It took at least twenty minutes for the surge of extreme tension to settle into an overwhelming ecstasy.
Only when Gao Yuan was finally able to clearly recognize that Luo Xingyu had been rescued, without so much as a hair missing, did he completely calm down, and this was already twenty minutes later.
In those twenty minutes, Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu took turns crying and laughing, the scene was at times very heartwarming and at times quite ugly, after all, two people hugging each other and crying with runny noses is indeed a not-so-pleasant sight.
Once they had both calmed down, Gao Yuan finally asked, "How did they capture you?"
Luo Xingyu, still shaken, recounted, "I was doing the laundry at the time, not paying attention to my surroundings, when suddenly someone grabbed my arm and picked me up."
Luo Xingyu pointed to the first young man that had been killed. Gao Yuan glanced at him and asked, "And then what?"
"I struggled but couldn't break free. Then my hand touched the walkie-talkie, and after that, I managed to press it and say a few words, but immediately after, someone grabbed my hand and another person seized my legs."
Even now, Gao Yuan was seething with resentment as he listened; he glared at the corpses and demanded, "What happened after that? Did you suffer any losses?"
"No, they didn't dare, you and Uncle Xiang started talking right after, the voice from the walkie-talkie was very clear, they all heard it, and they believed it too. The one with the gun said it didn't look good as there seemed to be quite a few people here. I told them we had guns, and when you all returned none of them would escape, so they should let me go," Luo Xingyu explained.
Gao Yuan nodded repeatedly and sighed, "Uncle Xiang's judgment was spot on! Go on."
"The one with the gun was their leader. He asked me where the others had gone, and I said they were in the village, that we had guns and had killed all the zombies in the village. Then he said we couldn't linger here any longer, they had to quickly look for anything useful to take away, then we would leave this place."
Luo Xingyu, scared to death, paused for a moment before continuing, "Then they began to rummage through our home, taking whatever they could carry, including our food. They didn't dare delay, and after taking whatever was in plain sight, they asked me if there was anything else. I said the rest of the stuff was hidden elsewhere."
Gao Yuan nodded again, then curiously asked, "Didn't they realize there were only two houses inhabited?"
"They did. I told them that we had always lived elsewhere, that we had only recently discovered this abandoned village and were planning to move here soon because it was safer."
Gao Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "And then?"
"They didn't wait too long. The boss said we couldn't allow anyone to catch up to us and that we had to leave quickly. Then they tied me up, took what they could carry, and dragged me away. They stayed in the house for no more than ten minutes in total, never bothering to search for the things we had hidden away."
Gao Yuan gave a wry smile and said, "You're still thinking about the stuff that's hidden away. Speaking of that..."
Suddenly, Gao Yuan stood up and briskly walked over to the man with the gun, snatching the pistol from the corpse's hand.
The gun was a Model 92 pistol. Gao Yuan had never held a real gun before, but he at least knew an empty chamber indicated the ammunition was spent.
The slide of the pistol remained back, revealing an empty chamber. As expected, there were no bullets inside. Gao Yuan removed the magazine, which was also devoid of bullets.
Turned out the gunmen only had two bullets in his gun.
With only two bullets in the gun, there was no point in searching the body; there wouldn't be any spare ammunition.
Gao Yuan returned to Luo Xingyu's side with the gun, saying, "There were only two bullets in the gun..."
Gao Yuan felt both regret and anger because his enemy only had the opportunity to fire two shots, which implied that any bullets would have belonged to him, but now, his trophy was a gun without any bullets.
Luo Xingyu looked at the pistol and suddenly said, "These bastards! They've killed at least a dozen people already, that's what they said when they were threatening me!"
Gao Yuan was taken aback, asking, "They've killed a dozen people?"
Luo Xingyu nodded vehemently, "Yes, the one dragging me said so. He told me if I didn't obey, they'd kill me, claiming that one more dead person now seemed like nothing since they've already killed more than a dozen, one more wouldn't matter."
Gao Yuan weighed the gun in his hand and said, "We need to get back fast. Uncle Xiang must be worried. But before we leave, we've got to find out exactly what happened."
Some of the bandits had brought water with them. Gao Yuan found a water bottle on one of the corpses, and shaking it, he heard there was still water inside. He took the water bottle and walked over to the unconscious man.
After pouring the water in the bottle down, the unconscious man finally moved his head a bit, then turned to one side and groaned in pain.
Gao Yuan turned the man over, his voice stern, "Open your eyes. Answer whatever I ask, or I'll kill you!"
As the man opened his eyes and saw Gao Yuan, he immediately shouted, "Don't kill me! Brother, please don't kill me! I didn't do anything, please don't kill me. I can do any kind of work, even if it's just labor, just don't kill me, brother..."
As he spoke, tears began to flow, but Gao Yuan angrily shouted, "Shut up, stop crying! Tell me your name honestly!"
"Li Bo, my name is Li Bo."
"How did you find this place!"
"We... Our boss led us here, he's the worst, it was all his idea, he has a gun, we had no choice, big brother, we were forced!"
Gao Yuan helplessly said again, "Answer what I ask you, how many of you are there!"
"Six people, no, now there are only four left, the other two are dead."
"What are your identities, and how did you end up together."
"I... I was just an office worker, I had a few drinks one day, and while driving home got caught in a DUI checkpoint, then I was detained... and then, in detention, I met them."
"You all met in detention?"
"Yes, met in detention. That day, the day of the apocalypse, the police suddenly ran in, opened all the cells, and said we were all released, that something had gone wrong, we should run, go home to check on our families and then rush to the shelter. It was then that someone suddenly went mad, started biting the person next to them. Our boss was the first to run; he went out to look, and then he was the first to run back in, picking up the guards' gun..."
People who had seen zombie movies were plenty, and not everyone was that slow to react, so there were a good number of people who understood zombies meant apocalypse; hence, what Li Bo said was somewhat believable.
"The gun was picked up?"
"It was picked up, I saw it myself. Li Bo was in the same cell with us, he grabbed the gun and said we all had to listen to him, also said it was the end of the world and zombies were everywhere, the only way to survive was to obey him because he had the gun, so of course, we listened to him, we were coerced…"
Luo Xingyu couldn't hold back anymore, she angrily said, "You're lying!"
After rebuking him, Luo Xingyu turned to Gao Yuan and said, "He's lying. He and the boss are the closest, anything major the boss asks him to do, and also, he calls the boss 'Brother Nan', while the others just call him 'boss'. He also said... he said once we would get going, the boss would be first, he would be second, then the one who was holding me with a rope…"
Luo Xingyu's face was red with anger, and she couldn't help kicking fiercely, "Do you think I'm stupid? You said it yourself, you beat two people to death with a pickaxe, and said you'd kill me if I dared to fight back!"
Gao Yuan smiled cruelly and raised his knife. At that moment, Li Bo cried out urgently, "Don't kill me, don't kill me, I was forced by Ma Xiaonan, he had a gun, we didn't dare disobey."
"How many have you killed."
"None... two, just two, really just two…"
Luo Xingyu teeth clenching with rage said, "Liar, the one who was dragging me just admitted it. He said you liked to kill people with a pickaxe the most, and if I tried to run, I would be handed over to you. One time, a woman tried to escape and you cracked her head open killing her, ruining their fun, and even your boss slapped you for it, right?"
Li Bo stammered, "Ma Xiaonan made me do it, he has the gun..."
Gao Yuan lifted his gun and said, "Are there any bullets left? If so, where are they hidden?"
"No more bullets? I don't know, when Ma Xiaonan snatched a handgun, there weren't any extra magazines. If there are no bullets in the magazine, then it's empty. He used to say a 92 handgun could hold 15 bullets, he fired eight shots, so there should be seven bullets left in the gun."
Gao Yuan coldly said, "The gun only has two bullets left."
"Two? Dammit! Ma Xiaonan, that bastard, lied to us!"
Watching Li Bo grinding his teeth, Gao Yuan believed him this time.
Gao Yuan felt helpless; it seemed this gun really was useless now.
Looking at Li Bo again, Gao Yuan said sternly, "Tell me, why did you come here, if you could survive out there before, then there's no need to come to this remote mountain."
Li Bo whispered, "There was food in the mountains... no, I mean, I'll tell the truth. Ma Xiaonan killed too many people, one time someone escaped, and now the shelters started clearing out the zombies outside the city, uh... people like us, who looted during the chaos, would be executed if caught. Someone escaped and even made it into a shelter, so we had to flee far away."
Gao Yuan's eyes widened as he asked, "You mean the shelters are clearing the zombies and restoring order, and they're close to here?"
"No, not close yet. Ma Xiaonan is a hiking enthusiast, he said he knew a very remote place that's suitable for hiding for a long time. If we're to hide, better to hide far away, so he led us here. The place he mentioned is your place..."
Gao Yuan urgently asked, "So you came from Stonegate City?"
"Yes."
"Is the road passable?"
Li Bo wore a mournful expression as he said, "It's tough going. We had to skirt around villages, avoiding places with lots of people. It took us over a month just to get here, and we lost two people on the road."
Hearing Li Bo's words, Gao Yuan felt a mix of emotions, unsure if it was disappointment, relief, or perhaps a bit of both.