Chapter One Hundred and Twelve: Seeking a Little Advantage

“So you’re siding with Qin Sheng too, Shen Shi?”

At that question, Qin Sheng gave Shen Shi a cool, measured glance. She naturally never expected him to stand with her.

If he spoke up for her, it would likely be nothing more than a casual gesture.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shen Shi caught the hopeful look Qin Sheng had given him. Before long, she turned away again. He pressed his lips together and said calmly, “I never stand on anyone’s side. I only believe in the truth.”

The moment Shen Shi finished speaking, Qin Sheng nodded in agreement.

Yes, Shen Shi ought to say exactly that. He didn’t need to stand on anyone’s side; he only needed to stand on his own. If he really had chosen her side, she would have had reason to suspect Guo Jun had given him an undercover mission.

“Since none of us can agree, there’s no point staying together any longer. Let’s part ways here and wait quietly to see who survives to the end.”

Qin Sheng agreed at once.

With so many people together, there were too many eyes and ears; there were some things she could not freely do. Splitting up was better. It would spare everyone all the pointless, needless arguments.

Qin Sheng was more than willing. She lifted her chin at the others, then turned and left.

Wang Qiang and Xiao Pang exchanged a look, then finally grabbed their things and chose to go with Qin Sheng. Rather than staying here where speaking and acting were both inconvenient, it was better to follow Qin Sheng, who shared their aims.

Qin Sheng was clearly the best choice for everyone here. It was only that some people refused to admit her strength and ability, always thinking that once Qin Sheng was driven away, they themselves would become the strongest one.

But that was nothing more than self-delusion.

“Wait a second. Wang Qiang, the stuff in your backpacks is the last of the supplies everyone just took together. Isn’t it a little inappropriate for the two of you to just carry it off?”

At that, Xiao Pang immediately flared up and shot back, “These were clearly brought back by Wang Qiang and me. When we ran into the zombies just now, you all were the first to bolt. Only we remembered to grab supplies. And now you want to claim them as yours?”

Wang Qiang frowned deeply, his gaze turning dangerous as he looked at those familiar yet unfamiliar faces.

At this rate, if they didn’t leave the supplies behind, they probably wouldn’t be able to get out today.

There were too many of them, and their strength was about the same. If a fight broke out and drew the zombies here, they would only lose more than they gained.

“Forget it, Xiao Pang. Give them the stuff.” Wang Qiang quickly weighed the pros and cons, then tossed the backpack slung over his shoulder toward the others.

“Brother Qiang…” Though Xiao Pang did not understand and hated to give away the supplies they had risked their lives to recover, he trusted Wang Qiang had a reason. In the end, he reluctantly hurled the things over as well.

“We’ve given you the supplies. From now on, we owe you nothing!”

After speaking, Xiao Pang and Wang Qiang turned and ran toward the path Qin Sheng had taken when she left.

Those people got the supplies, and the smiles on their faces were visibly brighter. All of them eagerly counted how much was inside the two packs.

Seeing that everyone’s attention had fully shifted to the stolen supplies, Shen Shi’s brows drew together slightly. He was just about to turn and leave when someone called out to him.

“Shen Shi!”

He turned and found that the one who had called him was Zhang Dong, the one who had not said a word until now.

“What is it?” Shen Shi’s expression remained cold, his tone devoid of any warmth.

Zhang Dong stole a wary glance in the direction Qin Sheng had gone, then lowered his voice and said to Shen Shi, “Why don’t you join our group? We’ve got plenty of supplies here. At the very least, you won’t go hungry, right?”

Shen Shi had not brought any supplies into the Zombie Forest at all. Right now, the only people with supplies were Zhang Dong and the others, as well as Qin Sheng.

But Qin Sheng’s supplies were mostly back at camp, and the camp had already been destroyed. Those things had likely been stained with zombie blood, so there was absolutely no way they could still be eaten.

That left only Zhang Dong and his group with supplies.

If Shen Shi had not been completely lacking supplies, Zhang Dong would never have invited him over. But Shen Shi’s strength was indeed impressive, so all they wanted was to give him food and have him protect them when the zombies came.

A fair exchange. Anyone would have agreed without hesitation.

Zhang Dong waited eagerly, fully expecting Shen Shi to accept his proposal in the next second.

He did genuinely like Qin Sheng, but when it came to a man’s career and survival, a woman would never come first. When necessary, a woman could also become his stepping-stone.

Shen Shi remained as impassive as ever, as though he had no interest whatsoever in what Zhang Dong was saying.

“Oh.”

He left behind only that single syllable, then stepped forward as if to head deeper into the woods.

“Eh? Just one word? You’re not even interested in sharing our supplies?”

Zhang Dong seriously suspected Shen Shi had hit his head and damaged his brains. With supplies in hand, at the very least, one could preserve some strength in the Zombie Forest and still have the ability to protect oneself when encountering zombies.

Did Shen Shi not need to eat?

“Forget it, Brother Dong. He’s so cold he’s basically an ice block. He doesn’t think much of our supplies anyway. Why don’t we split them up now?” The speaker was a bearded man, someone Zhang Dong had known back when he was still a small-time thug. Zhang Dong had always called him Dumb Beard.

Zhang Dong let out a roguish laugh and slapped the bearded man on the shoulder. “Dumb Beard, you’re already drooling over it, aren’t you?”

Dumb Beard had been seen through and awkwardly scratched his head with a sheepish grin. The day’s activity had been excessive, and he had not eaten breakfast, so his stomach had long since been protesting.

“Yeah, Brother Dong, let’s divide the supplies properly among us brothers. If we make it through these few days, everyone will definitely push you straight into the position of leader of the Seventh Team. From now on, all of us will follow Brother Dong! Right, brothers?”

“Yes, that’s right, we’ll follow Brother Dong!”

“Yes!”

A few people chimed in, but the remaining two or three did not. They looked down on Qin Sheng and Shen Shi, and they looked down on Zhang Dong just the same.

He was nothing more than a punk, and he wanted to be the captain of the Seventh Team? Dream on.

Still, the barefoot fear nothing. Zhang Dong had been a thug for so long that he was certainly not afraid of death. Besides, the supplies were now in their hands. A little agreement for the moment meant nothing.

A single general rises and a thousand bones perish.

Zhang Dong was very pleased to see such a scene. He casually divided up the supplies, and after everyone got their share, they began eating voraciously.

A few of them were too afraid to eat too much, worried that if they finished everything now, they would starve in the final days. So they took only a couple of bites and stuffed the rest into their backpacks.

Zhang Dong, sharp-eyed as ever, noticed their little tricks. He sneered, raised an eyebrow, and spat on the ground before shouting at them, “What, you’re only going to eat a couple of bites? What if you get hungry?”

The others looked at one another, and finally one of them spoke up. “Then we’ll be hungry. Better that than starving to death in the next few days.”

Hearing that, Zhang Dong burst out laughing. He gave Dumb Beard a look, and Dumb Beard immediately understood. Wiping his mouth, he swaggered over toward the two or three people still holding back their food.

Seeing Dumb Beard approach, they sensed trouble and sprang to their feet at once.

Dumb Beard spat and draped an arm casually over one of them, grinning maliciously as he chatted away. “Come on, brother, if you can’t finish it, you can give it to us. Us brothers still haven’t had enough. Right?”

The man felt at his pocket and asked warily, “What are you trying to do?”

Dumb Beard suddenly laughed. “What could we do? Just talking to you, that’s all.”

Leaning against a tree, Zhang Dong watched lazily as Dumb Beard pressured those people. Bored, he closed his eyes and waited quietly for the supplies that would soon be brought over.

Before long, the sounds of hands being thrown were heard.

How could two or three people possibly withstand nearly twice their number? In the end, the supplies hidden in their pockets were all searched out and taken away.

“How can you do this?!”

Dumb Beard bent down, patted the face of the disgruntled man, and flashed a mouthful of yellow teeth as he smirked back. “Did the competition rules say we couldn’t?”

“Of course not!”

“Ha ha ha, then you got what you deserved!”

“Say one more word of nonsense, and we won’t go easy on you.” Dumb Beard shoved the man’s head aside and snorted in disdain.

Those three were furious beyond measure and would have gladly gone back in time just to swallow everything before anyone else could touch it.

At this point, all they had done was leave it to a bunch of unreasonable hooligans.

Zhang Dong remained comfortably with his eyes closed. By the time he opened them again, Dumb Beard had already laid the stolen food neatly beside him.

Zhang Dong waved a hand to signal that the supplies should be put away and saved for a few days later, then closed his eyes again to rest.

“When the tiger is away, the monkeys run wild. If Shen Shi and Qin Sheng had been here just now, would you have dared to act like this?!” One of the men who had been beaten down by Dumb Beard and the others spat out a mouthful of blood and shouted unwillingly toward Zhang Dong.

Zhang Dong slowly opened his eyes, and in them there was now the viciousness of a small-time thug.

“You only dare act tough at home. And you still dream of being the Seventh Team’s captain? I spit on you. Could you even beat Shen Shi? You couldn’t even beat Qin Sheng, a little girl!”

The more the man spoke, the angrier he became, pouring out all the resentment in his heart in one breath.

It was obvious that Zhang Dong did not like hearing this, especially being told that he was unfit to be the captain of the Seventh Team, not even good enough to beat Qin Sheng.

What was there for Zhang Dong to be afraid of?

He was just a thug. Worst came to worst, he would use a few methods. He knew very well what benefits came with becoming the captain of the Seventh Team.

He had already said it: Shen Shi and Qin Sheng were nothing more than his stepping-stones. He had methods of his own.

In a daze, Zhang Dong seemed to see the middle-aged man he had met the night before entering the Zombie Forest. According to the man himself, he was the captain of the First Team, Guo Jun.

After a few rounds of conversation, Zhang Dong knew his chance to turn his life around had arrived.

What Shen Shi? What Qin Sheng? With a few things the captain had given him, they would not even have the strength to stand up, let alone compete with him.

As he recalled all this, Zhang Dong also thought of Qin Sheng’s graceful figure. He narrowed his eyes, filled with a lewd and filthy intent.

Captain Guo said Qin Sheng had to die. That did not mean he could not demand a little something for himself at the end, did it?