Chapter 164 - 163: Breaking the Stalemate

Chapter 164: Chapter 163: Breaking the Stalemate

The chaotic sound of footsteps woke Liu Hui, the doctor sleeping in the back of a truck. He poked his head out, only to see two groups in a tense standoff at the entrance to the main hall. He quickly ducked back inside.

Although he was an Awakened One, he wasn’t very powerful. Ever since the cold-faced Ye Qingzhou had chewed him out during their last meeting, he hadn’t dared to meet with her again.

He had relaxed a little after hearing from the soldiers that Zhao Cheng had taken over for Colonel Zhou. He couldn’t even imagine what a grim environment it would be if Ye Qingzhou became the convoy’s leader.

But now it seemed things had changed again. ’Didn’t they already reach an agreement? Why are they in a standoff again?’

Driven by curiosity, he poked his head out of the truck again and looked toward the two groups...

As the number of people on the opposing side gradually increased, the few people next to Ye Qingzhou slowly adjusted their positions.

Hu Chen, who had been standing beside Ye Qingzhou, had already silently retreated to the back row, giving up his spot to the more capable fighters, Cheng Qi and Wang Zhong.

"Want to know what happened to your master? Why don’t you go in and take a look?"

Cheng Qi, of course, knew what had happened inside. He jerked his head toward the tent, taunting Tan Wei on the other side.

"Lieutenant Cheng, you know my position..."

Tan Wei was completely unaffected by the provocation. He just frowned and said,

"I had a cooperative relationship with Zhao Cheng, and I have a cooperative relationship with you all as well. I’d say the same thing even if Zhou Chaoxian were here."

Then he looked toward the military tent and said:

"I don’t know what happened in there, but I do know it can’t be anything good..."

Having been gently but firmly rebuffed, Cheng Qi said no more, merely curling his lip.

"It’s nothing. Just cleaning house."

Ye Qingzhou said coldly.

"Colonel Ye! Do you have any idea what you’re doing?"

Tan Wei’s voice suddenly rose as he glared at her and said,

"We fill up at this gas station, and with any luck, we can reach Linjiang University tomorrow! What are you doing this for now? A purge? Infighting?

Is this what you agreed to last night?

If that was the case, Zhao Cheng could have riddled your truck with bullets last night. Did he?"

"Pfft... I’m sure he wanted to. But ask him if he dared."

Hu Chen, standing behind the others, suddenly let out a laugh, then said softly,

"Colonel Ye gathered everyone here mainly to..."

Before he could finish, the walkie-talkie clipped to his chest suddenly crackled to life.

"KSHHH... Sis, they’re here!"

The message was brief, but Ye Qingzhou and the few people beside her all understood. The root cause of this morning’s drastic turn of events—that "old friend" of hers—had finally arrived...

So Ye Qingzhou picked up where Hu Chen had left off and continued:

"Let’s all just wait here a moment. We have guests."

...

Lin Fan had spotted the yellow [200/200] health bar as soon as he left the alley and turned onto Tianshui Road. ’The little girl... an old acquaintance.’

He had only recognized her by the border of her Life Value bar and her high Energy Value.

After all, he had been quite surprised when he first saw a cluster of "Awakened boxwood" with Life Value and Energy Value bars on the side of the road in the distance.

Although he didn’t know how that Cyan Bird had used camouflage to hide herself in the bushes on the other side of the road, she couldn’t hide her bright yellow, blue-bordered health bar and her brilliant blue energy bar.

The convoy’s composition was simple: the assault vehicles driven by this morning’s "militiamen" and one bus.

Liu Bin, Wang Yuanhua, and the others drove the assault vehicles, while the remaining captured militiamen and Liu Bin’s rough-and-tumble crew rode together on the bus.

Meanwhile, Lin Fan, Su Qing, and Chu Zhaozhao were sitting on the roof of the bus, soaking up the sun and enjoying the breeze.

"How are you two doing? Feeling any better?"

Seeing that the health bar was moving along with the convoy, Lin Fan decided to ignore it for now. He lay back with his head in Su Qing’s lap, looking up at the finally-cleared azure sky as he asked the two of them.

"The breeze helps a lot..."

Chu Zhaozhao also lay down beside them, rinsing her eyes with the sight of the sky as she murmured,

"Good thing I didn’t eat anything this morning. Otherwise, it would’ve been a waste to throw it up..."

"..."

Lin Fan turned his head in awe to look at this little girl who was getting more and more on his wavelength, silently giving her a thumbs-up.

"Great minds think alike..."

Meanwhile, Su Qing, while gently massaging Lin Fan’s shoulders, said sourly:

"That’s right... you two are the heroes... I’m just a delicate woman!"

As she spoke, she silently squeezed with all her might!

[-1]!

"Oof!"

...

SCREECH—

A few minutes later, the convoy arrived at its destination. For some reason, there hadn’t been a single sentry along the way.

The moment the bus turned into the gas station entrance, they saw more than a dozen people standing in the open space in front of the main hall where Lin Fan had once fought zombies. They were vaguely split into two groups and, for some unknown reason, were in a standoff.

Seeing a group of strangers suddenly arrive in military vehicles and carrying guns, most of the people there seemed startled. They all abruptly raised their weapons and aimed them from a distance at the two assault vehicles in the lead.

The convoy stopped some distance from the gas station entrance. Liu Bin and the others in the assault vehicles didn’t get out, but the doors of the bus behind them suddenly opened. Five men, stripped down to nothing but their fatigues, scrambled out of the bus and ran toward the two opposing groups.

He watched the five surviving soldiers recount what had happened to their former comrades. He saw the expressions of the armed soldiers grow more and more horrified, their gazes becoming increasingly nervous, as if they were looking at a pack of man-eating Demons.

Lin Fan watched the group with great interest.

Among the densely packed health bars of the fewer than twenty armed soldiers, the two belonging to Awakened Ones were particularly conspicuous.

He then hopped off the roof of the bus and walked toward the crowd at the entrance of the hall. As he walked, he wondered what had happened here. ’Could it be that my recruiting a squad this morning upset the balance here and led to this conflict?’

’That Ye Qingzhou’s methods aren’t all that great, are they? I’m already here, and she still hasn’t quelled the situation.’

Chu Zhaozhao and Su Qing, meanwhile, followed silently behind him.

The arrival of Lin Fan’s group, combined with the testimony of the five surviving soldiers, put immense pressure on the soldiers there.

The crowd grew restless, clearly splitting into two distinct groups. One had seven people, and the other, including the newcomers, now had eighteen.

In the group of seven, a female officer in a special uniform stood at the front. The soldiers around her were clearly the elite of the elite, just like the ones he had met that night...

’Well, well. An acquaintance!’

’This Awakened One with [200] health is clearly the guy who was lying on the ground that night!’

’He really awakened!’

A flash of pleasant surprise crossed Lin Fan’s eyes, not for the man himself, but because he had finally stumbled upon another path to awakening!

’Get infected and enter a critical state, eat a round crystal, and then use willpower to power through it!’

’This path has nothing to do with the green health bar. It’s replicable!’

Wang Zhong had been unconscious at the time and hadn’t seen Lin Fan’s face. But now, seeing this young man with a gentle expression strolling toward them as if taking a walk in the park, completely ignoring the muzzles of their guns and looking only at him with a delighted expression, he combined this with Zhang Wenyuan’s description and made a quick guess. This had to be that Lin Fan!

He was just about to explain this to Ye Qingzhou when a sudden gust of wind shot past him. Someone was faster!

From the group of seven on the left, two men in special forces uniforms suddenly shot out like a pair of tigers, pouncing straight toward Lin Fan!

[89/100], [88/100]...

’The Awakened One didn’t move. Just two normal people?’

’What are they trying to do?’

In Lin Fan’s eyes, their movements were like slow motion. Even if they were special forces, they weren’t much faster than ordinary people. Whether he chose to counterattack or dodge, there was absolutely no way they could even touch the corner of his clothes.

Even Chu Zhaozhao and Su Qing behind him reacted instantly thanks to their Awakened constitutions. One raised a Flying Sword and the other her shield, preparing to block for Lin Fan!

But before the two of them could step forward, they saw the two pouncing figures suddenly drop low, falling directly to their knees in front of Lin Fan. They pressed their hands to the ground, slammed their heads down, and kowtowed!

"Big Bro above! Accept your humble servant’s bow!"

The two men’s voices were perfectly in sync, as if they were one person.

In an instant, the entire gas station fell into a dead silence.

Cheng Qi, who was behind Ye Qingzhou and seemed to be in on it, couldn’t hold back a "PFFT" of laughter. He immediately noticed the atmosphere and quickly covered his mouth.

Wang Zhong’s eyes went wide as he stared at the two men who had rushed out. His mouth hung open, unable to utter a single word, his mind only replaying what Hu Chen had said.

’...You two were being serious?’

Even Lin Fan himself was stunned.

He looked at the two men kowtowing before him, and all the plans and countermeasures he had envisioned on his way here dissolved into a mind full of question marks. In the gaps between the question marks, only a single thought remained:

’These two... Is there something seriously wrong with them?’

CLANG. Chu Zhaozhao’s Flying Sword fell to the ground. She herself was dumbfounded by the scene before her, but she couldn’t help thinking:

’Hey... those are my lines!’