Chapter 161 – Gunshots at the Gates
The police interrupted Zhang Xiao Qiang: “I’m a cop, I can’t join some gang, I need to head out to look for my superior, I can promise that I never saw any of you….”
It was Zhang Xiao Qiang’s turned to interrupt the Police’s words: “Do you know how many people outside have been turned? Including those weird monstrosities that are out to eat you, let me tell you this, 6.3 billion of them, do you know how many there are in China? At least 1.2 billion of them, I came from Y-City, do you know how many survivors I met? Including you guys, I would say not even a 100….do you know how many of these 100 have died? 40% of them….”
Before Zhang Xiao Qiang even finished his sentence, the policeman was already limp on the ground. His companions and him had persevered all the way because they were waiting for people to rescue them, after listening to Zhang Xiao Qiang’s words, he knew that the country was doomed, his family members were gone, his work was gone, his heart had fallen to the depths of darkness, his eyes no longer had any focal length, he no longer knew how to survive.
Zhang Xiao Qiang kicked him once and pulled him out of his despair. He slowly looked up at Zhang Xiao Qiang.
“Two choices, which do you pick?”
The policeman calmed down, he could not make up his mind, so Zhang Xiao Qiang got Three to explain the differences between both teams to him. In the end, the policeman chose to be in the Combat Team, he had thought about it, it was like a reset button on life to find a place and to eat, his loyalty changed rather quickly as he automatically led Zhang Xiao Qiang to his own hideout.
If he had not led the way, Zhang Xiao Qiang and the rest would definitely be unable to find the way, a hole that only allowed one person to crawl through stayed hidden behind a large boulder, even if one were to bring a torch to the front, no one would ever notice that there was a whole new world inside the seemingly ordinary crack, which had a narrow tunnel behind it. Going through the tunnel, Zhang Xiao Qiang walked to a pool. Inside the dim space, the water was black and the depth could not be distinguished. The pool was not small, it spanned 7 to 8 square feet with various boulders and rocks scattered all around. Bedrolls were scattered all around the ground along with all sorts of everyday utensils and tools with many bathrobes and towels. There was even a bonfire in the middle with a pile of broken wooden furniture beside it, with bags of food around. Zhang Xiao Qian sized them up and reckoned that the food was enough for 30 people to eat for a day or two considering that every single one of them ate for all meals.
Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at the policeman, who lowered his head and did not dare to speak. It was already awkward enough for him to have joined the game, but he still had to call out his own comrades to surrender? Wouldn’t that truly announce him as a traitor?
“BANG BANG BANG…..!”
Zhang Xiao Qiang raised his handgun and fired off three shots, then shouted out loud: “Everyone get out here, otherwise, I’ll throw a grenade in!”
With that said, Zhang Xiao Qiang took out a hand grenade from his bag and held it in his hand. He was standing right in the center of the cave and under the light, the plump hand grenade in his hand was especially distinct. After raising it up, there were no movements. Zhang Xiao Qiang did a movement that resembled pulling the safety pin before throwing it out.
A few squeals were heard from different corners, a few women and men immediately ran out. There were 4 males with more than a dozen ladies. Zhang Xiao Qiang gestured to his men and the Combat Team immediately rushed out and searched the places. Very quickly, the ladies from the various corners were pulled out by their hairs, Wang Chong went forward and picked up the hand grenade Zhang Xiao Qiang picked up and was about to return it to Wang Xiao Qiang, but he shook his head and indicated to Wang Chong to keep it. In the end, Zhang Xiao Qiang stood in front of 4 men and 22 ladies, aside from the 2 policewomen who were slightly older, the other ladies looked to be around the same age. All of them looked to be 21 or 22. They were all dressed in bathrobes while the two men were dressed in ragged police uniform. The other two were dressed in gray security guard uniforms. Zhang Xiao Qiang allowed the policeman who had joined his side to check if everyone were around. With a red face, he ignored all of their glares and head counted them before retreating back to Zhang Xiao Qiang and whispered to him.
The group of them left the cave. When the survivors saw the sunlight, they immediately covered their eyes. Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at the 17/18-year-old girl by his side. Her face was smeared with black soot, preventing others from seeing her original skin. She was dressed in dark green work clothes and covered all over with mud and soot, her messy hair was worse than a bird’s nest. She was not very tall at about a max height of 160 cm. Her entire appearance was indistinguishable, she looked as though she had gone through a chimney and was in an extremely terrible situation, the only brightness from her was the pitch black yet exceptionally bright pupils. Her pupils were extremely pure like a pair of full moon with their coal colors. Her eyes could speak, and she was currently telling everyone else she was feeling edgy.
When Zhang Xiao Qiang knew that they had left a lady behind, he could not be bothered to continue searching. He led his men who kept the survivors in check and headed out, until his indescribable sixth sense told him that something was following them from behind. He intentionally stayed behind and hid behind a rock, and noticed a girl constantly following along.
“Is she trying to find out if where our seemingly bad looking men are bringing her sisters?” Sadly, she was easily caught by Zhang Xiao Qiang from behind. Zhang Xiao Qiang did not make things difficult for her, and only told her that staying inside the cave alone was extremely terrifying, then caught up with Three and the rest. Very soon, the girl automatically chased and join them.
Zhang Xiao Qiang led the Combat Team and cleared the zombies in the buildings. 3 Policemen, 2 policewomen and the 2 guards agreed to join the Combat Team. All of them had gone through specific sets of training, so Zhang Xiao Qiang handed them the shields from the Logistic Team and got them to stand behind. They bypassed two hordes along with a few zombies in the residential district. Due to the terrain, many of the zombies were obstructed, allowing Zhang Xiao Qiang and the rest to clear them quickly. They shot any zombies they encountered, as for those hidden in houses, Zhang Xiao Qiang singlehandedly rushed into the building to clear them. When the new recruits saw how Zhang Xiao Qiang used cold weapons to kill zombies as though he was slicing through watermelons, they were all stunned and speechless. Only the veteran ones were more familiar, Zhang Xiao Qiang’s capabilities were not only limited to such.
Zhang Xiao Qiang stood on a small bridge and watched as his subordinates piled the zombie corpses into piles. Wang Chong led the men of the Logistic Team back to the cave in the space under the guide of the members and cleared all the supplies. Soon later, all the zombies in the residential area were cleared into piles. Three found a canister of gasoline and sprayed it all over the ground and was about to light a fire when
“Da Da Da…..” The sound of an automatic weapon could be heard from the gates of the spa. Zhang Xiao Qiang immediately became anxious, there was only Shangguan Qiao Yun taking point there, she only had an automatic rifle and the sound meant that something had happened. Zhang Xiao Qiang unholstered his handgun and led some men to run over. They left their vehicles outside to prevent their path of retreat from being obstructed, otherwise, they would have been trapped.
Fortunately, they were not far away. Zhang Xiao Qiang and the rest discovered 7 men at the spa hiding behind the guardhouse at the carpark and a few bodies near the gates. There were no movements from where Shangguan Qiao Yun was and there were no sounds of the M1 Garand coming out. One of the men holding onto an assault rifle stepped onto his companion’s shoulder and climbed to the roof of the guardhouse. He had just raised his rifle onto the roof and before he could even take aim, “Bang bang bang…” Multiple gunshots could be heard. The man from the roof slumped down and fell to his companion’s legs. His body was bleeding, causing all of his comrades to stop revealing themselves. Zhang Xiao Qiang saw that there was a group of ladies who were not completely dressed squatting behind a large police vehicle and another man dressed shouting and giving orders to the men outside.