Rotting Land: Survive

Chapter 527 - 520: The Hidden Black Shadow (5)

Following Xu Renjie’s instructions, the survivors meticulously turned the entire villa upside down no less than ten times, truly digging three feet into the ground. Only after confirming there were no other beasts did they finally stop the search.

From the time the infant zombie got in until the incident was finally over, it took nearly more than two hours.

During this time, every survivor was on edge, nerves taut, and suddenly relaxing now, an overwhelming fatigue swept over everyone.

Except for the guards who were responsible for defense, the rest of the survivors gathered in the living room, partly for rest and adjustment, partly for a meeting to summarize.

Since Xu Renjie joined the team, it has become a habit he brought to the team. As they say, "Don’t be proud in victory, don’t despair in defeat." Whether in battle or in life, being diligent in summarizing and synthesizing is a guarantee for progress and improvement.

Once everyone was seated, Old Xu got straight to the point: "Everyone worked hard just now; your execution was pretty good. We got rid of the beast with no casualties, which is excellent! However, today’s incident should serve as a wake-up call to all of you. Simply put, though our location is safer and more peaceful compared to the city interior, potential disasters could happen at any time."

"Yes, indeed! Oh, by the way, Old Lin, you were in the surveillance room at the time—did you see how the beast got in?"

Due to the rush, apart from the few members who arrived on the second floor and heard Xu Renjie’s explanation, most of the survivors were still in the dark about the origin of the beast.

In response, Old Xu provided a detailed explanation, also indicating that the beast probably came along with the commercial vehicle driven by Li Zhong and Li Guo.

Upon hearing this, the Li Zhong and Li Guo brothers showed a hint of nervousness, worrying that others might blame them for the incident.

In fact, after witnessing the cowardly behavior of the two in the bathroom during the crisis, Hu Xiaodong indeed didn’t have much fondness for them.

Li Zhong, being the elder brother, immediately expressed his apology: "We’re really sorry, everyone! We honestly didn’t know the beast followed us. Sigh, we’ve just arrived and already caused trouble for you all, it’s really... really... sigh!"

He slapped his thigh with force and lowered his head in dejection, his sincere attitude quite touching.

Seeing this, Tang Xiaoquan smiled slightly. Objectively speaking, this matter couldn’t really be blamed on ’Zhong’ and ’Guo’.

Therefore, showing a "hostile" attitude towards them because of this would not only reflect poorly on us, but also make them uncomfortable.

You must understand, the subconscious is a mysterious thing. When a person’s subconscious develops a negative impression of someone, over time, this underlying notion can involuntarily interfere with normal judgment.

And here, it applies to both parties attending the meeting. Tang Xiaoquan did not want everyone to plant a subconscious seed of "confrontation" right upon their first meeting.

So, he laughed heartily twice and eased the tension: "Haha, you two brothers, what are you apologizing for? The beast followed you; it’s beyond anyone’s control. Besides, this beast wandering in the mountain forest is a problem we would have to deal with sooner or later, or it would become a major threat. In the end, we should thank you two. If it weren’t for you bringing it here, who knows when it might have ambushed us."

Zhao Yunhai raised his eyebrows and glanced at the young man. Seeing the expression of excitement and exuberance between his eyebrows, he immediately understood the intention and promptly echoed: "Indeed, Xiao Tang, you’re right. If you hadn’t drawn the beast here today, it would cause us a great deal of trouble in the future."

Old Xu nodded silently, then shifted the topic: "Xiao Hu, how’s the body disposal going?"

"It’s already packed up. I’ll take it to the back mountain and bury it later."

"No!" Old Xu waved his hand to veto, paused for two seconds, and added: "For safety’s sake, no one should leave the villa today. We can bury it in the morning."

Old Xu had his reasons for doing this. After all, even though the infant zombie was dealt with, it was uncertain if there were more beasts lurking outside.

So the best course of action was to observe for a day and make a move only after ensuring there was nothing unusual.

Considering the beast was dead, Hu Xiaodong did not argue and nodded, saying "yes" as a response.

After checking on the body situation, Xu Renjie turned his attention to Lin Junfu, who had faced the greatest danger in the battle: "Old Lin, how are you? Have your chest injuries healed?"

Old Lin took two deep breaths, then patted his chest twice, smiled, and replied: "Just a bump, it’s not serious, already fine."

"Hmm!" Nodding, Old Xu proceeded to ask: "And how is the surveillance equipment now?"

"Well..." Lin Junfu gave a helpless smile. The repeated impacts and falls just now not only left the cabling in the surveillance room in disarray, but also destroyed two monitors. Right now, the surveillance room is out of operation: "It’s not working! The equipment can’t be used anymore!"

With Lin Junfu’s words, Xu Renjie’s expression turned noticeably more worried.

Without a doubt, the surveillance room was very important to the whole outpost.

Firstly, its existence avoids contact with the outside world; staying at home allows knowing the dynamics around the villa thoroughly.

Secondly, the loss of electricity made most people ignore the functionality of monitoring equipment, so the present utility of such devices was visibly more threatening than before.

These two points alone were enough to highlight the value of the surveillance room.

Now, its damage and shutdown evidently cripple the villa’s defensive capabilities significantly.

Given this, it was only natural for Xu Renjie to show a worried expression.

Tang Xiaoquan, impassively, glanced at ’Zhong’ and ’Guo’, the honest brothers shrinking in the corner, thinking to himself that these two really were lucky; their chance to prove their value had come.

"Hehe, Li Zhong, Li Guo, didn’t you two mention your original profession was engineering? I wonder if there’s a possibility to repair our surveillance room equipment?" Tang Xiaoquan asked tentatively.

The ’Zhong’, ’Guo’ brothers didn’t directly answer yes or no but replied very cautiously: "Repairing is certainly doable, but whether it can be fixed or not, we’d need to assess the extent of the machine’s damage to make a conclusion!"

"Hmm!" Very satisfied with their answer. Had they given a hasty conclusion, Tang Xiaoquan might genuinely doubt the authenticity of their words.

On the contrary, their ambiguous response just now precisely aligned with the caution and prudence typical of engineers.

Upon this, Old Xu offered no more words and directly instructed Hua Biao to lead Li Zhong and Li Guo upstairs.

He also made a decisive action: "In light of today’s emergency incident, we need to weld iron plates onto all the windows!"

With this said, the survivors discussed a handful of details, then concluded the post-war meeting. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian [qidian.com]; your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)