Chapter 160: Loyalty Imprint

"Brother Zhang, I really hope you can stay. Won't you consider it?"

At parting, Old Li tried to persuade them to stay again, both valuing the strength of Zhang Su's group and feeling the pain of losing so many weapons and equipment. Modern weapons are industrial products; until industry is restored, every bullet used is one less!

Zhang Su glanced at the setting sun and shook his head: "To each their own. I won't take Director Li's position."

Upon hearing Zhang Su's words, Old Li was stunned, understanding what the other party meant: there can only be one boss in a team!

"Hahaha, Brother Zhang, you say that... Alright then. Although our cooperation had some twists and turns, overall it was very happy and complete. We will develop here from now on. If you have a chance, Brother Zhang, I look forward to you coming to visit!"

After finishing, Old Li leaned into Zhang Su's ear and said: "Don't secretly take away the supplies you gave us earlier!"

After listening to Old Li, Zhang Su looked at the people behind him and found that Little Liu and Gangzi, who hadn't met long ago, were already standing on his side without hesitation. As for the others, it went without saying; their previous performance showed high loyalty.

Old Li was definitely a person with leadership ability, and although his subordinates weren't many, they were elite soldiers. Backed by the military camp and sitting on weapons, he would definitely achieve something in the apocalypse!

Thinking of this, Zhang Su's heart moved, and a 【Loyalty Imprint】 was silently cast toward Old Li!

No one could see it. The brilliant golden imprint crossed the barriers of time and space and instantly stuck to Old Li's forehead...

"Oh my..."

"Director Li, be careful!"

"Don't worry, Brother Zhang, we will slowly integrate this area east of the city!"

Humans are like this; they will self-rationalize things they cannot understand to the results they want...

"Brother Zhang's team is full of talented people. I think developing together will lead to a better tomorrow!"

Old Li shook his head, his face showing a struggle, as if two thoughts were fighting fiercely in his mind!

Or rather, letting the person imprinted with 【Loyalty Imprint】 make their loyal behavior seem reasonable!

Zhang Su was suddenly able to understand why Old Li felt dizzy just now. It was probably caused by a brain storm...

"Ahem..." Zhang Su was amused by Zheng Xinyu and coughed to cover his embarrassment.

Then he took out a walkie-talkie and handed it to Old Li: "Old Li, you guys develop well here. The farmland outside is enough to feed many people! I've set the frequency for this walkie-talkie. Keep it safe, we'll meet again!"

Old Li's group originally didn't want to lend a hand, but they were surprised to see Director Li do it himself, so they hurriedly started helping. And in their hearts, they gradually began to understand Director Li's behavior; this was doing good deeds and forming good connections.

In his mind, the 【Loyalty Imprint】 was just forcibly binding the other party's thoughts, making them work for him and never betray him. It seemed he had considered it too simply. The 【Loyalty Imprint】 not only bound thoughts but also made their behavior rationalized!

Old Li stood with his hands behind his back, looking like what he said made a lot of sense.

The firearms were fine, weighing less than three hundred jin. The main thing was the bullets, which were heavy. One box of two thousand rounds was sixty jin, and there were fifteen boxes!

Zhang Su was surprised in his heart. He had completely underestimated the power of the 【Loyalty Imprint】!

The people behind him didn't understand why Director Li suddenly changed his tune, but they were just confused and no one questioned it. Everyone had confidence in his decision-making ability.

After a while, the expression on his face finally relaxed. When he looked at Zhang Su again, the look in his eyes had changed. He said: "Brother Zhang, I have been the one inviting you all along. Why don't you try inviting me?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing..."

Zhang Su raised an eyebrow. Old Li's reaction made him feel very curious, so he probed: "With you, Director Li, sitting here, it will definitely develop steadily. I invite you to wander the world with me. Would you agree?"

Zheng Xinyu frowned and secretly peeked at Old Li, taking small steps toward Zhang Su, and whispered: "Brother Su, is this guy trying to play dirty?"

"Alright, it's getting late. Come on, sorry to trouble everyone to help lift the boxes."

Zhang Su was looking at Old Li with expectation. It was his first time using the 【Loyalty Imprint】, and he didn't know the effect, but he saw the other party hold his forehead and stagger, almost falling on the spot. Fortunately, Wu Daqiang beside him was quick-handed and supported him.

Zhang Su didn't expect that the safe camp he had envisioned hadn't been built yet, but he had set up a branch in advance. But this was also not bad!

All the equipment added up to over a thousand jin. Even with fourteen people on Zhang Su's side, it was quite laborious to carry it all back.

He valued Old Li's team, but he didn't want to truly bring them under his command. The two sides had very different concepts and thoughts, and it would be very difficult to integrate them. It was enough to control the leader of the other party; it could be considered a long-term investment!

Old Li took the walkie-talkie very solemnly, as if what he was holding wasn't a walkie-talkie, but a glorious mission.

By the time Zhang Su and the others stumbled back from the wasteland to the street where they parked the vehicles, it was already dusk. Old Li and the others took the food for five people they had promised and returned to the military camp.

Watching the backs of Old Li's group as they left, Zhang Su sighed that the biggest gain of this trip might not be the guns, but very likely this team, which currently didn't have many people.

"Damn, it's really a gun. Is this an automatic rifle? Too badass!"

"Damn, with this batch of weapons, the whole Qin City will be ours..."

When the automatic rifles, shiny as new, were displayed in front of everyone, it just felt very unreal.

While everyone was excited, Zhang Su pulled Pang Dakun aside and asked: "You were tossing and turning in the barracks just now, what were you busy with?"

"Hehe!" Pang Dakun gave a sneaky smile and started taking things out from his body...

Magazines, tactical belts, military daggers. He lifted his clothes, and several military water bottles were strapped to his back. If it were just these, it wouldn't count for much. But when Pang Dakun opened his backpack for Zhang Su, that was the main course!

"You damn... you stole a bag of grenades!"

Zhang Su felt dizzy looking at the grenades lying in the bag. Fortunately, the performance of the grenades now was stable enough not to explode due to collision, but thinking about it still made his scalp tingle.

"Hehe, small matter. There are also several hundred bullets..." Pang Dakun thought Zhang Su was simply surprised by his craftsmanship and scratched his head with a silly smile.

"Fine, fine, fine. From now on, you'll have cartoons to watch every day until you finish watching Tom and Jerry. Also, I'll subsidize you with a few meat cans!"

Although Old Li's side was already his secret troop, taking their things was like taking his own things. But he believed Little Liu and Gangzi must have hidden something, and there must be other weapons hidden in the military camp, so it didn't matter.

"Alright, alright, pack up, hurry and eat!"

Zhang Su didn't leave too much time for everyone to be excited. After eating, they set off directly, with no intention of staying overnight. He only arranged the task of loading bullets—over two hundred magazines, all filled!

The vehicles drove west, planning to find a place to stay after leaving the city.

"Big brother, with this batch of weapons, our squad's strength is no weaker than the official one, hahaha!"

Zhao Dezhu was excited all the way, looking forward to the moment of distributing the guns.

"Zhuzi, a regiment's military camp only has a few people left, and a certain director led the team himself. Are you still hoping for the official one? That team just now is considered official..."

Zhang Su shook his head, a rare trace of fatigue between his brows, not just from physical exhaustion, but also from psychological pressure.

He also hoped that an official team would appear, driving indestructible tanks to sweep across the land and quickly restore their former lives, but this had become a bubble.

In the days to come, they must forge their own path!

Those who heard Zhang Su's words were all stunned. After thinking carefully, they finally accepted this cruel reality.

If the official had any actions, relevant news would definitely be heard on the radio. But now, the radio is on every day, and it's just those few settlement camps sending messages, nothing else.

"No official, then no official. Then we must be the most powerful survivor team, haha!"

Zhao Dezhu was quite optimistic and changed his mind in a few seconds, still smiling.

Three vehicles drove through the deserted streets. If they encountered a small number of zombies, they would ram them directly. If it was a large group of zombies, they would dodge slightly. Occasionally, there were survivors waving for help in the buildings along the street, but except for Zhang Su, no one else noticed.

Zhang Su had no intention of stopping at all. Soon, the three vehicles left Wenhua Road and drove to the quieter North Second Ring Road. This street had completely left the city. It was called the North Second Ring, but it was actually a national highway. Usually, some large vehicles would pass, and the traffic was very low, but it still couldn't avoid some accident vehicles abandoned on the road.

The sky darkened. Although it wasn't completely black, ordinary people couldn't see the scene in the distance. But Zhang Su had no problem; he could see the tragic scenes of village after village.

Some places used various things to block the road, some villages were full of zombies wandering around, and some were very thorough—houses were burned to the ground, leaving only pitch black after the fire.

Glancing at the time, Zhang Su looked around and took out the walkie-talkie: "Prepare to turn right ahead, there's a gas station!"

Leaving one walkie-talkie to match the one given to Old Li, the team enabled a new frequency internally.

"Received."

"Alright!"

Two voices sounded. After having walkie-talkies, communication was quite convenient.

The vehicles turned and drove into the gas station. Several scrapped cars were twisted and hung on the gas pumps. The glass door and curtain wall of the convenience store had shattered to the ground, and there was little left inside. It could be seen that this place had suffered more than one looting.

Awoo.

A dozen zombies surrounded the vehicles from all directions and were soon solved by everyone working together.

"It's still better to have more people... Before, when we encountered so many zombies, we only had the option to run!"

Liu Tianji couldn't help but sigh.

"Come, everyone, move and clean this place up. I'll go check the situation around. If you have gloves, wear them. Be careful not to get scratched!"

Zhang Su instructed and walked toward the highway, pretending to tuck a flashlight into his chest pocket, while holding a weapon in his hand.

Roughly checking the surrounding situation, it wasn't a particularly good place, but there were no major hidden dangers.

Zhang Su walked back to the convenience store. Ten minutes had passed, and his partners had already cleaned up a clean area.

"In the middle of nowhere, just need to pay attention to passing survivors. So many days have passed, I guess there aren't many people. It's a good place to stay. Zhuzi, take people to cook. Old Tan, study if there's any oil in the oil tank, find a way to pump it up. Also, Wang Xin, Pei Lan, the haircutters, come with me!"

"Brother, my name is Lu Leiyang."

The hairstylist Lu Leiyang walked to Zhang Su with a pace a hundred times more flamboyant than Pei Lan's and introduced himself again.

Even if others couldn't see it clearly, Zhang Su could clearly see Lu Leiyang's flamboyant hip-swaying and couldn't help but cough: "Alright, Lu Leiyang, come, I'll tell you the locations for sentry duty later."

Although the gas station was very remote, it was hard to see the surrounding villages even in broad daylight, but they must not relax their vigilance. Zhang Su arranged sentry posts in three directions, avoiding all visual blind spots.

"Hey, what the hell?" Zhang Su had just settled the sentry personnel and was walking back when he suddenly saw Haoyun running back quickly from the wilderness, with a wild rabbit in its mouth!

Thud.

Before long, Haoyun ran to Zhang Su, threw the dead wild rabbit at his feet, and looked like it was asking for credit. Anyone could see it wanted to trade for something.

"So picky so soon? Fine, I'll give you two meat cans later!"

Zhang Su picked up the wild rabbit. It was quite fat, at least five or six jin.

Returning to the RV, he handed the wild rabbit to Zhao Dezhu. It couldn't be eaten tonight; it would have to wait until the next meal.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 161 =====