"I saw you have horses in your courtyard. I want to go home, but walking would take forever. So I want to trade for a horse."

"Your information is worthless to us."

The man grew anxious. "They have guns. Caleb Warren and those two foreigners are ruthless killers—they’ve even eaten people. Everyone in our group does exactly what they say. They also have explosives. I came to inform on them because I’ve had enough of their abuse. You have a lot of people; you must have a way to deal with them."

"Our horses are needed to carry supplies. We don’t have a spare one for you."

The man looked deflated. "Everything I’m saying is true. I can tell you where they’re hiding right now. I said I was going to the toilet and ran over here. All my belongings are right here with me. You can search me. Other than a knife, I have nothing."

Taylor Vance studied him for a long time. "We need to discuss this."

"Alright."

"What’s his real motive?" Taylor Vance was getting puzzled.

"The fear in his eyes when he mentioned those two foreigners and Caleb Warren couldn’t have been faked."

Taylor Vance looked at the others. "Should we make a deal with him?"

After all, it was Evelyn Ford, Ronan Kendrick, Miles Vaughn, and Wyatt Vaughn who had retrieved the horses. He couldn’t make the decision alone.

"If what he’s saying is true, we could trade him a small horse. He looks desperate. As long as we don’t have to take him in, I have no objection."

Miles Vaughn disagreed with Wyatt Vaughn. "We already knew those people were coming to cause trouble. His information really is worthless. And a single horse can carry several hundred pounds of supplies."

The two of them held opposing views and began to argue.

"Tell him to go back for now. After we deal with this situation, we can decide whether or not to make the trade."

"Could he be a spy? Sent here to gather intel?"

"Doesn’t seem like it. I know all too well what kind of look a person has in their eyes when they’re terrified and desperate. He has a slight limp, and his hands seem weak. If he wasn’t beaten by his own companions, he must have been injured somehow. He’s being bullied in his group and wants to part ways with them."

Officer Graham had been a cop, after all. His mind was sharper than the average person’s. He had arrested countless criminals in his time; when it came to reading people, he was a professional.

"So what should we tell him?"

"Have him lead us to their hiding place."

After Taylor Vance went out, he told the man they wanted to go to the group’s hiding place. The man hesitated.

"They have guns and explosives. It’s very dangerous for you to go over there like this."

Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick came out holding guns. "You don’t need to worry about that. Just lead the way."

The man hesitated for a few seconds before nodding. "Alright. They’re right here in the village."

Evelyn Ford told the others to stay behind while she and Ronan Kendrick went to handle it. Miles Vaughn and Quincy wanted to go with them, but Evelyn refused.

"You should all stay in the courtyard. Ronan and I will be back soon."

The three of them left the courtyard. The man led the way in front, with Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick following behind.

The man’s clothes and backpack were old and tattered. He did have a slight limp when he walked, but it was hard to notice if you weren’t looking closely.

"That foreign woman is a chemist. She has some poisons, and she used to knock people out with knockout gas. My friend and I ran into them while we were on the run. We joined them because there were other Chinese people in the group. But two months ago, we ran into a beast tide. They killed my friend, bled him out to lure the beasts away. They wanted to kill me too, and they slashed my right leg. Luckily, I had a gun and managed to survive. My gun’s out of bullets now. I have no reason to lie to you."

The man took out his gun and handed it to Ronan Kendrick for inspection.

"I know you won’t let me stay, and I don’t intend to. I just want to go home and see it one last time. I was studying abroad for many years and never went back. I had planned to stay and work overseas after graduation, but then the apocalypse came. All told, I haven’t been home in eight years."

The man kept chattering on, but Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick remained silent.

In truth, Ronan Kendrick could have found these people even without a guide. Letting the man lead was just a way to test his true intentions.

Once they entered the village proper, the man fell silent.

He led the two of them past some ruins, finally stopping in front of a small courtyard at the back of the village.

"There’s a cellar inside. They’re hiding in there."

Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick exchanged a look. As they got closer, they could smell roasting meat, interspersed with the sound of arguing.

"They’re cursing you out," Ronan Kendrick said to the man, his expression flat.

The man shrugged. "If my gun wasn’t out of bullets, I would’ve dealt with them long ago. But there’s nothing I can do. I can’t beat them bare-handed."

Evelyn Ford told the man to stay put, and she and Ronan Kendrick entered the courtyard.

"Are we really going to blow up that courtyard? What if we kill the horses?"

"The guns are all out of bullets! Nana, how much of your knockout drug do you have left?"

"It’s all gone. I only have explosives," a woman replied in broken Mandarin.

"There are two women and a little girl in that courtyard. It’d be a shame to blow them up. But they have guns, so we can’t deal with them without explosives. Still, I want to live in that courtyard. It’s so well-kept."

"A shame? What’s there to be ashamed of? We can take the sheep and horses to the county seat and definitely find a better house. As for women... as long as you have meat, you think you’ll have trouble finding women throwing themselves at you? Those two in the courtyard have probably been used and abused by now anyway."

Evelyn Ford was about to wait a little longer, but after hearing that, Ronan Kendrick threw open the cellar door and jumped in. Two bloodcurdling screams echoed out, and then there was only silence.

Evelyn Ford peered into the cellar. Ronan Kendrick had just sliced off a man’s tongue—it must have been the one who had just been speaking.

Everyone else was already dead. Only this man was still alive.

This was the first time Evelyn Ford had seen Ronan Kendrick torture someone. His methods were more horrific than ancient punishments for criminals. Having been with him for so long, she had almost forgotten what he was truly like.

After the man was dead, Ronan Kendrick threw the backpacks out one by one, along with a wild boar. It was only when he climbed out that Evelyn Ford saw the blood spattered on his clothes.

"Are they dead?"

The man scurried over and leaned over the cellar entrance to look inside.

"BLECH—" The next second, the horrific scene inside made him vomit.

Evelyn Ford used some snow to wipe the blood off Ronan Kendrick’s clothes, then began to inspect the backpacks on the ground.

"That one’s Nana’s! Be careful, there are explosives inside," the man said nervously, rushing over to warn Evelyn Ford.

Evelyn Ford took out the explosives. ’This Nana is no amateur,’ she thought. ’The explosives are extremely well-made. The ones I make are only a third as effective as hers. No wonder they were so confident they could destroy the courtyard with them.’

She found nine guns, all without bullets, as well as some combat knives, canned meat, cotton-padded clothes, medicine, and Magnesium Rods... It was quite a haul.

Evelyn Ford looked at the man. "Do you want any of this?"

The man looked pleasantly surprised. "I can take some? I’d like a Magnesium Rod, a combat knife, a padded coat, and a pair of shoes. Is that okay?"