Rotting Land: Survive

Chapter 533 - 526: Second Stop (Part 2)

"Old Xu! We need to retreat! The beasts are closing in!"

From their vantage point, Hu Xiaodong could clearly see the road conditions on both sides of the street. The zombies gathering steadily were already forming an encircling stance. If this continued, breaking through would inevitably become a problem soon.

Xu Renjie immediately made a decisive decision without much thought, ordering, "Alright! Zhang Zhicai, Li Zhong, close the car doors. Everyone else, get in the cars, we're pulling out!"

As Xu Renjie's voice fell, he was the first to get into the car, starting the engine, ready to break through.

The remaining survivors reacted just as quickly. Except for Li Zhong, who was a bit slow, everyone else managed to get into their respective cars smoothly.

With everyone in position, Xu Renjie, already poised for action, moved the gear and gunned the throttle, sending the battle-hardened urban management vehicle charging out like a fierce tiger down the mountain.

The sound of collisions echoed continuously, but in the end, the convoy of survivors still made it through the encirclement without serious incident.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Old Xu glanced at the Jianghuai JAC following closely behind, feeling a bit more at ease.

At the same time, he couldn't help but feel lingering fears. If he had delayed a few more minutes earlier, the outcome at this moment might have been completely rewritten.

Returning to the main road, Old Xu ordered to contact the trailing vehicle, as their next primary target was the pharmacy.

This task also relied on visual searching. After the baptism of the earlier battle, the survivors really didn't want to go through it again.

So, they all silently prayed in their hearts that the pharmacy they find later would be in a remote location, with at least fewer zombies.

However, reality often doesn't go as planned. The pharmacy they identified afterwards turned out to not only be in a secluded alley with few people but was instead on a main road swarming with zombies.

The pharmacy was located in a storefront on the main street. According to Tang Xiaoquan's introduction, this road was considered one of the more important transport hubs locally, so unsurprisingly, not only was the road situation complex, but the number of beasts also frightened people.

In response to this situation, Old Xu quickly issued three directives: "First, steer the vehicles toward the pharmacy entrance, then immediately turn around. Once loading is complete, retreat the same way we came."

"Second, once inside, don't look in detail, just grab what you can! Wrap it up in five minutes!"

"Third, do not turn off the engine, keep the cars running!"

With orders issued, the survivor convoy immediately headed towards the pharmacy, and upon approaching, they each turned their cars around as per Directive One, readying for a retreat.

Once the cars were stopped, seven people dashed out at the right time. This time, to ensure sufficient defensive force, Old Xu ordered everyone except Li Zhong and Zhang Zhicai to stand guard outside the store.

Receiving the command, Zhang Zhicai dared not slack off, beckoning a somewhat shivering Li Zhong as he sprinted into the pharmacy.

Inside the pharmacy, it was spacious and bright, with rows of white shelves across the center of the store, countless pills, and powders scattered all over the floor. More troubling were several mutated beasts in white coats swaying toward the doorway.

Time was tight, and there was no time to deal with them one by one. After a brief deliberation, Zhang Zhicai decided to wait for an opportunity. He immediately reverse-gripped the knife handle and smashed it down on a glass counter at the entryway with great force.

Soon after, with the crisp sound of shattering, the glass counter shattered into pieces.

After doing so, Zhang Zhicai held the cleaver horizontally, ready to stand his ground, while tossing a large plastic bag into Li Zhong's arms, urgently instructing, "Hurry, Xiao Li, fill the bag! I'll hold off these beasts!"

"Ah!?" Startled by the sheer number of beasts inside and out, Li Zhong was somewhat dazed.

Seeing Li Zhong standing there dumbfounded, the usually good-natured Zhang Zhicai was now flaring up, immediately changing his tone, raising his voice and yelling, "Hey! What are you standing there for! Hurry up and get the medicine!"

As the words fell, just then, a zombie attacked. Zhang Zhicai, who was annoyed and had no place to vent his anger, swiped his cleaver without looking, immediately splattering black blood over his face.

The sudden killing startled Li Zhong, whose already frightened mind was now even more uncontrollable, eventually trembling helplessly on the spot.

With a crisp "slap," Zhang Zhicai slapped him hard and forcefully pulled Li Zhong to his front.

He didn't have time to waste with cowards, his face tense, shouting loudly, "Li Zhong, get a grip, don't act like a woman! Listen, our team doesn't need deadweights. If you keep this up, you'll be left here!"

After saying that, Zhang Zhicai angrily shoved Li Zhong aside, then grabbed the plastic bag from his hands, stuffing medicines into the bag himself.

Li Zhong leaned against the wall, straightening his body, his thoughts currently quite chaotic, the sounds of shouting and killing outside making him panic.

But what scared him the most was the words from Zhang Zhicai earlier: Listen, our team doesn't need deadweights. If you keep this up, you'll be left here!

Yes! This was one of the four main rules they told him upon joining the villa.

Would they really leave me here? At the thought of this, Li Zhong couldn't suppress his fear.

And while he was scared, the "white coats" inside the store crept quietly toward the door.

In just a moment, Li Zhong felt a chill on his shoulder. When he raised his eyes, he was horrified!

In his sight, it wasn't the familiar Zhang Zhicai, but a large, cracked, decaying face, with numerous pinhole-sized holes crawling with unidentified worms in the center.

The beast seemed unusually excited, a row of ghastly yellow teeth slowly appearing from the corners of its lips, as the forward-leaning body quickly pressed toward the terrified Li Zhong.

Faced with the increasingly clear sight of the corpse's decaying mouth, and feeling the increasingly evident coldness, realizing he wouldn't live much longer, wherefrom courage unknown, something surged within him, raising his arm to push the beast onto the counter, then with a deafening shout, bringing down the cleaver onto the beast's head with a flurry of chops.

In an instant, blood trickled down, staining the counter red. Just as Zhang Zhicai finished dealing with the contender beside him, he turned to glance at Li Zhong wildly brandishing the cleaver, eyebrow slightly furrowed, then reached out to steady Li Zhong, intending to stop his futile actions.

Unexpectedly, as his arm touched the latter's shoulder, before he could speak, he felt a gust of wind whistle past his cheek.

Startled, Zhang Zhicai instinctively pulled back his arm and dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding Li Zhong's fierce swipe.

But before he could catch his breath, Li Zhong's cleaver followed closely, the blade aiming right at his face.

Undoubtedly, if Zhang Zhicai were struck by this blow, even if he didn't die, he would at least be seriously injured! (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)