Chapter 400

If the level of tension in the Vanguard First Squad's car was sixty percent, then the tension in the car of Zhang Xin, captain of the Vanguard Third Squad, had soared directly to eighty percent.

"It's over, it's over, it's over, something is going to happen!"

Zhang Xin gripped the steering wheel tightly, driving frantically toward the north.

"What do you mean, Brother Zhang?"

A burly man in the back seat asked, confused.

"Zhou Le just finished reporting the news about the zombie horde in the north, and the leader immediately ordered everyone to stand by. This damn thing means they're preparing for war!"

Zhang Xin said, very distressed.

At the beginning of the disaster, he was combative and aggressive, leading a group of people to run rampant in the residential compound, but all of this was for survival. Once survival was guaranteed, he longed for peace...

"Brother Zhang, that... hurry and reply. We're the only ones left who haven't spoken!"

Little Hu held the walkie-talkie in his hand. He knew what Zhang Xin was nervous about; this time it was very likely to be a conflict with the forces in the north, and the one currently bearing the brunt in the north was Tianmayu!

"You press it, I'll speak!"

"Hey, hey, three, two, one!"

"Received, Leader. Little Zhang of the Vanguard Third Squad received. We have some situation here, we will return immediately after dealing with it..."

"Brother Zhang, request support, come quickly..." Little Hu shouted with a distant voice at the top of his lungs.

"Coming! Leader, we will return immediately after dealing with the situation here!"

The shouting of Zhang Xin and Little Hu completely masked the noise made by the car while driving. He had no intention of stopping or turning around, continuing to speed north. No matter what the leader wanted to do, he had to leave himself a way out! The brief scene did not arouse Liao Youzhi's suspicion; encountering sudden situations in the apocalypse was very common. However, this made Gong Chengming, who was driving back to headquarters, frown.

"What is this Zhang Xin busy with..."

Based on previous knowledge, Gong Chengming secretly felt that there was some connection between Zhang Xin and Zhang Su, but he could not find substantive evidence. This stalling operation gave him many conjectures.

When the vehicles returned to the Survivor Alliance one after another, Zhang Su's two cars also returned to Tianmayu. When passing by the satellite village, they even specifically went in for a turn to guide the work, which could also be considered brushing up their presence.

"You've been out for quite a while. I left food for you, you can eat it after heating it up!"

Hearing the report from the monitoring room staff that the cars had returned, Zheng Xinyu ran to the parking lot at the first opportunity. She only felt relieved after seeing Zhang Su and the others walk off the car safe and sound.

Every time he went out, she was very worried, but she couldn't use the walkie-talkie to contact Zhang Su. As the leader's woman, no matter how worried she was, she had to hide it in her heart and not show it. Not only could she not show pessimism, but she also had to remain positive, sunny, and optimistic.

Once Zheng Xinyu or Zhong Xiao showed a gloomy and miserable appearance, it would immediately spread like a virus, making other members feel nervous as well, and vice versa.

"Look at their sorry state." Zhang Su pointed at the trembling Lu Yubo and the others, laughing: "They were slow enough to begin with, and then we ran into a zombie horde, which delayed us for some time."

"Another zombie horde wandering toward the camp? Mr. Zhang, with our current cleaning speed, I'm afraid the situation is not optimistic."

Yu Wen and Yu Qing came to the parking lot together to welcome the returning group. Ever since the people from the United Village, West Camp, and Kuanzhuang moved away, the atmosphere in Tianmayu had returned to how it was before. Whenever someone returned from outside, those who had no work on hand would come out to welcome them, just like a big family.

"Not to mention the other zombie hordes, the one we encountered today has been completely resolved!"

Zhao Dezhu happily reported to his father-in-law: "The big brother lured the zombie horde far, far away, all the way to the North Second Ring Road. Haha, that group of stupid zombies got confused on the spot and can't come back!"

"So far..." Yu Wen was stunned for a moment, then realized: "No wonder you were gone for so long. This trip wasn't easy. Did any danger happen?"

Luring a zombie horde itself is not difficult, but ensuring that not too many zombies fall behind, while also paying attention to various unexpected accidents, requires seasoned skills. It especially requires preventing being caught in a pincer by zombie hordes that suddenly pop up from other places. From Niuquanzi Town to the North Second Ring Road, even the straight-line distance is over fifteen kilometers—a quite long stretch of road!

"Everything went smoothly. Well, you guys move the things into the warehouse, we're going to eat first, and we'll have regular training in the afternoon."

Zhang Su took off his gloves and patted them. After speaking, he walked toward the restaurant. From afar, he saw Tachibana Mai standing in the middle of the road; just by looking at her, he knew she was waiting for him.

"What is that island woman looking for me for?"

Zhang Su whispered to Zheng Xinyu beside him.

Zheng Xinyu also shook her head in confusion, indicating she didn't know.

"Little Jap, what are you blocking the middle of the road for?"

Zhang Su laughed and greeted her, his opening remark almost making Tachibana Mai lose her composure.

"That doesn't sound good, I don't want that nickname..."

Tachibana Mai first expressed her dissatisfaction, then looked at the people following Zhang Su and said, "I hope I can also participate in the search missions outside." She clearly remembered the rules and regulations: there was a ten percent commission for searching for supplies outside. Although they were indeed not worried about food and drink in Tianmayu as Zhang Su said, she always had a sense of crisis and hoped to hoard more of her own supplies for a rainy day.

"Ha, quite ambitious..."

Zhang Su didn't expect that the other party was looking for him for such a small matter, and laughed: "No problem. Since you have the idea, then I'll take you with us tomorrow. But it's agreed, you must listen to commands and follow the rules, otherwise I won't be polite!"

Tachibana Mai was secretly angry. If the other party had said he wouldn't be polite half a month ago, she would only have sneered behind his back, but now it wouldn't work, because she was already completely unable to beat Zhang Su...

"Rest assured, I will do whatever they do."

"Fine, go get busy. We still have training in the afternoon, I'm going to grab a bite to eat first!"

Zhang Su waved his hand to dismiss Tachibana Mai.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 395 =====

Zhang Su recognized the walkie-talkie in Zhong Xiao's hand, raised his eyebrows, and said to the others: "You guys go eat first!"

Having said that, he stepped forward and took the walkie-talkie from Zhong Xiao's hand, asking: "What's the situation?"

"It just rang, there's something urgent for you!"

"Urgent matter?"

Zhang Su frowned and walked upstairs with the walkie-talkie, unbuttoning his clothes as he went. Since he wasn't going to eat, he planned to go back to his room to change clothes first. Once inside the room, he pressed the talk button and said: "Old Zhang?"

"Oh my, Brother Zhang, finally waited for you. Is it convenient for you to talk there now?"

In just two or three seconds, Zhang Xin had a response.

Zhang Su exchanged a glance with Zheng Xinyu and Zhong Xiao. The two women walked out of the room very cooperatively. It wasn't entirely to avoid suspicion, but also to help Zhang Su watch the situation outside and maintain a good communication environment.

"It's fine, I'm the only one in the room, go ahead!"

Zhang Su took off the clothes he wore outside, sat on a chair with his legs crossed, took out a cigarette and lit it, unable to stop himself from pondering what urgent matter the other party had.

"Brother, I'm asking you something, don't mind it. Today, someone lured several thousand zombies to the intersection of the Provincial 52 road and the North Second Ring Road. This matter... do you know about it?"

Even through the electrical signal, one could imagine Zhang Xin's cautious and nervous voice.

Zhang Su's heart skipped a beat. He didn't answer directly, but probed: "Isn't a zombie horde a very normal situation? There are several zombie hordes near me, the big ones are almost ten thousand. A few thousand isn't much, what's the matter?"

"Oh, Brother Zhang, it's not a question of whether it's much or not now. The problem is that this has happened again and again. Liao Youzhi has gone berserk. He just gave an order for all of us to return to headquarters. It might be to deal with this matter. He's probably going to reach out to the north!"

"Reach out"—Zhang Su understood the meaning of these words as soon as he heard them, but he didn't quite understand what was meant by "again and again."

"Old Zhang, the fact that you can talk to me with this walkie-talkie proves that you ran to the north. Your leader called people back, and you ran over to tip me off—that's loyal. I'll also tell you the truth: it was indeed me who lured a zombie horde to the North Second Ring Road today, but only this once today. Whatever 'again and again' has nothing to do with me!"

Zhang Su was not afraid of Liao Youzhi, he just didn't want to take the blame. Speaking of this, he immediately thought of the fact that the zombie horde had discovered other survivors; it seemed there was a connection between the two.

This time, Zhang Xin paused for a moment on the other end, presumably his CPU was running frantically. After about half a minute, he said: "Damn it, then who else is making trouble? Brother Zhang, in the last month or so, this kind of thing has happened two or three times. Liao Youzhi can't stand it anymore!"

"What the hell does it have to do with me that he can't stand it? You mean he's convinced that I did all these things and intends to bring people over to cause me trouble?"

Gong Chengming narrowed his eyes, tapped the brake to remind the car behind, and then stepped on the brake to stop the car in the middle of the road, turned his head and looked at everyone in the car, and said slowly: "Old Liao is going to do something to the north!"

"Ah?"

Xiao Xuejian's eyes rolled, and he said

After hearing Zhang Xin's words, Zhang Su couldn't help but curl his lips and said: "Old Zhang, now that you've said this, does it mean you intend to abandon the Survivor Alliance and join my Tianmayu?"

"We've known each other for a while, and I won't lie to you. If things are peaceful, I'll stay in the Survivor Alliance and pass you some information from time to time, living comfortably. If a conflict occurs, I'll defect immediately!"

Zhang Xin said very sincerely. This was an idea he had reached after pondering for a while.

"Fine, fine, fine. So you've become the spy I planted in the Alliance, huh? Haha, then do I also have to pay you a salary?"

Zhang Su didn't believe everything Zhang Xin said, but he didn't disbelieve it entirely either. Putting himself in his shoes, he could understand Zhang Xin's motivation for doing this. As long as there is a reasonable motivation, then the behavior is also reasonable.

(End of chapter)