Chapter 270: The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend

"Look with your own binoculars! No wonder the whole way here was so clean—turns out the zombies all gathered into the convoy!"

Zhang Su stared through the binoculars for a while, then handed them to Zhao Dezhù. He recalled the scene months ago in the city, when a horde of zombies had passed through like a snowball—each zombie along the way was a snowflake, and as the snowball rolled, it gathered more snowflakes.

He clearly saw, about a li away, the horde stretching endlessly along the county streets, crammed shoulder to shoulder as it moved westward, with no end in sight—zombies visible within his field of vision alone numbered over twenty thousand, far larger than the horde he'd encountered outside Yileiwen Convenience Store!

And this was only a portion; the total size of the horde was unimaginable.

"Hmm, there's indeed a huge mob moving ahead, big brother, your eyesight's incredible."

After a long while, Zhao Dezhù pulled back and closed the window.

The sky was pitch black; the dashboard lights in the cabin cast a faint glow, making people's faces look strangely distorted.

Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap.

Zhang Su's fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel, his brow knotted in deep indecision. He felt this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—but how to seize it, he had no idea.

Zhao Dezhù prodded Xin Qi's lower back with his gun.

"That's right—even the United Village knows to split and then kill the horde. How come the Green Dragon Corps doesn't? Hey, Xin Qi, explain!"

"Thinking."

"What do you mean?"

But precisely because of that, conquering them would be extremely difficult!

If the Green Dragon Corps survives this horde assault, the survivors' cohesion and sense of belonging will surge dramatically—trying to seize leadership at that moment would be nearly impossible.

"Big brother, I feel something's off."

Zheng Xinyu spoke, then tapped Xin Qi's head twice with her baseball bat.

"Speak up! Is there some conspiracy? If you don't talk, I'll kill you."

Zhang Su answered without hesitation.

You can strike while he's weak, but you can't conquer the corps members—at least not enough to reach sixty percent!

Seeing Zhang Su remain silent, Zheng Xinyu pinched his neck from behind the driver's seat.

Xin Qi nearly cried—he thought these people had way too high an opinion of him.

"If they'd spotted it early, they'd have lured it away."

"Hey hey, what should we do now?"

Zhao Dezhù suddenly spoke, his face full of doubt.

If they missed this chance, Zhang Su felt deeply reluctant.

Zhang Su waved his hand. "Don't pressure this guy—he's right. Think about it: could the old sister from the United Village possibly know what we're up to?"

Zhang Su's light tapping on the steering wheel turned into a tight grip. The zombie horde was attacking the corps headquarters; after resisting, the corps would be severely weakened—this was the perfect moment to seize control, easily.

"Big brother, big sister, I'm just a lowly soldier in the corps—I know very little. Strategic operations? That's not my concern..."

"Think: if our camp were attacked by a massive horde, what's the first thing you'd do?"

"I... I don't know..." Xin Qi looked utterly confused.

"Yeah yeah... Big brother's right."

Xin Qi was overwhelmed with gratitude—even becoming an old sister was fine.

"So what do we do now?"

They circled back to the same question.

"Is there another route to the camp?"

Zhang Su decided to watch from afar!

He now hoped for only one outcome: that the Green Dragon Corps couldn't hold out—then he could lead his people to rescue them in heroic fashion. Of course, only if he could turn the tide—if not, he'd just watch the corps perish...

Xin Qi pointed south. "There's another road over there—a vehicle gate on the south side."

"Let's go!"

Zhang Su glanced once more at the tail end of the zombie horde, then carefully started the vehicle, preparing to head south—and informed everyone of his plan.

When the group learned the Green Dragon Corps was under zombie attack, they all breathed a huge sigh of relief!

Zombies were supposed to be humanity's common enemy—but now, an external enemy was fighting an internal one, so temporarily, they became allies. Too bad this ally had no reason, only slaughter...

"Damn, if someone could control the horde, that'd be awesome—use modern weapons yourself, let the horde lead the way, unstoppable!"

Zhao Dezhù fantasized.

Zhang Su glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled. "Zhu, that idea's solid. After we get back, discuss it with Dr. Fu—maybe we really could develop control..."

BOOM!

Before he finished speaking, the convoy had barely moved a few dozen meters—hadn't even turned—when a burst of fire lit up the sky ahead, followed by a thunderous roar. Then came a rapid staccato of gunfire like heavy rain, then two more explosions.

Zhang Su slammed on the brakes; the entire convoy halted in the middle of the road.

"Holy shit, they're already fighting?!"

Zhao Dezhù stared at the blazing sky, fists clenched—he'd experienced zombie hordes before, and now felt a pang of tension.

"Yeah, they've started!"

Zhang Su's expression hardened. Like everyone else, he couldn't see the battlefield—but he felt the battle's ferocity more directly: the number representing the Green Dragon Corps' personnel in his mind was dropping!

It slowly changed from 342 to 341.

Only one person lost—but death had already occurred mere moments after battle began, proving this horde was no ordinary one!

"Don't go any further!"

Zhang Su stopped advancing. Since the number in his mind directly reflected casualties, there was no need to risk getting closer.

Everyone got out of the vehicles; some climbed onto rooftops of nearby shops—but the two-story buildings were too short to see the battlefield directly.

BOOM-BOOM, THUD, TUT-TUT-TUT, TAP-TAP-TAP...

Gunfire and artillery roared continuously, drowning out zombie shrieks and human yells. Even a kilometer away, they could feel the intensity from the occasional flashes of fire.

Suddenly, Zhang Su's face showed shock. He found Fang Great Ming crouched nearby. "Are you sure last time the horde attacked, the corps only lost thirty-some people?"

"Absolutely—I handled the bodies myself. Clear as day: thirty-two... Big brother, I'm not lying." Fang Great Ming scratched his head, puzzled by the question.

"I see..."

Zhang Su nodded, frowning. He'd doubted Fang Great Ming's words because only ten minutes had passed—and the corps' personnel count had plummeted to 301!

During that brief exchange, two more had died!

This rate of loss stunned Zhang Su. With solid walls and fortified defenses, why were they dying so fast?

Were not all these deaths caused by zombies?

Zhang Su recalled Liu Lei's mention of factional strife. If they still pursued power struggles in the face of annihilation, this faction was courting its own doom.

The Green Dragon Corps might be heading for disaster. Zhang Su had a bizarre hunch: if the corps truly got wiped out, leaving only Xin Qi and two other captives, would it count as completing the challenge if he just made one more submit?

If that were true, it'd be too dramatic.

"Hey, Xinyu, your words seem to be coming true!"

Zhang Su walked over to Zheng Xinyu and said with mock amusement.

"Huh? What did I say?"

Zheng Xinyu stared blankly at the flickering sky, unable to recall her own words.

"Sister, you said it'd be flat terrain, no bloodshed, click and receive."

Wang Xin chimed in eagerly from the side.

"Oh oh, right! I did say that!"

Zheng Xinyu lifted her chin proudly.

BOOM! THUNDER!

Right after she spoke, a burst of fire shot from the camp direction, streaking northwest like a meteor, plunging into a residential neighborhood and blasting a massive hole through an apartment building...

"Damn, what the hell was that? A missile that missed?!"

Lu Yu bo yelled.

"Tank! It's a tank!"

Zhang Su confirmed. The sound and the tracer fire matched a tank firing perfectly.

"T-Tank?"

Fang Great Ming frowned. "That can't be right—the camp had two tanks, but their shells got damp and were unusable, right? Xin Qi, Lao Song, you know the situation?"

"If that was really a tank, then Ma Juguang lied to us."

The middle-aged man called Lao Song wore a complex expression.

Xin Qi shook his head, confused. "I always thought those two tanks were meant to crush zombies..."

"Lao Song's right—the corps leadership hid this from you. Not surprising," Zhang Su nodded.

Fang Great Ming clicked his tongue. "So if they're even using hidden strength now, things must be really bad!"

BOOM! THUNDER!

As they spoke, another shell fired—this time, it didn't veer off; it likely hit its target...

"Things are bad indeed..."

Zhang Su said softly, watching the explosion's glow.

With the tank's involvement, the Green Dragon Corps' personnel had dropped to around 290—over fifty dead already!

Logically, most of these fifty were combat troops. If so, the corps now had fewer than half its fighting force left!

(End of Chapter)