Chapter 33: Gathering of the Seven People
"Brother Yu!" Another excited shout came through; it was Yang Xiaozhu.
Li Yu returned to his senses from his reminiscing upon hearing the shout.
All of a sudden, because she was so happy to see Li Yu, Yang Xiaozhu didn't pay attention to her surroundings, and didn't see the zombie that lunged at her.
"Xiaozhu." Yang Tianlong, on the other side, saw this scene and his eyes brimmed with rage.
Whoosh...
Li Yu fired the crossbow, striking the zombie right between its eyebrows.
As it fell to the ground, Li Yu felt a surge of fear. Since she was little, Yang Xiaozhu had been hanging around, snot-nosed, following him and Yang Tianlong. Li Yu was a year younger than Yang Tianlong, and Yang Xiaozhu was six months younger than Li Yu.
They used to play house when they were kids, and Yang Xiaozhu always liked to pair up with Li Yu. Later on, whenever she saw Li Hang and the others, she would insist they call her sister-in-law. In their parents' eyes, this was funny, and they would tease Yang Xiaozhu.
After firing the arrow, Li Yu didn't say much else. He took Li Hang and Second Uncle and charged into battle.
Help!
Yang Tianlong turned his head and saw Li Yu and the others rushing toward them. Upon closer inspection and realizing who they were, his joy was beyond words.
"Little Yu! Hahaha, I knew you'd be fine!" Yang Tianlong wielded two large iron hammers, spinning them with a whirlwind effect.
Hearing that, a warm current flowed through Li Yu's heart. He never expected that, after so many years, the first thing he would hear from Yang Tianlong would be these words, and the guilt in his heart deepened.
Damn, to have been reborn and forgotten about his brothers! In life, there are three main affections: the thick blood of kinship, the lifelong companionship of love, and the fiery nature of friendship!
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After the apocalypse, there was no more friendship to speak of, but for Li Yu, who grew up with Yang Tianlong, who risked jail time to help him, that friendship could not be forgotten!
Without any further nonsense, Li Yu, without responding, pointed at the zombies, indicating they should deal with them first.
In a short while, with the powerful support of Li Yu and the others, all the zombies were taken care of.
Yang Tianlong, laughing, approached Li Yu and said, "You're quite something, kid! You were fierce killing those zombies just now!" After speaking, he hammered his large black fist against Li Yu's chest.
Acting on muscle memory, Li Yu tried to dodge quickly, but his body didn't move an inch to avoid the blow.
Thump, thump! He felt Yang Tianlong's punches, filled with heartfelt care.
Li Yu punched back, laughing and saying, "How have you gotten even darker…"
The two looked at each other and smiled, their eyes conveying all that needed to be said; through this silent communication, they each realized that their friendship hadn't changed.
Yang Xiaozhu stood to one side, her demeanor shy and reserved, her eyes on Li Yu, a stark contrast to the hearty attitude she'd shown upon seeing Li Yu before.
Li Yu smiled and looked toward another man in camouflage on the other side, squinting his eyes, and asked Yang Tianlong, "And who might this be?"
"This is Zhao Dapao, a brother who was discharged from service with me. He's not from our county, but he's from our city. Originally, we wanted to find some work to do with Tiezi and the others, but then these monsters showed up, and that was that..."
"Sigh, because of this disaster, Dapao lost his entire family and has come to join us. Oh, speaking of which, Tiezi and Gangzi brought their parents to find you. Have you run into them?"
"Xiao Tie and Tiezi came back, too? My Third Uncle's back as well?" Li Yu asked in shock.
Li Tie and Li Gang, the twin sons of Third Uncle, were only three months younger than Li Yu. Back when Tianlong was enlisting, the twins also went for a military checkup, and coincidentally, all three of them were selected.
Li Yu vaguely remembered, from late October he had contacted Third Uncle asking them to come back from the neighboring province, but Third Uncle hadn't made it back in the end; however, Third Uncle definitely knew about the tourist park, so his return wasn't out of the ordinary.
Li Yu thought for a while and squinted his eyes, then asked in a low voice, "Did you all come back together?"
Yang Tianlong rubbed his head and said, "Yeah, back then, Tiezi, Gangzi, Dapao, and I were all assigned to the same squad of recruits. I must say, we were lucky, haha, to have met up like this. Two months ago, after we were discharged from the military, we discussed finding a new job together and setting up a security company."
Yang Tianlong then continued, "Who could have predicted things would change so fast? After the apocalypse broke out, Tiezi went to find his parents. Then, after meeting up with us again, Tiezi said they wanted to come and find you. I thought about it and felt that, with the world changing, it was good for us brothers to stick together, so I followed them back here."
"This return trip almost cost us our lives. If it weren't for the fact that all four of us had been soldiers and had some skills, we would all have been done for. Right after we got back to the county, there was a damn torrential downpour for over ten straight days! Otherwise, we would have gotten back much sooner." Yang Tianlong said with a grin.
Li Yu looked at his childhood friend, who had become even darker after being in the military, and felt like he could weigh his trust.
But the sight of Zhao Dapao next to him made him hesitate.
He gave Zhao Dapao a brief look, observing his silent, square-faced demeanor.
Zhao Dapao noticed Li Yu's gaze and nodded amicably in response.
Li Yu nodded back and then continued to ask Yang Tianlong, "So where are they now?"
"They were just with us a moment ago. To be more efficient, we split into two groups," Yang Tianlong said.
Li Yu nodded again. His Third Uncle and the others knew that he had started a business with a theme park, but probably didn't know where it was located.
Thinking it over and considering a few places where his Third Uncle might be, he took out his walkie-talkie and asked his Uncle to bring the cars over.
On the other side, Li Hang looked at Yang Xiaozhu with a bit of fear; he had been picked on by Yang Xiaozhu since they were kids.
In front of Li Yu, Yang Xiaozhu seemed a bit shy and awkward, but she had no qualms about showing her dominance in front of Li Hang. At the moment, she was pinching Li Hang's ear and threatening in a low voice, "What's wrong? Forgot how to call me sister-in-law? Think you're too grown up now?" Then she turned to glance at Li Yu, afraid he might overhear, quite clearly betraying her own antics.
Seeing this scene, Li Yu helplessly smacked his forehead.
Sigh...
The cars arrived, and Yang Tianlong was overjoyed to see Li Yu's family members all still around, but also felt a bit surprised.
Having grown up in the same village, Yang Tianlong often visited Li Yu's home, especially when he saw Yang Xiaozhu. The stark contrast of black and white quickly let everyone know who they were.
Li Yu told the three to get in the car and leave together.
Yang Tianlong thought that although he didn't know where Li Yu wanted to go, based on his trust in Li Yu, it wouldn't harm him, and he was willing to go anywhere.
They drove to the side of the national highway, near where Li Yu's family used to live in a three-story building.
Sure enough, at the entrance of the three-story building, Li Yu saw his Third Uncle's family, who he hadn't seen for a long time.
"Third Uncle, Auntie, Li Gang, Xiao Tie!" Li Yu called out through the window from a distance.
Third Uncle and the others turned back and saw Li Yu, their eyes filled with surprise. They waved vigorously, greeting Li Yu.
Li Yu stopped the car, inviting the four to get on. It was fortunate that he brought the riot car, otherwise, it would be too crowded to fit so many people all at once.
Just as Third Uncle and the others were about to speak, Li Yu saw the skies gradually darkening,
The afterglow of the sunset was slowly fading away, and it's known that from evening to nightfall, it gets darker and darker.
Seeing Third Uncle and the others about to speak their minds, Li Yu said, "Let's not talk now, let's go home! Zombies become more frenzied after dark, and we can't see clearly at night. It's too dangerous. We'll talk when we get back."
Third Uncle immediately stopped asking and obediently got into the car.
The three vehicles, in the fading light of the sunset, hurriedly made their way to the base.
On the road, Li Yu's Second Uncle leaned forward from the backseat, patted Li Yu on the shoulder, and looked at the car where Yang Tianlong and Zhao Dapao were sitting with Liu Jianwen, then lowered his voice and leaned closer to Li Yu's ear.
He quietly asked, "What are you thinking? I have no issues with Xiao Longzi, but what about that Zhao Dapao?"