Chapter 786 - 657: Clay Bodhisattva Crossing the River

"Damn, Brother Duan, there’s... there’s a big guy ahead! Stop! Stop the car!"

Zhao Dezhu’s exaggerated voice came through the walkie-talkie. He was sitting in the front passenger seat of Lu Yubo’s car, leading the way and scouting ahead.

Szz... szz...

The van loaded with food supplies groaned under the weight, making creaking noises, and everyone feared it might not hold up until they returned to Celestial Horse Island.

The vehicles came to a halt, more than 300 meters away from a small group of zombies, not disturbing their feeding frenzy.

"What bad luck, encountering a big guy again. Wasn’t it said that there should be one big guy for every hundred regular zombies? This ratio isn’t right!"

"Under normal circumstances, it’s supposed to be one in a hundred, but the scope of this ratio is hard to say. For example, in a village, there could be over 300 zombies, but not a single big guy, while the neighboring village might only have four zombies, and all of them are big guys!"

"Damn, your odds are harder than winning the lottery jackpot..."

The people got out of their vehicles one after another, discussing among themselves, but showing no signs of anxiety. They had encountered numerous various formations along the way, and with a better understanding of their strength, their confidence had grown.

Hong the Fourth stood on the edge of the crowd, holding his homemade steel spear, silent and hardly noticeable.

"Stop analyzing so much, let’s deal with it quickly. Those survivors are quite unlucky; if they had held on for ten more minutes, these poor souls could have been saved..."

Duan Wuhu lamented. It was only about four to five kilometers from Red Gully Village to here. If they had driven a bit faster or loaded the food supplies more efficiently, if only...

But there’s no if!

It wasn’t just one survivor who died; otherwise, thirty-something zombies wouldn’t be feasting for half a day without looking up.

"Teacher Duan, what do you say, should we kill or lure them away?"

Lu Yubo asked.

"Captain Shen, what do you think?"

Duan Wuhu politely looked at Shen Linrui. After all, it was a collaboration between the two forces, and although Shen Linrui had let him make the decisions all along, it was still polite to ask.

"I think we should lure them away..."

"Wait a minute, Captain Shen, those... damn it, those people in trouble are our camp’s brothers!"

Pu Chanyong, who had been holding the binoculars the whole time, whispered, filled with sadness: "I saw the work boots like the ones we wear!"

A shoe factory in the suburbs of the Mountain and Sea District had taken an order for men’s fall and winter work boots at the start of the third quarter. Everything was going well until disaster suddenly struck.

Dragon Head Camp searched for supplies like flipping pancakes, and they managed to procure enough boots from the shoe factory for all the camp members to wear for several years. Every official member had a pair unless they made a big mistake.

Someone like Shen Linrui, at the captain level, could even wear the gold-standard, thicker work boots, offering better warmth.

Not to say other survivors couldn’t wear them, but the probability of wearing the same color work boots was extremely low!

"Let me see!"

Shen Linrui took the binoculars from Pu Chanyong, and after a careful look, his mouth twitched, and he sighed, "They must be the brothers who went to the village to search for resources... sigh."

This mission was mainly about searching for scattered camp members, and they hadn’t even entered the Mountain and Sea District yet when they encountered a team, but unfortunately, only fragments remained!

"Revenge!"

Fan Donglu, a strong man from Dragon Head Camp, gripped his weapon, his knuckles turning white, and muttered just two words.

However, his suggestion did not receive a response from the group...

Shen Linrui patted Fan Donglu’s shoulder and said, "Old Fan, right now we’re like clay idols crossing a river. I think it’s better to take care of ourselves first!"

Revenge?

Is that something they should consider in their current situation?

The people heading to Mountain and Sea didn’t support Fan Donglu, their intentions clear, but they also didn’t explicitly reject him. It was an internal matter for them, and they believed Shen Linrui would handle it well.

Hong the Fourth was even less likely to speak, standing quietly aside, motionless.

"But Captain Shen... huh!"

Fan Donglu wanted to argue but seeing the other companions all standing silently, it was clear no one wanted to stir up trouble. So, he stamped his foot and didn’t persist.

Shen Linrui patted Fan Donglu on the back again as a gesture of comfort, then looked toward Duan Wuhu: "Could you please ask Xiaowu to handle it?"

"Alright!"

Duan Wuhu didn’t hesitate and nodded to Wu Lue.

The tactical routine was quite mature, with strategies for both killing and luring. Wu Lue deployed the drone, quickly luring the zombies into the ruins of the village over a kilometer away, ensuring they wouldn’t return anytime soon.

The vehicles approached the accident site. From the scattered human remains, it appeared that five people had been attacked. From the field path all the way to the highway, it was confirmed they belonged to Dragon Head Camp’s search team.

"Our camp’s search team usually consists of five people per unit. They were fully staffed, but without vehicles, they must have been trapped in a village by the shockwave somewhere. It’s really... the uncertainties of life."

Shen Linrui picked up a relatively intact work boot from the ground, feeling sentimental.

These people didn’t die in the camp’s explosion, nor did they perish from the shockwave, yet they failed to escape the pursuit of zombies in the end.

"Didn’t they have firearms?"

Zhao Dezhu looked around nearby and asked.

Zhou Haiquan explained, "Initially, the search teams were equipped with three guns. Later, several teams kept losing their weapons, and upon investigation, it turned out they were hoarding them... So, Dragon Head canceled the hot weapon supply for the search teams."

"Hoarding firearms? What were they planning... But it seems too abrupt to cancel them entirely?"

"Let’s not delve into it..."

Duan Wuhu stopped Zhao Dezhu from criticizing the other camp’s leaders, glancing at the grim scene, and suggested, "How about... we light a cigarette to honor the brothers who fell into misfortune?"

This proposal quickly gained the support of Dragon Head Camp’s members.

After a simple tribute, the group didn’t take the scattered supplies because the vehicles were already at their limits, each stuffed to the brim.

Resuming their journey, the accident site was still twelve to thirteen kilometers from the Mountain and Sea District’s city center. But Dragon Head Camp was in the northeast corner of the Mountain and Sea District, requiring them to cross the entire city. Including the city’s distance, it was roughly twenty kilometers in total.

The group didn’t know that just three to four kilometers after they left, the "leftovers" from the previous wave of zombies were cleaned up by a passing tall figure...

For some unknown physical reason, the roads near the Mountain and Sea District were surprisingly clearer. However, some sections still had some damage, but they posed no pressure for the vehicles, and the speed gradually increased to forty to fifty.

The path indeed became easier to travel. Occasionally, dead trees alongside the road fell, while the more distant villages looked utterly devastated. As far as the eye could see, there were hardly any intact buildings, all the courtyard walls had collapsed, leaving no place to stand!

Back at Red Gully Village, at least half of the village’s houses were still okay. Maybe there were hidden cracks, but they hadn’t collapsed at the time. But within ten kilometers of the Mountain and Sea District, the scene was indescribably tragic.

"Younger Brother Duan, what on earth exploded? This is just... just... just so, well, so something!"

Looking at the demolished farmhouses outside the window, Hong the Fourth was wide-eyed, at a loss for words.

Duan Wuhu remained silent as well. The countryside houses were in such condition, and he was already beginning to worry about the situation in the city center.

"They say it was a mutated zombie catching fire that triggered the explosion. Brother Hong, remember one thing: never use fire against zombies when the situation is unclear! Even if it’s an ordinary zombie, once it’s set on fire, its strength increases more than fivefold. Make sure you have an absolute safe distance, otherwise, never use fire. It’s exceptionally terrifying!"

Seizing this opportunity, Duan Wuhu explained to Hong the Fourth the impact of flames on zombies.