Rotting Land: Survive

Damn it! Old Xu cursed under his breath and quickly signaled Tang Xiaoquan to relay the message to the entire bus.

Tang Xiaoquan didn’t dare delay. He closed the chat window and swiftly moved his fingers to input the text: "Mutated wolves have returned, all buses maintain silence."

Through the Bluetooth antenna, the message was quickly sent out. Wen Quan received it, swallowed hard, and immediately reported to Old Lin.

Old Lin made a gesture to focus attention to the three brothers guarding the driver’s seat and the two doors, then shifted his attention to He Jing and her daughter at the back of the bus.

Right now, he was most worried about these two. Fangfang had Wei Yang to take care of her, which was okay, but He Jing... tonight was a real hardship for him.

Shaking his head to dismiss the distractions, Old Lin realized this was not the time for romance.

Rather than wait for zombies to rush into the bus because of the howling, it was better to resolutely gag He Jing now.

As a leader, some decisions no matter how difficult have to be made.

Looking at Old Lin’s gaze, Zhang Zhicai naturally understood his meaning, as a doctor, though, he also didn’t want to harm the patient.

But at the critical moment of life and death, to protect the safety of the whole bus and He Jing herself, he had to commit this dark deed.

The mutated wolves soon returned to the starting point. These beasts are truly fierce, even after being led away so far by Li Guo’s racing car, they still managed to return to the same spot.

In a way, they’re more persistent than humans.

As soon as the wolf pack arrived, they immediately approached the bus. Since the survivors were mentally aware of the wolves’ presence, any rustling outside caused them heart palpitations.

Humans are truly bizarre this way; when unaware of something, it’s easily overlooked.

But once you’re aware, and that thing is something you fear, your thoughts will uncontrollably lean towards the negative.

The survivors now found themselves in such a situation. Outside of the lead bus with Old Xu and Tang Xiaoquan, all windows and doors on the other three buses were tightly shut; they couldn’t see the wolves outside.

And this unknown fear is the scariest because your brain will automatically fill in the scenarios, turning any sound outside into nail-biting tension inside.

Everyone held their breath and concentrated as the roof of the bus soon gave a "thud," followed by a second and third time.

With each thudding noise, the hearts of the survivors inside the bus wrenched tightly.

Lei Tong held a knife, his body slightly hunched, left hand pointing a Type 54 pistol at the ceiling, his eyes scanning back and forth.

The claws of the wolves scratching the skin of the bus made a "squeak" noise, driving people insane.

Time ticked by second by second, hours passed, and the mutated wolves showed no sign of leaving.

This perplexed Tang Xiaoquan; why weren’t these beasts leaving? Had they discovered something?

But if so, why hadn’t they attacked yet? Tang Xiaoquan had no answer.

For now, though, the restraint shown by the wolves was a welcome sight.

Using the equipment Li Zhong had set up, Old Xu promptly fed back information from outside the bus to the rear buses.

This was Tang Xiaoquan’s idea. As someone who frequently read psychology books, he was well aware of how the unknown could damage the human psyche.

He made every effort to release information as politely and subtly as possible, trying not to alarm the companions in the other buses.

It’s easy to say but hard to do.

After all, you need to timely notify other buses of potential dangers you’ve spotted, yet cannot state it directly.

Because at this point, people’s psychological defenses are fragile, and after several hours of silent waiting, even a little stimulation could cause panic.

Thanks to Tang Xiaoquan’s relentless efforts, everyone on the bus was kept abreast of the outside situation, offering them some sliver of hope amidst their torment.

Can you imagine a bus full of old and young people staring at a tiny mobile screen, waiting for text messages? It seems laughable but undoubtedly reveals a helpless sorrow.

By the latter part of the night, seeing the mutated wolves hesitating and not launching an attack, Old Xu felt it necessary to take action.

He glanced at the time in the bus; it was now 4 AM, and in three and a half hours, dawn would break.

He thought it was time to discuss the next steps. After all, the mutated wolves could stay here indefinitely, but they couldn’t.

Even if the supplies on the bus could sustain them for a while, it’s unrealistic to expect over twenty people to resolve all biological needs in a bus.

Moreover, these hours of silent waiting have already driven them to the edge; if this continues, without the wolves’ intervention, the team members might make reckless decisions.

Whispering his thoughts to Tang Xiaoquan, Tang Xiaoquan immediately understood.

He thought to himself, indeed, as Old Xu said, it would be better to utilize this lengthy time discussing the escape plan for dawn rather than exhaust himself keeping everyone updated on external conditions.

This way, they could ensure orderly action in the morning and divert everyone’s attention, so they wouldn’t let the outside mutated wolves lead them by the nose.

With these thoughts in mind, Tang Xiaoquan nodded, then conveyed Old Xu’s idea to the back buses.

Very quickly, Wen Quan responded according to Old Lin’s idea: "Li Guo just said he used remote-control racing cars to lead the wolves away, shouldn’t there be surveillance cameras on his car? Is there recorded footage, and if so, can Bluetooth transmission enable sharing? If possible, send the video to all buses so everyone can familiarize themselves with the road conditions ahead before discussing further."

Old Lin’s response hit Xu Renjie’s thoughts accurately; while proposing the discussion suggestion, he kept thinking how great it would be to know the conditions of the road ahead.

After all, the toll gate blocking the road is a known situation, and no one can predict such a situation won’t occur on the highway ahead.

On ordinary days, it wouldn’t matter, but if it happened during a pursuit with the mutated wolves, that would be a huge problem.

Old Xu didn’t want to be running smoothly only to be blocked midway by a car, where they couldn’t advance or retreat, finding themselves prey for the wolves, trapped like fish in a barrel.

Li Guo, also paying attention to the chat group information in bus 4, responded promptly at Old Lin’s mention: "I’ve recorded all footage from the surveillance cameras along the way, I’ll send it over soon. However, due to bandwidth and signal limitations, the transmission might be slow. To ensure speed, please pause chatting during the transfer."

Soon each bus confirmed they understood.

Having received confirmation, Li Guo adjusted his posture and began operating the computer.

As mutated wolves occasionally prowled outside, Li Guo’s movements were cautious.

Even clicking the mouse was gentle and slow to the extreme, fearing that a loud noise might attract the wolves’ attention outside.

After some selecting, Li Guo found the files in the recording directory from that day, then selected them with the mouse and dragged them into the chat window. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit qidian.com to vote on recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users should visit m.qidian.com to read.)