Chapter 494: Dough? C4!

Men with guns and knives appeared along the highway, each one a member of Absolute Justice.

Zhang Su pretended not to notice, pointing at Yang Xinqi and the others: "Your boss was given false information—Yang, the company commander, is right here alive, and all the Tianqi Team members are unharmed—so you don't need to bother with these so-called survivors!"

"That won't do!"

Lei Zi was crazy, but not stupid; these captives were Absolute Justice's slaves—he could never give them up so easily.

"Huang, you tell him!"

At the negotiation stage, Lei Zi felt he couldn't sort out the logic, so he handed it over to Huang Yixiao.

Huang Yixiao leaned against the car, holding a pistol, his toes pointed away from the vehicle, ready to duck at any moment; he gestured toward the large group of captives behind them: "For today's operation, we deployed massive manpower and resources—we used hundreds of liters of gasoline alone. You can take the people back, but you must compensate us with supplies!"

"You dare ask for compensation… where did you take the goods from the Auto Park warehouse?"

Yang Xinqi had watched from start to finish—their convoy had no cargo vehicles, yet every warehouse at the Auto Park had been looted clean, as if licked by a pig that hadn't eaten in eight days.

"Wait!" Huang Yixiao didn't respond to Yang Xinqi; he frowned and asked: "You came from the Auto Park—you must've seen our two brothers. Where are they?"

Upon seeing the Xiao Ying Hui members, he'd automatically assumed they'd been sent after them by Cao Duoliang.

"Those two tried to sabotage us—I locked them up at the Auto Park. How about this: you hand over the supplies you took plus those two men, and we'll trade them for these survivors. You'd be making a killing—what do you say?"

Zhang Su pointed to the hundred-odd elderly, women, and children—these were the key to his challenge mission. Whether he could recover supplies came second; he had to protect Tianqi Team's survivors first.

"No way!"

The speaker wasn't Huang Yixiao—it was the deranged Lei Zi.

He was most interested in haggling; seeing this step, he immediately butted in: "That little bit of supplies won't even cover our gasoline for this trip! Besides, returning Xiao Ya and Da Gen to us is only right and proper—so you must provide additional compensation! Oh, and Liu, you still owe us a batch of supplies. Didn't you hear about the ransom from that Ma guy?"

Liu Yao looked furious; if not for the explosives strapped all over the man, he'd have sprayed him with bullets right then.

"Supplies, huh… got it!"

Zhang Su's face lit up with excitement as he pointed to the nearby cargo truck: "Have you ever seen a mutated zombie? We just captured one before we came—how about trading this for the people?"

Liu Yao and Yang Xinqi barely held back their smirks; if they still didn't understand what Zhang Su was up to, they'd never deserved to be leaders.

All that nonsense about targeting the weak and fearing the strong? Just playing along, trying to minimize losses…

Lei Zi and Huang Yixiao didn't know any of this; they exchanged glances, both eyes wide with shock and delight.

"Mutated zombie? You mean a variant zombie?"

Huang Yixiao stepped forward two paces, his eyes filled with anticipation and caution.

Zhang Su nodded: "We're talking about the same thing—just different names. I've got a flame zombie here. Haven't you felt the warmth? That's the heat it's giving off!"

"Damn, I knew I wasn't imagining it—it's warm!"

"So it's the variant zombie's heat—awesome!"

"This is rare! With this variant zombie, we won't even fear winter anymore!"

"We must take it back—a major achievement!"

After Zhang Su spoke, the Absolute Justice members looked at each other, their faces suddenly filled with dawning realization.

"The variant zombie's in that cargo truck, right? Open it up so I can see what it looks like!"

Lei Zi tilted his chin toward the cargo truck.

"Hold on!"

Zhang Su shook his head with a smile: "Negotiations need to look like negotiations. Look—we've put our weapons away. You're still holding yours. And you've got all these detonators strapped to you—you clearly lack sincerity. I don't like this."

"You don't like it… who cares what you like? If you don't like it, what do you want?" Lei Zi, stung, was about to explode—then remembered the man's unusual status, bit back his anger, and asked with forced patience.

"I came here to rescue my brothers, not to fight. So we should lay down our weapons and talk calmly. If you want to trade, at least show some goodwill—or if you can't make decisions, why not go to Absolute Justice's headquarters to talk?"

Zhang Su spread his arms and spoke confidently, his presence far stronger than theirs.

"You're sure you don't want to fight?"

Huang Yixiao asked skeptically.

Zhang Su clasped his hands behind his back and nodded: "Absolutely not. I have no interest in killing a thousand at the cost of losing eight hundred—I believe we can resolve many conflicts through dialogue."

No one here understood Zhang Su's hidden meaning—but the Yanluo Army knew his words carried deeper intent.

If Yu Wen were here, he'd translate it instantly: "Not interested in killing a thousand at the cost of eight hundred"? That means he'd rather kill a thousand at the cost of eight…

"Fine. I'll trust you once."

Huang Yixiao stared intently at Zhang Su. Seeing the man's calm demeanor, his face free of malice, he raised his hand and signaled his comrades: "Put your weapons away. Don't make any sudden moves!"

If they could make the trade, this mission would be a huge win—and all the credit would go to them. But if they returned to headquarters, even if they killed everyone here and seized everything, their personal gains would be minimal.

Huang Yixiao knew exactly how to weigh this equation.

Absolute Justice didn't have many firearms—guns were more than the five Cao Duoliang had reported, but only ten men carried them. To Tiansma Island, that looked sloppy—but with the explosive-obsessed Lei Zi, it was still terrifying.

Seeing everyone put away their weapons, Zhang Su turned to Lei Zi, who hadn't moved further, and asked: "Lei Brother, what about you?"

"What about me? I say let me see the variant zombie!"

No one could tell if Lei Zi was truly insane or just pretending—he ignored everything else, lost in his own thoughts.

"Of course you can see the flame zombie—it's the very item we're trading. But if you want to come closer, you must first remove those detonators. This is a flame zombie—its heat could easily trigger them. You owe it to everyone's safety!"

As he spoke, Zhang Su took a bottle of water from his bag and poured it over the cargo box. Instantly, a hiss rose, and a cloud of steam billowed up—proof of the extreme heat.

This sight made Absolute Justice's members murmur in awe; the Tianqi Team captives far behind also stretched their necks, full of curiosity.

"Damn, this is kinda cool… hey, say what—you blow us all up, wouldn't this thing still belong to you? Why should I agree to your deal?"

Lei Zi patted the detonators on his chest with total confidence.

"That's not how it works…"

Facing this unyielding man, Zhang Su didn't get angry. He turned to Ju Wuying, waved her over.

Lei Zi was baffled—everything was going fine, why suddenly call over that fierce woman? And why was she pulling something wrapped in cloth from her bag?

"Force can't solve problems. I'm a gentle man—I truly dislike mutual destruction. Don't believe me? Look what this is."

As he spoke, Zhang Su held up a lump slightly larger than a brick, displaying it to the Absolute Justice group.

"Dough!"

Lei Zi stared, then instantly answered.

"Wrong… look closer!"

Zhang Su's forehead darkened with veins as he shook the object in his hand.

"That's…"

One of the Absolute Justice men squinted, then turned pale, his lips trembling: "Lei Boss—that's… that's C4!!!"

(End of Chapter)