Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

“You’re wearing so little?”

Zhang Su touched the thin down jacket on Su Xiaoya, frowned, and shook his head.

“I only have this. Isn’t it enough…”

Su Xiaoya looked curiously at Zhang Su. She had been inside the heated room and had no idea what it was like outside!

“I hate to break it to you, but the temperature just dropped again. We measured it this morning; it’s minus thirty degrees. I’ll find you some clothes.”

If Su Xiaoya could understand the current situation, Zhang Su wouldn’t have put her in a difficult position.

Once Zhang Su and Su Xiaoya were in place, the convoy set off, an impressive procession of more than ten vehicles. Even space was made for 003, moved from the box truck to lie out in the open. Anyway, as long as the generator provided a weak current, it could remain quiet. A big box truck like that could haul back a lot of corpses and shouldn’t be left idle.

Zhang Su drove an FJ Cruiser at the front. Su Xiaoya sat in the passenger seat. Zheng Xinyu speculated that the atmosphere might be awkwardly mysterious, so she wisely chose not to ride with Zhang Su and instead went with Tan Huajun.

Along the way, Su Xiaoya quietly gazed out the window. The familiar yet strange scenery made her feel as if it were a different world.

“Approaching the intersection ahead, arrange for the vehicles to go to Kuanzhuang. If one trip isn’t enough to load everything, make multiple trips.”

As they were about to reach the fork in the road, Zhang Su picked up the walkie-talkie to give orders. Four vehicles immediately turned onto a side road, heading toward Kuanzhuang.

“I really want to go back and take a look. I want to clean up my room and my sister’s room myself.”

Su Xiaoya spoke for the first time after getting into the car, looking toward Kuanzhuang with deep reluctance. She had stayed local for middle school instead of going to school elsewhere.

After the disaster broke out, she went through a lot and moved out of her residence, but she was still within the village. Everything wasn’t entirely unfamiliar; the small house had carried the sweet, bitter, and sour moments of her and her sister over the past two to three months.

“No problem, I’ll take you to see it when we have time, but someone might have already cleaned it up for you.”

Zhang Su responded calmly, not refusing the small request. Even if Su Xiaoya didn’t go, he intended to find some time to take a tour of Kuanzhuang to check on the transportation of supplies. However, today’s main task was to bring the tank back!

After that single sentence, the silence resumed.

There’s a strange phenomenon: when you first go somewhere unfamiliar, the journey seems very long. But once familiar, the distance seems shorter.

Zhang Su felt that it wasn’t long after passing the flower fields and the church that they arrived at the location where they met the people of Bridge Town yesterday.

The street was the same as yesterday, with zombie corpses piled on both sides. There’s no need to start loading them now. The west wall of the barracks has a myriad of them, enough to fill the vehicles effortlessly. It’s better to load the more coveted resources first, even if it means making several trips—there’s enough fuel for the vehicles anyway.

“Bozai, head northwest. Old Tan, you go northeast. Xiaoshuai, you head southeast and check the situation with the zombies we led away yesterday.”

“Brother Su, are we looking for Venom Zombies?”

Lu Yubo asked.

Zhang Su raised an eyebrow; this little brother was finally maturing and knew to take some responsibility. He picked up the walkie-talkie and said, “No need to look for them deliberately, just take a look if you can, prioritize your safety!”

“Roger.”

After several “roger” replies, three vehicles left the convoy, speeding off in three directions.

“Ha! Master Zhang, late today, huh?”

At the warehouse entrance, wrapped up like a ball, Meng Changwei, with a scarf around his neck and a cigarette dangling from his mouth, stood by the car and enthusiastically waved as the FJ Cruiser-led convoy drove across the playground.

“This is the other group from yesterday. The one greeting is Meng Changwei, their leader. Lei Youliang wanted to ally with them against us.”

Zhang Su didn’t immediately respond to Meng Changwei; instead, he quietly introduced him to Su Xiaoya.

“He seems to know you well, doesn’t he?”

Su Xiaoya asked curiously.

Zhang Su waved at Meng Changwei from inside the car, then with a queer smile, quietly said to Su Xiaoya, “Together with them, we led tens of thousands of the remaining zombies in the barracks away yesterday, working our asses off for a morning, and then Lei Youliang sneakily went in from the north, hoping to ally with them against us. Can you imagine… Lei Youliang was smart for months and, in the end, he screwed up!”

Su Xiaoya shook her head in distress. Since knowing Lei Youliang, he had left a decent impression on her, and she didn’t expect things to end like this.

The car stopped, and everyone got out.

“Boss Meng, how’s the heating facility in your camp?”

Zhang Su got out of the car, handed a cigarette to Meng Changwei, and exchanged greetings.

Having just stubbed out his cigarette, Meng Changwei eagerly took another. Pulling down his scarf to reveal more of his face, he expressed misery, “Don’t even mention it, this damn weather keeps getting colder, it’s unbearable. But speaking of which, Master Zhang, that method you shared is really awesome!”

“What method?”

Zhang Su was puzzled; had he shared something?

“Yesterday, didn’t you say to bring back the zombies’ bodies to burn? I didn’t believe it at first, but tried it last night and, heck, let me tell you, the burn efficiency is amazing, practically on par with coal!”

Speaking of this, Meng Changwei was animated. Solving the heating energy problem made him grateful to Zhang Su.

Zhang Su suddenly understood, “Oh, you’re talking about that. It’s nothing, just sharing experiences!”

“It’s a pity we don’t have your exploratory spirit, haven’t figured much out, and don’t have any information to share with you…”

Meng Changwei shook his hand in frustration, then quickly shifted the topic: “By the way… Master Zhang, why haven’t you driven the tank back to your camp? Not interested?”

He nodded toward the west wall, a playful expression on his face suggesting he’d be happy to take it off their hands if they didn’t want it.

“Not interested? Damn, that thing burns diesel, and in the north during winter, finding diesel is tough. Without fuel, should we push it?”

“No fuel, eh? That’s a problem. That thing on the road even in normal times drinks fuel at three to four hundred units per hundred kilometers. Why not trade it to me? I’ll swap you some grain or coal, what do you think?”

Meng Changwei’s quick switch almost led Zhang Su astray.

“Hehe, sorry to disappoint you. Diesel is hard to find, but we found a few hundred liters and brought them today!”

“Got fuel? Nice, you should have said so earlier. I have over a hundred liters too…” Without a hint of disappointment, Meng Changwei’s demeanor shifted to seriousness, “By the way, I tried contacting you over the walkie-talkie last night. Did you hear anything?”

Reflecting for a moment, Zhang Su recalled that the walkie-talkie linked with Bridge Town had been silent, without even static interference. He replied, “No, maybe the distance is still a bit far.”

“I studied the map; the straight-line distance between our camps is only about twelve or thirteen kilometers. The main issue is a mountain in between, blocking the signal. On flat plains, there wouldn’t be a problem. Seems communication is still a bit inconvenient; unfortunately, Cyan Dragon Corps’ radio equipment is all damaged.”

Meng Changwei expressed this regretfully.

Zhang Su thoughtfully glanced at Meng Changwei, testing the waters, “Indeed, communicating over mountains and water is tough, and responding to emergencies is even harder. Are there any other factions near you?”

“Yes,” Meng Changwei answered without hesitation, “There used to be quite a few; I knew of six or seven survivor enclaves. But gradually, some merged, some collapsed, and now besides us, only one other group is close to the Mountain and Sea District, still quite far away!

Which is actually good, as it keeps a wide berthing range for each group, with relatively more resources and fewer chances for conflict. I’d rather fight zombies than have disputes with others!”

“Yeah, no time to deal with zombies, can’t fathom why some would choose to internal strife…”

Zhang Su received a bit of the information he wanted, mulling over some plans in his head. He ground the cigarette butt on the ground as the other spoke again.

“Master Zhang, how are things on your side with dealing with those survivor camp individuals who plotted against you yesterday? Did you come to an agreement?”

These words caused the girl standing not far from Zhang Su to stiffen.

“Well, let’s leave it be for now. You arrived early and are almost finished, right? We have a lot to do today; let’s get started. Don’t forget to keep two-tenths of the grain!”

Zhang Su didn’t want to discuss yesterday’s matters further, so with a wave of his hand, he ordered his men to move things from another warehouse. Then he turned to look at Su Xiaoya, who was trailing beside him with her head down, and said, “Follow me.”