Rotting Land: Survive

The news that the wolf pack had left was immediately relayed to each vehicle via Bluetooth messages, and after reading it, Wen Quanxin hurried to pass it on to Old Lin and the other brothers.

The survivors all let out a long breath when they heard it, the hearts that had been in their throats finally settling a little.

"Lei, you guys observe from the windows, keep your movements light and slow, don’t rush. See if the wolves have really left!" Old Lin wasn’t that he distrusted the report from the lead vehicle.

It was just that, given the limitations of the parking position, the cameras on the lead vehicle clearly couldn’t get a full, 100% view of everything outside the bus.

So to be safe, Old Lin still told the soldiers to confirm again so they’d have a clear picture in their minds.

The Sharp Blade Company soldiers knew very well what it meant for them to carry out this task; any small negligence on their part could render all the efforts of Vehicle 4 completely useless.

So Lei Tong and the others almost all subconsciously held their breath, then forced themselves to focus, each taking up a position by a window.

Lei Tong gently pulled open a small slit in the curtain; seeing his 1.8-meter-tall frame making such slow, delicate movements was actually a bit comical.

But at this moment no one was in the mood to laugh at Lei Tong’s posture, because the other survivors were also just as on edge, terrified of hearing that frenzied crashing that had only just subsided.

The north wind howled against the bus windows, the fierce gusts making the glass emit a painful wail.

Lei Tong put his eye to the small slit, his tiger-like eyes scanning outside; due to the oppressive darkness, he had to take a moment to adjust before he could barely see clearly.

Nothing! Acting crisp and decisive, Lei Tong quickly gave his answer.

Right after him were Shen Lian and Hua Biao, and these two in turn also gave answers that delighted everyone.

After hearing this, the survivors looked at one another and all saw the relief in each other’s eyes.

Old Lin exhaled as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and the right hand that had been pressing on He Jing’s mouth loosened a little as well.

He glanced at the woman beside him, his heart full of guilt.

Just then, Wen Quanxin suddenly said, "Old Lin, Old Xu says we have to continue maintaining silence, keep all the doors and windows sealed, don’t make any noise, we..."

His voice suddenly cut off. Wen Quanxin seemed to think he was seeing things, and he subconsciously brought the phone closer to his eyes.

But that pause of his made the others feel a twinge of panic. Old Lin quickly asked, "What is it? What did Old Xu say after that?"

"He, he, they say we’re spending the night here!!" Wen Quanxin’s face was still full of disbelief, but the words on the screen were clear and unmistakable; that was exactly what it meant.

This time it wasn’t just Wen Quanxin; the other survivors were also deeply suspicious.

Some even wondered if Old Xu had made a typo on his end, turning ’leave immediately’ into ’continue to hold position.’

That wasn’t impossible. After all, people were prone to mistakes in tense situations.

What’s more, Old Xu was bearing responsibility for the life and death of the whole team; a typo would be understandable.

At least Old Lin could very much sympathize with Xu Renjie, especially after seeing how unfamiliar he’d been just now when operating and tapping the device.

So he didn’t say another word and told Wen Quanxin to send a reply to confirm.

Five seconds later, a long message came back.

"Here it is, here it is, Old Xu replied!"

"What did he say?"

"This... there’s no error in the message, it really is to stay put."

How could this be!? Lin Junfu’s brows immediately knitted tightly together.

But very quickly Wen Quanxin went on, "Old Xu says the road conditions ahead at night are unclear, and moving rashly would be too risky. If there’s another blockage up front, then everything we just did will be for nothing. To prevent the wolves from doubling back on us, Old Xu says we must maintain silence tonight. Aside from necessary guards, everyone else is to move to the rear of the bus and await orders. Everything will be decided after daybreak tomorrow. That’s... all of it."

After he finished reading, Wen Quanxin glanced back at Lin Junfu at the rear; Old Lin was listening while holding his chin, frowning in thought.

What Old Xu said wasn’t wrong. Forcing a breakout now was indeed too risky; leaving aside the unknown conditions on the road, just the wolves’ speed alone wasn’t something the convoy could match.

To stay safe, enduring the night here really did seem to be the most appropriate solution at the moment.

He believed that as long as they maintained silence, the wolf pack probably wouldn’t be interested in a pile of metal cans.

Having thought it through, Lin Junfu raised his hand and motioned for Zhang Zhicai to come over. After handing He Jing, who was beside him, into his care, he stood up and began arranging matters inside the bus.

"Xiao Wang, go to the driver’s seat and stand by."

"Got it." Wang Zhongyu accepted the order readily.

"What about me?" Luo Baocun stuck his head out and pointed at his own nose.

Old Lin casually jerked his chin toward the rear of the bus. "You come sit over here."

The reason for changing drivers was mainly to account for possible clashes later on.

Although Luo Baocun had spent years driving freight and had more experience with big vehicles than Wang Zhongyu,

in a crisis, it was clearly Wang Zhongyu who was more suitable.

Because he had already demonstrated his skills driving the bus once. Although that trip had been hair-raising, it had to be admitted that, at life-and-death speeds, there was currently no one in the convoy better than Wang Zhongyu.

Once the driver assignments were done, Old Lin immediately began assigning positions to Lei Tong and the other Guard soldiers.

Considering they needed to maintain silence, the windows didn’t require many people.

After all, as long as they could guarantee silence inside the bus, the mutant wolves probably wouldn’t launch a violent attack on the vehicle.

So Old Lin only had Lei Tong and Hua Biao guard the front and rear, and ordered everyone else to fall back to the rear half of the bus.

Why fall back to the rear half? That went back to how the bus had been modified.

Later, back at the villa, Tang Xiaoquan had proposed his own ideas for modifying the bus.

By reviewing and summarizing the convoy’s earlier experience on the highway under attack from Jumpers, he concluded that instead of pouring huge effort into reinforcing the entire vehicle, it would be better to divide and conquer.

Simply put, the front half was kept more or less in its original form, only adding things like protective bars to ensure basic ventilation and daylight inside.

The rear half, however, was turned into a fully enclosed special compartment: all windows were sealed, and apart from a few necessary openings for observation and firing, everything else was reinforced inside and out with steel plates. An isolation door was also welded into the rear section of the body.

In this way, if they ran into a zombie encirclement on the road, they could fall back to the rear of the bus and fight to the death.

This prevented them from having to defend the entire length of the bus, spreading themselves thin and ending up being taken out by the zombies piece by piece.

It had to be said that Tang Xiaoquan’s offhand suggestion back then had now become the bus’s safety guarantee.

Once everyone had moved into the rear compartment, Old Lin shut the isolation door and ordered the remaining soldiers to guard the entrance.

That way, even if the zombies broke through the front doors, they could rely on the steel plates to hold the line.

While they were busy on the bus preparing for a possible return strike by the wolf pack, Li Guo of Vehicle 4 was locked in a life-or-death race with the mutant wolves.

Li Guo had already seen the situation outside on the computer screen through the feed sent by Li Zhong.

The departure of the mutant wolf pack left him quite gratified; it meant his efforts hadn’t been in vain.

Now it was time to settle things with the wolves once and for all. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)