Chapter 153: The Tank Blew Up

"Old Tan, Lanlan, come quick—let's search for supplies together!"

After suffering a great blow, Zhang Su did not let Tan Hua and Mo Qianlan grieve alone; he called them to join the labor, knowing it would help them overcome their sorrow faster.

The six-story furniture mall had little to eat or drink, but plenty of useful items remained; in the apocalypse, once-ignorable industrial products became extraordinarily valuable—tools, weapons, and every floor's fire axes and fire extinguishers had to be taken.

Even the fire hoses were not overlooked; sturdy hoses made excellent tripwires for zombies.

There was much they wanted to take, but limited carrying capacity forced them to prioritize.

By seven, the sky had brightened; the group slowly loaded supplies onto the vehicles. Zhang Su stood on the RV, scanning left and right, trying to gauge the extent of his improved vision—but without instruments, like his hearing, it was impossible to quantify precisely.

He finally concluded roughly: aside from night vision, his eyes could now focus at ninety percent closer distance—seeing about a hundred meters felt like ten meters ahead, and objects a kilometer away appeared as if viewed from a hundred meters.

Most crucially, Zhang Su discovered a clever application: his vision could be stacked with binoculars, greatly expanding his field of view.

It didn't reach the exaggeration of a "thousand-mile eye," but on sufficiently open terrain, ten kilometers was manageable; actual open sightlines rarely exceeded that, so it was more than sufficient.

After repeated practice, Zhang Su had progressed from initial dizziness upon focusing to gradually adapting to his enhanced vision.

"Brother Su, we're done. What's the plan—eat first or leave now?"

Lu Yu Bo had found a carved walnut bead bracelet somewhere in a shop, turning it in his hands; paired with the bloodstains on his clothes, it looked profoundly out of place.

"Eat first, then leave!"

Zhang Su pulled his gaze back, mentally planning what came next.

As the group grew, food consumption increased slowly; fortunately, they'd replenished at Shuipoo Village and still had ample supplies.

Rice, flour, oil, soy sauce, seasonings—all were stocked, and with the RV's cooking equipment, even a simple bowl of noodle soup tasted rich and satisfying in this late autumn to early winter.

After eating, the convoy resumed travel, slowly heading east along Wenhua Road; from the furniture mall, a straight road over two kilometers long stretched ahead.

"The road's awfully quiet…"

Zhang Su drove forward; there were almost no zombies, and few vehicles either—this surprised him greatly.

"This stretch has always been like this—never much foot traffic. My house was just past that street, Xicheng Huayu… I only knew there was a major unit here, so no big developments were planned. Didn't expect it was a military base."

Zhong Xiaoshanyi's voice came from behind.

"You bought a house this far out?"

Zhang Su quickly glanced back at Zhong Xiaoshanyi—he'd never known where she lived; this was the first time he'd heard her mention it.

Zhong Xiaoshanyi smiled at him through the rearview mirror. "Couldn't afford much, but wanted a big house. These places had large floor areas and were cheap back then—only three thousand per square meter. Plus, I like quiet, so I bought it."

"Three thousand… that's really cheap."

Zhao Dezhu sighed; before the disaster, he'd followed housing prices obsessively—eight or ten thousand per square meter—and it gave him headaches.

"Then why didn't you say we should circle back to your neighborhood entrance?"

Zhang Su asked.

"No point. It's surely piled with corpses—seeing it would only hurt. Twenty-five-year mortgage, just paid five years." She shook her head, yet couldn't help glancing toward the residential area, adding bitterly, "Twenty-five-year mortgage, just paid five years."

"You've got it better than me—I paid in full, and it just burned to ashes."

Zhang Su shook his head helplessly, then his gaze sharpened on the horizon; his smile faded as he slowly pulled the vehicle to the roadside.

"What's wrong?"

Zheng Xinyu, adjusting the radio frequency, asked in confusion; this stretch had no villages or shops nearby—why had Zhang Su stopped here?

"We can't go any further."

To see more clearly and for cover, Zhang Su picked up the binoculars and peered ahead.

Others couldn't make it out, but he clearly saw the horrifying sight seven or eight hundred meters ahead: zombies packed densely along the highway, stretching to the horizon—minimum three to five thousand!

Even after half a month of rain and wind, some zombies still wore camouflage uniforms.

Through gaps in the zombie horde, he glimpsed the silhouettes of armored vehicles, artillery trucks, and one destroyed tank…

The trees on both sides stood as mere stumps, their canopies long gone—no one knew what had happened to them.

The ground was littered with corpses, nearly matching the number of wandering zombies; after floodwaters washed over them, many bodies piled together in a shocking scene.

Even a kilometer away, Zhang Su felt as if he could smell the overwhelming stench of decay; the hellish sight weighed heavily on his heart.

He couldn't imagine what earth-shattering war had occurred here days ago—a war between species.

"Brother, what's the problem?"

Zhao Dezhu walked up to the driver's cabin and stared ahead.

Zhang Su handed him the binoculars. "Take a look."

"Look myself?" Zhao Dezhu raised the binoculars to his eyes, adjusted the focus, and froze.

"This… I… they… how could this happen!"

The scene in the binoculars left him speechless.

Every time he thought he'd seen the worst, something new shattered his understanding.

"What do we do, brother? Still going?"

Zhao Dezhu lowered the binoculars, frowning.

"Go where? You don't see the tank's blown up?"

"Yeah… how did the tank not break through?"

Zhao Dezhu scratched his head.

"You think tanks are invincible? Modern tanks carry far fewer shells than WWII models. This was a base, not the front line—there's no guarantee they even had spare ammo. And operating a tank requires at least three crew members!"

"But that still doesn't explain why the tank exploded…"

"One possibility…" Yu Wen joined the discussion. "In panic, in chaos, friendly fire might've happened."

Everyone exchanged glances.

"Damn, that's actually plausible. Zombies don't care about dying—they charge without fear. I think it's scarier than real war. Panic makes friendly fire way more likely."

"Enough. Let's focus on practical problems."

Zhang Su lit a cigarette, irritated.

He knew every survivor group wanted firearms; they currently had three small pistols—any team that had raided a military camp or police armory would crush them.

Just then, Lu Yu Bo jumped onto a tire. "Brother Su, what's up?"

"Turn around. Thousands of zombies ahead—we can't get through."

Zhang Su rolled down the window and handed Lu Yu Bo a cigarette.

"Thousands of zombies? Holy shit—so that's what those dark blobs are?"

Lu Yu Bo didn't need binoculars; even with his naked eyes, he could vaguely make out a vast sea of shadows.

"Brother Su, if we can't go through, can't we detour around and come from the other side?"

"Or maybe we split up and lure the zombies away?"

Zheng Xinyu offered another suggestion.

Zhang Su scanned the surrounding roads and shook his head. "Too many. We don't know what's inside the base—if it's like this outside? We're going as planned—find a bridge, cross the river north."

Using sound to lure zombies had severe limitations; the surrounding area was too uncertain, too full of hidden dangers. No one knew what waited around the next corner—if they got trapped from both sides, even gods couldn't save them.

Unless they had a drone—something miraculous—but they had none.

Learning the base was impassable left everyone gloomy; after witnessing human evil, all hoped to acquire firearms quickly—even if they didn't know how to use them, having them meant they could learn.

The three vehicles turned back, retracing their route west along Wenhua Road. As they drove, Zhang Su's peripheral vision caught two sensitive words: Communications!

"Turn here!"

Zhang Su announced over the radio, steering sharply toward the street with the communications equipment.

"Oh my…" Zheng Xinyu saw empty storefronts along the street; no need to guess—they'd been looted multiple times. She exclaimed dramatically, "Brother Su, why are we coming here?"

Zhang Su nodded ahead. "I just remembered there's a store selling communications gear. I bought surveillance equipment from them for the convenience store before."

He made up an excuse, then pulled up to the communications shop.

"Brother Su, this street's clean—no zombies at all!"

Lu Yu Bo stepped out, alert, scanning the surroundings in surprise.

Zhang Su nodded. "This area had few residents. Besides a few restaurants, most shops sold niche goods—no one came anyway. And after being looted several times, any zombies here were already cleared by earlier survivors."

"Xiao Liu, Xiao Chen, Pei Lan, Old Tan, and Lanlan—you five stand guard outside. Zhu, Xinyu, Xiaoshanyi, Master Jia—come with me into the communications shop. Everyone else, check nearby stores for anything useful."

With the order given, everyone sprang into action.

The shops on this street had been looted multiple times, but previous looters showed little interest in communications gear; the glass doors were smashed, but much remained inside!

Zhang Su's group found network gateways, routers, network adapters, transceivers—many professional devices—but these weren't key; the most valuable finds were over thirty different models of walkie-talkies!

"Ha! Now we're set—we can give one to everyone!"

Zhao Dezhu beamed at the brand-new, unopened walkie-talkies before him.

"Stop right there! Don't move closer!"

Just then, Tan Hua's voice rang out from the street.

"Someone's here?"

Everyone in the shop froze, then rushed out—only to see a man standing in the middle of the street with his hands raised.

(End of Chapter)