Chapter 171 - 162: A More Complicated Situation

Chapter 171: Chapter 162: A More Complicated Situation

"Yin Shuangyang is still alive. And... there are quite a few other people on the speedboat. They’re living on it."

Wang Dingbei recounted the story of how Yin Shuangyang and his ruthless enforcer, Zou Long, had hijacked the police vehicle.

Huang Zhiqiang said, "These are out-and-out thugs... They hijacked a police vehicle at gunpoint, and they actually pulled it off."

Zhao Youcai added, "They have explosives and guns. They’re definitely a tough nut to crack."

Zhao Wenjie glanced at the crossbow in his hands and the spears held by the others.

"This collection of melee weapons we have... I don’t think it stands a chance against their guns, does it?"

"It’s definitely a tough situation. This is pretty much why melee weapons disappeared from the stage of history..." Yu Chengfei said, sounding a bit wistful.

He never thought the historical combat arts he’d practiced for so many years would ever shine again, reclaiming their status as true killing techniques.

But... that was only against zombies. When facing real thugs, a spear was clearly no match for a firearm.

The art of the spear and the art of the gun were worlds apart.

Fire Captain Liu Hao patted the stab-proof vest he was wearing. "Uh... this stuff isn’t bulletproof, is it? I think if we’re going to make contact with thugs like these, we’d better switch to ballistic vests."

Everyone was currently wearing a set of Chinese-made, 3,000-yuan stab-proof armor. It protected against stabs, scratches, and bites—specialized gear for dealing with zombies.

The zombies at this stage weren’t strong enough to penetrate their defenses.

It was light and comfortable, so Yu Dong and his group all wore it.

However, he also had eight custom-made, high-end sets that were bulletproof.

"Wang, what kind of firepower are we talking about? To take down one of your police transport vans... it can’t have been just a few handguns, right?"

Wang Dingbei’s expression was grim. "This crew has automatic rifles, submachine guns, and pistols. They also have thrown explosives like hand grenades. This Zou Long is one ruthless bastard. He’s spent years operating internationally. He doesn’t just have speedboats; he’s got a large vessel out at sea. Whenever there’s an attempt to capture him, he escapes on a speedboat to his big ship, then sails to some island in international waters to lay low..."

"Holy shit! The difference in firepower is insane... They could just mow us down, couldn’t they?" Yan Yikai scratched his head as he listened.

Just hearing about it was enough to scare anyone off.

The gap in firepower was so vast it would scare even the most reckless fool.

Just then, one of the sailors spoke up. "Zou Long... I know that name. He’s a notorious bastard, an internationally wanted criminal. He has a modified freighter that he usually keeps in international waters. That’s his lair. The freighter has heavy weapons, and sometimes he plays pirate and plunders large ships that pass by."

"The man is vicious. He’s gathered a whole crew of desperadoes. If you’re planning on provoking him... you might as well just lock me up and hand me over to the military for trial. I signed up to fight zombies, not to follow you on a suicide mission."

The other sailors quickly agreed. Clearly, any sailor who spent time at sea had heard his name.

Yu Dong asked curiously, "This Zou Long plays pirate... has he ever tried to hijack your cruise ship?"

"Er... they don’t have the capability. Our cruise ship has its own defenses. At sea, a large water cannon is enough to handle them."

"What if they forced you to stop and then boarded you?" Huang Zhiqiang asked, remembering some naval combat movies he’d seen.

The sailor almost lost his composure. The corner of his mouth twitched as he replied:

"A 3,000-ton freighter forcing a 160,000-ton mega cruise ship to stop? That’s about as effective as lying down on the highway and cosplaying as a speed bump."

"Hahaha! Is that so..." Huang Zhiqiang, who knew nothing about the sea, was amused.

As the others talked, Wang Dingbei kept the binoculars trained on the speedboats, his expression shifting constantly.

’Why do I only see Yin Shuangyang... Where’s Zou Long? Is he dead?’

Unfortunately, they could only see the exterior of the speedboats, not the inside.

The two speedboats were quite large—a pair of military-grade, rigid-hulled assault boats. They looked well-equipped.

"Wang, how many are there?"

"I’ve counted 12 people on deck so far... No idea how many more are in the cabins."

"Looks like they moved a bit from D Port toward C Port and docked at the junction between them. They’re loading food onto the speedboats from a nearby vessel..."

"C Port certainly isn’t short on food."

Hearing this, Yu Dong found it strange. "Twelve people on deck... Even if Zou Long’s desperadoes were extremely lucky, there’s no way that many would have survived a virus that turned ninety percent of the population into zombies. Unless... he brought over a hundred men for the hijacking."

"Impossible," the sailor explained. "Those two speedboats can hold twenty people at most. Any more and they’d be overloaded."

"Out of twenty people... it’s highly unlikely that twelve or more survived. The odds are just too low. Unless..." Yu Dong thought of another possibility.

Wang Dingbei nodded. "They’ve taken hostages... Most of those twelve people are probably civilian survivors they’ve forced into labor."

"As I thought."

Yu Dong had guessed correctly.

The group stood at B Port, looking toward the speedboats at the junction of C Port and D Port, and a sense of dread washed over them.

They didn’t dare to make a move.

They weren’t afraid of the zombies in C Port, but they were terrified of the men and the firepower on those two speedboats.

Zhao Wenjie spoke up, "Brother Dong, what if... we head back? We can set up our defensive line, let the zombies in C Port block their path, and then focus on clearing out the zombies from the hotel street to the east. What do you think?"

Besides, compared to pushing deeper west into the port, he was more inclined to head east... ’Xiangti Bay Community is over there. Yang Yi is still trapped, begging me through tears to come save her. If we expand eastward, I could finally get her out.’

He had it all figured out. ’Even after Yang Yi is on the cruise ship, we’ll just be regular friends and go our separate ways. I’m just doing it for the sake of our two-year relationship.’

Officer Xiao Dabe added, "That’s right... C Port has complex terrain, lots of buildings, and plenty of zombies. In an urban warfare scenario, firearms lose some of their effectiveness. The port itself can serve as a barrier to block those guys, keeping them from getting a clear shot at our A Port base and the cruise ship. The threat from the hotels is something we have to deal with sooner or later anyway. Might as well handle that first."

As a police officer, he was keenly aware of their limitations. ’Our firepower is no match for Yin Shuangyang’s crew.’

A sailor also chimed in, "He’s right, sir. The cruise ship is still very safe. If they approach us in their speedboats, we can hit them with the high-pressure water cannons. It’s very difficult for them to board from the sea. But if they secure a land route... then we’re in real danger."

The massive disparity in firepower convinced most of them that they should avoid a direct confrontation.

Wang Dingbei lowered his binoculars. He thought about his two detective apprentices being burned alive years ago, and the three officers killed during the hijacking just the other day... A furious anger surged within him.

It was impossible to suppress.

"No!"

"Criminals like that must be eliminated! If we don’t get rid of them, we’ll be the ones in danger!"

"They dare to kill police officers! There’s nothing they won’t do!"

"The other day, A Port was a real spectacle—smoke, blank rounds, burning hordes of zombies... Those guys definitely saw it. They know there are plenty of living people here in A Port, and who knows what they might be planning."

It wasn’t just his rage toward these ruthless criminals. For the safety of the cruise ship, Wang Dingbei knew they had to take out Yin Shuangyang’s crew.

Jing Yanwei saw Wang Dingbei’s clenched jaw and furious eyes, and said with concern:

"Officer Wang, please don’t be rash. Let’s go back and plan this out properly... For all we know, they might just finish loading their supplies and head back to their ship at sea. There’s no need to force a fight right now."

Many others agreed with her.

"Exactly! If we fight them to the death, who knows how many of us will die!"

"I think we should observe them first. We can react if they make a move. If they just leave, then there’s no problem."

"Besides, if we don’t provoke them, they have no reason to pick a fight with our cruise ship. The worst they’ll do is siphon some fuel from B Port and leave... Officer Wang, this is the apocalypse. The old rules don’t apply anymore. It’s not about who’s guilty or innocent; it’s about who has the bigger fist."

Watching the exchange, Zhao Youcai and Yan Yikai instinctively felt something was wrong with that line of reasoning, but they couldn’t put their finger on it.

Until Yu Dong spoke.

"Wang is right. We have to fight, and we have to strike first."

"The apocalypse is one big dark forest... We have to assume they bear us the greatest possible hostility until we can either eliminate that suspicion or completely subdue them."

"And with ruthless criminals like these... we can *never* eliminate our suspicion. So there’s only one path forward: subdue them. Nip the danger in the bud."

Yu Dong had experience; he’d learned this lesson the hard way. He knew... the moment an outside group with real power shows up, the struggle has already begun.

If you don’t prepare for a fight, you’ll just end up being dragged into one anyway.

Seeing Yu Dong back him up, Wang Dingbei’s spirits soared.

"Exactly! That’s it! We can’t pin our hopes on the enemy showing mercy... We need to start figuring out a plan to take them out right now."

It was a complex problem, and Wang Dingbei didn’t have any good solutions yet. After all, the difference in firepower was just too great.

Yu Dong looked at Wang Dingbei in confusion. "Taking them out is the easy part. I was just thinking about a more complex problem."

"How do we rescue the innocent people they’ve taken hostage while we’re taking out the criminals?"

"That’s the part that’s giving me a headache."

Wang Dingbei’s eyes widened when he heard this.

"You talk a big game! Our firepower isn’t even in the same league as theirs!"

"You’re right. It’s not even in the same dimension... We have an air force."