Chapter 26
Corpse tide? What corpse tide?
Seeing the heavy and helpless expression of the crew cut, someone finally responded, and his face turned pale in an instant: "Could it be a zombie tide?!"
After he said this, even if others didn't understand what he meant, they realized the problem.
But in the past few days, the area around the community has been calm. They rarely encounter groups of zombies and cannot imagine the specific scale of the zombie tide.
"How many zombies will come in the zombie tide?"
"I don't know. There must be dozens, maybe hundreds?"
"I also think there will be hundreds of them. The temporary barriers we built may not be able to stop them. When we collect materials later, we will see if there are any metal plates and take them back to reinforce them."
Everyone started to chatter, but no one noticed the confused expressions of the guy with the short hair and others.
One of the men with a scar on his face couldn't help but burst out laughing.
He joked with his companions: "I think the feng shui here is really good. It's been several days since the doomsday outbreak, and we haven't encountered even a few hundred zombies."
No wonder Scarface reacted like that.
This group of people have traveled all the way, sleeping in the open air, climbing mountains and wading through rivers, and have seen countless tragic scenes.
Now, seeing the innocent looks on the faces of the community foraging team is just like suddenly seeing a few rabbits slowly eating grass in the beast area. It is unbelievable but also a little funny.
His companions couldn't help but sigh at their good fortune: "There are more than one or two thousand people in a community."
Whenever a neighborhood has been destroyed and surrounded by hordes of zombies, it is impossible to say that “the zombie tide may have hundreds of zombies.”
But what they didn't know was that long before the foraging team set out, the Wen Xin family's gang had already cleaned up the surroundings once in advance, and they had killed more than a few thousand zombies.
Because there were only a few shrimp soldiers and crab generals left nearby, they dared to let Wen Xin go out with the team to explore.
However, even with such caution, Wen Xin still fell into danger just now and almost got into trouble.
Canary secretly regretted that he should have kept a closer eye on Wen Xin.
Wen Xin asked on behalf of the team members: "How many zombies are there in the zombie tide you are talking about?"
Scarface: "About 100,000."
What?
Did they hear it right? More than 100,000?!
When the others heard this, their eyes almost popped out of their heads.
Wen Xin was about to continue asking when he suddenly felt someone tugging at his clothes. He turned around and saw Canary's face.
The young man looked more serious than ever before and nodded slowly at him.
Wen Xin knew that his own dumplings were not simple people. Even the teenager couldn't help but worry. It was conceivable how terrifying this upcoming zombie tide would be.
He acted decisively.
When the team leader still suspected that Scarface was tricking them, Wen Xin grabbed his arm and said decisively: "Lao Zhang, if what he said is true, we must go back and inform everyone, and then find a way to leave G City as soon as possible."
"Leaving... Leaving G City? So suddenly?"
The team members were stunned.
Someone couldn't help but question: "Wen Xin, who are these people to you? Can you trust what they say?"
Others chimed in: "Yeah, so far everything is fine, there's nothing going on, it's not as serious as they say."
"How is it possible that over 100,000 zombies appeared all of a sudden?"
The man with the crew cut and the others have stopped talking.
This kind of questioning has happened before. I have said everything I should have said and given warnings where necessary, but to no avail.
In the end times, there are people who cannot see reality clearly, and even more are dead.
Call them callous or cruel, they really don't want to waste words on a dying person.
Faced with people's distrust, Wen Xin was uncharacteristically firm: "They have no reason to joke."
On weekdays, the team members' main impression of Wen Xin is that he does whatever he is told to do and has a particularly good temper.
But when the usually amiable young man became serious, there was an aura in his eyes that could not be ignored.
Wen Xin turned to Scarface and asked: "From which direction will the zombie tide appear?"
Scarface looked at him in surprise, but still answered, "Southwest."
That is to say, the west side of the city!
The first large number of zombies to appear in G City came from the west of the city. Wen Xin believed it and looked at all the members of the team.
"Doesn't our community logistics team have three drones? We can go back and use the drones to investigate and find out whether what they said is true or not."
But people in the community don’t think it’s that easy.
A good drone for aerial photography starts at several thousand dollars, and apart from enthusiasts, almost no one plays with it. At the beginning, they searched and asked throughout the community, but only found three.
The west of the city is so far away, and you have to pay attention to the control range when driving. If an accident happens and one of the machines breaks down during the process, it will be a huge loss!
Not to mention the power consumption of drones. There is only one diesel generator in the entire community, and it has to be evenly distributed among the more than 1,000 households that remain. The power is already very tight, so where can there be any extra power to use?
Wen Xin had only one sentence to answer this question: "Which is more important, people's lives or drones?"
Everyone looked at each other.
Finally, the team leader, Lao Zhang, gritted his teeth and made a decision: "We can't make such a big decision alone. Let's go back and ask everyone's opinions first, and then we can consider it later."
Everyone else agreed with Lao Zhang's proposal, but their faces showed more of indifference.
There are more than 100,000 zombies. Even if they are distributed throughout the city, they are not crowded. Can they be packed into the area in the west of the city?
The team members returned to the community in a hurry. The man with the short hair and others watched with their arms folded, until they found that Wen Xin was about to leave as well, and their brows jumped.
To be honest, they now wished they could just pack Wen Xin up, put him in the car, and teleport to City A, away from any possible danger.
Although they were indifferent, they would not really stand by and watch these people stay here and wait to die, so they were willing to wait quietly until Wen Xin persuaded the community staff to go and investigate.
But when Wen Xin went back, the situation was different.
What if the other party intends to advance or retreat with the people in the community, how can they evacuate within a safe time?
Scarface felt a headache just thinking about it, and wanted to grab Wen Xin, cursing: "Let them go back to their own places, why are you going back?"
As a result, as soon as he stretched out his hand, the young man next to the other party stepped forward as if he had expected it, and looked at him coldly.
In an instant, a familiar sense of crisis struck Scarface's nerves like lightning.
He stepped back reflexively, put his hand on the holster at his waist, and looked at the expressionless boy in fear.
Who is the other person and why does he feel dangerous?
The man with a crew cut saw Scarface's reaction, glanced at the boy, didn't see anything wrong, and frowned in some surprise.
He explained to Wen Xin: "The nearby city Z has already fallen. We have to take a detour via G177 Avenue and can only stay here for five hours at most."
"If you want to accompany them and wait for the drone to investigate, I advise you to give up."
There was one more thing that he kept in his heart but didn't say.
Judging from the doubts just expressed by the residents, he felt that these people would take most of the day to even get the initial steps of sending out the drone.
After finishing speaking, the man with the crew cut deliberately observed Wen Xin's expression.
If the other party still insists on going back, they must find a way to persuade him to stay.
Wen Xin said without hesitation, "I want to go back."
The worst case scenario happened, and the person they were going to pick up was an idiot who didn't understand the situation.
Scarface's expression suddenly turned very ugly, and he moved his lips as if he was about to curse again. The man with the buzz cut and the others couldn't help but sigh.
But to their surprise, Wen Xin went back for reasons other than what they thought.
Wen Xin said, "There are still some things I haven't brought with me. I have to go back and pack them. You can come with me."
Scarface: "What kind of valuable thing is it that requires a special ..."
Wen Xin looked at him calmly, "Five cans of high-calorie candies including chocolate, two boxes of instant noodles, some beef jerky, chicken sausage, and canned meat."
Upon hearing this, the men who had been eating energy bars for almost ten days to save cooking time swallowed their saliva subconsciously.
Wen Xin looked at the dusty faces of these people and said something that they could not refuse: "Also, you rushed here, you must be very tired, right?"
"Before the water supply was cut off, my family stored tap water. I have tested it before. If the water is only used for bathing, it will not have any effect on the body. Now there are six buckets left, which should be enough for everyone to bathe."
"There are sofas and beds at home. You can lie down and take a rest. The community is relatively safe for the time being. There are no zombies and you don't have to worry about sudden attacks."
"It only takes me 40 minutes at most to pack and talk to other people about some things. It will take less than an hour before I can leave."
Everyone was moved by his words.
Seeing this, Wen Xin turned to Scarface and asked for his opinion: "Although we can find food and water on the road, it is better to get it ready, right?"
Scarface's depressed expression was long gone.
Being stared at by the young man's gentle eyes, he touched his nose angrily and said for his bad attitude just now: "Sorry."
.
The crewmate with the crew cut followed Wen Xin back to the community.
There was a lot of commotion in the open space in front of the community garden. From time to time, people would hear the assembly horn and rush over there.
The residents seemed ready to hold a collective meeting.
Besides, they were amazed to see that the overall environment of the community was clean and tidy, and the basic buildings such as trees, flower beds and bulletin boards were still intact and did not look destroyed at all.
Originally, they thought that Wen Xin's statement about there being no zombies meant that all the zombies had been cleared away, but they never expected that there really seemed to be no zombies attacking this place.
It is no exaggeration to say that this is probably the most peaceful and harmonious place they have ever seen along the way.
幾人随溫辛兩人上了樓。
瞄着青年筆直的背影，刀疤臉和剛才一起吐槽的同伴态度已經有了大轉變，忍不住交頭接耳。
“我怎麽感覺他和傳聞中的不太一樣……”
“是啊，不太像會因為一點小事就無理取鬧離家出走的人。”
“還說脾氣倔，氣性大，一離家就好幾年。”
“咳咳！”
生怕溫辛聽到後不高興，走在他們前面的寸頭重重地咳嗽兩聲，打斷他們的議論。
寸頭回頭瞪了他們一眼，壓低聲音警告：“少信那些閑言碎語，小心老大回去收拾你們。”
刀疤臉兩人連忙閉嘴。
雖說他們控制了音量，但對聽力敏銳的變異體來說，跟杵在耳邊說話沒什麽區別。
金絲雀當下忍不住看了眼溫辛。
關于對方家裏的事，似乎很少聽見人提起。
很快，幾人來到了溫辛家門口，但溫辛的手按在房門上，并沒有馬上掏出鑰匙來。
他對寸頭男一行人說：“我家裏養了貓，等會兒我也會帶着它們一起走。”
這件事情是寸頭男他們沒有預料到的。
刀疤臉張了張嘴，又想罵人了。
但想着剛才沖動質問，已經糗了一回兒，還是捏住了鼻子沒嘲諷，只是臉上表露出了明顯的不贊同。
除了他以外，其他人的反應也差不多。
先前溫辛說要帶上少年一起走，他們沒意見，總歸車裏還有空間，帶一個兩個沒什麽區別。
但動物不一樣啊。
你要是帶個人，那出了狀況還能壓着按着讓他別吭聲，不服教的動物要怎麽管？
幾人之中，寸頭男的性格相對要沉着理智，不然也不會帶頭負責這一次的救人行動。
他沉聲說：“原則上我們不能帶寵物上路。”
溫辛：“嗯，但我要帶着它們。”
見溫辛的态度堅決，寸頭男就知道不是三言兩語可以勸住的。
但他必須得問：“要是你的寵物在半路上叫喚，引來了喪屍怎麽辦？”
“我可以保證它們不會鬧。”溫辛說，“如果它們引來了喪屍，我就跟着它們一起下車。”
它們，不是它，也就是說還不止一只。
刀疤臉他們嘴角一抽。
聽到這裏，寸頭男已經有些頭大了。
他想這麽麻煩的事情，溫辛剛才為什麽不說？
要說了的話，他怎麽都不會同意對方回來這個小區。
等會兒？
寸頭男神色一動，擰眉看着溫辛：“你是怕我們直接把你帶走，所以直到現在，才來提帶貓一起上路的事。”
溫辛點頭說：“對。”
聽他承認了，寸頭男的表情一下子變得陰沉不定。
因為在他們看來，這一路奔波基本和逃亡劃等號，實在不是可以随便打小算盤的事情。
寸頭男再開口，緩聲說道：“但哪怕已經走到了你的家門口，我們依舊可以直接把你帶走。”
“我們的任務，是把你完好無損地帶回去，為了達成這個目标，哪怕使用一點不太文明的手段，想必也無傷大雅。”
氣氛仿佛一下子就凝固了。
聽到他們要對溫辛動手，金絲雀擡了下眼皮，眼中隐約有了怒意。
不止是他，門內的團子們也聽到了外面的動靜，那一瞬間，連刀疤臉等人埋在哪裏都想好了。
然而打破這劍拔弩張氛圍的人，依舊是溫辛。
他先是拍了拍自家大門，安撫裏面暴躁的團子們。
然後又回頭，淡然地看着寸頭男幾人：“如果你們對我動手，就得不到食物和水了。”
“可能我之前沒有告訴你們，不管是這附近的商店、超市還是小賣部，都已經被小區裏的人搜刮了個幹淨。”
“最近的超市得驅車去20公裏外，但我們之前用無人機偵查過，那裏的喪屍比較多，對于時間緊張的你們來說，應該不太能來得及。”
“就算你們能來得及，也沒人能夠保證，那些地方是不是已經被附近的幸存者搜過了。”
聽到溫辛有條不紊的分析，寸頭男他們的臉色冰冷非常，實際上心裏卻忍不住有些佩服。
青年的心思細膩，謀略得當，如果不是眼下的情況不合時宜，如果對方不是那一位的弟弟，他們真想當場拉人入夥。
只有一點比較可惜。
不知道什麽原因，這個小區并沒有經受喪屍潮的洗禮，青年因此沒有遇到真正血腥絕望的事，仍舊保留了一絲災難發生前的天真。
寸頭男摸了摸下巴，決定讓對方認識一下社會的險惡，笑着說：“誰說我們得不到食物和水，還是說，你出門不會帶鑰匙？”
溫辛：“難道你們想要強搶？”
寸頭男：“朋友，別說得這麽難聽，這叫事急從權。”
他說着，就讓刀疤臉他們上去搜身。
豈料青年接下來的反應更加令人跌破眼鏡、
對方居然笑了一聲，站在原地一動不動，好似正等着他們做這事。
刀疤臉覺得有鬼，連忙停步，寸頭男也不解地問：“你笑什麽？”
“笑我終于有正當理由向我哥告狀了。”
溫辛渾然不在意自己的話有多麽不要臉，只眨巴着眼一臉無辜。
“從A市到G市正常來說只要五天，可是你們卻讓我等了快十天，這期間如果我的運氣差上一點，恐怕早就成了喪屍嘴裏的一塊肉，這難道不是你們的失職？”
寸頭男立馬就想反駁：“那是因為……”
溫辛截斷他的話：“到底是因為遇到了困難，還是有別的事情耽誤，你們可以回頭給我哥解釋，不用和我說。”
“我只知道，在這樣的情況下，你們不僅沒有照顧到我受驚的心情，反而為了完成委托，要強行把我擄走，還要強搶我的物資。”
“這對我來說，是多麽大的傷害啊，唉。”
溫辛在寸頭男等人不斷抽搐的表情中，作勢小小地捂了一下自己的胸口。
而後一句話，就像是刀子往寸頭男他們的心窩子上戳。
“如果你們和我哥只是臨時雇傭關系，那可以強行帶我走，只要最後能完成任務就好……但似乎你們是在我哥手底下做事？”
溫辛的表情已經是明晃晃地告訴寸頭男他們，如果敢強行動手，那麽自己會給溫勁風瘋狂上眼藥。
寸頭男等人瞠目結舌，特別是溫辛還多補了一句。
“希望你們敢作敢當，到時候不要怕承認，也不要怕我哥發火。”
在衆幾人：…………
雖然無恥，但他們真他媽被威脅到了，草。
在青年的有力引導下，在場幾人的臉上迅速堆起和藹可親的笑容，化幹戈為玉帛。
現場變得和氣起來。
等溫辛回過頭來開門，淡然自若的表情瞬間一垮，用力地掐了一下自己的手指。
別看溫辛剛才胸有成竹，一副什麽都不怕的樣子。
其實只有他自己才知道，自己有多麽緊張。
溫勁風将寸頭男等人的資料發給他的時候，文檔中顯示的是證件照。
而證件照有一個特點，不管是人神共憤的帥哥，還是孔武有力的型男，都能給你照得人畜無害。
也就讓溫辛忽略了，被溫勁風委托來接自己的，可以是一群為了完成任務而不擇手段的人。
直至見到寸頭男他們的樣子，看過了他們雷厲風行的行事手段，溫辛終于反應過來。
即使這群人在資料上的身份很正常，像什麽電工焊工，但這并不能保證他們在災難發生後，性格不會出現轉變。
時間太短，他臨時想出來的這麽一些話，漏洞說大不大，說小不小。
單說給溫勁風告狀這件事，他就不大可能做得出來，溫勁風也不會為了他責罵手下。
還好最後真的把他們給唬住了。
不然他只能拒絕和寸頭男他們同路，再去想其他辦法把小黑它們帶走了。
溫辛緩緩地吐出一口氣，将門給打開。
與此同時，刀疤臉在後面給寸頭男使眼色：真要帶上那些貓啊？
寸頭男微微點了點頭，只能帶上了。
如果那些貓真的能像溫辛說的那樣安分，那自然可以捎帶一程路。
如果不能，G市到A市的距離這麽長，誰也說不準會不會發生點什麽意外。
危難面前肯定是以人為本，不然一切不都亂了套麽。
寸頭男心裏冒出了許多個晦暗的想法，下一刻，他聽到屋子裏傳來了一聲狐貍叫。
“嘤。”
瞬間，寸頭男等人就像是被人砸了一下腦袋，瞳孔倏然渙散。
溫辛沒有察覺到後面的情況。
他先和其他團子打了聲招呼，随後看小狐貍神情恹恹地趴在窩裏，心疼地将它抱了起來。
“乖，還是不舒服嗎？”
小狐貍從幾天前開始，精神狀态就開始急速下滑，并且出現了和黑團一樣疼痛難忍的情況。
如果不是金絲雀告訴他，這是小狐貍快要長大的正常反應，溫辛真不知道該怎麽辦才好。
順着青年撓動下巴的手指，小狐貍舒服地抖了抖耳朵。
它努力擡起腦袋，在他臉頰上蹭來蹭去，用行動來安慰對方。
“嘤！嘤嘤！”
It's okay! I'm about to evolve into my perfect form, and then I'll be able to protect you better!
Seeing the little fox trying so hard to comfort himself despite the pain, Wen Xin hid the worry in his eyes.
He reached out and patted it gently, as if coaxing a child: "Well, I'm not worried. Our little fox is growing up. I should be happy."
"We will have to go out soon. There will be many monsters in this city. We need to escape in advance. You will have to be patient."
The little fox put his head on Wen Xin's shoulder and whimpered, as if to say yes.
At the same time, its clear dark eyes looked towards the door, meeting the dazed-looking man with a crew cut and others.
“Hmm.”
We won't cause trouble, and we won't do anything bad on our own initiative.
The crew-haired man and others murmured silently: Okay, we won’t do bad things.
“Hmm.”
Listen to Wen Xin and don't bully him.
The crew-haired man and others: Okay, we’ll listen to Wen Xin and not bully him.
“Hmm.”
Leave some of the delicious food for Wen Xin, and the good drinks as well. Of course, you can eat them too. We don’t need too much food.
The crew-haired man and others: Okay, okay.
After giving the order, the little fox looked visibly tired.
It found a comfortable position, leaned its furry little head against Wen Xin's shoulder, slowly closed its eyes, and fell into sleep again.
The men with crew cuts suddenly came to their senses and scratched their heads in confusion.
Seeing Wen Xin was packing up, something seemed to be triggered in his mind, and he immediately rushed over enthusiastically.
"Let us do it! You take a rest!"
Seeing the people's attitude suddenly change 180 degrees, Wen Xin was stunned and blinked blankly: "?"
【Author’s words】
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution during 2023-04-05 20:52:21~2023-04-06 20:04:21~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: Gu Huai'en 1;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: 5 bottles of Cen Cen; 3 bottles of Ming You; 1 bottle of 32394317, Citrus Gardenia;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!