They stopped a few hundred meters away from the zombie crowd in a rundown factory.
Opening the big iron gate, there were neatly arranged more than twenty cars inside.
Everyone got into a car and then started the engines.
The squad leader sat in Ma Jun’s car, leading the way.
Racing like lightning.
They soon arrived at Changshi City Center.
However, they did not find Li Yu and his people here.
Just as they arrived, Li Yu and his group had just left this area.
They were less than 5 kilometers away from the Corpse Speaker.
During their drive, everyone in the car was eating food to replenish their strength.
From morning until past noon, although most of the equipment was not moved by manual labor but by mechanical devices,
that small portion of the things still exhausted them considerably.
Everyone dared not stop, speeding all the way, driving out of the city.
Occasionally encountering some zombies on the roadside, they did not cause any obstacles.
They just ran over them.
Amidst the roaring of the vehicles, Li Yu and his group slowly left the city center, heading towards the suburbs.
The Corpse Speaker and his group drew a blank.
Ma Jun looked at the squad leader with a face full of anger, and slapped him, "Are you stupid? Wasting my time!"
Then he said to the others: "Split into groups of three or four, search for them, and fire a shot to signal when found."
After saying that, he got into a car and randomly chose a direction to drive off.
At this moment, Li Yu and his group had already come to the outskirts of the city.
Just exiting the city.
Li Yu and others saw several cars adding water by a river.
At that moment, the people by the river also saw Li Yu and his group’s car, hurriedly returned to their cars, and took out various weapons, but no firearms.
Seeing them, Li Yu thought for a moment, then spoke to the driver, Li Tie, "Stop the car."
Li Tie stopped the car, and Li Yu took about dozen people out of the car, holding firearms, and slowly walked towards the group by the river.
"Who are you? If you come any closer, we will attack," said a man holding a crossbow nervously from the other group.
Li Yu stopped about a dozen steps away from them, looking at them, remembering the group they encountered last night.
Clearly, the group in front of them was not the same group as last night.
The group from last night had a common feature; they were covered in zombie skins and also had guns.
The people in front of them now were pale and thin, men and women, old and young, looking like a family-based group.
Li Yu stood still and said, "Is there a force here that wears zombie skins? Do you know where they are?"
Hearing this, the man with the crossbow said, "What do you want to know this for?"
Li Yu took a step forward and said, "I don’t want to disturb you; I just want to know about this force."
No other movement, just took a step forward.
The implication was clear.
Your weapons cannot harm us.
The man hesitated a moment, and a trembling woman next to him said, "Father of the child, just tell him."
The man holding the crossbow, after hearing this, no longer hesitated and spoke, "What you mentioned should be the Corpse Speaker. Around here, many people are afraid of them. I only know they are in Jinxian. I’m not sure about the exact location.
But, I kindly remind you, don’t provoke them.
These people, they kill without bloodshed, very terrifying.
If possible, stay as far away as you can."
Li Yu smiled and said, "So they are called the Corpse Speaker, huh? I just killed two of them yesterday, and now I’m looking for them!"
At these words, the people by the river showed incredulous expressions, as this Corpse Speaker organization was the most powerful force in this area.
In their eyes, Li Yu and his group might as well have had the courage of lions and leopards, daring to provoke them, even killing their people.
The man holding the crossbow seemed to recall something terrifying, trembling as he said: "Have you gone mad? Do you know how powerful they are?
They walk with zombies, and can even lead zombies. I heard their leader can control zombies and communicate with them!
I advise you to run as far as you can and never get caught by them.
Otherwise, you’re as good as dead."
Upon hearing this, Li Yu was also shocked. Controlling zombies, could that be real?
He then asked seriously, "You said you saw their leader controlling zombies with your own eyes?"
The man thought for a moment and then said, "I saw it with my own eyes. I saw their leader howl in the midst of a zombie tide, and then the whole zombie horde erupted."
Li Yu realized that this was not about controlling zombies but having a deep understanding of them, thus using certain sounds to incite the zombies.
It’s absolutely impossible for someone to control zombies.
Li Yu then asked, "I see you guys need water, where are you planning to go?"
The man, with some longing, said, "We plan to go to the Western Alliance. I heard there’s a large human base there with tall walls, very safe."
Upon hearing about the Western Alliance again, the last time he heard this was from someone captured from a chemical plant.
So, out of curiosity, he asked, "Where is this Western Alliance you’re talking about?"
The man answered, "I haven’t been there myself, but I’ve heard from other survivors that it’s in Sichuan Province. It’s a bit far. But I also heard that it’s not only in Sichuan Province; there are bases in Xiang Province and Chengshi as well. They seem to be a loosely organized group, but the biggest base is in Sichuan Province."
Li Yu was astounded, in his past life in the Jiang-Zhe region, he had never seen any major forces.
Though he had never left Jiang-Zhe, it led him to believe that there wouldn’t be any large-scale bases in a post-apocalyptic world.
Yet, this man changed his thinking.
Li Yu muttered to himself.
He was unsure what kind of force it really was, but according to what the man just said, it couldn’t be as ideal as he described.
Perhaps it was a huge trap.
So, he kindly cautioned, "In these apocalyptic times, you should be careful. I don’t think the Western Alliance is as simple as you imagine."
Then Dapao brought over a bag about the size of two palms, weighing around three pounds, filled with roasted rice, and tossed it over.
Then he said, "Thank you for your answers, and good luck."
They then left, got back into the car,
started the engine, and drove away.
The people by the river watched the direction Li Yu and his group left.
They kept their weapons ready until they could no longer see Li Yu and his group, then finally lowered them.
Heaving a sigh of relief.
The person closest to where Li Yu had thrown the bag hurried over and picked it up.
The man with the crossbow, who had answered Li Yu’s questions earlier, quickly said, "Be careful, don’t open it."
But the man who rushed over had already opened the bag.
Inside were some roasted rice grains, and the man excitedly said to the others, "It’s food."
"Don’t eat," the man with the crossbow said.
With a crunching sound, the man took a small handful and put it in his mouth to chew, saying, "It’s delicious. If they wanted to kill us, do you think they need to resort to poisoning us?
I mean... um... crunch, crunch, with their gear, what resistance could we possibly put up.
Besides, even if it’s poisoned, I’d rather die by poison than starve to death."
Having said that, he passed the bag to a nearby child.
In the arms of a woman, a child eagerly watched the man eat the roasted rice, its fragrance wafting up their nose.
With dry yellow hair and a gaunt little face, the child pitifully looked up at the man with the crossbow and said, "Daddy, I’m hungry, I’m really hungry."
As he spoke, he craned his neck to watch the man eat the roasted rice.
The man wasn’t greedy.
After all, they were all family, taking a handful then passing the bag to the others, then said to the man with the crossbow, "Brother, let Niuniu have a little."
The man with the crossbow felt somewhat choked up.
He said, "Eating it directly is too wasteful, let’s boil it into porridge. It’ll last for more meals."