“Here, your favorite chocolate bread!”

Zheng Xinyu handed a bulging plastic package to Zhang Su.

“Good girl.”

Zhang Su enjoyed chocolate bread, often purchasing it from a bakery in Wanda Mall, but now such luxuries were beyond reach. Having such packaged goods was rare enough, so he smiled and pinched Zheng Xinyu’s cheek.

A group of people walked into the dilapidated ramen shop. Underfoot, all they heard was the crunch of broken glass. Tables and chairs were askew, a refrigerator lay open on the floor, several soda bottles shattered on the ground. Through the window, the kitchen looked even messier, with only moldy dough left on the counters!

“Damn it, I thought we could have some braised beef.”

Lu Yubo walked into the kitchen, scavenging with a grain sampler, only to find scattered cilantro and scallions.

“Braised beef, as if that wouldn’t be a dream!” Zhang Su teased and then addressed the seated group, “You must be curious about this skinny fellow. Let me introduce him: he’s my employee, Wu Lue. Yes, none of you knows this, but I actually run a convenience store not far from here!”

That was a lot of information for just a few sentences, and it took everyone a moment to digest it.

“Oh my God, Zhang Su, you even own a convenience store? No wonder you kept pushing weird stuff on me!”

Zheng Xinyu put a hand on her hip, cheeks puffed up, her dust-smudged face looked less beautiful, but her eyes remained bright. She glanced at Zhang Su, recalling the past year’s experiences and wondering how much money she’d wasted because of this crafty guy.

Tan Huajun joked, “So it turns out Wu Lue and I are in the same business. Brother Su, you’ve been hiding quite a bit, didn’t even tell your girlfriends about your other ventures?”

“Hmph! Probably not just us; Wu Lue didn’t know either, did you?” Zheng Xinyu looked at Wu Lue.

Wu Lue exclaimed in surprise, “Wow, sis-in-law, you’re amazing. I really didn’t know… how did you know?”

“How did I…”

“Alright, no need to say more!”

Zhang Su interrupted them, giving Zheng Xinyu a sidelong glance, annoyed that his little schemes were being exposed.

He continued to address the group, “Wu Lue was hiding out with another female employee of mine in the convenience store, but a group barged in a few days ago, kicked him out, and held my other female employee captive!”

“What the hell, then we have to rescue her!”

Upon hearing Zhang Su’s words, Zhao Dezhu immediately became anxious, then felt his reaction was too intense and glanced awkwardly at Yu Qing.

Yu Qing didn’t even lift her head, feeling drowsy after taking medicine, yet it wasn’t convenient to leave her alone in the vehicle.

“Right, I do intend to rescue her, but this…”

“Brother Su, are you planning to disregard the team’s safety? Don’t hold me back, let me speak…”

Before Zhang Su could finish, Song Yijun, sitting in the corner, couldn’t help but voice his doubts, “The previous rescue attempt for Wu Lue was risky enough, and now you want to lead everyone into danger again?”

“Shut up already!” Kuang Miao couldn’t stop Song Yijun and awkwardly apologized to Zhang Su, “Su, Brother Su, I’m sorry…”

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the ramen shop became heavily tense.

Zhang Su’s older members glared at Song Yijun, setting aside the rationality of the rescue mission for the moment, demonstrating such open defiance to the team’s leader held no good meaning.

Yuwen appeared to be tending to her daughter Yu Qing, yet she cast an inexplicable gaze towards Song Yijun.

Zhang Su set aside his bread, licked his dry lips, and gave a light laugh as he walked toward Song Yijun.

“Brother Su, don’t, don’t do this, Chen Hanzhou and I will talk to him, don’t…”

Seeing this, Kuang Miao hastily stepped forward to plead, truly fearing Zhang Su would lose his temper and take drastic actions against Song Yijun.

Zhang Su patted Kuang Miao on the shoulder, then approached Song Yijun, saying, “I can tell you have issues with me, so I’ll give you the chance to leave the team, to find your own space.”

No one present was surprised by Zhang Su’s words.

Teams require unity, and a post-apocalyptic survival team even more so needs everyone to work as one.

Leadership decisions may not always be perfect, but everyone must collaborate to accomplish them. This is about surviving the apocalypse, not conducting research in a lab. Constant doubts and second-guessing won’t lead to good outcomes.

“Agree!”

Something unexpected happened for everyone.

The first to stand up and agree with Zhang Su was Chen Hanzhou, who had escaped from the school with Song Yijun!

“Ever since the mission to lure zombies, Song Yijun has constantly grumbled about Brother Su’s decisions. I think he’s lost his mind. He’s targeting the person, not the issue. Anything Brother Su suggests, he completely rejects. Kuang Miao and Sister Tan can vouch for me!”

Chen Hanzhou wore an unusually serious expression, a change since he killed Liang Dacheng’s henchman at the gas station.

“You, Chen Hanzhou, whose side are you on? How could you turn against your own like this?”

Song Yijun immediately got anxious, mistakenly believing his classmate was one of his own.

“Yes, Xiaochen is right!” Tan Huajun had initially intended to speak to Zhang Su privately, but since the matter was now out in the open, there was no need to hide it. She laid out the content of the conversations in the vehicle.

Awoooo.

Perhaps it was the loud discussion that drew a zombie to the entrance, only to be swiftly taken care of by Zhong Xiaoshan and Lu Yubo, who were closest to the door.

Everyone once again focused their attention on Song Yijun and Zhang Su.

“You can enjoy democracy, but you need to form your own democratic team. This is a good opportunity for me to reorganize this team. I’ll ask everyone: who else here favors democracy and would like to leave with Song Yijun!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep