Chapter 650: Everything is Gone

"No, this is impossible!"

Shen Linrui suddenly shouted, waving his arms to break free from his companions' grip. He lunged in front of Lightning, scooped it into his palm, his expression twisted and eyes bloodshot. "Lightning, really? Are you saying it's true? You're not joking with me?"

Lightning could have easily dodged Shen Linrui's grasp, but it didn't. Trapped in his palm, it nodded weakly, sobbing softly.

"Team Leader Shen, what is it? What exactly did Lightning say?"

"Yeah, translate for us. Did something happen to Jiajia?"

Jiajia was Lightning's owner and also Shen Linrui's god-sister.

Shen Linrui hung his head, his arms dropping naturally, and Lightning fell to the ground.

"Team Leader Shen, tell everyone the situation."

Zhang Su stepped forward and placed a hand on Shen Linrui's shoulder.

"I..." Shen Linrui looked up, his face covered in tear tracks. He turned to look at his companions and choked out, "It's gone. The Dragon Head camp is gone. Ahhh!"

Shen Linrui was grieving, angry, and frantic to the point of jumping.

Even though he already knew the worst-case scenario, Zhang Su couldn't help but feel a chill of sorrow. He didn't even know how many people were in the Dragon Head camp, and just like that, they were wiped out in one wave...

In the Qincheng area, the population had plummeted again. Perhaps in other corners of the world, the same tragedy was playing out.

Pan Guoliang, usually cheerful and optimistic, had his brows knitted into a knot. He was a person who loved a lively atmosphere; he liked having people around.

After Shen Linrui finished speaking, the other four men from the Dragon Head camp were stunned, clearly in a state of total mental blankness.

*Tap-tap, tap-tap. * More footsteps sounded. Yu Wen and Zhao Dezhu also came out, draped in clothes. Seeing a grown man crying his heart out under the beam of light, they didn't have the heart to ask what happened, only looking at Zhang Su with questioning eyes.

"No, Team Leader Shen, did you really understand what Lightning was trying to express? I don't believe it. I don't believe the camp is gone. It's impossible. Lightning, how could the Dragon Head camp be gone? Such a large area, such high walls. Tell me, are you lying to us for fun?"

A man wearing an ear-flap hat was snapped back to reality by the footsteps. He rushed forward, threw himself on the ground, and brought his face close to Lightning, asking urgently.

Lightning looked up at the man weakly and shook its head, meaning: I'm not lying.

"Why? How could it just suddenly be gone? This is impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"This, this, this... when we left yesterday, the zombie horde was still far from the camp. With the constant harassment, it should have taken at least thirty-six hours or longer to reach the Shanhai District! Even if the horde reached the Shanhai District, it couldn't have collapsed so quickly!"

"Mountain-Lake Loss... indeed a loss, a great loss..."

The other three men finally reacted, pacing around anxiously, their faces full of disbelief. Since the outbreak of the disaster, this was the most shocking news yet! "Haven't you figured it out yet?"

Zhang Su shook his head. These people's associative ability was really poor. He spoke up to explain for Shen Linrui.

"Why did our camp become like this? That tremor everyone thought was an earthquake, and the glow in the eastern sky—can you figure it out now? The Dragon Head camp exploded. It was leveled by the explosion!"

"You're talking nonsense. Where would such a powerful bomb come from? It's not a nuclear weapon. It couldn't have leveled the Dragon Head camp directly!"

Someone immediately retorted. A burly man with a pale face, his lips trembling and spitting as he spoke, clearly knew the answer in his heart but wanted to refute it because someone else said it.

Zhang Su didn't care about the man's attitude. "Leveled" was a relatively euphemistic expression. If he really wanted to say it, it might all be gone—vaporized...

He pursed his lips, took off his sunglasses, and took a deep breath. A powerful sense of peace swept out.

In less than five seconds, Shen Linrui gradually calmed down from his frantic jumping, and the others' moods also slowly stabilized, though they remained incredibly sad.

Lightning's furry body shuddered, its bright, watery eyes looking at the man who had taken off his sunglasses with confusion.

Tachibana Maiying moved a few meters away from Zhang Su without a sound... Pan Guoliang, Yu Wen, and Zhao Dezhu only felt a sense of "heart like still water" echoing in their chests.

"Team Leader Shen, let me ask you, does your camp have a habit of using fire to deal with zombies?"

Seeing that everyone's emotions had stabilized and they could probably communicate normally, Zhang Su put his sunglasses back on.

Shen Linrui turned his head, his face full of pain, snot and tears everywhere. He said with difficulty, "We used it before, but later discovered that zombies become fiercer when they catch fire, so we almost stopped using fire. Yama, do you know something? Tell me, please tell me, I beg you."

Unlike his companions who were self-deceiving, Shen Linrui could feel that Zhang Su clearly knew many things they didn't. He knelt on the ground, looking at Zhang Su with pleading eyes.

He had many brothers with whom he shared deep bonds in the camp, as well as his god-sister, and the woman he loved, who was two months pregnant. Now, in an instant, they were all gone, making him feel like he had fallen into hell.

"Get up, get up!"

Zhang Su stepped forward and pulled Shen Linrui up. With the strength to toss a three-hundred-pound tire, lifting a man who had gone limp like mud was no problem at all.

Shen Linrui swayed. He was shocked by Zhang Su's immense strength, but for only a moment, he returned to that state of sorrow, feeling waves of heartache.

"Let's go, let's go over there to warm up and talk slowly."

Zhang Su didn't intend to stand on the bone-chilling mountain road. He led the group to the side of the warm box truck.

Along the way, the group grew again as several more people who were watching the commotion crawled out of their warm quilts, asking about the situation in hushed voices.

"Brother Zhang, what are you guys..."

Wang Longzhong, who was guarding the box truck, was a bit confused to see a dozen people walking over from the darkness with flashlights.

"It's nothing, Old Wang. If you're not sleepy, stay here. If you are, go back to rest."

Zhang Su tossed a cigarette to Wang Longzhong. Under the confused gazes of Shen Linrui and the others, he sat on the truck. Then, with a *clank*, one side of the cargo box opened, startling everyone.

"Come, look."

Zhang Su signaled for Shen Linrui and the others to face the fire-zombie, pointing inside the cargo box. "This kind of zombie is called a Mutant Zombie. Your camp should have them too, right?"

Shen Linrui and the others looked curiously into the cargo box. The zombie with fire-red cracked patterns all over its body was extremely shocking, leaving them speechless for a moment.

"Yes, we do. In our camp, we call them Mutant Dead. We discovered one zombie with metallicized arms, which was captured by the guys from the Vanguard Army, but they are all controlled by the Dragon Head. It's said there are several types. Yama, do you mean that the explosion is related to Mutant Zombies?"

Shen Linrui snapped out of his shock and looked at Zhang Su.

Lightning had crawled into Shen Linrui's shirt pocket at some point. Feeling waves of heat, its eyelids began to fight. It had run all the way from the Dragon Head camp, and it was sleepy, tired, cold, and hungry.

"That's right!"

Zhang Su took out cigarettes and passed them around. "We have seen five or six types of Mutant Zombies so far, varying in strength, each with unique abilities. There is one type of zombie from which explosives can be extracted, and the explosion effect is extremely astonishing. Do you remember the explosion you saw while peeking at our battle from the north a few days ago?"

"That was...! Holy crap..."

Shen Linrui felt his scalp tingle. His arm accidentally touched the cargo box, and the heat made him jump.

"That's right, that was an explosion I created using extracts from a Mutant Zombie. I only used a tiny bit, less than one-thirtieth of the total extract, and it had such terrifying power! Based on the commotion in the southeast yesterday, I can responsibly tell you that the Dragon Head camp likely ignited one of those Mutant Zombies!"

Zhang Su mixed truth with lies. There was no need to reveal too many details to Shen Linrui and the others; letting them know the general idea was enough.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 651 =====