(1) Five Minutes, That's All It Takes (1)

"I understand. I don't blame you. It's understandable."

Phuong Trien waved his hand and said with a smile, indicating that he understood.

The few survivors who had deserted the battle turned and left, their hearts uneasy. They didn't know what Phuong Trien was truly thinking, or whether he had forgiven them.

Perhaps it was only because there were guests present that his words couldn't be too direct, and it wasn't easy to show his true feelings in front of others.

All of these were possibilities.

Luu Dao held this group of cowardly deserters in great contempt. Others had placed their trust in them, yet they had trampled that trust underfoot, shifting the danger onto everyone who had trusted them. It was truly an outrageous act.

"Pardon the embarrassing display," Phuong Trien said.

Luu Dao said, "It's understandable. But how do you plan to deal with them?"

Phuong Trien said helplessly, "What else can I do? They are all just people trying to survive in the apocalypse. Their cowardice and desertion was something I truly didn't expect, but I can't just kill them or drive them away. Killing them is not in my nature, and exiling them would likely make them harbor a grudge against Thanh Thuy Town. The zombies are troublesome enough; having humans bear a grudge against us would surely be even more so."

Luu Dao said no more. This was the other man's decision to make. To keep them or not was entirely up to Phuong Trien.

He lowered his head and ate his meal. It was truly delicious.

Food he hadn't had in a long time, satisfying his taste buds.

To be able to eat a hot meal in the apocalypse was truly an incredible thing.

"What are your plans? Do you intend to stay here, or leave with our main force?" Luu Dao asked.

As they traveled, their main purpose was not to eliminate zombies, but to save the survivors in the apocalypse. Many survivors relied on their clever minds to eke out a difficult existence.

They had always believed that someone would come to save them. Relying on this will, they stubbornly survived.

Therefore, Luu Dao did not want to see hopeful survivors fall into despair.

Phuong Trien smiled bitterly and said, "Look at the situation in our Thanh Thuy Town. Most of the survivors are the elderly and children. The able-bodied ones are who they are. We can definitely persevere, but for the old and the young, making them constantly travel outside is clearly an unrealistic thing."

Hearing Phuong Trien's words.

Luu Dao thought about it carefully and nodded in agreement. It was true. The dangers of the apocalypse were beyond imagination. Even if they had the elderly and children stay in the vehicles, given the ferocious nature of some zombies, it wouldn't be safe even inside the cars.

"That's also true." Luu Dao looked at the surrounding environment. In the current apocalypse, the only places that could form shelters were likely towns with better terrain.

The cities had long become zombie playgrounds.

Countless zombies gathered in the cities. In his mind, absolutely no shelter could withstand an attack from that number of zombies.

Phuong Trien smiled, "Thank you so much for your help. If it weren't for your assistance, Thanh Thuy Town might no longer exist. You can rest well here and recuperate. I'll have someone prepare ample food for you to take with you."

Right now, supplies were both scarce and not scarce.

But many supplies were stored in the cities. To find supplies in the cities, one had to face unimaginable numbers of zombies. Even if one ultimately obtained the supplies, it would surely come at the cost of heavy casualties.

"Alright, thank you." Luu Dao did not refuse. They, who had been constantly on the move outside, indeed needed ample supplies.

Afterward, under Phuong Trien's guidance, Luu Dao strolled around Thanh Thuy Town. It truly was a blessed land.

The security of the defensive line was extremely high.

Moreover, the livestock in Thanh Thuy Town were well-cared for. Chickens, ducks, geese, and other poultry were all living well. If zombies had never attacked this place, then Thanh Thuy Town would be an extremely safe place.

"It really is a good place," Luu Dao said.

Phuong Trien said, "Yes, this place is indeed very good. In times of peace, the pressure of life was heavy on the young people. The pressure of getting married and having children was immense. The youth could only leave this nurturing place to work in the big cities. If the per capita income of Thanh Thuy Town could be raised, who would be willing to leave this place?"

Luu Dao looked at the green lake surface before him, taking a deep breath. The air was so fresh, and it felt very comfortable just breathing it in.

Everyone wants a stable life, a stable environment.

But everyone has different ideals.

So it was destined that he would not stay in Thanh Thuy Town. He would lead his group to continue moving forward in the apocalypse, eliminating zombies while saving more survivors.

It wasn't just him who had this idea.

Those who followed him were the same.

They were all pitiful people who had suffered at the hands of zombies, harboring an unspeakable hatred for them. Some, when they encountered him, were already prepared to end their own lives. It was he who saved them, put a weapon in their hands, and told them that seeking death was an act of cowardice. If you're not even afraid of death, why would you be afraid to pick up a weapon and fight the zombies?

At this very moment.

In the apocalypse as they knew it.

Perhaps this was the only place that could let a person calm their heart, even just a little.

In a mountain not too far from Thanh Thuy Town.

The animals here seemed to have been startled away, vanishing without a trace.

Even birds flying in the sky were rare.

Within this mountain, there was a base. The main gate of this base was embedded in the mountain. This wasn't something that could have been built during the apocalypse. It was usually made in times of peace.

And the person who spent a lot of money to build this thing in the mountains was either an apocalypse enthusiast or had too much money and could only spend it on this.

In the early days of the apocalypse, when Lam Pham was surfing the internet, he had seen a post.

There was a self-proclaimed die-hard zombie fan, with immense wealth, who had previously bought a mountain, hollowed it out, and created a secret base.

It was a bit like the current situation.

It was unknown if this base belonged to that smug guy from the internet at the very beginning of the apocalypse.

It was possible.

After all, throughout the country, there weren't many people with such leisure. The originally tightly shut main gate had been shattered by some kind of terrifying violence, forming a huge tunnel. At the entrance lay some zombie corpses, with viscous liquid flowing on the ground.

If you listened carefully.

You could hear the "argh... argh..." sound.

The unique roar of a zombie, anyone who heard it would be terrified.

At this moment.

A zombie appeared shakily at the entrance of the passage.

If someone who had read the Zombie Illustrated Handbook saw this zombie, they would definitely exclaim...

This was a surveillance-type zombie.

This type of zombie was no different from an ordinary zombie.

If one had to point out a difference, it was that this type of zombie was extremely cunning. When it saw humans, it would not, like an ordinary zombie, show a ferocious and vicious appearance and charge forward.

Instead, it would remember the location, turn around, leave, and go to report the situation.

Thanh Thuy Town.

The members of the Resistance Army were very happy, rarely showing smiles. Their suppressed tense emotions were relaxed.

For the first time, they felt that in the apocalypse, there could also be such a relaxed time.

Some liked to fish. Since the apocalypse broke out, they hadn't fished. And Thanh Thuy Town's environment was so good, it would be a bit of a disservice to the environment here not to experience it properly.

Some shut themselves in their rooms, no one knew what they were doing, but crying could be heard. Perhaps they were remembering their loved ones. When they were following the main force, everyone's mood was very repressed, not wanting to bring negative emotions to the group.

"Relax well."

Luu Dao knew the state of their bodies and minds.

He didn't want to leave in a hurry.

Enjoying the rare quiet relaxation was very necessary.

Afterward, he spread a map out on the table, carefully looking at the map's routes. On the map, there were many red lines marking places they had been.

But seeing the names of the cities on the map, Luu Dao could only shake his head helplessly. They were truly willing but powerless.

Thinking of the small teams that had separated from them, they had left signs along the way. By following the signs, they would surely be able to rendezvous.

The sky gradually darkened.

The bright moonlight enveloped this rare, quiet, and safe place in the apocalypse.

The soldiers of the Resistance Army all slept soundly.

This was a life they rarely had.

In the wilderness outside, getting a stable night's sleep was a very difficult thing. They often had to pay attention to the surrounding movements. The slightest sound would instantly wake them up.

The first thing that came to mind was zombies. In a guesthouse.

"Uncle, the stories you tell are so good."

A five or six-year-old little girl said happily.

"Right? Uncle's storytelling isn't too bad. But you have to go to bed early."

Chu Hieu smiled. He and this little girl had a fateful encounter. He met her amidst the rice paddies and they simply chatted. He learned that the little girl's parents had both gone out to work, leaving her to live with her grandpa. Her grandpa had turned into a zombie, and she became an orphan.

He comforted the little girl, telling her that her parents were definitely living somewhere and would come back to see her.

The little girl was holding a small cat in her arms. She told him that the kitten had been very seriously injured before, and she had healed it.

To this, he just patted the little girl's head, praising her for being a kind and sensible child.

Early morning.

Dong dong dong!

The sound of beating gongs and drums, accompanied by anxious shouts.

"The zombies are coming! Lots and lots of zombies are coming!"

A townsperson ran quickly, shouting. Perhaps thinking of the horror of the zombies, he stumbled and fell to the ground in a moment of carelessness. Without a second thought, he got up and continued to spread the news.

To allow the Resistance Army to have a stable rest.

The patrolling was done by the townspeople.

The townspeople knew that this was a group of resistance fighters, specializing in hunting zombies and saving ordinary survivors. People's hearts are made of flesh. Even if the apocalypse made them very desperate, when they met this group of selfless, dedicated people, the townspeople truly respected them immensely.

Hearing the sound, the townspeople hurried over.

The defensive line at the entrance.

Luu Dao and Phuong Trien looked at the situation in the distance, frowning, their expressions very grave. A black mass of zombies appeared in the distance.

"What on earth is going on? Why are the zombies actively coming towards Thanh Thuy Town?" Luu Dao was very puzzled.

Although they had been fighting zombies outside all this time.

They had never encountered such a situation.

Phuong Trien shook his head and said, "I don't know. From the outbreak of the apocalypse until now, Thanh Thuy Town has never encountered such a large-scale zombie tide. Yesterday was the first time. How could there be a second?"

They did not have a deep understanding of zombies. They still thought that ordinary zombies were just that.

Those more powerful zombies just had a bit more strength, and their brains were very stupid.

Luu Dao knew that now was not the time to think about these things. The zombies were coming aggressively, even more terrifying than yesterday's wave.

"Phuong Trien, have the able-bodied people of Thanh Thuy Town coordinate with my men and resist the zombies together."