Chapter 62: Time to Set Out Again! (4K Chapter—Please Follow!)

"Hey, Old Wang, your accounting’s pretty sharp!"

In the dim light, Zhang Su smirked and said, "Yogurt’s tasty, but not that valuable—ten cigarettes for one pack of noodles, or two packs of noodles. Pick one."

Wang Guang hesitated for a while, then said, "Alright, ten cigarettes for one pack of noodles—but throw in a lighter too? I don’t have one..."

Zhang Su shook his head impatiently; they had more than enough lighters among them, so he didn’t push further.

After dinner, Wang Guang carefully lit a cigarette, sat by the window, and gazed wistfully toward the direction of Environment University, his thoughts lingering.

Zhang Su then began training with Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan—this was a daily necessity.

"My goodness, you two girls are amazing..."

Wang Guang, hearing the noise, walked closer; the wind from Zheng Xinyu’s baseball bat swing made his face twitch involuntarily.

You could imagine how it would feel if that bat landed on your skull.

It wouldn’t just ring—it’d explode your brain!

In the darkness, heavy breathing echoed continuously; the cold room seemed to warm slightly from their exertion.

Some things didn’t need reminding; Wang Guang had lived half a lifetime, supporting his family through hard work—he’d never dream of slacking off, and now he imitated them without hesitation.

Seeing him clumsily jabbing with his homemade wooden spear, Zhang Su, for safety’s sake, gave him a quick lesson: only striking a zombie’s head would disable it.

That night, Wang Guang fell asleep the moment his head touched the bed, utterly exhausted, with no tension or vigilance—years of constant stress had drained him completely.

"Starting today, we take turns keeping watch at night!"

Zhang Su lay in the middle and spoke with solemn gravity.

"I think Uncle Wang’s honest—is it really necessary?"

Zheng Xinyu slumped weakly, voice faint; the earlier training had drained her strength, leaving her too tired to care about anything.

Zhang Su shook his head: "You can’t know a man’s heart just by his face. And night watch isn’t just because of Wang Guang—once we leave this compound, no matter where we go, unless it’s a real official safe zone, we’ll always take turns."

We’re not just guarding against zombies—we’re guarding against people!

Honestly, guarding against zombies just needs a simple alarm; guarding against people? That’s far harder.

"Fine, then you decide the schedule," Zheng Xinyu muttered, already sour at the thought of shortened sleep.

Zhang Su thought for a moment: "Xinyu, you’re a night owl—you take first watch. I’ll relieve you at midnight. Xiaoshan, you wake up early and take over from me."

The deepest hours of night were the hardest to endure; Zhang Su, weighing multiple factors, decided to take that shift himself.

Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshan had no objections; they were all on the same boat, bound together, dependent on each other—no one would dare cheat or slack.

Their first night away from home passed safely under their rotating watch—just as Zhang Su said, better safe than sorry.

The next day, the sky was overcast, which kept the temperature bearable—not cold enough to be unbearable.

After breakfast, Zhang Su pulled a key from his bag and placed it in Zhong Xiaoshan’s hand.

"Brother Su, what’s this?"

Zhong Xiaoshan took the car key in surprise—it was the Haranda key she’d traded to Zhang Su.

"My old van’s underpowered. If everything goes smoothly, you’ll drive the Haranda with the other two."

Zhang Su spoke without room for argument; his van was packed full of supplies, its engine truly weak, and he didn’t want Wang Guang to see it.

"What...?" Zhong Xiaoshan hadn’t expected Zhang Su to trust her so much.

"I... I..." Zheng Xinyu opened her mouth to protest, but finally just scowled and stayed silent.

As for Wang Guang, he raised no objection—fully compliant.

"So... Brother Su, where are we headed? Tell me ahead of time so I know the direction."

Zhong Xiaoshan gripped the key tightly, palms sweating.

"Look at the map—after we leave the compound, turn right. The road conditions there are unclear; adapt as needed—side streets, sidewalks, green belts, any path works. At the first intersection, turn left south. On the right side is a gas station—we head there first!"

Zhang Su opened his phone’s navigation; offline mode was clunky, but it gave a rough outline.

The gas station had a convenience store—being a fellow traveler, he knew exactly what was inside: a rare supply point, and you could refuel the car too—two benefits at once!

Even if someone had looted it already, they couldn’t have taken everything. And if they had time to haul away all the supplies, the area around the station would likely be safe—perfect as a waypoint to our own store.

Zhong Xiaoshan nodded at the map: "The gas station’s easy to spot—should be fine. And with you leading, I won’t get lost."

"Good. Also—when you get in the car, don’t slam the doors, it’s too loud. Don’t start the engine right away. Wait until I flash the headlights three times, then start and lock up. Don’t forget your seatbelts—they could save your life if there’s an accident..."

Zhang Su went over every detail carefully.

Zheng Xinyu and the others nodded repeatedly, memorizing every word.

Even Wang Guang, who’d lived most of his life, couldn’t help but sigh—some things weren’t learned by age alone; relying on seniority was foolish. He humbly learned every small trick from Zhang Su.

Zhang Su had assumed Qin Ya’s group would leave the next day—but a full day passed with no movement.

During the boring wait, Zhang Su taught the others more weapon techniques—this time, not for zombies, but for living people.

Zhang Su had always known people were dangerous, but he hadn’t expected to encounter guys like Chongzi and Xiangge so soon. The collapse of order was terrifying—henceforth, never let your guard down around any living person.

Another day passed. Zhang Su stood in the bathroom, gargling mouthwash, thinking that if there was still no movement upstairs by noon, he’d take the three of them and leave first—this waiting was unsustainable.

"I wonder how those two are doing..."

Zhang Su, mouth full of mouthwash, drifted off, thinking of his two employees, Wu Lue and Zhao Xue.

"The shop’s probably been looted—hope nothing under the shelves was found..."

Just then, Zhang Su’s ears twitched; his eyes brightened. Faint footsteps reached him, along with a child’s voice.

Too far away, blocked by walls—he couldn’t make out the words, but he recognized Liu Xuanyu’s voice.

The group upstairs had moved!

"Get ready, get ready!"

Zhang Su shoved the mouthwash into his bag, waved to the two girls studying tripwires, nodded toward Wang Guang folding clothes, then sprinted to the door and pressed his ear against it.

"Huh?"

At that moment, Qin Ya’s puzzled voice rang out.

"What is it, Officer Qin?"

Duan Wu halted and asked.

"Someone opened this security door!"

Qin Ya spoke with certainty, then pulled the door open and stepped into the corridor: "After gathering supplies, I marked every security door. Someone’s been on this floor!"

"Could it be the people we ran into yesterday?" Tian Fan said.

Qin Ya shook his head: "Impossible. Just brushing past wouldn’t trigger it."

"Probably Xiao Zhang’s group—they probably grabbed some supplies while leaving."

Duan Wu followed Qin Ya into the corridor, glancing left and right.

Behind door 302, Zhang Su peered through the peephole and saw Qin Ya slowly emerge from behind the wall—then turn toward his door!

Zhang Su turned back and signaled everyone to stop.

"I don’t know! But someone definitely came here—I left door 302 unlocked, and now it’s closed!"

Qin Ya walked to the door, tugged it, his expression grim.

"Brother Qin, forget it—it’s definitely those guys from yesterday. Let’s just do our job."

Yu Nuo walked last, gripping a table leg, fear visible on his face.

Qin Ya frowned, silent, pressed his ear to door 302, then knocked three times.

After a moment, no reply. Qin Ya instinctively touched his rifle, turned, and said, "Let’s go."

Soon, the group vanished down the corridor.

"Shh!"

Zheng Xinyu opened her mouth to speak, but Zhang Su signaled silence—she clamped her hand over her lips.

They didn’t know—but Zhang Su did: Qin Ya’s group hadn’t left. The footsteps had stopped right at the stairwell—they were hiding behind the security door.

"Get ready—we’re leaving!"

Five minutes passed. Zhang Su clearly heard the footsteps fading away before he spoke.

"Does Officer Qin know we’re here?"

Zheng Xinyu helped Zhang Su fasten his arm guards, curious.

"He marked the door—like in spy movies. He doesn’t know we’re here, just that we passed through. He’s really a special ops officer—impressive. We can learn a lot from him!"

Zhang Su packed his gear, stepped to the door, glanced out as usual, then pulled it open. The group filed out one by one.

"Double-check: I lead, Xiao Hai follows me, then Tian Fan. Yu Nuo, you follow Tian Fan with Xiao Yu. Duan, you bring up the rear! Clear?"

Behind the gate to the parking lot, Qin Ya whispered, his flashlight beam illuminating each face as he scanned them.

"Clear!"

"No problem."

Everyone responded.

"Good. Move out!"

Qin Ya acted swiftly; seeing no objections, he quietly opened the iron gate.

When Duan Wu stepped out, Zhang Su’s group reached the first floor.

Growls. Howls...

"No wonder they moved so smoothly—the zombies in this unit are mostly gone."

Zheng Xinyu peered out into the unit corridor and saw only a few zombies wandering—the rest had been lured away by some noise.

"Should we clear them out, just in case?"

Zhong Xiaoshan asked.

She’d picked up many small tricks from Zhang Su over the past days—clearing the unit now meant an extra escape route later, even if something went wrong in the underground parking lot.

Zhang Su listened carefully; below, there was no movement. He guessed Qin Ya and the others were still cautiously probing, so he said, “Xiaoshan, you’ll lure the zombies again. Xinyu, you set the tripwire. Old Wang, you collect the heads.”

“Got it!”

“No problem!”

“Brother Zhang...”

Seeing the two young girls agree so readily, Wang Guang became anxious and hurriedly said, “Brother Zhang, I can’t handle this alone—you’ve got to help me!”

“With them helping you, what’s there to fear? Don’t worry—I’m watching. I won’t let anything happen to you!”

Zhang Su confidently clapped Wang Guang on the shoulder.

Zheng Xinyu quickly stretched a tripwire across the doorway and gave Zhong Xiaoshan an OK gesture.

Zhang Su grabbed Zhong Xiaoshan, who was about to lure the zombies, and said, “This time, don’t make a sound. Slowly move toward the male zombie closest to us. See how close it needs to be before it reacts.”

Zhong Xiaoshan knew Zhang Su was testing the zombies’ sense of smell. Though she worried about the difficulty of the task, she said nothing, nodded, and left the stairwell.

“Brother Zhang, this... won’t Xiao Zhong be in danger?”

Wang Guang watched Zhong Xiaoshan slowly approaching the zombie, swallowing hard. He never imagined today’s youth had such boldness.

“Only by understanding it can you fight it better!”

Zhang Su gave a simple reply to Wang Guang’s question and carefully observed the distance between Zhong Xiaoshan and the zombie.

The distance from the stairwell to the nearest zombie was about eight meters. Zhong Xiaoshan walked steadily, having swapped her usual sexy high heels for Zheng Xinyu’s casual sneakers, advancing silently with almost no footstep sound.

Aowu, gogogo.

Zhong Xiaoshan focused intensely. She could hear her own heartbeat and the zombie’s grinding teeth just inches away. As the distance shrank, her muscles tightened further.

When her foot came down again, the zombie facing her sideways fell silent, then suddenly turned its head toward her.

Aowow!

A loud roar erupted, and the zombie lunged at Zhong Xiaoshan. Within moments, the other two zombies reacted and charged toward her in unison.

But Zhong Xiaoshan was faster. The instant the zombie turned, she spun and sprinted toward the emergency exit.

Zhang Su, standing at the doorway, pointed to the ground, reminding Zhong Xiaoshan to watch for the tripwire.

“Whoosh!”

Zhong Xiaoshan dashed into the stairwell and ran up one floor before stopping.

At the same time, she heard a series of thuds below—no need to guess, the tripwire had successfully tripped all three zombies.

The zombies crashed to the ground, stirring up a stench of decay, their withered arms clawing at the air as they screamed with necks arched, like demons unleashed from hell to hunt.

Entered the fourth round of recommendations—bonus chapter to celebrate.

My condition isn’t good—I’m coughing badly, even waking up from sleep with coughing fits. Really, Buddha...

(End of chapter)