Chapter 236: Old Tractor
Zhang Xiao Qiang sat in the bumpy rover and looked at the desolate scenery outside. Zhang Xiao Qiang's old home belonged to central China, although the weather was hot and humid throughout the year, there was constant green no matter how far he looked. After the apocalypse, everything had dried up and turned yellow. Countless trees were barren, and most of them would probably not last a year.
A small village appeared in front of the rover, which was currently far from the national highway. The village was not developed and had few houses, the majority made of tiles and bricks. Three had previously led people to clear the zombies in the area, and the village was considered a safe area.
The cars did not enter the abandoned village and drove straight on, where a county town sat. Three had provided information that zombies came from there, the county which had a population of 100 thousand before the apocalypse. Zhang Xiao Qiang never dared to investigate the county, afraid if the 100 thousand zombie horde. But with the zombies being stirred, Zhang Xiao Qiang was afraid of the county.
Zhang Xiao Qiang's base could be considered remote, but the inner regions of China were never truly remote, this small county was only a few 100 km away from Zhang Xiao Qiang's base. Assuming that a zombie could travel 5km in an hour, they would only take 20 hours to arrive at Zhang Xiao Qiang's spring base. This thought made Zhang Xiao Qiang anxious.
"Screech…." The land rover came to a sudden stop. The HMG on the vehicle suddenly produced the sound of the gun bolt being pulled. Zhang Xiao Qiang opened the door and came out of the vehicle. Aside from the driver, two other subordinates came out with Type-56 ARs and followed him.
They were on a straight path that led straight into the county, and ahead of them were many buildings. Behind the buildings were small hills covered with all sorts of plantation. Within the plantations were jet black zombies roaming around. On the contrary, there were very few zombies lurking around in the buildings.
Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at the county that had many tall story buildings then looked at his surroundings. Using his enhanced eyes, Zhang Xiao Qiang was able to view anything within a kilometer with extreme detail. The buildings in the county were closer to the roads and were placed close together. The dense buildings represented a dense horde of zombies, and if they were to scatter, they would be scattered on the main road.
Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at the zombies that covered the hills and dales. In his eyes, a network between each zombie started to form, the closest distance between the zombies were 7-8m and the furthest being 30m. They were slow in movements, but their search radius was extremely meticulous, to the point that any area that the zombie crossed had no hiding spots for any survivors, unless the survivors can hide 40m beneath the ground.
On the slope of a hill, a zombie slowly staggered and swayed its way forward where a large hole was. The soil within was red, which evidently meant that there was a mine nearby, and the crater was the spot where bricks were burnt.
"Plop…." The zombie rolled into the hole. Above, more than 10 zombies continued to walk towards the hole. Zhang Xiao Qiang assessed the hole and calculated its rough dimensions, how many zombies could fit in there. Suddenly, the 10 zombies stopped and walked around the hole while continuing to look around.
"Plop…" Another two zombies fell into the hole, after which the distance between the zombies increased. In the end, the zombies crossed the hole that could originally fit about a 100 odd zombies, but only had 30 zombies. At this point in time, Zhang Xiao Qiang started to perspire in cold sweat, the zombies were behaving too strangely.
Zhang Xiao Qiang was still in denial and did not believe that the zombies had gained sentience, until the last few zombies that walked past the hole. It was even more drastic, only one zombie fell into the hole while the others got past it safely.
"Siii…" After taking in a long breathe, Zhang Xiao Qiang forced himself to calm down. The zombies at the beginning did not know how to scatter and search, they merely went in any direction. In Y-City, the 200 zombies that suffocated themselves in the corner of the building beneath Zhang Xiao Qiang was proof. The old zombies did not know how to communicate, where Zhang Xiao Qiang's design to trap and burn a few 100 zombies and a D2 was proof. Even the powerful D2 had helped Zhang Xiao Qiang kill off close to 600 zombies.
But why are the zombies able to work together in groups now? Why do they have the knowledge of the hole where other zombies dropped? Do the zombies know how to communicate at long distances?
Zhang Xiao Qiang started preparing to bring his two subordinates to kill and provoke a few zombies and test their reaction when suddenly, a building made out of wooden planks exploded and launched debris all over the sky.
The wooden house was close to the suburbs and was not large. To Zhang Xiao Qiang's subordinates, the wooden house was the size of a peanut, and no one would ever notice any change to a peanut, but it was different for Zhang Xiao Qiang. To him, the wooden house was the same as a toy house.
An old-fashioned truck colored green suddenly burst out from the mess and increased its speed upon reaching the road. Behind the truck were countless zombies.
Zhang Xiao Qiang turned and took the binoculars from the neck of his subordinate, found from one of the houses in a small town. It looked to be an antique from WWII, the dark-colored binoculars allowed only six times magnification but was entirely different with Zhang Xiao Qiang's perverse eyes.
Through the windscreen, Zhang Xiao Qiang saw a 40-year-old full beard middle-aged man driving the vehicle and a child less than 10 years old on the seat beside him. As the old tractor shook, the little kid inside shook with it.
On the back of the tractor were 20 odd men and women kneeling down and the two wooden fences on the sides had countless blood marks all over. Everyone buried their heads beneath their legs and held onto the wooden fence with a hand while using the other to grab onto their comrades.
Behind the old tractor were countless Type-S zombies that occasionally jumped and pounced towards the old tractor. Due to the skillful driving, they were always a step ahead of the Type-S zombies. These zombies that pounced into the air would fall to the ground and get trampled by the other zombies.
Before the apocalypse, the county experienced a large migration and countless vehicles were left on the roads. The large old tractor could only maneuver around the vehicles, which slowed the old tractor down.
A Type-S zombie leaped and collided onto the back of the old tractor. The impact caused it to fall back into the zombie horde, but even though it was the first one to collide onto the tractor, it was definitely not the last.
The old tractor's endless escape attracted the combat team members' attention. They turned to look in its direction, which was only a kilometer away from them. They held their guns and waited for Zhang Xiao Qiang's order.
Zhang Xiao Qiang did not say a word, he used the binoculars and looked at the ordinary zombies. As expected, Zhang Xiao Qiang had guessed it and was the thing he never wanted to see. The scattered zombies slowly made their way towards the same convergence point from all around the tractor – the road that the old tractor was moving on.