Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

The night at the safe camp is the most leisurely time of the day. People end their day’s hustle and training, and can feel a moment of relaxation and tranquility under the starry sky, except for the two on duty in the monitoring room who cannot rest and have to stare at the screen with wide eyes.

The mountain valley is cold with no night wind, the thin mist drifting around occasionally blocking the moonlight.

After showering, Zhang Su heard someone fiddling with a rifle in the courtyard. He went downstairs and found that it was Zhao Xue practicing her rifle stance and aiming movements in the corner, very seriously, without even noticing his presence.

“Hey, no overtime pay! Rest when it’s time to rest!”

Zhang Su walked over to the outdoor stone bench and sat down.

“Brother Su…” Zhao Xue was startled by Zhang Su’s voice, put away her gun, and said, “Anyway, there’s nothing else to do, practicing is also a kind of rest. I’m tired now, I’ll head back first.”

After speaking, she hung the rifle over her shoulder, bowed her head slightly, and walked towards the room.

“Wait!”

Zhang Su called out to Zhao Xue, tapping his finger on the stone table, “Come, sit down and let’s talk.”

“Oh, okay, what do you want to talk to me about?”

Zhao Xue pursed her lips and sat down obediently, but her expression was somewhat unnatural. She thought that the cover of night could hide her well, but little did she know every subtle expression on her face was fully visible to Zhang Su.

“Earlier when I talked to you, you looked at me. Now when I talk to you, your eyes are dodging, what does that mean?”

Zhang Su had wanted to talk to Zhao Xue for a while but hadn’t had the chance. Now that they had a relatively stable environment, they could finally have a proper conversation.

Zhao Xue frowned slightly and said, “Everything is different now, Brother Su. Don’t mind my changes, okay? Anyway, I can tell you that I won’t betray you, and I won’t drag the team down.”

“You’re trying to confuse me with these concepts… these are two separate things!”

Zhang Su rubbed his temples, knowing Zhao Xue hadn’t come to grips with Yi Rewen’s ordeal, gently patting her shoulder and feeling a slight tremor.

“Being alive is the greatest victory. Let those trivial things drift away; get yourself together!”

“Mm!” Zhao Xue nodded, “I am together! If you don’t believe me, ask Teacher Yu, I work really hard!”

Zhang Su sighed inwardly, knowing that saying more was futile. Some things might be shadows for a lifetime. He smiled, stood up, and asked, “Want to go out with us tomorrow to gather supplies?”

Zhao Xue smiled gently and shook her head, “Better not, Brother Zhuzi is injured. I think camp duties suit me better. You go, be careful out there.”

“Alright.” Zhang Su nodded, not insisting, and said, “Go back and rest early; it’s cold outside at night.”

Then, he reached out and ruffled Zhao Xue’s hair, like he used to when relieving her shifts at Yi Rewen, messing up her hair.

Zhao Xue watched Zhang Su slowly walk into the room and softly said, “I’ll definitely work hard, harder than anyone.”

Her mosquito-like whisper still reached Zhang Su’s ears word for word. He shook his head slightly, some things are just beyond one’s control, but having a goal to strive for is better than being self-destructive.

The next morning, the sun pierced through the thin fog and spilled into the valley. The chicken crowing sound started in the residential area, and soon shadows of people began to emerge from their rooms—rare sights of peace in the apocalypse.

After breakfast, Zhang Su first checked on the two zombies used for observation experiments. Four days had passed, and he expected some changes.

Howl!

However, as he approached the open-air zombie within about ten meters, the zombie, whose head was slightly bowed, suddenly raised it sharply, as if a robot had been suddenly turned on, its scarlet eyes glowing even brighter, roaring more violently than when it was captured.

“If living people don’t eat or drink for four or five days, even if they don’t die, there’s only half a life left. What on earth are these monsters relying on to sustain their energy consumption?”

Wu Lue was startled by the loud yelling of the zombie.

“Hey, solar power maybe, look at the sun, isn’t it beautiful!” Lu Yubo shielded his eyes from the sun, but unfortunately, the sun was beautiful but lacked warmth.

Zhang Su stepped forward and stood about two meters away from the zombie, observing seriously. With his observation skills, he could confirm that this zombie’s mental state was definitely better than when it was first captured. Other than some marks left by the ropes, there were no significant issues.

“Come on, let’s check out the other one.”

The more resilient the zombie’s vitality, the greater the pressure it brings.

A few people walked to the ticket office door, and before they got close, they heard the zombie inside letting out a low growl.

Lü Leiyang timidly approached the window and looked inside, giving off the impression of someone clearly afraid but pretending to be brave…

“Hey? This zombie seems to have less strength now!”

His voice had a slightly lackluster masculinity, but he was still quite manly with work and such.

Zhang Su took out a flashlight and shone it through the window at the captive zombie. Without the zombie tied to the tree for comparison, it might not be noticeable, but now it was clear that this zombie’s mental state was weaker.

If the zombie tied to the tree was a hundred percent, then this one was at most seventy.

“Is it possible… this zombie is really like Bozai said, able to absorb energy from sunlight?”

Wu Lue voiced a wild and fantastical hypothesis.

“Go to hell, Brother Su calls me Bozai, you have to call me Brother Bo, got it?” Lu Yubo kicked Wu Lue.

Wu Lue dodged with a grin, saying, “Brother Bo, Brother Bo, don’t hit me, I was wrong.”

Zhang Su turned off the flashlight, smacked his lips, and said, “It does have a bit of solar power effect. We’ll know if it works in a few days. Let’s go back.”

Returning to the camp, Zhang Su prepared to set out to search for resources, but today’s team configuration had changed.

Zhao Dezhu was unable to continue with the dispatch tasks due to a leg injury, and Qi Xiaoshuai took his place.

The vehicles were changed from two RVs to a van and a Prado.

“Brother Su, if you see coal, bring some back. The weather is getting colder, and we need to heat up…”

Zheng Xinyu said to Zhang Su in the driver’s seat.

Celestial Horse Island was far from the city, without centralized municipal heating. Because of winter snow-viewing projects, several guesthouse owners had installed heating systems; burning them was not troublesome and allowed better temperature control.

“Got it!”

Zhang Su patted the car door, stepped on the gas, and drove out of the parking lot.

“Brother Su, where are we going today?”

Qi Xiaoshuai, sitting in the passenger seat, asked excitedly, hugging an automatic rifle. It was his first field task, and he felt invigorated by the scenery of the countryside.

Zhang Su turned onto the highway and said, “We’re still going to Niuquanzi Town, of course.”

“Ah?” Qi Xiaoshuai exclaimed in surprise, “What if the companions of those guys yesterday find their bodies in town?”

“What do you mean ‘what if’? I don’t know what happened. In this world, people die every day, isn’t that normal?”

Zhang Su pouted and said, “You said it yourself, their companions might go to town to find them, so we need to hurry up and scavenge Niuquanzi Town. Otherwise, all the shops cleared out won’t be ours.”

Many items from the cleared shops weren’t taken to make way for building materials.

Although zombies gathered in Niuquanzi Town, for this reason, the supplies were relatively well-preserved, mostly unaffected except for natural decay.

Zhang Su naturally wouldn’t easily give up on this resource-rich town. He never expected to collect supplies smoothly; encountering other survivors was normal. If they could negotiate, they would; if not, they would fight.

The zombies led away yesterday were now nowhere to be seen. Based on some traces left on the ground, it seemed they had been moving northward, but Zhang Su and his team weren’t interested in tracking them.

Soon, the two vehicles arrived at Niuquanzi Town.

The town looked the same as yesterday, with the mobile phone store blown apart by grenades and bodies lying untouched.

“Hmm?”

Everything seemed unchanged, but Zhang Su still noticed something different from yesterday!

In one of the cleared shops, an electric bicycle store, Zhang Su clearly remembered a few electric bikes without batteries at the entrance, but now there was a small electric bike with a battery lying there.

The shabby little electric bike had dirt clods and grass stalks on its wheels. If it were a first visit to this street, one wouldn’t notice it, but Zhang Su had been here four or five times and had cleaned out this shop himself, so he knew it wasn’t there before!

“Someone’s here!”

Zhang Su raised his hand to halt the group’s advance, scanning both sides of the street sharply, with a rifle in his hands.

“Brother Su, what’s the plan?”

Lu Yu and the others became alert, vividly remembering Zhao Dezhu getting shot.

“There’s an extra electric bike over there, someone must have come! Be on guard.”

As soon as he spoke, the four of them formed a back-to-back circle, each covering a ninety-degree field in front of them, trying to avoid blind spots in their sight.

Zhang Su’s ears twitched slightly, trying to catch subtle sounds. Yesterday they were too careless, overlooking noises due to the zombies’ clamor. Today, fully focused, he soon picked up on tiny sounds.

“There’s someone in the funeral shop over there, and someone in the opposite dining equipment rental shop!”

Zhang Su shared the information with his companions as they cautiously moved toward the funeral shop.

“Listen up, those inside the funeral shop and dining equipment rental, we know you’re in there; come out now to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings!”

As he spoke, Zhang Su reached into his backpack, pulling out a grenade.

Unexpectedly, there was a response right after.

“Coming out, coming out, I mean no harm!”

A teenage boy emerged from the funeral shop, around fifteen or sixteen, draped in a burial robe, looking eerie.

Another boy walked out from the dining equipment rental shop on the other side, also appearing immature, likely of a similar age.