Chapter 58: Roadblock Robbery
Chu Zhaozhao finally left the gas station where she had been trapped for days. She was heading into a world that had become completely unknown to her, feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement.
"Is your home far from here?"
"Did all the houses over there get burned down?"
"That car is completely wrecked..."
"What do you do for a living?"
SCREECH! He slammed on the brakes.
The little minivan, which wasn’t going fast to begin with, screeched to a halt.
It wasn’t that Lin Fan couldn’t stand Chu Zhaozhao’s incessant chattering, but that he had spotted three zombies wandering in the middle of the road ahead.
The moment he stopped, Chu Zhaozhao’s mouth finally fell silent. Unsure of what was happening, the two vehicles following them also pulled to a stop.
Lin Fan got out and glanced behind them. Seeing no zombies in pursuit, he pulled his short spear from its spot beside the window and spoke to Chu Zhaozhao.
"Go tell them to wait here..."
With that, he started walking toward the three zombies in the distance. Driving any closer risked attracting them, which would make getting out of the vehicles more difficult. It was better to take them out beforehand.
...
ROAR!
ROAR!
ROAR!
SQUELCH!
THUMP!
CRACK!
...
Lin Fan’s maximum Life Value had reached [400], and his overall physical constitution was steadily improving along with it.
’With my current constitution and an activation crystal, I should be able to handle one or two small Mutant Dogs even without any buffs.’
After wiping the blood from his spear on one of the corpses, Lin Fan walked back to the van. He waved at the cars behind them, handed the spear to Chu Zhaozhao in the passenger seat, and started driving toward home again.
"Whoa! It’s so heavy!"
"This steel pipe must be at least ten pounds!"
"And you were just like, WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH..."
As she spoke, she reached out and squeezed Lin Fan’s arm.
"You don’t even feel that muscular..."
"I bet I could swing this too if I just got a little more rest..."
"Can you teach me how to kill zombies? Please?"
And so, Chu Zhaozhao was off again...
...
When Lin Fan had first been injured, he’d found her voice incredibly annoying. He had been exhausted and just wanted to rest in peace and quiet.
But now, perhaps because they were returning fully loaded and he was in a good mood, even her voice started to sound pleasant.
As long as he ignored what she was actually saying, her constant chattering was like a crystal wind chime hanging from the rearview mirror. Every note it produced was clear and pure, tinged with a certain detachment that spoke of her naivety.
That was precisely why Lin Fan hadn’t kicked her out of the car.
The distance wasn’t great, but due to occasional obstacles, Lin Fan and the others couldn’t drive too fast. After about ten minutes, they made a U-turn at an intersection, and Lin Fan, in the lead vehicle, finally turned onto the street below his apartment complex.
Though he had only been gone for a day and a night, a nervous tension—like the anxiety of a long-awaited homecoming—gripped him as he neared the street. His hands unconsciously tightened on the steering wheel.
"Zombies!"
Chu Zhaozhao, in the passenger seat, abruptly stopped her chatter. She gripped the steel pipe tightly, her eyes fixed on the road ahead.
"They’re not zombies. They’re people..."
Lin Fan said calmly, his eyes on the dense cluster of low-health yellow bars up ahead.
Dozens of figures, in small groups, scurried back and forth between the apartment buildings and the ground-floor shops.
The figures darted in and out of the first-floor windows of the buildings to the north and south, like a colony of ants foraging for food.
When Lin Fan’s minivan appeared at the end of the street, many of them stopped in their tracks and turned to look his way.
As he drove further down the street and the two RVs turned in behind him, the crowd suddenly burst into a clamor.
"It’s him..."
"He’s the one who led the zombies away..."
"He actually managed to come back..."
"Their cars are full of stuff..."
"I saw it, he killed three zombies..."
"He took a lot of stuff from the supermarket..."
"He even made two trips..."
"I think he’s the guy who runs the pet clinic..."
"..."
As the convoy drove past, the people in the street instinctively moved to the side, but the buzz of their conversations still filtered into the car.
Most of them looked malnourished, clutching a few packs of instant noodles or a bag of rice they had just scavenged from a shop or a ground-floor apartment.
The interiors of the RVs were crammed with supplies, and some of the water and entire cases of snacks were piled up in the passenger seats, clearly visible through the windshields.
The mix of astonished, envious, and greedy stares from the crowd made Lin Fan deeply uncomfortable.
’I can’t believe there were so many survivors hiding in these buildings...’
’Looks like leading the zombies away really did free them.’
’Good thing I already secured a vehicle full of stuff, not to mention all the supplies from the gas station.’
’Otherwise, at the rate they’re scavenging, these few shops would have been picked clean by now.’
’Still, how many of them there are is none of my business. As long as they don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with them. I just hope Su Qing didn’t come down and get mixed up in this mess.’
Lin Fan was about to steer around the wreckage of two cars in the middle of the road.
Suddenly, five or six figures brandishing various weapons rushed out of the small supermarket, blocking the path of Lin Fan’s three-vehicle convoy. Their eyes burned with naked fanaticism and greed.
Their health bars were clearly different from the others, most of them sitting around eighty or ninety.
Another four or five men stood guard at the supermarket entrance, preventing anyone else from getting inside.
Then, a large bald man strode through the crowd toward Lin Fan. He was carrying a fire axe caked with sticky blood, and he fixed a deceptively friendly gaze on the two people inside the van.
"Bro... brother, don’t be nervous. Let’s... let’s be friends. Just wanna... wanna talk..."
The large man rested his axe on the hood of Lin Fan’s minivan. He spoke in a stutter, but each word was deliberate:
"Came... came back from outside. Must’ve... must’ve struck it rich..."
"I... I hear you took a... a lot of stuff from... from my supermarket..."
"Th-there are so... so many people in our... our neighborhood. The things... in your cars... shouldn’t you... you share a little with... with us brothers?"
SCRAAAAPE—
As he spoke, the bald man dragged his fire axe across the hood of Lin Fan’s minivan, carving a deep gash into the metal...
Before Lin Fan could respond, Chu Zhaozhao, reacting to the tense atmosphere, shot back, "Why sh—"
But she was cut off as Lin Fan raised a hand in front of her, gesturing for her to let the bald man finish.
Seeing this, the bald man grew smug. He lifted his chin slightly and continued:
"That... that girl of yours is pretty ruthless, lettin’ zombies... in... into the house..."
"Our... our brothers can’t get into your place, but... but that means you can’t get in... either..."
The bald man held up two fingers on his left hand and wagged them in front of Lin Fan.
"If you know... know what’s good for you, you’ll get... get out and hand over the supplies from two... two of your vehicles..."
"Otherwise, don’t... don’t blame us for what happens... next..."