Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

“Alright, alright, a bunch of women chattering is really annoying. Anyone who wants to join the daily training and enter the battle squad, raise your hand. I’ll talk to Youliang when he gets back!”

Yang Liehuo himself was supportive of this idea, so he agreed to their request, hoping it would stabilize the mood. He was about to count the numbers when his walkie-talkie buzzed.

“Uncle Huo, Uncle Huo, Village Chief Lei and the others are back, along with people from Celestial Horse Island, more than ten vehicles! Repeat…”

“Received, received! More than ten vehicles? Damn, how many people… let’s hope nothing goes wrong!”

Yang Liehuo pocketed the walkie-talkie, alarmed at heart, and stood up saying, “Let’s go, let’s not talk about our own matters now, let’s go receive them first!”

After saying this, Yang Liehuo grabbed the rifle beside him and walked out of the yard, followed by more than twenty villagers. Although most of them were women, their numbers gave them considerable presence.

We better not have fewer people than them when it’s our home turf, or it’ll be embarrassing.

This time was different from the first time; Zhang Su drove to the section of road blocked by caltrops, got out and called people to clear it, as if they were locals, doing it with particular familiarity.

Soon, more than ten vehicles drove up to meet the group from the village led by Yang Liehuo.

“Move along, no problem, drive forward…”

Yang Liehuo stood by, directing the vehicles forward. Soon, he saw the few vehicles driven by their own combat personnel, and at this sight, he was dumbfounded!

Whether driving or sitting in the car, there wasn’t a single familiar face.

Where did the people from his own village go?

The horrifying scene made Yang Liehuo break out in a cold sweat, and the villagers who came with him were also scared; some were so anxious they ran up to the car windows looking for a familiar face.

“No, they’re all strangers…”

“Where’s Brother Kui? Where’s Brother Kui?”

“This… Brother Huo, is something really wrong with Youliang and the others?”

All of a sudden, the women sensed something was wrong, their faces full of dread. An elderly woman worriedly followed the cars forward, leaving only two clueless children who were cheerful, feeling it was lively to see so many cars after so long.

The car lights lit up several streets in the village, and the two children, who hadn’t been outside playing at night for a long time, ran and jumped happily, completely oblivious to the eeriness of the atmosphere.

“I’ll go ask!”

Yang Liehuo frowned deeply, an ominous feeling in his heart, but he didn’t dare think in the worst direction. With heavy steps, he followed the last vehicle forward.

Beside the village team’s basketball court, Zhang Su and his group got off the car, and all the people from West Camp Village stood by.

Yang Liehuo looked around again but couldn’t find anyone from Kuanzhuang. He walked up to Zhang Su, his face twitching, and said in a deep voice, “Younger Brother Zhang, I’m Yang Liehuo, we’ve met before, where are Youliang and his people?”

Zhang Su shook his head darkly, and the atmosphere immediately turned heavy.

“This…”

Yang Liehuo was shocked, took a step back in disbelief, his eyes wide open, “Younger Brother Zhang, what exactly happened?”

“When we got to the Cyan Dragon Corps camp today, a group of people from the southeast had already arrived ahead of us, discussing how to clear the zombies in the camp. We later agreed to draw the zombies away together, worked for several hours, and eventually lured away over forty thousand zombies, basically clearing the camp.

During the zombie diversion, we were lucky, only one brother was slightly injured. The group from the southeast wasn’t so lucky, losing three people! After we cleared the remaining zombies and entered the camp, we found that Village Chief Lei had already slipped in through another entrance and occupied the Cyan Dragon Corps’ weapons cache!”

Saying this, Zhang Su lit a cigarette; the blue smoke curled up, and the scene fell silent.

Gulp.

The women on the scene swallowed hard; they might lack battle prowess, but they understand human nature. The other two groups risked their lives clearing zombies while their own people sneaked in to take advantage!

If this plan had succeeded and was pursued later, it would be difficult since it’s the post-apocalyptic world, but if caught red-handed, a confrontation would be unavoidable!

“Nonsense!”

The old woman with a cane couldn’t accept Zhang Su’s words and angrily said, “You bastard, you must have killed Youliang and the others and are now trying to slander them?”

“Hey, old hag! I’m telling you, don’t think you can act insane just because you’re old. Insult my husband again, and you might just get sent on your way, believe it or not?”

Zheng Xinyu, seeing the old woman being unreasonable, pulled out a baseball bat from behind her back and pointed it. Though less threatening than an automatic rifle, it was quite humiliating.

Zheng Xinyu, as the elder sister-in-law, was defending her big brother. As she moved, others naturally followed, their sharp eyes fixed on the old woman’s face, and the sound of gun bolts being pulled was enough to make even the tough old woman panic and shut her mouth.

Zhang Su had no intention of arguing with an old woman. Seeing Yang Liehuo’s face full of complex emotions, he continued, “Daring to come to Kuanzhuang proves I’m not guilty. Yes, we killed them all, not a single one left!”

Thud thud thud…

The people of Kuanzhuang stepped back a few paces, disbelief on their faces. They indeed were discontented with Lei Youliang’s actions, but he was still a fellow villager in the apocalypse. They couldn’t understand why this happened, was it really over weapons?

So many lives, more than a dozen lives, gone just like that?

Yang Liehuo sighed heavily, his expression collapsing, as if aged ten years suddenly. Now, as Kuanzhuang’s last pillar of strength, he didn’t argue because when Lei Youliang made his decision, he had already predicted this outcome, one of the worst outcomes in countless scenarios he had imagined…

There could be worse: the total annihilation of the village!

“Why did it end up like this, how could this happen, no, this can’t be…”

The previously aggressive old woman was now deflated. Finding out her village’s entire combat team was wiped out left her hopeless since she had family in the team.

“After cleaning up the zombies, I reached the weapons cache, thinking Lei Youliang intended to negotiate benefits with the weapons, but I underestimated the situation…”

???

The crowd didn’t understand and looked at Zhang Su confusedly, was this considered a narrow view? What then is the broader view…

“Village Chief Lei’s intention was clear: he wanted to eliminate us outright!”

Zhang Su raised his voice, looking sharply at the Kuanzhuang people. Seeing disbelief on most of their faces, he continued, “Two rocket launchers, the others holding rifles—if they weren’t planning a fight with us, then what? Such firepower isn’t even used against zombies!”

“Of course, we are no pushovers either; we have weapons, we have people! If it came to this, pausing and stepping back for both sides could still be negotiable. But Lei Youliang did one thing that made the situation completely spiral out of control.”

“What thing?”

Yang Liehuo asked, looking solemnly at Zhang Su.

Zhang Su slowly replied, “Lei Youliang negotiated with the group from the southeast intending to join forces against us! Right in front of me, he bluntly suggested killing us, and even coveted the resources of Celestial Horse Island. And with this action, not even the Buddha could save him!”