Suo Tian glanced back at the bank, then swept his gaze around the surrounding area before turning to me and saying,
"Get back in the car. We'll talk on the road."
Though I was filled with questions, I still nodded in response.
As I headed back toward the vehicle, Han Xue stuck her head out from one of their cars and waved at me, shouting,
"Chen Yang! Chen Yang!"
Hearing her voice, I quickly looked over and saw her face lit up with the expression of someone who'd just survived a disaster—relieved and overjoyed.
I waved back at her.
Then I caught sight of Zhou Wen sitting behind her, holding Taozi curled up like a little ball in his arms.
I couldn't help but smile to myself.
I used to joke about people being "best buddies" like some kind of running gag—who would've thought I'd actually run into a pair of real ones at a time like this.
Once I got back in the car, I asked Shen Feng and Yangyang what had happened at the shelter, but they all said the same thing: when they arrived, Han Xue and the others were already standing outside the gates.
Zhang Hongsheng and the other three were all in that vehicle just now.
Since Suo Tian seemed eager to get moving, I didn't feel it was appropriate to jump out and question them directly.
Besides, Suo Tian had already said he'd explain everything on the road, so I figured the truth would come out soon enough.
Even after that whole scare just now, when nature calls—it still calls.
Tingyun still had to poop.
So Uncle Gazi had no choice but to personally take her over to a small pond in the roadside greenery to do her business.
Chen Pu got into the car looking a little downcast.
Xu Shu asked him twice what was wrong, but he kept his head down and didn't respond.
Watching from the side, I noticed Xu Shu's expression starting to turn a bit stern, so I quickly spoke up:
"There was a small incident just now. Xiao Pu didn't get the chance to help, and now he's feeling guilty about it."
Upon hearing that, Xu Shu glanced at me, and her expression finally softened a bit.
Then she turned back to Chen Pu, looked at him seriously, and said,
"Just do what you're capable of. Do your best within your limits. If you can't do something, it's fine—don't force yourself. Otherwise, you'll just end up being a burden to others."
"Xiao Shu," I called her name and gave her a sidelong glance, signaling her to ease up and stop scolding him.
Picking up on my meaning, Xu Shu looked back at Chen Pu—whose head was now hanging even lower—and sighed slightly.
Her voice softened noticeably as she added,
"Don't be upset. We're going to need your help a lot in the future."
Yangyang and Jun Di chimed in as well:
"Yeah, Xiao Pu is a super reliable teammate. I remember last time we ran into a walker horde on the road—he was a huge help."
With all of us comforting and coaxing him, we finally managed to get Chen Pu to lift his head a little.
Outside, Uncle Gazi had finished taking care of Tingyun and came back to the car.
A black-clad man brought us our blankets, and Zheng Rongrong was also carried back into Suo Tian's vehicle.
The convoy finally set out again.
Before we left, I glanced once more toward the direction of the shelter from a distance.
This time, we were really leaving.
The convoy would soon leave everything about this place far behind.
No matter what the situation inside was like now, perhaps—even when we eventually face death—we may never have the chance to return here again.
About ten minutes into the drive, I finally couldn't hold it in any longer.
I picked up the walkie-talkie and asked,
"What exactly happened today? Can someone please explain?"
On the other end, Big Beard's loud, casual voice replied,
"It's not just you—I don't know what the heck happened either. Boss, do you know?"
There was a two-second pause before Suo Tian's voice came through:
"Let them explain."
By "them," he was clearly referring to Han Xue and the others.
After he finished speaking, the other end of the walkie-talkie fell silent again.
In our vehicle, everyone except for Shen Feng—who was driving—turned their eyes toward the device, waiting for someone to give us an explanation.
After a while, a voice finally came through.
It was Zhang Hongsheng, speaking in a deep, calm tone:
"Not long after you left, we looked through the window and saw that the number of walkers in the courtyard was gradually decreasing. Before long, a group of people came rushing out, tossing ropes around like they were trying to wrangle something—and they dragged the remaining walkers away. What's really strange is... it didn't look like they were planning to kill them."
Zhang Hongsheng paused there, probably trying to decide how best to phrase what came next.
I took the chance to think things over.
From what he just said, it sounded like they'd gone back to their usual method—using live bait to lure the walkers back into Building 1.
If that's the case, it all makes sense.
After all, those people treated the walkers as some kind of immortal mutated beings.
They would never willingly kill them.
"And then?" Xu Shu leaned over and pressed the talk button in my hand to ask.
"Then those people found us," Han Xue's voice came through this time.
"At first, they were all shouting and screaming about how you guys killed their—whatever—some kind of followers or something. It was a complete mess. From the way they were talking, it seriously felt like they were planning to execute the four of us on the spot."
She usually chirped away nonstop, so her words came out quickly.
After rattling off that whole section, she barely paused before continuing right away:
"Then they dragged us toward that little guard post—can you believe it? What were they thinking, dragging such a big group of us there? That place is tiny! How many people could even fit inside? But then, on the way there, an old man came out and said something to them. I don't know what he said, but they huddled together, whispered for a bit, and just agreed to let us go. They even had someone gather the stuff you didn't take and tossed it out of the compound for us. The front gate, though—someone had locked it shut and we couldn't open it, so we had to climb over a ladder to get out. Nearly broke our necks jumping down."
I didn't have the heart to remind her that it was actually Suo Tian and his team who locked that gate.
I was too busy thinking about the old man she mentioned—
Who was he? And why was just a few words from him enough to make that whole group of furious people let them go so easily?
"Did they say anything else to you?" someone asked from our end.
"No… Oh wait! They did, they did—now that you mention it, I remember. That old man said something really weird to us before we left."
"What did he say?" I asked.
"Let me think… Oh, he said: 'If something doesn't concern you, don't get involved. Meddling in things you don't understand will only lead to mutual destruction. Best to walk away and keep your distance.'"
When I heard that, I froze for a moment.
Then, all of a sudden, the image of Old Man Zheng's suspicious gaze popped into my mind.
The meaning of those words wasn't hard to figure out—anyone paying attention would get it.
What he meant was:
"Don't meddle in things that don't involve you. The more you interfere, the more trouble you'll invite. In the end, everyone loses."
After a moment of hesitation, I finally asked the question that had been weighing heaviest on my mind:
"Was there something strange in that guard post? I found something really weird in there last time."
Suo Tian responded quickly—almost the moment I finished speaking, his voice came through:
"There's definitely something off about that room. The walls and floor are hollow—there's probably a basement underneath."
Hearing that, I felt a sudden clarity wash over me.
That explained why, on that day, even though I clearly saw no one in the room, Old Man Zheng had suddenly appeared when I turned around.
He must've been in the basement for some reason, and came up when he heard me moving around.
If I was right… thinking back on the structure of that room, that bed must've been the entrance to the underground passage.
"A basement? What was it for?"
Han Xue asked in confusion.
But before she could get an answer, the middle-aged man—who had been silent all this time—cut her off:
"Just a bunch of fools doing something stupid and suicidal. Most of them are probably dead by now. And since we've already left, there's no point in talking about it anymore—it's just a waste of time. Better to save our energy. We've still got a long way to go on this journey."
After he spoke, true to his words, no one else said anything further.
I sat there quietly for a while before finally placing the walkie-talkie down and leaning my head back against the seat.
Clearly, that middle-aged man and Suo Tian knew exactly what that basement was used for—they just didn't want to tell us.
I turned my head to gaze out the window at the scenery flashing by, my mind once again full of thoughts.
The greatest threat brought on by the apocalypse wasn't just the walkers.
Putting them aside, the real horror began when the world lost its structure and order—when people's minds and spirits started to decay.
That was the most terrifying part.
It felt like everyone still alive was grappling with the same questions:
"How do I survive?" and
"Who will come to save me?"
It was always something along those lines.
Only, people chose different ways to deal with that.
Our group chose the simplest, most effective—and perhaps the most rational—method:
Try to find a safer place.
Try to kill more walkers.
Try everything we can to stay alive.
As for the people in the shelter... to be honest, if it hadn't been for that final moment when the Captain Niu and his group released the walkers to try to kill us, I might never have realized that something was wrong with them.
On the surface, they looked completely normal.
But the problem was with their minds.
Thinking back, ever since the walker outbreak began—when we were still living at home in the county—the signs were always there.
From the group who cleared out the convenience store only to be robbed by Li Jianguo's people, to that cruel yet pitiful couple, then to Zhang Hongsheng's village, and finally this absurd and laughable shelter… all of it stemmed from one root cause: fear had broken everyone mentally.
Gone were the bustling markets and streets.
Gone were smartphones, computers, cinemas, bars, and clubs.
People were spiritually empty to the extreme.
The world was left with only chaos and uncertainty, and that fear filled the hollowness of their minds again.
No wonder we'd encountered so many seemingly insane people along the way.
It's hard to judge right or wrong anymore—on the same road, everyone just chose a different path to walk.
But if you really think about it, are we truly the good guys?
Not speaking for the others, but even I've had moments of so-called compassion that were followed by cold, dark thoughts that, in hindsight, make me shudder.
Back at the gas station, when I so proudly thought I was being kind by taking in Zheng Yiyi, I barely batted an eye at the woman who was burned alive in that house.
In the end, all of us are being changed by this world, bit by bit.
I don't know if that change will help us keep surviving—or drag us down into the same irreversible abyss as those other people.
But there is one thing I know for sure:
In this world, without the right understanding of reality, you're basically pushing yourself faster toward death.
The people in that shelter—those who've completely lost touch with reality—even if we're long gone, they're bound to run into trouble on their own.
They won't survive for long.
Suddenly, I thought of that young couple carrying the large bundle.
After pondering for a while, I picked up the walkie-talkie again and asked, "Suo Tian, do you know about that high school couple in the shelter?"
Suo Tian seemed to know exactly what I was trying to ask.
Two seconds later, he responded to the question I hadn't even finished:
"Their child was already dead. By the time we entered on the first day, the kid was already gone."
I set down the walkie-talkie.
Even though Suo Tian didn't explain further, I could pretty much guess the rest.
That strange behavior from the couple afterward—no doubt they'd been desperately searching for that all-powerful 'Arhat' to help their child escape suffering.
Closing my eyes, I tried hard to stop thinking about the things that happened in the shelter.
Even though so much was still unclear—and I really did want to figure it all out—it seemed we'd never get the chance again.
And just like Suo Tian always said, this really had nothing to do with us.
"Chen Yang?"
From the driver's seat, Shen Feng suddenly turned his head slightly and softly called out to me.
I opened my eyes a little and looked at him. "What is it?"
"You and Yangyang… you're both going to live on, and live well. All of us will."
As he said this, Shen Feng looked me straight in the eyes with a seriousness I hadn't seen in a long time.
This time, I didn't freeze up.
I understood instantly—the forgiveness, the understanding, and even the guilt I should've felt… all of it was wrapped up in that one sentence.
I couldn't help but smile. I laughed and responded,
"Yeah. We're all going to live well!"
From the backseat, Yangyang added, "Of course! We're all blessed and lucky—we're not dying anytime soon!"
Xu Shu joined in, smiling: "Ain't that the truth?!"
Uncle Gazi burst into hearty laughter.
I turned again to look out the window.
Bright sunlight poured down, streaming through the glass onto our faces and bodies—warm and gentle.
Taking a deep breath, I silently thought to myself—
Xiao Xue, I'm sorry.
It was my selfishness and mistakes that caused you to leave this world.
That's something I can never undo.
But from now on, I'll carry everyone forward—stronger than before—
alongside the brother you loved so dearly.
On the quiet street, our convoy moved through the sunlight, heading toward the unknown in the distance.
As for where we'll end up next—I no longer want to guess.
As long as we're alive, as long as we're together, then no matter where we are… it'll be enough.
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