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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter One Hundred Fifteen: Courteous Opening
The sky was high and the clouds were light, the blue expanse as clear as washed silk.
Li Changtian lay comfortably on a bamboo chair, enjoying the rare tranquility of a half day’s leisure.
To his left stood a small square table, on which rested a glass of carrot juice. Beside the glass was a stainless steel tray, glistening with oil, where red chili flakes and scattered sesame seeds were evenly sprinkled over steaming chicken breast, the aroma wafting enticingly and making one's mouth water. A double-barreled shotgun leaned against his right side, its polished barrel marked with greasy fingerprints.
A row of tall poplar trees cast a patch of shade, enveloping Li Changtian and the high wall in shadow. The guards stationed on the wall appeared somewhat drowsy, each leaning against the ladder with their weapons in hand, dozing off.
Cheng Long was absent today; he had taken a group of soldiers out on a sweep, leaving only Chen Zhao Zhou and Song Zhiping to oversee Nantang.
A few days prior, there had been some trouble here. Several captured individuals had escaped under cover of night, killing two sentries who pursued them. It was said that this group had even abducted Cheng Long's trusted subordinate, causing the usually mild-mannered mayor to fly into a rage and smash all the furniture in his house.
Li Changtian wasn’t entirely clear on the specifics; he was merely an outsider seeking refuge and not part of Cheng Long's inner circle.
In the past, it was always soldiers who were tasked with guarding the walls. Those stern-faced soldiers were like iron men; whether day or night, their cold eyes gleamed with vigilance, missing any movement in the fields. However, since that night, Cheng Long had changed his deployment strategy. He withdrew the soldiers from the brick wall and replaced them with local militia who were known for being lazy.
These militia consisted of local villagers and outside survivors. The locals put in some effort; although their professional skills were inferior to those of soldiers, they at least understood the importance of defending their homeland. So no matter how harsh the conditions were, they managed to maintain a degree of vigilance and completed their sentry duties diligently. The outsiders were different; aside from a few women who could dutifully perform their tasks, most men were accustomed to slacking off.
If tasked with watch duty, they would spend half their time sleeping; if sent out to scavenge for supplies, it would be miraculous if they returned alive; if they accompanied local villagers to clear land for farming, by the next day those villagers would be at Cheng Long's door complaining. Cheng Long felt helpless; he had organized these inept individuals into training sessions with soldiers for some time, only for a dozen or so to take advantage of the main force being away to steal food and drink from the town before disappearing.
Furious, Cheng Long led the soldiers in pursuit for a day and night, capturing seven or eight still-living culprits. In front of everyone in town, he fed them bullets and then discarded their bodies behind barbed wire along the highway. Since then, the outsiders had consciously suppressed their bad habits; in order to continue living off this town protected by soldiers, they began to contribute whatever efforts they could muster.
Li Changtian was the representative of the outsiders. After the New Year, he turned forty, but he still looked quite young. He claimed to be from Taiwan and liked to wear overalls, finding ways every day to prepare himself some fruit and vegetable juices. Cheng Long observed him for a while and realized that this middle-aged man, aside from being a foodie and a braggart, had no other bad habits. Thus, he appointed him as the Leader of the outsiders, responsible for arranging the food, clothing, shelter, and work tasks for the new survivors.
Li Changtian was both surprised and delighted by this responsibility. Every day, he devoted himself to comforting the newly arrived refugees while also establishing good relations with the local villagers. Previously, the villagers despised these outsiders, but with the presence of this middle-aged man, interactions between the two groups gradually became more harmonious. Seeing that Li Changtian had some capability, Cheng Long allowed him to select a group of young adults to participate in Soldier training. Later, he even equipped them with weapons to assist the Soldiers and locals in guarding Nantang.
As mentioned earlier, Brick Wall was previously defended by Soldiers. Li Changtian led a militia squad along with another group of Soldiers stationed on the main road leading to Jinzhong. That day, when they returned to town for a shift change, they found townspeople standing on the road with large bundles, all looking anxious and fearful as if something terrible was about to happen.
Subsequently, Cheng Long gathered everyone in the center of the road and delivered a nighttime speech. He briefly reported on the situation and reassured everyone to rest easy. Afterward, Chen Zhao Zhou appeared with a grim expression and dispersed the crowd, finding Li Changtian among them and pinning him at Brick Wall.
"From today onward, you are in charge here. Notify me immediately if anything happens."
Chen Zhao Zhou left those words before disappearing without a trace. Every day at regular intervals—morning, noon, and evening—women from the Women's Federation brought food and drink without fail.
At first, Li Changtian felt pleased; after all, the zombies in the wilderness had long been cleared out, and there were very few zombies wandering over from the highway. Even if some clueless zombies did come around, it was much easier than dealing with those near Jinzhong. However, gradually Li Changtian sensed something was off because no one had come to relieve them.
The Outpost in Nantang had always operated on a three-shift system, yet after Li Changtian brought his team up to Brick Wall, they had not gone back down. Roughly calculated, today marked their fourth day up there.
Li Changtian began to think that he and his team might have been abandoned. He sent someone back to town to check things out; the report came back that everything was normal—people were eating and drinking as usual, doing laundry or farming as needed. However, it seemed that there were noticeably fewer Soldiers around.
"Perhaps there’s been another zombie outbreak over at Jinzhong? Those soldiers might have gone to deal with it," said a man in his thirties sitting beside a bamboo chair smoking a cigarette while occasionally tearing off pieces of chicken to eat. His name was Hu Jianguo; he was Li Changtian's second-in-command in the militia squad and preferred lying down rather than standing whenever possible.
"Let them be; we have enough food and drink anyway. They can do whatever they want," Li Changtian said as he downed a glass of carrot juice, spitting out undigested pulp while leaning against the awning to look up at Brick Wall's top. Only two young men were still awake up there; they leaned against a tree trunk boasting to each other while everyone else either leaned or lay down asleep.
"That's true; still feels strange though—Chen Zhao Zhou hasn't come by for two days now," Hu Jianguo remarked. With an honest face but a shrewd heart, he glanced around before whispering, "The vehicles aren't even here; what do you think they could be doing?"
"Who cares?" Li Changtian snapped a twig and used a thin splinter as a toothpick, saying, "Eat salty radishes and worry lightly."
"True enough, forget it. I'll sleep for another half hour; it's almost time for a meal," Hu Jianguo chuckled, leaning against a tree with his hunting rifle and dozing off.
Li Changtian scoffed and shouted at the young man on the brick wall, "Wake up and pay attention!" The young man on the wall jolted awake, cursing as he opened his eyes.
A young man wearing a straw hat rubbed his eyes and squinted towards the fields beyond. He stood at the eastern side of the high wall, able to see the highway through the trees outside. Just moments ago, he thought he saw two cars speeding past on the road. The straw-hatted youth...
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