Chapter 194 - 193: You Say Your Piece, I Say Mine

Chapter 194: Chapter 193: You Say Your Piece, I Say Mine

Lin Fan gave Chu Zhaozhao a gentle push toward the clinic.

He knew she wasn’t faking it. Her current weakness was a stark contrast to her usual high spirits.

Even Xu Qian had already returned. The duty of every Awakened One, aside from leveling up and strengthening their bodies, was to use the rest of their time to get proper rest.

Once they set off, Lin Fan figured they likely wouldn’t get another full night’s sleep.

"Have her thaw all the meat. If you can’t eat it all, eat it tomorrow. If you still can’t finish it, cook it and eat it on the road. Go on..."

After sending Chu Zhaozhao on her way, Lin Fan turned and walked toward Ye Qingzhou.

The ones in tactical vests were the people from the gas station that morning. Having gone through that morning’s events, they all understood that this stone-faced, beautiful military officer, despite looking like an intellectual, was actually more savage than the previous Colonel Zhou.

Colonel Zhou was just an old-school military man. He was all about rules, discipline, and most importantly, reason.

But this woman was different. She was unreasonable.

Even their own Captain Tan Wei, who had drilled into them not to cause trouble before they arrived, later remarked that Colonel Zhou’s presence hadn’t been protecting her, but restraining her.

So when this cold-faced "commander"—the convoy’s true leader—suddenly appeared in the crowd, the men in vests flinched and scrambled aside, clearing a path.

The other survivors, unaware of the situation, just watched their tense behavior in confusion.

But as Lin Fan approached from the other direction, these remaining people also hurried to clear a path.

It wasn’t that they found Lin Fan terrifying. Rather, the psychological pressure of facing this "superman among supermen" was just immense.

If Ye Qingzhou brought the "soldiers" a "chill," then Lin Fan brought them "nervousness."

The bizarre scene left Lin Fan not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Colonel Ye, why didn’t you call me on the walkie-talkie? Is something wrong?"

Lin Fan didn’t step into the path cleared by the crowd. Instead, he stood on the outskirts and waved, motioning for Ye Qingzhou to pick up her pace and come over. ’What’s so great about standing in the middle of a crowd getting stared at?’

"Let’s talk over here..."

"Nothing urgent. I just wanted to come see the situation here for myself and go over tomorrow’s arrangements with you."

Ye Qingzhou glanced around at the crowd. As she passed the supermarket, she made a point to see what was cooking in the pots over the fires. She stooped beside another lidded pot and took a sniff.

The aroma of meat broth mixed with the fragrance of rice made her feel almost dazed. It was the least "apocalyptic" scent she had smelled in days...

"This is nice. I don’t even want to leave..."

It was unclear if she was joking or not. After her sudden remark, she fell silent and walked right up to Lin Fan. Without stopping, she moved past him and continued onward, murmuring,

"Your people are different from the ones we picked up on the road..."

Lin Fan naturally turned to walk with her. ’I don’t know how it happens,’ he thought, ’but every time I walk with this woman, I somehow end up falling behind.’

So Lin Fan silently took two quick steps, overtook Ye Qingzhou, and said noncommittally:

"Of course they’re different. These people have at least been eating and sleeping well these past few days..."

"So, I want to train everyone with guns tomorrow. At the very least, they should know how to handle a firearm."

Ye Qingzhou continued,

"We still have guns. Though bullets are scarce, we still have guns. If each person gets a few rounds, they can kill at least two zombies if they stay calm. That way, the convoy’s firepower can double in an instant..."

"What does that have to do with these people being different?"

Lin Fan listened to her plan. ’She must have just come up with this this afternoon,’ he thought.

"Many of the people we have, we picked them up one by one. On top of scenic area signs, on the roofs of portable toilets, in parking lot security booths...

"We passed one park where dozens of zombies were wandering in the middle of the road. After we cleared them out, we found a mother and daughter hiding in a sewer drain right under their feet. They’d survived in there for two days on rainwater and sewage..."

Ye Qingzhou said pensively,

"The ones you see who can use guns are all Tan Wei’s people and the ones we brought from Jishan at the beginning. The rest have been scared witless by the zombies."

"Even if you give them guns, besides emptying a magazine in a split second or hiding in the cracks between bus seats, they can’t do anything. It’s meaningless... Not only is it meaningless, it would even breed chaos."

She suddenly turned her head to look at Lin Fan, who was slightly ahead and to her left. She stared at him and said,

"But your people... they still have hope in their eyes, and courage... Originally, I just planned to do as before: expand our armed personnel and rely on the power of you Awakened Ones to finish the rest of the journey.

"But after receiving the report from Yu Wentao and his team this afternoon, I changed my mind..."

"You don’t want to leave either?"

Lin Fan quipped. Listening to Ye Qingzhou’s words, he thought to himself, ’She’s not wrong.’

Judging by the mental state of the people on her bus, Lin Fan didn’t need his face-reading ability to know that handing out guns would likely cause a mutiny that very night...

Compared to them, Liu Bin’s people weren’t just survivors—they were high-quality recruits. The skilled fighters who could take on zombies with spears would be qualified Warriors the moment they got their hands on guns.

"I want to distribute all the weapons, but I still need your opinion. Because aside from my own small group and the researchers, this convoy doesn’t really have anyone I can call my own."

Ye Qingzhou completely ignored Lin Fan’s sarcastic remark, continuing as if she hadn’t heard him at all.

"So, what’s your opinion?"

"You don’t need to discuss this kind of thing with me. Go find Liu Bin..."

Lin Fan tilted his head and gestured with his chin toward the back, saying,

"But I agree with training everyone how to use firearms. Get it done quickly tomorrow... As for how many guns there are, who gets them, and how many they get, you don’t have to ask me. Discuss it with Liu Bin..."

’It really has nothing to do with me. I don’t know anything about whether it’s better for ten people to have two magazines each or for twenty people to have one each. I don’t know how to set up a field of fire, either. As a vet, all I know is how to fix cats, dogs, and all sorts of small animals, plus melee weapons and CQC... And recently, I’ve learned a new trick: arson.’

"You’re really taking it easy, aren’t you..."

Hearing Lin Fan completely shrug off the responsibility, Ye Qingzhou couldn’t help but sigh.

"Hey, don’t say that. We weren’t idle today..."

Lin Fan wasn’t happy to hear that and immediately retorted,

"This afternoon alone, we killed one hundred and four zombies and thirty-three Mutated Zombies. The four of us made a major contribution to the survival of humanity, you know..."

They happened to be walking past Wu Haitao’s modification workshop just then. Lin Fan pulled Ye Qingzhou to a stop at the entrance of his ’shop’ and pointed to Chu Zhaotian, who was busy working inside.

"His sister—you know, the young girl—is completely wiped out..."

’Thirty-three Mutated Zombies... in a single afternoon...’

Ye Qingzhou had to admit she didn’t actually know what Lin Fan had been up to since he got back. All she’d received were reports about the screams of Mutated Zombies in the complex and a possible gas-canister explosion that had collapsed a top-floor unit...

"Hey... oh, Colonel Ye, you’re here."

As the two were talking, Su Qing’s surprised voice came from behind them.

"Zhaozhao had a bite of bread and fell asleep. I came to call you guys for dinner..."

Lin Fan looked at Su Qing, then at Ye Qingzhou standing beside them, and blinked.

"Why don’t you join us for a bite?"

This was precisely Lin Fan’s new tactic for dealing with the face-reading ability of Ye Qingzhou and her people: a policy of non-violent non-cooperation.

She could talk about her business, and he would just talk about his.