The rain lessened, and the fire intensified.
Lin Yuan stood in the rain, still feeling the heat radiating from the flames. The two people in the fire were lifeless, leaving only the crackling sound of burning.
Let it burn.
"Let's head back first and bring the survivors. Mang Nan and Brother Wang are injured, and there's no one to drive."
The pain in Lin Yuan's left arm surged again. The wound needed to be treated.
"Lin Yuan, let's get in the car. Let Qingyan bandage your wound first," Wu Tian said, stepping forward and helping him into the armored vehicle. His mind had calmed down; the fire had dispelled much of the gloom.
In the armored vehicle, the four rescued survivors remained silent. Only the girl in the school uniform still held the knife Lin Yuan had given her.
Lin Qingyan and Zhou Ping were already tending to Lin Yuan's wound. It was a through-and-through injury, so no bullet needed to be removed.
The cleaning of the wound was quick, just a disinfection of the area around it. Then, they directly took the mutant gel from the box and applied it.
Lin Yuan, who had turned pale from the pain of the wound cleaning, suddenly felt a cool sensation spreading from his right arm wound, which was very comfortable.
The pain subsided significantly until both wounds were sealed with mutant gel and wrapped with bandages.
"Captain, the treatment is finished. No need to remove bullets, and with the mutant gel, the wound will heal quickly."
Lin Qingyan put away the blood-stained gauze, disinfected the remaining medical supplies with alcohol spray, and put them back into the medical kit before sitting aside, leaving the space for Wu Tian.
Couldn't she see that Wu Tian was gazing longingly?
However, Wu Tian said nothing, only held his uninjured hand and nestled in his arms, tears streaming down her face.
Pitiful were the singletons in this vehicle, sadly feasting on a display of affection.
Jiang Ziqi, in particular, pouted, holding her tentacles and squatting in a corner, muttering something unintelligible.
Beside her, Zhao Mengnan kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, pretending not to hear anything. He was learning from Captain Wang, who was already snoring and sleeping soundly.
He rubbed Wu Tian's little hand, telling her not to worry, and then realized the atmosphere in the car was a bit too quiet. He coughed twice, "Don't you have anything to say? How about introducing yourselves?"
The survivors said nothing, only turning their gazes to Jiang Ziqi with three parts curiosity and seven parts fear in their eyes.
Jiang Ziqi was sulking. Not only had she done nothing on this trip, but the captain hadn't brought her along. If she were there, the captain and the others wouldn't have been injured.
As she was thinking, she suddenly felt several pairs of eyes on her. She quickly looked up and saw that the four rescued survivors were all looking at her, their eyes darting around, likely out of fear of her.
She immediately felt indignant and said irritably, "What are you looking at! Haven't you seen a beautiful girl before!"
The four quickly averted their gazes and sat in their seats, not daring to move.
Lin Yuan wanted to laugh at the scene but maintained a serious expression. "Her name is Jiang Ziqi, and she is my team member. If you have any opinions about her, you can tell me. Don't look at her like that; it makes her uncomfortable."
The four shook their heads and waved their hands frantically, indicating that they had no such intentions.
After a while, the girl in the school uniform spoke first. "My name is Yan Ruyu, and I'm a student at No. 29 Middle School. Just before the zombies appeared, I was returning home from school and got trapped at the highway service area. The rest, you already know."
Yan Ruyu? Is there a Yan Ruyu in the book?
What a nice name.
Then came the man who had been feigning madness. He was now acting completely normal. "My name is Liu Zirong. I was preparing to go on a trip with my parents and siblings. We were also trapped at the highway service area."
Although Lin Yuan knew he was Liu Mengmeng's brother and that their family had survived the beginning of the apocalypse, he couldn't help but sigh. It was fortunate that all five members of this family had avoided turning into zombies at the start.
Unfortunately, luck did not continue to favor them.
The remaining two women were also travelers trapped at the service area by zombies. One was named Fan Yunyi, and the other was Xue Yi. Both were captured because they were quite good-looking, but because of that, they were not turned into the "jerky" hanging on poles.
He didn't know whether to sigh with fortune or misfortune.
"Oh, right," Lin Yuan suddenly thought of a question. "Does anyone here know how to drive?"
He was met with摇头.
It seemed they wouldn't be leaving today.
The armored vehicle passed through the drizzling rain and returned to the service area. Wu Mengyao and the others were already waiting at the entrance. As soon as they saw the armored vehicle stop, they surrounded it.
They already knew someone was injured. When they saw Zhao Mengnan being carried out first,
Zhao Anjing became anxious and rushed over, crying profusely. "Brother, what happened to you! Brother, don't die! Wuwuwuwu~"
Zhao Mengnan: ...
Are you doing this on purpose, you little girl? Can't you see my eyes are still rolling around?
What do you mean by dying!
Angrily, Zhao Mengnan pinched his sister's face, causing Zhao Anjing to truly cry. He then hurriedly and awkwardly tried to comfort her with his injured leg.
Wu Mengyao naturally saw Lin Yuan and the others. She happily ran over, only to find Lin Yuan and Wang Zhihai also wrapped in many bandages. Her desire to share her accomplishment of defeating an enemy today immediately diminished.
She also ran over, wanting to help Lin Yuan and Wang Zhihai inside, which made them quite embarrassed.
"It's okay, Mengyao. Uncle Wang and I are not that badly injured. You go with Qingyan and the others to tidy up rooms for the new survivors. We can't leave tonight; we have to sleep here at the service area."
Out of the five people who could drive, two were injured, and the team leader was also injured. They had to rest for a night.
The team members were efficient and were already preparing food. A lot of time had passed since they left, and it was now almost five in the afternoon.
Since they couldn't leave now, they would have to wait until tomorrow.
Lin Yuan was currently speaking in front of the rescued survivors. Liu Mengmeng and Liu Ziyi were also there, and they had already met Liu Zirong.
What struck him as strange was that the siblings didn't seem very enthusiastic about their brother, even after surviving the ordeal. They only exchanged a brief greeting.
Didn't their brother hide them before? Could there be some hidden reason?
"I called you all here to ask you a question."
No one spoke. Liu Mengmeng, unable to bear it any longer, replied, "Brother Lin Yuan, you go ahead."
He secretly gave Liu Mengmeng a thumbs-up.
Then he said earnestly, "Our convoy will be leaving here tomorrow, so we wanted to ask if you would like to join our team and head south with us."
"South?" Yan Ruyu felt something was amiss. After thinking for a moment, she finally remembered something.
She recalled a sentence from a novel she had read and said, "Brother Lin Yuan, logically speaking, shouldn't we go north to the colder regions? That way, once it snows, these zombies will have their limbs frozen, making them easier to kill."
This girl has some ideas!
Lin Yuan couldn't help but applaud. "Comrade Yan Ruyu is correct. Theoretically, it is indeed true that the colder north is more suitable for fighting zombies."
But here, he changed his tone. "However, I believe that is only suitable for large settlements, survivor groups of the level of safe zones, or survivors who were originally in the north and have made preparations over the past ten days.
For a small team like ours, with only a dozen people, and planning to go north after more than ten days in the apocalypse, without heating for warmth, greenhouses for growing vegetables, or experience living in the north, going there would be suicide."
He stopped speaking. In reality, there was a more important point: he wasn't sure if the zombies would undergo specific mutations to adapt to the environment, so he wouldn't be surprised if there were variants that were resistant to cold or heat.
But ultimately, he was not reborn and could not know the secrets of heaven in advance. There wasn't enough time, no prior preparation, and he couldn't even drive. Without an extremely meticulous plan, the road north would only be a road to death.
Therefore, although the south was warm, the mountainous villages and countryside with their rugged terrain and winding paths were excellent locations.
If there were no nest variants and no fungal variants about to release deadly spores, cities would also be relatively good places. They were rich in resources, allowing for the creation of more traps and weapons, and it was easier to build one's own safe house.
Both the north and the south had their advantages, but survival was most important, and timely decision-making was crucial. Hesitation and indecisiveness would lead to missed opportunities.