Chapter 308: I Was Too Narrow-Minded

"Fine, fine, a bunch of women chattering away—so annoying. Who wants to join the daily training and the combat squad? Raise your hands. I'll tell Liang when he gets back!"

Yang Liehuo himself strongly supported this idea, so he agreed to them outright—it would help stabilize their emotions—and immediately prepared to count heads when the radio crackled to life.

"Uncle Fire, Uncle Fire, Village Chief Lei and the others are back, and so are the people from Tianma Yu—tens of vehicles! Repeat…"

"Received, received! Tens of vehicles? Damn, how many people came? Please don't let anything happen!"

Yang Liehuo tucked the radio away, his heart jolted, and he stood up. "Let's go, forget our own business for now—go meet them!"

Saying this, Yang Liehuo grabbed the rifle beside him and stepped out of the courtyard, followed by over twenty villagers, mostly women, yet their numbers still carried weight.

It wouldn't look good if, on home ground, they ended up outnumbered.

This time was different from the first. Zhang Su drove to the stretch covered in spike strips, got out, and immediately signaled his men to start clearing them—acting as if he were a local, utterly proficient.

Soon, the dozen or so vehicles met Yang Liehuo's group as they emerged from the village.

"Go ahead, no problem—keep driving forward…"

Instantly, the women erupted. Elderly women frowned and trudged alongside the vehicles, while only two young children, oblivious to everything, gleefully ran and jumped—they hadn't seen so many cars in ages and thought it was thrilling.

"No, my husband didn't come back…"

"It's over, Brother Fire—did Liang and the others really die?"

Yang Liehuo's brow knotted tightly; a dread crept into his chest, but he dared not imagine the worst. He trudged forward with heavy steps behind the last vehicle.

By the village basketball court, Zhang Su's group stepped down from the vehicles, while all the residents of Xida Camp stood nearby.

Before anyone could speak, Zhang Su merely shook his head—two women immediately burst into tears.

The car headlights illuminated several streets of the village. The two children hadn't gone out at night in ages; seizing the chance, they ran and leaped joyfully, completely unaware of the eerie atmosphere.

"Where's Kuizi? Where's Kuizi?"

"Ask clearly first."

Yang Liehuo stood to the side, directing the vehicles forward. Soon, he spotted the several vehicles his own combat team had sent out—his eyes widened in shock.

He scanned again, but found not a single person from Kuangzhuang. He walked up to Zhang Su, his face twitching, and said in a low voice: "Young Brother Zhang, I'm Yang Liehuo—we've met before. Where… where are Liang and the others?"

Where had all the people from his own village gone?

The horrifying sight sent a cold sweat breaking over Yang Liehuo; the other villagers who'd come with him panicked too. Some, too desperate, lunged at the windows, peering inside, searching desperately for a familiar face.

None of the drivers or passengers were anyone they recognized.

"This…?" Yang Liehuo's heart pounded; he staggered back a step, eyes wide. "Young Brother Zhang—what exactly happened?"

"When we arrived at the Qinglong Army Camp today, a group from the southeast had gotten there ahead of us and were already planning how to clear the zombies inside. Later, we agreed to work together to lure them away. We spent several hours moving roughly forty thousand zombies—finally, the camp was mostly cleared."

"During the luring, we were lucky—only one of our men got a minor injury. But the southeast group wasn't so fortunate—three of them died. After we finished clearing the stragglers and entered the camp, we discovered that Village Chief Lei had already led his people through another gate and seized the Qinglong Army's weapons depot!"

As he spoke, Zhang Su lit a cigarette. Smoke curled gently; the scene fell utterly silent.

Gulp.

The women swallowed hard. Though weak in combat, they understood human nature well—while two other groups risked their lives clearing zombies, their own people had sneakily taken the spoils!

If this had succeeded and they'd only found out later, it'd be hard to punish them—after all, this was the apocalypse. But if caught red-handed, a violent clash was inevitable.

"Nonsense!"

The cane-wielding old woman completely rejected Zhang Su's words. "You bastard! You killed Liang and the others—and now you're trying to smear them?"

"Hey, old hag! Listen up—I'm warning you—don't think your age gives you license to throw tantrums here. Say one more word against my husband, and I'll send you to your grave—believe me?"

Zheng Xinyu, seeing the old woman's aggression, pulled out the baseball bat she'd tucked between her backpack and her back and pointed it at her. Though the bat posed less threat than an assault rifle, its insult was extreme.

As the eldest sister, Zheng Xinyu was defending her husband. The moment she moved, others followed instinctively—sharp gazes pierced the old woman's face, and the sound of bolt-action rifles being racked made even her hardened spirit tremble; she clamped her mouth shut.

Zhang Su had no interest in arguing with an old woman. Seeing Yang Liehuo's face pale and drawn, he continued: "I came to Kuangzhuang because I have no guilt. Yes—the people? We killed them. Not one left. All of them."

Thud.

Several people collapsed to the ground, faces blank with despair, eyes filled with tears as they stared at Zhang Su—silently accusing him of his crimes, unable to comprehend why—was it just over weapons?

Those were living souls—over a dozen lives—gone like that?

Yang Liehuo let out a heavy sigh. His expression crumbled instantly, as if he'd aged ten years. He was now Kuangzhuang's only remaining strong fighter, yet he made no outcry, no uproar—because when Lei Youliang made his decision, Yang Liehuo had already imagined this outcome. It was merely the worst among the countless endings he'd foreseen…

Worse still? Total annihilation of the entire village.

"Why? How could this happen? No… this can't be…"

Even the fiery old woman now withered. When she learned her village's entire combat force had been wiped out, her spirit shattered completely.

"After we cleared the zombies, I went to the weapons depot, thinking Lei Youliang planned to seize the weapons and then negotiate for a share. But I was too narrow-minded…"

??

Yang Liehuo, face etched with sorrow, and the tearful women of Kuangzhuang all turned to Zhang Su. Was this… narrow-minded? Then what would count as broad-minded?

"Village Chief Lei's goal was clear—he planned to exterminate us entirely."

Zhang Su raised his voice, eyes blazing as he looked at the Kuangzhuang villagers. Seeing most of their faces filled with disbelief, he continued: "Two rocket launchers. Everyone else armed with assault rifles. What else could that be but a direct attack? You don't need that much firepower to fight zombies!"

"Of course, we weren't pushovers—we had weapons, and we had men. If things had reached that point, we could've paused, stepped back, and negotiated. But Lei Youliang did one final thing that made this whole mess spiral out of control."

"What did he do?"

It was Yang Liehuo who asked, his face grim as he stared at Zhang Su.

Zhang Su spoke slowly: "Lei Youliang made a deal with the southeast group—he planned to join forces against me. Right to my face, he openly declared he'd kill us—and he was already eyeing the supplies on Tianma Yu. There was no way out. Even Buddha couldn't save him now."

(End of Chapter)