Rotting Land: Survive-Chapter 506 - 499: Returning Home (Part 4)

"I’m here to beg for food!"

"Huh?" The short man’s words were mentioned casually, but they surprised the survivors.

Especially Wang Qiang, who blurted out, "You’re a beggar?"

After speaking, he felt a sting on his back, realizing it was his brother Tang Xiaoquan poking him with a finger.

Yet the short man didn’t mind this at all, and with a nonchalant smile, he said, "Beggar? Haha, don’t make it sound so elegant. I’m just here begging for food. If it weren’t for food, I wouldn’t have foolishly gotten trapped here!"

"Foolishly? Trapped here?" Hearing the short man’s somewhat complaining words, the group, including Tang Xiaoquan, who had no idea of the situation, grew even more confused.

Xu Renjie saw all this, and immediately explained the entire situation in detail to everyone.

Only then did the group understand the short man’s claims.

But Tang Xiaoquan wasn’t interested in the short man’s past right now; he urgently needed to know only one thing—what had happened in the small town.

After raising this question, the short man suddenly stopped what he was doing, then shook his head and sighed, "What happened in the town? Haha, as you can see, it was set on fire."

"Set on fire? Who set the fire?" No doubt, from the short man’s tone within his words, Tang Xiaoquan concluded that he definitely knew the course of the event.

The short man raised his hand and pointed to Xu Renjie, casually replying, "People like him, soldiers set the fire."

"What?" Upon hearing this, Xu Renjie frowned slightly, "You mean... the soldiers set the fire?"

Regardless of the truth of this news, since the apocalypse erupted, this was the first time in Xu Renjie’s military career hearing about troops setting fire to burn a town.

Could it be that Tang Xiaoquan’s hometown has some unspeakable "secret?"

Thinking about this, Xu Renjie continued to ask, "You said soldiers set it on fire, when was this?"

"When?" The short man scratched his head, "About 3 months, oh no, four months..."

"Exactly how many months?" Old Xu was clearly anxious, and his questioning tone involuntarily strengthened a bit.

"Well... I really don’t remember clearly. I’ve been here worrying day by day, afraid of the police coming to catch me and those monsters eating people. Anyway, the town burning happened a long time ago."

The short man looked bitter and didn’t seem to be faking.

And if it’s true what the short man said, that it happened a long time ago, then this indeed raises a problem.

Because after the apocalypse erupted, Old Xu knows that the mission for the army was to protect government agencies and important facilities, in short, to maintain stability.

So in such a critical moment focused on "maintaining stability," setting fire to a town was counterproductive.

Xu Renjie intuitively thought that it might not have been done by the military, but the short man spoke sincerely and didn’t seem to be lying.

This made him unable to avoid drawing a big question mark in his mind.

"Brother, why are you so sure they were soldiers?"

"Well... they were wearing military uniforms?"

"What kind?" Xu Renjie pressed on.

You can’t seriously expect a beggar to describe the appearance of military uniforms, so naturally, after hesitating for a long time, the short man replied ambiguously, "Just green ones, the army wears military uniforms."

Undoubtedly, this was a useless statement. The idea of finding flaws from the attire had to be abandoned as Xu Renjie turned to ask, "Besides the uniforms, what else proves their identity?"

This puzzled the short man. In his view, wearing uniforms meant they were military, so why need further proof?

However, due to Old Xu’s earlier sternness, he answered honestly, "There is indeed. When they came, the loudspeakers said they were part of the army and told the townsfolk to follow them to some shelter."

"What! What did you say!"

Upon hearing the word shelter, Tang Xiaoquan, who was just pondering, suddenly seemed to grasp at a lifeline and darted in front of the short man, "Shelter! Did you just say shelter?"

"Yes, I did... What’s wrong?" The young man’s sudden approach startled the short man, causing him to drop his backpack to the ground.

"Where? Tell me where the shelter is?"

This aggressive stance, influenced by the whereabouts of his parents, made Tang Xiaoquan noticeably different from usual.

Seeing this scene, Hu Xiaodong quietly walked over, gently patted the young man’s shoulder, and then said to the short man, "Brother, don’t mind. Xiao Tang is acting this way because his parents are from this town. It’s been almost four months since we’ve returned, and now... alas, please tell us about the situation."

People’s hearts are made of flesh; who doesn’t have parents?

Understanding the true situation, the short man sighed sympathetically, "Actually, I’m not too sure. I had just arrived in this town when the monster-biting-human incident occurred. In self-defense, I accidentally killed someone, and then I hid in the back mountains. I’m not sure when the army arrived; they came quickly, burning all the way. I vaguely heard the loudspeaker saying something about a shelter in the direction of JZ, but other than that, I really don’t know."

"JZ County!" Wang Qiang, silently chanting the direction of the shelter mentioned by the short man, raised his arm and punched Tang Xiaoquan’s chest, "Brother, did you hear that? There’s a shelter in JZ County. I think Uncle and Aunt must have been taken there by the army."

"Yes, looking at the current situation, a shelter capable of accommodating such a scale of survivors must have strong defense forces. Haha, Quan Zi, you can relax now. Your parents are likely even safer than us." Hu Xiaodong sincerely felt happy for Tang Xiaoquan.

But Tang Xiaoquan, after a brief excitement, glanced at the crouching short man then asked skeptically, "Why didn’t you go? Why didn’t you leave with the rescue team?"

The short man saw the mistrust in the other’s eyes and appeared somewhat innocent, "Who wouldn’t want to leave? But at that time, I was carrying a life on my back; if it were you, having killed someone, in an unclear situation, seeing the army, would you follow them? Besides, I’m just a beggar. Who cares about my life or death!"

The short man’s words sounded heart-wrenching and made Tang Xiaoquan feel a bit guilty, "I’m sorry, brother, I just wanted to verify the truth of what you said because it concerns my parents. Please don’t take it to heart; I meant no harm."

At this point, Tang Xiaoquan had accepted the short man’s story, although he wasn’t entirely sure if his parents were in that group, but at least there was hope. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Brother, since you have no place to stay, why don’t you come with us? We have a villa in the far outskirts!" This was one of the few things Wei Dazhuang said on the journey.

But almost without thinking, the short man refused, "No! I’m already used to it here."

"Used to it here? Where are you staying?"

"Just over there on the hill! We live in the forest in the back mountain." He raised his hand pointing to the barely remaining trees in the mountain forest behind the town and quickly replied.

But this response made Xu Renjie detect something unusual. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)