At night, the mountain wind was piercingly cold.
Accompanied by a steady drizzle, it swept across the mountains and fields.
Dapao and the others moved the scrapped vehicles back and forth, using them as a temporary protective wall.
Then came the heavy trucks, encircling it, forming a safe area in the center.
Li Yu stood at the edge of the highway, looking down through the guardrail to see the road dozens of meters below.
After finishing a cigarette, feeling hungry, he returned to the vehicle to steam some food.
They weren’t short of food; this time, they had brought enough for more than half a month.
There were people watching both ends of the road, and tonight they had come up with a watch rotation schedule, with two people on each side.
The rest were resting and sleeping inside the vehicles.
After the eventful day, everyone was a bit tired, and besides those on duty, the others quietly went back inside the vehicles to rest.
The Unimog and two other off-road caravans could fit 15 people to sleep, five heavy trucks could accommodate 10 people each in their cabs, and three pickup trucks could seat about 10 people.
During the silent night, apart from the sound of the wind, only the occasional groans of zombies could be heard.
Li Yu was also tired and lay down in the Unimog, holding a handgun, slowly drifting off to sleep.
In the middle of the night.
Suddenly, a raucous noise awoke Li Yu.
Without any hesitation, Li Yu got up from the bed and exited the vehicle.
Only to see lights shining on the road behind them.
Dapao, Old Lü, and a few others were shooting zombies in the distance with crossbows.
These zombies were taken down before they could get close to the discarded vehicles used by Dapao and his team.
There weren’t many zombies, just over a dozen.
Li Yu walked up next to Dapao and asked, "Where did these zombies come from?"
Dapao pointed to Tiezi and said, "Tiezi just sent a drone over to check. They came up from the fork in the road we just passed. But there are not many of them."
Li Yu nodded, as long as the source was clear.
This small group of zombies would be quickly dealt with by Dapao and his team.
So, he told them, "Call me if anything happens."
Then he left the area.
And went back to the vehicle to rest and sleep.
Li Yu woke up and found many people in the convoy were already awake.
The sky was still gloomy, and the drizzle continued without any sign of stopping.
Yesterday, they had sweated profusely in their anti-explosion suits due to the heat; now that it was cooler with the rain, the temperature was just right.
The brightness of the sky was about the same as just before dusk.
After waking everyone up and having a quick bite, they moved the discarded vehicles aside and embarked on the journey back to the base.
Traveling along the highway, they didn’t encounter any large zombie hordes.
The route chosen by Li Yu was longer, but it passed through desolate areas, so there were fewer zombies.
The most zombies they encountered after setting off in the morning were no more than 30 in a group.
Four and a half hours later.
They had returned to the territory of Xin City.
When they reached National Highway 319 with the familiar roads, everyone felt a sense of homecoming.
It felt like a long time had passed, even though they had only been away for a few days.
Traveling along the national road, it was already 12:30 PM. They were just a few kilometers away from the base.
Everyone was eager to return.
After all, outside the base, the location of the surrounding environment and the threat of zombies meant they could lose their lives at any moment, so no one dared to let down their guard.
But being physically exhausted from their mission and constantly on mental alert was extremely uncomfortable for them.
Ten minutes later, they returned to the gate of the base.
When they were a few kilometers from the base, Third Uncle and others inside had already received news of their return.
It wasn’t from Li Yu and his team, but from personnel on duty outside, who had been posted several kilometers away from the national road and had seen them.
There were also some cameras installed on the national road outside.
The gate of Weng City opened, and Li Yu and his team drove in.
Several vehicles, with signs of battle on them, entered one by one.
The Unimog stopped steadily inside Weng City. As soon as Li Yu got out, he saw Second Uncle and Uncle coming down from the wall.
Their expressions were serious, as if something important had happened.
Seeing their faces, a bad premonition flashed through Li Yu’s mind.
"What happened?" Li Yu walked over to them and asked.
Uncle and Second Uncle looked at each other.
Eventually, Uncle said to Second Uncle, "You tell Li Yu."
Second Uncle thought for a moment, organized his wording, and began, "After you left the base, He Chao and his team went out to search for things and encountered some strangers near Xin City.
They claimed to be from the Western Alliance. After He Chao and his team discovered these people, they immediately returned to inform us.
Originally, upon hearing this, we didn’t want any contact with them, but that very day, Yu Lei, a Level 1 Personnel who cooperated with our base,
encountered them while searching for supplies nearby.
Yu Lei had just found a batch of petrol generators, but those people took it from them.
Yu Lei was not pleased, but seeing that they were armed, he didn’t act rashly. Still, he ended up with a broken leg, as they declared this was the territory of the Western Alliance."