Chapter 385 - 181: Forging Ahead

Chapter 385: Chapter 181: Forging Ahead

"How many of you have guns?"

"About one gun for every two men. It’s just... we don’t have a lot of ammo..."

Xu Mo nodded. He could tell from the man’s eyes that he wasn’t lying.

’A small group that splintered off from a larger organization, left due to unfair distribution, and found a place to settle down. Today they went out looking for supplies, came across my vehicle, and got greedy. This kind of thing is all too common in the apocalypse.’

Xu Mo’s expression softened slightly.

What he worried about most was encountering the kind of group that lived solely by robbing and killing. Those people had lost their humanity. They’d kill any lone survivor on sight, take their things, and leave, not caring who their victim was. If this man’s group was like that, Xu Mo would have to consider paying a visit to their camp and eliminating that cancer.

’But if it was just a crime of opportunity, then things were simpler.’

The man seemed to realize Xu Mo was considering what to do with him and hurriedly knelt to beg for his life.

"Boss, please spare me! I swear I won’t cause you any trouble! I didn’t see anything! Let me go, and I’ll go back and tell them Bald Zhang was bitten to death by a zombie. I won’t mention a single word about you!"

"I’m begging you, I have a wife and kids at home! They’re waiting for me to come back! If I die, they won’t survive either! Please..."

Xu Mo looked at him and suddenly asked a question.

"Do you have a shovel?"

The man froze, his kowtowing motions halting. He looked up, a bewildered expression on his face.

"A shovel?"

"Yes, a shovel," Xu Mo said. "The kind for digging holes."

The man blinked, not understanding why Xu Mo would suddenly ask such a thing. Still, he answered honestly, "No, we only brought guns and food when we left. No shovel."

"Ah, well..." Xu Mo sighed, a trace of regret in his voice as he put away the Barrett.

"So, Boss, does that mean I can..." Seeing Xu Mo sigh, the man thought he was about to be let go, and a look of joy spread across his face.

However, after putting away the Barrett, Xu Mo drew the Triangular Spike from his waist. The cold metal glinted chillingly in the sunlight.

The man’s eyes went wide. The relief on his face instantly froze, replaced by terror.

"What are you doing? You said you wouldn’t kill me! Just now, you—"

Xu Mo cut him off. "I never said that."

The man faltered, replaying their conversation. Xu Mo had never actually said he wouldn’t kill him; he had only asked a few questions. The man had just assumed that cooperating would save his life.

"No! No! You can’t kill me! I still have—"

A cold light flashed, and the pleading stopped abruptly. The Triangular Spike plunged into the back of the man’s neck, pierced his spinal cord, and its tip emerged from the front of his throat.

The man’s body convulsed a few times, then went limp, all life gone.

Xu Mo pulled out the Triangular Spike and looked at the corpse on the ground, his face devoid of expression.

’Originally,’ Xu Mo thought, ’if the man had brought a shovel, I would have had him dig his own grave. At least then he’d have a proper burial.’ After all, even though the man had tried to kill him, he hadn’t succeeded, and his attitude had been reasonably honest.

’Too bad he didn’t have a shovel. Since he didn’t, this was the only way. In the apocalypse, plenty of bodies are left to rot in the wild. One more or one less makes no difference.’

As for the wife and kids...

Xu Mo glanced at the man’s body. ’How much could you trust the words of someone like that? Even if he really did have a wife and kids, the moment he decided to rob and kill, he should have considered that he might die himself.’

’What goes around, comes around.’

...

The sun sank in the west, dyeing the wasteland a brilliant gold.

The SUV bumped along the uneven, cratered road, kicking up a long trail of dust. Xu Mo kept his hands on the steering wheel, his mind still on what had just happened.

’That Bluestone Town the man mentioned should be just over three hundred kilometers to the north. An organization of more than three thousand people who escaped from Ming Pearl Port, bringing supplies and technology with them to settle in a small town. I guess you could say they inherited what was left of Ming Pearl Port, right?’

’Should I go check it out?’

Xu Mo considered it for a moment, then shook his head.

’Bluestone Town is too far. Over three hundred kilometers north, the complete opposite of the southeastern direction I need to go. A round trip would be more than six hundred kilometers. I don’t have enough fuel, and I don’t have enough time. Besides, from the man’s description, that place is already having internal conflicts. It might not be a good idea to go.’

So, Xu Mo decided to continue heading southeast. Old Chen had told him that when Ming Pearl Port fell, many survivor organizations had evacuated in different directions. The group that went southeast should still be somewhere up ahead.

Xu Mo’s thoughts returned to the man’s words.

"Do the most dangerous work, get the smallest share of the supplies."

"When someone who goes out dies, their family’s things get stolen."

"The people who stay in town just hang around the leaders all day, so they get a bigger cut when supplies are handed out."

’These are all problems that inevitably arise in loosely-formed organizations. From this, I can also tell that while the leaders of Bluestone Town might have some vision, they clearly lack any real leadership talent.’

’Based on that judgment, I even wonder if there’s still a survivor settlement in Bluestone Town at all. It’s hard to say for sure.’