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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Ninety-Seven: A Familiar Face (Part One)
"Should we follow them in?" Luci opened the car window, her gaze scanning through a row of lush trees, taking in a glimpse of a corner of the farming town that peeked through the foliage.
They had delayed on the road for a little while, but before dawn, they caught up with the vehicle ahead. That vehicle sped along rapidly, suddenly veering off the auxiliary road and plunging into the fields, kicking up a cloud of dust as it went.
Although Luci and her companions had successfully taken down two people, they were not suited for direct confrontation. Moreover, concerned about alarming the enemy and endangering the children, they could only follow at a distance, careful not to be discovered by the vehicle ahead. For this reason, Luci drove cautiously through the night, not daring to turn on the headlights.
Toothless Kid seemed to be calculating something. As they approached Nantang, he pointed out a small road and suggested they stop here to wait. Under Cao Liang's menacing tone, Toothless Kid nervously revealed the truth.
"They have sentries on their turf; getting too close would get us spotted. They're all soldiers with sharp eyes!" Toothless Kid was afraid that Cao Liang wouldn't believe him. He pointed toward a long barbed wire fence in the distance and said, "That way leads to the main road; we can't get in there. The only way is through this Hemp Grass Field over here. This place isn't big; there's a straight road connecting to the highway toward Xiangfen. There are mounds everywhere in this wild area; who knows if there are people hiding in the grass!"
"How do you know all this?" An Zheng looked at the grass swaying gently in the wind and felt that Toothless Kid was likely telling the truth. The trees surrounding the farming town were dense; while driving in was impossible, sneaking in a few people would certainly be easy. In that case, it made sense for zombies to also infiltrate here, which justified setting up an outpost.
"I heard it from others," Toothless Kid shrank back and lowered his head, glancing around nervously. "Let's back up a bit; it's broad daylight, and this glass reflects."
Cao Liang glanced at him with mild surprise but ultimately agreed. Luci started the car, and Cherokee backed up along the tire tracks for some distance until they stopped in a low area beside several fallen dead trees that effectively concealed their vehicle.
"Are we just going to wait here?" Wheat turned back to look at their approach route—a rough loess road churned up by vehicles, winding like a mountain path. The sky was blue in the distance, starkly contrasting with the yellow dust rising from the ground.
"You'd better not think about going in; there are people everywhere," Toothless Kid seemed quite fearful of this place, constantly surveying his surroundings as if expecting a sentry to suddenly emerge from the grass.
Cao Liang rolled down his window and lit a cigarette, feeling that something was off. He glanced at An Zheng and Luci, noticing uncertainty etched on their faces as well.
"Something's not right," Cao Liang pondered aloud. "You said there are soldiers inside?"
"Well, they say they're veterans, and there are people from Village too," Toothless Kid was taken aback when asked.
"Then why do we have to hide from them?" Cao Liang wondered, pondering if they were being overly cautious.
"Oh come on, big brother! They're much tougher than us!" Toothless Kid had a look that said 'you silly giant,' pleading, "If you don't believe me, that's fine, just don't drag me into this. Can I just walk back by myself?"
The others were noncommittal, half believing his words. Normally, soldiers wouldn't be too malicious, and since there was no direct conflict of interest between them, they were just looking for a child. Surely they wouldn't skin anyone alive?
Despite their doubts, they didn't press further. After all, if Toothless Kid couldn't be trusted, who knew what trouble he might cause behind their backs? Cao Liang had mobility issues, and the remaining three were all women; it wasn't wise to recklessly barge in for diplomacy. With no other options available, they could only wait patiently to see if the vehicle would return. If there was still no movement by nightfall, then they would consider going in to take a look.
While they waited, others had already taken action.
Jin Bo was familiar with the route and didn't bother taking detours. He didn't specifically enter the dirt roads but sped along the highway straight onto the expressway.
Old Timer chose to take the back roads mainly to avoid the Zombie on the highway. He was with Zheng Er's daughter and couldn't afford any mistakes. Luci and her group followed closely behind and took Toothless Kid's advice, managing to reach their destination without incident.
Meanwhile, Jin Bo and Jiang He, in a hurry to catch up with Dr. An, dramatically passed each other without realizing it.
Cherokee stopped by the side of the expressway where many vehicles were left abandoned on the road surface. It was evident that a serious accident had occurred here; a charred oil tanker lay across the road, nearly blocking it entirely. Surrounding it were over ten overturned cars—some crumpled into heaps of scrap metal while others were reduced to mere skeletons. Charred corpses littered the area, and on the right side of the barbed wire fence were several scattered houses, all eerily silent, with occasional Zombie wandering out.
There weren't many forms wandering on the road; most were clustered outside the left side of the barbed wire fence as if something inside was irresistibly attracting them. The rear of the oil tanker revealed an empty space; from a distance, it looked like there was a clear path behind it without any traffic—just a large number of stationary Zombie.
"What’s going on?" Jiang He felt overwhelmed; earlier Jin Bo had confidently claimed they could catch up, yet after speeding all night, they hadn't even seen a single vehicle's rear end. Now it seemed they had hit another dead end.
Jin Bo furrowed his brow and looked curiously at the fields beside the expressway, muttering, "Could they have gone that way?"
"What?"
"Nothing, we might be a step ahead of them." Jin Bo picked up his long knife from the back seat and turned to say, "Let's go."
"Go where? You need to be clear with me."
"They might have entered through a back road, but logically, that shouldn't be the case. How would your people know about the back road?" Jin Bo looked puzzled as well; he thought Jiang He's group might not have come here at all—perhaps they had fled instead.
"Who am I supposed to ask? What do we do now? Where's your doctor? It's already dawn; no matter who it is, we need to find someone who can treat him!" Jiang He felt increasingly uneasy. Although Pan Luo's injury wasn't fatal, who knew when that damned virus would strike?
Faced with Jiang He's barrage of questions, Jin Bo remained silent for a moment before saying, "Let's not worry about your people for now. Uncle Two sent Old Timer to bring Qiu Tong for help. They left early and might already be inside, so we need to head in directly."
"From where? What do we do once we're in?" Jiang He watched as Jin Bo picked up a cloth and methodically wiped the blood off the blade, a sense of foreboding rising within him.
"First, we find Qiu Tong, then we'll act according to the situation. At that point, you just need to take Qiu Tong and run; leave the rest to me." Jin Bo's expression was calm, his words devoid of any tension.
Jiang He thought to himself, 'Just as I expected,' and sighed, "They're all Soldiers; do you really think it's reliable to go in there with just a knife?"
"What else can we do? Do you have a tank?" Jin Bo opened the car door and jumped out, pointing at the barbed wire where Zombies were gathering. "Five seconds—can you get over it?"
Jiang He assessed the height of the barbed wire; it was about three meters high, with twisted metal protrusions at the top designed to prevent climbing.
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