Encounter

Xiao Fan and his group arrived at the entrance of the cafeteria and stopped.

Xiao Fan did not knock on the door right away. Instead, he opened the map with a slight frown.

He made some new discoveries.

He discovered that there were more than a dozen survivors inside this cafeteria. What's more, there was also a purple dot inside, representing a mutant beast!

Annie had told him before that purple dots stood for mutant beasts. He couldn't believe there was actually a mutant beast inside this cafeteria!

Previously, he did not detect any mutant beasts here since the coverage of the radar from his power station was limited and could only cover most of the cafeteria. The mutant beast was likely in the corner outside the radar's range. But now that they were near, it must have been discovered.

The map showed that these survivors had all gathered near the window, a seemingly problematic positioning.

With more considerations in mind, Xiao Fan called Wang Zhan and Li Long over.

"You two go and knock to see what they say."

Wang Zhan and Li Long went over and knocked on the door.

"Anyone there?"

"Who is it?" A voice responded from inside.

Infantry soldiers were the most basic combat units in the Red Alert system. They were decent in combat IQ but not very good at communication.

Fortunately, Xiao Fan had anticipated this and told Wang Zhan what to say.

Wang Zhan spoke, "We are ordered to look for survivors. How many of you are in there?"

"There are more than a dozen of us," a man pushed to the front by Zhou Meng answered from inside.

Wang Zhan continued, "Then let us come in and take a look."

"Sure, sure, but the door is blocked. Come in through the window."

Wang Zhan and Li Long came to the window. One window opened and the curtain lifted, revealing this man's face.

"You...military comrades, you are finally here. Please come in quick. We have food here. Let us make you guys something to eat first since everyone must be starving."

The man spoke unnaturally. Wang Zhan did not respond. He came to the window, pretending to enter the room. The old man retreated back and Wang Zhan suddenly reached out, pulling down all the thick curtains and quilts inside!

The light entered and several panicked faces were revealed!

There were both men and women. All of them were holding knives in their hands, surrounding the window with uncertain looks on their faces.

Zhou Meng was hiding under the window sill holding a meat cleaver. Seeing the situation exposed, he immediately felt things had gone bad and yelled, "Black Wolf, go!"

A black shadow suddenly leapt out from the window, baring its fangs and pouncing at Wang Zhan.

The mutant beast was extremely fast. This Tibetan mastiff was comparable to a half-grown lion in speed, moving so quickly that people could barely react.

Although Wang Zhan was prepared, he still did not expect the mutant beast to be so ferocious. He did not even have time to fire his gun and could only roll away embarrassingly. His arm was scraped by the mastiff's claws as he narrowly dodged its lethal strike!

If his reaction had been 0.1 second slower, he would have been killed on the spot!

Furious after the missed strike, Black Wolf wanted to continue chasing and killing this human. Zhang Chao and Liu Da Hua behind opened fire.

Gunshots rang out continuously. This Tibetan mastiff was quite valiant itself. Moving as quick as lightning, except for the first shot by Liu Da Hua that hit its abdomen, the rest all missed. It howled and swiftly retreated back.

Seeing Black Wolf injured, Zhou Meng was immediately frightened out of his wits. He decisively pulled over a female nurse to shield himself, yelling at the outside, "Soldiers! Mind your own business and get lost immediately, or I will kill the hostages here! There are over a dozen of them!"

Zhao Xin also pulled over that man, pressing a sharp knife against his throat while shouting loudly, "Get back! Go far away!"

That man was the one who had lured Wang Zhan and Li Long to enter earlier. Currently, his legs were trembling wildly in fear and he cried hoarsely, "Don't do anything reckless! Soldiers are supposed to protect civilians. You want to save us but can't harm us. I'm the CEO of Tianyuan Group. I'm loaded and even know a deputy commander in the Shenhai Military Region. If a single hair falls from my head, I'll report all of you and have your military uniforms stripped!"

The other survivors all clamored as well, telling Xiao Fan not to act rashly and that they had barely managed to survive the apocalypse and did not want to die because of the recklessness of these soldiers.

Xiao Fan's eyes narrowed slightly. He did not intend to enter the room just yet.

That Tibetan mastiff was very powerful. Although it was not seriously injured, the limited space inside gave the enemies an advantage in the dark while they would be exposed. Charging in recklessly would inevitably lead to casualties.

Seeing these two threatening the hostages, Xiao Fan was about to say he was not actually a soldier so they could kill whoever they wanted. But suddenly, an idea came to him and he said, "Don't harm the hostages. We'll leave."

"Go, go far away and don't come back!"

Xiao Fan kept silent. He had Li Long support the injured Wang Zhan while Liu Da Hua and Zhang Chao covered their retreat as the few of them withdrew back towards the underground parking.

Seeing Xiao Fan's group disappear, Zhou Meng and Zhao Xin finally relaxed.

"I was still doubtful of their identities earlier, feeling that their uniforms seemed a bit different. But now I'm certain they are soldiers."

"Oh? How is Master so sure?"

Zhou Meng grinned, "Isn't it obvious? If they weren't soldiers, how would they be afraid of us taking hostages? As long as we have these people under control, our position is almost invincible."

Zhou Meng then turned to face the survivors, "See that? Those soldiers don't even have a way to rescue you all. You should understand clearly what you need to do now."

The survivors all nodded. When facing Zhou Meng, they completely lacked the courage they had when confronting Xiao Fan's group.

Some people were just like that, acting arrogantly and spouting righteousness when facing their protectors. But when dealing with villains, they would become utter cowards.

Zhou Meng immediately went to bandage Black Wolf. Thanks to this dog today, otherwise those soldiers would have definitely charged in and killed them.

Moreover, that injured soldier was certainly doomed. Black Wolf's claws carried the infection ability.

Five people total outside, soon to be four. If that infected soldier turned into a mutant and bit another person, there would only be three left.

Perhaps by this time tomorrow, he could lead Black Wolf to kill off the remaining few and accomplish his goal anyway.

Therefore, he did not even consider escaping at all. Victory was firmly in his grasp.