when the drone returned. Old Mi, who had just hidden, was secretly relieved. Those who hadn't managed to hide scattered like startled rabbits.

The drones quickly locked onto their targets and shot down the fleeing Americans one by one.

Several American soldiers raised their guns and fired at the drone in the air. The drone skillfully dodged and waited for an opportunity to fire back.

A few moments later, more than a dozen corpses appeared on and off the road. The highway returned to silence, and the remaining Americans all hid obediently, none of them daring to show themselves.

The drone did not fly away, but instead lowered its altitude to observe the situation in the vehicle wreckage from the side. Once it spotted the fleeing Old Mi, it immediately opened fire and killed him.

Ouyang once again retreated into the car, gripping the loaded Remington.

Whether it was a hallucination or not, Ou Yang vaguely heard the sound of a drone flying by, and his heart started pounding uncontrollably, but he patiently didn't dare to move.

Several gunshots rang out, but Ouyang remained motionless.

He didn't get up until more than ten minutes later.

Outside the car, all was silent, a chilling silence.

Ou Yang stood up and accidentally bumped into the skeleton next to him. Half of the charred jawbone fell off, trembled slightly, and fell with a soft thud to Ou Yang's feet.

"Sorry!" Ou Yang apologized, lifted his jawbone, and tried to put it back in, but after two attempts, he not only failed, but his head tilted to the side and rolled down, leaving only half of his neck bone sticking out there.

Ou Yang grinned, gently rested his jaw in its original position, glanced at the time, grabbed the bare window frame with both hands, and with a little effort, like a gymnast, nimbly slipped out of the car window by keeping his body flat on his arms.

They landed silently and tiptoed back like cats, hiding somewhere every so often until they were sure there was no danger before setting off again.

They walked and stopped like this, taking a full two hours to cover a distance of only a few hundred meters, before stopping next to an overturned small truck and rhythmically knocking on the cargo bed.

With a creak, the side door of the carriage opened, and Ou Yang bent down and crawled into the carriage.

Zhu Yiming and Jiang Yuwei came up to them together: "How did it go?"

Ou Yang sighed and shook his head: "No, it's the same as before."

Although they had expected it, Zhu and Jiang still couldn't help but show their disappointment.

The three men had been trapped here by drones for several days, witnessing wave after wave of Americans being brutally killed by the drones.

Observations revealed that the drones patrolled at much more frequent intervals than expected, ranging from a minimum of 12 minutes to a maximum of only 28 minutes, and they would often launch a surprise counterattack.

There wasn't enough time to get through the US military's blockade, not even by car.

Zhu Yiming leaned against the wall of the room, dejected, his face full of frustration: "We can't just keep waiting, can we?"

"What can we do if we can't wait? Do you have a solution?" Jiang Yuwei asked back.

Ouyang also sat down, his mind filled with thoughts of the rampant drones. It took him a while to calm down and think of a countermeasure.

bypass?

Not only is the journey long and there not enough time, but food is also running out, and we can't last much longer.

"How about we increase the intensity for Lao Mi?" Zhu Yiming cautiously suggested.

Ou Yang looked over curiously: "What do you mean?"

"To scare the tiger away from the mountain..."

"speak English!"

"Find some work for Old Mi, then we'll take the opportunity to rush over!" Zhu Yiming made a decisive gesture.

Ouyang immediately deflated: "I thought you had some great ideas!"

"How is it not a good idea?" Zhu Yiming protested. "This is the wisdom of our ancestors, isn't it?"

"Forget it, our ancestors must be turning in their graves." Ou Yang shifted to a more comfortable position. "We don't even know where the Americans' checkpoints are... Besides, we only have a few rifles. How can we possibly win against heavily armed American soldiers?"

Attacking a checkpoint is simple: find a hiding spot at a suitable distance and snipe at the US troops.

Even if they don't hit anyone, the US military will still feel a certain degree of panic as long as they know that there is a sniper hiding near the outpost who could take their lives at any time.

However, given the equipment of the US military, they would probably be discovered by the US military before they even got close to the outpost.

What followed was a barrage of attacks from guns, cannons, drones, and even air power; even digging three feet into the ground wouldn't be enough to describe it.

“Exactly, it’s too risky,” Jiang Yuwei agreed.

"Then what do you suggest?" Zhu Yiming shrugged. "I can't think of any other ideas."

“It’s better to keep hiding than to lose our lives. If all else fails, we can retreat!” Ou Yang suddenly came up with an unexpected idea. “Let’s take a strategic retreat and go back to the mountains to hide for a while.”

Zhu Yiming immediately protested, "Isn't this also the wisdom of our ancestors?"

"Your situation is dangerous, and mine is safe. How can they be the same?" Ou Yang gave him a disdainful look.

"Hey, what kind of look is that?" Zhu Yiming glared at him, his beard bristling.

"Stop fooling around," Jiang Yuwei stopped her. "What's the point of going back?"

“Didn’t you see how many Americans have been running south these past few days?” Ou Yang analyzed in depth. “As you know, the blockade against the Americans isn’t that tight. They can just walk out from anywhere. The reason so many Americans are here is definitely because there’s a problem with the blockade, and a large number of Americans are escaping from the epidemic area. Also, there are quite a few Americans inside the blockade area. When they find out that so many people have escaped from the epidemic area, they definitely can’t sit still, so that’s why so many people are running south.”

Zhu Yiming asked in surprise, "What does it matter to us whether Lao Mi runs away or not?"

Ou Yang pursed his lips: "My idea is to take the initiative to contact the Americans, release information about the blockade, and gather a group of Americans to break through the blockade together."

"Isn't that too dangerous?" Zhu Yiming frowned. "The US military has plenty of artillery; no matter how many people they have, they won't be enough to blow them up."

"Then let's organize a group of men to storm the US military stronghold, and we'll take the opportunity to rush over!"

Zhu Yiming glanced at Jiang Yuwei and nodded, "This sounds somewhat plausible, but how do we get the Americans organized? If the three of us try, it's probably hopeless." Jiang Yuwei cautioned, "The Americans aren't stupid. Don't let them sell you out and then help you count the money."

Ouyang rubbed his temples: "It would be best if a few of us stayed behind the scenes and let Old Mi organize it himself."

The three of them fell silent and began brainstorming, racking their brains to figure out how to organize Old Mi without revealing their own intentions.

"This is too difficult!" Zhu Yiming said, feeling a headache coming on.

Ouyang rubbed his temples, completely unable to make sense of it.

It is said that the highest level of the art of command is to command the enemy as well, and indeed, many great commanders in history have been able to do this.

But the three of them were at best just picking up scraps of wisdom from their ancestors; they were still a long way from the supreme realm of effortless mastery.

Relying solely on strategy and tactics? I don't have that skill. Gathering manpower with money and resources? I don't have that foundation. Using prestige to rally support? I don't have that reputation.

After much discussion, the final result was still that they were at a loss.

Ou Yang reluctantly took out his phone, turned it on, and glanced at the time. But when his eyes fell on the upper right corner, his eyes widened in shock.

There's actually a signal!
He was both surprised and delighted, but whether or not to fight became a new problem.

With such a poor signal, what if the call drops as soon as it connects, just like last time?
While I was hesitating, two bars, three bars, and then it became full!

Ou Yang suddenly felt a little dizzy and wondered if he was dreaming.
Without saying a word, he quickly grabbed his phone and rushed out of the carriage, startling Zhu Yiming and Jiang Yuwei.

What's going on? We haven't found any signs of Ouyang being infected with pneumococcus!

The two immediately chased after him, but Ou Yang waved his hands wildly, shouting, "Don't come any closer!"

The two men looked at each other, bewildered: What happened?
Ou Yang threw his phone dozens of meters away and then ran out like the wind.

"What's wrong?" Zhu Yiming asked, puzzled.

"My cell phone suddenly got a signal, and it's full strength!" Ou Yang said gravely, cautiously hiding behind the truck.

Zhu Yiming was even more confused: "Isn't a full charge a good thing?"

Ou Yang countered, "Without signal for so many days, how do you know it wasn't the US military using cell phones to locate survivors?"

Upon hearing this, both Zhu and Jiang felt somewhat uneasy.

Cell phone location tracking is nothing new, but if the US military gains access to our location... will they launch long-range artillery strikes or airstrikes next?

However, the expected situation did not occur. Just a moment later, Ouyang's phone suddenly rang.

The three people looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

Could it be that they found no one around the phone and deliberately called to bait people?

The phone rang and stopped, stopped and rang again, repeating this several times until finally it went silent.

Jiang Yuwei suddenly said, "I heard that even if a phone is turned off, it can still be located..."

Zhu Yiming almost jumped up, quickly took out his phone, and was about to throw it far away.

Ou Yang grabbed the phone, signaling Zhu Yiming not to throw it yet. He nervously retrieved his own phone, unlocked the screen, and saw that it was a call from Luo Hui!

He didn't even have time to share the news with his partner before immediately calling back.

The phone was answered after only two rings: "Ouyang? Is that you?"

"It's me! It's me!"

Luo Hui breathed a sigh of relief: "No, why didn't you answer the phone?"

Ou Yang was extremely embarrassed: "Oh, I was worried about my phone being tracked, so I didn't dare answer."

Luo Hui, both amused and exasperated, reassured him, "Don't worry, Lao Mi doesn't have that ability; he can't locate your phone number."

Ou Yang was astonished: "Really?"

“Of course,” Luo Hui said. “Do you know how the signal came about?”

Jiang Yuwei and Zhu Yiming walked over together when they saw Ou Yang start making a phone call, looking at him with questioning eyes.

Ouyang asked curiously, "How did you get here?"

"We were assigned to use drones as relay stations to patrol the entire epidemic area and locate all our personnel trapped there!" Luo Hui explained patiently. "We received your signal a few days ago, but then we couldn't find you. We knew your approximate location, so the drones have been patrolling that area recently, and that's how we found you!"

"You can do that?" Ouyang exclaimed in disbelief. "Would the US agree to this? Won't they discover our location?"

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems." Luo Hui assured him confidently, "We used technical means to block Lao Mi's access in the background. They can only receive Lao Mi's location signal, not ours."

Ouyang was immediately filled with question marks: You can do that? I've never seen anything like it!
Luo Hui then asked, "What's the situation with you guys?"

"Nothing's wrong. We're on our way south, but the US military has blocked the epidemic area and stuck us here," Ou Yang said. "Can we use our diplomatic status to get through the blockade?"

"I'm afraid that won't work." Luo Hui gave a disappointing answer. "Mi Palace is very determined. Although you few are immune to pneumothorax, you can't be an exception, at least not on the surface."

Ou Yang's heart skipped a beat: "What about in the shadows?"

"Of course we can do it secretly, but the problem is how you guys are going to get through the blockade!"

"Unless we dig a tunnel, I can't think of any other safe way to get through... By the way, are the drones the Americans are using made by us?"

"Not entirely... Why are you asking that?"

Ou Yang was extremely disappointed: "Hey, didn't you say that you could use technology to block location tracking? I was thinking, could we also use technology to block us out!"

"You're thinking too simply!" Luo Hui didn't know what to say. "But it's not like there's no chance. The current situation is very complicated. The US military's blockade isn't that tight. If you wait a few more days, there might be a turning point."

What kind of turning point?

"It's hard to say right now, wait for my call."

“No way.” Ouyang was getting anxious. “We don’t have anywhere to charge our devices here, and we don’t have much battery left…”

"Then let's agree on a time, turning on the phone twice a day, at 8 AM and 8 PM, and communicating promptly about any changes!"

"Okay... what if something goes wrong and it can't be turned on?"

"We'll postpone it for another hour. If it still doesn't work after an hour, we'll postpone it again until we get in touch!"

"Okay, let's do it this way!" After hanging up the phone, Ou Yang raised his fist, and Zhu Yiming and Jiang Yuwei also looked delighted.

We've finally made contact with the authorities again!

(End of this chapter)