Chapter 397 - 184: Kill

Chapter 397: Chapter 184: Kill

"Captain," he ventured, "should we send people to find them?"

Zheng Guodong turned to look at him.

"What do you think?"

Old Qi opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

Zheng Guodong walked back to the desk and picked up his walkie-talkie.

"Tell Squad Two and Squad Three to assemble," he said. "Bring your weapons. Prepare to move out."

Old Qi stood by, the tension inside him stretched even tighter.

A few hours later, Zheng Guodong and his men found the burned-out SUV.

Or rather, the wreckage of the vehicle.

The SUV’s frame was all that remained, a burned-out skeleton. The windshield was long gone, the seats were nothing but ash, and the steering wheel was a twisted wreck. A scorched, acrid smell hung in the air.

Zheng Guodong stood beside the wreckage, his expression grim.

"Where are they?" he asked.

No one answered. His men fanned out to search the area, and someone quickly found something.

"Captain, over here!"

Zheng Guodong hurried over.

It was a patch of scorched grass. The area wasn’t large, but it had been burned completely. Lying in the grass were bodies, burned beyond recognition.

Zheng Guodong crouched, staring at the bodies. They were curled up, frozen in the positions they’d been in when the fire took them. Their clothes were gone, their skin charred black. It was impossible to tell who was who.

Zheng Guodong stood up, his face ashen.

"Captain..." Old Qi stood beside him, his voice trembling slightly.

Zheng Guodong didn’t look at him, instead scanning the surroundings.

The wilderness was covered in scorch marks. The fire had left behind a large, black patch of scorched earth, a jarring wound on the landscape.

Zheng Guodong’s gaze swept over the marks, finally settling on a set of tire tracks in the distance.

"He got away," Zheng Guodong said.

Old Qi stood by, at a loss for words.

Zheng Guodong was silent for a moment, then turned and waved to his men.

"Bag the bodies. We’re heading back."

"Captain?" Old Qi was taken aback. "We’re not going after him?"

Zheng Guodong looked at him, his expression complex.

"Chase him?" he said. "With what? To where? Do you even know which way he went?"

Old Qi opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Zheng Guodong sighed.

"Let’s head back first," he said. "We’ll report this to the chief. This isn’t a simple matter."

Old Qi nodded and followed Zheng Guodong back.

After taking a few steps, Old Qi couldn’t resist looking back.

The squad members were lifting the three charred corpses. Their faces were burned away, but Old Qi knew they were his three teammates.

Just last night, they had been arguing, full of bravado about giving chase. Now, they were nothing but charred corpses.

A shiver ran down Old Qi’s spine at the thought. ’If I hadn’t insisted on going back to report,’ he thought, ’there’d be four bodies here right now.’

...

Meanwhile, Xu Mo was driving steadily south.

After a short rest, Xu Mo found a relatively smooth stretch of road and picked up speed. The car was in good shape—it handled even better than his old one, its tank was full, and it drove smoothly.

According to the map, if he drove south and then turned east, he could bypass Qinglin Town and head straight for Xin’an City. It was a longer route, but it would save him a lot of trouble.

In the rearview mirror, the endless wasteland was empty.

As Xu Mo drove, he considered his next steps.

’My supplies are gone. The paraglider is gone. Right now, apart from the USB drive and the documents I’m keeping close, plus the info and guns in my pack, I have practically nothing to my name.’

’This little bit won’t last me more than a few days. I have to get to Xin’an City.’

’It doesn’t matter if there’s an organization there to receive the legacy from Ming Pearl Port, or if the people I’m looking for are there. I have to go. It’s the only place I might find a stable source of supplies and other provisions.’

’As for whether the people from Qinglin Town might contact Xin’an City first and warn them about me...’

Xu Mo considered it, but decided it was unlikely.

’Judging by their reactions, the people from Qinglin Town are extremely wary of outsiders. That suggests they’re a relatively closed-off community. A group like that wouldn’t trust outsiders, let alone proactively share information with other survivor groups.’

’In this kind of survival scenario, keeping other groups at a distance is standard practice.’

With that thought, Xu Mo relaxed a little. His gaze then fell on the center console.

The SUV had a CB radio. Seeing it, a thought suddenly struck Xu Mo. ’I wonder if I can pick up any signals?’

’In the apocalypse, radios are one of the few communication tools that still work. Most of the cell towers are down, but some survivor groups use them to stay in contact. If I can pick up a signal, I might get some useful information.’

Xu Mo reached out and switched on the radio.

"KSHHH... KSHHH..."

All that came from the speaker was static, nothing meaningful. Xu Mo turned the dial, switching through several frequencies, but the result was the same: nothing.

Switching off the radio, Xu Mo shook his head and refocused on driving.

He drove for the better part of the morning, until the sun was high overhead.

Just as Xu Mo was thinking about finding a place to stop for a bite to eat, he suddenly spotted several dark figures moving on the side of the road up ahead.

He instinctively slowed down, his hand already reaching for his AK-47.

But a second later, Xu Mo’s brow furrowed. The dark figures weren’t zombies. They were people—two men and a woman. They were standing right on the side of the road, and when they saw his car, they started jumping and waving frantically at him.