The moment Big Beard and the middle-aged man led the black-clad men out of the gate with their guns raised, I immediately understood what the fat man had been wary of earlier.
He wasn't afraid of Suo Tian or the three of us — clearly old, weak, or sickly-looking.
He was wary of Big Beard's group.
From the way he spoke before, I had already guessed that Big Beard and the others had moved into the shelter.
Before I could think further, Big Beard's group quickly formed a wider encirclement with their guns, surrounding the men in camouflage — and the fat man as well.
Right after, a series of crisp ka-ka-ka sounds rang out as they loaded their weapons without hesitation.
My heart leapt again.
I glanced at Suo Tian, who was standing in front of me, and saw no change in his expression.
Then I turned to observe the others.
Big Beard stood outside the encirclement.
As soon as he stopped, he began cursing loudly, "You damn fatty, how many times have I told you? When the boss shows up, you don't give him a hard time! Can't you understand human speech or what?"
The middle-aged man stood beside Big Beard, his expression serious as he looked past the crowd toward Suo Tian.
His gaze then drifted and locked with mine for a moment.
He gave a slight nod before withdrawing his eyes.
The fat man's face grew even uglier after hearing Big Beard's words, but only for an instant.
He quickly forced down the sour expression and slapped on a fake smile again.
I couldn't help but feel that his annoying, sycophantic face looked eerily similar to Li Jianguo's.
Only, Li Jianguo looked far more decent than this guy.
The fat man turned slightly, chuckling as he waved his hand and said, "How was I supposed to know this was your boss? I've never seen him before, right?"
Big Beard sneered coldly and said, "Cut the damn crap. If I hadn't shown up in time today, who knows what shady shit you would've pulled?"
"What the hell did you just say?!" a young man from the camo-clad group suddenly snapped.
He probably couldn't stand hearing the fat man get cursed like that and couldn't help shouting back first.
I glanced at him, and my heart suddenly clenched.
Out of nowhere, I remembered that young man not long ago — the one who had unwillingly fallen by the hands of his own teammate.
The fat man didn't try to stop the young man's outburst.
Instead, he withdrew his fake smile slightly, turned to Big Beard, and said with a cold face, "Don't you fucking push it. Everyone entering the shelter must go through routine inspection — always has, always will."
As soon as he finished speaking, his face suddenly turned grim, and with a sharp wave of his hand, the sound of ka-ka-ka rang out again as the camo group chambered their weapons.
A few of them still kept their guns aimed at us, but the others turned around to face off against the black-clad group.
Uncle Gazi, clearly overwhelmed by the scene, turned to me and asked, "Girl, wh-what's goin' on here? We just wanna get in, right? Let 'em check us if they must… why's it suddenly turnin' into a damn standoff?"
Although Uncle Gazi was just a farmer, he'd still spent decades surviving in this world.
He could tell what was really happening.
The question was more out of worry — concern that if a fight broke out between the two sides, us unarmed folks might get caught in the crossfire.
He was subtly hinting that we should just back down and let them inspect us.
I let out a bitter laugh in my heart.
Uncle Gazi had no idea that I still had a real bite wound on my left arm.
Even though it had mostly healed, if they did a body check, they'd definitely find it.
Once they saw such a clear bite mark, it wouldn't be surprising if they slapped a "potential threat" label on me, just like they did with Li Jianguo and Song Meijing.
Then I'd be screwed…
In this apocalypse, which group isn't on edge?
Everyone is desperately trying to survive and ensure their own safety.
Especially a group like the fat man's — well-equipped and holding more cards than others — they'd naturally value their lives more and be even more cautious.
That much was clear from how their sniper had locked onto us from such a distance.
They're clearly monitoring their surroundings constantly, ready to identify and eliminate threats as quickly as possible.
When Big Beard saw the fat man's men turning back toward us, his face darkened with fury.
He raised his hand, clearly about to give some kind of order.
In that instant, I mentally braced myself for an all-out shootout — a storm of bullets and rivers of blood.
But just then, the middle-aged man who had been standing quietly all along suddenly raised his hand, stopping Big Beard's movement.
He turned his face and smiled at the fat man, saying, "Captain Niu, no need to get worked up. We're just trying to ensure our boss's safety. Everyone's serving their own side — let's keep things civil."
"Old Wang, what the hell are you talking to him for? Just unload a couple of mags and be done with it! Why waste your breath?"
Big Beard was clearly the hotheaded type, ready to stir the pot at any moment.
But the middle-aged man obviously didn't want things to escalate into bloodshed.
After all, both sides were evenly matched — both armed with submachine guns.
While the black-clad group was clearly well-trained, those camo-wearing guys were obviously ex-military.
Troops trained in the army wouldn't be pushovers either.
If it came to a fight, even if they managed to take the enemy down, they'd suffer heavy losses themselves — a classic case of killing a thousand enemies at the cost of losing eight hundred of their own.
Not worth it at all.
Although the fat man was wary of Big Beard and his group, he wasn't exactly at a disadvantage — the two sides were pretty evenly matched.
So after being cursed out by Big Beard earlier, he was now full of anger, completely dropping the fake smile he had put on before.
His expression now said loud and clear: "Bring it on, I'm ready to fight."
Hearing Big Beard's remark, he let out two cold laughs and replied, "Two magazines might not be enough to take us down."
The middle-aged man took two steps forward, still wearing that affable smile on his face.
"Captain Niu, don't pay him any mind. He's got a blunt temper and likes to run his mouth. But we've gotten along just fine these past two or three days without any trouble. No need to ruin that with a fight now."
There's truth to the old saying — no one hits a smiling face.
Facing the middle-aged man's friendly smile, the fat man found himself unable to stay angry.
He glanced at Big Beard, then waved his hand, signaling the middle-aged man to go on.
Just then, Suo Tian suddenly tugged my hand hard, pulling me tightly into his arms.
I was stunned by his sudden move and instinctively tried to push him away — this wasn't exactly the time for being affectionate, was it?
But Suo Tian held me firmly, locking me in place, his eyes fixed on the middle-aged man who was facing off with the fat man.
That man casually glanced our way, seemingly unintentionally, then turned his gaze back to the fat man.
His smile widened as he said, "Captain Niu probably doesn't know the full situation. It's not that we won't cooperate with the inspection, but the one you want to check happens to be our boss. Naturally, we can't let just anyone lay hands on her — especially not men…"
He let the sentence trail off deliberately, giving the fat man a meaningful look and grinning even wider.
The fat man eyed Suo Tian and me suspiciously, but before he could say anything, the middle-aged man spoke again:
"It's not like we're being reckless. After all, anyone who's survived this long knows how important it is to feel secure, right? If this person weren't safe, neither we nor our boss would dare keep her by our side. You know how it is — get bitten even just a little and that's a huge problem. Captain Niu, you can rest assured — we care about our own safety too, and we'd never be careless about it. But when it comes to checking the lady, shouldn't that be left to our boss himself?"
He ended with another meaningful smile.
After his words, even Big Beard standing nearby was momentarily stunned, then turned to look at Suo Tian and me — who at that moment appeared "intimately close" — and burst into hearty laughter.
The fat man continued scrutinizing the two of us, but ended up chuckling along with the middle-aged man's remarks.
Everyone's gazes toward me now had a new implication, and I felt like I simply couldn't stay here any longer.
Now I finally understood why Suo Tian had suddenly pulled me into his arms.
That guy! It wasn't about affection at all — he had done it to signal the middle-aged man on how to persuade the fat man, to defuse the tension while also preventing them from discovering the bite on my arm.
I had to admit — Suo Tian's move was clever.
He quickly read the balance of power between both sides and made use of that delicate situation, putting the fat man in a position where he couldn't insist on checking me, even if he wanted to.
Sure enough, after a moment of thought, the fat man burst into loud laughter — that exaggerated laugh was clearly a go-to tactic for men like him.
Once his laughter subsided, he feigned a look of sudden realization, waved his hand, and said, "Ah, now I get it. No wonder you were protecting her so closely — turns out she's your own little wife. Well then, I, Old Niu, have nothing more to say. That kind of check really would be inconvenient. Old Wang, you all seem like sensible folks. Since you understand the implications here, I won't get involved in this one."
Hearing that, I let out a small sigh of relief.
The fat man's words meant he had accepted the excuse the middle-aged man gave.
He had stepped down from his high horse and taken the path offered.
The middle-aged man was slick with words.
Upon hearing the fat man's response, he immediately turned back and waved his hand.
"Lower your weapons, everyone. Lower them — how can we be pointing guns at Captain Niu?"
The fat man, seeing this, laughed even more heartily — whether genuine or just for show, who could tell — and likewise motioned for his men to lower their guns.
Then he turned back to Suo Tian and said, "Apologies. Seems I was a bit rude today."
Suo Tian replied calmly, "No need for the formalities, Captain Niu."
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