On the northbound FJ Cruiser, Captain Zhang was flipping through an old Qin City map, pointing at the yellowed pages: "From Chuhai River to Beidong Town is... 5 kilometers. We’ve already traveled almost 4 kilometers from the West Camp. Just a bit further is Beidong Town, so be careful!"

After saying this, he closed the old book. The map, printed decades ago, clearly marked the locations of towns and villages, surprisingly useful after leaving the city.

"Captain Zhang, are we really going to confront those people?"

Someone in the car raised a question, while the speed of the car also decreased.

When asked, Zhang Su frowned slightly and said, "Old Yan has always had it out for me. We need to put on a good front. When we get back, he’s definitely going to report back. We must at least make a show of looking around. But if we really do encounter them, don’t risk your life!"

Deep down, none of them wanted to run into those armed people that Ma Changshou talked about, even though it was just a task assigned from above. There were no benefits in it for them, and no one wanted to risk their life.

As they spoke, the driver of the FJ Cruiser squinted his eyes toward the front, puzzled: "Hey, look, ahead is Beidong Town, but something seems off about it!"

Everyone looked ahead upon hearing this, and as the car approached, they finally saw what was wrong.

The charred asphalt road had been melted into numerous potholes, big ones within small ones, densely packed. Some of the deeper ones exposed the roadbed, while even the shallow ones were three fingers deep, stretching for hundreds of meters.

The ground was covered in floating ash. As the vehicle approached, it stirred up a gust of wind, instantly raising a cloud of dust.

"What’s going on?"

Everyone got off the car, staring in confusion at the pothole-ridden asphalt road ahead. It wasn’t that these potholes were impassable; both vehicles could make it through. But the strange situation was indeed baffling.

"These holes were burned through; it’s obvious the asphalt has melted. But what burned it? There’s no residue at all."

A young guy in the team squatted down to touch the re-solidified asphalt, frowning deeply.

"Damn, this stuff could be on a science show for a year. What the hell is going on! Hah!"

Vice Captain Yan spat into a pothole, confusion on his face.

"Judging by the traces, something must have caught fire and came all the way from... over there!"

A middle-aged man in the team, skilled at tracking, pointed to a nearby side road.

All ten people walked to the intersection, and sure enough, they found the traces of fire on the concrete surface, clearly had been scorched by high temperatures.

"What on earth burned so ferociously to create this? Damn, all the way from up front... uh?"

As they moved down the path, the view gradually opened up, and they suddenly saw an RV parked deep in the fields!

"Captain Zhang, an RV, an RV!"

A short man shouted excitedly, pointing at the distance.

"I freaking see it, stop yelling!"

Captain Zhang slapped the man’s head, annoyed.

"Hehe... search high and low, only to find it without effort!"

The fierce Vice Captain Yan threw out a phrase, one hand on his hip as he looked at Captain Zhang, "Captain, what’s the plan, let’s hear it." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Though he was calling him captain, anyone could hear the disdain in his tone.

Captain Zhang’s eyes flashed with displeasure but he didn’t argue, instead scanning the surroundings before saying, "According to Old Ma’s information, that survivor group has over twenty people, all carrying rifles. I think it’s best to observe for now, conflict will not favor us!"

"I thought there’d be a fight, but it’s just observing. You’re the captain, you get to decide, so observe it is."

Vice Captain Yan leaned against the blackened wall with a submachine gun on his shoulder, lighting a cigarette as he asked, "How do we observe, from here, closer, or sneak into the village?"

Some team members close with Captain Zhang were very annoyed by Vice Captain Yan’s attitude, but due to his position and combat power, they didn’t dare express their anger openly; instead, they looked away with cold eyes to vent their dissatisfaction.

"Since you like fighting so much, why don’t you, as the vice captain, show us a demo, sneak into the village and gather some intel?"

Captain Zhang, not one to back down either, got fired up after being mocked repeatedly, and retorted.

"Ha!" Vice Captain Yan exhaled a puff of smoke, shaking his head, "I like fighting, not dying, but I’ll go if you come with me. Let’s show the little guys how it’s done!"

"The two captains, look, the RV is moving!"

While Captain Zhang and Old Yan were at odds, a team member exaggeratedly pointed to the distance, and they saw the large RV slowly turning around, seemingly planning to leave the village!

"Quick, drive the car to block the intersection, and we’ll ambush in the shops on both sides!"

Captain Zhang, unable to continue bickering with the vice captain, hurriedly directed the team to prepare.

"Haha, perfect timing, they’re going to meet King Yama!"

Vice Captain Yan stubbed his cigarette on the wall and ran into the store with the others.

In United Village, on the Mercedes RV, Zhang Su scratched his head: "Damn, after a whole night, the zombies ran off, what a bizarre thing! We should’ve caught the ones that led zombies here last night..."

After leaving Celestial Horse Island, Zhang Su drove straight to United Village. They had run through various scenarios, expecting the village to be crawling with zombies and a big battle to ensue. But upon arriving, they found only some human remains and a heap of non-functional corpses to zombify, about twenty ordinary zombies...

"United Village cleared out the zombies thoroughly." Tan Huajun held a vernier caliper in his arms, showing a puzzled expression.

Even though they didn’t catch any zombies this time, Zhang Su managed to do something else: stash a bag of firearms in an abandoned livestock pen of a household — not much, five 95 automatic rifles and a thousand rounds of ammunition, just in case.

Zhang Su’s analysis of the United Village’s attack made him wary, preparing for a similar crisis on Celestial Horse Island so they wouldn’t be left defenseless!

"We didn’t catch any zombies, but we did get a heap of food, haha, and picked up some firearms, so not bad!"

Zhao Dezhu remained optimistic, playing with a coarse firearm using his injured arm as a form of recovery training.

"Shall we head out to the nearby... huh?"

As Zhang Su was speaking, he suddenly noticed two cars at the road leading to the town, slowly closing together. However, there was no driver visible, showing they were being pushed from behind with the clear intention of blocking their path!

"Someone is blocking us!"

Zhang Su hit the brakes, stopping on the village’s makeshift road, his expression turning serious.

"Damn, what kind of cars are those, they look like pretty good off-roaders... can’t really see clearly!" Zhao Dezhu squinted toward the front. At a distance of two to three hundred meters, it wasn’t too far but still only the shapes of the cars were visible.

"I suspect it’s the Cyan Dragon Corps!"

Zhang Su picked up a Type 95 automatic rifle from beside him, checking the bullets and safety. Others might not see, but he could: a well-maintained FJ Cruiser and a Tank 300, both looking quite clean, not equipment just any group could afford!

"Damn, those bastards couldn’t wait a few more days?"

Zhao Dezhu flipped the rifle to his chest, his previously optimistic smile wiped off, replaced by viciousness.

Tan Huajun remained indifferent, maintaining his calm demeanor as he strapped on the vernier caliper and took off his rifle.

"Cyan Dragon Corps!"

Chen Hanzhou’s expression turned solemn. After losing an arm, he rarely went out on missions. He hardly expected to meet formidable opponents this rare trip.

He showed no fear at all, pulling his rifle from his shoulder with a swift motion, flicking off the safety, and holding it with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

The reason Zhang Su brought Chen Hanzhou today was mainly because he’d been getting too cozy with Pei Lan lately, and Zhang Su was worried he might lose his edge.

"I’m not sure if it’s the Cyan Dragon Corps, but for sure their gear isn’t mediocre. There’s no other road for the RV to take, so let’s face them!"

There were many roads out of the village, but only this one that an RV could pass through.