Luckily, everyone on the bus was in their prime, so they all got out and pushed the bus back onto the road. But when they tried to start it again, it wouldn't start no matter what they did. None of Old Chen's people knew how to fix cars, so they just stood there staring blankly.

If they couldn't use the bus, they would only have a box truck left. Although people could sit in the truck bed, it would be a tight squeeze for the twenty-odd of them. This was not a long-term solution.

Just as they were at a loss, another convoy appeared behind them. The vehicles looked familiar. As they drew closer, it turned out to be Fatty Xu and his group, who had also chosen to leave.

Old Xu and his people were overjoyed to see Old Chen. Although they had more people, Old Chen's group was entirely composed of adult males. They were all acquaintances, so combining their forces would naturally make them stronger.

After learning why Old Chen's group was stuck, two people from Old Xu's team stepped forward. Both of them knew how to fix cars. They rummaged through the toolbox and crawled under the bus. In no time, they had the bus running again. The two groups merged into one and continued their journey.

Originally, the convoy would have had an SUV as the lead car for better maneuverability, but Fatty Xu and Old Xu didn't dare. So they made the excuse that Old Wang and his son had killed zombies with Jin Yuan before, and they had the father and son drive the truck in the lead to scout the way.

Old Wang didn't object. The reason he left was that he didn't want to return to the city with his son. So he drove in the front, followed by Old Xu's SUV, and then the bus!

After driving about fifty kilometers, several small black shadows suddenly darted out from the roadside and pounced on the truck like lightning. They squeezed in through the open window, and the truck swerved violently to the side, overturning on the road with the screams of Old Wang and his son.

Old Chen immediately slammed on the brakes, staring in horror at the truck window stained red with splattered blood. He looked to both sides and noticed that something was rapidly approaching from the grass, and there were quite a few of them, making the entire grassland tremble like boiling water.

Seeing this, Old Chen immediately turned around, the SUV scraping against the side of the bus as he drove backward, shouting frantically at the people behind the bus:

"Run! Mutant rats!"

The people behind were naturally shocked and all started to turn around. The bus, which was following closely behind the truck, did the same. But the bus was too long, and the road was too high. Just as the driver had turned the bus sideways, mutant rats rushed into the bus through the windows.

Screams and exclamations rang out amidst the splashing blood, causing all the vehicles behind to speed up.

Perhaps because there were enough people on the bus, the mutant rats didn't chase the other vehicles, allowing them all to escape in the end. But Old Wang and his son, and the dozens of survivors on the bus, certainly had no hope.

"How many mutant rats do you estimate there were?"

After listening to Old Chen's account, Li Chenzhou's expression became very grave. It was indeed a rat swarm, but he wanted to confirm it again!

"I saw seven or eight, but I'm sure there were more in the grass, maybe dozens or more, because if there were only a few, the ground wouldn't be shaking so much!"

Old Chen said, still with lingering fear on his face.

"Hoo!"

Li Chenzhou took a deep breath, frowned, and pondered for a moment, then made a decision.

"You guys wait here!"

Li Chenzhou looked up at Old Chen and then at the survivors behind him, said, then turned and walked towards Jin Yuan and Hong Li, beckoned to them, and returned to the SUV.

"We might have to leave tonight! If what the bald guy said is true, they probably encountered a mutant rat swarm."

Closing the car door, Li Chenzhou said directly to the two of them:

"Although the place where they encountered the rat swarm is more than fifty kilometers away from here, if it's really a rat swarm, that distance is nothing. They could reach here at any time!"

"What?"

Hong Li and Jin Yuan didn't know much about mutated beasts. Hearing this, they seemed a little puzzled, looked at each other, and then looked at Li Chenzhou. Hong Li asked,

"Rat swarms... are they powerful?"

"Even more powerful than a zombie horde!"

Li Chenzhou said with a wry smile:

"I don't know the size of the rat swarm yet, but... these are mutant rats. Compared to ordinary rats, they are bigger and faster. The walls here are useless against them, and their teeth can even bite through metal!

You can imagine them as... a group of extremely fast cats with sharp teeth and claws, and very agile bodies. How are you going to defend against such creatures?

With the current defensive strength of this place, it wouldn't take much, just a few dozen or a hundred mutant rats to completely destroy this place, and no one would be able to escape!"

Hearing this, Jin Yuan and Hong Li's expressions finally changed. They suddenly understood why Li Chenzhou, who was so calm and even seemed relaxed when facing zombies, no matter how many there were, would look so solemn after hearing about mutant rats.

"Then what do we do? Leave here?"

Jin Yuan asked.

"Like Fatty Xu said, this road has the city on one side and the rat swarm on the other. Where can we go?"

Before Li Chenzhou could answer, Hong Li shook his head and said.

"Not yet, I'll go take a look over there first! We'll talk about the specifics later!"

Li Chenzhou said:

"After all, mutant rats are still rats. Even if I can't kill them, I can at least find a way to lure them away!"

"Wouldn't that be very dangerous?"

Hong Li's expression changed.

"I'll take my people with you!"

Jin Yuan stood up and said directly.

"Neither of you needs to go. What you need to do is to manage this base well. As for the rat tide, just pretend you haven't heard about it!"

Li Chenzhou shook his head and then said:

"I called you here not for the rat tide, but for something else. What are you going to do about those survivors who left with the bald guy and the fatty?"

"This..."

Hearing this, both of them were stunned and looked at each other, but neither spoke first.

"I know your concerns, but you need to know that you two will be in control of this base in the future. Everyone's life and death are related to your decisions. Hesitation will only cause you to kill more people!"

Li Chenzhou looked at the two of them:

"Then I'll ask another question: Do you know why I killed Fatty Xu so decisively just now? He didn't really have any hatred towards me, and the resources and territory he wanted were yours. So, strictly speaking, he didn't offend me at all – except for that last sentence of his that was particularly annoying!"