Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

Walking one kilometer takes about ten minutes, with both parties heading towards each other; four or five kilometers would take just over twenty minutes!

”Wait, are they running towards us?”

Not even five minutes after Yama Corps started moving, advancing about five to six hundred meters, Qi Xiaoshuai noticed a change in the crowd opposite them; they went from swaying uncertainly to running with greater urgency?

”That’s right, they’re running, a group of refugee survivors, I see... men, women, children, all of them, it seems!”

Wang Xin walked forward while peering at them, as the distance shortened, more details became clear.

”Twenty-six people in total, two teens slightly younger than Dakun, five women, seem to be being held by people behind them, this group is suspicious!”

Zhang Su, pretending to be focused through the rifle scope, had already taken in the entire situation, but he had many doubts in his mind.

”Huh? Hostages, women and children? What’s the deal?”

Yu Qing asked in complete bewilderment; her inner kindness hadn’t vanished, still caring for the vulnerable groups, just more pointed than before.

”They wouldn’t be stupid enough to use children’s and women’s lives to threaten us for supplies, right?”

Chen Hanzhou’s expression was somewhat peculiar.

This statement brought about an odd sound from the surroundings; even in the past civilized world, it was hard to threaten ordinary people this way, let alone now.

Zhang Su put away his smile, speaking blandly, ”Couldn’t possibly be that stupid... wouldn’t have survived until today.”

Everyone thought Zhang Su was right, but they really couldn’t guess what those people intended by holding children and women.

Women in the apocalypse could be logistics personnel, assigned to places like the Soul-Devouring Cave, bringing relief to fighters, but what’s the point of the children?

The future flowers?

During the conversation, the distance between the two groups closed again, reaching about a kilometer, it was evident to the naked eye that several people on the other side raised their hands, followed by more of them, even the hostages all raised their hands.

The signals of goodwill were clear.

”Whoa, are they surrendering in advance?”

”There’s about as many of us as them, we’re a bit far away, it’s not surprising they’ve noticed us, we’re evidently armed, surrendering is pretty normal, right?”

”That’s right, haha.”

Hearing the discussion around him, Zhang Su had a different opinion: ”How many times have I said it, don’t be so arrogant, everyone who has survived until now has something special about them, never let your guard down!”

”Uh...”

After Zhang Su’s rebuke, everyone fell silent.

”Stop, wait here!”

With a clenched fist, everyone halted in place; as Zhang Su turned his head, he noticed he could see a bit of the arch of the Chuhai River Bridge from this angle.

About seven or eight minutes later, the panting people finally closed in within a hundred meters, allowing everyone to see their condition clearly.

These people’s attire was relatively decent, they had well-fitted down jackets, except for the hostages.

Their luggage was somewhat ragged, worn-out backpacks hung from their shoulders, several sturdy suitcases bearing the scars of weather, even a converted trailer carrying a mess of items.

From their population and resource situation, it was evident they were a migrating group of survivors.

No thermal weapons were visible from this assessment, but it was certain these people carried weapons; survivors without thermal weapons are rare now.

Dada!

Zhang Su gauged the group approached to about fifty or sixty meters, then fired two shots in the direction of the wilderness.

No need to shout with the voice, the warning shots worked quite well, the approaching crowd instantly halted, many instinctively pulled their necks.

The distance wasn’t especially significant; Zhang Su mainly wanted to hear the whispers within the opposing team.

”Folks, folks!”

A man in his forties raised his hands high, wearing a Lei Feng hat, and spoke with the local Qin City accent, openly introducing himself.

”Folks up ahead, we are survivors from Mountain and Sea District, my name is Sun Yingu, bringing townsfolk through here, we mean no harm, please lower your weapons!”

??

Everyone looked at each other.

”Mountain and Sea District? Damn, it’s far from Mountain and Sea District to here, did they walk all the way? No zombies along the way?”

”People’s intelligence is high, railway lines are usually quiet, after such long times, even if there are zombies there aren’t many!”

”Only twenty kilometers, not odd to walk, even with luggage, a day’s time is enough!”

”Ahem!” Zhang Su coughed, stopping the chatter around him, touched his collar, and realized he didn’t bring his portable loudspeaker; he had gotten used to equipment recently, it was inconvenient without it.

He took a couple steps forward and spoke loud and clear, ”Mountain and Sea District has only one large Survivor Camp, all surrounding areas have been incorporated, where did you come from?”

Saying this brought curious expressions on the faces of the people opposite.

”Honestly, buddy, we escaped from Dragon Head Camp,”

Sun Yingu looked very embarrassed, his eyes dodged, revealing the inconvenient truth.

”Escaped?”

Zhang Su’s doubts grew even larger as everything seemed so out of place; escaping refugees holding children and women—what, were they doing performance art?

Another detail, although others might not notice, Zhang Su noticed the issue.

From their attire, there was a noticeable difference between them and the hostages, but there was no mental difference, it shouldn’t be this way.

”We feel very ashamed about it, but... there’s a massive zombie horde Beyond the Pass, Dragon Head Camp’s leader decided to stay and defend the walls, we... we couldn’t stay!”

”You’re all deserters! Bastards, explaining nonsense!”

Lu Yubo suddenly jumped up, cursing.

The glare of the Yama Corps became unfriendly, no one liked treacherous companions.

Sun Yingu and his group couldn’t argue back and remained silent.

As the cursing quieted down, Sun Yingu spoke again, ”Noble sirs, I believe you can band together during difficult times; we have two strong teens, five women capable of childbirth, can we exchange for food and weapons with you?”

The scene fell silent.

Zhang Su’s brows furrowed, staring coldly from behind his mirrored sunglasses at the speaking man; it wasn’t that he was outraged by exchanging women and children as commodities, but the man’s first sentence angered him.

It was moral manipulation, a blatant incitement!

He believed many companions next to him might focus on the latter sentence, but he wouldn’t miss the important message.

Such people are vexing and especially capable of creating threats!

Da!

A gunshot broke the silence, disturbing almost everyone; members of Yama Corps instinctively dodged in the opposite direction, but when they saw who fired, they were shaking.

Zhang Su stood with the gun, a faint wisp of blue smoke drifting from the muzzle.

”Eek...”

Zhou Haotian made a strange sound, staring in disbelief at the man shot opposite, as if witnessing something unbelievable.

Having spent long in the lab, since joining the Survivor Alliance’s science department, he hadn’t ventured out much, let alone an ordinary murder; even killing a zombie was done indoors under lab conditions, with no danger.

Never seen such a scene where a shot was fired without agreement, adding to the already cold temperature, how his bladder tightened; holding a vigorous sponge body couldn’t contain it, leaking urine!

Watching cautiously, Sun Yingu never expected them to directly pull the trigger; his head jerked up in disbelief.

”Oh, oh!”

”Old Sun, Old Sun!”

”You, you beasts, what are you going to do...”

No sooner said than done, many quickly grabbed weapons from backpacks, ready for desperate measures!

”I dislike that man’s way of speaking, his sneaky provocations; someone could speak properly? Also, drop all those trash weapons now, otherwise I won’t hesitate to kill every one of you!”

Zhang Su spoke coldly.

He wasn’t keen on using fists against his own kind; like before, taking down four rogues, judging nine criminals, were mainly shows for new members; when carrying out tasks with real brothers, it’s not so flashy!

Hearing Zhang Su’s words, Yama Corps members cooperatively raised their guns, aiming; deserters, holding boys and women, speaking without any filter—such a myriad of issues, not good sorts!