Chapter 128

The night passed without incident. When the sky brightened again, the sun did not shine on the earth as usual; instead, it was replaced by a sky full of overcast clouds, not the kind of weather one would expect in late autumn or early winter.

"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle."

Zhang Su got off the vehicle with mouthwash in his mouth. After spitting it out by the side of the road, he took a deep breath of the fresh rural air. Unlike the city, where a faint stench of rot drifted everywhere, even though there were many zombies nearby, the air was still very fresh.

"Uncle!"

Zhang Su turned his head to look at Shuiwa Village on the other side of the roadblock, and heard someone calling him.

Pang Dakun poked his head out from the roof of the fertilizer shop. His face was already clean. He flipped over and jumped to the ground, happily taking out a roasted corn cob: "I roasted this yesterday. It can be eaten once it's heated up."

Zhang Su took the corn, squeezed it, and smelled it. It was a bit burnt and hard as a rock...

"Come, get to know everyone!"

With that, Zhang Su brought Pang Dakun onto the vehicle to re-introduce him to the group.

After joining the team, Pang Dakun changed his arrogant attitude and became very polite. He called everyone brother, sister, aunt, or uncle. The one with the highest seniority was naturally Yu Wen, who immediately became "Uncle Yu."

"Our team has no idlers. Little Pang, from now on, you must contribute more to the team. You get what you work for when collecting supplies, and there's a ten percent commission. But don't be greedy or reckless. This isn't the past; back then, if the police caught you, you'd get detained at most, but now, if a zombie bites you, you're a goner!"

As he spoke, Zhang Su handed Pang Dakun a box of heated self-heating rice, as a welcome meal.

After hearing Zhang Su's words, Pang Dakun nodded repeatedly. He took the rice and looked at it, exclaiming: "Wow, Uncle, I've seen this kind of self-heating rice in the supermarket. It's thirty or forty a box! This is good stuff. You guys are really awesome!"

"Don't mention money from now on; that's all in the past. Eat up, we have to start working once you're done!"

Zhang Su patted Pang Dakun on the shoulder and took out a quick-heated chicken wrap for himself. Since they had a microwave on the vehicle, many foods that were previously inconvenient to heat had become easy to prepare.

(I don't remember if I mentioned it, but the RV roof has photovoltaic panels)

"Mm-hmm, it smells so good..." Pang Dakun peeled off the lid and asked: "Uncle, what work are we doing later?"

"Clearing out Shuiwa Village," Zhang Su said nonchalantly.

"Cough, cough."

Pang Dakun, who had just stuffed a mouthful of rice into his mouth, was choked by Zhang Su's words.

"Damn, kid, are you trying to be malicious?" Lu Yubo had just prepared his instant noodles, and a few grains of rice flew into his soup.

Pang Dakun waved his hands repeatedly to apologize, then pounded his chest. With a nervous expression, he said to Zhang Su: "Uncle, there are so many zombies in the village, you can't even count them. They're everywhere. You can't kill them all, you really can't!"

"Kid!"

Zhang Su squinted at Pang Dakun and said: "Are you a coward who bullies the weak and fears the strong? Is your courage only the size of a corn kernel? No, a sesame seed?"

With that one sentence, the dim-witted Pang Dakun was squeezed to the point of despair. Holding the self-heating rice box, his face turned almost the color of a pig's liver.

"I'm not a coward!"

After a long while, Pang Dakun squeezed a few words through his teeth and then buried his head in his food. He hadn't eaten a decent meal in a long time; every day it was either roasted corn or roasted sweet potatoes, and mostly roasted very poorly.

"Whether you're a coward or not, we'll find out in a bit!" After saying that, Zhang Su pointed to the side: "This is your weapon. Use the time while you're eating to learn the essentials and precautions for killing zombies. Listen carefully; this is more important than when you learned to steal!"

Upon hearing this, Pang Dakun immediately straightened up.

After breakfast, everyone walked off the vehicle one after another. Each person held a weapon and wore protective gear. They knew they were facing a big battle, but everyone's mental state was very high.

After all, no one was a greenhorn anymore, and with the rich rewards waiting, their fighting spirit was ignited.

"Pei Lan, the combat intensity today will be high. Since you're injured, don't participate. Keep an eye on the intersection and stand guard. If anyone comes, blow the whistle. The louder the better; we'll definitely hear it."

Zhang Su handed a survival whistle to Pei Lan, which he had found in the RV's first-aid kit.

"Okay, I'll keep a good watch!"

Pei Lan still had one arm in a sling; the guard duty was most suitable for her. At a time like this, unless you were truly unable to move, there was definitely work to be done.

The group arrived at the roadblock. Lu Yubo stepped on a tractor tire to look inside and said: "Brother Su, are we going to charge straight in?"

"Don't take that kind of risk. The terrain in the village is complex, and zombies could be lurking in every courtyard. If things go wrong and you get bitten from behind, no one can handle that!"

Zhang Su directly rejected Lu Yubo's suggestion and continued: "We need to train, but safety is more important. Let's use the old method: attract them while advancing. At the very least, we must ensure there's a safe retreat behind us so we don't get surrounded!"

While speaking, he saw Pang Dakun standing at the end of the line with a sullen face, so he said: "Xin, go attract two zombies first to let the kid practice."

Zheng Xin looked at Pang Dakun upon hearing this. Seeing the embarrassment on his face, she made a strange expression, jumped into the village from a place that was easy to climb over, then turned back to confirm the retreat route, and then walked toward the first courtyard.

"It's not that I'm saying anything, Little Pang, you've lived in the village with so many zombies every day, seeing them all the time, are you still afraid?"

Zhang Su found it hard to understand.

Pang Dakun squeezed out an ugly smile: "I, I don't run into zombies in the village. I always run on the rooftops, eat and drink on the rooftops, and the courtyard where I sleep doesn't have any zombies..."

"Fine, fine, fine, you're awesome. You're a damn flying thief. Come on, the zombies are coming. Oh, wow, there are quite a few—three of them. They're all yours. Once you finish them off, we'll officially start."

After saying that, Zhang Su helped Zheng Xin, who was climbing over the roadblock, jump to the ground, and then stood aside with the others, waiting for Pang Dakun to show his skills.

Awoo-woo-awoo.

The zombies that Zheng Xin lured out from the first courtyard quickly rushed to the roadblock. Seeing the fresh meat not far away, but unable to reach it, they became increasingly angry, their roaring sounds gradually becoming frantic.

Pang Dakun, holding a crowbar, walked to the roadblock reluctantly, then turned back to look at Zhang Su: "Uncle, these are all people I know, I..."

"They're just shells; they haven't been themselves for a long time. Do it," Zhang Su said very coldly. This was something everyone had to overcome.

"Uncle, Aunt, Grandpa, I'm here to send you off!" Pang Dakun knew that this matter had to be completed today. He took a deep breath, raised the crowbar high, thought of the tips Zhang Su had taught him, and stabbed it toward the zombie's head.

Zheng Xin leaned into Zhang Su's ear with a complex expression and said: "These zombies in the village were probably more or less related to Pang Dakun. Doing this..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but Zhang Su knew what she meant. He shook his head and said: "No matter how cruel it is, can it be more cruel than this world? Just think about these things in your heart, but never say them out loud."

Zheng Xin nodded, indicating she understood.

Having special skills could save Pang Dakun from the distress of killing zombies. It took him about ten minutes of struggling to finally finish off the three zombies for the first time.

"They... they're actually quite hard to kill, damn."

After killing the three zombies, Pang Dakun successfully overcame the emotions in his heart. He didn't know if he was afraid of the zombies, or afraid of those familiar faces, or some other reason, but in any case, he felt much better.

Clap, clap.

Zhang Su patted Pang Dakun on the shoulder, who was panting heavily, and said: "Practice well, this level isn't good enough. Come on, follow us and learn!"

After saying that, Zhang Su and his group climbed over the roadblock and walked toward the village.

More than ten people plus a dog, clearing zombies in an organized and disciplined way—the danger was almost zero, but it was by no means non-existent. During this time, someone was pushed to the ground by a lunging zombie; if it weren't for the help of companions nearby, something bad would likely have happened!

Even Lu Yubo had a close call once; the blood splashed from the collision of the zombie's teeth sprayed onto his neck, showing just how close the distance was between them at that moment.

"Don't be arrogant, don't be numb, always stay focused and alert!"

Zhang Su kept reminding everyone. As the axis of the entire team, he played a crucial role in coordination.

The scale of Shuiwa Village was not large; it was considered a very small village near Qincheng. The total registered population of the village was less than two thousand, and the permanent population was only about one thousand. The number of zombies trapped in the village was no more than five hundred.

The clearing work continued, and in a courtyard in a village across the river, a group of people was discussing matters concerning Shuiwa Village.

"Datie, I definitely didn't see wrong. The thief is leading a group of people in the village killing zombies!"

"Those survivors who came out of the city couldn't be bored enough to come to the village to kill zombies for fun. They must have set their eyes on the food we stored in our village."

"That's right. We left in such a hurry back then; I only brought a little flour. There were hundreds of pounds of flour and newly harvested peanuts at home that we didn't take. We can't let those people get them for cheap!"

"We fled here, and just because we didn't bring much food, we have to look at the faces of those bastards in other villages every day. If we could transport the food back, we'd be the ones in charge!"

Seventeen or eighteen men gathered in the room, talking all at once. The man in the lead, called Datie, frowned and said nothing, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Datie, say something. What should we do now? The village chief is gone, and you're our leader now. Tell us, are we going or not?"

"I think we should go. That's the food we worked so hard to grow. We don't know how we'll live in the future, so how can we let others take it away? Especially that thief—he's such a piece of work, actually colluding with others to harm our village!"

"He's just a thief; you still don't know what kind of person he is? Which one of us hasn't been stolen from by him? Damn, he even wanted to cause us trouble to avenge his grandfather. If we had known, we should have just thrown him into the river!"

"Stop arguing about useless things. Datie, you tell us, what should we do? You have to think clearly. We're not just doing this for ourselves; our wives and children are all going hungry. If we don't solve this thoroughly, we'll have to keep bowing our heads to others in the future!"

"That group of theirs isn't small; they must have brought a lot of things. Coming from the city, they probably have a lot of supplies we can't get our hands on. We can't let them off easily!"

The man called Datie had dark skin and a sturdy build; even sitting down, he gave off a burly feeling, looking like he weighed at least two hundred and thirty or forty pounds. After listening to the words of the people around him, he nodded readily and said: "Grab your gear, let's go!"

Four words instantly ignited the indignation of everyone in the room.

Ten thousand words of updates are presented; thank you for the support of the book friends.

(End of chapter)