Rotting Land: Survive

Persuading the group turned out to be even more difficult than Old Lin had anticipated. As soon as he revealed Tang Xiaoquan’s proposal about leaving the villa and moving to the second refuge, he immediately faced criticism from everyone.

Initially, he planned to use the potential threat from Chunxiu’s group as evidence to persuade everyone to leave. But no one was foolish; everyone understood the real reason this topic was being brought up at such a critical moment.

Moreover, it was clearly the Liu Family who instigated this trouble, yet now they were expected to bear the consequences—leaving a place where they’ve lived for several months. How could they accept it?

Wei Dazhuang, in a fit of anger, nearly flipped the table during the argument. It was unsurprising that he was so furious; initially, for Wang Qiang’s sake, he endured in silence and didn’t confront the Liu Family about their issues. Seeing Wang Qiang’s miserable state every day for the past three days only deepened his resentment towards Liu Yunpeng.

Faced with Wei Dazhuang’s angry and perplexed questioning, Old Lin also felt very troubled. Moreover, from the start, he didn’t hold much hope for convincing everyone since even he found it hard to accept leaving the villa.

Although moving to the second refuge has more advantages than disadvantages and is forced by circumstances, the timing for carrying it out is frustrating.

Eventually, this meeting convened by Old Lin ended in failure. Tang Xiaoquan and Old Xu both expressed understanding, after all, they never expected to gain everyone’s approval from just this meeting.

As the saying goes, "slow and steady wins the race". Old Lin’s meeting might have failed, but it laid excellent groundwork for Tang and Xu’s future efforts.

With military orders as unyielding as mountains, Lei Tong, Hua Biao, and Xiao Zhang, though emotionally reluctant, accepted the departure proposal due to Old Xu’s position as their company commander and out of military professionalism.

Tang Xiaoquan, through continuous communication with Hu Xiaodong and others, also made good progress. After all, they were among the first to gather and escape together, and this time considering the proposal came from Tang Xiaoquan, they decided to accept.

Old Lin wasn’t idle either. While Tang and Xu split up to carry out persuasion and communication work, he had already begun collaborating with Old Zhao to inventory and categorize the existing resources on hand.

On one hand, he was preparing for departure. On the other hand, he had heard Tang Xiaoquan describe the characteristics of the second refuge’s location. Despite being remote and rural, with a high safety coefficient and fewer zombies, it also makes resupply difficult.

Moreover, after moving, they’d certainly wait until their daily lives are completely settled before considering going out to collect resources. So before leaving, it’s imperative to have complete knowledge of their on-hand resources to ensure reasonable arrangement and distribution.

It is said that dealing with soldiers with reason is difficult. Tang Xiaoquan deeply understood the essence of this saying now, having to admire the wisdom of the ancestors.

To manage Wei Dazhuang and Wenquan Xin, these two stubborn people, he prepared ample excuses for two whole days.

However, in the end, when he entered their room and barely mentioned the word "leave the villa", Wei Dazhuang rudely kicked him out. The other party unceremoniously labeled him as a traitor once again.

Tang Xiaoquan felt quite helpless about such an outcome. He didn’t care much about the loss of reputation, but he was worried that if Wei and Wen refused to accept his proposal, the plan to relocate would certainly not be implementable.

Even though he had obtained the consent of most people, they are ultimately a team, a whole.

He couldn’t just leave Wei and Wen behind or have Old Xu send soldiers to forcefully bind and drag Wei and Wen away.

Doing that would only worsen the situation.

Finally, with no other options, Tang Xiaoquan and Lin Junfu could only pin their hopes on Old Xu. Given Old Xu’s military background, having always held a company commander’s role, he should have his own unique solutions for dealing with obstinate personalities.

And indeed, they were correct in their assumptions. Old Xu had encountered plenty of rebellious individuals in the military before, especially new recruits full of juvenile arrogance who constantly put on a display of defiance.

But the result was, without exception, Old Xu disciplined them all, smoothing their sharp edges.

This was Old Xu’s ability, and dealing with tough cases like Wei Dazhuang and Wenquan Xin required his intervention for effective results.

Old Xu did not disappoint Tang Xiaoquan and Old Lin. Although it took considerable effort and persuasion, he successfully convinced Wei Dazhuang and Wenquan Xin with his veteran experience.

Thus, the villa aspect reached a unanimous decision to approve this plan. As for Yang Xue, the three of them internally discussed and decided not to officially inform her about this matter unless Wang Qiang himself brought it up; otherwise, they’d exclude her from the relocation plan.

This was not only due to the drama caused by Yang Xue and Liu Yunpeng, which nearly led to an irreparable conflict, but also considering Wang Qiang’s mental state. Anyone could see he was deeply hurt by this woman.

Being Wang Qiang’s friends, Old Xu and the others didn’t want Wang Qiang to sink further because of such an unreliable, lazy woman; it was simply not worth it!

The primary goal of voluntarily giving up the villa was not to evoke bitterness with Liu Fugui’s side. Now that the plan has been effectively implemented, it was necessary to send someone to inform Liu Fugui of this decision.

However, after the Liu Yunpeng incident, Old Xu was in no mood to negotiate with the old fox Liu Fugui. He worried he might lose control of his emotions and say something that could spoil the peace between the parties.

So, this responsibility fell on Lin Junfu, who was more composed and amicable in demeanor.

Upon learning that Old Xu and the others intended to collectively leave the villa, Liu Fugui felt quite shocked. He considered various actions they might take over the past few days, but leaving was not one he anticipated.

In his opinion, despite the rift caused by the incident involving his son, staying at the villa was clearly the best choice considering the current situation and the zombie siege.

Therefore, Liu Fugui attempted to dissuade them and even offered to bring his son to personally apologize to Wang Qiang. Unfortunately, Old Lin firmly rejected these offers.

After all, their actions already severely harmed the team. Not being severe with them was a tremendous concession. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)