Chapter 207 The Red Flower That Gives Birth to Zombies
Meanwhile, in Last City, Arlan was busy monitoring the situation of the soldiers he sent all over the country.
Maharlika is a country with more than seven thousand islands, but he only sent soldiers into key provinces like Cebu, Davao, Leyte, and a few others. These provinces had a huge pool of talent who could help him develop Last City.
Suddenly, he heard a series of knocking on the door. He raised his head and looked at the person who had come in. It was Krizia, his assistant.
"Boss, Miss Winter is looking for you." She said.
"Winter?" Arlan's eyebrows jumped upwards. Winter would only look for him if there was a serious matter. It seems like she has discovered something that requires his attention.
"Alright." Arlan stopped what he was doing and stood up from his seat. He then left the study room with Krizia and they headed to Winter's office.
After knocking on the door, Arlan pushed it open. Winter's office looked boring which was very rare for a woman. Her office was designed in monochrome and it has a modern vibe to it.
Krizia didn't go in with him so it was only him and Winter inside the office.
Winter sat behind the desk, looking calmly at the screen of her computer. "Come here and look at this." She uttered without even looking at him.
Arlan was already used to her cold attitude so he acted like everything was normal. He walked on her side and stared at the screen of her computer. "What's that?"
All he saw was a dense forest with massive trees and big flowers. There were some animals in the forest and they didn't look like they had mutated. However, what surprised Arlan was the size of the trees and shrubbery. Everything was humongous and the animals looked very tiny in comparison.
"This is the Palawan Rainforest. Before the zombie virus started, it wasn't this big. Now, it already has a land area of 1800 square miles, about a third of the entire Palawan Province… Things started to change in the past week and the plant life in the forest experienced a significant increase in growth. Furthermore, the animals living inside the forest are also showing signs of evolution… Look at this image." Winter clicked on another photo and showed it to him.
It was an image of an animal that looked like a crocodile. The only difference was that the one in the picture was more than twenty meters! It was like a beast from the prehistoric era!
"Is this crocodile from the Palawan Rainforest?" Arlan asked with a solemn look.
Winter nodded her head. "It's not just this thing. More animals have been involved and many are still in the process of evolution. However, there is something that I can't explain. Let me show you." She clicked on a video and showed it to Arlan.
The video was recorded by a scouting drone. In the video, there was a huge red flower in full bloom. It looked very beautiful, but upon closer inspection, Arlan noticed that there was something in the middle of this huge red flower.
Arlan squinted his eyes and was shocked by what he saw. "Is that a zombie?"
Winter nodded her head. "I'll zoom it in for you."
This time, Arlan could clearly see the zombie in the middle of the red flower. The zombie was covered in a mucus-like substance and it seemed to be unconscious.
"What you are seeing right now is the birth of a zombie. I don't know how this flower is producing zombies, but from the recordings I got from the scouting drone, this thing can produce ten zombies a day." Winter's voice was calm without any ripple.
Arlan's face turned serious upon hearing this. Ten might be a small number, but if that thing was left unattended, it could produce almost 4,000 zombies in a year. Now, what if there were more flowers like this? "What do you want me to do?" He asked while looking at Winter.
"Send more scouting drones in Palawan and have them search for flowers similar to this one. Once we pinpoint their location, we'll send our aircraft to destroy them." Winter replied in a cold voice.
Hearing this, Arlan took a deep breath. "That won't do. There might be survivors nearby. We need to evacuate them first before launching an attack."
Winter stared at him deeply and said. "You should know that if we delay this attack, more weird things might come out of that forest. You shouldn't be merciful in this kind of situation. Even if it means killing people, we have to do it to prevent future troubles."
Arlan gave her a somber look. She was right, but the thought of sacrificing innocent people was too much for him. He remained silent for over five minutes, thinking deeply about what he should do.
Soon, Arlan heaved a deep sigh and said. "I approve the air strike, but we have to send some rescue units to save the civilians."
Winter nodded. "Do you want me to summon the soldiers?" She asked.
Arlan shook his head. "I'll do it myself." He was afraid that Winter would give priority to the air strike so he had to do it himself.
After that, he spoke with her briefly and left her office. He then went to the army camp via flying car. When he arrived, he summoned the available commander, Gregorio de Leone. This person was a former military Colonel and a former Brigade Commander of the Special Forces of Maharlika. He was already in his late fifties, but after being injected with the Body Enhancing Serum, he seemed to have returned to his early thirties. The signs of his age could still be seen on his face, but his strength was undeniable. Using his vast knowledge and experience, he could even fight Karl without being defeated. Other than his combat abilities, he was also one of the rare geniuses among his subordinates. His ability to scheme was only behind Cedrick.
"Boss!" Gregorio was no longer the arrogant Colonel he once was. He had already discarded his past and fully accepted his role as Arlan's subordinate.
"Please take your seat, Gregorio." Arlan highly respected this person so he greeted him with a smile.
Gregorio took his seat and looked at Arlan. "Why did you summon me urgently, boss? Is there something I can do for you?" He asked with an expectant gaze. Most of his former comrades in arms already had major roles in Arlan's army. Although he had the same rank as Karl and the others, he felt like he had been left out.
Now, that his body had become stronger, the competitive spirit he once had was reignited.
Arlan's face suddenly turned serious as he informed Gregorio about Winter's findings.
When the former Colonel heard this, he revealed a grave look. "Boss, do you want me to lead the air strike?" He asked.
Arlan shook his head. "No. I want you to lead the rescue unit. Palawan is also a populated province so there would be a lot of zombies there. I'll give you 5000 soldiers and five battle tanks. I want to send a Black Dragon Assault Helicopter as well. Unfortunately, everything has already been sent to other provinces. I can only send you ten Apache assault helicopters. They aren't as good as the Black Dragon Assault Helicopters, but they are still powerful."
Gregorio was disappointed that he couldn't bring the Black Dragon Assault Helicopters, but he was still happy that he finally received a mission.
"Save as many civilians as you can and bring them back to Last City. Just make sure that none of them are infected." Arlan solemnly said.
"You can rest assured, boss!" Gregorio patted his chest confidently.
"Good! I'll leave this matter in your hands." Arlan's face broke into a smile.
After sending off Gregorio, Arlan inspected the camp. He only had a few hundred soldiers left. As for aircraft, the territory only had five Apache helicopters and four bomber jets.
Arlan called the Elliot Siblings. He didn't have a lot of jet pilots in his territory and the best ones under him were Clementine Elliot and her brother Flynn Elliot. Before the zombie apocalypse, Arlan managed to persuade the Elliot Family to move into his territory. The family also didn't have any emotional connection to their country so it was unlikely that they would betray him.
Arlan summoned the siblings to Last City and told them to lead the air strike in the Palawan Rainforest. With their skills, as long as they didn't encounter any weird aerial creatures, they should have no trouble completing the mission.
Soon, Gregorio left the territory together with 5000 soldiers. They were headed to Palawan via carrier ship. Meanwhile, the Elliot siblings were still on their way back to the territory. They were in a far away province so it took them several hours to return.
Arlan asked the siblings to rest for 2 days so that Gregorio's army would have some time.
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