Jack followed Boss Hu into the innermost concrete room. The room was not small, with a glass skylight that allowed for ventilation and light. It appeared to be about forty to fifty square meters, divided into two sections. The furnishings were simple; apart from a set of sofas and a coffee table, there was a very grand boss's desk. Upon entering, Jack noticed hundreds of bags of rice and some daily necessities piled in the corner. While it looked like a lot, considering the more than three hundred people outside, the supplies inside were hardly significant.
"You women in the room, why aren't you coming out to make tea for the guests? Do you not want your legs anymore?" Boss Hu boldly sat down on a luxurious leather chair in the room, pointing at a long sofa with exposed springs across from him, inviting Jack to sit wherever he liked.
After Jack sat down, Boss Hu casually exchanged a few pleasantries. Just then, a cloth curtain in the inner room was lifted, and a mature woman dressed in a black sheer coat and denim hot pants stepped out first. She was holding a steaming pot of tea, her gaze flickering as she looked at Jack sitting on the sofa. With a charming smile, she gracefully walked over and squatted beside Jack's legs to pour him a cup of hot tea. Her fair arm brushed against Jack's thigh as she sweetly said, "Sir, please enjoy the tea!"
"Cao Mei, you just squat there and serve Master Lin. If Master Lin takes a liking to you, you'll be his tonight!" Boss Hu pointed at the black-clad woman squatting on the ground, who was not wearing any underwear, and casually wrapped his arms around two voluptuous women who had just come out of the room. He laughed and said to Jack, "Brother, my life isn't easy right now. I don't have much to treat you with, but there are plenty of women here, including these around me. If you fancy anyone, don't hold back, haha! If you have the ability, I welcome you to have them all!"
"Boss Hu is joking, I, Jack, don't have that kind of ability yet!" Jack smiled faintly and glanced at Cao Mei, who was squatting on the ground with a well-behaved expression, massaging his legs. It was clear that she was the most beautiful one beside Boss Hu, with quite remarkable looks that made her stand out. Moreover, probably to please him, it was evident from her damp hair that she had just washed it inside, and she seemed to have sprayed a bit of cheap perfume on herself.
"Brother, where did you come from?"
Boss Hu pulled out his black handgun from his waist and casually placed it on the table in front of him. It was a domestically made Type 54 pistol, which had even lost its bluing, commonly referred to as the "Big Black Star" by the locals. The dark muzzle of the gun was intentionally or unintentionally pointed at Jack, making the warning unmistakably clear.
Seeing Jack sipping tea in small sips, Boss Hu rummaged through a drawer and took out an unopened pack of Su Yan cigarettes, tore it open, and threw one to Jack. He said with a somewhat heavy tone, "Tell me, what's the situation like outside now? Are there hardly any survivors left?"
Jack took the cigarette, gently placed it between his lips, and Cao Mei beside him immediately showed her awareness by picking up a lighter from the coffee table to light it for him. Jack took a puff of smoke, relaxed against the sofa, and said, "I came all the way from the north. I haven't seen any large gathering places; the biggest ones are only about five to six thousand people, but most are survivor shelters with only dozens or hundreds of people like you!"
"What about the government? The military? Are there none left? Could there still be some in the big cities?" Boss Hu widened his eyes at Jack, unconsciously sitting up straighter, as if trying hard to glean some clues from Jack's eyes.
"The larger the city, the more people there are, the lower the chances of survivors!" Jack exhaled a puff of white smoke, looked into Boss Hu's eyes, and said very seriously, "If it's the military, I think you should know that those soldiers become even more terrifying as zombies, with power one to two times that of ordinary zombies!"
"Damn!"
Boss Hu slammed the table in frustration, collapsing back into the genuine leather armchair. For a long time, although they were almost in despair and had estimated the dire situation outside, until the very last moment, everyone still held onto a seed of hope in their hearts, clinging to a glimmer of luck, expecting that one day when the seed sprouts, a miracle might happen.
But hope is always beautiful, and reality must be cruel. Jack's words today undoubtedly completely wiped out their last hope. Everyone in the room turned pale when they heard this cruel fact. Even Cao Mei, who was massaging Jack with all her heart, raised her head and looked at Jack in disbelief. Thomas's delicate and beautiful face turned pale.
"Don't be so discouraged." Jack shrugged, glanced at the dull Cao Mei, and motioned for her to continue massaging him, and then turned around and said, "This plague is coming very quickly, and the infection rate is also very alarming, but the probability is only 80 to 90 percent at most. There are at least 100 to 200 million people in the United States who can survive, so it's not that there are no large gatherings, maybe I haven't noticed it yet. After all, the United States is so big, and I don't dare to wander into some places."
Hearing what Jack said, Boss Hu nodded feebly, looked at Jack and said, "How did you get here, Lin Man? Is there any special method?"
"Be careful and be careful, this is the way." Jack shook his head, thought for a moment and said, "There are things out there that you may not have seen yet, and those living corpses are just appetizers."
"Gudu~" Boss Hu swallowed unconsciously, as if he recalled something, and the knife scar on his face twitched, twisting around on his face like a disgusting earthworm, and then he said with some difficulty, "A year ago, fifty-eight of us went to a small supermarket to look for supplies, but what happened to Lian? No one knew it, but I only saw a black shadow flash by, and the heads of the first few people fell down. The blood sprayed and dyed the ceiling of the whole supermarket red... That time, more than fifty people escaped back, only Lao Ma and I. Lao Ma's eyes were gone at that time. Are you... talking about that kind of thing? "
"Absolutely. There are some things that you can't understand unless you see them with your own eyes." Jack nodded, with some annoyance on his face, and then said, "The situation here is already pretty good. You know, many gathering places are so hungry that they are starting to eat people."
"What? Are they all cannibals?" Boss Hu looked at Jack in disbelief, while the people in the room, both men and women, had expressions of shock and fear.
"Cannibalism" is such a terrible word.
"Yes, people are so hungry that they will eat anything." Jack nodded slowly, his expression revealing a trace of deep helplessness.
"damn Hey, I would rather blow my head off with a gun than eat people. What kind of beasts are these?" Boss Lin slammed the table and scratched his back in annoyance, and then said in a pretentious manner, "Look at me, although Although everyone is having a hard time, I am still very democratic. Everyone has to work to have food. Men must not bully women for nothing. They have to pay for sex. Only in this way can we live together. People cannibalizing people is simply nonsense."
"Yes, you are doing quite well here!" Jack smiled and nodded, as if he already understood what Boss Hu wanted to say next.
Indeed, after Hu Laoda's passionate speech, he half-leaned on the boss's desk, staring at Jack, and asked without blinking, "Lin Laodi, what are your plans next? Do you want to stay and work with us? As long as you are willing to stay, all the women here are yours!"
"Thank you for your kindness, Hu Ge, but my goal is to go to Nanzhou!" Jack replied with a calm smile.
"Nanzhou? The Nanzhou city next to Jiangcheng?" Hu Laoda's pupils shrank sharply, and his tone suddenly rose significantly.
"That's the one!" Jack nodded, a hint of barely concealed anticipation in his eyes.
"Hiss~" Hu Laoda took a sharp breath, looking at Jack as if he wasn't joking. He cautiously reminded, "The population of the cities around Jiangcheng is quite large! Just from here to Jiangcheng is at least a couple of hundred kilometers, and to get to Nanzhou, you have to cross the river. Lin Laodi, you can't joke with your own life!"