Chapter 788: Chapter 773: A Lone Boat on the Sea (Part 1)
Wang Zhongyu, after much persuasion, finally convinced Wen Quanxin. He got out of the vehicle with a blanket taken from the cargo compartment, while the latter locked the car doors from the inside, thus eliminating any worry of a sudden zombie ambush at night.
However, if Wang Zhongyu wanted a restful sleep in the driver’s seat, he had to do much more than Wen Quanxin did, as the front of the vehicle had three windows, offering clear visibility and making it easy to expose himself within the line of sight of zombies.
Fortunately, Wang Zhongyu had prepared for this in advance. He pulled out the sunshades he found inside the car.
The silver reflective panels were firmly attached to the front windshield with suction cups. The glass on the driver and passenger side windows was also fitted with a set of black light-blocking panels. With these installed, the interior became an enclosed space.
To completely block out the light from both inside and outside, Wang Zhongyu, like performing magic, took out two pieces of pre-cut fabric to stuff them into the window gaps before closing the windows tightly.
After completing all this, he stood away from the car and looked around to ensure that it was impossible to see inside from outside. Only then did he contentedly get back into the car.
Nesting in such a confined space felt genuinely uncomfortable. Moreover, the obstruction of vision would quickly cause one to develop a sense of oppression.
Wang Zhongyu was no exception. Yet fortunately, he was accustomed to it. Besides, compared with his negativity, doing this could at least maximize his safety, so he had to endure it at all costs.
With nothing to do, Wang Zhongyu soon felt the feeling of fatigue growing ever heavier around him, and his eyelids grew heavier and heavier. He had already entered a trance of semi-sleep.
"Beep Beep Beep!" The precise alarm function of the digital watch reminded him to get up on time.
Old Zhao drowsily opened his eyes unwillingly. He raised his arm to check the time; three hours had passed. As he expected, Tang Xiaoquan had not come down to wake him for the shift change.
"One, two, three!" Old Zhao muttered to himself. As he reached three, he threw off the covers and got up from the bed, not giving himself any chance to laze around to prevent slipping back into sleep due to a lack of willpower.
Vigorously slapping his face a few times, Old Zhao tried to wake himself up quickly this way.
Tang Xiaoquan kept his hands tucked in his sleeves; the chilling night wind was even sharper and more biting. He felt like a popsicle now, as there was not a hint of warmth he could feel anywhere.
His ears, already stiff from the cold, vaguely heard footsteps on the floor below. Tang Xiaoquan alertly shifted his gaze to the pitch-black doorway. A figure slowly emerged from it.
"Uncle Zhao, why are you up?"
"Do you still have the nerve to ask why Uncle Zhao is up?" Although Old Zhao’s expression was stern, the cup of hot water he handed over expressed his caring concern: "You little brat aren’t being fair; we agreed to alternate shifts every three hours—why are you tricking this old man? Luckily, I set an alarm, or you’d really have fooled me."
"Ah, that’s why they say the ginger gets spicier with age!" Tang Xiaoquan held the hot mug, feeling the warmth radiating from it.
"You!" Old Zhao pointed at him helplessly: "So, is everything at the factory still quiet?"
Tang Xiaoquan shook his head: "Yes, quiet. I think they must have fallen asleep."
The night was so deep, he couldn’t even see the situation inside the guardroom, let alone monitor other areas.
"It’s good if they’re asleep; it saves them from causing any troublesome situations." Deep down, Old Zhao knew nothing would happen tonight, and continuing to monitor was pointless, but he continued to stand in for and agree with Tang Xiaoquan. His purpose was just one: to get this young man to lay down his burden and go to sleep peacefully.
"Alright, I’ll keep watch here; you head downstairs to rest!"
"No..."
"Stop! Enough!" Old Zhao decisively pointed toward the door, leaving no room for argument: "If anything comes up, I’ll notify you, but for now, head downstairs and sleep."
"Okay, okay!" Tang Xiaoquan raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. He truly felt exhausted and had little confidence in making it through the night. So, he conceded and replied: "Uncle Zhao, you take care of things here then, and remember to wake me up in three hours to switch shifts."
"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely wake you. I can’t hold out like you young folks; three hours is my limit. I’ll call you," Old Zhao patted his chest with a loud thump, though in his heart, he’d already resigned himself to an all-nighter.
Wang Zhongyu was sleeping deeply. If not for feeling the car body slightly shaking, he might have slept through to dawn.
Unwillingly, he barely opened a slit in his eyes, but the deeply dark car interior quickly led him to close them again. He adjusted his position to relieve the soreness from sleeping wrong.
"Bang!" Another impact caused the car to shake, still not very obvious, but enough to drive away even most of Wang Zhongyu’s sleepiness. Clearly, the car wouldn’t shake without reason unless some external force was applied, and on such a night in the apocalypse, there was only one possibility for such actions.
Zombies! Wang Zhongyu stiffened in realization. The snoring from Wen Quanxin in the back cargo compartment was clear. Wang Zhongyu vaguely remembered that during a previous refuge trip with Old Zhao and Tang Xiaoquan, it was the group’s snoring that drew zombies upstairs that night.
How careless of him; Wang Zhongyu, annoyed with himself, wondered how he could have forgotten such a crucial detail. Hearing the scratching of claws on the car’s exterior, he couldn’t shake a deep-seated fear.
His only thought was to quickly start the car and escape, though this time he was cautious enough not to rashly turn the key. Instead, he leaned forward slightly to lift a corner of the sunshade. One glimpse was enough to make him recoil backward.
Zombies, everywhere zombies. Even from just one glance, he could confirm that, without an accident, his vehicle was surrounded by a swarm of zombies. Trying to drive through such a wall of bodies without a heavy-duty vehicle was like being an insignificant raft in a vast ocean, a single wave capable of wiping him out.
Why was this happening? There shouldn’t have been a zombie swarm of this scale in the vicinity. Unless these creatures had overly sensitive auditory systems.
"Bang! Bang!" The zombies seemed to sense the commotion inside the car and began to hit more frequently—the horde was getting restless.
This was bad. Wang Zhongyu realized he needed to act quickly. The first step was to wake Wen Quanxin.
Wang Zhongyu was amazed at the latter; despite all the commotion in the car, he remained completely unaware, sleeping soundly—truly unbelievable.
He really wanted to rush back there and give him a couple of kicks on the backside, but with no path between the truck cabin and the cargo compartment, he could only sigh helplessly.
What to do? Wang Zhongyu’s gaze landed on the hand-held radio in the passenger seat. Yes, the radio—it was currently the only tool to communicate with Wang Zhongyu. Without delay, he pressed the communication button. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it with recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)
