Chapter 15 Resisting the Blood Corpse
Inside the RV, the lights were bright.
Henry cut a piece of tender beef and put it in his mouth, his brow slightly furrowed, clearly lost in thought.
And rightly so.
Although they had won this skirmish, the Black Blood Heart was still ahead. If he didn't take it out, he would have to make a big detour to leave the city. It didn't matter for him since he had the RV, but Marcus and the others would definitely struggle.
Moreover, taking another route might not guarantee safety.
Annie, sensing his mood, wisely refrained from interrupting his thoughts. After finishing her meal, she obediently sat aside to sort the cards.
She occasionally stole glances at Henry, her heart inexplicably racing.
A serious man was the most charming!
'What's wrong?"
Henry snapped back to reality and noticed Annie was looking at him.
'Nothing!—Oh, I just wanted to tell you that we collected a total of 317 cards tonight: 33 green cards, 5 blue cards, and 1 silver card. They're all here."
'Not bad," Henry nodded.
It was a profit, but not a significant one.
'By the way, what about those two gold cards?"
Henry recalled that there were two gold cards he had scavenged from the Night Demon in his space ring and took them out to examine.
One was a Weapon—BloodMarkGunWeapon—BloodMarkGun, and the other was a Talent—KeenSenseofSmellTalent—KeenSenseofSmell.
The Blood Mark Gun, being a melee weapon, would only be useful if he had learned the corresponding skill talent, which he didn't need at the moment.
Interestingly, the KeenSenseofSmellKeenSenseofSmell was essentially similar to DangerSenseDangerSense, both being passive talents that allowed one to detect danger in advance. However, since he already had DangerSenseDangerSense, there was no need to learn this talent, which came with considerable side effects.
'What are the side effects?" Annie asked with a curious expression.
Henry smiled and said, 'Having an overly sensitive nose is never a good thing for a person, especially in the apocalypse. It can seriously affect the quality of life."
Annie thought for a moment, and it made sense. If the stench of the blood corpses were amplified several times… no one could stand it. Using this talent to suppress appetite and maintain a figure would indeed be a good choice.
'…"
The next morning.
Henry called Marcus over and asked him to distribute the day's supply cards to everyone. While they were chatting, a deep green military truck drove in from a distance and stopped about a hundred meters away from the camp.
Five armed men jumped out of the truck. The one speaking was a bald man in his forties, dressed in camouflage, with a sturdy build.
'Everyone, don't be nervous. I mean no harm. We are a search team from the ‘Unity Community.' My name is Tristan Sinclair. Who is your leader? I would like to talk to him," Tristan shouted with a big smile on his face.
'What does this uncle want?" Henry said with a smile as he approached.
'Are you the leader?" Tristan asked, somewhat incredulous. It was surprising that a young man in his early twenties could be a leader; he must have something going for him.
Tristan continued with a smile, 'Here's the thing: my camp has a solid defense and ample supplies. You know what the outside world is like right now, filled with man-eating monsters. Only by banding together can we survive. Would you be willing to bring your people back to my camp? We can cooperate to fight against those monsters. Of course, if you are not satisfied when you get there, you can leave at any time. I won't force you. I just believe that the more people there are, the greater the chance of survival."
I have to say, Tristan's words were sincere and made a lot of sense. In the face of sudden monsters, any normal person would choose to band together.
'Uncle, where is your camp located?" Henry asked.
'Greenwich Village, Maltin Hotel."
'Oh, that place," Henry nodded.
Indeed, Tristan's camp was not far from the mall where they had previously stayed; it was only a twenty-minute drive.
'Uncle, let me discuss it with my friends first."
At this moment, Henry was acting quite immaturely, showing a lack of decisiveness.
Tristan naturally smiled and said it was fine, encouraging him to discuss it. In his mind, Tristan had completely categorized Henry as a lucky 'sunny, cheerful young man."
'Boss, are you really planning to go back to their camp?" Marcus leaned over to ask.
'There's no harm in checking it out. Let everyone pack up; we'll set off in ten minutes."
Having lived in the apocalypse for so many years and encountered countless people, Henry could instinctively judge whether someone was good or evil. This Tristan clearly wasn't a bad person; his cheerful demeanor and charisma were not something one could fake.
'Alright."
Marcus had no objections and unconditionally obeyed Henry, immediately calling everyone to pack their things and prepare to leave.
Upon receiving Henry's affirmative response, Tristan looked very pleased. Thus, a military truck, an RV, and dozens of bicycles slowly made their way toward the city center.
'Boss, I just observed that this group is well-equipped. The worst of them have blue card weapons, and the women are armed with silver card mechanical bows. Their combat capability shouldn't be underestimated."
The man in the passenger seat, wearing glasses, suddenly spoke up. His name was William, and he was Tristan's deputy.
Tristan smiled and said, 'What's so strange about that? This is the apocalypse, with monsters everywhere; it's survival of the fittest. Only the strong can survive; the weak have long been eliminated."
'I'm a bit worried. Do you think they might covet our camp's resources?"
Tristan chuckled, 'You're a good person, but you're just too cautious. You like to overthink things. Are those resources just decorations?"
Tristan patted the rifle hanging on his chest.
'Besides, their living standards are not low. Have you noticed? Their clothes are all new, and everyone looks quite clean. Just this point alone is better than our camp."
After Tristan pointed this out, William nodded. It was indeed the case. This team of more than thirty people was much cleaner than the survivors they had encountered before, and they all looked vibrant.
As noon approached, the convoy returned to the entrance of the Four Seas Restaurant. Surrounding the restaurant were electric fences, wooden stakes, and some walls designed to block the advance of blood corpses.
Henry had no comments on how much defensive capability these structures had; having them was better than nothing, at least it provided some psychological comfort.
Inside these walls were several tents, housing many disheveled survivors who looked like refugees. Compared to them, the people Henry brought were undoubtedly a regular army.
The arrival of Henry and his group naturally attracted envious glances from the survivors.
'Boss, you finally made it back."
Seeing Tristan return with his group, a young man holding a gun rushed over with an anxious expression.
'What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?" Tristan frowned.
'Brother Shan got into trouble. He was bitten and seriously injured, and he ran back alone."
'What? Where is he?"
'At the medical department."
'Take me to see him!"
Tristan exclaimed and hurriedly followed the young man into the restaurant, leaving Henry and the others behind.
William looked somewhat helpless. 'I apologize, everyone. There's been an incident at home. Please rest here for a moment. If you need anything, just let me know."
'It's fine, you go ahead," Henry waved his hand, signaling William to take care of his business.
After William left, Henry began to carefully examine the nine-story building.
In the early days of the apocalypse, occupying a high-rise building could effectively fend off blood corpse attacks. However, if the attacking party were humans, it would be a different story; just throwing a few bundles of explosives at the load-bearing walls would lead to a collapse and total annihilation.
Of course, in the early apocalypse, when attack cards were so scarce, it was unlikely that any human group would engage in such a foolish act of harming their enemy while inflicting significant damage on themselves, unless there was deep-seated hatred involved.
A few minutes later, Tristan reappeared, looking grim as he apologized to Henry, 'Sorry for neglecting everyone. Another search team from our community encountered an attack by a horde of corpses, and the team leader was injured. I just went to handle that situation."
'Is the injury serious?" Henry asked as he followed Tristan inside.
Tristan sighed, his brow furrowed. 'Yes, it's quite serious. Eight people went out, and only Wilson came back. The problem is, we no longer have any serum left. If we just let it go…"
He paused for a moment and then tentatively asked, 'You wouldn't happen to have any serum on you, would you?"
Henry met Tristan's hopeful gaze and smiled, 'I do have silver card serum, but I need to keep it for emergencies. As you can see, my team has over thirty people, and what if someone gets bitten? What will we do then if I can't produce any serum?"
Tristan nodded. 'You're right; that's a valid point. But right now, saving lives is the priority. To be honest, Nathaniel is our camp's second strongest fighter. If something were to happen to him, it would be a significant loss for the camp. So, what would it take for you to give me the serum?"
Henry spread his hands. 'Since you like to be direct, I'll be direct too. Let's make a trade. I wonder if you have any talent-type gold cards?"
'Talent gold cards?" Tristan was taken aback.
Trading silver cards for gold cards, and it has to be talent cards… Are you trying to take advantage of the situation?
Henry said earnestly, 'Silver card serum is a rather special item; its value is actually comparable to that of gold cards."