Night reconnaissance

Meat Tower Chen froze for a moment, not understanding why he was asking, but still answered honestly. "The Vanguard Team has over thirty people altogether, so they rented an entire house built by a local resident. It's at the end of town."

Nan Shao asked a few more questions, establishing exactly which room Zheng Kun occupied and how the Vanguard Team handled night watch. Then he nodded, got up, and fetched the machetes they had brought back last time to sharpen them in the courtyard. He also found some sturdy wooden sticks, ready to whittle them down and fit them as handles.

"Brother Yi, what's Brother Shao doing?" Meat Tower Chen felt that Nan Shao seemed colder and quieter than he had been the past two days, and could not help feeling uneasy.

Li Muran had already gotten up to make dinner. None of them had eaten lunch, so it was not too early to cook now, especially with something to do that evening. Zhang Yi gave a rough account of what had happened in the vehicle, and naturally did not hide their intention to kill Zheng Kun.

"That son of a bitch Zheng Kun! Too bad my leg hasn't healed yet, or I'd slaughter that bastard myself." After hearing the story, Meat Tower Chen burst into curses. He had never expected Zheng Kun to be so intent on wiping them out that he would not even spare his friends. At the same time, he felt somewhat guilty, believing he had brought trouble down on Zhang Yi and the others. "Brother Yi, I..." No amount of apology would help. He swallowed the words before they came out and brought up something else instead. "Brother Yi, Zheng Kun and his people have guns. The real target of that operation on Small Shop Street was actually the Public Security Bureau. There's a former cop on the team. He told Zheng Kun that just before the apocalypse, the county bureau had busted an arms-smuggling ring and seized a lot of guns and ammunition, but hadn't had time to hand them over yet." Major cases like that were rare in a small county town like Ziyun County, but one had happened to be solved just before the apocalypse. Unfortunately, before anyone could receive credit or rewards, the apocalypse had arrived. Few people knew those supplies were still at the old bureau building, and with some dying and others leaving, they had actually sat unused for over half a year.

"Roughly how many?" Having already guessed as much, Zhang Yi showed no surprise and pressed for details instead.

"Ten handguns. The rest are Type 95 assault rifles. I don't know the exact number, but there should be over a hundred. Ten crates of ammunition, too. There were another two crates I didn't see inside, but I think there's a good chance they held grenades."

"I remember the Vanguard Team has a deputy captain too?"

"Yes. His name's Wang Yuanwei. He's a decent guy."

"How does he get along with Zheng Kun?" Before acting, Zhang Yi naturally needed to establish what consequences Zheng Kun's death would bring and whether the Vanguard Team would retaliate, so he could prepare in advance.

"Zheng Kun is headstrong and vicious. He keeps all the team's power in his own hands, so Wang Yuanwei is just a figurehead. But Wang Yuanwei is actually easygoing and tolerant, treats the members well, and is a formidable fighter. In private, he's more popular than Zheng Kun. If Zheng Kun hadn't built the Vanguard Team himself, he wouldn't have gotten to be captain. And Wang Yuanwei usually keeps a low profile and doesn't compete with him, which is the only reason the team hasn't split." Meat Tower Chen thought as he answered, taking it very seriously, afraid that leaving something out might get Zhang Yi and the others killed.

"So the two of them don't get along?" Zhang Yi keenly picked up on that point, but he did not know Wang Yuanwei and had no way of judging what kind of person he was.

"Right. Zheng Kun keeps trying to sideline Wang Yuanwei. He just hasn't found a chance to kick him off the team." Meat Tower Chen nodded, then shook his head, regret in his eyes. He clearly felt Wang Yuanwei deserved better.

"If Zheng Kun dies, Wang Yuanwei taking over as captain should be the natural course of things," Zhang Yi said thoughtfully.

"There's a very good chance." At those words, Meat Tower Chen's eyes immediately lit up. At that moment, he wished his leg would heal at once so he could join the operation to kill Zheng Kun that evening.

If Zheng Kun and Wang Yuanwei really were at odds as Meat Tower Chen said, then once Zheng Kun died and Wang Yuanwei became captain, he certainly would not spare every effort to avenge him. Of course, that was only one possibility. For Zhang Yi, the ideal outcome was Zheng Kun dying and the Vanguard Team disbanding, so there would be no need to worry about their retaliation.

Zhang Yi would not take too optimistic a view of things, so this operation had to be planned thoroughly. They could not leave any clues for anyone to uncover, ensuring that even if the other side wanted revenge, they would have no target.

Chapter 29: Night reconnaissance

Zhang Yi and Nan Shao did not leave until it was completely dark. Li Muran had wanted to come along, but the two of them stopped her. For some things, more people did not necessarily make matters better.

Ever since the apocalypse began, although the sun blazed during the day, at night the sky overhead seemed shrouded in a layer of black cotton batting. It was as stiflingly hot as it had been before a downpour in the days before the apocalypse. Never mind the moon-not even a glimmer of starlight was visible. To save electricity, there were no streetlights at all, so the moment the two stepped outside, darkness swallowed them. Only a few scattered windows on either side let out sparse light to guide them; otherwise, they might not even have been able to find their way.

Following Meat Tower Chen's directions, they soon found the house beside the road at the end of town. It was an ordinary house built by local residents, three stories high, with three rooms and a toilet on each floor, and corridors along the side and front. Housing over thirty people there was somewhat cramped, especially since Zheng Kun occupied an entire room himself. At this hour, only the central hall on the ground floor and the middle room on the second floor were lit. Noisy voices spilled out of the hall, so clearly quite a few people were still awake. Because the town was protected not only by high walls but also by ability users taking turns on night watch, it could be considered very safe inside, so the Vanguard Team had not assigned anyone to keep watch.

Nan Shao and Zhang Yi slipped quietly behind the house. Houses like this had windows at the back too, so they could easily investigate the situation inside from there.

Because of the heat, the windows upstairs and downstairs were all wide open. Light from an incandescent bulb streamed through the central window, illuminating a large stretch of ground behind the house. The area had probably once been a vegetable plot, but it had now become hard, dry wasteland. A strong reek of urine hung in the air. Clearly, despite having toilets, plenty of people still preferred relieving themselves outdoors.

Nan Shao and Zhang Yi stood in the shadows beside the lit window, observing the room through the open window.