Chapter 160 - 159: Thunderous Strike

Chapter 160: Chapter 159: Thunderous Strike

"Th-th-this! Brother Li! This!"

The soldier who had confronted Liu Bin and the others earlier, the one who had reported the situation on his walkie-talkie, came jogging over from the direction of the alley entrance. He was followed by two assault vehicles, each carrying five fully armed soldiers in regular uniforms, loaded for bear.

The dozen or so civilians accompanying the military saw the vehicles approaching from behind and quickly retreated to the side of the road, moving even farther away.

SCREECH—

The two vehicles gunned it, rushing over from a distance before braking sharply in front of the crowd. They angled outward to form a V-shape.

The soldiers jogged out of the vehicles, formed a line, and raised their rifles, aiming at the people in the alley.

CLICK-CLACK!

The soldiers chambered their rifles, radiating a murderous aura.

"Who wanted to see me?"

Li Rong stepped out from behind the line of soldiers, looking at the crowd before him.

His gloved hands were folded across his chest, his voice filled with undisguised arrogance. He swept his contemptuous gaze over the rabble holding crude weapons, his eyes pausing on Wang Yuanhua for only a second.

In his eyes, this was nothing more than a ridiculous farce.

"I did."

Liu Bin took a deep breath and stepped out from beside Wang Yuanhua, forcing himself to face the dozen or so dark muzzles aimed at him.

He knew that right now, he represented the people behind him. He couldn’t back down.

"It’s not that we’re unwilling to hand over our supplies. We just all want to know, what are the organization’s arrangements for us?

If we go to the quarantine zone with the troops, how will supplies be distributed?

After all, we risked our lives to gather these supplies..."

"Stop!" Li Rong cut Liu Bin off impatiently and took a step forward. The squad of gunmen behind him also stepped forward in unison.

Seeing the dark muzzles, the crowd began to stir uneasily. But when those in the back saw Wang Yuanhua, Zhang Ziyi, and the others standing firm at the front, the agitation slowly subsided.

Seeing how stubborn these people were, Li Rong also raised the rifle slung around his neck and aimed it at Liu Bin.

"We’re not here to negotiate with you, and you’re in no position to negotiate with us. Move!"

...

"They’re no better than a bunch of bandits!"

"Exactly!"

Watching the soldiers’ conduct, the crowd began to mutter amongst themselves. The spearmen in the front row lowered their weapons, while another group raised their spears high, ready to throw.

"Damn stubborn fools! Ready!"

Li Rong’s face darkened when he saw they were completely defiant. He raised a hand, preparing to give the order to fire.

"Brother Li, are we really going to shoot? Weren’t we just supposed to scare them...?"

A soldier behind him whispered.

Before the apocalypse, these temporary militiamen had been normal people—veterans, security guards, tech geeks who knew how to shoot.

Giving them guns to shoot zombies didn’t cause any psychological burden, but now Li Rong was ordering them to aim at ordinary people. He couldn’t bring himself to do it...

"Believe it or not, I’ll execute you first..."

Hearing this, Li Rong immediately pressed the muzzle of his gun to the soldier’s head and said viciously.

"Sorry! I’m sorry!"

The man immediately apologized nervously, stood up straight, and raised his rifle.

But as Li Rong turned away, the soldier still raised his muzzle slightly.

He wasn’t the only one; several others in the squad also quietly raised their muzzles by a few inches.

Li Rong’s raised hand dropped abruptly.

"Fire!"

"Aaaah—"

The moment the word was spoken, everyone on the other side flinched back violently. The more timid ones even cried out in alarm.

The spears they threw flew without any accuracy, clattering haphazardly to the ground. Even Wang Yuanhua, at the very front, quickly lifted the concrete block in his hands to shield his face and protect his vitals, not daring to throw away his only cover.

Even if they were united in purpose, they were ultimately just a group of ordinary people without professional training. How could they possibly stand against guns?

At that moment, Liu Bin’s biggest regret was not setting up an ambush on the buildings lining the street, treating these soldiers like true enemies.

He had never thought they would actually open fire, so he had only focused on negotiating. He hadn’t anticipated they would be so ruthless as to dare to slaughter civilians.

’I just don’t know where Brother Lin is right now. I hope he can avenge us all.’

He closed his eyes, thinking he could already smell the gunpowder from his army days on the shooting range...

"Huh?"

"Eh?"

"What’s going on?"

...

The expected gunshots never came. After the initial screams, Liu Bin’s side fell silent. Some of the onlookers in the back had already collapsed to the ground, utterly bewildered.

A series of surprised gasps rose from the squad of gunmen. Liu Bin opened his eyes to see the soldiers staring at their rifles with confusion, as if looking at completely alien objects.

"What’s wrong with this trigger? It won’t pull."

"Is it broken?"

"Brother Li, this..."

Even Li Rong was staring at his own gun in confusion. He aimed the muzzle diagonally upward and tried to pull the trigger, but it wouldn’t budge at all, as if it had been welded to the gun’s frame.

"What the hell... huh?"

Not only were the triggers stuck, but the rifles in every soldier’s hands seemed to be gripped by a great, invisible hand. With irresistible force, they were slowly lifted upward, snatched from each person’s grasp.

They rose about a meter into the air, then slowly turned...

The dark muzzles swiveled around, aiming at their former owners.

"Holy shit! It’s really haunted..."

Every soldier’s eyes went wide. Forgetting all about the rabble in front of them, they could only stare in disbelief at the deadly weapons floating in the air. They didn’t dare move, allowing the cold muzzles to slowly approach and press against their foreheads.

They could all see the sweaty prints of their own hands on the grips, the lines of their palms clearly visible...

"Are you Colonel Zhou’s men?"

A man’s voice called out from a high point to the side. Li Rong didn’t understand what was happening and didn’t dare turn his head. He strained his eyes, catching a glimpse of several figures standing atop the entrance of a supermarket.

"N-... No, that’s not... uh... It was..."

THUD THUD THUD. The sound of footsteps landing on the ground, then drawing closer.

"Are you Colonel Ye’s people?"

The voice had dropped, sounding somewhat displeased.

Li Rong’s mind raced.

This unbelievable scene was clearly the work of some supernatural power. He frantically tried to connect it with the bits and pieces he’d heard from Zhao Cheng about the team’s mission and Ye Qingzhou’s identity.

’This person not only knows the team’s original commander was Zhou Chaoxian, but he also knows Ye Qingzhou is with the team. Who the hell is he...’

"Don’t be nervous. Your answer won’t be a matter of life or death. I’m just curious. Tell me the truth..."

The man finally walked over from the side and stood before him, at the head of the crowd.

He was a young man with a gentle face, looking more like a researcher or a scientist than a hardened soldier like Zhou Chaoxian. This instantly made Li Rong think of Ye Qingzhou and her attitude toward Zhao Cheng, and he breathed a small sigh of relief.

’In my experience, these types of people are full of rules, principles, and long-term plans. They’re easily constrained by concepts like ’the greater good’ or ’comrades’.’

’As long as I act humble enough, build a connection, and then pin the blame on Zhao Cheng, this guy won’t do anything to me.’

Seeing that the commoners who had been terrified by the gunfire now seemed to have found their backbone—overjoyed, their backs straightened—further solidified his conviction.

"B-... Big Brother! We were blind and failed to recognize your greatness! Colonel Zhou is dead, and Colonel Ye is a researcher. Right now, the team is led by Cap... Captain Zhao! I’m his second-in-command! My name is Li Rong!"

An idea had formed in Li Rong’s mind, so he quickly explained the situation. But the feeling of a gun muzzle pressed to his forehead was truly awful, so he started talking faster and faster.

"We didn’t know about your connection to them, Big Brother! Since you’re an old acquaintance of Colonel Zhou and Colonel Ye, you must be one of us, right? I’ll take you to our encampment. Captain Zhao will definitely give you a warm welcome!"

After saying that, as if remembering something, he quickly added:

"Oh... Colonel Ye is there too!"

"Hm... Very good."

Lin Fan nodded, then beckoned and said,

"Zhaozhao..."

When Li Rong saw the young man say "Very good" and his expression soften, he let out a long sigh of relief. But the gun at his head hadn’t been lowered, so he didn’t dare relax in the slightest, just nervously watching the man’s back as he turned to leave.

As soon as the man finished speaking, two women walked over from the side, looking at them with a strange expression.

One was gorgeous and radiant, the other youthful and spirited.

’What a pair of beauties...’

Under extreme tension, Li Rong’s mind began to wander, and for a moment he was lost in thought.

’If I hadn’t run into this Big Brother, it would have been great to take these two chicks back with me...’

But then, he heard two words that plunged him into an icy abyss.

The very ones he himself had just shouted.

"Open fire..."