Rotting Land: Survive

"Uncle Zhao, what’s wrong? Are you okay?" Seeing Old Zhao’s eyes turning red, Wei Yang, who had returned from washing rice, asked worriedly while bending down.

Old Zhao quickly brushed his sleeve to cover the corner of his eyes and awkwardly replied, "Ah, the wind and sand here are too strong, got into my eyes. Hehe, hehe."

Wei Yang wasn’t foolish; although the north wind was howling, there was no trace of sand in the city. Without a doubt, Old Zhao was lying.

However, understanding as ever, Wei Yang did not expose him. Instead, she agreed with a "yes" to follow Old Zhao’s lead and advised him to be more careful, then changed the topic to continue preparing dinner with Old Zhao.

On another day, the action group had also arrived at the target location. Old Xu carefully looked around and chose the right-side path as the breakthrough point.

The reason for choosing the right side was mainly due to the toll booth that managed this passageway. It seemed to have been hit by a vehicle, as all that remained was a solitary base stranded on the ground, surrounded by scattered pieces of plywood and broken glass.

"Everyone, get on the car and see if you can find anything useful. Remember, be careful, especially of those dead bodies on the cars; be very cautious of them reanimating as zombies!"

Repeating the important things three times, in the past, Old Xu might not have emphasized the danger of zombies.

But in the past few months, although they had been on high alert, they had mostly been fighting with humans, to the point where most of the team hadn’t battled zombies for a while.

Hence, Xu Renjie had to remind them to rekindle their vigilance against zombies.

The team was split into two groups:

Old Xu, Tang Xiaoquan, and Wang Qiang formed one group; Wei Dazhuang, Wu Chao, and Wen Quanxin formed the second group.

The two groups inspected a path each. Before getting on the car, Old Xu looked worriedly at the distracted Wang Qiang, patted him on the shoulder, and reminded, "Hey, Qiang, get yourself together; we have to move up!"

"Oh," as expected, Wang Qiang replied weakly.

Just as Xu Renjie was about to speak again, Tang Xiaoquan quietly pulled him aside and exchanged a glance, meaning to reassure him that he’d watch over Wang Qiang’s safety.

"Sigh," Old Xu sighed helplessly. As a soldier, he understood romance but wasn’t deeply acquainted with it; he genuinely felt it was unworthy for Wang Qiang to be so devastated over Yang Xue.

As they say, the world is vast, and a man need not worry about finding a wife.

Being heartbroken over a fickle woman was truly...

Shaking his head, Old Xu forcefully opened the broken door of a tour bus in front of him, and with the creaking of the door hinges, he jumped in with his knife raised.

Upon entry, Old Xu smelled a strong stench of rotting corpses. Due to the airtight nature of the bus, the bodies inside had been roasted and fermented throughout the summer, all turning into mummified corpses without exception.

Old Xu poked a nearby decomposed body with his knife to ensure it didn’t react before reaching down to grab a bag at its feet.

Opening it, he found it was empty, with nothing inside.

The same scenario played out at the opposite path. Wei Dazhuang and his group found nothing in the several passengers’ bags they searched.

It’s no wonder; it’s been more than half a year since the apocalypse broke out, and the easily collected resources have mostly been scavenged by survivors.

Moreover, this place was a major traffic route in and out of the county. It made no sense for passing survivor convoys to miss this opportunity.

Therefore, as expected, the survivors’ search yielded nothing. After checking thoroughly, an empty-handed Xu Renjie spat out of frustration.

"No need to look anymore, Xiao Tang, Qiang. Most likely, another team has already searched this area. Let’s focus on solving the roadblock issue instead!"

With that, Old Xu headed back. When he approached Tang Xiaoquan, he noticed his vacant expression and asked in surprise, "Hey, Xiaoquan, what’s wrong? Everything okay? We’re getting off."

"Ah!" Like being jolted, Tang Xiaoquan shuddered and snapped out of his thoughts. He hesitated for a couple of seconds before uncertainly asking, "What’s up? Old Xu, what did you just say?"

"Hehe," Xu Renjie chuckled bitterly, rubbing his chin, "I said this vehicle holds no more search value. Let’s get off."

"Oh, oh," Tang Xiaoquan unconsciously replied twice. Seeing this, Old Xu moved closer and peered at him, "I say, Xiaoquan, what’s up with you? You seem odd."

"No, I just..." Furrowing his eyebrows slightly, Tang Xiaoquan pondered for a few seconds before saying, "I just find it a bit strange."

"Strange?" Xu Renjie silently repeated the young man’s words. He looked around, but aside from the dead bodies, nothing seemed out of place on the bus. "Xiao Tang, what do you mean?"

Raising his hand to point, Tang Xiaoquan gestured at a corpse in front of them, "Look at their abdominal cavities; they’re all scraped clean, and this..."

Bending over to pick up a severed limb, Tang Xiaoquan pointed to the bite marks on it, "These marks are chaotic and unorganized, and some holes pierce right through. Could ordinary zombies have such good teeth?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Renjie leaned in for a look. Indeed, the surface of the limb was riddled with holes, as if it had been gouged by sharp tools.

"I hope my concerns are unnecessary." Tang Xiaoquan displayed a faint bitter smile.

"Your discovery is crucial! Regardless, we must stay vigilant tonight and strengthen patrols!" After taking a final look at the severed limb in Tang Xiaoquan’s hand, Xu Renjie held his knife horizontally, "Let’s go; it’s getting late. We have to clear this road before dark."

One by one, the group exited the vehicle.

As they reached outside, a shout came from the roadblock on the left side, "Hey, Old Xu, how’s it over there? We got nothing on our side."

Old Xu waved his hand, "Same here. Stop wasting breath and come over to help with the bus."

"Alright, got it!"

With everyone in place, Old Xu assigned the six people to specific points on the bus. Then, after counting down from three, all six strong youngsters exerted their strength together. With a low growl, the heavy bus began to shift.

"Come on! Keep pushing, let’s finish it in one go!"

"One! Two! Three! Push!"

"Squeak~ Bang!" With Xu Renjie’s countdown, the bus finally toppled over.

As the vehicle leaned over, the windows shattered on cue, scattering shards everywhere.

Xu Renjie glanced over, frowning.

Those shards needed immediate clearing; if they punctured the vehicle tires, there’d be serious trouble.

Thinking of this, Old Xu instructed the spirited Wen Quanxin, "Xiao Wen, go fetch Lei Zi and have him bring people to clean up the shards. Oh, and grab Luo Baocun to check if we can use the bus tires. If so, dismantle them and take them along."

Without a second word, Wen Quanxin saluted playfully in place, assuming a distorted military stance and blinking twice at Xu Renjie, then solemnly said, "Understood, Chief! I’ll make sure to complete the mission!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote for it on Qidian with your recommendation and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read it on m.qidian.com.)