Doomsday America.

Chapter 401 Nikita's Fury

"The Great Migration".

Hearing Xiaolin's words, Gavin sighed softly and shook his head, muttering to himself.

The term "Great Migration" had been a source of worry for Gavin and his crew ever since the zombies first appeared.

In the summer, Gavin worried that the zombies would become dehydrated due to the hot weather, thus being urged to migrate by the fungus.

In reality, zombies don't suffer from severe water shortages in the summer, at least not in regions like the central United States.

After the fungus parasitizes the zombie, once the zombie becomes dehydrated, it will choose a location to lie dormant temporarily, allowing the mycelium to grow out of its body, connect to the ground, penetrate the surface, and enter the underground network of mycelium to absorb the nutrients, especially water, that the zombie needs.

As a result, the massive zombie migration during the dry season that Gavin had feared did not occur.

But what about winter?

Zombies are not afraid of drought, so are they not afraid of the cold?

This is impossible!

Gavin shook his head and frowned.

As he pondered, Kobayashi slowly rose and respectfully continued speaking to Gavin.

"Your Majesty, we have long ago determined that zombies are purely cold-blooded animals; they do not exhibit warm-blooded behavior, and fungi are unable to heat the bodies of zombies."

"In this way, the zombies' mobility depends entirely on the local temperature, because a zombie's body temperature reacts to the environment in the same way as plants; the environment has a significant impact on zombies!"

"In this way, when the temperature drops sharply, the zombies' bodies will gradually stiffen. In other words, according to my calculations, when winter arrives, the zombies' mobility will be far inferior to that in summer!"

"Let me use a movie to illustrate this. In summer, zombies have more cell moisture and the environment is relatively warm, so the fungal tissue fluid in their bodies that lubricates their joints is relatively abundant and lubricated."

"Therefore, the zombies we face in summer and autumn run very fast, just like when the zombie crisis first broke out, equivalent to a normal person running at full speed without ignoring physical exertion."

"These zombies are like those in the zombie apocalypse movies—they're incredibly agile and difficult to deal with!"

"But in winter, the tissue fluid near the joints of zombies that cannot generate heat on their own will gradually coagulate, which will greatly reduce the speed of the zombies."

"In other words, zombies in winter should be like those in the TV series 'The Walking Dead,' or like the sluggish zombies in the Resident Evil movies—their mobility should be greatly reduced!"

"Therefore, Your Majesty, after discussing with my fellow scholars, we believe we can launch a large-scale operation in winter, taking advantage of the season to try and salvage as many advanced scientific instruments as possible from the large science parks in major cities!"

"Including numerous university towns and laboratories such as the University of Dallas, as well as private laboratories of pharmaceutical companies in various regions, etc."

"Only in winter, when the zombies are less mobile, can we try to smuggle those instruments out of large cities with populations of millions before they are completely destroyed by the fungus!"

"As for the question of whether zombies might migrate."

"Your Majesty, our position is that zombies, as variants and derivatives of fungal organisms, necessarily and indeed possess biological consciousness."

"Therefore, when faced with the cold season that is destined to make them suffer, the zombies are bound to undertake a long migration!"

"We speculate that zombies may not only migrate, but those that migrate from cold regions to tropical regions may even establish themselves there!"

"Therefore, Your Majesty, we must prepare in advance for the possibility of a massive zombie migration, so as to prevent a large-scale, unprepared influx of zombies from the cold northern regions of the United States into our territory."

"Especially to prevent a large-scale zombie outbreak from causing damage and disruption to the Golden Road!"

At this point, Kobayashi Naoya bowed deeply to Gavin.

Gavin nodded knowingly and said softly.

"I know, and the reason I called you all here is to talk about how we should get through this winter."

"Since you scholars generally believe that the likelihood of zombies migrating in winter is far greater than in summer, which we predicted incorrectly, then let the Alliance act according to your judgment."

At this point, Gavin waved his hand, signaling the guys to discuss what preparations the camp should make, based on what Kobayashi had said: that the zombie migration was inevitable.

The guys immediately started chatting about this topic.

We chatted like that until about 7:40, which was breakfast time.

Gavin then temporarily ended the discussion with his men and started eating.

Even while eating, Gavin always had his notebook in his hand, which he used for taking notes and summarizing, and he would look through the notes as he ate.

The guys' discussion was quite fruitful; they came up with more than twenty possible preventative measures just for dealing with the zombie migration.

This included urging all the men living outside the manor to dig basements under their own self-built houses as much as possible.

The alliance will also distribute some emergency supplies to its members and store them in the basement so that if the alliance encounters a zombie outbreak, the members can hide in the basement and survive for a period of time.

Of course, this is just an extreme solution.

The only more extreme option left is the backup plan of a massive migration of the Alliance, and a series of implementation plans for that plan.

The alliance has grown to its current size, with over 1,500 people, reserves of over 18,000 tons of various daily necessities, and a series of other things including textile production lines, bullet production lines, edible salt and oil processing lines, and fuel separation systems. None of these can easily be moved away with the population.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, that is, when the league faces a life-or-death situation.

The alliance will almost never consider migration as an option!

Therefore, the plans proposed by the guys were still mainly to strengthen the sentry posts and observation in the surrounding areas, to keep abreast of zombie information, and to be ready to guide large waves of zombies at any time.

For example, gradually build loudspeaker lines in the area surrounding the alliance, and use continuous loudspeakers to guide zombies to divert through the alliance area.

Alternatively, one could proactively create a number of appropriately sized aggregates in the surrounding towns, and then manually dispose of the nearby aggregates when the manor faces a major crisis, thereby completely drawing away the large horde of zombies that threatens the alliance.

In short, the alliance should focus more on luring away the zombies rather than confronting them head-on!

Although the Alliance is not lacking in heavy firepower at all, with more than ten tanks in total, Edward has also trained enough tank operators.

But at least for now, the alliance's core strategy remains to continuously absorb population to strengthen itself, rather than using its limited field forces to directly confront the zombies head-on.

The alliance has limited time. If the alliance is too eager to make fighting zombies its core task, then not to mention the loss of resources and field personnel, the speed at which the alliance absorbs new people and annexes new camps will be affected, which is a huge loss for the alliance!

In short, Gavin finally closed the notebook halfway through his breakfast.

Having observed enough and gained a better understanding of the situation, Gavin finally managed to give orders to field staff and was able to eat a proper meal.

Nearby, Gavin finally closed his notebook.

Nikita picked up her fork, stabbed a fried egg into Gavin's plate, and laughed.

"The snow only lasted a short while, which is a pity. I got up a bit late and didn't even catch the first snowflake of the year."

"Honestly, I wish I had gotten up earlier. My baby would love to see the first snow of the year too."

"Mom is so lazy! She made the baby miss an important memory moment!"

At this point, Nikita couldn't help but withdraw her hand from the fork, put it down, and rub her stomach.

Her belly was already quite large, and her weight had increased by a full 45 pounds since she first met Gavin. She had transformed from that sexy and alluring young woman into a slightly chubby and sweet girl.

As for her belly—

Seeing Nikita rub her belly, Gavin's heart stirred, and he immediately reached out and touched Nikita's belly.

A moment later, Gavin placed his hand on Nikita's stomach.

With just a light touch, Nikita's belly reacted noticeably. Gavin could clearly feel the little life inside kicking and punching.

As Nikita's belly twitched slightly, she couldn't help but frown.

Their child was so active that Nikita was having a lot of trouble.

Noticing Nikita's furrowed brow, Gavin took Nikita's chubby hand and asked softly.

"Did Old Bert mention your due date, Niki? How long do you think it will be before our child can see the world?"

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"It will be soon, sir. Old Bert said long ago that my due date is around mid-December, so that means we can see our baby in as little as three weeks!"

Nikita responded with a happy smile and shook Gavin's hand in return.

The two spent a tender moment talking about the child until around 8:20, when Gavin finally released Nikita's wrist.

Noticing Gavin's serious expression, Nikita pondered for a moment and then asked him with concern.

"Honey, you don't look too well, so is there anything you want to say to me?"

"Well----"

When Nikita pressed him for an answer, Gavin became worried about her feelings, so he paused for a moment before responding to her in a relaxed manner.

"Our child isn't due for at least three weeks, so I plan to retrace the Golden Road that our alliance has worked so hard to pave before winter fully arrives!"

"Eugene's progress is incredibly fast. In just over two months, he has expanded the road beyond Atlanta and is now closing in on the Charlotte area!"

"In other words, we ourselves have extended the route from here to the New York City Capitol by nearly two-thirds, and possibly more!"

"While we've come this far, the guys in the New York City Council, in order to avoid the extremely dangerous area connecting New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, have had to take a long detour, causing their progress to stall near the Charlotte area!"

"So, either this week or next week, we'll probably be able to completely open up half of the Golden Road and fully connect with the New York City Council!"

"And the location for our official meeting will most likely be Charlotte City!"

"so----"

By the time Gavin got to this point, Nikita's expression had already turned quite grim.

So much so that Gavin hesitated for a long time before his voice gradually lowered until he finally fell silent.

The low pressure spread rapidly outwards along Nikita's furrowed brows, clenched teeth, and disgruntled gaze.

This caused the waiters at the main table to put down their cutlery and finish their breakfast early—

And Gavin.

He just stared at Nikita in silence, giving her a helpless and apologetic look.

Meeting that gaze, Nikita took a deep breath and finally spoke, ending her silence.

She spoke slowly and deliberately, in a very low voice.

"So, my dearest husband, at this moment, with only three weeks left until my due date, as winter first arrives."

"Especially when—our child is just weeks away, and could arrive in this world at any moment."

"You actually chose to dedicate your time to your golden path, to the New York City Council and their Speaker, instead of to our children and me!!!"

At this point, Nikita suddenly stood up, supporting her large pregnant belly, and jogged towards her room.

Seeing this, Bella and Hela, who were not far away, quickly stood up and rushed towards Nikita.

Bella still had half a fried egg in her mouth, but she was in no mood to eat. She quickly swallowed the egg and began to comfort Nikita.

And Gavin—

Watching Nikita's departing figure, Gavin remained silent for a moment, then lowered his head and continued to eat his breakfast in silence.

It was all such a coincidence that Gavin had no choice at all.

The day when half of the Golden Road is fully opened will be about a week to ten days later.

Most importantly, in order to fully realize this plan, news came from the New York City Council three days ago that the Speaker of the New York City Council had led a delegation toward Charlotte.

He was particularly looking forward to the complete opening of the Golden Road and his first formal meeting with Alliance leader Gavin.

Can Gavin really just ignore the New York City Council Speaker's remarks?

Even today, the New York City Council is a behemoth with a population of over 1,500, and due to its proximity to New York, the proportion of academics among its members is even higher than that of the League.

As for weapons and equipment, don't be ridiculous. No large camp in the apocalypse would lack those things.

The military base is right there; as long as the population keeps up, we can take it anytime!

At least for now, no camp is running out of food, clothing, guns, or ammunition!

In short, as the leader of the coalition, Gavin must ensure the first communication with the New York legislature, regardless of the circumstances.

This was to solidify the plans that had only existed on the radio and the camps that had only cooperated on the radio into a stable alliance spanning the central and southern United States!

So even if it means missing her son's due date.

Gavin also had to embark on this golden road that had finally been completed at the cost of dozens of field agents.

He had to walk this road himself, see for himself the men stationed at each post, and let them see him too!

But if he goes, he might not live to see the child's birth.

Hey.

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