Captain Zhang squinted his eyes. He wasn’t too willing to trust people like Xiaoshan, but with the source of information being so scarce, he had to take a chance. Waving his hand, he said, "Alright, just tell me all the information you know!"

Xiaoshan was completely unaware of Captain Zhang’s thoughts. Feeling empowered, he glared at Ma Changshou and the others with a smug expression.

"Yesterday, the van shouldn’t have been allowed to leave, but there was a gun-wielding Uncle Zhang who knew the van’s driver, so the Village Chief let them pass!"

With just one sentence, he directly overturned the string of statements Ma Changshou had previously made.

Captain Zhang turned to look at Ma Changshou, who simply shrugged in response, as if saying, "You believe what he says?"

Everyone from West Camp Village felt their hearts leap to their throats, yet seeing Ma Changshou’s nonchalant demeanor, they all admired his composure. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Continue, what’s the deal with that gun-wielding Uncle Zhang!" Captain Zhang signaled to Xiaoshan.

Having reached this point, Xiaoshan decided to go all out, muster his courage, and said, "That Uncle Zhang was from a group that passed through here long ago, driving a large RV, carrying machine guns, with more than twenty people, they went north, not sure where they are staying."

He couldn’t tell the difference between submachine guns, automatic rifles, and machine guns, so he referred to them all as machine guns.

"That’s it?"

Captain Zhang frowned, feeling dissatisfied with Xiaoshan’s information.

Xiaoshan racked his brains, suddenly raised his finger, and said, "I remember, a while ago the Village Chief also gave Uncle Zhang some pigs and sheep, as well as a welding machine!"

These pieces of information didn’t have a direct impact, but they let the Survivor Alliance know that West Camp Village had a close relationship with another military force, which was helpful for making various decisions.

Captain Zhang licked his lips with a hint of impatience, and asked, "Any more detailed information?"

Xiaoshan scratched his head, furrowing his brow thinking, then suddenly pointed at Ma Changshou and said, "I remembered, the Village Chief has that Zhang..."

Bam!

Before he finished the sentence, Ma Changshou raised his hand and fired, the firearm smoked with black flame, blowing a hole right through Xiaoshan’s head, blood instantly streamed down his forehead. The sound suddenly stopped, and his eyes were filled with disbelief at his fate!

Click-clack.

The sound of safety catches being released echoed, and the Survivor Alliance members immediately raised their guns.

At the same time, the militia from West Camp Village also raised their firearms, while shadows appeared on the walls of some yards without firearms, but their posture of drawing bows and arrows was also intimidating.

In an instant, the air froze, tension so thick there was not a whisper!

Poof...

Xiaoshan fell flat on his back, the sole sound he made, kicking up a cloud of dust, as if his unwilling soul ascended to the Spirit Realm.

"Phew..."

Ma Changshou calmly blew at the gun muzzle, then tucked the firearm back into his waist, facing the dark, hollow gun barrels without fear, calmly said, "The kid was talking nonsense, I’m sending him to meet his father, let his father teach him a lesson. What, is Captain Zhang planning to intervene in our village’s internal affairs?"

In front of outsiders, the adaptable Ma Changshou showed a rare fierceness. Ruling a village in the apocalypse, he couldn’t possibly be a benevolent person.

Captain Zhang glanced around, feeling a chill run down his spine. He was convinced that if he fired now, even if they killed everyone present, they’d be shot down by those on the walls!

Injure the enemy a thousand, self-damage a thousand...

"Village Chief Ma, I think we should have a good talk!"

Captain Zhang said in a deep voice.

Ma Changshou spread his hands and said, "I’m very happy to talk with Boss Zhang. You see, I don’t even have a weapon. It’s you who doesn’t want to talk, pointing a gun at me, that’s not appropriate."

The meaning was clear, if they wanted to talk, they must put down their guns!

Captain Zhang frowned and hesitated for a dozen seconds, finally slowly lowered his submachine gun: "Put the guns away!"

The Survivor Alliance members quietly sighed in relief upon hearing the order. They came out to execute a mission, not to risk their lives. Showing off was fun, but a gunfight would not be good!

The tension eased as everyone lowered their arms.

Ma Changshou crossed his hands behind his back and said, "That kid was correct, we do have trade relations with another group. It just so happened that yesterday, while making a deal, the Jinbei you were tracking arrived. They seemed to know each other, though I can’t be sure, it could also be that the group liked the Jinbei’s goods and put on an act, who knows."

"Village Chief Ma, this area is your territory, they want to steal your business, and you just let them? Doesn’t make sense!"

Captain Zhang felt there were inconsistencies in Ma Changshou’s words.

"Heh..." Ma Changshou gave a helpless smile, "Our West Camp Village is weak, our weapons are outdated, their firearms are advanced, what could I possibly fight them with? It’s already quite fortunate that they’re willing to trade with me over trivial matters. If you were in my place, would you fuss over it?"

Captain Zhang noticed Ma Changshou’s questioning gaze, and thought to himself that it indeed made sense.

"Alright, I believe you. Now tell me the information about the people picking up the goods. I’ll go find them!"

Ma Changshou sighed deeply, "If I say I don’t know where they are, would you believe me?"

Captain Zhang frowned, then relaxed, "You have no reason to hide things for them, I believe you. Just tell me what you know."

"There are more than twenty of them, each armed with a rifle. They drove over in two RVs and a large Toyota SUV, then took a van and two three-wheelers from us. Oh, and their leader has the same surname as you..."

Ma Changshou mentioned some details to Captain Zhang, a jumbled mass of seemingly thorough descriptions but nothing truly important was revealed, a half-hearted effort.

Currently, West Camp Village is caught between the Cyan Dragon Corps, Zhang Su’s team, and the Survivor Alliance, making it extremely dangerous. Ma Changshou must be extremely cautious to keep the village safe; he doesn’t dare provoke one to deal with the other, as it could easily backfire.

Captain Zhang quietly noted this down, then asked, "Do you really know nothing about the location of their camp?"

"I truly don’t know!" Ma Changshou shook his head, then suddenly realized, "But I can confirm, their camp is further north of Beidong Town!"

"Further north of Beidong Town, alright, that’s it. Load up the food, we’re setting off!"

Captain Zhang hadn’t forgotten about the few hundred pounds of food Ma Changshou promised. This batch of supplies is crucial for them and could be exchanged for many points back at the alliance.

"Haha, Captain Zhang, did you find out anything?"

Vice Captain Yan, sitting on the car door while smoking, saw the crowd coming out of the village and asked with a grin.

When he previously heard gunshots, he was so scared he almost drove away, but he calmed down when there were no further sounds.

Hearing the obviously mocking tone from Vice Captain Yan, Captain Zhang slightly frowned and said, "Keep heading north, there are clues once we get past Beidong Town! Everyone, get moving, load the food into the vehicle, let’s roll!"

Vice Captain Yan didn’t expect that they actually gathered some specific information, so he stopped with the sarcasm, jumped off the car, and started helping with the work.

A group of villagers from West Camp Village stood at the entrance, watching the two cars driving north, their faces cold as ice.

"Old Ma, why didn’t you give them specific information and let them fight? We could profit from sitting on the sidelines!"

A burly man with dark skin asked in a muffled voice.

Ma Changshou shook his head and said, "These people are clearly no match for Zhang Su. If they start shooting at each other, and the Survivor Alliance people rat us out, we’d be in trouble!"

"The Survivor Alliance should be quite strong; I doubt Zhang Su’s people can win!" Another person said in a low voice.

"Have you forgotten the fall of Beita Camp? That group isn’t to be trifled with! The Survivor Alliance is powerful, but the squad they sent to handle this isn’t extraordinarily strong, and you can’t count on them to play fair, can you?"

Ma Changshou frowned and shot a glance at the person speaking, then said, "I don’t wish to get involved in any conflicts, I just hope everyone can live safely in this damned post-apocalyptic world. I hope you don’t blame me for killing Xiaoshan. If he hadn’t died, West Camp Village would undoubtedly have faced a bloody storm!"

He was very clear that if Xiaoshan had exposed the walkie-talkie incident, there were two possible outcomes: one, resist with all their might and refuse to hand over the walkie-talkie; or two, hand it over, and then once Zhang Su dealt with the Survivor Alliance, he’d come back to make trouble for them...

Unless the Survivor Alliance team could be patient and go back to gather more people before returning, but judging from their high-handed attitude, it seemed unlikely.

The villagers understood Ma Changshou’s dilemma, no one said much, blaming Xiaoshan for not recognizing the situation, though with his character, going to the Cyan Dragon Corps would probably only lead to a dead end for him.

"Old Scar, take people to clear the roadblocks on the bridge, let’s go back and pack up. We’re leaving tonight!"

Ma Changshou looked around, seemingly saying a final goodbye to the place that bore and raised him.

"What? So soon? We can’t, there are still lots of vegetables unharvested!"

"There are acres of sweet potatoes that haven’t been dug up, Chief, can’t we wait a couple more days?"

"My welding machine..."

"Enough!" Ma Changshou glared, the aura of his earlier kill still heavy around him, and the surrounding people quickly quieted down.

"If anyone doesn’t want to leave, then stay!"

Ma Changshou waved a hand and headed towards the village.

The villagers looked at each other and after a few minutes of hesitation, began to get busy.