Chapter 385

Night had fallen, and the chimneys on the roof of the Little Lucky building were puffing out smoke; it was time for dinner, and people were gathering in the dining hall one after another.

In the course of a day, only dinner time was the most relaxing. This atmosphere was very much like the past, when after finishing a day's work, everyone would gather together to eat and drink happily. Although there were no televisions, computers, or mobile phones, there were always endless topics to talk about. People's faces were not filled with panic, but with laughter. Such a camp atmosphere was a rarity, not to mention in Qincheng, even looking at the entire Great North China Plain.

"Brother Su, you're here?"

"Brother Su, tonight we're having shredded pork with pickled mustard greens; it's incredibly fragrant!"

Zhang Su appeared in the dining hall right on time as always. Many people greeted him. Everyone had become accustomed to his elusive nature over the recent period, and basically everyone knew what he was doing. Everyone was looking forward to him returning after finishing his studies so he could teach everyone too.

"Hmm, everyone eat well."

Zhang Su responded with a smile.

"Brother Su, have you seen Yubo? I haven't seen him all afternoon, and he didn't participate in training either."

Wang Xin asked with some confusion; he had been responsible for attendance these past few days.

Without any missions outside, core members basically wouldn't miss training except for those on guard duty or monitoring, and even with minor aches and pains, they would show up. But today, Lu Yubo had disappeared without asking for leave.

"The reserve team had a special training session today. I sent Bo-zai over there; I forgot to mention it."

Zhang Su casually found an excuse to brush it off.

"Husband, come, come, sit here!"

Zheng Xinyu waved at Zhang Su from her favorite seat.

"You eat first, I'm going to discuss something."

Zhang Su pointed with a smile, then walked toward Yu Wen, Yu Qing, and Zhuzi, who were sitting in a corner.

"Hmm... this guy has a problem!"

Zheng Xinyu didn't mind Zhang Su's excuse, but she sensed something wrong. It wasn't that she possessed sensory abilities like Tachibana Mai-Sakura, but that the two lived together every day, and she was most sensitive to every little change in Zhang Su.

"Ahem!"

Yu Wen had seen Zhang Su when he entered the room, and seeing him walk over, he gave a wink to his daughter and Zhuzi.

"Big brother, haha, come... hey, hey, Qingqing, don't pull me..."

Zhao Dezhu, however, had absolutely no awareness; not only did he have no intention of leaving, but he also waved at Zhang Su very enthusiastically, signaling him to sit down and eat together.

"Brother Su, you guys talk."

Yu Qing greeted Zhang Su with a smile, then dragged away Zhao Dezhu, who had a strange expression on his face.

"Mr. Zhang, aren't you going to eat something?"

Yu Wen looked at Zhang Su, who was empty-handed, and asked.

Zhang Su shook his head and said, "I'm not hungry; there's still time to eat after I finish my work."

"It seems the matter has been arranged properly?"

"Must be, 6:20."

No one in the dining hall could understand the content of their conversation.

Yu Wen looked at the time with a bit of nervousness and said in a deep voice, "I hope the people in the two villages can learn a lesson from this."

"Small impacts are insignificant and cannot attract attention. If it really reaches the level of attracting attention, it must be disaster-level. There is almost no middle ground, which easily makes people numb."

Zhang Su pinched his temples and shook his head; it wasn't physical fatigue, but mental exhaustion.

"This is the purpose of establishing an external enemy that I mentioned. I believe today's lesson will teach them a lot."

"The main thing is to kill the chicken to scare the monkey; some people are just too ignorant!"

Zhang Su frowned.

"The black sheep must be eradicated as soon as possible."

After Yu Wen finished speaking, he checked the time again, pushed the tray in front of him, and said, "Eat something at least; I haven't bitten this flower roll."

"You eat it; I can just go get some myself."

Zhang Su waved his hand with a smile, but still got a plate of food and ate it absent-mindedly.

Ten minutes later, Tachibana Mai-Sakura and Yi Xiaoling arrived at the dining hall. Tachibana Mai-Sakura looked at Zhang Su with an inquisitive gaze, as if asking, what exactly is going on with you?

Zhang Su, however, pretended to understand nothing and ate his meal with gusto.

At six o'clock sharp, Zhang Su put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and stood up to leave, giving Yu Wen a look, to which the other party nodded slightly.

"Hey, what kind of plane are you and Teacher Yu flying?"

Just as Zhang Su reached the dining hall entrance, Zheng Xinyu chased after him.

"Are you going to deliver food to the monitoring room?"

Zhang Su pointed at the lunch box in Zheng Xinyu's hand.

"Yeah, for Xiaoshan and Xiaoxue. I'm asking you a question, don't change the subject first!"

The two walked out of the dining hall together, and Zheng Xinyu asked urgently.

"No, am I that obvious? Even you can tell I have something on my mind?"

Zhang Su took out a cigarette, lit it, and looked at Zheng Xinyu with great surprise.

"You snore on my pillow every day, of course I understand you. If it's not convenient to tell me, then I won't ask."

Zheng Xinyu only needed to know that something was really going on; as for what exactly it was, it was not that important.

"Be good, go deliver the food, and rest well after you finish."

Zhang Su patted Zheng Xinyu's head and walked toward the courtyard gate, saying cheerfully, "Full and satisfied, time for a stroll."

"Mysterious, bleh."

Zheng Xinyu made a face at Zhang Su's back, then ran toward the monitoring room in one breath.

"Brother Zhang? Finished eating?"

Jia Shiqin, who was on guard duty at the mountain gate, saw a figure swaying over, and upon closer inspection, it was Zhang Su, so he greeted him with a smile.

"Yeah, full. Taking a stroll to digest. How much longer until the shift change?"

While speaking, Zhang Su took out his cigarette case and threw one to Jia Shiqin.

"Soon, 6:30. Hmm, what dishes are we having tonight?"

Jia Shiqin lit the cigarette. He was older and usually didn't have much common language to communicate with others, so this was a case of making conversation for the sake of it.

"Flower rolls, shredded pork with pickled mustard greens, seaweed soup, rice, canned vegetables..."

To Jia Shiqin's surprise, Zhang Su actually listed them one by one, answering very seriously. This made him very embarrassed; he had just asked casually, the other party answered casually, and then he would say "not bad, not bad," and then change the subject. Now, how was he supposed to respond?

Zhang Su didn't wait for the awkward atmosphere to spread; he exhaled a puff of smoke, waved his hand, and said, "I'm going first, thank you for your hard work."

"Hey, hey, no hard work, Brother Zhang, take care."

Jia Shiqin breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the time: 6:08.

Zhang Su strolled toward his room, stood in the corner of the parking lot watching a few zombies running circles around the generator, and then ran into the laboratory trio at the entrance of the Little Lucky courtyard. After chatting for a couple of sentences, it was already 6:15 by the time he returned to his room!

Humming a little tune, Zhang Su organized his weapons, took out his tactical belt, and hung up his commonly used weapons. It was clearly a preparation for an imminent battle, yet not a hint of tension could be seen.

*Click. *

Just as Zhang Su put on his tactical belt, the walkie-talkie suddenly rang.

"Village No. 2 reporting, Village No. 2 reporting, zombie horde attack, zombie horde attack, coming from the south, coming from the south!"

Amidst the urgency was panic; it was a woman's voice.

Just one minute ago...

Xu Yingfen, the big sister on guard duty at Village No. 2, left the cafeteria courtyard carrying a full thermos, returned to the guard post to enjoy her dinner slowly, and was feeling happy while eating hot rice porridge and fried dried radishes with soybean paste in the cold wind.

Who would have thought that when she picked up the binoculars to look into the distance while chewing her pickles, her whole body went numb instantly; a patch of black shadows had appeared inexplicably on the wasteland to the south.

How long did the whole process of getting food take?

It was less than five minutes in total. Before, it was calm and peaceful, and she had confirmed repeatedly that there were no problems before going to get food. Five minutes later, the sky had completely changed!

The situation was very bad, but the recent training kept her from sinking into panic, and she immediately picked up the walkie-talkie to report the situation.

Zhang Su took off the walkie-talkie unhurriedly and said, "How far away, and what is the approximate number?"

"Less than a kilometer, less than a kilometer now. The number... I can't see clearly. Oh my god, it's a black mass of them, at least several hundred, maybe a thousand!"

Xu Yingfen held the binoculars in one hand and the walkie-talkie in the other, the spoon stained with rice grains falling to the ground. Her voice was trembling; she didn't understand how a group of zombies could suddenly pop up?

"Why did you only discover them when they were less than a kilometer away!"

Soon, Zhang Su's stern voice rang out, followed by: "The reserve team, assemble immediately! The captain will organize personnel to resist, make full use of the terrain advantages and defensive fortifications, and tell me the scale of the zombie horde immediately! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"Received, received."

"Understood... hurry, hurry."

Three consecutive "hurries," each more urgent than the last. Not only did Village No. 2 receive the message, but Village No. 1 naturally had a liaison officer as well. The two villages moved the moment they heard the order. The three captains all had headaches; the incident happened too suddenly.

(End of chapter)