Chapter 122: The Bridge Is Gone!

"Brother Su, if we get the chance, we should stock up on more medicine."

Zhong Xiaoshanyi, seeing the scene on the street before the three institutes, could imagine how precious medicine would become in the future.

"Since you thought of it, let's start! There's nothing else abundant around here—just pharmacies. Look, over there—two big pharmacies side by side… and their doors haven't been looted yet. That's the spot!"

With that, Zhang Su turned the car onto a side road and pulled over.

Throughout the journey, Zhang Ya had sat in the corner, staring out the window, clearly distracted; she clutched a white medicine bottle, hesitating—just as she was about to roll down the window and toss it out, the car stopped, so she silently shoved the bottle into her bag, her eyes hardening with resolve.

The zombies wandering nearby weren't numerous, and only seven or eight had been drawn by the car's noise—quickly dispatched by the group.

"Brother Su, I just… uh, heh…"

Zhao Dezhu walked up to Zhang Su, sheepishly scratching his big head.

"I'll settle accounts with you later—first, loot the medicine. Everyone, go! Take as much as you can carry. I'll unload the sports car—use the whole garage to store the medicine! And remember to leave someone on watch for zombies!"

"Got it!"

Before even getting out of the vehicle, everyone had seen the two pharmacies and knew what they were here for—they sprinted toward them with high efficiency.

Zhang Su returned to the RV, opened the garage door, and studied it for a long while—finally realizing there were no auxiliary tools onboard for unloading.

With no other choice, the group worked together and forcibly pushed the sports car out—its value of two to three million yuan now overturned on the roadside.

This caused a wave of anguish among the male members of the team who loved sports cars.

With over a dozen people working together, they quickly emptied both pharmacies. To save space, they tore apart the flashy cardboard boxes and packed the medicine into plastic bags.

When they set off again, both RVs were packed with all kinds of medicine—now effectively mobile pharmacies of the apocalypse.

Several people inside the office building across the way watched Zhang Su's group's activities clearly and began discussing them.

"They're… way too big a group—two RVs, two hardcore off-road vehicles. Heng Ge, let's join them!"

"You just want to join? Looks like they're planning to leave the city. Even if we catch up, you don't think they'll take just anyone, do you?"

"Exactly. No matter which safe zone we join, we need real skills—otherwise we'll just be cannon fodder. I'd rather starve here than become someone else's cannon fodder."

"Still, if I could get a few full meals before becoming cannon fodder, that wouldn't be so bad."

The RVs were large targets; the convoy was an even bigger one. Before finding a secure base, this was unavoidable—all supplies traveled with the vehicles; wherever the vehicles were, that became the temporary camp!

Under the setting sun, Zhang Su lazily smoked a cigarette as he drove north. Even with his sharp hearing, he couldn't hear the whispers of survivors hiding in the shadows.

"Check for any new updates…"

He crushed the cigarette butt into the ashtray, then turned on the car radio as usual, gesturing for Zheng Xinyu to tune the frequency.

Before the apocalypse, only Yu Wen occasionally listened to the radio; everyone else had never touched one. Now, tuning frequencies had become second nature to all of them.

Static, static, static.

"It's been a long time since we heard anything from the Olympic Sports Safe Camp. Could something have happened there…?"

Zheng Xinyu stared blankly at the frequency.

Zhang Su thought of the special police led by Qin Ya and shook his head. "If there were no problems, they'd keep broadcasting. Setting up an FM transmitter isn't hard. Since there's no signal now, something probably did happen."

Before, they might have naively believed safe zones were impregnable—but after witnessing tens of thousands of zombies pass by, that illusion faded.

Firearms could suppress zombies, but only if the weapons were varied and plentiful. Facing a ten-thousand-strong zombie horde, ordinary guns alone stood no chance—rocket launchers would be the bare minimum, and tanks would be ideal.

But now, where could they even find a tank? Even if one sat right in front of them, no one could operate it properly—and the fuel consumption, dozens of times higher than a regular vehicle, would be an unbearable burden.

"Looks like there's no news."

Zheng Xinyu pouted—just as everyone assumed the radio had nothing new to offer, a human voice suddenly crackled through—a looping female voice echoed inside the vehicle!

Zhang Su's expression snapped alert. He slowed the car immediately and listened carefully from the beginning of the loop.

"Survivors, hello. This is the Qincheng Funing Iron Wall Safe Camp. The Iron Wall Safe Camp has impregnable walls of copper and iron. Here is your warm home—food, drink, and even the one you're looking for await you. Follow Ninghai Avenue south. When you see the words 'Iron Wall Safe Camp,' you've found us. Hurry! We're continuously recruiting survivors to build this safe camp together. I'm waiting for you at the Iron Wall Safe Camp!"

…

The group fell silent for a moment. Zhang Su smirked. "The boss of this Iron Wall Safe Camp has a sense of humor. But how much time has passed? Even with an entire engineering team, they couldn't have built copper-and-iron walls by now."

"Just bragging—who can't do that?" Zheng Xinyu stuck out her tongue. "Can we broadcast too? I'll do a segment—I guarantee it'll be even wilder!"

"Nah… you're bored." Zhang Su rolled his eyes, impressed by Zheng Xinyu's casualness.

Zhong Xiaoshanyi said, "Brother Su, do you remember those guys who used drones to lure zombies into the neighborhood right after the disaster broke out? They said they'd set up a safe camp along the way to Funing. Could it be them?"

"Hmph. Now that you mention it, it's possible."

Zhang Su smirked. "If it really is that bunch, whoever goes there is asking for trouble—eighty percent they're just a gang of scammers and thieves."

"Heh, Iron Wall Safe Camp—definitely a scam camp for fools…"

Zheng Xinyu fully agreed with Zhang Su. The others, except Zhong Xiaoshanyi, didn't know what had happened and looked confused.

Zhang Su briefly explained the events. After hearing it, everyone's understanding was completely refreshed—they realized even safe camps weren't necessarily safe. No one knew if the people running them were human or monsters.

As they slowly drove out of Qincheng's urban area, the zombies on the road grew fewer, but the desolation reminded them the disaster still raged.

Zhang Su suddenly brightened, pointing ahead to the bridge over the Haihe River. "Once we pass this… hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

Zheng Xinyu, who had been tuning the radio, noticed the car slowing. She looked up—and gasped. "The bridge—how… the bridge?!"

Before them, under the golden sunset, the concrete bridge had been severed. A span of roughly one hundred meters was gone—fifty to sixty meters in the middle had vanished entirely, leaving only short, crumbling remnants at the two ends. Steel rebar jutted from the broken structure, dangling chunks of concrete—clearly the mark of deliberate destruction.

"Someone blew up the bridge!"

Zhang Su's face turned ashen. He checked the vehicle's screens, confirmed the surroundings, then grabbed his weapon and jumped out.

"Brother Su, what the hell do we do now?!"

Lu Yu and the others behind him walked up, staring at the broken bridge with grim expressions.

"First, eliminate the zombies coming up behind us!"

Zhang Su frowned and walked toward the zombies surging onto the provincial road from the fields.

Puff, puff, puff.

Seven or eight zombies were dispatched by the group's combined effort. Then they approached the broken bridge, staring at the scene with deep frustration.

Zhang Su took a deep breath and looked far ahead—through the trees, he could faintly make out scattered houses—likely a nearby village.

"Two possibilities: either people who left Qincheng from here destroyed it, or villagers on the other side of the river blew it up. I lean toward the latter."

Zhang Su stepped onto the broken bridge, bent down, picked up a fist-sized chunk of concrete, and tossed it into the dry riverbed below. The drop was over twenty meters. Layer upon layer of zombie corpses filled the riverbed. With the river dried up, the bodies couldn't be washed away—it looked disgusting.

(End of Chapter)