Chapter 131: Subduing People with Virtue

"Xin Yu, take a few people to the barricade and keep watch. Don't let any zombies break through!"

Zhang Su held his gun steady while issuing commands.

"No, don't kill me, please don't..."

"I was forced to come here, I was wrong, don't kill me!"

Of the ten people, six were either squatting or kneeling on the ground with their hands raised, tears streaming down their faces, scared out of their wits.

In a fight with cold weapons, especially when one's side has the advantage, people are bound to be hot-blooded and fearless. But the moment the other side pulls out firearms, their blood instantly runs cold.

They weren't zombies; they didn't have that "don't care about anything, just fight if you're not convinced" attitude.

However, there was no shortage of hot-tempered guys who weren't afraid of death.

"If you've got guts, fight me fair and square! What kind of coward uses a gun? You dog-bastard!" A man wearing yellow and black cotton-padded clothes held an sharpened engineer shovel, glaring at Zhang Su with venomous eyes.

"You?" Lu Yubo couldn't stand people challenging them. He had a short dagger in his left hand and a grain sampler in his right. Just as he was about to step forward, he heard a "bang" by his ear, which made his eardrum ache and gave him a start.

No one expected that Zhang Su wouldn't waste any more breath on the guy and would just shoot him directly.

"You... don't... talk... about... martial... virtue!"

The man who had been shouting for a duel clutched his chest, blood flowing from between his fingers. After struggling to finish his sentence, he felt his strength rapidly fading. He couldn't even hold onto his engineer shovel, and with a thud, he collapsed to the ground.

"Martial virtue? This is martial virtue." Zhang Su shook the USP in his hand, raised the gun, and asked the remaining nine people, "Who else wants to experience martial virtue?"

The three guys who were still standing immediately threw themselves onto the ground without a word. A wise man doesn't fight when the odds are against him. Continuing to be stubborn clearly meant only one path: death. They weren't afraid of dying, but they didn't want to die for nothing. Even if they were to die, they wanted to tear a piece of flesh off the enemy at the very end.

A moment later, all nine guys had their hands and feet bound and were thrown into the fertilizer shop. They were all in a wretched state, and some of the more timid ones had already turned pale as a sheet.

Click, click, click.

Zhang Su reloaded the magazine and glanced in the direction where Da Tie's group had come from. No one had followed the sound of the gunshot. He then looked at the others and said, "How should we deal with the remaining nine?"

This was a troublesome matter. If not handled well, it would make some people in the team feel uncomfortable, thereby creating rifts within the group.

"I don't know, whatever you want is fine."

Zheng Xinyu returned after she and her team had dealt with the zombies attacking the barricade. She was the first to express her opinion, as she had always been the first person to firmly support Zhang Su.

Zhong Xiaoshan was the same, and she nodded along: "Brother Su, you just decide."

Following closely behind, Lu Yubo, Wu Lue, Tan Huajun, Zhao Xue, Chen Hanzhou, and Pei Lan all expressed their stance, leaving the final decision to Zhang Su.

"Hmm?" Zhang Ya noticed Zhang Su looking at her and gave a sheepish smile: "Do I, as a newcomer, still have the right to offer an opinion? In that case, I have no opinion; anything is fine."

"Cough..." Yu Qing coughed, glanced at Yu Wen, then revealed a faint smile and said, "Brother Su, you definitely have your own judgment, but I think that since they no longer pose a threat to us, there's no need to kill them, right?"

"It's not just the immediate threats that count as threats." After saying this, Zhang Su looked at Zhao Dezhu and Yu Wen, wanting to know what they thought.

Zhao Dezhu looked at Yu Qing's back with some helplessness and said, "Big brother, I trust your judgment!"

"Yes, Mr. Zhang, you decide. My daughter's words lack foresight."

Yu Wen's words immediately drew Yu Qing's dissatisfaction, and she rolled her eyes at him several times.

"Xiao Pang?" Zhang Su looked at Pang Dakun, who was standing to the side in silence: "You are from Shuwa Village and know them better. What is your take?"

Pang Dakun looked at Zhang Su and gritted his teeth: "I don't think leaving them alive is good. They will definitely find a way to take revenge on us!"

Zhang Su nodded and said, "That's right. Xiao Pang's view is the same as mine. These people were willing to risk their lives against us today for the sake of food. After blood has been shed, they will become even more unscrupulous. If we let them go back, they will definitely twist the truth and speak ill of us. Even if it's not too exaggerated, the survivors in this area might all turn against us."

"We absolutely cannot allow such a thing to happen!"

As he spoke, Zhang Su looked at Yu Qing. Seeing her biting her lip and staying silent, he knew she just couldn't bear it in her heart, not that she didn't know what the right thing to do was.

"In this world, there are no effective contracts to constrain people's behavior, otherwise I wouldn't want to take this step either!"

Zhang Su rubbed his head and looked at the people around him.

Zheng Xinyu looked up at Zhang Su and said, "This isn't your decision alone; it's our collective decision. You don't need to carry such a heavy burden!"

She knew Zhang Su didn't want to kill indiscriminately, and she also knew that Zhang Su was doing this for the safety of the entire team. Naturally, she couldn't let all the pressure fall on him.

Zhong Xiaoshan nodded without speaking, simply pulling out her short dagger and standing by Zhang Su's side, indicating that she could handle the aftermath.

"Sister-in-law is right!" Lu Yubo stood up and said, "I still feel scared when I think about how they charged at us with weapons just now. If Brother Su hadn't loaded the pistol in advance, we would definitely have had casualties today!"

"Big brother, this matter definitely shouldn't be carried by you alone. In this world, if we don't eat people, and others want to eat us, then we must kill them. I'll take care of two!"

Zhao Dezhu brandished the same model of dog-leg machete as Zhang Su, a murderous aura appearing on his face.

"We don't need to do this ourselves. Since they like to bully their own kind, let them bully each other to the end!"

Having said that, Zhang Su tilted his head toward the ground and said, "Bo-zai, take their weapons and come with me."

A while later, Zhang Su and Lu Yubo appeared inside the fertilizer shop. The nine survivors from Shuwa Village were sitting against the wall. Some had venomous hatred in their eyes, though they quickly hid it, while others kept begging for mercy, hoping for a chance to live.

Zhang Su ignored the villagers' emotions, looked at the ceiling of the fertilizer shop, and asked, "Do you want to live?"

"Yes, yes, we do."

"Of course we do, Big Brother, let me go. My wife is still waiting for me to return in Beiliang Village."

"Big Brother, we were deceived by Da Tie. We shouldn't have come to cause you trouble. We were wrong."

Hearing Zhang Su's words and seeing Lu Yubo holding the weapons in his arms, the villagers began to harbor all sorts of guesses, as if they saw a glimmer of hope for life.

"Deceived?" Zhang Su shook his head and said, "Looking at how you acted before, I don't think you were deceived at all. Your goal wasn't the food at all, but to kill us and then rob us of everything we have, right?"

Silence.

The villagers' faces changed colors, looking very unnatural. It took about four or five seconds before someone spoke: "How could that be, Big Brother? We really just came back to ask for food."

Zhang Su wouldn't know, but the villagers all knew that it was this very guy who had suggested robbing Zhang Su's group of their supplies...

"None of that matters now." Zhang Su said, making a gesture to Lu Yubo.

Clatter, clatter.

The confiscated weapons were thrown in front of the villagers.

"There is only one spot to walk out of this fertilizer shop alive. Fight for it yourselves. You have fifteen minutes!"

Having said that, Zhang Su left the fertilizer shop.

Lu Yubo saw the bewildered villagers who didn't know what was going on and grinned, saying, "Aren't you guys tough? Aren't you good at fighting your own kind? The opportunity is here. Fight each other. Only one person can leave the fertilizer shop alive. There, the weapons are already given to you. Hurry up, you only have fifteen minutes!"

After finishing, Lu Yubo also left the fertilizer shop. Before leaving, he didn't forget to add, "Don't try any tricks. We'll be back in a while to finish off whoever's left!"

After hearing Zhang Su and Lu Yubo's words, the villagers' minds raced. Their hands and feet were still bound, but there was no time to drag their feet.

"Damn it, let's fight them! Grab the weapons!"

"You're the worst one here, you bastard."

"Get lost, don't fight me for it!"

As everyone stood up and lunged for the weapons, a brutal and tragic slaughter was destined to break out inside the fertilizer shop—primitive, violent, and bloody!

Through the window, Zhang Su and his group stood in the distance, watching the fertilizer shop.

"Brother Su, you say they have this kind of fighting spirit, why don't they dare to fight zombies?"

Zheng Xinyu asked, feeling very puzzled.

Zhang Su curled his lips and said, "In the past, some people would tremble if a dog barked at them and wouldn't dare to move, but if they had a quarrel with others, they would dare to fight. Because getting punched by a person is easy to treat, but getting rabies is certain death. It's the same logic."

Yu Wen sighed, pushed up his glasses, and said, "This involves deep psychological issues. Cognitive, cultural, interest, and motivational biases are all involved, which is why they fear zombies but are more willing to confront humans."

"Aren't you a Chinese teacher? You also teach psychology? Does this count as psychology?" Zhang Su was a bit uncertain, then added, "Philosophy?"

Yu Wen spread his hands and said, "It touches on all of those aspects. This is content I studied on my own, very crude. I hope Mr. Zhang won't laugh at me."

"Oh..." Zhang Su gave Yu Wen a thumbs up, then said, "Tell me, if we were in their shoes, what would we do? I don't mean all of us, but if you were one of the people in that death arena, what would you do? Have you thought about it?"

"This..."

"Then I'd just be dead..."

"What should I do?"

Clearly, no one had considered Zhang Su's question, and everyone fell into deep thought. If one day they were to face such a dangerous situation, how could they escape?

"I'd kill the person closest to me first. I don't need weapons. Even if my hands and feet are tied, I'll bite him to death!"

Lu Yubo revealed his yellow teeth and knocked them together, making a clinking sound.

"I think it's still better to get a weapon first..." Tan Huajun said, taking the opportunity to wave the vernier caliper in her hand.

Zheng Xinyu's furrowed brows suddenly relaxed. She raised a finger and said, "Based on my experience playing PUBG in the past, when a group of people jumps to the same location, you should first find a quiet corner to hide. It's best if you have a weapon, but even if you don't, you can observe the situation. Also, because you don't have a weapon, you're less of a threat, and there's a certain possibility you won't become someone else's primary target!"

The others looked at each other in surprise, not expecting the cute girl who usually went "hng-ha" when fighting to be able to lay out such a logically tight plan.

Zhang Su looked at Zheng Xinyu with a strange expression and said, "Not bad. It seems playing games wasn't a total waste of time. Xinyu's plan is similar to what I was thinking. For example, in their current situation, everyone is lunging for the weapons, so I would definitely hide on the side. Regardless of whether I can untie the zip ties, I'd wait for a chance to strike from the shadows!"

Yu Wen nodded and said, "Setting aside other factors, the point Ms. Zheng raised about being less of a threat and less likely to attract attention is very crucial. Show weakness to the enemy, wait for the opportunity to act, and attack when they are unprepared. Brilliant!"

Improving experience doesn't necessarily require personal participation in battle; observation and analysis are also a form of growth.

A melee in a confined space tests far more than just combat power.

Although Zhang Su told the villagers they had fifteen minutes, the fighting process lasted for half an hour. During this half hour, the group didn't watch the brawl like cruel monarchs enjoying abuse; instead, they treated it as a rare lesson, unfolding analysis and explanations.

Creak...

When the last person pushed open the dilapidated door of the fertilizer shop, their body slumped forward and fell into a pool of blood. The last breath they had was swallowed, and the blood slowly spread out.

In the end, no one survived.

Everyone felt a heavy heart, but they all knew that this matter was difficult to reconcile, and they also knew that this wouldn't be the last time.

The joy of being filled with food and well water was diluted. Originally, Zhang Su had planned to rest in Shuwa Village for another night, but after the villagers' attack, he decided to set off immediately and take a detour to the west.

"Xiao Pang, do you know what the world outside is like now? Do you regret joining us? Do you think it was more interesting and comfortable to be flying over walls in the village?"

Zhang Su asked while driving out of the village.

Pang Dakun looked at the stone tablet of "Shuwa Village" through the car window, his feelings mixed: "Uncle, I don't regret it. My grandfather always hoped I could walk out of the countryside and venture out. This counts as walking out of the countryside, right?"

"Ha, you silly boy, this doesn't count as walking out of the countryside at all." Zhao Dezhu laughed and said, "Our destination is to find a resort or a farmhouse in the mountains. You've just gone from one village to another, hahaha."

Pang Dakun shook his head vigorously: "That still counts as walking out of the countryside. As long as I leave Shuwa Village, it counts as walking out of the countryside. I've fulfilled my grandfather's wish!"

"Right!" Zhang Su stopped Zhao Dezhu from arguing further with his eyes and said, "Xiao Pang, that's right, you've walked out of the countryside. The world outside is very big, and there is space for you to display your talents!"

"Yes! Uncle, I will definitely work hard following you!" Pang Dakun turned his head away from the village entrance, his eye sockets slightly red. Although he was a bit slow, he knew that after this departure, he probably wouldn't be back for a very, very long time.

Before the four cars reached the provincial highway, they saw a car parked by the broken bridge, and someone was jumping up and down, cursing.

The bodies of the Mercedes and the Faulkner Mobil were too large and extremely eye-catching. The three people by the broken bridge soon noticed Zhang Su's group.

"Hello, may I ask if you are from the nearby village?"

The three strange men stood at the intersection of the self-built road and the provincial highway, waving their arms frantically, with a look of relief on their faces.

Seeing that the other party was polite and didn't have any weapons in their hands, Zhang Su lowered the car window and said, "We came out of the city. The bridge was blown up by the locals, and we are preparing to head back to the city."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 132 =====