Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

“Good man, brother, haha, I’m… I’m injured, pretty badly, not sure if I can be saved, but right now, I just want a sip of water, do you have any?”

Pan Guoliang, ever the easygoing one, reached out to Zhang Su, who was standing by the hatch, asking for water with his usual optimistic smile on his face.

Zhang Su gestured to the people around him, saying, “Get me a bottle of water.”

“Catch, Brother Su.”

Wu Lue quickly pulled a thermal flask from his bag and tossed it over.

Zhang Su caught the thermal flask, squatted down, and let it drop straight to Pan Guoliang’s side.

“Ah, water is a good thing, but if there was a bit of liquor, that would be even better!”

Muttering, Pan Guoliang struggled to unscrew the flask and chugged a few gulps.

Taking this opportunity, Zhang Su observed Pan Guoliang’s general condition. His rib area clothing had a big rip, likely where he’d been cut, but to see the exact injury, the clothing would need to be removed.

After Pan Guoliang finished drinking, Zhang Su said, “I heard from Xin Qi that the first and second teams are combat elites. Comrade Elite, looks like you’re the tank gunner?”

The Type 99 tank requires a three-man team: the commander oversees the entire vehicle’s operations and communications, assists the gunner in target observation and machine gun operation; the gunner manages aiming and firing the cannon and machine gun, and importantly, loading the cannon; while the driver, as the name implies, drives the tank.

“Gunner my ass, I’m just a deserter! Damn, those lunatics concocted some freakish monsters that went berserk. I was at the front lines desperately fighting zombies when a piece of corrugated steel flew at me like a goddamn flying knife. Lucky I dodged a bit, or I’d be sliced in half, barely managed to crawl into the tank, saved half my sorry life!”

Pan Guoliang shakily dug out a cigarette pack from his pocket, opening it only to find a lighter left…

“I doubt I’ll survive, good man, brother, how about a cigarette for a send-off?”

Pan Guoliang tried hard to lift his head and looked up at Zhang Su, raising his hand in a gesture meaning to give him one.

“Ha, you don’t even know who I am, yet you ask me for water and a smoke, and even chatter this much?”

Zhang Su was somewhat impressed by Pan Guoliang’s optimistic attitude.

“Cough, cough…” Pan Guoliang coughed a bit laboriously, leaning on the cold control console, and smiled, “Didn’t Xin Qi say it? You’re a good man, so I call you good man, brother. As for your real identity… it doesn’t matter to a dying man. I don’t have any family left anyway, no long-lost biological brothers, haha.”

As he spoke, Pan Guoliang made a bitter joke.

“I came from Celestial Horse Island, the same one your Cyan Dragon Corps sent three teams to for grain collection.”

Zhang Su introduced himself.

“Haha, so the good man, brother, is here for revenge?”

Pan Guoliang asked without any emotional fluctuation, as grain collection was none of their elite team’s concern, lacking any sense of involvement.

“Initially, that’s what I thought, but before we could make a move, you were surrounded by a zombie horde.”

Zhang Su spread his hands, finding it quite dramatic.

Pan Guoliang moved his body with difficulty and said, “Since you managed to come here, Old Sun, Old Hou, and Shark-armed Liu’s teams must’ve been taken out by you, right?”

“Shark-armed Liu…” Zhang Su knew he was talking about Liu Lei, the captain of the sixth team. The description was quite fitting, so he nodded and said, “That’s right.”

“Hehe, I told them this protection racket business wouldn’t last, but they didn’t listen! Anyway, it’s too late to talk about it now. Even with three more teams at the camp, the end would be the same, all dead.”

Pan Guoliang chuckled nonchalantly, with things having developed to this point, there was nothing left for him to worry about. Looking skyward, he said, “I wasn’t the one who decided on the protection racket. The blame lies with someone else. Good man, brother, you should go after Ma Juguang and Yao Xiaobin. There’s no animosity between us; send me off, and I’ll protect you even as a ghost, how’s that?”

Having only ever heard of ghosts never letting you go, Zhang Su found this notion of a ghost offering protection quite novel, and those around couldn’t help but chuckle quietly.

“Do you know Ma Juguang and Yao Xiaobin’s whereabouts?”

Zhang Su furrowed his brows and pursued the question. One of them was the corps’ commander, the other the vice commander, very likely not dead.

However, Pan Guoliang’s answer was somewhat unexpected.

“Of course I know, just send me off, and when I reach the Underworld, I’ll definitely find those two bastards’ souls and beat them up for you, how’s that?”

“Dead? Are you sure?”

Zhang Su was quite surprised. Currently, intelligence showed there were still eight people from the Cyan Dragon Corps alive; this one in front made one, leaving seven, yet surprisingly, the two most high-ranking ones weren’t among them.

“What’s uncertain about that? 004 came out from the lab, didn’t even wait to identify the pheromone location, and casually sliced those two up, their guts are longer than freaking pulled noodles. Man, I’m starving; if I could get a bowl of hot pulled noodles, that’d be great.”

Pan Guoliang’s erratic thought process made Zhang Su tongue-tied.

“Do you know if there are other survivors here?” Zhang Su tossed a cigarette into Pan Guoliang’s arms.

“Hey, thanks!” Pan Guoliang lit the cigarette first, took a puff, letting the smoke leisurely drift inside the tank, then continued.

“There might be people in the lab under the command center, and there’s also an underground storage room by the armory. Other than that, try checking the other tank; these are the only places left to hide folks!”

Zhang Su turned his head towards the direction of the command center, knowing a lab lay beneath the ruined building; whether or not anyone was there, it must be checked out.

“Hey, elite comrade, how’s your injury?”

“If the medical team were alive, lying here for a month probably wouldn’t be deadly, but as it stands, I’m damn struggling.”

Pan Guoliang held the cigarette in his mouth, slowly lifted his shirt, revealing a three-inch long gash by his ribs. Emergency treatment and a special posture managed to prevent massive bleeding, but waiting for it to heal naturally was pure wishful thinking. Fortunately, the cold weather prevented it from festering, unlike what might happen in the heat of summer.

If no one finds Pan Guoliang, he could only survive two more days in the tank, dying from cold, thirst, hunger, or blood loss; the ways of dying were numerous and at his discretion.

“I can save you, but it depends on whether you’re worth saving.”

Zhang Su glanced at the busy folks in Bridge Town, squatted down and also lit a cigarette, saying slowly.

“I’m worth it, I’ve got skills, am proficient in handling various weapons. If it weren’t for my reluctance to curry favor with those up top, I’d definitely not just be a deputy squad leader. Good brother, listen to me, save me, and you won’t regret it!”

Pan Guoliang seemed to see the dawn of hope, immediately began to sell himself, he could face life and death head-on, but if there’s a chance to live, he certainly wouldn’t want to die!

Unfortunately, his earnest display seemed somewhat unreliable to Zhang Su.

“Cough…” Zhang Su hadn’t seen someone who was about to die still able to talk so much, he patted the tank’s sturdy steel plate, asked, “So do you know how to operate this thing?”

“Of course, both squads have trained on it, how could I not know? I’ve been a commander, a gunner, and a driver before!”

Pan Guoliang was very excited, but due to his injury, he dared not move randomly.

“Was it you, the half-baked operator, who fired the first shot off-target that night?” Zhang Su asked.

“Ah?” Pan Guoliang was stunned, his dirty face showing a thoughtful look, then displaying a peculiar expression as he shook his head and said, “I wasn’t even on the tank the night before, good brother, truth is, I missed the only chance for real combat, quite damn regrettable!”

“Let’s assume you’re pretty capable, but one thing you must understand, if I save you, you’ll have to work for me in the future. Loyalty is crucial, if you dare stir trouble in my camp, I won’t give you a chance to regret it.”

Zhang Su spoke calmly, the deputy squad leader of the elite team was undeniably capable, even if not top-notch, also valuable, but the premise was loyalty to himself.

“Good brother, I’m content if I can survive, staying anywhere is staying, working with anyone is working, just like I said, within Cyan Dragon Corps, only some advocate protection fees, many brothers actually don’t agree, they’re just too lazy to fight it, don’t think we’re all in cahoots… After all, as the saying goes, suspect someone, don’t save them, save someone, don’t suspect them, you decide!”

Pan Guoliang finished, took a final drag on the cigarette butt, then extinguished it on the console, smacking his lips as if savoring what might be his last smoke in life.

“Well said, suspect someone, don’t save them, save someone, don’t suspect them! I’m Zhang Su, saving you isn’t hard, but once I save you, you need to work for me honestly, no second thoughts, hear me?”

Zhang Su lowered his head, looking down at Pan Guoliang inside the tank, seriously asking.

The sudden solemn atmosphere made Pan Guoliang realize the gravity of this conversation, he put away his unruly joking manner and nodded, “Brother Zhang, following you is fine, but I have principles, there’s a rule of ’three non-kills’!”

“Oh? Then tell me!”

Zhang Su curiously looked at Pan Guoliang, knowing in the apocalypse, murder was unavoidable, at a life-and-death moment, still willing to lay things out, quite commendable.

“First, I don’t kill babies under three, since such young ones don’t have memories and can carry on human civilization. Second, I don’t kill those who can’t move; I can leave them to fend for themselves but don’t want them to die by my hand. Lastly, I don’t kill those who’ve been kind to me.”

Pan Guoliang earnestly recited while counting on his fingers.

Everyone has their principles, Zhang Su thought the second rule slightly problematic but unimportant, already immobile, doesn’t matter who pulls the trigger.

Considering the third rule, he quirked his lips, smiled playfully, “So if I save you, I count as someone who’s been kind to you?”

“Of course, like a rebirth blessing, like reborn parents… cough, cough, cough.”

Pan Guoliang spoke with excitement but started coughing violently, took a while to steady his breath, raised his palm off his wound to see it stained with a lot of fresh blood.