Return to the Survivor Camp

“What’s the status of that RV team?”

Wan Xingbang was still wearing his gate guard uniform, but his expression held a sharp focus, not at all befitting an ordinary soldier.

His unique bearing as the captain of a special operations unit revealed itself unintentionally.

“There’s been no unusual activity yet. Do you think that RV could be the target?”

The person who answered was one of the Awakened assigned to Zhao Sanyan, named Huang Jing.

She was the older of the twin sisters and possessed the Penetrating Hawkeye ability.

“I’m not certain, but based on comparisons, they were the convoy that entered the incident area four days ago.”

“That’s not a place just anyone can enter. So while I’m not sure, the probability is high.”

Wan Xingbang paused, then continued.

“And they also made contact with Ren Anhua. To us, that’s a very dangerous signal.”

“Are you saying it’s possible this very team took the documents?” Zhao Sanyan inquired.

He only knew that a special operations team dispatched by the military four days ago had disappeared with an extremely important file, but he didn’t know what that file contained to make his captain so sensitive.

“What exactly was in that file… uh… I mean, am I cleared to know?”

“You are, but you wouldn’t want to know. So I’ve decided not to tell you.”

Wan Xingbang took off his military uniform and changed into his customary camouflage combat fatigues.

“Besides, I’m not certain it was this team. Judging from Ren Anhua’s attitude toward you today, his stance on the military doesn’t seem to have changed, so I’m not sure if this team took that file.”

Zhao Sanyan carefully mulled over his captain’s words.

“Captain, they’re on the move. They seem to be in a great hurry; they’re preparing to depart,” Huang Jing reported.

“Oh? Ren Anhua just left, and now they’re leaving?”

Wan Xingbang thought for a moment.

“Notify the city wall inspectors. When they see an RV leaving the city, conduct a thorough search. Expose everything they have.”

“That’s right, expose the fact that their vehicle has a hidden subspace. But don’t make things too difficult for them, just tie them up for a little while.”

“We can’t make an enemy out of such a valuable team of Awakened. In short, just make sure they can’t catch up to Ren Anhua.”

“Then we’ll also dispatch people to trail and monitor them. Keep a constant watch on this team’s movements.”

“Captain, if we focus so heavily on this team, will it affect tomorrow’s operation?”

Zhao Sanyan didn’t quite understand his captain’s actions.

“The soldiers are all concentrating on preparing for tomorrow’s mission right now, all of them carefully studying the materials.”

“It won’t. If I’m not mistaken, this team is the biggest variable affecting our mission tomorrow.”

“In any case, keep a constant watch on their movements. Report to me the moment anything happens.”

Wan Xingbang strode decisively toward the military base’s archives, clearly not planning to continue his gate-watching duties for the day.

“By the way, what’s the situation in the East Suburbs?”

“The latest intelligence is that Meng Fanhai has led his men to wipe out all of Zhang Yidong’s forces, but the Survivor Camp also suffered heavy losses.”

“But now the Survivor Camp is the sole power in the East Suburbs. Should we do something?”

Zhao Sanyan was currently in charge of information on the East Suburbs.

“That Meng Fanhai really is something else. No wonder Ren Anhua took him under his wing back then. Looks like I misjudged him.”

“But we don’t need to do anything. Just continue to observe. The military is not to interfere in the affairs of the East Suburbs. We need to leave a good impression on Ren Anhua,” Wan Xingbang said.

“When Ren Anhua returns to a severely weakened Survivor Camp, she’ll naturally be furious. Her disappointment in Meng Fanhai will also hasten her departure from the camp.”

“Of course, I have to admit, Meng Fanhai has exceeded my expectations this time.”

“In my original plan, without Ren Anhua, the Survivor Camp would likely have been on the verge of collapse under the leadership of a brute like Meng Fanhai. By then, Ren Anhua would have no men left to lead, and under Lin Aijing’s influence, she would have a falling out with Meng Fanhai.”

“At that point, the military would only need to offer her a suitable position at the right time, and she would naturally come over. Plus, we’ve handled the personal gestures perfectly, and Ren Anhua values loyalty and sentiment above all else.”

“But now it seems the situation isn’t so certain. Even so, we cannot interfere in the East Suburbs. We can’t leave a single trace for Ren Anhua to find.”

“If she discovers the military’s involvement in this, even if all we did was give a small push, she would never join us.”

As if remembering something, Wan Xingbang suddenly asked, “Right, what happened to those four thugs we hired to stir up trouble today?”

“Ren Anhua took the initiative and burned them to a crisp. Just a few piles of ash left.”

“Haha, good that they’re burned. Burned to death leaves no proof. Now the military is completely disconnected from this matter.”

“Saves me the trouble of dealing with them myself. They were social scum anyway. In the apocalypse, it’s best to be rid of people like that.”

“Now we can only hope for fate to take its course. Heh, it’s almost like a gamble.”

“But it’s not all bad news. Ren Anhua returning with that appearance actually gives me a few more chips to play with.”

Wan Xingbang walked into the archives building with a smile.

Meanwhile, Ren Anhua was driving furiously back toward the camp.

She found driving in this body extremely troublesome.

She constantly felt like she couldn’t quite reach the brake and clutch pedals.

She kept adjusting the seat as she drove, but after a long while, it was still uncomfortable.

Finally, she gave up trying to fix it.

She perched forward, gripping the steering wheel, her back and bottom not even touching the seat, and sped down the highway in a highly difficult posture.

She even had to activate a sliver of her ability to maintain this position.

Although the pose was dangerous, there was no one in the apocalypse to police her.

She was the only vehicle flying down the empty highway.

Perhaps driven by a trace of indignation, when Ren Anhua saw zombies on the road, she didn’t swerve but instead accelerated and plowed right into them, venting her frustration.

It was a shame that the well-maintained SUV was now covered in dents.

The closer she got to the camp, the more fear and unease filled her heart.

Going to war with Hao Yu and Zhang Yidong without her there… just how many of her brothers were left?

Ren Anhua had no idea.

In the worst-case scenario, the camp itself might be gone.

The Survivor Camp’s base was a villa complex, with a good environment and no one managing it.

Most importantly, the surrounding walls were very sturdy and high.

After leading her people to clear out the zombies inside, Ren Anhua had occupied the complex.

For security, all the side entrances to the complex were sealed, leaving only the main gate for entry and exit, which was usually guarded by two people.

But today, Ren Anhua saw only one person guarding the gate.

And she even recognized him; he was the camp’s other “Er Gou.”

“Hey, who’s in the car? Get out! This is the Survivor Camp, not a place you can just come and go!”

Seeing an unfamiliar vehicle, Er Gou was on high alert, terrified that another faction had come looking for trouble.

However, when he saw a little girl in a military jacket step out of the car, his expression seemed to relax a little.

But then he saw the girl rushing toward him, glowing with a red heat, the familiar crimson patterns on her skin as she grabbed him by the collar and slammed him to the ground.

“It’s your boss!”

Urgency, anger, disappointment, worry—all of Ren Anhua’s mixed emotions seemed to erupt the moment she reached the camp.

“I don’t have time to explain. Tell me how many people are left in the camp right now!”

“A-about two hundred.”

Feeling a familiar power and presence from the young girl, a sense of déjà vu and terror took hold of Er Gou’s mind, forcing him to answer her question obediently.

“That bastard Meng Fanhai! Over half the brothers are f*cking dead!”

Ren Anhua cursed Meng Fanhai angrily, then picked Er Gou up and hurled him against the wall.

Er Gou was completely bewildered, with no idea why he had been hit.

“Where is that dog Meng Fanhai now!”

“In… in the boss’s old villa…”

Although he had been thrown hard, under the sway of that familiar fear, Er Gou faithfully answered the girl’s question.

The girl hurried away, leaving behind only one sentence spoken in a tone that sounded deadly serious.

“Change your name. You’re not allowed to be called Er Gou anymore!”

At the center of the villa complex was a beautiful man-made lake.

The lake was connected by an underground channel to a flood-relief river outside the complex, keeping its water crystal clear and rich with fish and shrimp year-round.

A high-end villa built against this lake appeared even more luxurious than the others in the complex.

This was Ren Anhua’s residence since the apocalypse began.

In the main hall, Meng Fanhai’s face was etched with grief as he stared silently at a set of beach attire.

The day he saw the boss get into trouble, Meng Fanhai had been the first to charge out of the car.

However, he had lost consciousness before he could even touch Lu Shanshui’s sleeve.

The last thing he could recall was a fist gleaming with a metallic luster.

When he woke up, he found all his subordinates unconscious around him.

Where Brother Anhua had been, there was only a puddle of disgusting, semi-liquid organic matter and the shirt and shorts that were the only things left to identify him by.

Meng Fanhai believed that Brother Anhua was dead, killed by a group of unknown assailants.

He didn’t know who they were, only that Brother Anhua’s death could not go unavenged.

Hao Yu, Zhang Yidong—no matter what, those two had to be involved.

But why?

Why, after killing Hao Yu, after killing Zhang Yidong, after killing until the Survivor Camp was the only faction left in the East Suburbs, could he still not find a single trace of that team?

That vicious RV team was like it had appeared out of thin air, turned Brother Anhua into a pile of sludge, and then vanished into thin air.

But even so, Meng Fanhai would not give up.

There was still the Pingdingshan Base, the neighboring Xing’an District, and the more distant Jiang City.

No matter what, he would hunt down and kill every last member of that RV team to avenge Brother Anhua.

“Brother Anhua, don’t worry. I will line up their heads, one by one, before you, to comfort your spirit in heaven.”

His resolve steeled, Meng Fanhai knelt before the clothes Brother Anhua had left behind and kowtowed heavily.

“I’LL! GIVE! YOU! ‘SPIRIT! IN! HEAVEN’!”

A voice filled with fury roared out.

The villa’s main door shattered, and a petite figure burst in.

Meng Fanhai only felt a familiar intense heat approaching rapidly before he was sent flying high into the air, followed by a piercing pain and a feeling of weightlessness as he crashed heavily onto the cold floor.

When he lifted his head, he saw a pink-haired girl in a scorched military jacket.

The long right sleeve of the jacket had been completely burned away, vaguely revealing the school swimsuit she wore underneath.

And the girl’s exposed, slender right hand was currently wreathed in familiar crimson patterns, faintly radiating an astonishing heat.

That was the power of Brother Anhua, the one Meng Fanhai was most familiar with.

“Bro… Brother Anhua?”

Meng Fanhai’s heart was filled with a bit of fear, but even more anticipation.

He was even hoping for this girl, who carried such a familiar presence, to say that name.

“Are you asking a question? You’re f*cking asking me a question? You bastard, you don’t recognize me?”

The pink-haired girl seemed to grow even angrier.

She strode quickly toward the fallen Meng Fanhai and grabbed him by the collar.

“I’ll f*cking make you remember!”

With a loud bang, Meng Fanhai was slammed into the wall by Ren Anhua.

The entire villa seemed to shudder from the powerful impact.

Although intense pain wracked his body, Meng Fanhai’s heart was, paradoxically, filled with immense joy.

It really was Brother Anhua.

Whenever Brother Anhua got angry, he loved to grab people and smash them against walls.

That familiar application of force, that familiar temper, and that familiar heat, high enough to scorch off a layer of skin.

It really was Brother Anhua!

“Brother Anhua! Waaaah! This is great, Brother Anhua!”

Meng Fanhai charged toward Ren Anhua, weeping.

“You’re alive, this is great, you’re still alive!”

“f*ck! You disgusting bastard, let go of my leg!”

Ren Anhua had planned to give Meng Fanhai a thorough beating, not just a single punch and throw.

She knew this much was nothing to Meng Fanhai.

She had intended to hit him enough to leave him in bed for at least three days, to properly teach this idiot a lesson.

“Let go! Let the f*ck go!”

Ren Anhua felt this punk’s hands were getting way out of line.

Besides the military jacket, all she had on was a school swimsuit.

What did he mean by letting his hands wander higher and higher?

“Dammit, I told you to let go, didn’t you hear me!”

Ren Anhua kicked Meng Fanhai into the wall again.

Her fair, slender leg was now wet, smeared with Meng Fanhai’s snot and tears.

Ren Anhua felt a wave of disgust.

She casually took off the military jacket she was wearing and wiped her leg clean.

After wiping it, she suddenly remembered that she had intended to return the jacket to Zhao Sanyan, but then she dismissed the thought.

It was burned to this state anyway, impossible to wear, so she tossed it aside.

Looking at Meng Fanhai, who was embedded in the wall, snot and tears streaming down his face, yet smiling with abnormal radiance, Ren Anhua suddenly didn’t know what to say.

Ren Anhua, who considered herself a person of good character, felt like she had probably used up a year’s worth of profanity today, but an unquenchable rage still burned fiercely in her heart.

Yet she felt she could no longer vent this anger on Meng Fanhai.

Against someone who admired and revered her so completely, she found she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Even in her anger, Ren Anhua was well aware that everything Meng Fanhai had done was for her.

This loyal-to-a-fault subordinate had a one-track mind focused on avenging her.

But even so, she could not accept the fact that Meng Fanhai had led over three hundred brothers to their deaths.

Those men had come to her seeking protection and pledged their loyalty.

Now, they were dead because of her, and their deaths were so unnecessary.

This made Ren Anhua’s heart ache terribly.

On one hand were the brothers who had died needlessly.

On the other was the subordinate so loyal he would have given his own life for her.

Ren Anhua was deeply conflicted.

In the end, she decided to leave for a while, to give Meng Fanhai some time to calm down, and to give herself some time to calm down as well.