Chapter 176: The Gunshot

"Xiao Shuai, Wu Lue, today you two come with us to Niuziquan Town—we're going to haul back all the rebar!"

On this day, Zhang Su estimated they could clear the construction materials store, so he invited two more people to join him in heading to Niuziquan Town, even resorting to using the fuel-guzzling RV to ensure they could retrieve everything in one trip.

Rebar and cement were the primary materials for building the base's perimeter wall; with these two, defensive capability would be greatly enhanced.

Two nearly empty RVs started up and slowly drove down the mountain road.

"Young Brother Zhang, don't forget the cutter!"

The vehicle had already set off; Zhang Su heard Jia Shiqin shouting from behind and stuck his hand out the window to give a thumbs-up.

But as soon as they reached the foot of the mountain, before even stepping onto the rural access road, Zhang Su slammed on the brakes and stopped at the intersection.

"A group of zombies is coming from the south!"

Zhang Su pulled out the walkie-talkie and notified his companions in the other vehicle of this discovery.

Others might not see clearly, but he could see plainly: deep in the southern farmland, a group of zombies had appeared—by sight alone, roughly two hundred of them.

It seemed a village's barricade had been breached, and the zombies, now unimpeded, had spilled out!

"How are we supposed to dig? With shovels by hand? That'd be like building the Great Wall all over again…"

Zhang Su didn't make a decision but pointed to the farmland on either side, overgrown with weeds: "What if we dug a trench three meters wide and five meters deep here, stretching from that foot of the mountain all the way to the highway? Wouldn't all the zombies coming from the fields just jump right in?"

Everyone could vividly picture the scene—but there was a catch!

"Wait, why do zombies always head this way? The United Village has plenty of people—fifty or sixty men, women, and children combined—why don't they go there instead?"

Lu Yubo frowned in complaint.

From daily observations, the attraction hypothesis had been largely confirmed: zombies could sense humans from far away, and the larger the human gathering, the stronger the signal emitted, drawing more zombies.

Zhang Su shook his head; Lu Yubo's thinking was flawed—like seeing others break traffic laws but ignoring they paid the fines, then assuming they weren't caught.

At Zhang Su's words, those with binoculars pulled them out, those without removed their rifles and used the scopes—just as expected, they saw the distant, slowly moving zombie horde.

"Damn, are these zombies heading our way?"

"Delete 'probably.' Turn the question into a statement…"

"How do you know they haven't been attacked by zombie groups? We haven't been watching them nonstop! The United Village belongs to Beidong Town—there were forty or fifty thousand people in the whole town; now only Xida Ying Village and the United Village remain, fewer than a hundred people total—how many zombies are left? Think for yourself!"

The keys were still in the vehicle, but the excavator was badly damaged—likely from crashing through obstacles.

Zhao Dezhu's expression was extremely complicated.

Lu Yubo voiced his question.

"Of course we won't dig by hand—Niuziquan Village has two excavators! Let's figure out how to get them back!"

Zhang Su had set his sights on the excavators.

Wu Lue made a grim-faced joke.

Zhao Dezhu asked in a low voice.

Zhao Dezhu frowned: "Look, big brother, never mind whether anyone knows how to drive it—the fuel tank's leaking, and I think the axle's broken. How are we supposed to drive it?"

"So what now, big brother? Do we head back?"

"There's always a way. First, let's lure this horde away—our camp's defenses aren't finished yet; if this many zombies charge us, it'll be a nightmare!"

Zhang Su spoke, then pressed the accelerator and slowly drove to the center of the access road, waiting as the distant zombies crept closer. Along the way, he switched the walkie-talkie to the frequency used by those guarding the safe camp and informed them of the zombie group.

Even if the plan was to lure the horde away, everyone needed to be prepared—in case something went wrong, they wouldn't panic.

Upon learning a horde of over two hundred zombies was approaching, the camp's defenders immediately set up makeshift barricades on the hillside road, securing guide poles wrapped in wire to frames—far less sturdy than abatis, but better than nothing.

"Uncle, if no one helps us, could the six of us with our guns take out this horde?"

Pang Dakun asked with keen interest.

Zhang Su took a drag from his cigarette, exhaled smoke, and said: "Each of us carries 150 rounds—that's 900 total. That horde's barely three hundred. Unless we pick them off one by one, zombies won't give us that chance—if they charge en masse…"

"Even four or five bullets per zombie is generous—we'd kill about two hundred before running out. Missed shots won't be wasted either; they'll still cause serious damage. The few zombies left with broken limbs won't be hard to finish off."

In reality, there were no lock-on mods; kill efficiency was extremely low.

"So should we try?"

Pang Dakun clutched his rifle, eager to test it.

"You're a young bull unafraid of tigers… The best option is to avoid zombies. If avoidance fails, lure them away. Only as a last resort do you fight head-on—we have a clear chance to lure them now. Are you insane to waste bullets wiping them out?"

Zhang Su shook his head with a strange expression—he wasn't some zombie hunter named Zhang Luote; bullets had to be saved for more vital uses!

After more than half an hour of tedious waiting, the zombie horde had drifted to within two hundred meters of the mountain's access road. Zhang Su used the walkie-talkie to tell the Fokner Mobil RV crew to get ready.

Then he pressed the horn.

Duuuuuuu~~~~~!

The long blast echoed across the fields and mountains. Not only did the distant zombies react, but even those guarding the roadblock clearly heard it.

Aowuowu…

Over two hundred zombies stirred, lurching forward with uneven steps, sprinting across the farmland.

Zhang Su didn't move too soon—he waited until the zombies were only thirty meters from the vehicle before driving off.

Soon, both vehicles lured the zombies onto the highway, heading north.

On the open highway, using cars to lure zombies was effortless—the horde followed like lustful wolves chasing a beauty, relentless, like ultimate lickspittles.

"Damn, are these zombies all athletes?"

Zhang Su glanced at the speedometer, then checked the rearview mirror at the sprinting zombies, puzzled. He asked Qi Xiaoshuai beside him: "Twenty-five kilometers per hour—how many seconds is that per hundred meters?"

"Uh…"

Qi Xiaoshuai squinted, calculated, then said: "About fourteen seconds… Boss, don't tell me those zombies are running a hundred meters in fourteen seconds?!"

"Cough…" Zhang Su was also surprised. He pointed at the speedometer: "I'm holding exactly twenty-five. Even with a slight margin, those zombies' hundred-meter time won't be under fifteen or sixteen seconds!"

Car speedometers usually read slightly higher than actual speed—but even fifteen seconds per hundred meters? That's half of Bolt's pace, yet Bolt represents the human sprinting limit!

A normal adult running under fifteen seconds is already fast; under thirteen seconds is exceptional. But the most critical factor is endurance!

Even after the apocalypse, Zhang Su knew he couldn't sprint at full speed beyond four hundred meters—yet the zombies chasing the car had kept pace for a full mile without slowing down…

This was terrifying.

Meaning, if you were chased now without transportation, escaping zombies was nearly impossible!

Unless you could burst with incredible speed to create distance—and only Koji might be able to do that…

This was a terrible discovery.

"What do we do now? We can't even outrun zombies anymore…"

Qi Xiaoshuai looked grim; the hope of outrunning zombies had just collapsed.

"We must record this. Tell everyone back at camp immediately—damn, they're really growing stronger!"

Zhang Su's face was grim too; no one wanted their enemy to grow stronger. He silently hoped this was the limit of their evolution.

After driving nearly two kilometers away from Tianma Island, both RVs suddenly accelerated, hitting a hundred kilometers per hour and easily leaving the horde behind.

Once certain the zombies weren't following, Zhang Su stopped the car, raised his binoculars, and watched from afar—only when he confirmed the horde hadn't turned back toward Tianma Island did he finally relax.

"Wonder which settlement's gonna get unlucky? Hehe…"

Lu Yubo gave a tasteless chuckle.

Everyone knew the zombies would slowly move toward the next destination—but no one knew where.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

Zhang Su pulled out the walkie-talkie, attempting long-distance communication for the first time.

"Can hear you, Boss. Go ahead."

Zheng Xinyu's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

Zhang Su's face lit up—long-distance communication felt modern. "The horde's been lured two kilometers north. Our camp is temporarily safe. Carry on as usual."

"Got it. Be careful!"

The brief exchange ended; the crisis had passed without incident.

Thanks to years of rural development, road planning was excellent. The two RVs detoured a few kilometers and arrived smoothly at the outskirts of Niuziquan Town.

The wire mesh on the excavators' buckets had been removed by Zhang Su's group; now they lay across the street's depths.

"This fuel tank was deliberately smashed—probably to prevent anyone from driving it off…"

The men jumped out and gathered around the excavators to examine them.

"This shouldn't be too hard to fix, but this main shaft…"

Zhang Su didn't touch the machinery; he pulled out his phone and snapped photos from every angle. "We'll ask back at camp who has repair skills."

After finishing, the six began the tedious cleanup work. With more hands, zombie-killing speed improved, and soon they cleared zombies from nearby shops.

But just as they prepared to return and drive the RVs over to load the goods—BANG!

"Ah…"

Zhao Dezhu, walking on the far right, staggered and collapsed. His right calf was torn through with several holes, blood seeping out—he'd been shot!

"Alert!"

At the command, the other four raised their guns, forming a circle around Zhao Dezhu, eyes scanning the surroundings.

"There!"

Zhang Su pointed his rifle, locking onto the source of the shot: "The second floor of the mobile phone store! You, Thief, guard the first floor—shoot anyone who comes out!"

Five guns instantly targeted the mobile phone store, fully blocking both floors. But inside, there was no movement—yet everyone knew Zhang Su's judgment rarely failed.

"Dezhu, how are you?"

Zhang Su kept his aim steady, crouched down, and asked about Zhao Dezhu's wound.

Zhao Dezhu gritted his teeth, clutching his leg: "Painful. Bone's not broken—must've been a homemade shotgun. Damn Bazi!"

He tried to stand, but his leg trembled violently from pain—he couldn't hold it.

"Xiao Shuai, take the pole to the clinic and hide! Fuck, you bastards, come out!"

Zhang Su stared coldly at the second-floor window of the mobile phone store; he had already heard faint rustling inside—more than one person, though he didn't know when they'd slipped in, but they were definitely there before they arrived!

"I'll count to three—if you don't come out, you'll die!"

Zhang Su reached into his backpack and pulled out a grenade; he didn't bother counting to three, simply pulled the pin and hurled it straight through the second-floor window of the mobile phone store.

The crisp sound of the pin being pulled made Lu Yu and the others stare wide-eyed—they hadn't expected Zhang Su to carry such a deadly weapon on his person.

"Fuck you!"

With Zhang Su's curse, the grenade shot through the second-floor window of the mobile phone store.

(End of Chapter)