Chapter 92

After a few minutes, when the guard reappeared in the room, he was already holding a large cardboard box.

The guard placed the box in front of Zhang Lin, tore open the seal, and revealed a dozen neatly arranged cans of luncheon meat.

Lin Yu raised his left foot and stood diagonally on the chair.

He pulled out the gun from his waist, chambered a round, and pressed the cold, hard barrel against the side of Zhang Lin's head, his voice cold and threatening like ice.

"I have no patience. You'd better make a choice now—either I give you a bullet, or..."

As he spoke, Lin Yu lowered the gun and pointed to the box in front of Zhang Lin, his voice full of infinite temptation: "Besides these, I can give you more. Whatever you want, I can satisfy."

His words were very clear.

Zhang Lin listened very carefully.

His sharp little eyes quickly darted around, the pupils flashing with the cunning gaze of a street vendor.

Yes, the cans of meat were right in front of him.

In the past, this thing was nothing special.

Now... heh heh, it already had considerable value.

"I, I want a woman."

Zhang Lin spoke very quickly, as if speaking slowly would make the opportunity slip away: "Tall, must be beautiful, thick lips, D-cup, very curvy."

Lin Yu nodded coldly and said to the guard standing beside him: "Pick a pretty one from the slaves for him."

"Wait, I want something else too."

Zhang Lin almost snatched the words out of his mouth. His expression was more excited and greedy than ever: "I, I also want..."

"Enough."

A hint of disgust flashed in Lin Yu's eyes as he rudely interrupted him, the gun also turning to aim at Zhang Lin's forehead.

"I don't like haggling. You have no right to talk to me about these things."

Lin Yu suppressed his displeasure, kicked over the chair with the box of cans, and extended his hand holding the gun, pressing it against Zhang Lin's head, forcefully pressing it to the wall.

"Tell me where you found this badge?"

Looking at Lin Yu's cold, statue-like face, Zhang Lin swallowed hard. He panted nervously, his voice tinged with a hint of crying, and said reluctantly: "Give, give me one more person, and I... I'll tell you everything."

"I saw a woman... um, a tall, somewhat fat woman, leading a man bound with chains to that place. She tied the man to a steel frame, then a car came, with sirens blaring, attracting a large group of zombies. The man was first bitten on the thigh but didn't die. He kept screaming, unable to escape or leave. He died after two days, and the zombies gradually dispersed. The clothes on those human-eating monsters were very tattered. They used to be humans, and they always had some useful small items in their pockets. I just wanted to go over and see if I could find something useful. Under the man's corpse, I found this badge. That... man wasn't killed by me. I swear, I really didn't do it."

"I've never seen that woman before. But she was quite pretty. I secretly followed her for a while and found her entering a building in the north. I knew that place before; there were many people inside. Twenty, or thirty, maybe more. They had weapons and cars. Those people were very domineering, occupying the most commercial areas, more stingy than a miser. I wanted to ask them for some food, but those damn guys actually hit me, cursed me, and spat on my face..."

Zhang Lin said he only had a primary school education and didn't know many words.

This dry narrative matched his level of education.

Although he said a lot, most of it was about revenge, killing, and getting rid of someone, grandiose words.

Lin Yu was confused by what he heard.

However, he roughly understood what Zhang Lin was trying to convey. He directly had the street vendor mark the location of Lin Zou's body and the small building on the map. Then, he sent people to investigate at night.

The people who went out soon returned with the message that Zhang Lin hadn't lied. They found the body and the small building where the armed personnel were stationed.

Listening to the electronic reports, Lin Yu fell silent.

He kept smoking non-stop until dawn.

Following Lin Yu's orders, at dawn, a large convoy of seven trucks and three off-road vehicles gathered on the road outside the small building. Over 300 armed personnel of the "Shengfei" Group quietly waited in the trucks, silently watching as Lin Yu and his subordinates brought Zhang Lin down from the building and into an off-road vehicle.

The night just past gave Lin Yu a feeling of being in a different world, caught between the flames of anger and the icy hell of revenge. But no matter which, it meant that only blood could balance it.

The convoy broke the tranquility as it crossed the city.

The sun had already risen above the horizon.

The light, shrouded in dense clouds, was somewhat dim, creating a misty, indistinct atmosphere.

Following Zhang Lin's guidance, the convoy drove straight to the intersection where Tang Zi had brutally killed Lin Zou.

Along the way, there were abandoned vehicles, empty buildings, and scraps of paper, plastic bags, and various trash flying in the cold wind.

Zombies also needed to sleep.

The vibrations from the trucks' wheels on the ground woke them up. The grotesque mutated creatures followed the sound, with the agile blood zombies leading the way. The ordinary zombies, who had not yet completed their second mutation, stared at these fellow creatures with strange expressions on their faces, covered in rot and filth. It seemed they were both envious and resentful.

Due to the speed, the densely packed zombies quickly split into two separate groups. The blood zombies were in front, and the ordinary zombies were behind. Especially the group at the back, which was even larger. Many of the zombies had strange shapes, especially their heads, some like flies, some like rats, and others like bedbugs and fleas.

The zombies and blood zombies couldn't catch up with the trucks; the wheels moved faster than their feet. This was a human advantage, a symbol of intelligence and technology.

As they approached the intersection, the convoy's speed gradually slowed down. Through the front windshield of the off-road vehicle, the traffic lights, no longer functioning, were already visible.

Zhang Lin tugged at Lin Yu's clothes, wearing his trademark ingratiating smile, and pointed ahead, saying in a flattering tone: "It, it's right here."

Lin Yu remained silent.

He leaned back in his seat, as if he had no strength left in his body, and his gaze became dull.

Zhang Lin looked at him in confusion, and the fully armed guards in the front and back seats also showed puzzled looks.

After a few minutes, Lin Yu finally used both hands to support himself, and with a wooden expression, he got out of the car.

The steel frame still stood at the intersection.

This was the place Tang Zi chose for the execution. It was very open, visible from a distance.

Lin Zou maintained the position he died in, firmly tied to the top of the frame.

Most of his clothes had been torn off by the zombies, leaving him almost completely naked. From his shoulders, both arms were bound with several layers of wire. His elbows, forearms, and wrists... the binder clearly gave him no chance to escape. The rough wire wrapped around his chest, following the indentation between his ribs, and finally fixed his entire buttocks to the steel frame.

In the distance, the group of zombies following the convoy gradually approached. The people responsible for the vigilance were nervously calculating the distance.

Lin Yu walked to the steel frame with unsteady steps and silently looked at his brother, whose face was unrecognizable.

Even in winter, the body still decomposed.

His mouth was wide open, his body swollen and black, his cheeks and chest and abdomen highly raised, swollen like a human balloon. The skin, lacking elasticity, had split in many places, revealing a network of cracks. The muscles underneath had turned brown. His face was disproportionately large compared to his body.

Apart from Zhang Lin's confession and the golden badge, there was no evidence to indicate that the body was Lin Zou.

He was too decomposed, with no recognizable facial features or body parts. Despite this, Lin Yu still felt it was his brother.

That strange feeling could only be experienced by the closest blood relatives.

Lin Yu raised his head, held his breath, and endured the stench. He tensed his muscles, standing like a statue, his eyes bloodshot, staring at Lin Zou's black, swollen face.

The eyes, filled with rotten flesh and pus, were full of fear and helplessness, pain and humiliation.

His brother was a very cute boy.

A sunny, lively teenager.

A handsome, suave young man.

The two brothers had fought over a piece of candy, argued over unfair pocket money distribution, and had conflicts over fashion, women, and family property... but no matter what, he was still my brother.

He called me "big brother."

We had the same father and the same mother.

"Who did this?"

No one answered Lin Yu's question. So he raised his voice again, roaring like thunder.

"Who did this? Who did it?"

Zhang Lin looked around and noticed that many people were staring at him with cold eyes.

This feeling was very bad, making him very uncomfortable.

Zhang Lin swallowed hard and trembled, walking behind Lin Yu, cautiously mumbling: "That... it was a woman."

He had said this the night before.

Lin Yu, of course, understood the implication in Zhang Lin's words: the people in the small building to the north.

Lin Yu didn't know if Zhang Lin was trying to frame them. He didn't want to pursue this issue.

Now, he just wanted to vent, to kill.

Anyone would do.

Since those people had guns, it meant they were a relatively powerful force in the city. Whether or not they were responsible for this, killing them and destroying their group would serve as a deterrent and a shock.

Zhang Lin was good at reading people. Although his legs were trembling, he was secretly observing Lin Yu's expression. Seeing that the other person wasn't in a good mood, he approached, hesitantly and uncertainly said: "That... boss, about that thing, that person, should we... now..."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand, making a chopping motion.

Lin Yu looked at Zhang Lin indifferently.

He instinctively disliked this cunning and opportunistic street vendor. But Zhang Lin's suggestion at this moment was exactly what he wanted. Lin Yu felt a buildup of anger in his heart that needed to be released in the most violent way.

He needed to kill, to be brutal.

Lin Yu slowly nodded.

Seeing the boss give the order, two armed guards immediately jumped onto the truck and pulled out a prisoner with his hands tied.

It was Lin Siwen.

Zhang Lin's second condition was to personally execute this damn city management officer.

Lin Siwen's mouth was taped shut. He struggled, thrashed his head, and his eyes were wide with fear and anger. None of these actions changed his current situation. The armed guards held his arms tightly, like a pitiful ant.

They lifted Lin Siwen and brought him to the steel frame. With his feet also tied, Lin Siwen couldn't move, only standing awkwardly, watching in shock and anger as they removed Lin Zou's body from the frame.

Zhang Lin walked over, stared at Lin Siwen for a few seconds, and a cruel smile appeared on his face.

"You always chased me around like a chicken when I set up my stall. Do you think you're someone? Managing everything, even me. I just want to obstruct the view, I just want to dump sewage everywhere, I just want to operate without a license. What can you do? Hit me? Chase me? Report me? See who will back you up? I just want to set up my stall, just want to disrupt social order, just want to make you, the government's dog, run around. Hehehe... Do you know that every time I gave you food, I smeared it with my snot? And the sauce for the potatoes, I mixed it with sewage from the gutter. I wonder how you didn't die from it, and you even grew so strong?"

Zhang Lin's voice grew louder, attracting the attention of everyone present. Even the guards on the truck, responsible for vigilance, turned their heads and occasionally glanced over.

Lin Yu watched the triumphant Zhang Lin with a complex feeling.

He wasn't interested in the grievances between these two people; he just wanted to get rid of Lin Siwen quickly.

Thinking of this, Lin Yu waved his hand indifferently, growling at Zhang Lin with disgust: "Hurry up, I don't have time to play with you."

"Okay, okay."

Zhang Lin nodded hurriedly.

Just as Lin Yu turned around, Zhang Lin suddenly tore off the tape from Lin Siwen's mouth, grabbed Lin Yu's shoulder with his other hand, and with an incredibly fast speed, darted behind him, his left hand gripping Lin Yu's neck tightly.

Lin Siwen suddenly burst with an unbelievable strength, breaking the ropes binding his hands and feet. He quickly took Lin Yu's gun, skillfully pulled the safety, chambered a round, and with his left hand on Lin Yu's shoulder and his right hand on the gun, pointed it at Lin Yu's head. A mocking smile appeared on his rugged face.

Everything happened too suddenly, too fast.

No one reacted. Even Lin Yu himself felt his mind go blank, standing there in a daze, forgetting to struggle.

After nearly three seconds, he shook his head in disbelief and asked in a hoarse voice: "You... you are in this together?"

Lin Yu felt his heart almost stop, all the blood rushing down.

Lin Siwen grabbed Lin Yu's hair, pulling his head in front of him as a shield, sneering: "You're right. But there's no reward. Hehehe... To be honest, I'm very satisfied with my performance. Damn, I should have gone to the Beijing Film Academy, not set up some damn stall."

Lin Yu felt his mind was a mess, asking subconsciously: "You, you weren't a city management officer before?"

Zhang Lin took the chain from the steel frame, tightly binding Lin Yu's wrists, and smiled strangely.

"You got it wrong. I'm the city management officer."

Zhang Lin quickly dislocated Lin Yu's shoulder joints, looking at Lin Siwen and smiling: "He's bigger than me, so he's better suited to play the city management officer. A street vendor, only a short one, won't raise suspicion."

Lin Siwen grabbed Lin Yu's hair, the gun pressing hard against his temple, and roared at the nearby armed guards who had just regained their senses and were about to rush forward: "All of you, back off. One more step, and I'll shoot him."

This threat was extremely effective.

No one doubted that Lin Siwen and Zhang Lin were bluffing.

Their previous performance was very convincing, and no one saw it as a premeditated double act.

Moreover, the hair on Lin Yu's head was already being pulled out, and the pale scalp was oozing blood.

For the first time in his life, Lin Yu felt a bone-chilling cold and couldn't believe his eyes.

He had taken a second-stage enhancement injection.

He knew how terrifying his strength was—let alone a human, even a charging bull, he could grab the horns and pull it down.

Indeed, no one expected Zhang Lin to suddenly act.

But Lin Yu felt that the two hands of Zhang Lin and Lin Siwen contained an incomparably powerful force. He was no match for them, far exceeding the second stage, possibly even the third or fourth stage.

This is impossible.

I, I must be dreaming.

Suddenly, Lin Yu, in a daze, seemed to wake up from a dream, howling like a madman.

"You... you are enhanced humans? Enhanced humans?"

Zhang Lin and Lin Siwen exchanged a smile, their eyes meeting on Lin Yu.

The former pitifully patted his face: "Congratulations, you're right. But there's no prize, no applause, no encouragement."

The latter pulled Lin Yu's head, forcefully pushing the gun into his mouth, and roared at the helpless "Shengfei" Group armed personnel: "Prepare a car with a full tank of gas for me. I have no patience, I want it now. Otherwise... I'll shoot him and make you all damn bastards pay with your lives."