Rotting Land: Survive-Chapter 327 - 326: An Unexpected Power Seizure (Part 9)

The soldiers had nothing to say. It was quite clear to them the consequences of a reckless assault.

Putting aside the civilians inside and their captured comrades, Dai Sha’s firearms alone were enough to take everyone present down several times over.

"Then what do we do? We can’t just sit here and wait to die!!" Seeing no one responding, Wang Qiang stood up in anger. He might not care about the deaths of Luo Yi and three others, but he couldn’t ignore the lives of Old Lin, Brother Hu, and especially A Cheng, whom he had promised Old Du to protect at all costs.

"Sit down first!" Tang Xiaoquan understood his brother was worried about their fellow comrades at the base, so he gently signaled him to sit back down.

Once Wang Qiang was seated, he continued, "We absolutely can’t just wait to die. At least we need to do our part! For instance, the mission of escorting supplies every three days must be completed."

At the mention of this, the soldiers felt extremely suffocated.

Honestly, as members of the Sharp Blade Company, they did not fear death. But as the young man just pointed out, while you might not fear death, you can’t disregard the lives of the civilians and comrades inside.

They didn’t want to be the ones who let their lack of judgment send their own brothers to the guillotine.

"Damn, what do you mean by that? Surely you don’t expect us to go be laborers for that bastard!" Wang Qiang, as usual, voiced his objection.

But Tang Xiaoquan ignored him, merely nodding symbolically before explaining to everyone, "Laborer or not, if you want to save the people in the gymnasium, we must do as Scarface says. While I can’t guarantee it will save them, it is certain they won’t survive long if we don’t."

At this, silence fell over the room. Even Wang Qiang, who was so full of bravado earlier, wilted like cabbage under frost.

Undoubtedly, the Survivor Team was in a precarious position which severely impacted their morale.

Seeing this, Xu Renjie, who had remained silent, finally took action. He clapped his hands hard, then loudly said, "Hey, hey, hey! Why’s everyone so down and out? Is this really my Sharp Blade Company’s men? Just because Dai Sha has a few guns and has hostages? You let something so trivial get you down like this? Let me tell you, while this is Dai Sha’s advantage, in some ways, it’s also his greatest weakness!"

"Oh?" Grasping at straws, a few soldiers suddenly perked up, eagerly asking in unison, "Captain Xu, what do you mean by that?"

"It’s simple!" Xu Renjie straightened up, speaking seriously, "I ask you all, when are people most prone to making mistakes?"

Everyone looked at each other until Tang Xiaoquan, understanding, replied, "When they assume they are safe."

"That’s right!" Xu Renjie pointed emphatically at Tang Xiaoquan, quickly following up, "Exactly when they assume they’re safe! Dai Sha now has Luo Yi and over 200 civilians from the base, and with the protection of the gymnasium’s high walls, he surpasses us both in manpower and resources. So it’s inevitable this will lead to a lapse in his vigilance. Maybe not now, but over time, he will let his guard down! And that’s when we strike back!!"

As Xu Renjie’s words fell, Tang Xiaoquan immediately chimed in, "Yes, Captain Xu’s analysis makes sense. That’s why I said earlier we should complete the tasks Dai Sha assigns because only by doing so can we relax his guard, while also creating the appearance that we’ve ’given up’."

Hearing their analysis, the crowd nodded, but the older Zhao quickly pointed out a problem: "Captain Xu, Xiao Tang, I don’t deny what you’re saying, but one thing is, we’re outside; how can we possibly know when the base will let its guard down?"

Faced with this issue, Xu Renjie was speechless—this was something he had been pondering as well. He only brought his theory up early to boost the soldiers’ morale.

However, while he was at a loss, there was someone who had long considered everything.

Tang Xiaoquan smirked oddly and then cryptically said, "Uncle Zhao, regarding how we’ll know about the base’s situation, I think someone will inform us."

"Hmm?" Not only Old Zhao, even Xu Renjie turned his head, puzzled.

"Xiao Tang, what do you mean? It sounds like you have an informant." A soldier asked first.

"Uh, I don’t have an informant, but..." Glancing at Wang Qiang’s direction, Tang Xiaoquan raised his eyebrows and finally said firmly, "The person I mean is someone we all know—Wei Dazhuang, who just left."

"What?" Unsurprisingly, upon hearing "Wei Dazhuang," Wang Qiang jumped up from his seat: "I say, Quan, this time it’s truly not me saying it, but anyone could see Dazhuang meant business. Yet, you’re counting on him to be an informant, I... I..."

He lifted his fist only to drop it, over and over, thinking how if the other weren’t his friend of several years, he might really have wanted to punch him to make him see reason.

"Qiang! Calm down first. I think Quan must have his reasons. But then again, Quan, we all saw what happened at the gym today. Look at how he beat Qiang. I, for one, don’t believe he was pretending." Wu Chao reasonably voiced his opinion.

Judging by the reactions, it seemed the others largely agreed with him. At least those survivors who weren’t acquainted with Dazhuang and Xu Renjie showed skepticism, except for Old Zhao, who seemed pensive.

"Whew~" Letting out a long breath, Tang Xiaoquan had anticipated this reaction, so he maintained composure.

After organizing his thoughts a bit, he began laying out his reasoning word by word: "Qiang, Chao, think carefully, is Big Brother Dazhuang really the kind of person who curries favor to climb the social ladder? He hates zombies to his core, and he’s charged into battles against them countless times with a death wish. Do you really think someone like him, as he said today, would hide at the base for a comfortable life? Also, think back, every time there was a conflict at the gym with Scarface, didn’t Big Brother Dazhuang always step forward? Do you think he was pretending then?"

His series of points cut like a steel blade, peeling away at their façade of skepticism. Wang Qiang fell silent, Wu Chao too became speechless, leaving room 202’s not-so-large living room in a deafening silence once more...