Chapter 157: Supernatural
Under the efforts of Zhang Xiao Qiang and the Combat Team, the zombies fell to the ground. Zhang Xiao Qiang handled all the S-Types himself, while the rest followed behind. They watched in awe as he settled half the zombies by himself, and were even more fearful and respectful of his strength. He had the ability to command them, as well as a strength that none could match. He had solidified his position as their head. Even if he was not around, as long as there was no confirmed news about his death, they would definitely not revolt, because his performance was too strong.
Zhang Xiao Qiang leaned on the body of the car and smoked a cigarette. The rest of the combat team also took a break, either smoking or drinking water. Some were even stealing glances at Shangguan Qiao Yun, who was helping to polish Zhang Xiao Qiang’s darts. After going through such an intense battle, her body, face, hands were covered in dirt and grime. She was not bothered by it, even when she caught sight of her reflection in the car’s mirror. She didn’t wipe away any of the dirt, having matured a lot in the earlier battle. She had also learned to let go of some things. The current Shangguan Qiao Yun was already like a warrior, different from her old lifestyle.
“What were you thinking when you were shooting? You didn’t even take proper aim and just started firing, aren’t you afraid of hitting me?” When Zhang Xiao Qiang finished his cigarette, he couldn’t help but ask while watching the rest of the support team doing the cleanup.
Shangguan Qiao Yun stopped what she was doing, and thought back to the scene earlier…
She had fired 7 times, missing every shot. As the zombie got closer to her slowly, her heart began to beat faster in fear. She took a deep breath, and remembered telling herself, “Don’t rush it… you can do it… definitely…” She had then grabbed the gun tightly and pressed it against the head of the zombie. As she was about to fire, she suddenly felt something breathing in her brain, and her body went rigid, as though something was about to happen behind her. She thought about turning around, but before she could do so, her hands had already sent the gun pointing backward. Before she could even see what was happening, her fingers had pulled the trigger. The gunshot had been the most dangerous moment that Zhang Xiao Qiang had faced.
“Supernatural occurrence???” Zhang Xiao Qiang felt his hair stand. Wasn’t what she described basically possession?! He had always carried some sort of doubt, but not daring to discount it entirely. He had experienced some strange stuff in his life, but he had never come across any. He could almost feel it sometimes. Like that one time when he had gone to the edge of the village when he was young, to that particular old, dilapidated house. Just when he was about to open the door, the door had opened by itself, and a sudden gust of wind blew past him. There was no cold, but he felt his hair stand. When he stepped into the living room, he realized all the doors and windows had been shut. There wasn’t any sign of the greenery outside being disturbed by the wind either. After that, he had always felt some sort of creepiness, even as he rushed out, just stepping on something soft, he had almost been frightened to death.
He immediately shut up, not daring to ask further. Who knew if the ‘great god’ was still around, after all, ‘it’ had saved his life, ‘it’ wouldn’t find trouble with him right?
The 200 corpses were being transported by 6 men, in addition to the blood everywhere, although there wasn’t much blood in each individual zombie, the collective amount was still large. Since the ground was slippery, it was only after 2 hours did the transport of the dead corpses end. Zhang Xiao Qiang and the combat team did not show any intention to help, after all, the support team had to earn their feed. Zhang Xiao Qiang might have plenty of rice, but he wouldn’t support them for nothing. If everyone could eat, then why would anyone risk their lives? Since that was the case, Zhang Xiao Qiang had established tiers, with him, He Wen Bin, Three, etc as the 1st tier, the combat team as the 2nd tier, the women and some important characters as 3rd tier, for example, the chef and Wang Le, as well as the weaponsmith. The rest were all 4th tier, and only had half the rice given, mixed with chicken feed.
They were all worked to their bones, while Zhang Xiao Qiang’s combat team had to save their Stamina to deal with danger. They had looks of disdain towards the support team, who all wore tattered clothes, they were the old clothes they had been wearing. Zhang Xiao Qiang would not give them military uniforms so charitably, hence of the 6, one of them who had a yellowed 2nd World War uniform was especially eye-catching, and the combat team looked down on him.
Once the exit was cleared, Zhang Xiao Qiang gave a signal, and the combat team quickly checked their equipment. Three gave them 30 rounds each to reload, while Zhang Xiao Qiang holstered the weapon polished by Shangguan Qiao Yun. He looked to her and said, “You stay here and watch the vehicles, where is the gun I gave you previously? Take it out, remember to check the safety!”
When she heard it, her face flushed in embarrassment, the gun had always been on her left. She had forgotten about it. Seeing Zhang Xiao Qiang leading the rest further in, she hurried to take out her weapon and readied it at her waist. She then thought a while before pulling out her carbine and reloaded it. With a carbine by her side and a handgun in her hands, she sat in the car on alert.
Zhang Xiao Qiang held his Beast Horn Spear and took the lead, while the combat team covered his flank. They were followed by the support team which held up shields each. The group walked to the parking lot of the spring, which was huge, and had countless all-terrain vehicles and caravans parked there. They were all surrounded by a dozen police cars, some of which had open doors. There were traces of blood on the seats, on the doors, on the windows, as well as bones and broken glass. Deformed helmets, moldy shoes, bullet shells and even handguns littered the ground. Zhang Xiao Qiang walked over to pick up one of the handguns. It had faced the rains and the sun, even being stepped on by the zombies. Seeing that there were no bullets, he threw it over to Three, and continued leading the rest further in.
The sides of the parking lot had been transformed pretty decently, with greenery covering the sides of the hill. However, there was no life now, and the bare trees and branches that once gave off a vibrant sense of life, now looked like skeleton limbs. The grass patches that were once green was now yellow and dead. A stone paved path extended towards the forest, until it met a huge water fountain, where a stone statue stood tall. The theme was a bunch of girls bathing, carved in western style, each of the figurines depicted beautifully. The textures and vivid lines demonstrated the scene in a life-like manner.
Zhang Xiao Qiang had not studied art before, nor was he born with the eye for it, so he continued past the statues along the path. The scene in front of him caused him to be taken aback. The entire spring was revealed for him to see. A clear stream flowed towards a small lake, which was surrounded by various villas. Other than the villas, he did not see anything that resembled modern civilization. There were no cement paths, no roads nor steel nor lamps. There were no electrical lines or machines, the paths were all made out of stone, lined with grass. As they continued down the stone path, they could hear the stream flowing clearly, and as he looked out at the peaceful lake, Zhang Xiao Qiang smiled lightly. He suddenly felt that he was no longer on the battlefield, instead, it was like he was the CEO of a company bringing his employees on a company retreat. The surroundings were silent, other than the footsteps of the group, and the trickling of the water, there was no other sound, no winds, no birds chirping, no bustling of human activity. The group continued towards the villas.
After killing the last zombie locked behind one of the villas, Zhang Xiao Qiang stood outside and assessed this place he intended for his future base. There were about 30 houses, each of them decent sized. Other than the differences in room size, the decorations, materials and furnitures were all similar. Each house could easily fit 3 to 5 people, 7 to 8 if they tried to squeeze, and if they really pushed it, 10 could stay in one house. Just based on the number of houses here, a hundred or two people could be fit. He was extremely satisfied, having proper accommodation was after all better than having to build one himself. The combat team was obedient, but the support team began to pick up the clothes and items left behind by the past guests.
Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at Three, without saying a word, he continued towards the valley. He then heard the voices of scolding from Three towards the members of the support team. He ignored the commotion, after all, he had already set the rules. All prizes of war would belong to the combat team and the base. The support team had no rights to them, and could not casually touch them. Rules were rules.