Chapter 218: Search

When Zhang Xiao Qiang and his team did not return the previous day, Yang Ke’er started to become anxious. She pulled He wen Bin and asked him to send people to look for Zhang Xiao Qiang. He Wen Bin became anxious as well but did not dare send anyone.

Firstly, it was close to night time and searching for people in the dark was dangerous. Additionally, Zhang Xiao Qiang had brought out 80% of the camp forces, he did not dare to touch the remaining people, because the base was the most important.

The most important point was that Zhang Xiao Qiang had brought out more than 10 men with rifles but had not returned, that meant that they had encountered trouble and He Wen Bin believed that Zhang Xiao Qiang would have no problem saving himself alone. He would rather believe that the reason that Zhang Xiao Qiang was not back was that Zhang Xiao Qiang had the situation under control and would rather wait for news the next day.

Yang Ke’er did not care about He Wen Bin’s excuses, not only did she find He Wen Bin or Old Frank, she actually went to look for Zhang Huai An. At that time, Zhang Huai An patted his own chest and promised that he would find Zhang Xiao Qiang, but since when did he have the guts? He led a few men but did not even find a vehicle, so they stayed in the construction site and waited.

Zhang Huai An had advised Yang Ke’er to stay in the base but she had her own plans. She found her own servant, the little boy that was constantly dirty, to follow Zhang Huai An. With that, Zhang Huai An had nothing to say.

While listening to Zhang Huai An’s explanation, Zhang Xiao Qiang did not know whether to laugh or cry. He nodded his head and excused Zhang Huai An. w.a.n.g Chong came down from the bus, he did not see Zhang Xiao Qiang and instantly sprinted for the Type-92 Battalion gun. He caressed it and cursed, cursed the people who cleaned the battalion gun. He knew they were definitely not professionals, the Type-92 Battalion Gun was not cleaned thoroughly and there were places where rust had formed. Even inside the cylinder, a bit of stain would influence the longevity of the equipment.

Once Yang Ke’er cried, she would direct her anger towards He Wen Bin, Old Frank and Zhang Huai An like Zhang Xiao Qiang. Talking about Zhang Huai An, Yang Ke’er was so angry that she gritted her teeth and said: “I don’t care, you have to scold him badly, if not for Miao Miao, I would not have known that that old man was hiding away and sleeping. He makes me so angry!”

“Eh……, who is Miao Miao?” Zhang Xiao Qiang figured that this said ent.i.ty was a cat. Yang Ke’er rolled her eyes and replied: “You’ve been staying with him and you don’t know his name? Miao Miao is Sister Xu’s son…”

Zhang Xiao Qiang immediately lost interest, for a guy to actually have a cat’s name, why not call him “w.a.n.g w.a.n.g*”?

Zhang Xiao Qiang began giving out tasks, Zhang Huai An led a few of his men and brought back the captives and supplies, to which Three handed over.

The men and women were ordered up the bus. Li Zhu was among them, and when he saw the large number of people welcoming Zhang Xiao Qiang, he became free from anxiety. Likewise, when the other people saw that even more of Zhang Xiao Qiang’s subordinates coming over and donned in military uniform and helmets, they became well-behaved.

Two men carried the stretcher made out of clothes which held the handicapped Su Qian. Over the process of moving her, she kept on looking at Zhang Xiao Qiang, from how he carried Yang Ke’er to how the cold Shangguan Qiao Yun stood behind him the entire time with the Garand Rifle on her back. The fleet that welcomed Zhang Xiao Qiang, Old Franks’ prideful face when he led the 100 odd survivors away. Finally, she retracted her gaze, took a deep breath, and allowed herself to be lifted into the vehicle….Old Frank had brought all the trucks and cranes from the base. Seeing the large steel doors of the prison, his eyes gleamed with a light. It was a genuine military product, no matter how he saw it, it was much more reliable than the steel plates door he prepared.

50 men dressed in military uniform stood in 5 rows and waited for Zhang Xiao Qiang’s inspection. All of them were the temporary expansion group and every single one of them wielded choppers and composite shields. Half of them had fortified sniping crossbows on their backs and leather quivers wielding 20 short crossbow arrows.

He Wen Bin distributed all the cold weapons that w.a.n.g Le had made, not that they were unwilling to handguns to them, but that the majority of them had never touched a gun before. If they were given bullets, they would not know where to even put the bullets in, so why not hand them blades and shields. At least these things were useful for them.

With everything prepared, Zhang Xiao Qiang led a robust and expanded group to fight their way into the a.r.s.enal. Everything went smoothly, to the point that Zhang Xiao Qiang was in disbelief. There were no zombies, all of the zombies inside were stuck in cages, there were no rats, but the corpses of the rats they killed were littered all over the places. All of the rats that had escaped were injured and many of them died en route.

When they all saw the exploded wall and mountain of dead rats, Old Frank and the newcomers all took in cold breaths, while Zhang Xiao Qiang, Three and the ones involved in the difficult battle all heaved a sigh of relief. It was truly a nightmare for them battling the rats.

Looking at the dead rats on the ground, Zhang Xiao Qiang called Old Frank over to his side and whispered to him, causing Old Frank’s face to turn ugly, but ultimately, he nodded his head.

Zhang Xiao Qiang split the members into two, one group picked up the dead rats, those that were rather complete were skinned and dried over a bonfire. Some of the people were disgusted by it, always revealing twisted faces while working. As for the members who ate the rat meat the previous night, they became ecstatic as their mouths started to salivate with the barbeque meat taste.

Seeing all the dead rats, Zhang Xiao Qiang felt extremely uncomfortable. Fortunately, the rats had died not long ago and had no stench. The base did not lack in staple but lacked in meat products. All of the workers had to undergo awfully strenuous manual labor every day. Due to time constraint, a few women had to help out by carrying buckets of lime, all of which were physical activities. Although Zhang Xiao Qiang was able to find meat, it could not stand the number of people. Now, aside from his own private stash, the base had practically no meat to eat.

Old Frank and Three led the people into the a.r.s.enal and moved all the weapons to the empty s.p.a.ce outside. Looking at the dust-filled large weapons, Zhang Xiao Qiang was overwhelmed by emotions. Everything belonged to him, As a man who used to be addicted to computer and games and was once a n.o.body, he could be considered a tyrant now. Especially that he had consecutively conquered two camps. Calculating all of it, he had close to 700 members now, and all of them were relying on him to survive.

Feeling slightly happier, he looked at the fallen walls. The tunnel dug by the rats had been buried beneath the rubble. Upon thinking about the resolute w.a.n.g Chong who hugged the warhead and ran into the horde of ants, the happiness in his heart immediately disappeared.

The others busied with work. Three made an inventory of the ammunition, Old Frank and a few others carried a Type-92 HMG out, w.a.n.g Le and a few others inspected a Type-54 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun while the bearded man dressed in a western suit with a rifle slung to his back barbequed the rat meat and bragged to his new brothers about the taste of the rat meat.

Zhang Xiao Qiang did not look at the rest, he walked to the collapsed wall and carried a head-sized rock connected to a reinforced steel bar and threw it to one side. When the rat smashed onto the ground, Zhang Xiao Qiang carried on with another. He kept cleaning out the rubble by his feet.

As he carried another debris and was preparing to walk to the side to throw it away, a pair of delicate hands took the debris from his hands, the owner of the hands being Shangguan Qiao Yun. She did not ask why and simply took the debris and threw it to one side, then came back and continued to help Zhang Xiao Qiang clear out another fragment.

* – A dog’s bark