When they returned to the previous meeting point, most of Rick's team had already gotten into the three vehicles they had driven back earlier. Only Daniel's younger sister Gabriel ran over to the business van, happily calling out "sister" and getting familiar with MDR and the others.
"Be careful, get in the car."
After parking, Daniel called out to her. The little girl immediately climbed into the Mercedes off-road vehicle Daniel was driving.
"Hahaha, Brother Lux, shall we head to that militia warehouse now?"
"You drivers from each vehicle come take a walkie-talkie. Contact directly if anything happens."
Lux took five walkie-talkies out of his system space. Rick and the others came one by one to receive them.
"Whoa, this is good stuff. Much tougher than phones."
Rick said happily while examining his device.
"Alright, no more talking. Lead the way in front."
Lux got out and lifted M99 down from the roof of the business van, then AA-12 and M99 returned to the pickup. The six vehicles quickly formed a convoy.
In front was a powerful Land Rover driven by Rick. Behind it were the three off-road vehicles driven by Troy, Robert, and Daniel.
At the rear were the business van driven by UMP45 and Lux's pickup.
About an hour later, Lux suddenly heard Rick's voice over the walkie-talkie.
{Brother Lux, we should be close to the militia warehouse ahead, but I don't know if the people there have been infected. My people don't really have weapons, your side is far stronger in combat, and that little girl can clear zombies silently. Can we trouble you to deal with the zombies around there?}
{Alright, but you stop here. If there's a large horde, we might have to retreat first, so don't block our path.}
Lux replied through the walkie-talkie.
{Okay, we won't cause trouble. Drive about another 400 meters and you should see the militia warehouse. There should have been troops stationed there.}
Rick understood that a convoy like this would have a hard time turning around if they encountered a corpse tide, so he didn't argue. The lead car gradually slowed and finally pulled over to the roadside.
The business van and pickup then passed the four vehicles and continued forward.
"Brother Lux, if the defenders there are still alive, what do we do?"
Lianne asked while touching her compound bow.
"According to Anna's notes, when the outbreak began, people suddenly turned and started biting those around them. Since the garrison there were regular soldiers, it would have been very hard for them to immediately shoot their own comrades, so they likely tried to send them to a hospital instead."
"By the time they realized what was happening, at least half of them would already have turned into zombies. The remaining soldiers, if they tried to suppress the situation, would have had to open fire, which would attract massive hordes and surround the entire warehouse."
"In the end, they would have been swallowed by the corpse tide."
"Smarter people would have fled immediately. That was their only chance. So there's likely no one alive still holding that place."
Lux explained calmly.
"So that's why you agreed to Rick's plan so easily. You'd already thought this far?"
"No. I only figured this out on the way. Originally I thought that if there were survivors, we could trade rice, flour, and oil for guns and ammunition."
"But even if they had guns, the supplies they could gather would be limited, and firing recklessly would attract zombies. Their chance of total annihilation was at least eighty percent."
"Then how do we get in? We can't just open fire. With only my compound bow, I don't have enough arrows or stamina to clear a huge area of zombies."
"Then we'll rely on Bunny. Her VSS is a suppressed sniper rifle. For small-scale hordes, we can clear them from a distance."
"Commander, please don't say it's hard work. Being able to serve someone as noble as you is my honor."
Ever since Lux decided to help Rick's group, M99's favorability toward him had risen sharply. Her previous wariness had completely vanished, and today she even hugged him.
"Noble… I don't think I'm that kind of person."
Lux sighed quietly, wondering what M99 would think if she knew his real reason for letting UMP45 temporarily take command.
Would she resent 45… or resent him?
Fortunately, they hadn't encountered a situation that required UMP45 to make that kind of decision.
After driving about another 200 meters, Lux stopped. With his enhanced vision, he could clearly see that beyond 200 meters there was a black mass of zombies everywhere. It seemed that the militia warehouse garrison had opened fire at the start and had already been overrun by a corpse tide.
"I'll clear the nearby zombies. You all stay in the car for now."
Lux jumped out with his katana and easily cut down a few scattered zombies like chopping vegetables.
"Bunny, get down and use the VSS to clear the area ahead. Candice, come load magazines for her."
He pressed his tactical earpiece, and two little girls immediately jumped down and climbed onto the back of the pickup. M99 began sniping rapidly, while five VSS magazines were laid out on the truck bed. Each time one was emptied, Candice took ten rounds from her bag and reloaded it.
Others stayed around the pickup, cutting down any stray zombies that approached.
{Brother Lux, how's it going over there? Why has it taken so long? Do you need us to come help?}
Twenty minutes later, Rick's worried voice came through the walkie-talkie.
Because the VSS was suppressed, they couldn't hear any gunfire and had no idea what was happening.
{Don't worry about us. There's a small corpse tide blocking the road ahead, probably drawn here by the garrison's initial gunfire. We'll need some time to clear it. You can rest for now, just leave a few people on lookout.}
{Alright, alright.}
Rick put down the walkie-talkie.
"Jane, Joy, you two have good eyesight, get out and keep watch for any approaching hordes."
He got out of the car and knocked on the windows of the two rear vehicles. Two pretty girls quickly stepped out and began scanning both sides of the road.
"Uncle Rick, what's the situation?"
Troy asked.
"Sigh… I didn't think this through properly. If we hadn't met Brother Lux, I might have led you all into a dead end."
"With our combat power, we could never break through a corpse tide. We would have run out of food and weapons and been worn down to death here."
Rick said bitterly.