Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

"Each of you has been carefully chosen by me, and I trust none of you will slack off. Right now, it's all for one and one for all. I'm not asking you to do extra work, but you must complete your tasks. Doing more won't get you rewards for the time being, but slacking off will get you punished!"

Zhang Su knew this rule wasn't very humane, but now was not a time for that.

"Don't worry, Brother Su, we'll definitely do a good job with these daily tasks!"

"That's right, this is our home, if we don't work hard, who will?"

"Having something to do is great, it proves that I can still live happily..."

Having gone through life and death struggles, everyone had a pretty good attitude.

Just as Zhang Su said, problematic members would be eliminated, and those left were naturally diligent. Even if anyone wanted to slack off at times, they'd be encouraged and urged by others.

Once the tasks were assigned, everyone immediately got to work.

Zhang Su didn't hesitate to become the team leader for the group tasked with going out to find supplies, leading Lu Yubo, Zhao Dezhu, and Pang Dakun in a Prado and a van away from Celestial Horse Island.

While heading from the self-constructed road to the highway, Zhang Su saw a tall road sign from afar and frowned slightly, then picked up the walkie-talkie: "Hello, Old Tan, call out five or six people, bring tools, take down the road sign by the side of the road and bring it back. It'd make a great gate bar!"

The tall road sign read Celestial Horse Island, pointing a clear path to survivors passing by, making it far from discreet!

"Got it, got it."

A reply quickly came through the walkie-talkie.

"Uncle, aren't we heading to United Village?"

Pang Dakun, sitting in the passenger seat, asked while looking at the unfamiliar scenery on both sides of the road.

"You'll know once we get there."

This time, Zhang Su and his team chose not to go to United Village for resources, but instead located a place further north on the map called Niuquanzi Town.

According to the map, Niuquanzi Town was just about three kilometers away from Celestial Horse Island. Nowadays, the rural road network construction was very complete, and zombies didn't have the capability to destroy roads. Plus, the areas on both sides of the road were largely farmland, with few villages or houses, so there weren't many zombies on the road, allowing for good traffic conditions.

Occasionally, zombies would jump out from the fields but didn't really affect travel, and the two vehicles quickly arrived at their destination.

"My goodness..."

Zhao Dezhu couldn't help but exclaim as he looked from afar at the grim scene in Niuquanzi Town.

The four parked their vehicles about a hundred and eighty meters outside the town, with a few freshly dispatched zombies lying by their feet. On the roadside was a ransacked restaurant with dumpling and bun stickers on the glass, and across the street, a car repair shop left with only slick black oil on the floor...

In the distance, two excavators stood at the entrance of the town's main street, their cabin glass shattered, and bodies hanging limply from the broken windows. The tracks were tangled with various remains, and although the rain could wash away the bloodstains, it couldn't clear the human fragments caught in the crevices.

Compared to the eerie depiction of Ghost Gate in films, the two excavators at Niuquanzi Town executed what could truly be called visual terror.

Between the excavators' buckets was a dense, barbed wire mesh, with more than a dozen mangled zombie corpses hanging from it, some thoroughly dead, others still struggling, causing the wire mesh to sway and emit faint friction sounds.

Looking further inside, more zombies wandered through the small town's streets—not as densely packed as a zombie horde, but definitely not few in number—roaming the various shops and loitering around the street corners...

"These two excavators are incredible, can we get them back?" Zhao Dezhu pointed at the excavators like they were Door Gods, and asked.

"I can't steal something this heavy." Pang Dakun made a foolish joke.

Zhang Su shrugged, "They seem completely broken, can you fix them? If you can get them working, I'll credit you with a major achievement, and you can smoke as much as you want. Deal?"

The reward was tempting, but Zhao Dezhu could only smile wryly and wave his hands, as he didn't have that skill.

"Let's talk sensibly—if we could clear out this town, the supplies inside would be enough for us to live comfortably for a year!"

Zhang Su gazed deeply into the depths of the town's streets; others might not see it clearly, but he could distinctly see that the end of the street was lined with shops filled with everything imaginable—rice, flour, oil, daily necessities, building materials, home goods, etc.

Though the town was small, it truly fit the saying that a sparrow may be small, but it has all the essential organs. It could be said that local prices were quite high, and compared to the big stores in the city district, their products might seem unrefined (not to be overly critical, but I've been to the nearby towns, and some products were unfamiliar local brands, even some without proper information). But the variety was truly quite comprehensive.

"Brother Su, unless we disregard ammo consumption and go all out, how do we deal with so many zombies?" Lu Yubo scratched his head and said.

"Is there no other way besides killing them?"

Zhang Su helplessly pouted. This little brother had been following him for almost a month now, and still, there was no progress. Was there no strategy at all?

"You're the dumbest! We can use the old method to lure the zombies away, hehe!"

Zhao Dezhu smugly retorted to Lu Yubo.

"No way!" Pang Dakun shook his head and said, "If we lure the zombies away, what if another group comes and steals our stuff?"

As a professional thief, he brought up a concern that couldn't be ignored.

"Killing isn't an option, and luring isn't an option; we're out of options." Lu Yubo spread his hands, reluctantly pulled out a cigarette, and lit it.

Zhang Su earnestly looked at the streets full of zombies and murmured, "We can advance step by step, clear this place little by little. With such abundant resources, it's impossible to give up so easily!"

"Little by little clearing?"

"Yeah, this way we're safe, and we don't have to worry about anyone stealing, haha! Uncle, this idea is great."

"But... how can we advance step by step? Just a little provocation will attract a horde of zombies."

Lu Yubo still couldn't understand how Zhang Su's plan would work, as he puffed on his cigarette, thinking hard.

Zhang Su put on gloves, picked up a steel rod by the roadside, and said, "Isn't this a ready-made cover? Let's get to work!"

However ingenious the plan, it still required considerable effort. Thousands of zombies were a real presence on the streets. Trying to move resources away under their noses was simply a delusional thought. The only way was to clear them little by little!

Clear an area, then move resources from that area.

The group walked to the barbed wire fence and made some noise. More than a dozen nearby zombies rushed over like the most enthusiastic audience, jumping and charging toward the fence with blood-red eyes and gleaming white teeth.

"Dakun, keep an eye on our rear. Zhuzi, Bozai, let's do this!"

Squish, squish.

With the barbed wire separating them, killing zombies was as easy as slicing vegetables. Even Pang Dakun, mainly responsible for vigilance, wasn't idle and stabbed two zombies to death.

However, before they could finish off the nearby zombies, more zombies streamed out from the shops on both sides of the street, replacing them. Soon, there were over a dozen zombies gathered again in front of the wire fence.

Fortunately, the group was quite experienced, and such a short battle posed no burden. With continuous stabbings, they finally cleared this first wave of over thirty zombies. Dirty blood flowed onto the ground along the wire mesh, and a foul, rotten smell spread.

Repeating the process, Zhang Su and the team continued to make noise to lure the slightly further away zombies over. Back and forth, with breaks, in over half an hour, they cleared about the length of ten shops, with the closest zombies now some seventy or eighty meters away.

"Zhuzi and I will load the items. Bozai, you and Dakun keep watch here!"

Zhang Su tossed the handy steel rod onto the car and instructed the group.

It seemed like more than ten shops were cleared, but only those closest to the street could be ransacked without hesitation; shops deeper inside couldn't be approached.

Unfortunately, among the shops were a funeral clothing store and a catering equipment rental, leaving only the small restaurant, surveillance equipment store, pharmacy, and a New Day electric vehicle dealership with anything worthwhile.

After busying themselves for an hour, nearing noon, they finally managed to fill up two vehicles. The pharmacy was practically emptied—whether useful or not, they took everything they could, just in case. The restaurant had little of use, only supplementing some flour and seasonings, with no meat, eggs, or vegetables.

The major haul was definitely the surveillance equipment and New Day electric vehicles.

According to Liu Tianji's plan, the base's defensive fortifications required a batch of surveillance cameras. Zhang Su had been worried about this, thinking he wouldn't find them without going deep into Qin City District. Who would've thought they'd find them the next day!

He wasn't familiar with the rural areas nearby, but it was quite popular to install surveillance equipment in villages, and naturally, such shops were opened in the town.

The electric vehicle's batteries and motors were also quite useful. Unfortunately, due to limited carrying capacity, the vehicles couldn't accommodate them. So Pang Dakun and Zhao Dezhu each had to ride one back...

Though they were riding against the cold wind, both were more than happy. The feeling of riding an electric scooter in the wind was something they hadn't enjoyed in a long time!

Anyway, the distance wasn't far, and the road posed no danger until they reached the self-built road at Celestial Horse Island's scenic entrance, where they encountered three zombies blocking the way.

"Once we've mostly cleared Niuquanzi Town, we should sweep through the nearby villages. These zombies—three today, five tomorrow, they aren't deadly, but they're a nuisance, always a hassle."

Zhang Su stopped the car, pulled out the steel rod, and swiftly took out two zombies, while the other was dispatched by Zhao Dezhu, who had gotten off the electric scooter.