Chapter 269: The Empty Building

"Hmm, the light's bad..."

In the driver's seat of a van, Tan Huajun leaned down, bracing her rifle against the passenger window, gazing at the white church through the dim moonlight; she could make out the black windows atop the spire, but nothing else—she even doubted whether anyone could hit a target like this.

"Strange..."

Xin Qi furrowed his brows, lowered the window, and leaned out to stare at the pitch-black church, scratching his head: "This shouldn't be—definitely shouldn't be. Hey, where the hell are the three donkeys going?"

He shouted loudly, but not a single echo replied in the empty fields; the atmosphere felt eerily unnatural.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Zhao Dezhu grinned.

"That line should've been asked by the sentry, and I'd answer that I'm heading to Nanshan White Bone Pagoda—that's the password. If it's a sentry from another direction, just swap in the corresponding destination."

Xin Qi explained.

"Holy shit, if even knowing that one phrase isn't enough, they're really strict!"

Zhao Dezhu rubbed his head.

Zhang Su sneered: "Looks strict, but if you beat them, they won't just blurt out one phrase—they'll spill everything like beans from a sack. By the way, what's going on now? Slacking off? Skipping work?"

"No! No, no!"

"Is anyone here?"

Zhang Su raised his voice, but heard not even the faintest breath—he knew the place was empty, but he was just putting on a show for those around him.

Xin Qi pointed to the stairs.

"Driver stays with the vehicle. Everyone else, follow me!"

Soon, the group reached the attic at the spire's peak.

"Huh?"

Zhang Su led the others into the church.

More than a dozen flashlights illuminated the church's interior, revealing no living beings.

"I don't know either..." Xin Qi scratched his head, scanning the surroundings, looking baffled—he'd never encountered anything like this before.

Qi Xiaoshuai frowned, picked up a thermos beside the Simmons mattress, unscrewed the lid, and said: "Brother Su, the tea inside is still hot!"

This area was so sparsely populated that even zombies hadn't appeared—silent as a ghost realm.

"Upstairs over there, big brother, you wanna check it out?"

Inside the church, long benches were arranged in a pretentious manner, but there was no traditional prayer room; it was clear the disaster hadn't severely damaged the church, or perhaps the Qinglong Battalion had tidied up the interior—it looked orderly.

In a three-meter-square conical space, a Simmons mattress lay in the corner, an ashtray sat on the windowsill, and garbage piled in the nooks—there was a clear sense of lived-in life.

"Get out."

A very traditional Protestant-style church, entirely wooden, with a cross atop the spire, its total height under twenty meters, the main structure about twelve to thirteen meters—equivalent to a four-story apartment building, perfect for photo shoots.

Zhang Su tightened his rifle strap and casually led a few others toward the stairs.

Zhang Su took the thermos, felt it—the rim definitely emitted faint steam, still warm; he probed the water with his finger—it was at least seventy or eighty degrees!

"There's no heating here, the temperature's near freezing, and water cools quickly in a thermos. At this temperature, whoever left must've been gone no more than one or two hours!"

"Let's go check!"

Zhang Su notified via radio, then opened the car door and stepped out.

Zhang Su quickly reached a conclusion—the same one he'd drawn during his bored days guarding the convenience store: not rigorous, but practical.

"This shouldn't be..." Xin Qi frowned deeply, then suddenly gasped: "I get it!"

"Don't freak out like that!" Zhao Dezhu jumped.

"Sorry, sorry..." Xin Qi apologized repeatedly, then added: "The headquarters must've had something major happen—they recalled all the outer sentries!"

"Something major?" Zhang Su frowned slightly, suddenly recalling Liu Lei's mention of factional infighting—could someone have launched an internal war while the three squads were out gathering grain?

"What the hell could be so important that even outer sentries aren't needed? Has this ever happened before?" Zhao Dezhu kicked at the scattered trash.

Xin Qi thought for a moment: "I heard from the elders... once, when a horde of zombies attacked, they recalled everyone outside the base. I hadn't joined the battalion then. Oh—ask Old Fang, he knows!"

Old Fang was another prisoner—the one who'd previously insisted on proving himself.

Zhang Su and the others didn't linger in the attic; they went downstairs and found Old Fang, sharp-eyed as a monkey.

"I heard the battalion once urgently recalled everyone to headquarters?"

"Huh? Oh, right!" Fang Great Ming blinked, then nodded: "That was about two months ago—maybe a month and a half. A huge horde of zombies came down from the north. Back then, our defenses were still weak, so the commander recalled everyone. That battle killed over thirty men—terribly brutal!"

Speaking of the zombie horde over a month ago, Fang Great Ming's face carried a lingering trace of fear.

"So many dead? How many zombies attacked your headquarters? Why so many casualties?"

Zhang Su was stunned—thirty-plus wasn't just a number; before the United Village merged with Tianma Island, their total population was barely that high!

Fang Great Ming squinted, thinking: "We counted later, but I forgot... I didn't pay attention to that kind of thing. But there were at least ten thousand—maybe close to twenty thousand!"

"Ten to twenty thousand..."

Zhang Su was inwardly alarmed—such a number was terrifying. Even behind strong defenses, it would take massive firepower to eliminate them!

If a horde of this scale attacked Tianma Island, even with terrain and fortifications on their side, it would be extremely difficult—using all their firepower might still fail to wipe them clean, forcing them into a cycle of close combat, firepower suppression, then close combat again—and they might even have to abandon the city...

"Brother Su, it's been a long time since the last horde—could the Qinglong Battalion have been attacked again?"

Zheng Xinyu asked as Zhang Su fell into thought.

"Let's go ahead and see!"

Zhang Su decided to investigate further—he had to press on, no matter what.

Everyone returned to the vehicles, and the convoy started moving again.

Continuing forward, according to Xin Qi, there should've been a second sentry post one or two kilometers from headquarters—but when they arrived, it was empty too!

"Something's definitely wrong—something big!"

The prisoners spoke in unison.

Zhang Su stood atop the roof of an abandoned factory outside the city, gazing into the distance; due to the rugged terrain of Qingxian, visibility was blocked—he couldn't see anything.

"Keep going—it's not far now!"

The Qinglong Battalion built its base on military grounds, not within the county town—it was about two kilometers west of the town center.

After learning from Xin Qi that traffic within the county town was unobstructed, Zhang Su planned to cut straight through the urban area.

But before the vehicles entered the town, Zhang Su suddenly stomped on the brakes from afar.

"What's wrong?"

Zhao Dezhu pressed his face against the window, staring at the pitch-black street, confused.

"Zombie horde!" Zhang Su said, his voice grim—the outcome everyone had anticipated.

"There's really a horde?" Zhao Dezhu's heart tightened; he rolled down the window, stuck his head out, let the cold wind hit his face, stared for a long while, then awkwardly pulled back: "Bro, I can't see anything..."

Meanwhile, the radio crackled with questions from the drivers behind; once they learned a horde blocked the way, they fell silent.

(End of chapter)