Those holding guns and those holding knives, members of Absolute Justice appeared by the roadside.
Zhang Su completely ignored them, pointing at Yang Xinqi and others: "The news your boss received is wrong, Director Yang is standing here alive, and the brothers of the Apocalypse Corps are all fine, so let’s not trouble you survivors!"
"That’s not acceptable!"
Leizi is crazy but not stupid. These captives are slaves of Absolute Justice, so how could he easily give them up?
"Huang, you tell him!"
When it came to negotiation, Leizi felt he couldn’t sort out the logical relationship and handed it over to Huang Yixiao.
Huang Yixiao leaned against the car with a pistol, ready to hide at any moment. He pointed at the large group of captives behind him and said: "For today’s operation, we mobilized a lot of manpower and resources, just the gasoline alone used up several hundred liters. If you want to take the people away, it’s not impossible; you must provide compensation with materials!"
"How dare you ask for compensation... What about the goods from the auto park warehouse, where did you take them?"
Yang Xinqi observed from beginning to end. There were no cargo trucks in the opposing convoy, but the auto park warehouses were emptied, as clean as a trough licked by pigs starved for eight days.
"Wait a minute!" Huang Yixiao did not respond to Yang Xinqi, furrowing his brow and asking, "You must have met our two brothers if you’re from the auto park, where are they?"
Upon seeing members of the Little Eagle Association coming together, he subconsciously assumed these people came after hearing news from Cao Duoliang.
"Those two tried to cause trouble and I locked them in the auto park. Why don’t we do this, exchange the goods you took and the two men for these survivors? You’ll profit without a loss, how about it?"
Zhang Su pointed at more than a hundred old, young, women, and children. This was the key to his challenging task. Whether the goods could be retrieved was secondary, he had to protect the survivors of the Apocalypse Corps first.
"That’s not acceptable!"
The one speaking wasn’t Huang Yixiao but the deranged Leizi.
He was most interested in bargaining; seeing the negotiation step, he immediately interjected: "Those goods aren’t even enough to cover the gasoline we used this trip, and you returning Little Duck and Da Gen to us is only right, so you must provide additional compensation!
By the way, Director Liu, you’re still owing us a batch of materials, you should have heard about the redemption from the one named Ma?"
Liu Yao’s face showed annoyance. If not for the explosives strapped to the other party, he would have immediately given them a burst of gunfire!
"Materials... got it!"
Zhang Su’s face showed excitement, then he pointed at a nearby truck: "Mutated Zombie, have you seen it? We caught one just before coming here, what about exchanging it for these people?"
Liu Yao and Yang Xinqi almost couldn’t suppress a smile upon hearing this. If they didn’t understand what Zhang Su was aiming for, their previous leadership role was useless.
The notion of bullying the weak and fearing the strong, that was merely feigning concern, trying to minimize harm...
Leizi and Huang Yixiao were oblivious to these subtleties, exchanging shocked and delighted glances.
"Mutated Zombie? You mean a mutant zombie?"
Huang Yixiao took two steps forward, eyes filled with expectation and caution.
Zhang Su nodded: "We’re likely discussing the same thing, just with different names. I happen to have a Flaming Zombie here, do you not feel the warmth? It’s all thanks to the heat from this zombie!"
"Wow, I knew I felt the warmth, it’s exactly true!"
"It turns out the mutant zombie emits heat, amazing!"
"This rare thing, with this mutant zombie, we won’t fear the winter coming perpetually!"
"We must bring it back, a great achievement!"
After Zhang Su spoke, the members of Absolute Justice exchanged glances, all wearing expressions of sudden realization.
"The mutant zombie is in that truck, right? Open it up and let me see what it looks like!"
Leizi nodded towards the cargo truck.
"Don’t be hasty!"
Zhang Su shook his head with a smile and said: "Negotiation should have the air of negotiation, see how we put our weapons away, yet you all hold yours, and you have those detonators strapped on you, clearly lacking sincerity, I don’t like this situation."
"You don’t like it... Who cares if you like it? What will happen if you don’t like it?"
Leizi was annoyed but recalled the opponent’s unusual status, suppressing his temper and patiently asking.
"I’m here to rescue brothers, with no plan to spark a war, so we should lay down our weapons and talk calmly. If you wish to make a deal, show an attitude, or let’s discuss it directly at Absolute Justice headquarters?"
Zhang Su spread his arms wide and eloquently spoke, exuding much more confidence than the opposition.
"You are indeed not planning to launch a war?"
Huang Yixiao, skeptical, asked.
Zhang Su put his hands behind his back, nodding: "Absolutely not, I have no interest in killing a thousand while losing eight hundred myself, and believe talking can resolve numerous conflicts."
No one at the scene grasped the underlying meaning, but the Yama Corps understood Zhang Su’s words held inner secrets.
If Yuwen were present, he would immediately decode, no interest in killing a thousand while losing eight hundred, the implication being to lose just eight...
"Alright, will trust you this once!"
Huang Yixiao gazed solemnly at Zhang Su, observing his calm demeanor, brows devoid of hostility, thus raising his hand to signal his companions: "Everyone put your weapons away, don’t act rashly!"
If the deal succeeds, this trip would be immensely profitable, all contributions credited to oneself. But if returning to headquarters, even if we eradicated all these individuals, personal gain would be minimal.
Huang Yixiao could clearly calculate this.
Absolute Justice really didn’t have many firearms; there were more guns than the five pieces reported by Cao Duoliang, but only ten people were armed. The scale seemed hasty in Celestial Horse Island’s eyes, but counting the deranged bomber Leizi, it remains daunting.
Seeing everyone put away their weapons, Zhang Su turned to see Leizi, who hadn’t moved, asking curiously: "Brother Lei, what do you say here?"
"What should I say? I say let me see the mutant zombie!"
Whether Leizi was truly mad or feigning ignorance, he remained immersed in his ideas.
"Of course, showing you the Flaming Zombie is fine, it’s intended as your transaction chip, but come over here, you must remove those detonators first, this is a Flaming Zombie, high temperatures might trigger detonation, ensure safety for all!"
As he spoke, Zhang Su poured a bottle of water onto the truck, instantly hissing and raising a white mist, indicating high temperatures.
This scene prompted Absolute Justice members to marvel, while the Apocalypse Corps captives strained their necks in curiosity from a distance.
"Damn, fascinating indeed... hey, if I were to blow you all up, would this thing automatically become mine, hard to grasp why agreeing to your deal?"
Leizi, audaciously, snapped the detonators on his chest.
"That’s not how it works..."
Faced with an unyielding individual, Zhang Su still remained calm and looked at Ju Mumio, waving her over.
Leizi was filled with curiosity, puzzled as to why inviting a fierce-looking woman over mid-discussion, and saw her retrieve a cloth-packaged object from the woman’s pouch.
"Violence doesn’t solve issues, I’m notably polite, truly dislike mutually destructive outcomes; observe what’s here."
Zhang Su displayed a slightly larger than a brick-sized object, showing it off to the Absolute Justice folks.
"Dough!"
Leizi squinted his eyes, instantly identifying it.
"No... examine it more closely!"
Zhang Su’s forehead was burdened with frustration, next shaking the object in his hand.
"This is..."
Among Absolute Justice, a man’s eyes narrowed, suddenly turning pale, trembling lips exclaim, "Master Lei, that’s frickin... that’s C4!!!"