Suo Tian shook his head and said, "I don't know either. I can only determine a general direction. Too many things can change in the mountains—there's no telling."
"Mm." I nodded.
I didn't know what else to say, so after sitting for a while longer, I figured I might as well go get some sleep.
It looked like we still had plenty to deal with in the coming days.
Just as I was about to stand, Suo Tian—who had been silent beside me—suddenly reached out and grabbed my arm.
He asked, "Do you want to go back with me?"
I froze.
I turned and looked at him. "Go back? Back where? Headquarters?"
"Mm." Suo Tian nodded.
When he asked that, I suddenly didn't know how to answer.
To be honest, after everything we had seen along the way, I was just like Shen Feng and the others—I didn't exactly look forward to going to that so-called headquarters.
But at the same time, I didn't want to part ways with Suo Tian's group either.
And that wasn't just because they could keep us safe.
There was also… my own selfish reason — Suo Tian himself.
After thinking in circles, I gave him a vague answer: "Why are you asking me this all of a sudden?"
Clearly dissatisfied with not getting a real answer, Suo Tian turned toward me and stared for a long moment without speaking.
Being stared at like that made me uncomfortable, so I raised my hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I'll talk, okay? You're giving me goosebumps."
Hearing that, Suo Tian finally turned back toward the fire, waiting patiently for me to continue.
I cleared my throat and said, "We've been traveling together for a long time. Ever since the day Shen Feng and the rest of us met you, we never thought about splitting off again. It was natural for us to keep following you. And even if we did want to leave now, we don't have anywhere we can go. So—"
I hadn't even finished before Suo Tian cut in: "So you do want to go to headquarters?"
I didn't hedge anymore and nodded directly. "It's not about liking it or not. In times like these, having a place to settle down is already extremely rare."
"Settle down…"
Suo Tian repeated the phrase, then gave a faint, almost mocking smile.
"That really is quite the 'good place to settle down.'"
"Hm?" I looked at him, confused.
Before I could ask what he meant, Suo Tian's expression suddenly changed.
He snapped his head toward the darkness behind us—then rose to his feet in one swift motion and signaled rapidly to the nearest black-clad men.
I recognized those hand signals; I had seen them many times before.
Complicated, but clear enough now.
Defensive formation.
There's something coming.
Sure enough, the black-clad scouts who had been patrolling at the perimeter immediately converged, then spread back out into a coordinated defensive arc.
I didn't know what was happening, but judging by the atmosphere, it was definitely bad.
I rushed to wake Shen Feng and the others.
The three children were fast asleep, so Xu Shu, Uncle Gazi, and Shen Feng each picked one up.
Then I went to wake Lili.
Around the same time, Zhang Qicong and the others had already jumped to their feet.
When I hurried back, Suo Tian was standing at the very front of the formation.
A silver throwing blade gleamed in his hand.
He felt my gaze and turned his eyes toward me.
Then, as if remembering something, he swept his gaze over the surroundings—and pointed first at us, then at the trees behind us.
I understood instantly.
He wanted us to get up the trees.
And just then— From deep within the pitch-black forest— a chorus of walker howls slowly began to echo toward us.
The forest at night already carried a sense of loneliness, and now those dull, emotionless roars of the walkers echoed faintly through the darkness—adding a kind of unspeakable terror to the air.
The people who had just been woken up still had questions, but when they also noticed those sounds, everyone instantly fell silent.
Glancing at the ones holding the children, I ran over and whispered Suo Tian's instructions into Xu Shu and the others' ears—each of them needed to find a tree and climb up.
In this dark forest, if the walkers really swarmed us in large numbers, it would be too easy for us to slip up during the defense and get bitten.
I also passed the message to Lili's group.
After that, except for the black-clad team, the rest of us began searching within the ring of firelight for trees to climb.
A good tree could usually hold three or four people.
I, along with Yangyang, Jun Di, and Zhang Qicong—who weren't carrying children—helped the ones with babies climb first, then each of us looked for our own tree to go up.
Yangyang's climbing skills were even worse than mine.
While Chen Pu was already halfway up the tree in just a couple quick scrambles, Yangyang was still flailing helplessly at the base, anxious but completely clueless about what to do.
Finally, after a bit, everyone had quietly made it up their trees—leaving only Yangyang and me still on the ground.
Suo Tian's group hadn't put out the bonfires.
Judging from that, they clearly didn't plan on avoiding the walkers—but fighting them head-on.
With only trained fighters on the ground, it would be safer.
If we all stayed below, the numbers would make it too chaotic.
But now that only they remained, if they held formation and cut the walkers down, we wouldn't have to keep being chased endlessly afterward.
The walkers' roars—which had originally been faint—were getting closer and closer.
One of the black-clad men threw more firewood onto the flames, making the fire flare brighter.
The walkers would be attracted straight to it.
Just judging from the sound, there were at least dozens of them.
I couldn't help sighing again—China's population really was too damn high.
Even deep in the mountains we could run into a whole group of walkers.
No wonder foreign news once said that wherever Chinese went, it was like locusts passing through—numbers really are power; we show up everywhere.
I tried helping Yangyang a couple more times, but it turned out he truly had zero ability to climb a tree.
The roars came even closer.
Suo Tian, seeing we were still on the ground, didn't bother signaling anymore—he just shouted directly:
"Get over here!"
The walkers were already right upon us.
I didn't dare hesitate.
I grabbed Yangyang, who was still trying to jump at the tree pathetically, and dragged him toward Suo Tian's side.
On the way, I gestured for Yangyang—who was still a little stunned—to draw his dagger.
Tonight, the siblings were going to fight alongside Suo Tian and his men.
Just as we reached them, the leading few walkers finally stepped into the circle of firelight.
The ropes Big Beard and the others had tied around the surrounding area really worked—they stopped the frontmost walkers right in place.
And when I saw the first one clearly… even though I was used to seeing walkers, I still almost jumped out of my skin.
Goddamn, that thing was ugly.
It had clearly been extremely overweight when alive—now its bloated face was missing a large chunk, exposing black, rotting flesh underneath.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could swear its whole face looked greasy.
Its wide-open mouth had lost half of its lips, leaving a full set of yellowed teeth smeared with blood showing in the open air.
And its eyes—maybe it had been severely nearsighted in life—bulged out like two glass marbles, one of which even looked like it was about to fall off.
Its mouth clamped down on the tough rope, and when the walkers behind it pushed forward, the fat on its face was dragged along the rope and tore open instantly.
The wound split wider, and rotten flesh kept splattering out.
The sight alone almost made me gag.
I had clearly underestimated the size of this walker group.
They didn't enter the open square area we had cleared in one cluster—they were approaching in a wide fan shape.
For a moment, it felt like they were surrounding us from every direction.
Suo Tian was the first to step forward and draw his blade.
Maybe that pig-like walker disgusted him just as much, because the very first one he targeted was that three-hundred-pound fat bastard.
The moment Suo Tian moved, the black-clad team also began operating in formation.
Those on the outer ring, armed with blades, stepped forward in staggered intervals, each facing a different direction.
The ones in the center held rifles and watched all angles, ready to cover them.
I knew they wouldn't fire unless it was absolutely necessary—unless it was to save someone at a critical moment.
Shooting now would attract even more wandering walkers from all around… which would basically be walking ourselves straight into hell.
I pulled Yangyang and stood to the side.
I never really adapted to their method of rushing forward and hacking walkers apart.
I just couldn't get used to the feeling, couldn't judge the timing well.
So I stuck to my old approach: use a kick to knock the walker off balance, then rush in and stab the brain when it's down.
Yangyang had cooperated with me once before—he picked it up fast.
After I knocked down two walkers in a row, he started to get the hang of it.
When I kicked another walker over and stepped back to stabilize myself, he darted in without hesitation and stabbed his blade straight into the eye socket of the female walker on the ground.
He pulled the dagger back and retreated smoothly.
I couldn't help giving him a thumbs-up.
Then I spat at the already dead, poorly dressed female walker on the ground, "Go to hell, you ugly freak!" and rushed forward again.
But this time our luck wasn't as good.
The walker behind her had clearly been a muscular man when alive—tall and broad.
When I saw him, my first reaction wasn't fear or retreat.
Instead, the first thought that flashed into my mind was whether he had some connection to the woman just now—were they together before they turned, bitten at the same time, now wandering side by side like this?
Yangyang was smart.
After we stepped back two paces, we opened up space for Suo Tian to come in.
He strode forward and kicked the big walker off-balance.
Then, the instant he returned to his spot, Yangyang surged forward and drove his blade straight into the walker's skull.
As Yangyang was retreating, a sharp, high-pitched cry suddenly came from one of the trees above us.
The sound immediately drew the attention of several walkers that had been closing in our direction.
Both Yangyang and I froze for a moment—then realization hit us hard.
That was Wang Jun's son!!
— The end of the Chapter–