Chapter 221 171: Gunshot
"Xiaoshuai, Wu Lue, today you two will come with us to Niuquanzi Town, let's try to bring back all the rebar!"
On this day, Zhang Su reckoned he could clear out to the building materials store and called on two more people to go to Niuquanzi Town. To make sure they could haul all those things back in one trip, they even used the fuel-consuming RV.
Rebar and cement are the main materials for building the base's walls. Once these two items are secured, the defense capabilities will be greatly enhanced.
Two mostly empty RVs started up and slowly drove towards the mountain road.
"Younger Brother Zhang, don't forget the cutting machine!"
The car had already set off when Zhang Su heard Jia Shiqin shouting loudly from behind, and he stuck his hand out the window to give an "OK" sign.
However, just as they reached the foot of the mountain, before getting onto the self-built road in the fields, Zhang Su slammed the brakes and stopped at the intersection.
"A group of zombies is coming from the south!"
Zhang Su took out the walkie-talkie to inform his companions in the other vehicle of this discovery.
Others might not be able to see clearly, but he could see clearly a group of zombies emerging from the depths of the southern farmland, roughly about two hundred, just from what was visible.
It seemed that a roadblock in some village had been breached, and without obstacles, a group of zombies had come rushing out!
Upon hearing Zhang Su's words, those with binoculars took them out, and those without used the scopes on their rifles to check. As expected, they saw the horde of zombies moving slowly in the distance.
"Damn, isn't this group of zombies coming our way?"
Lu Yubo questioned.
"Remove 'isn't' and change that to a statement..."
Wu Lue joked with a troubled expression.
From the zombies that appeared daily, the attraction hypothesis had been largely confirmed: zombies can sense humans from afar, and the larger the gathering of humans, the stronger the signal they emit, attracting more zombies.
"No, then why do zombies always head towards us? There are quite a few people in United Village too, fifty or sixty people in total, why don't they head over there?"
Lu Yubo complained with a pout.
"How do you know they haven't encountered zombie attacks? We don't watch them all the time... United Village is under Beidong Town, with forty to fifty thousand people in the town. Now it's just West Camp Village and United Village, totaling less than a hundred people. Think about how many zombies are left!"
Zhang Su shook his head. Lu Yubo's thinking was problematic, like assuming someone didn't get a ticket just because you didn't see them pay for a traffic violation...
"So what now, brother, should we head back?"
Zhao Dezhu asked in a deep voice.
Zhang Su didn't make a decision but instead pointed to the farmland overgrown with wild grass on both sides of the road, saying, "What do you all think of digging a three meters wide and five meters deep trench here, stretching from the mountain foot to the roadside? Wouldn't the zombies coming through the fields just fall in?"
The group could imagine a very vivid picture, but that's assuming a premise!
"How are we going to dig, with shovels and manpower? That's like trying to build the Great Wall..."
Zhao Dezhu's expression was extremely interesting.
"Of course, we can't dig by hand. Doesn't Niuquanzi Village have two excavators? We should find a way to get them back!"
Zhang Su had the idea of using the excavators.
Zhao Dezhu frowned, "But brother, not to mention if anyone can even operate an excavator, the problem is, those things have leaky fuel tanks, and I think the axles are broken. How do we operate them?"
The keys were indeed in the vehicle, but the damage to the excavators seemed quite severe, likely caused during some crash or another.
"There's always a way. First, we need to draw these zombies away. The camp's defenses aren't fully set up yet, and that many zombies rushing in would be a big problem!"
With that, Zhang Su pressed the gas and slowly drove to the middle of the self-built road, waiting for the zombies in the distance to get closer. During this time, he adjusted the walkie-talkie frequency to notify the people at the secure camp about the zombie horde situation.
Even if the plan is to lead the zombies away, everyone should be prepared, in case any accidents happen, and chaos ensues.
Upon hearing that a zombie horde of over two hundred was slowly approaching, the people at the secure camp immediately set up improvised barriers on the hillside road, fixing direction poles wrapped in wire to the stands. It's clearly not as sturdy and effective as chevaux de frise but better than nothing.
"Uncle, do you think if no one helps, the six of us can take down this group of zombies with just our guns?"
Pang Dakun asked with great interest.
Zhang Su took a puff of his cigarette, exhaled the smoke, and said, "Each of us carrying a hundred and fifty rounds, that makes nine hundred rounds for six people. This zombie horde has at most three hundred. Unless we take them down one by one, but the zombies surely won't give us this chance. If they charge together..."
"If five bullets per zombie is good, we might empty our ammo taking down around two hundred. Even missed shots won't be completely wasted, and they'll do quite some damage. A few armless and legless zombies won't be hard to deal with."
In reality, there's no aimbot, and the killing efficiency is quite low.
"Shouldn't we give it a try?"
Pang Dakun, holding his gun eagerly, suggested.
"Truly fearless like a newborn calf... The best way is to avoid zombies. If unavoidable, lure them away; the worst-case scenario is a frontal assault. Right now, we have every chance to lead them away. It'd be foolish to waste bullets exterminating zombies."
Zhang Su shook his head with an odd expression. He wasn't a zombie hunter like Zhang Lot; the bullets should be saved for more essential use!
About half an hour of tedious waiting passed slowly, and the zombie horde had wandered to about two hundred meters from the self-built road at the base of the mountain. Zhang Su used the walkie-talkie to prepare the folks in the Fukner Mobil RV.
Afterward, he pressed the car horn.
Beeeeep~~~~~~~!
The long car horn blared, echoing through the fields and mountains, not only alerting the distant zombies but also heard clearly by everyone behind the mountain road obstacles.
Owww owww owww...
Over two hundred zombies started to move, stumbling across the fields, breaking into a run.
Zhang Su didn't dare to leave too early and waited until the zombies were about thirty meters from the car before starting to move.
Soon, the two vehicles had led the zombies onto the highway, heading north.
Leading zombies with a car on an open road really wasn't difficult. The zombies were like wolves lured by a beauty, following step by step, tirelessly, like the ultimate bootlicker.
"Damn, these zombies are all track and field athletes?"
Zhang Su glanced at the car's speedometer, then checked the rearview mirror to see the horde of zombies chasing them, feeling a bit puzzled. He said to Qi Xiaoshuai beside him, "How many seconds does twenty-five kilometers per hour convert to for a hundred meters?"
"Uh..."
Qi Xiaoshuai rolled his eyes and calculated, "About fourteen seconds... Brother Su, don't tell me those zombies complete a hundred meters in fourteen seconds!?"
"Cough..." Zhang Su was also taken aback, pointing at the speedometer, "I'm maintaining at twenty-five kilometers per hour. Even if there's a little discrepancy, those zombies wouldn't cover a hundred meters in less than fifteen or sixteen seconds!"
Car speedometers usually show a bit faster than the actual speed, but even at fifteen seconds per hundred meters, though it seems half as slow as Bolt, that's Bolt, representing human sprinting limits!
A normal adult running a hundred meters in fifteen seconds is decent speed. Anything less than thirteen seconds is considered pretty fast, and the most crucial aspect is endurance!
Even after enduring the apocalypse, Zhang Su admits he can't sprint flat-out beyond four hundred meters. Yet the zombies chasing the car have run a mile without any decrease in speed...
This is terrifying.
In other words, if chased by zombies now, without any transportation, escaping them is nearly impossible!
Unless there's an incredible burst of speed momentarily to gain distance, which only Corgi Good Fortune might be able to do...
This is a very bad discovery.
"What do we do? We can't even outrun the zombies anymore..."
Qi Xiaoshuai's face was very grim. He used to rely on speed to shake off zombies; now that hope was virtually shattered.
"We must record this discovery and quickly tell everyone when we get back. Damn, they're really evolving slowly!"
Zhang Su's expression was also grave. No one wants to see their mortal enemies getting stronger, silently hoping this is the end of their growth.
After driving away from Celestial Horse Island for almost two kilometers, the two RVs suddenly accelerated, easily losing the zombie horde at a hundred kilometers per hour.
Once confirming the zombies weren't following, Zhang Su stopped the car, and used binoculars to observe from afar for a while, ensuring the zombies hadn't turned back towards Celestial Horse Island before feeling completely relieved.
"Wonder which settlement is going to be unlucky now. Hehe..."
Lu Yubo snickered wickedly.
Everyone could imagine that horde of zombies slowly moving towards the next target, but nobody knew where.
"Hey, can you hear us?"
Zhang Su took out the walkie-talkie, attempting long-distance communication for the first time.
"Yes, yes, Brother Su, go ahead."
Zheng Xinyu's voice came out from the walkie-talkie.
Zhang Su showed a pleased expression, feeling the modernity of long-distance communication, "The zombie horde has been drawn two kilometers to the north; our camp is temporarily safe, you can continue what you're doing."
"Alright, be careful!"
The brief call ended, and the crisis was resolved without incident.
Thanks to the rural development over the years, the road planning is pretty good. The two RVs took a few kilometers detour and smoothly arrived outside Niuquanzi Town.
The barbed wire on the excavator buckets had been removed by Zhang Su and his team, now lying across the depths of the street.
"This fuel tank was deliberately smashed, probably to prevent anyone from taking it away..."
They jumped out of the car, gathered around the excavator, and began inspecting.
"This should be easy to fix, but this main shaft..."
Zhang Su wasn't versed in machinery repair, so he took out his phone to snap photos from all angles, saying, "Let's ask around when we get back for anyone with these skills."
After wrapping up, the six began the tedious cleaning work. With more manpower, the zombie extermination speed improved, quickly clearing the nearby stores.
However, just as they were preparing to bring the RVs over to load goods, a bang sounded.
"Ah..."
On the right side, Zhao Dezhu suddenly staggered and fell to the ground, with several holes torn in his right calf's pants, bleeding from the holes, clearly shot!
"Alert!"
At the command, excluding Zhao Dezhu, four others quickly raised their guns, circling Zhao Dezhu with cautious eyes scanning the surroundings.
"There!"
Zhang Su pointed his gun towards the source of the gunfire, "Second floor of the cellphone shop! Dakun, watch the first floor; if anyone comes out, shoot them dead!"
Five guns pointed at the cellphone shop, locking down both floors completely. Unfortunately, there's no movement inside, but they knew Zhang Su's judgment had historically been accurate.
"Zhuzi, how is it?"
Zhang Su kept aiming and crouched beside Zhao Dezhu to check his wound.
Zhao Dezhu gritted his teeth, holding his leg, "Hurts, but the bone isn't broken. Probably hit by a homemade gun, damn Scar!"
He tried to stand, but the pain made his leg tremble, hard to persist.
"Xiaoshuai, take Zhuzi to the clinic for cover! Damn, you bastards, get out!"
Zhang Su coldly eyed the second-floor window of the cellphone shop, hearing rustling inside, likely more than one person, their time of hiding unknown but certainly before they arrived!
"I'm counting to three. If you don't come out, you'll die!"
Zhang Su pulled out a grenade from his backpack, without bothering to count aloud, just pulled the pin and tossed it towards the cellphone shop's second floor.
The crisp sound of the pin pulling made Lu Yubo and others' eyes widen; they hadn't expected Zhang Su carried such a deadly weapon.
"Hell with you!"
With Zhang Su's curse, the grenade flew into the cellphone shop's second-floor window.