Chapter 804: Feeling Proud Inside

Go have a little meeting with 004!

Those six words landed clearly in the ears of Duan Wuhu and the ten-odd others. Except for Hong the Fourth, who had no real concept of what 004 was, everyone else’s faces twitched three times.

Were they actually planning to take it head-on?

“Brother Zhang, so we’re not going to scout the zombie horde anymore?”

Duan Wuhu probed cautiously. He really didn’t want to go head-to-head with that inexplicably powerful thing.

Zhang Su shook his head. “The zombie horde is still far off. Like you said yourselves, they won’t get here in just a few days. 004 is different—if it wants to, it can reach Celestial Horse Island and start killing in under an hour. We don’t know why it was hiding near Red Gully Village before, but now that it’s shown itself, it has to be handled first!”

004 is a disaster-level hidden danger. Whether you look at it from an individual or from the whole camp’s perspective, it’s a faster, more direct threat than that five-hundred-thousand-strong zombie horde!

It’s not like there are no ways to deal with the zombie horde—it’s just that right now there are some concerns, and they haven’t figured out exactly which approach to take. But from Duan Wuhu’s account, when it came to dealing with 004, there was clearly that “the donkey is out of tricks” sense of helplessness!

If it’s that hard to deal with, then all the more reason to take it seriously!

“Alright, Brother Zhang, what do you think we need to prepare?”

Duan Wuhu stopped hemming and hawing. The leader had already made his decision; the best thing they could do was to fully cooperate.

“Don’t act rashly. All you need to do is slowly make your way back. We’ll talk about everything after we meet up.”

Zhang Su didn’t want a few key brothers having something happen to them outside.

“OK, we’ll get ready to head out right now! Oh, right, Brother Zhang, we hauled a lot of supplies this trip. You should prep a few more trucks to come pick up the goods.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Zhang Su agreed out loud, but in his heart he couldn’t help a wry smile. Teacher Duan really knew how to run a household—enemy at the gates and he was still thinking about getting the supplies back first.

Once the call ended, Zhang Su turned around. Yuwen was still organizing the ranks, sorting people into the Elite Corps and Reserve Corps.

“Old Yu, how many people haven’t been reported in yet?”

Zhang Su walked to the front of the crowd, pushed up his frog-eye shades, his face giving nothing away.

“Just a few Reserve Corps members left.”

Yuwen pointed at the list in his hand.

Zhang Su glanced at it, then nodded and said to the crowd, “Listen up. I’m about to grant special admission to a few people into the Reserve Corps. Wang Zhetao, Su Xiaoya, Tian Fan, and Pan Ru… These few are being admitted outside the rules for my own personal reasons, so I won’t explain too much.”

Pulling strings for familiar faces—coming from a peaceful society, this was something everyone was totally used to. Nobody felt there was anything wrong with it. Some people even thought Zhang Su’s straightforwardness was rare and valuable. In the old world when a leader wanted to arrange something, when would they ever tell them in advance…

The people called by name were all stunned.

Tian Fan, Su Xiaoya, and Pan Ru had all hoped Zhang Su would go easy on them, but none of them had actually said anything. Aside from Duan Wuhu pleading on Tian Fan’s behalf, nobody expected their wish to come true. It was too unexpected.

But one of them was different: Wang Zhetao. When he heard himself being chosen for the Reserve Corps, his expression was very surprised, but definitely not happy-surprised. It was more like: “No way, seriously… what the hell.”

Still, he hid it well. That flash of surprise only skimmed across his face for a moment.

“Brother Zhang really came through for you, really stood by you. You’d better appreciate it properly!”

Wang Guangjun felt a stab of heartache, mixed with some relief. Heartache because his son was such a letdown; relief because as a father he’d finally managed to use a bit of his connections to help his kid…

“Brother Su, I definitely won’t let you down. I’ll give it everything I’ve got!”

Tian Fan had a strong will despite his disability. He really did lag behind on the hardware side, but he made up for it with a sharp brain and decent education. He was very good at practical applications of physics, with a fighting style that had that “using four ounces to move a thousand pounds” feel.

“I won’t disappoint you!” Su Xiaoya’s cute-fierce voice didn’t sound imposing at all, but it carried a firm conviction.

“Brother Zhang, I’ll work hard!”

Pan Ru clenched her fists tight. In the past she’d been kept like a caged songbird and hadn’t gotten any real training, but she had a strong will. Now she wanted to use her own strength to protect herself, and at the same time prove to the man who’d given her a second chance at life—twice—that he hadn’t saved the wrong person.

Seeing that everyone else had already spoken up, Wang Zhetao couldn’t afford to drop the ball. He straightened his back and said, “My past was a complete mess, but please believe this: my future will absolutely shine bright!”

The slogan was loud, but it didn’t resonate with many people—especially those on Celestial Horse Island who already knew a bit about Wang Zhetao. They quietly curled their lips.

Zhang Su looked at the four of them and nodded. “Don’t try to fob me off with slogans. I want to see results. Get back in formation. Next, whoever I call, step out! Wu Baokang, Wu Daqiang, Luo Yongzhan, Dazhuang, Liu Yao, Fan Dahai, Yang Xinqi—no, not Yang Xinqi—Meng Changwei, Xie Guangfa. Okay, these eight!”

The ones called out walked out of the ranks in a daze, looking at each other. They were all members of the Elite Corps—that much was easy to confirm—but why were they being singled out? Maybe they were about to be promoted to squad leaders?

The more they thought about it, the more pleased they felt.

Yang Xinqi was very embarrassed. His name had been called, then immediately taken back. It was utterly undignified, and he stood there in the crowd feeling shriveled.

Another person was also depressed: Zhang Xin. All eight of those called out had performed well in the tests. Even the weaker ones had considerable combat power, and several of them had once been leaders of Survivor Forces.

It was perfectly natural to assume they were being entrusted with important roles. But Zhang Xin felt he’d had some history with King Yama, figured he had a shot at being a minor leader, yet his name hadn’t been called. He felt seriously let down.

But Zhang Su’s next sentence immediately made everyone with such ideas realize something was off.

“Old Yu, you handle the rest from here. I’m taking them to deal with something. You eight, with me!”

Zhang Su waved, then led Wu Baokang and the other seven up Celestial Horse Island Mountain without looking back.

When Yuwen saw that heavy look on Zhang Su’s face as he hurried away, his heart sank.

He was a very smart man. From a series of signs he could clearly judge the rough shape of things. This definitely wasn’t the “promotion to officer” people were whispering about. Very likely, this was them heading out because something had gone wrong in Mountain and Sea!

“You must come back safe and sound.”

Yuwen prayed silently. Zhao Dezhu and Yu Qing hadn’t held any ceremony, but the two already had a married couple’s bond. Of course he didn’t want his son-in-law to run into trouble.

“What’s this about?”

“What are we going to do? A meeting?”

“You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?”

The eight of them were all confused, Xie Guangfa especially.

He was the most “special case” among them—just out of prison a few days ago. His constrained posture didn’t match the others at all. He walked with a limp that looked awkward, but his speed was no slower than anyone else’s.

“Brother Su, sorry to intrude, but where exactly are we going?”

Liu Yao was the social tank among them. He quickened his pace to catch up with Zhang Su and blurted out the question.

Zhang Su didn’t answer right away, since they were still close to the crowd. After another twenty or thirty meters, he said, “Zhuzi and the others ran into trouble out there. We’re going to bail them out!”

Were they really going to bail them out?

Yes—and no.

004 hadn’t shown any aggression yet, but saying “we’re going to rescue them” would give the people around him a sense of mission!

Sure enough, once they heard they were going to save people, everyone’s expressions changed.

“Brother Su, I heard they went to the Mountain and Sea District to investigate the zombie horde. Did they get surrounded?”

Wu Daqiang asked with a solemn look.

“They wouldn’t be that careless. Did they clash with other Survivor Forces combat units?”

Wu Baokang shot down Wu Daqiang’s guess and offered his own.

Zhang Su shook his head. “Neither. It’s much trickier than that. Move faster. In a bit, grab whatever weapons you’re most comfortable with. And each of you go find Director Zhong and collect one Life-saving Medicine.”

The mood suddenly turned tense. Life-saving Medicine had always been handed out only after someone got injured. Now he was having them each carry one in advance—that meant this was serious!