Chapter 58: Successful Rescue!
The rubber tires began to burn, and it became harder for the flames to die out. The zombies became human charcoal as they b.u.mped around, spreading the flames to one another.
Even from the top of the hill, Zhang Xiao Qiang could smell the burning flesh, and his stomach churned.
He then looked to He Wen Bin who was staring dumbfoundedly and said: “Continue!”
He Wen Bin and the rest immediately stirred as though they had just consumed some drugs, and began to take off their clothes, setting tires on fire with excited looks.
One by one, the tires began to roll down the hill. From time to time, there would be some that rolled away and fell on its side. Seeing the scene in front of them, it looked like a scene out of an ancient battlefield.
The horde was broken apart, as many of them had been set alight and tried to escape in various directions. Even the D-Types and S-Types were not spared. The escaping zombies caused other things to be set on fire as well, and the entire area at the foot of the mountain was in flames.
“Come with me, let’s go get them.” Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at He Wen Bin and spoke.
He Wen Bin hesitated.
Zhang Xiao Qiang didn’t force him, whatever he could do had been done. It was enough as it is!
If it wasn’t for the various smells at the foot of the hill, that caused the zombies to lose their strongest sense, Zhang Xiao Qiang would not go down even if he was beaten to death. The burning rubber was also threatening, even more so than any sort of toxic ga.s.ses in the past.
“Screw it! I’ll do whatever Brother c.o.c.kroach asks of me!” He Wen Bin came to a resolution.
He then bowed and nodded: “Of course, I’m not as capable as Brother c.o.c.kroach, please look after me!”
Zhang Xiao Qiang glanced at him and didn’t say anything, as he began his march downhill. His 54 was kept in his waist, and his hand held the Jing Wei Blade!
The distance of 100m was long, in just a blink of an eye, they had reached. Zhang Xiao Qiang avoided some burning tires and took down some zombies. He then stood amongst the zombies as he shouted to He Wen Bin: “Get them to come down, I’ll handle things here!”
He Wen Bin saw the few hundreds of zombies shambling about, and the back of his neck tingled with fear!
His voice came trembling as he shouted: “Old Three! You and him, f.u.c.king get down! What the f.u.c.k are you staying up there for?!”
“Brother Bin? Oh my G.o.d! My savior Brother Bin!! I thought we were finished!! We’re coming down now, coming down now!! Don’t go!! I’ll definitely burn some incense for you!”
And the voice came traveling down the scaffolding, mumbling nonsense!
This man was incredibly nimble, in just a while, he managed to get down. Then he saw the zombies wandering about like flies, and his legs almost gave way in terror!
Zhang Xiao Qiang hacked at another zombie as he asked: “Wasn’t there one more up there?”
Old Three wanted to leave quickly, and replied hastily: “That Screwdriver had been scared witless! He’s just hugging the steel beam and wouldn’t let go! I couldn’t convince him to come down at all!”
Zhang Xiao Qiang nodded and didn’t say anything and began to run back up the hill. He Wen Bin followed closely behind him, not daring to take a wrong step.
As the 3 of them reached the peak, the other 3 who were guarding became emotional as well.
“Pa!” He Wen Bin clapped the back of Old Three’s head, shouting: “What’re you s.p.a.cing out for? Aren’t you going to thank Brother c.o.c.kroach? If he didn’t insist on saving you, we would all be back sleeping!”
Old Three looked young, as though he had not reached 20, but his face had a mature look to it, as though he had a rough past as well.
“Thank you! Thank you, Brother c.o.c.kroach! You’re my father!”
As he spoke, he bowed profusely, as he was about to bow the 3rd time, Zhang Xiao Qiang stopped him.
“I’m not dead yet! Don’t need to bow thrice!”*
“Pa!” He Wen Bin slapped Old Three again, as he scolded: “Told you to study properly, what a lack of culture!”
Yang Ke’er saw Zhang Xiao Qiang and the rest coming back, and her mouth immediately complained of boredom.
“Brother c.o.c.kroach! This is?” Old Three immediately asked.
“Ha! You can call me c.o.c.kroach Sis-in-law!” Yang Ke’er replied with a smug look!
Old Frank, Common-Face 1 and 2, as well as Old Three, sat in the truck as they drove on the road. He Wen Bin drove the tractor, with Zhang Xiao Qiang and Yang Ke’er sitting in the trunk.
Yang Ke’er pored over the notebook that belonged to the female owner, while Zhang Xiao Qiang leaned against the side of the trunk and smoked.
“So comfortable!” Not having to drive caused Zhang Xiao Qiang to be pleased, as the driver’s seat was incredibly uncomfortable. He felt as though he was being squashed having to sit there all day to drive.
The saying was pretty true: “Those who didn’t drive don’t know the hardships of driving, those who don’t get to ride won’t know the pleasures of just riding!”
He Wen Bin was thoroughly convinced of Zhang Xiao Qiang and his miracles, and was in so much awe and veneration, that whatever Zhang Xiao Qiang asked, he would immediately answer without holding anything back.
“How did you guys escape? Was there anyone else left alive in the armed forces?” Zhang Xiao Qiang’s question came from the back.
“Aiya! At that time, it was truly chaotic! Too many people went crazy, and the armed police went in to try to suppress the commotion! I had just been sentenced to a smaller cell a few days before until Old Frank set me free! Thinking back, it was truly terrifying!”
He Wen Bin didn’t look like a decent person, and he must have been a local tyrant in the past. However, his demeanor had truly changed after coming in contact with the zombies. If it wasn’t for his brash nature, he wouldn’t have dared to go along with Zhang Xiao Qiang directly into the horde earlier!
“How many of you made it out? The .81 seems decent, how did you get it?” Zhang Xiao Qiang handed a cigarette over, as He Wen Bin received it with one hand, placing it in his mouth. He didn’t light it but continued to drive.
“There were about 20-odd of us and 2 prison guards. I picked up the gun from the ground. However, the ammunition is lacking, we wanted to head to the armory to search for some, but those who had been guarding became freaks, and in a while, we lost 6 men.”
He Wen Bin thought back to the first time he witnessed the zombies tearing apart other humans, and his expression turned ugly. He paused a while before continuing: “Oh yeah yeah! That time was truly chaotic! There were those monsters everywhere, no one knew when one of them would just come biting! Fortunately, a number had been kept locked in the bigger building.”
He Wen Bin continued to speak, while Zhang Xiao Qiang listened quietly.
He Wen Bin had a rough childhood, and his mother had run away when he was very young! His father had a bad temper and loved to discipline him. Each time he was beaten, there was not an area that was left untouched. Furthermore, he hated studying, and he didn’t manage to finish even his first year in middle school before he was kicked out and he started hanging out on the streets. He fought viciously and earned a name for himself as time pa.s.sed.
As he hung on the streets before he knew it, it had been over 10 years, and his father was pa.s.sing away from liver disease. He then headed home to take care of him. Before his father pa.s.sed away, he had held his hand tightly to remind him to lead a better life.
What could he do? He was illiterate and had not even completed a year of studies! After meeting with a few obstacles, his old friends from the underground tried to get him back, but he insisted on walking the right track.
As he spoke up to this point, He Wen Bin began sighing!
He revealed, that after, someone managed to introduce a bodyguard position to him. Due to his connections in the past, the hooligans gave him face, and the owner’s business never suffered a single moment’s hara.s.sment! It was fine and dandy, until one day…
At this point, He Wen Bin’s face contorted in fury: “f.u.c.k! f.u.c.k! He had better not let me see him, otherwise, I’ll make sure his a.s.shole is torn open!”
The boss had been operating some business in private other than his 2 trading shops, and He Wen Bin did not know what he was doing!
One day, the boss had brought him to a hotel for a business discussion. The moment they entered, the boss had received a phone call, after which he handed the briefcase to him, asking him to send it to the reception.
He Wen Bin had not suspected anything and agreed to do so. The moment he exited the elevator, he was jumped on by 4 or 5 men, with guns pointed at his head!
It turned out that the boss was a drug dealer, and had used the trading shops as fronts to wash money and transport the drugs over illegally from all corners of the world! That day, it had been time for a transaction, but the boss received a tipoff!
In an instant, He Wen Bin was treated as a drug trafficker, even though he had no links to the money whatsoever.
With the drugs in the case, it was enough for him to be sentenced to life imprisonment! At first, he thought his life was over until the apocalypse happened!
At the end, Old Frank had released about 30 over prisoners and met 2 prison guards on the way. They picked up a number of .81s. Along the way, a few of the cells were opened, and the zombies inside came out, scattering their group. A number were eaten while the rest tried to run for the main door.
However, it was controlled electronically, and since it was connected to a system, they had to turn around to search for the control room!
After taking down a few zombies, their ammunition was running out! As they went to the armory, they lost another 6, with nothing in return. In the end, Old Frank had found some ammunition in the guards’ office.
By the time the group made it out, they were left with 20 people, and a few of them wanted to kill the prison guards as well. However, not all were in favor, some of them didn’t really suffer in the jail as well, hence they objected!
In the end, they were split into two camps, with the 2 prison guards leading 7 or 8 others who had led decent lives in the jail on their own way.
The remainder followed Brother Long, and they managed to rescue a few more survivors, forming some small establishment.
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TN:
A custom of the Chinese, bowing thrice to ancestors.