Chapter 662

"Old Yuan, young people don't like to believe in these things, don't mind him. This craft is rare to see, hurry and show us."

Duan Wuhu shifted his position and sat next to Yuan Huotu, intending to see how he calculated the hexagram.

Yuan Huotu had an honest look on his face, and upon hearing someone praise him, he looked slightly embarrassed. He began shaking the copper coins again, saying: "I was weak and sickly since I was a child, and later I met an expert who pointed out that I lacked fire and earth in my five elements. After changing my name, I really got better. Later, I learned divination from that expert, though I'm actually not very proficient."

After speaking, he closed his eyes and shook them faster—ding-ding, ding-ding—the sound of the copper coins colliding was dense and dull, and then he tossed them onto the blanket to the side.

The copper coins landed, silent and still.

"Initial Nine, Six Two, Nine Three, Nine Four, Nine Five, Top Nine... Heaven-Fire Togetherness hexagram, Heaven-Fire Togetherness..."

Yuan Huotu muttered to himself for a while, then glared at Pu Canyong: "Look, I said it was very accurate. I asked about our luck, and this hexagram shows there is an opportunity to move upward now, and at the same time, we can get help from friends!"

Yuan Huotu held the copper coins, very excitedly saying: "These friends from 'Rush to the Mountains and Seas' are our help; our luck is bound to go upward!"

"Good, good, good, upward, upward..." Pu Canyong gave Yuan Huotu a slightly helpless compliment; after all, it was an auspicious sign, and if he were to play devil's advocate, he would surely provoke public anger.

"Haha, this hexagram is quite good, we are very honored!"

Duan Wuhu echoed very happily; he had already decided that if the hexagram was ominous, he would say they were just playing around, and if it was auspicious, he would give a thumbs up—classic double standards.

"A very good omen, not bad. Brother Pu, we don't have to believe it, but we can have basic reverence. What if it comes true? Don't you think so?"

Zhao Dezhu was happy; he believed in these things more.

"I think Huotu's divination has some skill to it, I'm willing to believe." Zhou Haiquan, the oldest member of the Dragon Head Camp, spoke up, his voice muffled.

Wu Lue was originally half-doubting, but seeing everyone express agreement, he also nodded vigorously; who doesn't hope for good things for themselves?

"This trip to the Shanhai District is for you to check the situation at Dragon Head Camp, and then to find other brothers out on missions. We also need to check the situation in the Shanhai District, and then investigate the zombie horde. On the road, don't talk about who is helping whom; everyone is contributing, helping each other, and moving forward in coordination."

Duan Wuhu summarized, making the few people beside him nod repeatedly, feeling it made a lot of sense.

"Hoo... snore..."

Just as they were talking, a snoring sound came from the corner. The few people turned their heads to look, and Fan Donglu, the biggest of the Dragon Head Camp's five-man group, was sleeping in his clothes, already snoring.

Fan Donglu had contributed the most to clearing the road earlier.

"Sleep, let's sleep too. I'll set an alarm for the shift change, sleep peacefully."

With Shen Linrui, the person in charge of Dragon Head Camp, away, Duan Wuhu naturally took on the responsibility, arranging all the detailed work in place.

After setting the alarm and confirming that the sentry personnel were fine, he finally fell into a light sleep.

Under the pitch-black night sky, Shen Linrui, on sentry duty on the roof, chattered away to Lightning in his pocket, talking about the dangerous experiences he and the brothers in the camp had been through, as well as the beautiful life during the peaceful era.

"I really want to return to the past. We had only walked a third of the journey around the Celestial Empire, I really wanted to continue, but unfortunately... there will never be a chance again."

Shen Linrui was not from Qincheng; his situation was similar to Ju Wuying's. Ju Wuying was traveling around the world, while he was motorcycling around the country.

Starting from Yunnan Province, he traveled north along the national border and coastline, arriving just in time at Qincheng. On the day he was preparing to set off for the next stop, Huludao City, the disaster broke out...

"Sigh, Lightning, don't you think it's a coincidence? If I had left Qincheng one day earlier, I might be mixed in with the five hundred thousand-strong army coming from Huludao City right now."

Facing the middle-aged man's chatter, Lightning couldn't take it; the dozens of kilometers of travel had already exhausted it, and it probably wouldn't recover without sleeping for a day and a night. It buried its head in the pocket and fell asleep, very quietly, without attracting Shen Linrui's attention.

On the other side, Lu Yubo was also talking, holding a walkie-talkie, whispering sweet nothings with Mo Qianlan, the kind of meaningless talk between young lovers. The theme revolved around three things: stay safe in the camp (outside), remember to miss me in the camp (outside), and eat well and keep warm and take care of yourself in the camp (outside)...

Besides the overly sugary sweet nothings, Mo Qianlan also told Lu Yubo about the execution incident that happened at Tianmayu that night, which made him extremely depressed—he had missed such a big spectacle...

After finishing the serious business, they went back to being lovey-dovey. After a while, Shen Linrui discovered that Lightning was asleep, and Lu Yubo didn't want to disturb Mo Qianlan's rest, so the two grown men started chatting. The two were originally sitting in the middle of their respective rooms, but to make it easier to talk, they moved as close to the edge as possible.

Separated by more than twenty meters, in the silent night, there was no need for a loud voice.

Through chatting, Lu Yubo learned about Shen Linrui's past; he used to run a bar and a homestay in Yunnan Province with his girlfriend, and after saving some money, he hired people to manage the business.

There was a fixed income of twenty or thirty thousand a month, and life was incredibly comfortable; he and his girlfriend just came out to motorcycle around the country...

Lu Yubo really wanted to ask about Shen Linrui's girlfriend, but he held back and didn't ask, because no matter the process, the ending must have been tragic.

Shen Linrui didn't have much interest in Lu Yubo; he mainly wanted to learn about Zhang Su from him, but the questions he asked were very measured, trying not to touch on sensitive aspects, and if he saw Lu Yubo had any reservations when answering, he would take the initiative to skip them.

There was a gap between the middle-aged man and the young man, but the middle-aged man was very tactful, maintaining a great atmosphere for the chat until the brother coming for the shift change climbed onto the roof, and the two ended their conversation.

"Team Leader Shen, you two can really talk. I woke up once at ten o'clock and heard you two whispering, and it's been going on until now; aren't you thirsty?"

Pu Canyong adjusted his hat and teased them in a daze.

"It's been a long time since I've talked to someone so freely, it's quite good. Little Lu, thank you for keeping me company; I feel much better inside."

Shen Linrui didn't mind Lu Yubo asking about some of his affairs; after saying it out loud, he felt much better.

"No need to thank me, what's there to thank? Haha, sitting there doing nothing, it's fine to chat."

Lu Yubo scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Zhao Dezhu, who was taking over the shift, grinned and said: "You two chatterboxes go down and rest, it's my turn with..."

Crack...

Before he could finish his sentence, a sound of wood breaking came from afar. The four people on the roof turned their heads to look at the source; those with binoculars raised them, and those with flashlights adjusted their beams to shine into the distance.

"Seems like there's nothing."

Lu Yubo licked his dry lips, frowning as he peered into the distance in the direction of the sound; there were only dilapidated rural courtyards there, all in a mess under the ravages of the shockwave.

"Probably just a window frame that froze and became brittle, couldn't hold up, and snapped; the shockwave had a significant impact on this area."

Shen Linrui put down his binoculars and breathed a sigh of relief. It was a deserted village nearby; the sky was already completely dark when they arrived, and they had quietly found a courtyard, roughly checked the surroundings, and didn't find any signs of zombies.

"You guys go down and rest!"

Zhao Dezhu patted Lu Yubo on the shoulder, took the binoculars from his hand, and prepared to take over the shift.

Rumble...

Just as the four were relaxing, another sound rang out. This time the direction was different, turned about seventy or eighty degrees, and the few became alert again.

"Damn, what's going on? Brother Lu, didn't you guys have any movement in the previous few hours?"

"We did, some small, fragmented sounds are normal, but not this loud. Wait, no, damn it, there are zombies!"

Lu Yubo shouted in a low voice, his tone filled with vigilance.

"There is a group of zombies."

Shen Linrui held up his binoculars, and with the limited light from the flashlight, he could see shadows of about forty or fifty zombies struggling to move through the ruins, moving toward them, but this was only a part; there were others hidden in the dark that hadn't been discovered! (End of chapter)