Chapter 341: Chapter 290: The More Survivors, the Better
"Brother Zhang, you better decide quickly, or you’ll miss the chance to be a reborn parent!"
Pan Guoliang hadn’t eaten for two days; he’d only had a bottle of water. Coupled with his severe injuries, if he weren’t naturally robust, he would’ve been done for and wouldn’t have lasted until now.
Zhang Su hadn’t moved because the number in his mind still hadn’t changed; it was stuck at [30/38], which meant Pan Guoliang hadn’t fully submitted to him. However, what Pan said wasn’t wrong—if he didn’t help soon, the guy might just kick the bucket.
Thoughts: I was hoping to recruit a couple hundred from the Cyan Dragon Corps to bolster our labor and fighting power, but now it’s come to this—grabbing one is better than none...
Thinking of this, Zhang Su unzipped his down jacket, reached into the inner pocket and fumbled around for a bit, pulling out a small, gray, dirty-looking object, about the size of a thumbnail, flat and small.
Plop, Zhang Su threw the zombie thalamus onto Pan Guoliang, saying, "Eat it; you’ll get better soon."
Pan Guoliang saw with his own eyes what Zhang Su pulled out from his clothes. He laboriously reached out with two fingers to pinch the zombie thalamus, pressing hard, feeling like an eraser—kind of bouncy and rubbery.
He had a bizarre expression on his face and teased, "Brother Zhang, are you Jigong?"
"What do you mean?"
Zhang Su didn’t understand what the other meant at first.
"If you’re not Jigong, how can you make mud balls to save people? What is this thing? How long has it been since you showered, to pull out such a mud ball..."
Pan Guoliang was both crying and laughing, feeling like fate was toying with him.
Zhang Su realized what he meant, feeling a bit dismayed, he said, "You won’t die immediately... this is a gene-level healing medicine developed by a top biological science doctor I rescued from a secret research lab. Hurry and eat it; I need to ask you something!"
"Secret research lab? Biological science doctor? Gene-level healing medicine?"
Pan Guoliang, hearing these words, found them impressive without knowing why, and Zhang Su didn’t seem like he was lying. Now, looking at the "mud ball" in his hand, he thought he might as well gamble on it, closed his eyes, and stuffed the gray piece into his mouth.
"Master Zhang..."
At this moment, Meng Changwei and members from Celestial Horse Island who were helping them walked over.
"There’s a survivor in the tank?"
Meng Changwei had already seen Zhang Su talking back and forth with someone in the tank, so he asked casually, not waiting for an answer, and continued, "The supplies at the barracks are ample. We couldn’t take it all at once. We plan to come back tomorrow to take more."
"Alright, what’s promised is yours. We’re definitely not hauling food, but I don’t have time to stay here and guard. If someone comes to steal, don’t blame us."
Zhang Su spread his hands.
"Heh heh..." Meng Changwei chuckled and said, "I came to discuss with you. I see you guys probably can’t take everything in one trip today. How about we arrange for some people to stay here and keep watch? What do you think?"
The Cyan Dragon Corps lost a lot of supplies in the great battle with the corpse horde, but there was still quite a bit of untouched stock. Even a starving camel is bigger than a horse, and their remaining supplies are still more than what Bridge Town has!
"Keep watch?"
Zhang Su hesitated slightly, looked around at the brothers and sisters who came with him, and without much hesitation said, "We’ve diverted the corpse horde, but it’s still not safe here. Better not keep watch, I advise you against it!"
Supplies are important, but if it costs some comrades’ lives, it’s not worth it. The three forces that came over today all came from the south; whether there are other survivor camps that know the Cyan Dragon Corps has fallen is uncertain.
Meng Changwei frowned, looking around, tutting a few times, and sighed, "You’re right. Oh, by the way..."
Saying this, he pulled out a walkie-talkie from his backpack, walked to the tank and handed it to Zhang Su, saying, "This is a military-grade walkie-talkie I just found. The specs seem decent, and it’s already paired. The distance between us isn’t too far; we can try to communicate."
Zhang Su took the walkie-talkie with a strange expression. Usually, he’s the one giving others a walkie-talkie, but this time someone gave him one. It felt interesting.
"Okay, I’ll give it a try when I get back today!"
Bang bang, Meng Changwei patted the sturdy tank, admiringly smiled, and said, "What a badass piece of equipment! With this parked at the camp, who would dare cause trouble? Hahaha, Master Zhang, we’ll head off first and come back tomorrow."
"Alright, be careful on the road. Goodbye."
"Goodbye!"
After exchanging farewells, Zhang Su watched Meng Changwei walk towards the convoy, handed the walkie-talkie to Zheng Xinyu, and told her to keep it safe.
He had a good impression of the people from Bridge Town. Their strength was not weaker than the United Village back in the day; they were principled and well-mannered, a breath of fresh air among the survivor forces.
It’s a pity that they’re separated by rugged mountains; otherwise, they could have easily united and developed together.
As the saying goes, heroes think alike. Meng Changwei has almost the same idea as Zhang Su. He was startled by the fierce posture before, but it was this thunderous approach that was the key to controlling the situation.
Additionally, Zhang Su’s attitude towards the survivors from the Cyan Dragon Corps and the promises he made to them were carried out with great care.
Zhang Su naturally wouldn’t know Meng Changwei’s thoughts. Just as he was considering how to enter the underground laboratory, he heard a sound of amazement coming from inside the tank.
"Holy crap, this is a godsend medicine! You’re truly Jigong..."
The voice wasn’t loud, clearly deliberately lowered, but there was no hindrance to Zhang Su’s hearing.
Pan Guoliang was lying on his side inside the tank, having previously felt an itch at the wound, along with a scorching heat all over his body. When he lifted his clothes, he was stunned to see the wound healing bit by bit, and the speed left him speechless.
Within a few minutes, the wound he thought would claim his life had completely closed, even new granulations had sprouted out, feeling so real to the touch!
Pan Guoliang looked up at Zhang Su with eyes full of shock, almost as if he was seeing a deity.
Zhang Su looked down at Pan Guoliang, indifferent to his astonishment. Anyone witnessing the miraculous effects of the Zombie Thalamus for the first time would react the same; he felt the same back then. At this moment, what concerned him was something else; the numbers in his mind had changed!
[31/38]
Clearly, the man beneath him with the devout eyes had completely surrendered.
Zhang Su was very satisfied with this result and not at all surprised. In his shoes, he too would want to follow a leader who could instantaneously heal lethal wounds; this sense of security was overwhelming!
"This challenge task is truly nice; it even indirectly checks if the other party has surrendered. Pity that this mechanism won’t be available once completed."
Zhang Su murmured to himself, squatting down and reaching out his hand, "Can you move now? If so, come out and meet everyone!"
Pan Guoliang stood up somewhat dazedly, held Zhang Su’s hand, originally not daring to exert strength, but indeed felt no pain from the wound, so he leaped up, climbing out of the gunner’s compartment.
Seeing the situation outside again, the cold wind sweeping past gave Pan Guoliang a sense of rebirth.
"I thought I’d never see the world again, haha, thanks, Brother Zhang for saving my life. I’ll call you Brother Zhang from now on!"
Pan Guoliang bowed respectably to Zhang Su.
"That’s great, I like people who repay kindness. Go meet everyone; they’re all brothers and sisters, get acquainted."
Zhang Su patted Pan Guoliang’s sturdy shoulder. This man was not shorter than him, his robust body hinted at remarkable combat power, and his clever appearance was not one of those simple-minded muscleheads.
Pan Guoliang glanced at the ten-plus pairs of eyes around, clasped his hands, saying, "Hello everyone, I’m Pan Guoliang, thirty-three this year. Like everyone else, I’ll be following Brother Zhang, pleased to meet you all!"
"Hello, hello..."
"Welcome, Brother Pan."
As time passed, surviving in the apocalypse for long, having been through several trials, everyone’s discernment grew; whether someone harbors ill intentions or sincerely joins, they could almost tell. With Zhang Su personally vetting, everyone had a decent acceptance of Pan Guoliang, introducing themselves and exchanging pleasantries.
The rapid healing of severely wounded Pan Guoliang did not surprise the people of Celestial Horse Island; they all knew Zhang Su had Secret Medicine. As for Xin Qi and the others, they were curious but dared not ask wildly.
"Brother Zhang, have the three of them also joined Celestial Horse Island?"
After meeting everyone, Pan Guoliang pointed at Xin Qi and the group, asking.
"No, we haven’t. We can only be considered, uh... Brother Zhang’s captives." Xin Qi quickly clarified before Zhang Su explained.
"It’s not quite like that." Zhang Su shook his head, saying, "They’ve already passed the observation period; though not formal members of Celestial Horse Island, they are no longer captives."
"Really?"
"Oh wow, that’s great."
"So... Could we possibly join Celestial Horse Island in the future too?"
Xin Qi and the others were thrilled after hearing Zhang Su’s words.
Zhang Su nodded, "Exactly, there’s a chance, depending on your performance. So, um... Pan Guoliang, right? I plan to use the tank for... Hmm?"
Before finishing his sentence, Zhang Su felt a jolt in his heart, and the numbers in his mind changed again. The count of survivors went from thirty-eight to thirty-seven. Clearly, just now, a member of the Cyan Dragon Corps had died.
