You were supposed to hoard supplies, why the heck did you hoard zombies!

As soon as Peng Yue had spoken, the brothers standing by his side could hardly bear it.

"Is this all the people we have now, to be sent out to exchange for equipment with the company?"

But if they did this, wouldn't they have no place left to replenish their forces if conflicts arose with other powers in the future?

Yet, seeing the resolute look on their elder brother's face, none of the brothers dared to speak up.

Everyone knew why he was doing this.

He was beyond persuasion.

However, it was Big Beard who raised an objection.

Shaking his large head, he said amidst the astonished gazes of the others, "Boss Peng, we don't want slaves; these people must volunteer to go to the safe zone."

"Who says they aren't volunteering?"

Peng Yue's face bore a self-mocking smile, then he continued, "They only have two choices."

"Either wait here to die with me or, follow your people back to the safe zone where they might still have a chance to live."

"Even if you don't want them, they will have to leave here."

"About today's events..."

He stopped there in his speech.

The expressions on the faces of the brothers beside him also became complex.

The survivors who relied on the protection of the fleet were all very pragmatic; everything they did was just to stay alive, naturally flocking to wherever there was an opportunity to survive.

Now that the fleet had returned in a sorry state, it was clear to those below what had happened.

Probably tonight, some would take advantage of the darkness to flee.

Loyalty?

Don't joke, have they eaten your rice?

Big Beard understood clearly after this explanation and immediately agreed to his conditions, promising that the company's equipment would arrive within the latest three days.

Once the terms were agreed upon, the relationship between the two parties seemed to return to their usual friendliness.

As if nothing had ever happened.

That same night, upon returning to the dormitory, Big Beard reported the situation using the wireless radio he had brought, and the person who received his message was none other than Tian Gou, who had just returned from Chen Xiaoyong's banquet.

Unlike the Peng family brothers.

Despite losing quite a few people, Chen Xiaoyong had truly defeated the fleet, and from then on, the orchard was his to control.

Several smaller survivor territories in the vicinity were also allocated into his sphere of influence.

Flushed with a grand victory, he was naturally in an excellent mood, lavishly rewarding the men who had fought with him that day, and also giving special thanks to the company for their support with weapons and equipment.

At this point, he was unaware of the company's dealings with Peng Yue and others, subconsciously believing he had become the sole partner of the company in Jiangbei District.

After drinking several bottles of wine sent by the company, he couldn't help but feel a little elated.

He even started imagining taking over the entire Jiangbei District.

What about those so-called big brothers? Discover hidden stories at My Virtual Library Empire

Damn it.

He had spent so much money to buy those guns, and they exploded without firing a shot?

The death of Mop was considered his biggest loss in this battle.

When the people below told him about it, Chen Xiaoyong was so angry he almost immediately wanted to lead a group north for an explanation, but in the end, he was stopped by his brother-in-law, Lu Yong.

Upon calming down, he began to value the several men sent by the company even more.

Revolvers and metal armor were indeed good stuff.

With the company's support, he didn't need to grovel to those people in the north anymore; perhaps he could even lead his men to eliminate them in the future?

With these thoughts, Chen Xiaoyong became even more excited, and at the end of the night, he was drunk and had to be carried back to his room.

Tian Gou, after leaving Zhang Wei behind, returned to their room alone.

"Dead, one?"

He frowned slightly as he listened to the voice on the phone.

This was somewhat different from what the company had anticipated, so he immediately asked about the follow-up situation.

Hearing that the Peng family brothers hadn't taken the opportunity to turn against them or shift the blame, Tian Gou's face relaxed a bit and finally, a slight smile appeared.

"Well done."

"Someday my position might be yours."

The man with the big beard on the intercom felt his heart leap but hurriedly began to demur, wishing he could dig out his heart to show he didn't aim for that.

At that moment, he even thought Tian Gou was warning him.

Tian Gou couldn't be bothered to explain, asked a few more questions about the details of the trade, and then cut off the radio before getting in touch with the company's people on the other side of the bridge.

The news quickly made its way back to the company headquarters, turning into a piece of paper laid before Zhang Ye.

The request written on it was clear.

People for guns, come quickly.

With a stroke of his pen, the approved request was immediately passed on to the logistics department, and a convoy composed of two medium trucks soon headed towards the opposite side of the bridge under the escort of the Hunter Squad.

The next morning, at the crack of dawn.

A night's rain had left the entire yard desolate.

The guards on the wall were dozing off, waiting for a shift change when suddenly the rumble of a truck's engine sounded outside.

The noise quickly drew out all the hiding zombies.

Greenery pool, underside of vehicles—the rustling friction and increasingly dense moans of zombies could be heard everywhere, and the shadows flitting through the guards' field of vision made them start to get tense.

"Damn it, who's the asshole running around outside this early in the morning?"

"Has someone got nothing better to do?"

The man had just started complaining when he saw a truck rush out of the road ahead, instantly knocking a few zombies that had made it to the middle of the road into the air.

Before he could react, it had already made a sharp turn towards them.

Half a minute later, two trucks stopped in front of the gate.

The company's people had arrived.

Peng Yue, who had just climbed out of bed, didn't even bother to get dressed, simply throwing on a jacket before rushing out of the room, joined by the equally excited Peng Si and Peng Liu in the living room.

The fifth brother was the quickest to act, having already gone to notify the others to prepare for moving.

"Brother, is it people from the company?"

"We just discussed it last night, and they've already come today. Could it be Mr. Chen—"

Peng Si was clearly worried, but Peng Yue knew very well that the two people the company had left here must have brought radios or some form of communication equipment; otherwise, the news couldn't have spread so fast.

Creak—

The gate slowly opened.

Everyone suppressed their excitement and unease as they watched the trucks in front of them.

It seemed like the people in the trucks had seen them, but before the person who got out could close the door, a dark shadow suddenly burst out of the nearby bushes and pounced onto the back of that person in an instant.

The figure hadn't stabilized before rolling into a tangle with the shadow.

Peng Yue's pupils shrank and he immediately stepped back a few paces, with his brothers tense and reaching for their weapons.

"Bang!"

The gunshot was deafening.

Almost instantly, the shadow on the ground let out a pained cry and stopped moving.

It was a mutant wildcat about one hundred and fifty centimeters long.

There was a fist-sized hole in its body.

The woman put away her gun expressionlessly, glanced at the people in front of her, and said, "Is this the Excellence Fleet?"