Chapter 9 Passing the Village

"Zhonghua stopped production in 2110?"

Luke thought of how he had just handed over a hundred thousand yuan with a wave of his hand, and felt a pang of pain. He tried to change the topic to make himself feel better.

Wang Tianxing greedily sucked on the cigarette, holding the smoke in his mouth and not willing to spit it out. He said vaguely, "They stopped production in 10, and it's very rare to see such a precious old package of Zhonghua now."

He exhaled a ring of smoke, fumbled in his pocket for a while, and handed over two small pieces of gold, about 20 grams each. He said apologetically, "I can't take your cigarette for nothing, this is all I have."

Luke felt a pain in his heart, as if he was cutting his flesh. But he pretended to be generous and waved his hand. "Forget it, I don't smoke much anyway. And we're teammates from now on, so I'll give it to you."

He had figured it out by now. In the eyes of Wang Tianxing and the others, things that were valuable to them were still the same price as before in his eyes. Like this cigarette, as long as he went back to the modern world, he could have as much as he wanted.

A pack of cigarettes was nothing compared to making friends. He was a newcomer in the team, and it was good to get along with the old members. Having more friends meant having more options.

Wang Tianxing didn't refuse. He put away the cigarette, his face solemn. "I appreciate your kindness. If you need anything, just let me know."

He bent down and carefully returned to the tent. Luke could vaguely see the faint red light flickering inside.

Luke shook his head and lay back down by the fire. He put aside his worries and fell asleep in exhaustion.

...

Luke felt like he had just closed his eyes for a moment, when someone gently nudged him. He rubbed his blurry eyes and waited for vision to clear. He realized that the sky was already bright, and looked at his watch. It was already 12 o'clock.

The person who woke him up was a young boy in the team, who had a pale and thin face with a hint of fear.

Seeing Luke open his eyes, he was scared and stood up, backing away a few steps. He pointed at Li Luoran, who was packing up the tent, and said, "The captain asked me to wake you up. We're ready to go."

Luke gave him a helpless smile. "I won't eat you, what are you afraid of? What's your name?"

The boy turned his head and ran towards Li Luoran, saying as he ran, "I'm Li Yang."

The others in the team were very efficient, and packed up their things in a few minutes.

Luke's only thing was probably a steel pot, and he couldn't possibly put it in his space warehouse in front of so many people.

So he just carried the pot on his back, and followed Li Luoran and the others, who had already packed up, to the minibus at the foot of the hill.

To be honest, this minibus looked like it had reached the age of scrap in Luke's eyes.

This minibus had obviously been used for many years, and looked old and shabby. There were unpleasant rust marks all over the body, the paint color had faded to black and gray, and there was a big hole in the horns, making a harsh sound.

The windows were cracked in many places, and were roughly taped together. The seats were worn and torn, exposing the sponge inside. The floor was full of dirty stains, and there was a strange musty smell in the car.

Li Luoran started the minibus after four tries, and the noisy engine sounded like a heavy metal band was playing inside. The exhaust pipe kept spewing out pungent black smoke.

What was more exaggerated was that the tires were full of cracks, and Luke wondered if they could keep running. If they were attacked by zombies and had a flat tire, it would be a disaster.

Li Luoran saw Luke's stunned expression, and said helplessly, "There's no way, this is the only car we can find that can still run. We can only make do with it for now, and hope to find a better one in the town ahead."

Luke understood Li Luoran's difficulties, so he just sighed and sat on a somewhat uncomfortable seat with his steel pot on his back.

The seats in the minibus had been removed by half, and some miscellaneous items were piled up.

The three old and three young got into the car, put their things away, and sat on the seats obediently. They used something that looked like seat belts to secure themselves in place.

Luke also casually threw his pot into the pile of things, and found a seat by the window.

Wang Tianxing leaned over and kindly reminded him, "Luke, you'd better take out your pistol. The zombies' attacks are sometimes very sudden. If you can't suppress them in time, we'll soon be surrounded. By then, the thin iron sheet of the minibus won't be able to stop them."

Luke had never actively looked for trouble with the zombies. Wang Tianxing, who had been fighting zombies for more than three years, was the most experienced.

"Thank you, brother!"

He was very grateful for Wang Tianxing's advice. He took out his pistol from his clothes pocket, carefully checked the magazine and the chamber, and confirmed that the gun was in good condition. He tucked it in his waist.

Wang Tianxing just smiled at Luke, and then went to the back of the car, climbed onto the fire point on the roof, and lay down, watching the rear situation carefully.

Since Xu Yun was on guard in the early morning, he was lying on the side of the pile of things, replenishing his sleep.

The driver was Li Luoran. After the minibus started, the engine noise became even louder, and the whole car was filled with the roar of the overloaded engine.

The bumpy ride, coupled with the incessant noise, made Luke feel dizzy and nauseous. But seeing the old people and children next to him who seemed to be used to it, he could only endure his discomfort.

The minibus was smooth for the first ten minutes or so. Although they encountered a dozen zombies when they passed through a small village, they were all left behind by the minibus.

With the slow speed of the zombies, they couldn't catch up with the minibus that was driving at 50 kilometers per hour. They could only eat some exhaust gas behind.

But when there were zombies looking for trouble, Wang Tianxing wouldn't be polite. His pistol kept making crisp shots, like the scythe of death, blowing up the heads of the zombies, and harvesting their lives.

This precise marksmanship amazed Luke.

But this good luck didn't last long.

The road that the minibus had to pass through had a village with hundreds of families living in it, and the road went through the center of the village.

As soon as they reached the entrance of the village, they could see a few scattered zombies wandering on the road.

Luke had bypassed this village from the fields when he passed by yesterday, but this method was not feasible for the minibus. People could take a detour, but this broken minibus was not an off-road vehicle, and couldn't go around.

Xu Yun got up from the floor, grabbed the automatic rifle next to him, and came to the front of the car with a murderous look.

He obviously had encountered this situation before, and Li Luoran only asked him one question: "Rush through?"

Xu Yun nodded, his eyes fierce, and gritted his teeth, "Crush them!"

He turned his head and said coldly, "Sit tight, everyone! If anyone is thrown out of the car, they'll be eaten alive by the zombies."

Xu Yun's muscles bulged, and he had a fierce aura. He looked like a fearless warrior, but Luke couldn't figure out why he would stay in such a weak team.

When he saw Xu Yun's eyes on Li Luoran, he suddenly understood. So this Xu Yun was also a pursuer of Li Luoran, otherwise, in this end of the world, who would stay behind with such a strong strength?

Like this kind of weak team, it was already a miracle that they could make it to this point.

Just as Luke was in a trance, Xu Yun's cold eyes fell on him, and he snapped, "Luke, you drive the car."

Luke was stunned. He didn't even have a car in the modern world, how could he drive this kind of minibus?

But for some reason, when he looked at the dashboard, he felt a familiar feeling for the minibus. So he opened his mouth, but didn't say anything, and finally took over Li Luoran's driver's seat.

"Really rush through?"

Luke was a bit nervous. After all, it was his first time driving this kind of minibus. He turned his head and asked, Xu Yun nodded vigorously.

"Fine, this is what you said. Don't blame me if something goes wrong!"

After getting Xu Yun's answer, Luke made up his mind, stepped on the accelerator, and a lot of gasoline flowed into the combustion chamber along the pipeline. To his surprise, the old engine made a normal roar at this time.

"Vroom! Vroom!"

The powerful engine gave everyone a sense of security.

He released the clutch abruptly, and the tires rubbed violently on the ground, leaving a black mark. The minibus lifted its head, and suddenly made a huge rumble, like a mad bull roaring and rushing out.

The roaring engine clearly attracted the attention of the zombies at the entrance of the village. They had sensitive noses and quickly smelled the fresh meat on the minibus. They had red eyes and pounced on them without fear of death.

The last ones were buried under the wheels of the mad minibus, and the rusty front face of the car was stained with red and white by the zombies' brains.

The huge engine noise also alarmed the other zombies in the village. They staggered out of the grass or houses.

Luke even saw a few zombies without legs, who also tried to crawl over and bite them with their arms. He was speechless, "Fuck! Is that necessary? They're already zombies and still so persistent and relentless!"

Xu Yun saw this and his face didn't change. He shouted at Luke, "You can't let the car stop, or we'll all be done for."

"I know! The accelerator is welded to death by me! I can't let go of it even a bit! If I could, I would even step on the accelerator into the fuel tank!"

Luke didn't need Xu Yun to tell him what to do, he knew it too. Looking at the zombies in the village, there were at least a thousand or more. If they were surrounded by them, they couldn't stop them with two automatic rifles and two pistols.

Luke wiped the sweat on his hands with his clothes, there was too much sweat, and he felt slippery holding the steering wheel. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, stepped on the accelerator to the end, and the minibus rushed into the village, heading for the exit at the other end.