Chapter 203

Inside the restaurant of the Little Fortune Homestay, everyone was waiting for the meal to start, and they naturally began discussing the Green Dragon Legion.

"Big brother, I caught a glimpse of the gun that guy was carrying today—a QB03 assault rifle. It's definitely good stuff, even better than our weapons!"

Zhao Dezhu said with a grave expression while holding a water cup. One of his arms was not fully functional, but he still insisted on helping with whatever he could at the camp. He was mixing cement when Yu Wen led the people from the Green Dragon Legion up the mountain.

"Not necessarily!"

Guo Dachao countered: "The stability, accuracy, and ammunition compatibility of the 03 assault rifle are not as good as the 95 automatic rifle. The 03 assault rifle is only better than the 95 in special usage scenarios!"

Everyone looked at each other, not expecting Guo Dachao to have such an understanding of firearms.

"Dachao has family in the military who previously served in the infantry brigade barracks over in Qingxian. If there are no surprises, the Green Dragon Legion's equipment comes from that barracks!"

Zhang Su explained, then continued: "For half-baked people like us, whether it's an 03 or a 95, they both go 'bang-bang' the same way. The effect is no different, and the deterrent power is no different. I brought back two pieces of news from this trip. The first is that Xidaying Village has likely chosen to join the Green Dragon Legion and plans to head north after a while!"

"Xidaying Village joined the Green Dragon Legion?"

"Big brother, you mean... we should fight them!?"

"Life has dreams, and each is brilliant in its own way. Xidaying Village's decision must have been carefully considered; it is a development path that suits their situation."

Wu Lue pressed.

"From the feedback provided by Teacher Yu, there are about four survivor settlements around our provincial road route between Qingxian county seat and the Qincheng urban area. Even if something happens to those people who go out to collect grain, it would be very difficult for the Green Dragon Legion to investigate."

"Uncle, what exactly are we going to do? We aren't really going to hand over grain to those guys, are we!"

Once accustomed to freedom, one does not like being controlled, let alone living under someone else's roof.

"That's right!" Zhang Su placed his water cup on the table with a thud and said: "Everyone here is one of our own. Do you believe in the peace begged for on your knees, or the tranquility won by the barrel of a gun?"

"This... aren't they comfortable living by the Haihe River? Why join someone else's faction and suffer such indignity!"

Zhao Dezhu showed a fierce expression and asked tentatively.

Everyone was extremely puzzled by Xidaying Village's choice. Although survival is difficult in the apocalypse, there are fewer constraints and shackles. Having a piece of land to settle down on can be considered living freely.

"The other piece of news is that United Village intends to form an alliance with us. They will do whatever we do!"

Liu Tianji reminded.

United Village has many people but low combat effectiveness. If one is determined to manipulate such a faction, it is not difficult.

Zhang Su nodded and said: "I have arranged for Wang Xin to come here tomorrow to talk. Rest assured, I will make them completely compliant."

Zhang Su told everyone the reasons Ma Changshou had given. He believed that what the village chief said was mostly true with a hint of falsehood; Xidaying Village was indeed facing many practical problems, but they had concealed joining the Green Dragon Legion.

After a period of recuperation, Pang Dakun's injuries had mostly healed.

"Brother Su, what is the other piece of news?"

Zhang Su took a sip of hot water and said slowly.

"It means that old man Ma is not thinking straight."

Yu Wen gave a very objective assessment.

"Brother Su, United Village has many people; we must be careful they don't turn on us."

"Fight, fight the hell out of them!"

"Don't hand it over, kill them all, damn it!"

"Uncle, let's fight our way to Qingxian and wipe out their base!"

With zombies running rampant, warlords carving up territory, and the world in chaos, conflict is inevitable, but Pang Dakun's suggestion was rejected by everyone.

"Little Kun, did your brain break after you got hurt? The other side is entrenched in Qingxian, perhaps settled in the barracks just like Old Li and the others, guarding the armory. We go to fight them—are we delivering packages?"

Zhao Dezhu teased and lectured Pang Dakun.

"That's right, we cannot go north to attack the Green Dragon Legion headquarters." Zhang Su nodded and said: "At least not until we have figured out their specific situation. Since the decision is made, let's do what we need to do. I will arrange how to deal with things a week from now!"

Everyone nodded one after another; as long as they heard Zhang Su was making the arrangements, they felt an inexplicable sense of peace.

After the meal, some people helped clean up. Yu Wen called out to Zhang Su, who was about to leave, and said: "Mr. Zhang, we discovered a problem this afternoon when burning the zombie corpses!"

"Right!" Zhang Su clapped his hands and said: "The fire hadn't gone out when we came back earlier, and it had condensed into a large mass of black matter. Damn it, it burned for a good four or five hours; it's too resistant to burning!"

They had encountered fires in the city before, and had even run out because a building caught fire, but they hadn't had the time to pay attention to the issue of zombies being burned.

"It's not just that the burning time is long, but it's also very flammable. This afternoon, Little Wang intended to use fuel to ignite it, and Little Wu tried to light it. The fire spread rapidly—it cannot be compared to gasoline or alcohol, but it reached thirty percent of the speed of an accelerant!"

Yu Wen said very seriously.

"Zombies are flammable yet resistant to burning—this is something we hadn't thought of before... Could it be that living zombies also have this characteristic?"

Zhang Su naturally thought of using this flammable characteristic to deal with zombies.

"We don't know about the living ones yet, but we can test it."

Yu Wen pointed in the direction where the zombies were tied up.

The previous hunger test had roughly concluded that zombies could replenish energy from sunlight, but the charging process was very slow. After being tied in the sun for over an hour, they showed signs of decreased speed and sluggish reactions after being teased for just over ten minutes.

So later, they stuffed two zombies into the ticket office to see how long they could survive without dying. The zombies locked in the ticket office again became listless, but they just wouldn't die. So many days had passed, and they remained like that, stubbornly alive.

"Let's go, let's try it!"

Without further ado, Zhang Su walked out of the restaurant.

"Brother Su, what are you and Teacher Yu busy with?" Lu Yubo asked curiously when he saw the two walking in a hurry.

"Doing an experiment, burning zombies. Want to watch?"

Zhang Su raised the long-handled anti-riot fork he found at some homestay, which was meant for catching dogs.

"Damn, that exciting? Quick, quick, quick!"

Lu Yubo became interested immediately.

"Uncle, I want to go too!"

Pang Dakun, who was helping wash dishes, limped to catch up with them.

Hearing there was such an exciting program as burning zombies, many people followed. There was no work to do in the evening anyway, so of course, they couldn't miss a fresh event.

The large group marched to the ticket office where the zombies were held. Lu Yubo volunteered to use the fork to spear a listless zombie and walk out of the ticket office.

Awoo, awoo!

Even in a half-dead state, when the zombie saw living people all around, it still bit left and right. All its movements were slower than normal, as if someone had turned on 0.5x speed while watching a movie.

Even so, it didn't mean this zombie had no threat; once it managed to take a bite, it was still fatal!

"Go, tie it to the utility pole over by the parking lot!"

Zhang Su shone his flashlight into the distance at a concrete utility pole.

"What a brutal guy, even barbecuing zombies. Lucky, we shouldn't learn from them, you know?"

Following behind the crowd, Zheng Xinyu held the twenty-plus-pound Corgi in her arms—not too heavy and quite warm—muttering to herself.

Soon, the zombie was tied to the utility pole, howling foolishly, unaware of what was about to greet it.

"Zombie barbecue!"

Lu Yubo excitedly took out a lighter and a cloth ball.

"Wait a second..."

Yu Qing called out to Lu Yubo, walked up quickly, and found a burlap sack from somewhere to put over the zombie's head.

"Haha, Teacher Yu is still the thoughtful one, putting a hood on the prisoner before the execution."

Lu Yubo gave a thumbs up.

Yu Qing smiled awkwardly: "I was afraid it would bite people randomly..."

"Oh, oh..."

Lu Yubo smiled a bit awkwardly, then continued with his work.

For safety reasons, he didn't light the zombie directly, but first used the lighter to ignite a cloth ball, then used the fork to light the zombie.

Awooooo.

As the fork approached, the zombie seemed to sense something and suddenly became manic. Its howling was more than twice as loud as before, strange lines burst out on its skin, and the finger-thick rope creaked as it struggled. It was clear that its strength had been enhanced at this moment!

Whoosh.

The flame touched the zombie's skin and spread across its body at a speed visible to the naked eye. The burlap sack on its head was also ignited. Looking at the zombie through the raging flames, it was actually somewhat strangely cool...

"Damn, so zombies are this afraid of fire!"

Lu Yubo stepped back a few paces, used the cloth ball that hadn't burned out to light a cigarette, and watched the burning zombie struggle frantically with a sigh.

"Where did you see that it was afraid of fire?"

Zhang Su frowned as he watched the burning zombie, feeling a faint sense of unease.

"It's struggling, isn't that fear..."

"Careful!"

Just at that moment, the zombie let out a strange cry and snapped the hemp rope. A ball of fire lunged straight at Lu Yubo, who was closest.

"Hey!"

As Zhang Su pulled Lu Yubo back, Tan Huajun lunged forward from the side, swinging her ever-present vernier caliper with great force.

Pfft...

The measuring claws nailed accurately into the zombie's head. The zombie's arms dropped, then it knelt on the ground and collapsed, while the flames continued to burn fiercely.

(End of chapter)