Chapter 235: Until We Meet Again

"By the way, could you tell me about your alliance's internal structure?"

Zhang Su wanted to take this opportunity to learn more about the Survivor Alliance—after all, Duan Wuhu and Fu Wei were right under his nose; should a conflict arise someday, knowing both yourself and your enemy would ensure victory.

"Structure? What's there not to say!" Zhang Xin assumed Zhang Su was gathering intel to judge what rank he'd get if he joined the alliance, and enthusiastically laid out the alliance's internal setup.

"Brother Zhang, if you really have twenty men under you, all armed, and you join the alliance, you'll be at least a deputy squad leader! You'll be my superior—I'll have to bow and scrape when I see you, hehe."

"Then I'll pass, hahaha…" Zhang Su laughed it off, memorizing key details about the Survivor Alliance's inner workings.

"Old Zhang, I've got another thing to ask you—when you came here, what did the people from Xidaying Village tell you?" Zhang Su said seriously after laughing: "Don't lie to me—this matters to me."

"Uh…" Zhang Xin's face stiffened. "Looks like Brother Zhang already knows everything. Right, when we crossed the bridge, a group of old farmers stopped us. Then we went to Xidaying Village. That old Ma at first refused to say anything, but then one of their villagers turned traitor and told me about a Zhang leader in this area."

Zhang Xin shook his head, a look of memory flickering in his eyes—recalling the hordes of corpses he'd faced, scenes too painful to revisit.

Zhang Su shook his head: "Never tested it, but based on power output, it should be fine. Remember to charge it. If I go into the city, or you come north, use this to contact me."

Zhang Su sighed, gaining new respect for Ma Changshou—he really was a decent neighbor. Too bad he'd already joined the Azure Dragon Corps; otherwise, he could've been integrated into Tianma Isle like the United Village.

"How would I know… just fiddle with it. Wait, let me ask someone." Zhang Xin waved to a man nearby: "Little Hu, come here!"

"Alright, I'll see you off and take the car. Oh, I'll take these weapons too."

"Yeah, the broadcast said the Survivor Alliance successfully repelled two horde attacks—is that true?" Zhang Su asked casually.

"What happened to that traitor in the end?" Zhang Su asked, keeping his tone neutral.

"Old Zhang, take this!"

"Captain Zhang, what's up?"

"This? CS/L2 submachine gun, developed in 2004 and put into service, nine-millimeter caliber, a compact version of the 05 model, effective range one hundred fifty meters, typically issued to special police units."

"How's that? Just as the little brat was about to spill something crucial, Old Ma pulled the trigger—fast as lightning—and blew the kid's head off. Damn, I nearly jumped out of my skin, thought we were in for a full-scale battle. Luckily everyone kept their cool and held the line. Fuck!"

"Ma Changshou? That's Old Ma, the village chief, right? That guy's got serious depth. I used to think he was a pushover, smiling and bowing all the time—but when he pulled his gun, I saw he wasn't one bit soft."

"Be careful with it—don't let anyone find out or they'll treat you as a spy!"

Zhang Xin took the radio, inspected it, and nodded: "This is high-end stuff—a professional-grade radio. Ten kilometers shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"This Ma Changshou is interesting."

"Special police units…"

"Damn, you guys really know how to strip the carcass, haha. Fine, I don't want the pistol—this SMG…"

He was bold, not stupid, and certainly not fearless—in fact, he was living quite comfortably in the alliance. His courage had slowly eroded; he was starting to fear death. After this ordeal, all he wanted was to get back to the alliance and find a girl to have fun with.

Zhang Xin, having long lacked someone to chat freely with, answered Zhang Su's questions without holding back: "The mall? It's got multiple levels. A few clever folks in the alliance designed traps—zombies can't get upstairs unless they tear the whole building down. As long as we stay up top, we're perfectly safe—we just need to pick them off slowly. When I was there, there were maybe eight to ten thousand of them!"

Zhang Su carefully weighed the alliance's tactics and found them worthwhile. When he heard the number of zombies, he couldn't help but whistle—killing that many zombies, no matter the method, was impressive!

"Hey, Brother Zhang, what's with all the potholes on the street outside?"

"Keep the pistol for me…" Zhang Xin said reluctantly. "The car's got a few hundred pounds of grain we took from Xidaying Village—I'll give you all of it. Just let me keep the pistol."

"Exactly. Some little brat, fifteen or sixteen, hadn't even grown pubes yet, tried to defect and join our alliance. He stood up and accused the village chief of lying, claiming Xidaying Village had dealings with Boss Zhang from the RV. Hahaha—the whole village turned green with rage!"

"Fifty or sixty survivors couldn't hold out… damn, that's tragic."

In the Mercedes, Zhang Su leaned out the window and handed a radio to Zhang Xin, who sat in the passenger seat of Tank Three-Wan.

"There used to be a village nearby, housing fifty or sixty survivors. Later, it was overrun by a horde—almost wiped out. These tracks here? Left from fighting zombies. A few survivors who made it joined my camp."

Zhang Su spoke half-truthfully.

Zhang Xin pointed at the SMG in Zhang Su's hand.

Zhang Su picked up the submachine gun beside Deputy Captain Lao Yan and frowned: "What model is this?"

Little Hu quickly recited the weapon's specs.

He gave Zhang Xin the radio he'd used to contact the United Village; now that the United Village had merged into Tianma Isle, he could reclaim Wang Longzhong's high-signal radio.

Recalling his experience in Xidaying Village, Zhang Xin still felt a chill.

Zhang Xin shook his head with a strange expression, reaffirming to himself that in this world, no one was a soft target anymore!

"He's shrewd—he clearly doesn't want to get involved in the conflicts. Too bad, in this world, trying to stay out of trouble isn't easy…"

Zhang Su looked at the gun in his hand and kept walking forward.

"You told me what this gun was called earlier?"

Zhang Su's mind stirred—he probed: "Traitor?"

Zhang Xin shrugged: "That's no lie—there really were two attacks. I only witnessed one; the other happened while I was on an outside mission. I only heard about it when I got back."

Zhang Su muttered with a half-smile.

Seeing other factions slowly merge, absorb, and grow stronger, Zhang Su began to consider finding an opportunity to have a serious talk with Ma Changshou.

"Nice. You guys are impressive. What scale of attack? How'd you handle them?"

Zhang Xin, thinking of the town's situation, asked.

The young man, twenty-five or twenty-six, looked sharp and energetic, striding up to them with a proud stance.

"Frequency set? Got it." Zhang Xin fiddled with the radio, feeling a sense of prestige—this model was only issued to core members in the alliance; a squad leader like him had no chance.

"Don't worry, Brother Zhang. Then, until we meet again!"

Zhang Su stepped out of the car with a smile.

Then the two discussed more topics about zombies. After a while, Zhang Xin glanced at his watch, stood up, and said: "Brother Zhang, that's enough for today. I've got to get back and report. If you ever come to the city, drop by—the road out of the city's still pretty clear!"

"Until we meet again!"

With a simple farewell, the three vehicles split at the intersection—the RV and FJ Cruiser headed north, Tank Three-Wan headed south.

(End of Chapter)