Chapter 163: One Storm Subsides, Another Rises

In the time it took to smoke two cigarettes, three hundred jin each of rice and flour arrived.

"Zhu Zi, does it look like it's been packed?"

Zhang Su felt the two of them had come and gone far too quickly.

"No," Zhao Dezhu shook his head. "It's already sitting in the warehouse."

"Mr. Zhang, rest assured—this rice and flour are all fresh from this year's harvest, guaranteed to be fragrant!" Ma Changshou quickly explained.

"Bo Zi, inspect the goods!"

Zhang Su nodded toward Lu Yubo.

"Hah, got it!"

Lu Yubo perked up.

Only when the truck's rear vanished from sight did a villager finally speak.

Similar to Shuikou Village, Xidaying Village had taken in survivors and grain from many nearby villages; the distribution of supplies was extremely complex, and no one wanted to bear losses like today's.

"I'm fucked—look at all these men, women, old, young, weak, and frail, some even missing arms—I thought they were an easy target. What the hell kind of people are these…?"

"Old Qiu, don't you understand what 'sharing hardship together' means? Once you joined Xidaying Village, you're no longer 'you' and 'us'—why are you haggling over every grain?"

"Oh, right!"

"Quick, help Mr. Zhang load the truck!"

Lu Yubo scratched his head, hastily put away the grain sampler, pulled out a utility knife, slit open the burlap sack, and peered inside—sure enough, pure white rice. He then checked the flour.

"No kidding… it's insane to rob these people. Ma Village Chief, don't tell me you expect us to split those six hundred jin evenly!"

Zhang Su said nothing more, started the car, crossed the bridge, and drove slowly north, leaving the villagers standing on the bridge, stunned.

"No, no… may I ask, where do you plan to set up camp?"

"Jesus, with so many people packed into a military camp, wouldn't zombies be everywhere?"

Zhang Su's lip twitched. He quickly stopped Lu Yubo. "Are you crazy? What the hell are you doing—stabbing your sampler into the rice and flour? Are we even going to eat this?"

"Mr. Zhang!" As Zhang Su prepared to leave, Ma Changshou suddenly called out to him.

For Xidaying Village, this grain meant little—the village had lost over ninety percent of its people, and food was extremely abundant.

The villagers enthusiastically carried the grain onto the truck and stacked it neatly—their service was top-notch.

"If all those people are real, there's only one possibility… they've swept clean a military base."

"Good, everything's fine. Village Chief Ma is trustworthy. Load it up."

Ma Changshou was a shrewd man. Since no conflict had occurred today, there was a chance they could become friends. The other side was clearly powerful—this was a leg worth clinging to!

When he pulled out the grain sampler, the villagers of Xidaying Village nearly shrank their brains—what kind of group was this, carrying such equipment?

"No plans yet. We'll find a place with fields and water. Goodbye for now!"

Zhang Su turned back to Ma Changshou. "Village Chief, do you have any advice?"

"That's right! If we hadn't taken in your Baihe Village people, you'd all be dead by now!"

"Don't be ungrateful!"

Upon hearing this, the villagers of Xidaying Village immediately began to rebut, arguing loudly on the bridge…

Zhang Su's side naturally couldn't hear the villagers' bickering—he was staring blankly at a high-speed train stopped on the railway bridge.

"This… is utterly hopeless."

At a distance of twenty to thirty meters, everyone in the vehicle could see the train's condition: zombies wandered inside the carriages, the silent train reeked of death, and it sat motionless on the tracks. If nothing changed, not a single soul remained alive.

"This must be the high-speed train heading to Jingcheng… damn, a real-life Train to Busan—no, this is Train to Jingcheng," Wu Lue grinned.

"Let's go…"

Slowly passing beneath the railway bridge, even though they'd seen death countless times, everyone couldn't help imagining themselves inside the train—hard to fathom the horror inside those carriages, the bone-deep despair of being surrounded by zombies.

"Stay alert—we're entering the town!"

Zhang Su shook his head, casting those negative emotions out of his mind.

Continuing forward, they entered a place called Beidong Town. Shops lined both sides of the street, but all had been looted, smashed, and ransacked—even the electric scooter stores were in ruins, not worth stopping to scavenge.

"Something's off…"

Zhang Su slowed the vehicle, scanning the streets as he spoke to those inside: "Don't you all feel this town is too quiet?"

"Yeah, earlier on the road we kept seeing zombies—why's it so empty now that we're in town?"

Zhong Xiaoshanyi also sensed something wrong.

Yu Wen said: "The towns under Qincheng typically govern thirty to fifty villages, with populations between thirty and eighty thousand. Based on our infection estimates, Beidong Town should have at least twenty thousand zombies, possibly fifty to sixty thousand. Even if scattered across villages, the town itself shouldn't be this silent…"

"Could it be… the locals killed all the zombies?" Zheng Xinyu asked, incredulous.

Zhang Su shook his head: "That's too hard—unless…"

Just as the vehicle reached the center of the town's main street, Zhang Su suddenly heard the roar of an agricultural tractor. Then he saw two tractors loaded with timber blocking the road ahead, completely cutting off their path.

Worse still, as soon as the tractors stopped, four men leapt out from the driver's seats and swiftly laid down a crude spike strip on the road—not as refined as police equipment, but each long nail was far more intimidating.

If it had been just two broken-down tractors, Zhang Su might have tried ramming through with the vehicle's weight and power. But the spike strip made him abandon the idea instantly.

Each steel spike was as long as an adult's index finger—even an RV with run-flat tires couldn't withstand them. Specialized tires like these? No one knew where to find them anymore.

"Boss, they're surrounding us from behind too!"

Zhang Su had barely stopped the car when he saw over a dozen three-wheeled agricultural trucks slowly emerging from both sides of the street. Each truck carried a driver and two able-bodied young men.

All of them held weapons—farm tools, cleavers, no need to list them. Some carried homemade crossbows; others had crude firelocks slung over their shoulders!

Soon, the dozen trucks encircled the three vehicles. The whole operation was practiced, seamless—clearly seasoned criminals. Compared to these people, Xidaying Village seemed gentle.

"We've been wrapped in dumplings, haha."

Zhang Su looked at the pincer formation ahead and behind, and couldn't help laughing.

"Damn it, can't we have one damn moment of peace?"

Zhao Dezhu, watching the approaching men through the window, felt deeply frustrated. They just wanted to find a place to settle down—was that really so hard?

"Everyone's just trying to survive. Too bad they picked the wrong target…" Zhang Su shrugged, rolled down the window, and greeted the apparent leader who had come close: "Master, what's the meaning of this?"

"Isn't it obvious? We're robbing you. Get out now—these three vehicles belong to United Village!"

The man was in his early forties, and his appearance was slightly more amiable than Ma Changshou's from Xidaying Village—he looked like a kind, easygoing man. But appearances lied. His first words clashed violently with his face—utterly domineering.

Zhang Su scanned the men holding ranged weapons. Seeing they showed no intention to attack, he stayed still, stroked his chin, and asked: "United Village? You've banded together to rob? Won't you have conflicts over resource distribution?"

The leader frowned. "You talk too much. Get out now, or we'll make you. Let's keep things peaceful—no need for deaths!"

"Xidaying Village at the Hedaqiao bridge only charges tolls by headcount. You United Village folks are something else—you're stripping them bare. Everything's yours—how are we supposed to live?"

Zhang Su asked calmly.

"Xidaying Village? Those bastards are useless. Holding a bridge and still not making the most of it. Lucky for us they only charge tolls—if they'd taken everything, we'd have nothing."

"How you live is your problem. But I'll give you a tip: United Village is recruiting laborers. Men can work the fields for us, earn work credits, and trade them for food!"

The leader, holding a crude crossbow, spoke proudly, as if bestowing divine mercy.

"What about women?"

Zhang Su asked curiously.

The leader glanced back at his men and grinned. "Women? Even easier. Marry them off to our bachelor brothers—plenty to play with, plenty to eat and drink, haha!"

"Good! Hahaha!"

A few villagers responded enthusiastically. Many others showed no emotional reaction—they weren't interested.

"Hahaha…"

Zhang Su laughed along, then turned sideways, pulled out his walkie-talkie, and said with a smile: "Semi-automatic mode, single-shot ready. Wait for my signal to fire!"

(End of Chapter)