Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

“Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat-tat, the gunfire sounded just like firecrackers last night, scared me so much that I didn’t dare to see what happened. When I opened my eyes, I saw bodies strewn all over the place!”

“Oh my gosh, Uncle, you guys are amazing! The Cyan Dragon Corps had so many people, and you killed them all! Incredible! And that big fat zombie was terrifying, like a small car. I thought I was done for, but you guys took it down too! Awesome!”

“Hey, Uncle, what did you use to blow up the car? Boom, the glass shook!”

“And, and, how did you manage to wipe out the Cyan Dragon Corps so quickly? Did you kill them all? So impressive!”

In the car, Su Xiaoya seemed like a different person, talking non-stop and showering the Celestial Horse Island team with endless rainbow praises for their combat prowess.

“Old Tan, is your daughter always this talkative?”

Zhang Su frowned and scratched his ear, lazily sitting in the front passenger seat.

Tan Huajun shook his head with a smile, saying, “I don’t spend much time with Lanlan, we don’t have much in common, she’s always chatting with her classmates on WeChat…”

“Auntie, you were so brave last night, daring to stand up and duel with the big fat zombie, I want to learn from you!”

Su Xiaoya quickly flattered upon hearing Tan Huajun speak.

The driver, Lu Yubo, feeling left out, hurriedly said, “Hey hey, what about me? Am I not fierce?”

“Eh? And who are you again…?”

Su Xiaoya seemed a bit unfamiliar with Lu Yubo.

Pfft…

This made the others nearly burst out laughing.

“Show us the way, which direction should we go ahead?”

Lu Yubo’s face turned dark instantly. If it weren’t for Mo Qianlan’s mother, who might become his mother-in-law, sitting in the car, he would definitely have cursed!

Departing from Celestial Horse Island and driving in the dark, it took about twenty minutes for the FJ Cruiser to lead the convoy to the outside of a pitch-black village. The policies in the same area were similar, causing the layout of the villages to be almost identical. If it were not for someone familiar, it would be hard to differentiate between them.

Along the way, Zhang Su constantly monitored the population changes of the Cyan Dragon Corps in his mind. The last decrease happened about ten minutes ago, dropping to ninety-two, and finally stopped.

Excluding the three captives staying on Celestial Horse Island, there were eighty-nine people left in the Cyan Dragon Corps. Zhang Su didn’t believe they could have defeated the zombie horde after losing more than two hundred lives.

Because the outcome of the Cyan Dragon Corps’ failure could have been foreseen when they left Qing County.

The reason there were still so many left was probably because they were hiding in some unknown place, avoiding the disaster, or perhaps they escaped from some nook from the barracks!

“Stop the car!”

Zhang Su was pondering when the zombie horde from Qing County would leave when he suddenly shouted.

Lu Yubo slammed the brakes, and everyone in the car lurched forward.

Thud.

“Ouch…”

Su Xiaoya’s face made intimate contact with the front seat, her nose stinging sharply, tears streaming down.

Luckily, the car behind was not going fast, or an emergency stop would have caused a chain of rear-end collisions.

“Hey… girl, your villagers are quite sinister!” Lu Yubo stopped the car and took a closer look, his expression instantly twisting.

The car’s headlights illuminated the road leading into the village, where a barrier pole used for blocking train tracks was positioned dozens of meters away, and on the ground were triangular spike strips designed to puncture tires. The unique design ensured that the spikes always pointed upward, and when a tire rolled over, it wouldn’t push away but would easily puncture!

With its unique design, it only took one spike to scrap a tire unless it was a special explosion-proof solid tire!

To avoid drawing attention, the spikes were specially patterned, making them hard to notice under car lights at night without careful observation.

Fortunately, Zhang Su had extraordinary eyesight, or else the convoy’s tires would have been doomed.

“I… I didn’t know, what’s going on?”

Su Xiaoya looked puzzled at Lu Yubo, who sneered at her, not understanding the situation.

“How did your village know someone was coming! Be honest, you’re a hostage now, adjust your attitude!”

Zhang Su didn’t bother dwelling on this issue; he could tell Su Xiaoya genuinely didn’t know, or she would have warned them, having no reason to disregard her own safety.

“Just honk three times, two short and one long; everyone is so aggressive…”

Su Xiaoya weakly answered, muttering under her breath.

However, before Lu Yubo could honk, flashlight beams appeared at the end of the road. More than one, in fact, as more than a dozen people gradually emerged from behind the barricades, peering in their direction.

“The one standing to the left in the leather jacket, that’s our current village chief, Lei Youliang, Uncle Lei!”

Su Xiaoya saw the group approaching and immediately got excited, pointing them out to Zhang Su.

The others couldn’t clearly see what was happening from dozens of meters away, but Zhang Su could. The ten people who came out were all carrying guns; in terms of equipment, they weren’t weak. Only a survivor settlement like this could dare to challenge the Cyan Dragon Corps.

Zhang Su focused his gaze on Lei Youliang. He looked to be about twenty-six or twenty-seven, likely a bit younger than him. He wore a leather jacket on top, jeans on the bottom, and a pair of black-framed glasses, giving off a refined yet capable vibe.

“You, get out of the car!”

Zhang Su patted Su Xiaoya’s shoulder, then opened the door and stepped out of the car.

Soon after, the doors of all the cars behind opened, and armed men appeared on both sides of the vehicles.

“Friends from the Cyan Dragon Corps?”

Seeing the convoy, Lei Youliang instinctively assumed it was the Cyan Dragon Corps’ Grain Collection Team. They had been waiting the entire day!

“Cyan Dragon Corps? No Cyan Dragon Corps! We are from Celestial Horse Island. You know this girl, right?”

Zhang Su grabbed Su Xiaoya from behind the car door and brought her to his side.

“What?”

“Xiaoya, that’s Xiaoya!”

“They really are people from Celestial Horse Island!”

The people of Kuanzhuang became instantly agitated upon realizing the girl was under Zhang Su’s control.

“Brother, I’m Lei Youliang from Kuanzhuang. Welcome, friends from Celestial Horse Island, to our Kuanzhuang!”

Leather-jacketed Lei Youliang was taken aback, but he kept his composure and waved to Zhang Su’s group, while signaling the villagers to clear the roadblock immediately.

The makeshift road spikes were not just scattered randomly; they were connected by nearly invisible fishing lines. Just one pull and the road was clear, making it easy to reset as needed. Crude yet functional.

“Now you see why I didn’t want to establish a safe base in the village. Just look at Kuanzhuang. The West Camp felt the pressure and sought refuge with the Cyan Dragon Corps, the United Village was overrun by zombies, and even though Kuanzhuang is well-armed, they still have to lay traps around at night. It’s incredibly challenging to defend something so interconnected!”

Zhang Su observed the bustling activity in Kuanzhuang, mumbling to his companion.

“Sigh…” Su Xiaoya sighed, “Uncle Lei considered taking everyone to the northern mountains, but some disagreed, not wanting to leave the village. Especially Grandma Yun. People couldn’t convince her, so they just developed within the village.”

“Can’t out-argue an old granny?” Zhang Su smirked, shaking his head with a cynical smile, “She’s lived long enough, meddling and delaying young people’s chances for a better survival. What’s her intention?”

“I’m not in charge, how would I know?” Su Xiaoya pouted, seemingly feeling it’s not right to arbitrarily criticize elders.

Soon, the people of Kuanzhuang had the road re-cleared.

“Leave the drivers to watch the cars, everyone else follow me!”

Zhang Su waved his hand, and over ten heavily armed men followed him towards the group from Kuanzhuang.

His arm was draped over Su Xiaoya’s shoulder. Those who knew it saw Su Xiaoya as Zhang Su’s hostage; those who didn’t might think they were siblings or perhaps an age-discrepant couple.

“Village Chief Lei, I’ve brought the person to you!” Zhang Su stated frankly as the people of Kuanzhuang approached.

He didn’t say returned or brought back, but brought, as if delivering goods yet unpaid for.

Lei Youliang and his group looked at the over ten people opposite them with serious expressions, feeling immense pressure.

“Uncle Lei, I was caught the moment I reached Celestial Horse Island…”

Seeing her family, Su Xiaoya’s lips quivered, her eyes red with grievance, wanting to move but unable to due to the iron-grip-like hand on her shoulder.

“It’s fine. You’re young, plenty of time to learn.” Lei Youliang comforted Su Xiaoya, then reached a hand towards Zhang Su, “Thank you, brother. May I ask your name?”

Zhang Su smiled, looking at the other without responding, as his left hand kept a grip on Su Xiaoya’s shoulder, reserving his right for any contingency, including this handshake attempt, suspecting the other’s ploy to snatch her the moment he let go. That could not be allowed!

“Zhang, Zhang Su.”

Zhang Su didn’t play by the other’s rules, extending his right hand to awkwardly shake the other’s left.

All present noticed this detail, but no one spoke.

“Heh heh heh.” Lei Youliang chuckled, not embarrassed at having his petty trick uncovered, and gestured towards the village, “Friends from Celestial Horse Island, you’ve come a long way; why not come to our village, rest a bit, and talk about future cooperations?”