Rotting Land: Survive

"Only one of you two can go out, the other must stay behind." Jiang Kou’s indifferent words, pointing at Old Xu and Lei Tong.

"Ah! This..." Jiang Kou’s statement really surprised Old Xu and the others. Derek immediately questioned, "Mr. Jiang Kou, why is that? You know Watanabe gave me a task to collect supplies three times the usual amount yesterday, and now you only let one of them go, I’m afraid..."

"Afraid the mission won’t be completed?" A slanted smile appeared, Jiang Kou blinked: "Failing the mission is your problem. If you take both of them away, how do I know they won’t take the chance to escape? Hmph, you Huaxia people just love to lie the most. So to be safe, one of them must stay. If the one who leaves doesn’t come back, the one left behind... hehe, haha!"

The faint smile turned into wild laughter, Jiang Kou’s face showing a bloodthirsty and murderous look.

What a sinister kid, Old Xu really suspected this brat might have been a criminal in the past, otherwise, how could he be so vicious.

However, it didn’t matter whether Old Xu or Lei Tong stayed, because they would definitely come back.

"Old Xu, I’ll go!" Lei Tong spoke first.

But he was immediately stopped and pushed back by Old Xu: "No, I’ll go!"

Seeing Lei Tong and Old Xu’s mutual rejection, Jiang Kou couldn’t help but taunt from the side: "Hehe, you better think it through. If the one who goes out doesn’t come back, that would be tragic."

Ignoring Jiang Kou’s provocation, Lei Tong, after seeing the look in Old Xu’s eyes, immediately stopped arguing.

He knew that Old Xu wanted to take the opportunity to deliver the intelligence gathered last night to the brothers waiting outside.

So deciding on this, Lei Tong patted Old Xu’s shoulder and played along: "Alright then, Old Xu, you go, and be safe on the road!"

"Hm, don’t worry! I’ll be careful!"

"Good! Very good! Excellent! I hope you will return as promised and not let your friend’s trust down." Jiang Kou aptly mocked again.

He was very satisfied with the current arrangement. After all, compared to Lei Tong, Old Xu was in worse physical condition.

This way, their chances of successfully gathering supplies would further decrease.

Jiang Kou seemed to have already foreseen the scene where Watanabe gets angry and terminates the contract. Demmi, Zhao Lina, hehe... let’s see how you can escape my grasp this time.

The delighted expression, the cowardly demeanor, looking at Jiang Kou’s intoxicated look, Old Xu could only feel that this foolish child needed some medication.

"If that’s the case, Mr. Jiang Kou, can we go get equipped now?"

"Of course! Of course!"

Jiang Kou put down his blocking hand and led Old Xu and Derek to the location of yesterday’s pharmacy. He took out two backpacks from inside.

This was Derek’s so-called equipment. In addition to these, after moving outside, Jiang Kou handed each of them a cleaver.

After finishing everything, he "kind-heartedly" reminded Derek again: "Derek, remember, the supplies should be three times. If you don’t succeed, those two in your room, hehe... you know!"

Saying this, Jiang Kou greedily licked his tongue.

Seeing this scene, Derek’s right hand holding the knife trembled slightly.

Old Xu quickly pulled the young man out of the building, then casually closed the glass door.

"Little Derek, calm down! After so much endurance, you’re going to throw it all away now?"

After listening to Old Xu’s advice, the furious Derek gradually calmed down, and his grip slowly relaxed.

"Listen, the task I give you today is just to get out alive and come back alive, I’ll handle the rest!!"

Since the route was already familiar, Old Xu didn’t need Derek to lead the way for him.

Besides, after a day’s contact, Old Xu had roughly figured out the young man’s background.

In his assessment, the young man was quite admirable. Besides the kindness he hadn’t lost despite the harsh environment, the anger shimmering in his eyes when humiliated by the "Japan" students was enough to show that the kid still had some backbone.

Such a person could be accommodated into his team, and the young man’s skills and quality were also what his team needed.

Therefore, Old Xu had to ensure this young man’s survival.

First, for the team; second, for Demmi; and third, to thank him for what he did for old Zhao’s family.

Just like when they came, Old Xu and Derek moved carefully again, avoiding the wandering zombies and successfully reached the 10th-floor window.

Everyone knows it’s easier to climb up than down a mountain, and climbing is the same, especially without rope protection, any injury could lead to unimaginable consequences.

Old Xu was no exception to this, who was used to climbing walls and walking on cliffs, after years of training, had turned these into his survival instincts.

But Derek was different. Although he had three years of parkour practice, that was merely a hobby and couldn’t compare with Old Xu’s professionalism.

Fortunately, after half a year of training, Derek was somewhat familiar with the building’s structure, so although he climbed a bit slowly, the safety was still quite reliable.

The entire climbing process took Old Xu and Derek 20 minutes, with most of the time spent on Derek.

As usual, they lifted the manhole cover, and to be safe, Old Xu picked up a few stones and threw them inside.

The sound of the stones wasn’t very loud upon landing, at least it wouldn’t attract the attention of the campus zombies from the outside.

But Old Xu knew, in the confined underground environment, such sounds would multiply in echoes.

Time ticked away as Old Xu and Derek waited anxiously.

Frankly, this stage was more nerve-racking than the previous climbing.

Because both Old Xu and Derek were acutely aware the underground passage was currently the only channel to leave the campus. If, like before, it was still filled with a lot of zombies, then...

Old Xu didn’t think about the worst-case scenario, perhaps his calm moved heaven, as the underground passage remained eerily silent, just like the ends of Hell.

Yet this deathly silence was like a heavenly song to Old Xu and Derek’s ears.

"I’ll go down first to check the situation, wait for my signal!" With a cleaver in hand, Old Xu gave Derek instructions.

To this, Derek had no objections. In the past, he had no choice but to take risks alone.

But now, with Old Xu by his side, there was no reason to "charge into danger" and face the potential risks.

After all, he had already experienced this once coming in, as the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of ropes.

Derek wasn’t a coward to that extent, but after all, there was a woman waiting for him behind.

If he died, what would happen to Demmi?

So, just based on this, Derek had to ensure his survival, even if some of his decisions didn’t seem very honorable. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to go to Qidian (qidian.com) and vote for it. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)