Chương 193: You Say Your Piece, I'll Say Mine

Vince pushed Zoe back toward the clinic with a wave of his hand. He knew she wasn't faking it; considering how incredibly energetic she usually was, her current exhaustion was profound. Even Seth had already gone back. Aside from grinding levels to boost their constitutions, the Awakened's only other task was to get proper rest. Once they hit the road, Vince figured they probably wouldn't get a full night's sleep again for a long time.

"Tell her to thaw all the meat. Whatever we can't finish, we'll eat tomorrow. Whatever's left after that, we'll cook and take on the road. Go on..." Vince sent Zoe off and walked over to meet Evelyn. The men wearing tactical vests were from the gas station that morning. After witnessing the morning's events, they all understood that this beautiful, perpetually stoic female officer might look like a cultured intellectual, but she was actually far more ruthless than Colonel Zhou.

Colonel Zhou was just an old-school soldier. He cared about rules, discipline, and most importantly, reason. But this woman was different. She didn't care about reason. Even Captain Travis, who had repeatedly warned them not to provoke conflicts before they arrived, had later sighed in realization: Colonel Zhou's presence hadn't been protecting her; it had been restraining her.

So when this cold-faced "commander"—the actual core of the convoy—suddenly appeared in the crowd, the men in vests practically jumped out of their skin, quickly scrambling aside to clear a path. The other oblivious survivors had no idea what was going on. They just watched the men's stiff, nervous behavior with confusion. But as Vince approached from the opposite direction, the remaining crowd hurriedly parted to clear a path for him as well.

It wasn't that they thought Vince was terrifying, but standing before this "Superman among Supermen" brought an immense amount of psychological pressure. If Evelyn brought a "chill" to the soldiers, Vince brought "tension" to the survivors. This bizarrely synchronized parting of the sea left Vince not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Colonel Ye, why didn't you just radio me? Is something wrong?" Vince didn't walk down the cleared path. Instead, he stood at the edge and waved her over, signaling Evelyn to hurry up and get out of the crowd. Why do you enjoy standing there being stared at by everyone?

"Let's talk over here..."

"Nothing urgent. I just wanted to come over and see the situation here with my own eyes, and sync up with you on tomorrow's arrangements." Evelyn surveyed the crowd. As she passed the supermarket, she deliberately glanced at what was cooking in the pots over the fires. She even leaned over and sniffed the aroma wafting from a covered pot. The rich scent of meat broth mixed with boiled rice made her momentarily dazed. It was the least "apocalyptic" smell she had encountered in days...

"It's so nice here. Makes me not want to leave..." she murmured suddenly, though it was hard to tell if she was joking. Falling silent, she walked right up to Vince, didn't stop, and brushed past him, continuing forward while speaking in a low voice.

"Your people are different from the ones we picked up along the road..." A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Naturally, Vince turned and fell into step beside her. He didn't know why, but whenever he walked with this woman, he inexplicably ended up trailing slightly behind. So, without a word, he quickened his pace to overtake her, offering a noncommittal response.

"Of course they're different. These guys have at least been eating and sleeping well for the past few days..."

"That's why I want to train all of them to use firearms tomorrow. At the very least, they need to know the basics of operating a gun," Evelyn continued.

"We still have guns. We might be low on ammo, but we have the weapons. If we give everyone a few rounds, a calm person could at least take down two zombies. That would instantly double the convoy's firepower in a critical moment..."

"What does that have to do with them being different?" Vince asked, listening to her plan, which she had likely just formulated that afternoon.

"A lot of our people were picked up one by one. Stuck on top of scenic park signs, on the roofs of porta-potties, crammed inside parking lot security booths... When we passed through an industrial park, there were dozens of zombies roaming the main road. We cleared them out, only to find a mother and daughter hiding in the sewer drain right beneath their feet. They survived down there for two days on nothing but rainwater and sewage..." Evelyn recounted solemnly.

"The ones you see handling guns are Travis's men and the people we brought out from the Mount Ji Garrison at the very beginning. The rest have had their courage completely shattered by the zombies."

"Even if we hand them guns, all they would do is empty the magazine in a blind panic and cower between the bus seats. It's meaningless... In fact, worse than meaningless, it would just breed chaos." She suddenly turned her head, fixing her gaze on Vince, who was walking just ahead to her left.

"But your people... they still have hope in their eyes. They still have courage... Initially, I planned to stick to the original setup: arm a select few, and rely on you Awakened to carry us the rest of the way. But after receiving Clint's report this afternoon, I changed my mind..."

"Are you trying to say you don't want to leave either?" Vince quipped. Hearing her reasoning, he had to admit she wasn't wrong. Given the psychological state of the civilians on her buses, Vince didn't need to read faces to know that handing out guns would likely result in a mutiny or a friendly-fire bloodbath that very night... Compared to them, Ben's crew didn't even look like survivors; they were high-quality recruits.

If those guys had the guts to fight zombies with spears, handing them guns would instantly turn them into qualified soldiers.

"I want to distribute all the remaining weapons to your people. But I still need to consult you first. Because in this entire convoy, aside from my core team and the researchers, I don't truly have 'my own people,'" Evelyn continued, completely ignoring Vince's banter as if she hadn't heard a thing.

"So, what are your thoughts?"

"You don't need to discuss this kind of stuff with me. Go find Ben..." Vince tilted his head and jutted his chin toward the back.

"But I agree with training everyone on how to use firearms. Get on that tomorrow... As for how many guns we have, who gets them, and how many are distributed, don't ask me. Hash those details out with Ben..." This really had nothing to do with him. Whether it was better to give ten guys two magazines each or twenty guys one magazine each was completely beyond his expertise. He had no idea how to set up an intersecting field of fire.

As a veterinarian, aside from fixing cats, dogs, and various small animals, all he knew was cold weapons and CQC... Oh, and he recently picked up arson.

"You really do have a lot of free time, don't you..." Evelyn couldn't help but sigh, seeing Vince casually push all administrative responsibilities off his plate.

"Hey, don't say that. We haven't been slacking off today at all..." Vince wasn't happy hearing that and immediately shot back.

"One afternoon: a hundred and four regular zombies, thirty-three mutated zombies. The four of us made massive contributions to the survival of the human race today..." The two of them had just reached Hank's chop-shop. Vince simply pulled Evelyn over to the front of his clinic, pointed at Cody, who was busy working, and said, "His sister—that little girl—is literally dead on her feet right now..." Half a day. Thirty-three mutated zombies...

Evelyn had to admit she truly didn't know what Vince had been up to since he got back that afternoon. Her reports only mentioned hearing a Banshee Zombie shrieking in the complex, followed by a massive explosion—suspected to be a gas cylinder—that blew the roof off one of the buildings...

"Vince... Oh, Colonel Ye is here." Just as they were talking, Claire's surprised voice came from behind them.

"Zoe passed out after eating a couple slices of bread. I came down to call you guys for dinner..." Vince looked at Claire, then at Evelyn standing beside him. He blinked.

"Why don't you join us for a bite?" This was Vince's brand-new tactic to counter Evelyn's crew's unique face-reading skills: You say your piece, I'll say mine. Non-violent non-cooperation.