The woman said, “I don’t care, anyway, you guys have to take responsibility for this car to the end. I think the car you’re sitting in now is fine, you should give it to us. And the supplies on it, we should at least get half, as a mental compensation.” She was persistent.
Xie Fei was the youngest in the team, just in his early twenties. He had never seen such unreasonable behaviour before, and he was so angry that his face turned red. “You… You’re dreaming!”
The woman’s words were harsh, even Da Cheng, who had the best temper in the team, couldn’t bear it. But considering they were still on the street, it wasn’t good to argue too much. He had to step forward as a mediator, saying, “Xie Fei, just hold back for now. Let’s leave here first before we discuss. We don’t want to attract zombies with all this noise.”
Xie Fei snorted, deeply offended. “They were the ones who started it. It’s like being kind to a donkey’s liver and lungs. If we hadn’t saved them just now, they would have been zombie food at the gas station.”
“Sorry, you can rest assured, we’ll find the car ourselves. Today has already been troublesome enough for you,” the man standing next to the woman apologized, feeling ashamed.
“Yes, we’re really sorry.”
No one expected such a good deed to turn into this. Not everyone in this world likes to take advantage. The others present knew very well that these people had already gone above and beyond for them.
They had helped them out of goodwill. Now, with this incident, they couldn’t face asking these people to accommodate them anymore. It was better for everyone to head to the safe zone together.
However, Liu Rou glanced at her young daughter in her arms. Unlike the two big men, she didn’t have the ability to protect herself alone, especially with a child.
As a mother, she thought it over and could only reluctantly, with a pleading tone, turn to Xue Chen and his group, saying, “Young man, could you please take me and my child a little further? My daughter is still young, and I can’t bear to see her and me die at the hands of those monsters. Don’t worry, once we get to the safe zone, we won’t trouble you anymore.”
“Oh, and this.” The woman took off the necklace from her neck with her free hand, saying, “This is the necklace my husband and I bought when we got married. It should be worth something, consider it as our fare for me and my child.”
The little child in the woman’s arms was just awakened by the commotion around her, not understanding what was happening. With a puzzled look on her innocent face, she didn’t get anxious until she saw her mother crying, “Mom, don’t cry… Hug Hua Hua and you’ll feel better.”
Liu Rou wiped away her tears, “Hua Hua, it’s okay, Mommy’s not crying, just got some sand in my eyes accidentally.”
The members of Ruan Ning and Xue Chen’s team were not heartless people. With a pleading mother and a tender child like this, they couldn’t bring themselves to refuse.
“We won’t take your necklace. Anyway, we’re also heading to the safe zone. You and your child can come with us.”
There happened to be an empty seat in the car, right next to Ruan Ning’s seat. When there were fewer people before, she used to sit alone at the back. But since the child was still young and didn’t take up much space, squeezing in two people shouldn’t be a problem.
Hearing that they were willing to take her and her child along, Liu Rou sincerely thanked them, “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Ruan Ning saw that she had been carrying the child for a long time, so she quickly took her and the child onto the car.
As for the couple, they were still making a scene, but no one bothered with them anymore.
Xie Fei was too lazy to talk nonsense anymore. As soon as he brandished his machete, still stained with zombie blood and flesh, the couple was immediately frightened into silence, let alone making any more unreasonable demands. In plain terms, these people only understood force. They wouldn’t listen to reason until they were forced to.
The other two men from the gas station weren’t familiar with this couple either. Plus, it was because of these two that they missed the opportunity to travel with a strong team. It was already generous of them not to give them a lesson; there was no way they would travel with such people again.
So in the end, the six people who left the gas station split into three groups.
—-
Without the burden of others dragging them down, the journey of the squad went much smoother.
Ruan Ning took out a few packs of biscuits and a bottle of Yakult from her bag, saying, “Sister Liu, you and the child must be hungry since you didn’t have breakfast. Have some snacks.”
The other five members of the team were men and not very conducive to communication. As the only woman in the squad, Ruan Ning had to take care of this mother and daughter pair.
“Miss Ruan, it’s okay, we got some food from the gas station,” Liu Rou was tactful. She understood that these people had no obligation to take her and her child to the safe zone, so she didn’t want to trouble them further.
Hua Hua glanced at the Yakult in the pretty lady’s hand and tugged at Liu Rou’s clothes, looking eager. “Mom…”
Ruan Ning smiled and handed the Yakult directly to the child. “It’s nothing special. We’re all together now, Sister Liu, you don’t need to be so polite.”
Liu Rou looked at her daughter’s eyes and ultimately didn’t refuse. “Hua Hua, come and thank this young lady.”
Hua Hua obediently said, “Thank you, sister.”
Ruan Ning actually quite liked this mother-daughter pair. She had noticed at the gas station that the little girl named Hua Hua was very sensible; she didn’t cry when her mother told her not to. And Liu Rou protected her child very well, always covering her eyes whenever the zombies approached, not letting her see those things.
Especially in comparison to that unreasonable couple, Ruan Ning liked them even more. Moreover, in the apocalypse, it wasn’t easy for a woman to take care of a child, and there were people who abandoned their children for survival.
Before the apocalypse, the roads were filled with cars everywhere. Not all roads were clear, sometimes they needed to take detours, or get out of the car to clear obstacles.
Along the way, they encountered many people asking for help, but they didn’t agree anymore. Apart from the fact that there was no space in the car anymore, if they encountered a few more people like that unreasonable couple, they wouldn’t be able to handle it and would only bring trouble upon themselves. So, with ups and downs along the way, the group finally arrived at the safe zone on the fifth afternoon since leaving the community.
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