Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen: Those Who Refuse Will End Up the Same as Him

“Stop dreaming. The captain of the Seventh Squad is definitely Qin Sheng and Shen Shi’s!”

“You’re nothing but a thug. How could you possibly have the ability to sit on the throne of the Seventh Squad captain?”

The man grew more and more agitated as he spoke, so much so that he nearly forgot the wound he had just suffered.

They had already lost any hope of reaching for the position of Seventh Squad captain when they ran into people like Zhang Dong and Fool Beard, but that did not mean they were willing to work under someone like Zhang Dong.

Rather than cowering and obeying, they might as well put up a proper fight and let Zhang Dong know exactly what kind of thing he was.

Zhang Dong paid them no mind. He understood all too well what place Guo Jun, the captain of the First Squad, held in the safe zone. If Guo Jun said he could become captain of the Seventh Squad, then Zhang Dong could certainly become a captain too.

Of course, all of this came with conditions, and those conditions simply required some people to be sacrificed.

For example, Qin Sheng and Shen Shi. Or perhaps those who had already begun to openly defy him.

A vicious smile crept onto Zhang Dong’s face. He sprang to his feet, plucked something from his pocket in one swift motion, and in the next instant flashed in front of the man who had dared to oppose him.

A blade’s glint sliced through the air. Blood burst forth at once, so bright in the sunlight that for a moment it was hard to tell whether it was blood or mere water.

But everyone knew all too well: it was blood.

With ruthless decisiveness, Zhang Dong cut the man’s throat. In the blink of an eye, the living man became a blood-soaked corpse, his eyes staring wide and round, as though a sentence had been torn in half. Unwilling and astonished, he died with his eyes open.

Aside from Fool Beard, everyone else drew a sharp breath when they saw Zhang Dong kill the man.

They had never imagined Zhang Dong could be this insane.

He had actually killed someone simply because the man had said a few unkind words about him.

Zhang Dong had completely ignored the fact that this was a competition, as if it were a slaughterhouse and everyone here would simply allow him to butcher them at will.

The people who had just been openly defiant were now no longer defiant at all. Their faces were filled with fear and unease, terrified that the next one to die here might be themselves.

Zhang Dong did not even glance at the man sprawled in the pool of blood. He did not spare a single look for the others, who were now trembling with fear. Instead, he strode grandly over to Fool Beard and gave him a meaningful glance.

After receiving the signal, Fool Beard brought over two men. They carried the corpse that had just been killed by Zhang Dong out and, finding a deserted place, casually dumped it there.

They did not even preserve the slightest shred of dignity for the dead.

Zhang Dong returned to the place where he had been leaning before. Folding his arms, he said weakly, “Those willing to follow us stay. Those who aren’t will end up just like him.”

No sooner had Zhang Dong finished speaking than the few people dropped to their knees with a loud thud, bowing before him as they cried out, “We swear to follow Captain Zhang Dong unto death!”

Their reaction satisfied him. Zhang Dong waved a hand lightly, signaling for them to stand.

“Good. From now on, if I become captain of the Seventh Squad, you’ll be my brothers. There will be a place for us in the safe zone.”

With nothing more than a display meant to kill one chicken to scare the monkeys, everyone here had already submitted beneath Zhang Dong’s hand.

Unbeknownst to them, a young man in a tree not far away had taken in the entire scene.

Shen Shi’s expression remained as indifferent as ever, but little by little, disdain and cold mockery gathered in his eyes.

And, too, a trace of pity.

A gust of wind swept by. In a few agile leaps, the young man vanished silently into the woods.

That direction was precisely the way Fool Beard and the others had left.

“Brother Dong, everything’s been taken care of.”

Fool Beard returned with the others not long after. Since the man was already dead, it was better for him to be fed to wild dogs and wolves than to be eaten by zombies.

“Fine. You’ve worked hard. Take a break,” Zhang Dong said with a slight nod, motioning for Fool Beard and the others to sit down and rest.

Fool Beard glanced at the people who had still been resisting moments ago and were now all obedient one by one. Some even handed him a bottle of water. His eyes were full of admiration for Zhang Dong.

“Brother Dong, you really can do it. You’re even more formidable now than you were before the apocalypse.”

By now Fool Beard was only thankful that he had chosen the right man to follow. At the very least, he had not kicked Zhang Dong when he was down. Being able to enjoy this kind of treatment now was already enough to surprise and delight him.

“Beard, stay with me from now on and you’ll eat well and live well. No one’s going to bully us anymore.” Zhang Dong patted Fool Beard’s shoulder gently and let out a long, weighty sigh.

Before the apocalypse, Zhang Dong had been able to keep himself fed, but he had always lived without dignity.

Everyone despised him, loathed him, hated him, all because he had once been a thug.

And yet how could he not have wanted to become a good man, a man with dignity?

Was it because he refused to? No. It was simply that this cruel world had never given him that chance.

Leaning against the tree behind him, Zhang Dong closed his eyes to rest. His thoughts were filled with memories of the world before the apocalypse. No one knew that when he had struck just now, his hand had been shaking, and in his heart there had even been a flicker of regret and unwillingness.

But the man was already dead. He had no way back now.

Zhang Dong could vaguely feel the packet of powder Guo Jun had given him before departure, lying in the pocket of his pants.

He had heard that if Qin Sheng and Shen Shi swallowed that thing, he would take the throne of the Seventh Squad captain.

From that day on, no one would ever think of him as merely a thug.

Starting now, Zhang Dong would no longer appear as the old hooligan, but as the captain of the Seventh Guard Team in the safe zone.

No one would dare gossip about whether he had once been a hoodlum. They would only know that Zhang Dong had risen to fame in the zombie forest, defeating everyone in his path.

The thing tucked in his pocket no longer seemed quite so hot or burning to the touch.

Zhang Dong grew more and more at ease, and before long he drifted into a light sleep.

Not far away, Shen Shi had already arrived at the place where Fool Beard had dumped the body.

The blood on the man’s neck had stopped flowing, or rather, it had already run dry.

Perhaps in not much time, the blood on the ground would draw in a horde of zombies, and what remained of his body would be swallowed whole, leaving not even bone shards behind.

Shen Shi’s face showed no discernible expression. Only a faint sigh seemed to pass through him.

In the end, he still gave this stranger the best dignity he could.

After burying the man in a spot with decent feng shui, he left.

A gentle breeze swept by, and the air still carried a faint smell of blood.

Qin Sheng had returned to the previous campsite and gathered a few usable things before finding a suitable place to set up a simple new camp.

Just as the water had begun to boil, two more people hurried into the new campsite.

They were none other than Wang Qiang and Little Fatty.

Qin Sheng was not especially surprised, as if she had known they would come. She had even prepared two new sleeping bags and a tent.

She had only been waiting for them to come back and set things up themselves.

“Qin Sheng.” Wang Qiang spoke up, glancing around the tent Qin Sheng had set up on her own. He felt relieved; the skills he had just taught her had been put to use almost immediately.

Still, the verbal attacks from earlier had seemed a little too cruel for a girl to bear.

“You don’t need to care too much about what they said. Do what you want to do. There’s no need to listen to the voices outside.” Wang Qiang’s words carried sympathy, but there was also genuine concern in them.

After all, Qin Sheng was only a girl, yet she had endured things even he might not have been able to bear.

Wang Qiang’s admiration for her was real.

He appreciated Qin Sheng, which was why he had chased after her.

For him, it was not important how high a position one stood in. What Wang Qiang wanted was simply to have kindred spirits by his side, people who understood him.

What was a captain of some guard team in the safe zone compared with a close friend rare enough to be found once in a lifetime?

Qin Sheng wanted to say that it was nothing, that she did not mind.

But meeting Wang Qiang’s worried eyes, she ultimately just nodded.

“Don’t worry, Qin Sheng. You’re so capable that you’ll definitely become a guard captain. I believe in you,” Little Fatty said with a grin as he sat down beside her.

Qin Sheng smiled and handed him a cup.

Wang Qiang also sat down next to her. He took the initiative to lift the water that had already boiled over the fire and poured Qin Sheng a cup.

He poured one for Little Fatty and one for himself as well.

These utensils, though, looked oddly familiar.

“Were these things from the camp just now?” Wang Qiang asked in confusion, looking at Qin Sheng.

Qin Sheng nodded, blowing lightly across the steam rising from the hot water as she explained, “Don’t worry. None of these things came into contact with zombie blood. I checked them in advance.”

Of course they had not touched zombie blood. They were identical copies taken from her spatial storage a moment ago.

Wang Qiang glanced at the extra cup and sleeping bag and smiled meaningfully.

Qin Sheng’s mouth might be sharp, but she was very considerate and kind.

Even in a situation like this, she had still prepared the things Shen Shi would need.

“I brought back some of your things. You can take them. The forest gets cold at night, so be careful.” After saying that, Qin Sheng went back into her tent.

Wang Qiang and Little Fatty nodded and then set up a new tent, also laying out Shen Shi’s sleeping bag for him.

Night gradually descended over the entire forest, and the quiet darkness carried an added trace of danger.

A gust of wind blew through, and Shen Shi landed steadily in front of the temporary camp Qin Sheng had set up.

The torches had already gone out. The people at camp should all have been asleep by now, and faintly one could still hear Wang Qiang and Little Fatty snoring.

Shen Shi pressed his lips together and silently walked over to the fire pit, tidied up the area a little, and after sitting down for only a short while, his stomach let out an untimely growl.

In the stillness of the night, it sounded especially distinct.

Shen Shi blinked, unconcerned. He reached down and touched his empty stomach. After taking a deep breath, he pretended not to care. He had at least some understanding of fasting, and if he held out, he should be fine.

“Hungry?”

Before he could settle into that thought, a familiar voice came from within the tent behind him.

Shen Shi said nothing, silently making room beside him.