After handing that comic book to Uncle Gazi, Shen Feng, Xu Shu, and I worked together to pry open the truck's rear cargo doors.
Luckily, there weren't any walkers inside—but to our surprise, it turned out this truck had been used for supermarket deliveries.
The whole compartment was packed with snacks and trinkets, the same kind I used to see in the little convenience stores outside the school where I used to work.
The kids, especially Xiao Hu, were overjoyed.
Each of them grabbed a pile and sat quietly inside the truck, munching away.
Once the others finished clearing their vehicles, they came over to help us sort through the supplies—checking what was still edible and tossing out what wasn't.
Everything usable was carried back to our own cars.
As Nan An walked past me, he chuckled and said, "Guess it's true—wherever you go, there's always food."
With fortune finally smiling on us, I couldn't help but laugh and wave him off.
"We've had nothing but bad luck these past two days. By the rules of the universe, it's about time the heavens threw us a bone."
"What kind of logic is that?" Nan An replied with a laugh and went back to carrying supplies.
We also managed to find a few fairly clean blankets in one of the nearby cars—enough to keep the three kids from freezing during the night.
Once everything was set up, it was time for the one thing every camp required: night watch.
But this time, perhaps because of how precarious our situation was, Suo Tian seemed far more cautious.
He didn't assign any of us to the watch rotation—it was handled entirely by the black-clad men, taking turns.
Suo Tian was on duty for the first half of the night.
After dinner, everyone began turning in.
Xiao Hu and Tingyun, the two youngest, were already nodding off; Uncle Gazi and I each carried one of them and rocked them to sleep before they finally quieted down.
Since Suo Tian was keeping watch, Rongrong curled up in Yangyang's arms, listening to her tell a fairy tale.
Her expression was gentle and well-behaved, showing none of the ferocity or madness she'd had that night when she bit Xiao Xue to death…
I shook my head hard, forcing myself to stop thinking about it.
After signaling Yangyang to take Rongrong back into the truck, I stayed outside with Shen Feng and Xu Shu for a while, talking quietly while most others rested.
The topic, inevitably, was the base camp and the road ahead.
It seemed that the shelter and the valley had left a deep, unpleasant impression on both of them; they spoke of the base with little hope and a touch of pessimism.
Honestly, I felt the same.
Judging from what we'd seen at the outpost in the valley, the main base was probably no better—like some massive concentration camp, a place stripped of humanity.
I glanced at Suo Tian, standing alone by the roadside in the distance, staring off into the darkness.
A quiet sigh escaped me.
Soon after, Shen Feng and Xu Shu also returned to their vehicles to rest.
I, however, couldn't feel even a hint of drowsiness.
My mind was full of thoughts about Zhang Hongsheng, who had been left behind on the other side of the landslide.
By now, the night had completely fallen.
Was he still conscious?
If he was… that was just cruel.
Alone in the dark, enduring the pain and weakness eating away at him—what kind of suffering must that be?
Probably worse than death itself.
Frustrated, I raked a hand through my hair and let out a long sigh before heading toward the cargo truck, deciding I might as well try to sleep.
But when I got there, I realized the space was already full—people were lying everywhere.
Xu Shu and Shen Feng seemed to have found other cars to rest in, but there was no room left here.
After looking around, I chose a black Volkswagen we'd checked earlier while searching for blankets.
I climbed into the back seat and lay down, resting my head against my hand, staring blankly at the car ceiling.
Whenever I couldn't sleep, I'd do this—just zone out for a long time until I drifted off.
But tonight, it didn't work.
I could feel time crawling by, yet sleep never came.
In the end, completely out of options, I sat up, pulled a bag of beef jerky from my pocket, and started chewing idly.
My mind was a mess—thoughts scattered everywhere, tangled beyond reason.
I wasn't even sure what I was thinking about anymore.
Everything just felt like a blur of noise.
Just as I was about to finish the bag of beef jerky, a sudden knock came from outside the car door.
I froze for a moment, then reached out to open it—only to see Suo Tian standing there.
Swallowing the piece of jerky in my mouth, I asked, "Don't you have night watch duty?"
Suo Tian gave a quiet mm in response, then climbed into the car.
After closing the door, he turned to look at me, saying nothing for a while.
His stare made me feel a little uneasy.
I glanced down at myself and asked, "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing," he said, withdrawing his gaze.
He turned his head instead, scanning the outside through the window, eyes fixed on something in the darkness.
Minutes passed, and he still didn't move.
I took a slow breath and tugged lightly at his sleeve.
Sensing it, Suo Tian turned his head toward me again, then wrapped his arm around my shoulder and looked back out the window.
Following his gaze, I looked outside too—pitch black.
I could barely make out anything.
The sky was heavy with clouds, and tiny raindrops had started to fall.
There was no moonlight at all.
"You can see out there?" I asked.
Suo Tian's arm tightened slightly around me.
He nodded. "Yeah. I can see."
I'd only asked casually, but his confident answer made me exclaim,
"What?! You can see outside? It's completely dark—how can you see anything?"
"Mm." He nodded again, then pointed through the window at a faint car silhouette.
"That license plate says 3777."
He shifted his finger to another car. "5566."
Then another. "Q232."
I sat there speechless as he listed off plate numbers one by one.
I couldn't tell whether he was right or not—because I couldn't see a thing.
Just then, something Bruno had said to me before suddenly resurfaced in my mind—something strange that I'd brushed aside.
Back in that examination room in the second row of the valley, his words had implied that he'd known Suo Tian for a long time.
I'd been too focused on arguing with him to think about it back then, but now it felt deeply suspicious.
Bruno wasn't the kind of person to make such careless slips.
If he'd spoken so matter-of-factly, it meant there must be truth in it.
But that didn't make any sense… Suo Tian looked barely over twenty.
If Bruno had known him for many years, that would mean Suo Tian had joined their "Headquarters" as a child—and even held some kind of position there?
I glanced at Suo Tian's face again.
Even if he were unbelievably capable, there's no way any proper organization would put a kid in charge of adults.
As my thoughts spiraled, another memory surfaced—back at the shelter, when Suo Tian had suddenly asked me twice in a row if I believed in ghosts.
I had no idea why that popped into my mind now.
With a self-mocking smile, I reached up, wrapped my arms around his neck, and buried my face against his shoulder.
I didn't want to think anymore.
Whatever he was, he was Suo Tian—and I believed that someday, he'd tell me everything himself.
We stayed like that in silence for a while.
Nestled in his arms, I gradually felt drowsiness creeping in.
No wonder little Rongrong always liked clinging to Suo Tian…
Just as I was about to shift into a more comfortable position, the walkie-talkie that Suo Tian had placed to the side suddenly crackled to life.
A tense, low voice—belonging to a middle-aged man—came through:
"Boss, there's a horde of walkers coming from the direction of the city."
At his words, my heart jumped violently.
I instinctively loosened my arms around Suo Tian and looked at him.
His expression didn't change—he simply picked up the walkie-talkie, gave a quiet "mm," and began giving orders to the others:
"Everyone stay inside the vehicles. Don't move, don't make any noise. Wait for the walkers to pass."
Quick acknowledgments followed one after another through the device.
"How many of them?" Suo Tian asked.
"Not sure. It's a big group—seems like there are a lot."
"Pull everyone back into the cars."
"Yes, sir."
As the man answered, I glanced through the rear window and saw several of the lookouts who had been lying flat on the rooftops quickly leap down without a sound and slip back into their vehicles.
Suo Tian was staring out the front windshield, frowning deeper and deeper.
I took the chance to grab the walkie-talkie from his hand, pressed the call button, and said,
"Uncle Gazi, make sure the kids stay quiet—whatever happens, they can't make a sound. It's pitch dark out here, and if we get surrounded by walkers, we're done for. And keep the doors shut tight."
A moment later, Yangyang's slightly anxious voice came through:
"Got it, Sis. You be careful too."
"Turn off all the walkie-talkies. Even the audio static could draw them in," the middle-aged man reminded everyone.
As he said that, Suo Tian finally drew his gaze back from outside.
Without a word, he took the walkie-talkie from me, popped out the battery, tossed it onto the front seat, and suddenly pulled me into his arms, pressing me down into the narrow space between the two rows of seats.
Before I could react, he leaned over me, his breath brushing my ear as he whispered,
"Don't speak. They're here."
The moment he said it, I began to hear faint, distant growls—low, guttural, and horribly familiar.
We'd heard those sounds for months; there was no mistaking them.
Gradually, the noise grew louder and closer, until the outside erupted in a chorus of snarls and pounding footsteps.
The world beyond the car was boiling with walkers.
Suo Tian held me tightly, his head turned to watch the window with sharp focus.
I couldn't help but feel thankful I'd chosen a car with tinted windows earlier—at least this way, the walkers shuffling past wouldn't easily see us through the glass.
I tilted my head to follow his gaze.
At first, only one or two walkers staggered by our window.
Then more.
And more—until the gaps between the cars outside were completely filled.
Their bodies bumped and scraped against the vehicles, making dull, rhythmic thuds that echoed through the dark.
As I stared outside, cold sweat began to bead across my skin.
My fingers, trembling slightly, instinctively clutched the fabric of Suo Tian's clothes.
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