Chapter 65: Walkie-Talkie
"Sister Qing! So you’re Sister Qing!"
Chu Zhaozhao suddenly darted in front of Su Qing, grabbing her hand and calling out warmly.
"Er..." Su Qing offered a polite smile and a greeting, then turned to Lin Fan, her eyes pleading for help. Her gaze seemed to say:
’Who is this grimy, filthy little girl? Aren’t you going to introduce us...?’
But Lin Fan wasn’t flustered in the slightest. Knowing Chu Zhaozhao, an introduction wasn’t necessary. In a few seconds, she would start introducing herself anyway.
"Sister Qing! My name is Chu Zhaozhao! This is my brother... (and on she went for what felt like two hundred words)... Oh my gosh, Sister Qing, you’re so pretty! No wonder Brother Lin was calling out ’Sister Qing’ while he was unconscious, sniffle..."
Hearing her words stray into dangerous territory, Lin Fan immediately cut her off. "Don’t just say whatever you want..." he threatened.
"Okay, Brother Lin!"
Chu Zhaozhao put on her best ’obedient girl’ face.
Su Qing caught the implication of her words. Worried that Lin Fan wasn’t as healthy as he appeared, she reached out and pulled Chu Zhaozhao away from him and to her side.
"Zhaozhao, tell me, what exactly has your Brother Lin been doing..."
As she spoke, she turned to shoot Lin Fan a glare.
Seeing the situation was already out of his control, Lin Fan decided to just let it be. ’I’ve already recovered anyway,’ he thought. ’This will save her from worrying...’
Seeing Chu Zhaotian and Xu Qian carrying water from the car into the clinic, he called them over and headed east with them.
The street to the east was strewn with thirty or forty bodies—some were zombies Lin Fan had just killed, others had been there longer.
Bolder survivors had already started emerging from the buildings, ducking into the storefronts on the south side to search for any available supplies.
Liu Bin and his group were among them. Their numbers had grown to seven or eight people.
They weren’t rushing to find supplies. Instead, they were squatting by the side of the street, checking the corpses on the ground one by one.
"Looks like your team has grown, Brother Liu..."
Lin Fan called out to Liu Bin while still a good distance away.
"Doctor Lin, you’re finished with your work... These are friends. We’re just checking to see if there’s anything we can use..."
Hearing the voice, Liu Bin turned to see Lin Fan approaching. He scrambled to his feet, quickly wiped a black and yellow object on his pants, and hurried forward, holding it out to Lin Fan.
"...This is a walkie-talkie we found on Stutter’s crew. We don’t have any use for it..."
Just today while driving, Lin Fan had been thinking how great it would be if their convoy had walkie-talkies. He had rummaged all over the gas station earlier without finding any; he never expected to get some here.
Lin Fan’s eyes swept over the walkie-talkie, then lifted to meet Liu Bin’s gaze.
He didn’t stand on ceremony and took it. This wasn’t just a gift; it was more like a pledge of loyalty.
With this gesture, Liu Bin was making his position clear.
’Besides, this walkie-talkie is almost out of power,’ Lin Fan thought. ’Even if Liu Bin had kept it, he’d have no way to charge it.’
"Perfect timing. I was just wondering where to find some of these. How many do you have in total?"
Lin Fan casually handed the device to Chu Zhaotian, who was right behind him, motioning for him to put it in his backpack. Then he turned back to Liu Bin with a smile.
Lin Fan’s question jolted Liu Bin into action. He quickly asked the men behind him, gathered five more walkie-talkies, and handed the whole bundle to Lin Fan.
’No idea what Stutter’s crew did for a living,’ he mused, ’but they sure had a lot of walkie-talkies.’ They were all roughly the same size, but the models were all slightly different.
A quick glance told Lin Fan they all had Type-C ports, which meant they could be charged in the car.
With a slight tilt of his head, Chu Zhaotian, who was half a step behind him, instinctively opened his backpack and took the bundle of walkie-talkies from Liu Bin.
"Uh... Brother Lin, should we go take a look behind the supermarket?"
Seeing that Lin Fan had accepted the walkie-talkies, Liu Bin decided to press his advantage and get friendlier. Even though the young man before him was clearly his junior, his sheer skill merited the respectful address of "Brother."
Lin Fan, however, wasn’t quite used to it. ’It feels weird, having a burly guy in his forties suddenly calling me ’Brother,’’ he thought. ’But whatever, he can call me what he wants. It’s not like I plan on getting too involved with their group anyway.’
’The more people you have, the harder they are to manage. I have enough hands for what I need. Liu Bin seems like a smart guy; I’ll let him figure out how far he can go on his own. Giving him a little push and a bit of an opportunity is enough for me.’
"Brother Liu, right before Stutter died, he mentioned he had food and water at his place. You should find out where he lived and don’t forget to grab it..."
’Liu Bin calls me Brother Lin, so I can’t really call him Xiaoliu, can I?’ he reasoned. ’Might as well call him Brother Liu, too. We’ll just call each other ’Brother,’ I guess.’
He had enough food and water to fill three vehicles; he had no interest in scrounging for more. ’Even if I didn’t tell them, they’d figure it out and go looking for it anyway,’ he thought. ’Might as well let them have it.’
"Yes, yes, of course! I’ll have my men ask around right away. If we find anything good, I’ll have it sent over to the clinic for you..."
"Er... sure, I guess..."
Lin Fan was about to refuse, but then he reconsidered. ’If he wants to send stuff, let him. Refusing everything might make me look too well-stocked...’
Looking at the men behind Liu Bin, Lin Fan suddenly spoke up.
"Brother Liu, lend me a few of your men. Let’s move those three cars to the side of the road. They’re blocking the way, and it’ll be hard for my RV to get through."
’I can’t expect much from my own two guys,’ Lin Fan thought. ’Even the worst-off of Liu Bin’s men have fifty or sixty health points, while my two are still in the thirties. Better let them rest for a couple of days. Why not use free labor when it’s available?’
"Of course. You just relax, we’ll handle it. Let’s go, guys, time to move these cars!"
Liu Bin had been wondering what Lin Fan wanted. In this new world, the scariest thing wasn’t being used, but having no value to be used at all.
Hearing it was just a simple matter of manual labor, he was more than happy to oblige. He waved his men forward and quickly ran over to the three wrecked cars blocking the road.
These three cars had been blocking the road since the day Lin Fan woke up. The keys were still in the ignitions, but with their windows shattered, they’d been soaked by rain for days and wouldn’t start.
Lin Fan’s three vehicles had just been forced to detour around them. The van had managed, but the RV was wide and long. Chu Zhaotian had scraped it making the turn. If he had to drive up to the supermarket entrance later to provide them with power, he didn’t want to risk shredding a tire.
Since there were plenty of people around now, he might as well get the wrecks moved.
Liu Bin and six other survivors positioned themselves along the side of one of the wrecks. He stood in the center with three men on either side. At his command, they all heaved. With a loud GROAN, two of the sedan’s wheels lifted steadily off the ground.
Flipping it would be easier than trying to carry it. Ordinarily, seven men would have no trouble tipping over a sedan.
But after days of not eating or sleeping well, their bodies were far from what they used to be. They only managed to lift the car a foot or so before their strength gave out, unable to push it over.
Seeing this, Lin Fan quickly stepped forward, found an open spot, placed his hands on the frame, and heaved with all his might.
The other men immediately felt the weight on their hands lighten. Even Liu Bin couldn’t help but be flabbergasted. ’With that one push,’ he thought in awe, ’he must have taken on at least half the car’s weight by himself.’