Chapter 66: Give You Two Choices

“Zombies!”

As the view zoomed in, Zhang Su saw seven or eight zombies wandering aimlessly inside the gas station; several closer to the road had noticed his van, but the convenience store’s interior was unclear.

Thud!

Without hesitation, Zhang Su adjusted his steering, dodged the lunging zombie, then accelerated straight into the gas station—like a tiger among sheep—continuously shifting direction to smash the zombies with the side corner of his bumper!

Thud thud thud…

Even with precise angles, the van’s bumper was too fragile—it soon shattered and fell off completely, while the zombies inside the gas station lay rolling everywhere.

The screech of braking tires rang out.

The Halandar rolled into the parking lot, the Q5 right behind it.

Seeing both vehicles stop, Zhang Su sighed. If the Halandar and Q5 had been smart enough to just run over the writhing zombies on the ground, they could’ve saved a lot of effort.

He considered rolling down the window to shout, but the Halandar’s door was already open—Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiaoshanyi jumped out with weapons and attacked the zombies on the ground; only Wang Guang, delayed by two seatbelts, lagged half a beat.

Unable to keep driving, Zhang Su slammed on the brakes, grabbed his weapon, and jumped out. He glanced toward the distance—the nearest zombie was over thirty meters away, hard to lure. He strode sideways toward the Q5.

“You deal with the zombies. Next time, just run them over!”

Zhang Su told Zheng Xinyu and the others, then rushed to the Q5 and kicked the door. He gestured with his fingers to the couple in the front seat—clearly, get out!

“B… Big Brother, we mean no harm, no harm at all…”

The driver’s door opened, and a man around twenty-four or twenty-five stepped out; the passenger side yielded a woman of the same age.

Zhang Su gripped his short axe tightly, studied the two carefully. Their thin clothes were dirty and wrinkled; “disheveled and filthy” described them perfectly. He sniffed—the car reeked of sour stench.

If he guessed right, these two had been trapped in the car since the zombie outbreak began. He couldn’t imagine what kind of week they’d endured inside.

“No one else, Big Brother—just me and my girlfriend in the car!”

The man was delicate-looking, wearing glasses. Seeing Zhang Su frowning at the back seat, he knew what he was looking for and quickly replied, his eyes flicking involuntarily toward the others dispatching zombies, his lips trembling, his face twitching.

Zhang Su glanced at Zheng Xinyu and the others. The overturned zombies posed no threat—they’d already taken care of most, leaving only two dragging half-dead bodies, barely crawling, close to death.

“All of you, get down on your knees. Don’t try anything funny. Speak—why were you following us?”

Zhang Su raised his axe-hammer at the woman, terrifying her into crouching beside the man, her face pale with fear.

Crouching beside the wheel, the man looked up at Zhang Su, face twisted in despair: “Big Brother, I… I’m running for my life, following you to escape…”

“You’ve got some nerve. Following me to escape? Damn it, look at my van—crushed to hell! Look at my companions’ car! You’re damn comfortable, aren’t you?”

Zhang Su hated two kinds of people: those who took advantage of him, and those who wouldn’t let him take advantage of them…

This couple had both!

“I… I’m sorry, Big Brother, I know I’m wrong, don’t get angry. We’re all neighbors, no—we’re all human beings. Let’s talk this out. Whatever you need, I’ll do it.”

The man clasped his fists and bowed repeatedly, face full of sincerity; the woman beside him nodded in agreement.

“You’ll do whatever I ask, right?” Zhang Su nodded, pointed to the zombies outside the parking lot, and said: “Go clean them up.”

“Huh?”

The man’s legs went weak at the words. If not for leaning against the hood, he’d have collapsed on the ground, waving his hands frantically: “No, no, Big Brother! Those things are terrifying! One touch and you get infected! No way, no way!”

Zheng Xinyu frowned at the cowardly man and sneered: “One touch and you get infected? Are you saying it spreads through droplets? Talking nonsense!”

“It’s true! My girlfriend and I saw it with our own eyes!”

The man’s eyes widened: “On the morning the zombie virus broke out, my girlfriend and I were in the underground parking lot. We saw someone get grabbed—and less than five minutes later, they turned! Such a powerful virus!”

Zhang Su and the others exchanged glances. They’d suspected infection from scratches before, but now hearing a firsthand account confirmed it—though they hadn’t expected the transformation speed to be so fast. Still, this man’s story needed verification.

“I’m done wasting time with you two. Two choices: either kill those five zombies over there, then drive off—or leave now, but leave the car behind!”

Zhang Su spoke bluntly.

“This… this is robbery, murder! How can you do this? Don’t you fear being held accountable by the law?”

The man pleaded, face twisted.

“You still talk about law? Do you even know how law came to be? Civilization came first, then judicial systems. Now human civilization has collapsed—do you really think I care about your law? Are you insane?”

Zhang Su stared at the man, dumbfounded. He’d adjusted his mindset on day one—Zheng Xinyu’s WeChat group messages were the main reason.

A global disaster had shattered every system. Survival became the only priority.

“Human civilization collapsed?”

The couple stared at each other, eyes wide with disbelief—they clearly had no idea how dire the outside world had become.

“Big Brother, do you know something? How wide is this disaster? Did it hit all of Qincheng? Or just Hebei Province…?”

“Why so many damn questions? Who cares about Qincheng or Hebei? Pick fast—or you won’t even make it out of this gas station!”

Zhang Su twisted his wrist; the axe, caked in grime, looked terrifyingly menacing.

“Uncle… Uncle, please save us! We’re starving and thirsty. We can’t even run a few steps, let alone kill zombies. Could you… could you give us something to eat first? We’ll kill zombies once we’ve got strength. Please!”

Seeing Zhang Su’s ferocious expression, the man turned quickly to the middle-aged man behind him—whose face seemed far kinder.

Wang Guang saw the two crouching pitifully on the ground and felt a pang of pity—but he knew his place. He turned his head away from them and said to Zhang Su: “I’m just like you—I escaped with this brother. I can’t make decisions!”

The man’s heart sank. He’d thought the older man was their elder—but now he saw the truth.

(End of Chapter)