Zuo Feng took a deep breath, his eyes glinting with a burning light, and slowly said, "Follow them from a distance and see what they're up to!"
Zuo Feng and his group had originally come out to understand the situation in the apocalypse. Since they had encountered a zombie horde of such a scale, how could they miss it? Moreover, the fact that the zombies were gathering together and moving with a purpose indicated something suspicious behind it. Following them might lead to a major discovery.
"Xiao Nan Ren, are you sure you want to follow them?"
A hint of hesitation flashed in Da Bai Tu's eyes. The oppressive feeling from the distant zombie horde made her feel a trace of fear.
It wasn't that Da Bai Tu was timid; rather, facing such a terrifying sight, anyone would inevitably feel fear.
Zuo Feng nodded firmly, "We'll just follow from a distance without alarming them. If things go wrong, we'll retreat immediately."
Seeing Zuo Feng's resolve, the women quickly got into the cars.
With the roar of engines, two commercial vans slowly started, driving along the highway. After finding the nearest exit, they left the highway and cautiously tracked the zombie horde's direction of movement.
With the zombie horde clearing the way, the road was unobstructed. Zuo Feng and his group carefully maintained a safe distance from the horde.
The atmosphere inside the cars was extremely tense. The women pressed against the windows, holding their breath and staring intently, afraid of missing any detail.
As they followed, the zombie group led by that colossal creature appeared even more magnificent, like an endless grey ocean raging between heaven and earth.
As time passed, Zuo Feng discovered an astonishing phenomenon: the zombie horde was not aimlessly wandering, but rather moving straight in one direction, destroying buildings and leveling roads along the way. The previously aimlessly wandering zombies, after the horde passed, also joined the ranks, as if controlled by some force.
This phenomenon was like a silent summons; the zombies, as if pulled by an invisible hand, orderly converged into an even larger legion.
Zuo Feng's brows furrowed. This was not a good sign. It was like a snowball effect; if it continued like this, the scale of the zombie horde would become even more terrifying, potentially forming an unstoppable disaster.
A zombie horde of 100,000 was already terrifying; if it swelled to a million, it was likely that no current force could resist it.
While Zuo Feng and his group were following the zombie horde from a distance, in the direction the horde was heading, a supply scavenging team, which had been cautiously collecting supplies, suddenly felt the ground shake. Looking up, they saw a dark, overwhelming zombie horde surging like a tide on the distant horizon. The team members' faces changed dramatically, and they quickly abandoned their supplies, driving their vehicles in a frantic escape.
"Boss, what is that?! How can so many zombies gather together?! And that several-story-high behemoth, is that a zombie too?"
Inside the lead off-road vehicle of the fleeing supply team, team member Xiao Zhao's voice trembled, his eyes filled with terror.
"Where the hell would I know what that is?! Step on it! If we get caught, we're all dead!"
The captain was a burly man with a full beard. His face was ashen, and he lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag. Even through the swirling smoke, the fear in his eyes was visible.
The car's speed was pushed to its limit. Although the zombie horde was left behind and the distance was widening, that several-story-high behemoth was extremely conspicuous.
Soon, this convoy discovered something that horrified them—the direction the zombie horde was moving coincided with their base.
At this speed, the zombie horde would reach the base in less than half a day!
"Damn it! They're moving towards our base!"
The bearded captain angrily stubbed out his cigarette, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. If a zombie horde of this scale truly attacked the base, the consequences would be unimaginable.
If he ran now, he could still escape. If he went back to warn the base, he would inevitably be left to fight, which would be a situation of nine deaths and one life. Should he run or go back to warn? The captain's heart was in turmoil.
The burly man with the beard was named Yan Tieshan. Before the apocalypse, he was just an ordinary construction worker.
After the apocalypse, he, who hadn't mutated initially, was rescued from the jaws of zombies by the current leader of the base. He then followed the leader step by step to establish Huo Yao Base. Fortunately, he awakened an ability not long after the apocalypse, becoming a backbone of the base.
Huo Yao Base could be said to have embodied his efforts, growing step by step from a small team of dozens to a large safe base of nearly 50,000 people today, with hundreds of Mutants within the base.
The leader's life-saving grace and trust, as well as the scenes of building the base together in the past, constantly flashed in Yan Tieshan's mind. A sense of responsibility weighed on him like a mountain.
But going back now truly meant nine deaths and one life. Yan Tieshan took a deep breath, his eyes flashing with determination:
"Go to the base to warn them! Damn it, my life was originally saved by the leader. If we can't get through this, then consider it returning my life to the leader!"
Yan Tieshan stomped on the accelerator, and the off-road vehicle sped off like an arrow from a bow. But soon, two off-road vehicles in the convoy broke away and sped in another direction, clearly choosing to escape.
Yan Tieshan quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie and roared, "Ke Qingfeng, are you a man or not?! If you've got guts, come back and fight with us! The base can't be lost, and we can't be deserters!"
As for whether Ke Qingfeng was running away, Yan Tieshan knew in his heart.
Inside the lead car of the two fleeing vehicles, a man with triangular eyes sneered, a hint of disdain flashing in his eyes: "Yan Tieshan, who do you think you are? The survival of the base is none of my damn business! I just want to live!"
Ke Qingfeng's voice was particularly grating over the walkie-talkie.
Yan Tieshan was furious, the veins on his hands bulging as he gripped the steering wheel, roaring into the walkie-talkie: "Ke Qingfeng, don't forget, if it weren't for the leader back then, you and your wife and son would have starved to death in the sewers long ago! The leader saved your life! Now the base is in danger and you run?! You ungrateful bastard! The leader saved you, but you betrayed him!"
Ke Qingfeng snorted coldly, cutting off the walkie-talkie's static: "Cut the crap, Yan Tieshan. At a time of life and death, who cares about kindness? Besides, I almost starved to death back then, but I didn't actually die, did I? Even if the leader hadn't saved me, someone else might have! So, it can't really be called life-saving grace. At most, the leader showed me kindness, and I've contributed a lot to the base this past month, so the leader's kindness has long been repaid!
Now I'm just living for myself. How you want to fight is your business, don't drag me into it!"
Upon hearing this, Yan Tieshan's anger flared even more, his eyes practically spitting fire. He then roared, "Your wife and son are still at the base, are you abandoning them too?"
Ke Qingfeng's triangular eyes showed disdain as he coldly responded, "If I lose a wife, I can marry another; if I lose a son, I can have another. I'm a Mutant now, so in this apocalypse, I won't lack a wife or children. If they have the ability, they'll escape on their own. If they truly die, then it's their fate!"
Yan Tieshan trembled with rage, his teeth grinding. He was even abandoning his wife and son. He knew that saying anything more would be useless, so he could only transform his immense anger into motivation, gripping the steering wheel and accelerating towards the base.