You were supposed to hoard supplies, why the heck did you hoard zombies!

Like the vehicle convoy's compound, this place was also enclosed by a high wall.

The survivors from Jiangbei District were clearly smart, as both Peng Yue and the settlement before them had chosen to situate themselves in the suburbs, far from the bustling areas.

There were over a dozen trucks of various sizes parked on the road outside, most of which had returned from outside that afternoon.

Before the two could get close, a lazy voice shouted from above:

"You guys, stand right there and don't move."

"Where are you coming from?"

Shadows moved on top of the wall.

The man in the lead was unclear to see.

But judging from the tone of his voice, he sounded reasonably friendly.

Tian Gou and Zhang Wei of course didn't come here alone, each had brought along a lackey for protection, now standing in front of them to guard against any danger that might appear from the front. Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire

Thud.

A package was suddenly thrown over from below.

Tian Gou squinted his eyes looking upward, and soon heard that person's chuckling voice again.

"Hey, a smart one here."

"Come on in."

A small door suddenly opened in the tightly closed main gate.

Someone inside was impatiently urging, "What are you looking at? Hurry up and come in!"

Zhang Wei glanced at Tian Gou, who also seemed puzzled, and then turned his curiosity toward the person inside the gate, asking, "Don't you need to check if we are carrying any dangerous items or something?"

Upon hearing this, that person snorted heavily through his nose.

"Dangerous items?"

"Come on, are you guys strapped with C4 or something?"

This remark immediately choked Zhang Wei, while Tian Gou next to him had already slapped his shoulder and took the lead to walk inside.

Saying took the lead, yet it was still their lackeys walking at the very front.

The two were just right, sandwiched in the middle.

Another one covering the rear.

As soon as they entered, they saw a man inside looking up at the direction of the wall with a face full of flattery.

Tian Gou instinctively looked back to see that a long-haired man was standing on the partition above the wall, who upon noticing them, immediately gestured with his fingers.

"Brother Gou..."

Zhang Wei was a bit wary.

His right hand had already reached for his waist.

At the same time, the two lackeys had already spread out in a fan shape at their sides, each clutching a crooked knife.

In the event of conflict, the two of them could take cover and retreat through the gate immediately.

Tian Gou narrowed his eyes and whispered that it was nothing, then with a sudden powerful push from his feet, he jumped onto the wooden ladder to his left and scampered up the partition behind the wall.

The inner wall of the entire yard was made of these partitions set on scaffolding, turning the original single-layer wall head into a city wall that could accommodate people.

Clearly, there must be a few survivors with knowledge of civil engineering here.

Otherwise, the average person would hardly think of such a method.

As he was halfway up, the long-haired man on the wall waved at the man who had opened the door below, and he immediately ducked into the shed next to the main gate, as quick as a rabbit.

Calling it a shed would be generous, it looked more like a doghouse.

It was just a low, makeshift shack made of some bricks and wooden planks and was barely over a meter high from the top.

Similar structures were not uncommon in the yard.

Even one could see a row of open-air sheds erected against the wall near the inside of the houses, with no walls on all four sides except for a roof over the top.

Inside, at least dozens of survivors were lying haphazardly, looking much like refugees.

"They all came from the city."

"What about you guys?"

As Tian Gou was watching, a lazy voice suddenly reached his ears again.

He turned his head to look, just to find the long-haired man looking at him with interest.

Before Tian Gou could answer, Zhang Wei already spoke up, "We're from the city center."

The two had never considered concealing their identities from the start.

There was no need to hide anyway.

But when the long-haired man heard what he said, his eyes flashed as if he had heard something unbelievable.

"Downtown?"

"There are still people alive there?"

Tian Gou immediately nodded.

He then took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it over to him.

Zhang Wei also took out a pack of cigarettes, but distributed them to the guards on the wall, before stuffing the remaining half pack into their hands.

Soon, the entire courtyard wall was alight with twinkling sparks and swirling smoke.

The group quickly became friendly.

The long-haired man's surname was Lu, and his name was Lu Yong, the head of the security team here.

The courtyard they were standing in belonged to a family surnamed Wang, who owned a rural homestead, but the family had all perished not long after the disaster struck.

Now, it was a man named Chen Xiaoyong who called the shots here.

The people below all called him "Brother Yong."

"This Brother Yong of yours is quite capable," Tian Gou took a drag of his cigarette, sizing up the brightly lit small building through the hazy smoke.

That was where Chen Xiaoyong and his followers rested.

"Found such a good spot."

He spoke and then glanced at the somewhat smug guards next to him, his tone slightly flattering as he said:

"Strong men and horses."

"Awesome."

Lu Yong naturally revelled in Tian Gou's words, tilting his chin up and drawing deeply on the cigarette before slowly exhaling the smoke.

"Isn't that obvious?"

"My brother-in-law is famously bold yet meticulous."

"When the streets plunged into chaos, he immediately took my sister and me toward the suburbs here."

"Facing those man-eating lunatics on the road, while others were shivering with fear, he just drove over them, and he managed to break us out of the city!"

Brother-in-law?

The two exchanged a glance, suddenly excited.

They had not expected to encounter someone from the leadership merely by striking up a conversation with a random guard on the wall.

But on second thought, it made sense; after all, gatekeeping is critical for every settlement.

One mistake could lead to the demise of everyone inside.

It was actually the same back at their base.

The security work at Zhang Ye's villa was also shared by several moms and Xu Lin; ordinary survivors rarely had a chance to get close.

Lu Yong was already in a good mood, and he got even more proud with the flattery from the two men.

Excited, he began to lose control of his tongue.

He spilled everything, whether it should be said or not.

"At that time, actually, there were still people alive inside this rural restaurant."

"That was the fat owner."

"He firmly refused to let us stay, even threatened to call the police on my brother-in-law and have us arrested if we didn't leave."

Lu Yong lowered his voice suddenly and leaned in close to the two.

"Hehehe."

"My brother-in-law agreed to leave the next day."

"But that very night, he crept into where the fatso was resting and slaughtered the whole family of three."

As he spoke, his gaze flicked across their faces, and he made a throat-slitting gesture with his hand. Seeing them both tense up, he straightened up with a chuckle and resumed puffing out clouds of smoke.

The two men, seemingly startled, shared an emerging thought.

This Chen fellow was definitely no pushover!

It's not going to be easy to deal with.