Chapter 28 – A Collapsing Situation

Volume 2: Battlefield Between Two Worlds

Several Survivors from Chaihe Town watched a few ragged figures crawl out from the Devil Vine patch ahead, murmuring in low voices: "Don't tell me these people came from Hualin Town. That's something else."

"Isn't it? A while back, Tian-Ge wanted to go to Mudanjiang City, but those Devil Vines whipped him back alive. He had to lie in bed for a whole day before he could get up."

"Let's see what the situation is first. No idea what the remaining few are capable of. If they're all Level 2 Class Holders, then maybe… we've got some Heavy hitters crossing into our turf."

"What Heavy hitters? The stronger they are, the better. Only if they're strong can they lead us out from those Zombies. Otherwise, we really don't have many days left."

As soon as those words were spoken, everyone around fell silent.

Thinking of the Zombie horde currently entrenched in Chaihe Town, and that terrifying Zombie King, they placed their hopes on Wen Yu and the others.

Seeing Wen Yu's group approach, the middle-aged man in front stepped forward and greeted them first. "Hello, everyone. My name is Li Dalong. Just call me Dalong."

The middle-aged man was all smiles as he spoke politely.

"We escaped from Hualin Town. You probably noticed something went wrong there."

Li Quan'an nodded to Li Dalong.

"Yeah. We thought all of Hualin Town had already become a city of the dead. Never thought there were still Survivors inside. The fact that you managed to get out-you're really impressive."

Li Dalong offered a word of praise. It cost nothing and could help build rapport-why not?

Li Quan'an sized Li Dalong up and his heart sank.

The man's gear was badly damaged, and his face was sallow. There were several scars across it as well.

From Li Dalong alone, one could already tell a thing or two about Chaihe Town's situation.

Still clinging to a sliver of hope, Li Quan'an asked carefully, "How are the Survivors in Chaihe Town doing?"

Li Dalong studied Li Quan'an closely, then glanced at the Class Holders behind him.

They looked very bedraggled-nothing like the leisure of that earlier man-which meant their strength was limited.

"Not good. Very not good."

Li Dalong shook his head, said that to Li Quan'an, then looked straight at Wen Yu. "And what do I call you, Young Brother?"

"Just call me Wen Yu. Where's your Settlement?"

Wen Yu asked directly.

Li Dalong opened his mouth, but the flattery he was about to spill was forced back down. This Wen Yu really had a temper.

He sighed to himself that strong people really were blunt. Dealing with him was only a little easier than dealing with that oddball Tian-Ge.

"It's in the farmland not far ahead. I'll take you to meet Fei-Ge. We can talk as we go."

After saying that, Li Dalong immediately set off, leading Wen Yu and the others forward. Behind them, his teammates hoisted the Class Holder who had fainted onto their back. Bai Xiao'an was also being carried by Sun Ruixing. Judging from Bai Xiao'an's injuries, his leg was probably ruined, but his life wasn't in danger.

Wen Yu followed at once. He still had many questions about Chaihe Town.

"Why did you set the Settlement up in the farmland? There aren't enough defenses out in the open, and there are lots of Mutant Beasts."

That was Wen Yu's question. Compared with high-rise buildings, farmland offered practically no advantages at all.

Li Dalong gave a bitter smile. "We didn't want to leave Chaihe Town either, but we had no choice."

As if organizing his words, Li Dalong paused, then said, "We were driven out by the Zombies. Now, Chaihe Town… we can't get back in anymore."

"Zombie?" Wen Yu raised an eyebrow.

In Wen Yu's eyes, Zombies were the same as moving Points. For these bottom-tier weaklings to drive Survivors out of Chaihe Town, something must have happened-something he had never encountered before.

"What happened?" Wen Yu's voice had already turned serious.

Li Dalong slowly began to speak, laying out the predicament Chaihe Town was facing: "When the Apocalypse first started, it was probably no different from anywhere else. The ones with guts went out to kill Zombies and Changed Class. The ones without guts stayed holed up at home, waiting to die.

"It wasn't until Fei-Ge saved me that I dared to go outside. Only then did I Changed Class and become a Class Holder.

"A few days later, Fei-Ge had already gathered several hundred Class Holders, plus some elderly people and kids.

"But that's when things changed.

"For some reason, the Zombies started slamming into our Camp like crazy. There were too many of them-organized-and damn it, they even had tactics. Chaihe Town has a resident population of 80,000. You can imagine how many Zombies that would turn into. With just a few hundred people in the Camp, we couldn't possibly hold them off, and…"

"And a Commander appeared in the Zombie horde-a Giant Zombie more than three meters tall.

"I haven't seen that Zombie myself; Tian-Ge told me. Oh right, Tian-Ge is the strongest one here, a Level 2 Class Holder."

Li Dalong explained the general situation in Chaihe Town in one go, and the scene immediately fell silent.

"Why didn't you leave?"

"Leave? Where could we go? We originally wanted to go to Mudanjiang City, but that road has already been blocked off by those Devil Vines. Where else can we go?"

"What about the opposite direction?"

"It's all Zombies. We can't break through. And these Zombies harass us every few days. If Tian-Ge weren't so strong, our Camp would've been wiped out a long time ago."

"Why did you come this way? There are quite a few Mutant Creatures around here, aren't there?"

"If we don't come this way, what else can we do? Food, water-we're short on everything. If we don't come out, we're just waiting to die in the Camp anyway!"

Li Dalong looked at Wen Yu with a bitter smile and probed cautiously, "Brother Wen Yu, you're a Level 2 Class Holder, right?"

Seeing Wen Yu nod in thought, Li Dalong immediately grew excited.

"Level 2 is great. Our Camp doesn't have nearly enough people who can fight right now. With Brother Wen Yu here, maybe we can counterattack those Zombies."

Wen Yu studied Li Dalong carefully. He could tell that Li Dalong and the few Class Holders beside him were genuinely happy.

What they said was all true. If the external pressure hadn't been so overwhelming, the local Class Holders' first reaction to someone like him suddenly showing up would definitely have been wariness and caution.

"Oh right-Chaihe Town, is there only this one Camp of yours?"

Chaihe Town was near Mudanjiang City and had a fairly large population. It couldn't possibly be like Hualin Town, with only this few people left alive.

"There is," Li Dalong said with certainty.

"Before our previous Camp got breached, there was another group led by the police and Government officials. They had a lot more people than us. But after we ran out of the urban area, we never saw them again. Still, a Camp on the scale of several thousand people shouldn't just collapse overnight, right?"

As he thought about it, Li Dalong hesitated again. It seemed the Zombie Horde had left far too strong an impression on him.