The slightly older driver brought the children over to Zhang Xiao Qiang and expressed their gratitude and to indirectly ask if Zhang Xiao Qiang was a person that belonged to the state.
Zhang Xiao Qiang ignored the question. To save them, he lost an outstanding machine gunner which meant the base defense had lost a part of its strength, but the performance of the survivors from the old tractor disappointed him greatly. How many of them were even qualified to be recruited? Zhang Xiao Qiang did not even think about it.
While the old driver attempted to question him, Zhang Xiao Qiang turned to look at the main person or people, that he intended to save, and realized that there were four children.
Three girls and one boy, a total of four kids, the oldest around 7-8 years old and the youngest 5-6. They looked at Zhang Xiao Qiang timidly. Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at their dirty faces, their jet black eyes that were filled with fear, and sighed in his heart.
After the apocalypse, everyone that survived lived even more miserably than the other. The women lived far worse than the men, but the worst were the children that had not gone through their childhood or grown up yet. They had the lowest chance of survival, and the ones to be given up on first once the adults encountered danger. Even if they were brought to a safe camp, they belonged to the useless group. After the apocalypse, the human race had long turned cold and emotionless, everyone struggled to survive, so why should they take care of a child that had no relations to them?
Seeing that the children still had some color on their skin unlike the little lolita’s initial weak state while she stayed in Zhang Xiao Qiang’s home, he felt more favorable towards them.
Zhang Xiao Qiang ordered two of his subordinates to discard the two corpses from the old tractor. They ignored the zombie’s corpse and poured gasoline and burnt the man. While they watched the corpse burn, Zhang Xiao Qiang got the men and women to board the vehicle.
A few of them were unhappy by how Zhang Xiao Qiang spoke to them, but with the muzzles occasionally pointed at them, they behaved.
When Zhang Xiao Qiang and the three subordinates carried the machine gunner’s corpse down and were about to put it into the back of the old tractor, the people inside could no longer tolerate it. The men all portrayed annoyed looks and said that it was calamitous while the women made sarcastic remarks.
Zhang Xiao Qiang’s expression turned cold and his gloomy mood was about to explode, a 40-year-old, obese middle-aged man stood out.
“Dear comrade….I am xx Town’s Forestry Bureau Chief, the majority of the people here are members of the Forestry Bureau, I hope you can understand them, we are all suffering. You see, we only managed to rush out after the sacrifice of one our comrades, he is a good comrade and worked in the firm for more than a decade.”
At this point, the Bureau Chief looked saddened, he wiped his eyes and sobbed lightly, “He’s really gone, this is really terrible, he was killed by the monster right in front of us, you see…”
He pointed to the insane lady, “Our female comrade was frightened to the point of insanity, although she’s crazy, but we will love her more and protect her still, we want her to feel the warmth of family. Comrade, don’t put the remains in our vehicle, it might instigate her and cause her chance of recovery to become slimmer.”
“Hahahaha….” Zhang Xiao Qiang laughed when he heard the bureau chief’s words. Although laughter came out of his mouth, the coldness in his eyes became thicker and thicker. The Forestry Bureau Chief felt his bones turn cold when he looked at Zhang Xiao Qiang, and he felt himself going numb to the point of being unable to speak properly.
“Good….very nice explanation….not to instigate her….” Zhang Xiao Qiang pointed to the insane woman and continued, “Then where do you suggest I place my subordinates’ body?” At this point, Zhang Xiao Qiang’s threshold had been met, he was fuming with rage and wanted to toy with the cruel, unscrupulous and ungrateful group.
“What about this, the roof of your vehicle is rather spacious, you can tie him up on top. But if you find it troublesome, you can…” The Forestry Bureau Chief pointed to the burning corpse but suddenly stopped talking.
He no longer dared to speak as two Type-56 AR muzzles were pointed at his head, causing beads of perspiration to trickle down his face.
He looked at the two men that aimed their rifles at him and stammered, “Don’t….don’t…..don’t be agitated….please stop moving your fingers….it might misfire…..”
Zhang Xiao Qiang raised his right hand, instructing his two subordinates that were infuriated to put their rifles down.
“You want me to burn him? Hmm? You want me to burn the unlucky man that charged into the zombie horde to save all of you?”
The coldness in Zhang Xiao Qiang’s eyes had turned substantial and no one on the vehicle dared to look at him. A few of the guys looked at each other and started to rummage through the bunch of items behind them…. “No….it’s not….it’s not like that, the armed forces that you belong to…. I can talk to your superiors….”
“Why can’t you burn him? Our friend is also being burned, you should treat everyone equally.” A clear voice interrupted Bureau Chief Lin Ye’s words.
Zhang Xiao Qiang turned and looked at the lady on the vehicle that spoke up. She was young and beautiful with long and black luscious hair, her face glossy like porcelain. She had the appearance that made any men want to protect her, immediately informing Zhang Xiao Qiang that she was a lady that never suffered before in the apocalypse. Seeing the bloodied handprint on her flowery and silk shirt, Zhang Xiao Qiang knew that she was the one that he had taken advantage of previously.
Zhang Xiao Qiang lowered his head and looked at his toes, his right hand wavered around the Desert Eagle and unstrapped it from the holster.
“I have no superiors….”
“We aren’t soldiers as well….”
Zhang Xiao Qiang enunciated each word clearly.
He raised his head and stared at the group of survivors so cold that it made them felt as though he saw through their souls, and spoke each word through gritted teeth:
“Who…said…anything…about…treating…you….guys…as….equals?”
“Do not move….” Just as Zhang Xiao Qiang finished his sentence, three men suddenly raised their rifles at him and his subordinates.
Who was Zhang Xiao Qiang? His eyes were capable of catching everyone’s expressions and capable of seeing every minute movements they made. When he saw the signals between the men, he already knew. His action of unholstering his pistol was not to shut the woman up, it was actually aimed for the few men.
Initially, Zhang Xiao Qiang saw on the account that they treated the children well and felt that the group was not that bad that he wanted to give them a chance. But through communication, Zhang Xiao Qiang became completely disappointed in them, they forced Zhang Xiao Qiang and his subordinates to turn cold, so Zhang Xiao Qiang intentionally toyed with them while considering about what to do with them.
For them to actually become hostile against Zhang Xiao Qiang and his team who saved them in the depths of danger, Zhang Xiao Qiang immediately saw them as enemies. And naturally, Zhang Xiao Qiang had his means to deal with enemies.