Chapter 494: Dough? C4!

Armed with guns and blades, one member of Absolute Justice after another emerged from behind the vehicles.

Zhang Su acted as if he saw nothing. He pointed toward Yang Xinqi and the others, saying, "The intelligence your leader received is wrong. Commander Yang is standing right here, alive and well, and the brothers of the Heaven's Will Group are all fine too. So, you can forget about those survivors!"

"That's not happening!"

It wasn't Huang Yixiao who spoke, but the manic Lei Zi.

Lei Zi was crazy, but not stupid. These captives were slaves of Absolute Justice; he couldn't just give them up easily.

"Huang, you tell him!"

Lei Zi, holding a handgun, leaned against a vehicle, his toes pointed toward the other side of the car, ready to dive for cover at any moment. He gestured toward the main body of captives behind them and said, "For today's operation, we mobilized a massive amount of manpower and resources. Just the gasoline alone cost us several hundred liters. You want to take these people back? Not impossible, but you must provide supplies as compensation!"

"You have the nerve to ask for compensation... What about the goods from the Auto Park warehouses? Where did you haul them off to?"

Yang Xinqi had watched the whole thing; their convoy didn't have any cargo trucks, yet the warehouses at the Auto Park had been looted clean, as if licked spotless by a starving pig.

"Wait!" Huang Yixiao didn't answer Yang Xinqi's question. He frowned and asked, "You came from the Auto Park; you must have seen our two brothers. Where are they?"

When he saw the Eagle Society members, he subconsciously assumed they had chased them down after getting word from Cao Duoliang.

"Those two fellows tried to sabotage things, so I locked them up at the Auto Park. How about this: you return the looted supplies plus those two men, and you get these survivors in exchange. You're guaranteed to make a profit, how about it?"

Zhang Su pointed to the hundred-plus elderly, women, and children. They were the key to his challenge mission; whether he could get the supplies back was secondary—he had to secure the Heaven's Will Group survivors first.

"That's not happening!"

It wasn't Huang Yixiao who spoke, but the manic Lei Zi.

He was most interested in the bargaining phase. Seeing things reach this stage, he immediately cut in: "Those supplies aren't even enough to cover the gas we used for this trip. Besides, returning Xiao Ya and Da Gen is only right and proper, so you must provide additional compensation! By the way, Officer Liu, you still owe us a batch of supplies. You should have heard about the ransom from that fellow Ma, right?"

Liu Yao looked incredibly annoyed. If it weren't for the fact that the guy was covered in explosives, he would have loved to empty a magazine into him!

"Supplies, huh... I've got it!"

A look of excitement appeared on Zhang Su's face. He pointed to a box truck nearby: "Mutated zombies, have you seen one? We just captured one before coming here. How about we trade this for those people?"

Liu Yao and Yang Xinqi almost couldn't keep a straight face. If they still didn't understand what Zhang Su was doing, their time as leaders had been for nothing.

This wasn't "bullying the weak and fearing the strong"—it was playing along to minimize casualties...

Lei Zi and Huang Yixiao didn't know this. They exchanged glances, their eyes filled with shock and joy.

"Mutated zombie? You mean a variant zombie?"

Huang Yixiao stepped forward two paces, looking cautious yet expectant.

Zhang Su nodded: "We're likely talking about the same thing, just different names. I have a fire zombie here. Haven't you felt the warmth? It's all heat radiated by this zombie!"

"Damn, I knew I wasn't imagining it, it is warmer!"

"So it's heat emitted by a variant zombie, that's badass!"

"This is a rare find. With this variant zombie, we won't have to fear the winter anymore!"

"We have to take it back, that's a huge contribution!"

After Zhang Su finished speaking, the Absolute Justice members looked at each other, all of them suddenly enlightened.

"The variant zombie is in that box truck, right? Open it up and let me take a look!"

Lei Zi gestured toward the box truck with his chin.

"Don't be in such a rush!"

Zhang Su shook his head with a smile: "Negotiations should look like negotiations. Look, we've put our weapons away, but you're still holding yours. And you're covered in all those detonators—it's clear you lack sincerity, and I don't like that."

"You don't like it... who cares what you like? If you don't like it, then what?" Lei Zi was annoyed. He was about to blow his top, but then he remembered the other party's status and suppressed his anger to ask patiently.

"I came here to rescue my brothers, not to start a war. We should put down our weapons and talk calmly. If you want to trade, at least show some attitude. Or, if you can't make the call, why don't we go to the Absolute Justice headquarters to talk?"

Zhang Su spread his arms and spoke eloquently, his presence far more imposing than the other side's.

"Are you sure you don't want to start a war?"

Huang Yixiao asked suspiciously.

Zhang Su put his hands behind his back and nodded: "Absolutely not. I have no interest in killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of my own. I believe many conflicts can be resolved through conversation."

No one on the scene understood the subtext, but the members of the Yama Legion all knew Zhang Su's words definitely held a hidden meaning.

If Yu Wen were here, he would have translated it immediately: "No interest in killing a thousand at the cost of eight hundred—that means killing a thousand at the cost of eight is just fine..."

"Fine, I'll trust you once!"

Huang Yixiao looked at Zhang Su earnestly. Seeing him so calm and collected, with no hint of hostility, he raised his hand to signal his companions: "Everyone, put your weapons away! Don't act rashly!"

If they could pull off this trade, it would be a huge score, and the credit would go to him. But if they went back to headquarters and just killed everyone, the benefits wouldn't be nearly as great.

Huang Yixiao knew exactly how to do that math.

Absolute Justice didn't actually have many firearms—more than the five Cao Duoliang mentioned, but only about ten people were armed. To the Heaven's Will Group, this was sloppy, but if you factored in the crazy bomber Lei Zi, it was still quite terrifying.

Seeing everyone put their weapons away, Zhang Su looked at Lei Zi, who hadn't made any further moves, and asked curiously: "Brother Lei, what about your side?"

"What about my side? I said let me see the variant zombie!"

Whether Lei Zi was truly crazy or just playing dumb, he completely ignored the point, lost in his own train of thought.

"Seeing the fire zombie is no problem, it was the bargaining chip we intended to trade with you anyway. But if you want to come over and look, you first have to remove those detonators. This is a fire zombie; the high temperature could easily set them off. You have to be responsible for everyone's safety!"

As he spoke, Zhang Su took a bottle of water from his bag and poured it onto the cargo box. It hissed, kicking up a cloud of white mist, showing just how high the temperature was.

This scene left the Absolute Justice members marveling, and the Heaven's Will Group captives in the back were also craning their necks, full of curiosity.

"Damn, this is actually interesting... Hey, come to think of it, if I blow you all to hell, doesn't this thing belong to me anyway? Why did I agree to your trade?"

Lei Zi patted the detonators on his chest, fearless.

"That's not how it works..."

Facing the stubborn fellow, Zhang Su didn't get angry. He looked at Ju Wuying and beckoned her over.

Lei Zi was puzzled. They were talking just fine, why suddenly call over a fierce-looking woman? And then he watched as she took something wrapped in cloth out of her bag.

"Violence can't solve problems. I'm a very civilized person, I really don't like mutual destruction. If you don't believe me, look at what this is."

As he spoke, Zhang Su held a block slightly larger than a brick and displayed it to the Absolute Justice members opposite.

"Dough!"

Lei Zi took one look and gave his answer immediately.

"Wrong... look closer!"

Black lines appeared on Zhang Su's forehead, and he shook the object in his hand.

"This is..."

A man among the Absolute Justice group squinted, then suddenly turned pale, his lips trembling: "Brother Lei, that... that's C4!!!"

(End of chapter)