The roe deer was a success, and everyone was happy, but Gao Yuan and Xiang Weiguo were not going to abandon today's reconnaissance mission just because Luo Xingyu was tempted by the prospect.
At least a thousand meters away from the village and separated by a cliff, Gao Yuan and his team lay on the mountain top, looking down. Even if there were zombies, even if zombies spotted them, their position ensured they could easily escape.
"Strange, not a single zombie in sight."
Xiang Weiguo's expression grew grave. He had been peering through the binoculars for a long time, and the village below was eerily still, devoid of any living figures.
Gao Yuan couldn't resist and said, "Let me have a look."
After receiving the binoculars, Gao Yuan impatiently raised them to his eyes.
Through the lenses, the village appeared very calm, which—in every sense of the word—meant that the village had succumbed to death.
Xiang Weiguo whispered, "Do you see the store?"
"I see it."
This was a village near a highway. The village was not large, with only forty-two houses in total, but there was still a small store.
Because of the highway, the store was definitely near it to do business with passing drivers. However, it also meant that it was uncertain whether anything was left in the store.
The door of the store was open, and if someone had looted the entire store at the outset of the disaster, it was hard to say what, if anything, might be left inside.
"Let me take a look."
After handing the binoculars to Luo Xingyu, Gao Yuan whispered to Wei Guo beside him, "Not a single zombie in sight."
Xiang Weiguo's face was grim. He whispered, "If the zombies froze or starved to death, you'd expect to see their bodies outside the village. No one's going to collect zombie corpses, and if they turned on each other due to a lack of food, you'd expect to see some bones. But there's none—that's the problem. Nothing at all."
After pondering for a moment, Gao Yuan said, "What do you think is going on? Do zombies know to go back inside to stay warm?"
Xiang Weiguo whispered, "That's what I'm most afraid of."
The highway was on the north side of the village, but there were scattered houses built on the opposite side, south of the village, directly facing Gao Yuan and his team, making it convenient for observation. However, it was only convenient for that, as the store was roughly in the middle of the village.
In other words, no matter from which direction you approached the village's small store, it was only separated from the village by a road. If there were zombies inside, there would be no way to avoid them.
"What should we do?"
After a moment's thought, Xiang Weiguo whispered, "Test it."
"Test?"
Xiang Weiguo stretched out his hand and said, "I'll gradually approach the village. Zombies have an extremely sharp sense of hearing, and if any zombies detect the noise I make, they'll undoubtedly emerge. The two of you must watch closely. As soon as any zombies appear from inside the village, we must be ready to retreat."
Gao Yuan immediately said, "Let me go. I'm faster."
Xiang Weiguo unhesitatingly replied, "Being fast has its advantages, but you could never outrun a zombie, no matter how fast you are. So, you can't be the one to do the testing."
"But..."
Xiang Weiguo placed his hand on Gao Yuan's shoulder and whispered, "No more arguing. This isn't something to fight over. Besides, don't think that just because you're younger, you're necessarily faster. Kid, it's not certain who is faster between the two of us!"
Xiang Weiguo removed all the bags from his person, leaving only a stick, an axe, and a walkie-talkie.
"Having a walkie-talkie is so convenient. You two just stay here and observe. If you don't want to get me killed, pay attention to the movements in the village. If any zombies appear, notify me promptly. You must tell me how many there are, what their speed is, where they appear from, and where they go. If zombies are heading towards me, I will have to abort the mission immediately."
Gao Yuan took a deep breath and whispered, "I understand. But Uncle Xiang, I'm sure I can run faster. I still think I should go."
Xiang Weiguo just smiled and said, "If you confront a zombie face-to-face, are you sure you can beat it? I can guarantee I can defeat a zombie, so it has to be me. Also, both of you watch carefully and learn something."
It was just a reconnaissance mission today; there were no plans to directly enter the village to search for supplies, so there shouldn't be too much danger.
Gao Yuan did not insist any further. He watched Xiang Weiguo silently cross through the woods and head towards the direction of the village.
Luo Xingyu was somewhat anxious, whispering, "There won't be any problems, right?"
"There won't be. It's just reconnaissance."
Luo Xingyu remained silent, but after a short time, she whispered again, "You're sure there won't be any problems, right?"
Gao Yuan was a bit exasperated and whispered, "Stop talking. I need to observe carefully, in case anything happens and I have to notify Uncle Xiang right away."
Luo Xingyu could only forcefully suppress her unease, nervously watching Xiang Weiguo's retreating figure until she stretched out her finger towards him, whispering, "Over there, Uncle Xiang has come out."
Gao Yuan moved the binoculars over and reacquired sight of Xiang Weiguo.
After coming out of a patch of woods, there was a riverbed ahead, which led to a field, and just beyond the field lay the village.
Xiang Weiguo was now in the riverbed, on the west side of the village, about three to four hundred meters away in a straight line.
Xiang Weiguo did not continue forward; he stayed on one side of the river channel.
"Uncle Xiang seems to be observing something."
Gao Yuan couldn't help but mutter to himself, then through his binoculars he noticed something extra on Xiang Weiguo's body.
It wasn't long before Xiang Weiguo began to move westward. This would take him further from the village, but after only about ten meters, he stopped by the river channel overgrown with shrubs, then started to busy himself with his head down.
Gao Yuan had two walkie-talkies, because they only work effectively in pairs. However, even though Xiang Weiguo also had a walkie-talkie, Gao Yuan did not dare to call out.
Because Gao Yuan was afraid that even a slight speaking voice from the walkie-talkie might attract zombies to Xiang Weiguo's side.
He had no choice; it was the psychological pressure, in plain terms, fear.
It was Xiang Weiguo who spoke first.
"Can you tell what I'm doing?"
Gao Yuan quickly picked up the walkie-talkie and said, "What are you doing? Over."
"When I came down, I found many patches of kudzu vines in the woods. I cut quite a few, and now I'm setting some tripwires with them. If zombies chase after me, I'll run this direction because I know how to avoid the tripwires, but the zombies won't, understand?"
Gao Yuan exhaled, such a simple yet seemingly very effective protective measure, why hadn't he thought of it before.
"Understood, over."
Luo Xingyu looked impatient and puzzled as she said, "What are kudzu vines? Can I see them?"
"Uh, kudzu vines are like tree vines, that's just the local term for them."
Gao Yuan handed the binoculars to Luo Xingyu, then after not waiting too long, he urged her, "Alright, just take a look and give them back to me. This is not the time to play around."
At that moment, Xiang Weiguo suddenly said, "Hey! Descendants of the mountains, yo-ho, yo-ho."
Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu were both stupefied.
The reason they could hear Xiang Weiguo's voice from a distance of a thousand meters was that he was singing through the walkie-talkie.
"Damn it! Uncle Xiang, what are you doing?"
Gao Yuan asked urgently, Xiang Weiguo replied in a calm manner, "Cough cough, nothing much, just testing how much noise it takes to attract zombies. I'll increase the volume a bit. Don't look here, watch the village and see when the zombies come out."
Gao Yuan quickly aimed the binoculars at the village, and then Xiang Weiguo increased the volume, shouting loudly, "Hey, hey, we, the soldiers, what's so different?"
Luo Xingyu was extremely tense and bewildered as she said, "Making noise could be done by yelling, why sing?"
"Don't talk!"
Gao Yuan scolded her and then whispered, "Not the time to add to the confusion. You're focusing on the wrong thing."
Xiang Weiguo said in the walkie-talkie, "No response; I'll get a little closer and try again."
Just as Xiang Weiguo's voice fell, Gao Yuan's heart suddenly leapt because he saw people running out from the village.
At a glance, they appeared human, but without saying more, he knew they must be zombies due to their frightening speed.
"Uncle Xiang! Zombies are coming out! One... three, five! Damn, there are more than ten! Retreat! Retreat!"
Gao Yuan shouted anxiously, Luo Xingyu also yelled urgently, "Quick, run back!"
Xiang Weiguo said in a deep voice, "Don't panic, see if there are other zombies. Ah! Ah! The sun sets over Xishan, red clouds fly, soldiers return to camp after shooting... oh my god!"
This time it was a bizarre scream from Xiang Weiguo as he turned his head and ran toward the woods behind him, while barely two hundred meters behind him, a dozen zombies were already in pursuit.
Xiang Weiguo stopped at the edge of the woods, waiting until the zombies were less than fifty meters away before he turned and ran into the woods.
The zombies were incredibly fast, but the first one just about to enter the trees fell headlong to the ground, then, Gao Yuan, who thought Xiang Weiguo had long been gone, saw him emerge again and then brought his club down on the head of a zombie.
Gao Yuan was stunned as he said with a trembling voice, "What he's doing!"
Luo Xingyu didn't have the binoculars, she couldn't see very clearly, but at this moment, she seemed to understand better than Gao Yuan what was happening.
"Brother, I think we've been tricked."
"What?"
Luo Xingyu looked like she wanted to cry and laugh at the same time, and said with a blank face, "I think Uncle Xiang didn't come here to scout at all. He wants to take out all the zombies."
Zombies rushed into the woods one after another, and then one by one they were tripped up by the vines until after the fourth zombie toppled to the ground and Xiang Weiguo smashed its skull with a club, Xiang Weiguo then started retreating as the vine was likely broken by then.
But it didn't matter; Xiang Weiguo had set at least a dozen vine tripwires.
Gao Yuan paused for a moment, then whispered, "It seems... it's not impossible, after all, there are only a dozen zombies, and he's almost done with them..."