Chapter 73: Chapter 73 Squad Leader Fang Chapter 73: Chapter 73 Squad Leader Fang After walking a bit further, they finally saw a house with its door wide open. Inside, a middle-aged man in military uniform hurriedly put on his mask upon seeing outsiders: “Keep your distance, I said.”
The man was about 1.8 ters tall, appearing to be in his forties or fifties. His face was obscured by a mask, and he was very thin—but then again, it was rare to see anyone who was overweight these days.
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng hadn’t planned on getting close; after all, they were more afraid of catching a plague from him, so they stopped outside the door.
Seeing that the man was in uniform, Lu Ruisheng guessed he must be a veteran, which might make communication easier and more trustworthy, so he took the initiative to ask, “Sir, I was wondering if there are any particular rules in this area?”
His question was a clear probe to see if anyone controlled this area.
If it was controlled, they didn’t intend to attack and occupy it—after all, they weren’t bandits. They thought about finding the person in charge to negotiate and possibly settle for a part of the territory.
The man, realizing that Lu Ruisheng’s deanor was likely that of a military man and having been a soldier himself, felt a different kind of trust and sentint towards him.
But now, in the apocalypse, he couldn’t easily trust strangers, so he hesitated before replying, “I’m not sure. You’d better leave, I said.”
Hearing the inverted sentence structure, Lu Ruisheng felt a wave of familiarity and ventured to ask, “Squad Leader Fang?”
Squad Leader Fang’s dialect was strong, and he liked using inverted sentences, so their squad’s soldiers often imitated him behind his back. Being young and curious back then, Lu Ruisheng had sneaked out with his comrades to listen to Squad Leader Fang speak, so he rembered his voice and tone quite well.
The man was stunned: “Who are you?” This ti, he didn’t use an inverted sentence, which confird Lu Ruisheng’s assumption that he was indeed Squad Leader Fang.
Lu Ruisheng replied, “I’m Xiao Lu from Squad One. Though I wasn’t in your squad, I often heard about you from your soldiers. However, I later transferred to the special operations departnt, so you might not recognize .”
He didn’t ntion his full na because it wouldn’t help Fang recognize him, and they preferred not to reveal their full identities at this point, not knowing how things would turn out when arriving in a new place.
Upon hearing this, Squad Leader Fang knew Lu Ruisheng was telling the truth, and he had always dreamt of joining the special operations departnt but had retired before he got the chance.
Still, he had to ask with so doubt, “Then why aren’t you with the army?”
Lu Ruisheng answered, “I was discharged due to injuries.”
The conversation suddenly grew heavy. Squad Leader Fang sighed, “It’s good you’re alive.” Then he paused before adding, “Do you want to settle down here?”
Lu Ruisheng nodded, “Yes, but we don’t know much about the situation here. Could you please enlighten us, Squad Leader Fang?”
This ti, Fang didn’t hesitate and explained, “This villa area is divided into two zones, the inner and outer circles. We, in the outer circle, don’t have strict rules and just need to avoid disturbing those in the inner circle. However, resources here are scarce and finding food requires a long trek. Honestly, unless you owned property here, I really wouldn’t recomnd settling down in this area, I truly an it.”
He continued to wear his military uniform after the apocalypse, partly as a deterrent. In Huaxia Land, the status of a military person was inherently respected, which also emboldened him to leave his door open.
Listening to him, Gu Pan felt his advice was sensible. Out of curiosity, she asked, “Squad Leader Fang, what kind of people live in the inner circle?”
Squad Leader Fang stepped forward, shortening the distance between them slightly, then lowered his voice a bit: “So folks from the Martial Arts Association and the Shooting Association. There used to be a Martial Arts Association club here; they’re very united, but as long as we don’t cross the fence, we’re fine. We’ve been coexisting peacefully, without bothering each other.”
Gu Pan exchanged a glance with Lu Ruisheng, sensing that their situation here shouldn’t be a problem.
Thus, Gu Pan said to Squad Leader Fang, “Thank you, Squad Leader Fang. We’re neighbors from now on.”
Squad Leader Fang wasn’t surprised; Gu Pan’s ntion of being forced to co here probably ant there were underlying issues that drove them out of the city, so he said, “I hope you can survive here.”
At this ti, no one could expect to live well; re survival was fortunate enough.
While they were chatting, soone was stealthily watching them from a first-floor window, which was nothing unusual. In tis when everyone felt endangered, it was normal for residents to be cautious about strangers talking at their doorstep.
Not wanting to delay further, Lu Ruisheng turned to Squad Leader Fang, “Thank you, Sir. We’ll get busy setting up, and visit you again when things are more stable.”
Squad Leader Fang responded, bidding them goodbye.
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng then walked away from Squad Leader Fang’s ho and took another round inside, believing it wise to gather more information before completely trusting what one person had said.
After a while, Lu Ruisheng said, “I really didn’t expect to et soone I knew here.”
Gu Pan replied, “Indeed, but that’s good; at least his words are more reliable than those we might get from strangers.”
“That’s true. We’d need to negotiate if anyone is in control here.”
“Let’s keep observing and if all seems well, we’ll move in.”
As they talked, they continued to inspect the nearby houses, noting that generally, people lived with so distance between them—so houses clustered in groups of two or three, then a gap of two houses, or so stood alone, surrounded by empty lots on either side, showing a strong sense of vigilance.
They also checked the area near the inner circle as described by Squad Leader Fang. The area wasn’t large but had a road leading up a hill, which could serve as an escape route in these tis.
Despite not being large and lacking extensive defenses, and with no control over the outer areas, the greatest likelihood was that the capabilities of those inside were limited. While so individuals might know so martial arts, they might not be able to apply these skills effectively in actual combat scenarios—a common understanding. Regarding shooting—well, it wasn’t like using real bullets; if it ca to war, these people would likely be apprehensive.
Thus, their best strategy was probably to create an impression and preserve their own safety. They had a club, so they likely had so stored supplies, and barring any major incidents, they could probably maintain stability inside, perhaps even waiting for so restoration of order.
After walking around, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng found that the area they had first entered housed the fewest people, which probably made living at the forefront feel insecure. However, this arrangent suited Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng quite well—they preferred not to be surrounded, and living at the forefront seed favorable even if enemies arrived; they weren’t worried, and it also better secured their privacy and ability to set up defenses around themselves.
Therefore, they chose four houses on the edge of the garden, two each to the south and north of the road.
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