In the small mess hall on the other side, the team members were chatting and eating breakfast.
Pickled vegetables with congee are really delicious!
The door to the radio room next door suddenly opened, and Sun Haiping poked his head out, asking, "Wu Tian, have you seen the captain? Captain Zeng Yilong is looking for him!"
"Got it, I'll call him over now. Brother Sun, come over and eat!"
"Coming right up."
Just as Wu Tian was about to put down her bowl to find Lin Yuan, Jiang Ziqi stopped her, saying, "Sister Wu Tian, you eat first. I'll go find Brother Lin Yuan."
With that, she grabbed a steamed bun and hopped out the door.
After searching around the camp for a while, she found Lin Yuan sitting on a blue stone slab, lost in thought. She quickly called out,
"Brother Lin Yuan, Brother Zeng wants to talk to you!"
The sound broke the silence of the woods.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Lin Yuan, after a few moments of daze, realized Jiang Ziqi was calling him.
He quickly asked, "Ziqi, what's wrong?"
She bit off more than half of the bun, swallowed hard, and then managed to speak.
"Just now... *cough cough cough*, I choked." Before she could finish, Jiang Ziqi coughed a few times, patting her chest, struggling to catch her breath.
Lin Yuan quickly came up and patted her back to help her calm down.
This girl, she choked on a bun.
(If she had truly choked, the Heimlich maneuver should be used. The rescuer should first stabilize themselves with one leg forward and the other back, then have the patient sit on their bent thigh, tilting their body slightly forward. The rescuer then places both arms around the patient from under their armpits. The left hand is clenched into a fist, and the right hand grips the left wrist from the front. The thumb side of the fist is placed on the patient's upper abdomen, above the navel and below the rib cage, forming a "grasp." Then, the rescuer suddenly pulls inward and upward with their fists, forcefully pressing into the patient's upper abdomen to displace the obstruction and expel it.)
Fortunately, Jiang Ziqi had already swallowed the bun, and it was just a momentary choking. Patting her back had helped her recover.
"Phew, I can finally breathe. Thank you, Brother Lin Yuan."
"Alright, alright. Eat your food before you talk next time, don't rush."
"Understood, understood. Brother Sun said Captain Zeng wanted to talk to you on the radio."
Hearing this, Lin Yuan knew that Zeng Yilong was going to tell him the intelligence he had gathered in Qing Snake County yesterday.
"Understood, let's go back together. And grab two steamed buns, I'm hungry too."
Returning to the small mess hall converted from the kitchen, he grabbed two buns, exchanged a few words with Wu Tian, and then headed to the radio room.
Zeng Yilong was waiting.
"Brother Sun, you go eat first. I'll handle things here."
Sun Haiping nodded in agreement and closed the door without asking any questions.
Now, only Lin Yuan was left in the room. He put down his paper and pen, put on his headset, and began to call Zeng Yilong.
The connection was soon established, indicating that someone on the other end was also stationed at the radio.
"Brother Zeng, any new findings?" Normally, if there were no findings, Zeng Yilong would simply record it on paper and wouldn't tell him via radio.
"Indeed, Brother Lin Yuan. I went to scout yesterday and didn't find anything. However, I kept thinking about it last night and felt something was off, so I still wanted to tell you."
"Brother Zeng, please tell me, I'm taking notes."
"Actually, there's nothing wrong with the village you asked me to scout. It was just on the way that I found something strange. I discovered two hairs on a tree by the roadside."
Hair? How could Zeng Yilong find such small things?
"Is there anything special about this hair?" Lin Yuan asked with some doubt.
"I wouldn't notice ordinary hair, but these two hairs were blood red. Compared to the leaves, they were particularly conspicuous. I spotted them immediately. I didn't see this thing the last time I was here.
The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed. After all, who has hair like this, like bloodstains?"
Blood-red hair?
Blood red, blood red, Lin Yuan murmured to himself. Suddenly, he remembered what the survivor rescued from Du Minghu had said – Du Minghu had encountered a little girl with red hair, which was how he had become like this.
Could there be something on these strands of hair?
He quickly asked, "Brother Zeng, did you touch the hair?"
Hearing Lin Yuan's tone, Zeng Yilong became unsure. "No, I just leaned in to take a look and thought it was strange. I didn't dare to touch the thing."
Hearing that Zeng Yilong hadn't made physical contact, Lin Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good. This thing is strange, don't touch it."
"Understood!"
"Is that all the problems? Any other findings?"
"No, this is the only thing I felt I needed to tell you. The village you asked me to scout showed no signs of activity, no traces of people entering or leaving, and none of the surveillance devices I set up were triggered."
"Then there shouldn't be any major problems. Stay vigilant. I've had a feeling something is off for the past couple of days," Lin Yuan warned before ending the call.
After returning to the small mess hall and finishing his meal, he called out to Jiang Ziqi, who was about to go with Lin Qingshan to weave straw hats.
"Ziqi, wait a moment, I have something to tell you."
Jiang Ziqi tilted her head and said to Lin Qingshan, "Uncle, you go ahead. Brother Lin Yuan is looking for me. I'll be right there after I finish."
"Oh, alright, go ahead."
She trotted over to Lin Yuan and asked, "What's up, Brother Lin Yuan?"
"It seems Zeng Yilong and the others have run into some trouble. Get ready, and we'll go check out their camp after lunch," Lin Yuan said, not explaining the details, just telling her to prepare and set aside the time.
Seeing Lin Yuan's serious expression, Jiang Ziqi knew that going there might not be for fun. She quickly agreed, "Okay, I'll let Mengyao know this afternoon."
She was supposed to help Wu Mengyao with her exhibition this afternoon, but for the past two months, she hadn't felt that Wu Mengyao needed her presence. Usually, she would just paint and practice the flexibility of her tentacles.
Watching Jiang Ziqi run towards the material room where bamboo was stored, Lin Yuan sighed.
He hoped everything was alright.
Wu Tian, feeling curious, followed Lin Yuan and asked, "What's wrong? Why do you need Ziqi to go with you?"
"I'm just a bit worried and need Ziqi's sensory abilities to verify. Don't worry, it's nothing serious. Let's go patrol the mountain. I'll pick firethorn berries for you to eat today, hehehe."
"Okay, then I'll go get a small basket and bring some back for Mengmeng and the others," Wu Tian said. Just as she was about to leave, Sun Haiping's voice rang out.
"Captain!! Something's wrong! The safe zone just observed a zombie riot in Longqi Town through satellite. And it's not just Longqi Town; the zombies in the entire Qing Snake County, Bailong County, and most of the areas around us have rioted. It looks like they're about to swarm out!"
"What???!!!"
The sudden turn of events made Lin Yuan lose any desire to pick wild berries with Wu Tian. He immediately grabbed the walkie-talkie and shouted,
"All patrol and fixed post personnel, withdraw immediately! Repeat, all personnel on duty outside, pack up and withdraw immediately!!"
The team members outside, though unaware of what was happening, resolutely followed Lin Yuan's orders.
"Yes!"