Chapter 15 They Are Our Guardians

Dust billowed, gradually covering the corpses of dozens of prison guards. On the projection on the wall, the guards continued to fall. Ding Ning and Gray Bear maintained their salute, staring at the prison guards in the pit. The survivors couldn't help but turn their eyes to the mottled bloodstains in the yard, which, although cleaned, were still visible.

When the projection paused on the image of Uncle Zhang entering the corridor, the grave was finally filled. All the prison guards were gone, and as Ding Ning requested, there was no raised mound on top of the grave, but rather it was made quite flat.

Ding Ning said that this was where they gathered, so it had to be restored to its original state and kept flat, otherwise... next time they gathered, his comrades would have no place to stand.

The tombstone had also been taken care of and stood against the wall. Nothing was written on it; this was left for Ding Ning, who wanted to personally engrave the names of all his comrades on it one by one.

Li Chenzhou bowed to the blank tombstone, then turned to the survivors gathered, took the microphone, and said:

"You've all seen the projection, right? Now you know that those soldiers died in their own dormitories, in their own beds, over there. That's also where we were going to put you!"

As he spoke, Li Chenzhou pointed in that direction:

"However, I heard that some people think it's unlucky there because people died there. Some even say they're afraid of ghosts and would never sleep in a bed where someone died, preferring to stay in the prison with the criminals!

I find it strange that in this world where zombies are running rampant, some people are still afraid of ghosts? Moreover, they were soldiers, protecting you when they were alive, and now that they're dead, you're worried they'll harm you?

You all saw the images just now, right? Why did they kill their mutated comrades? They could have ignored them, opened the door, and escaped. And even at the end, those wounded soldiers knew they would mutate, but do you think you would willingly commit suicide if you were bitten by a zombie?

You wouldn't, because you'd never give up until the very end, preferring to become a zombie. But they would. They were afraid that their mutated comrades would run out and affect the outside world. Then they were afraid of mutating themselves and becoming man-eating zombies. So, the entire prison was left with only one prison guard watching the monitoring room!"

As he spoke, Li Chenzhou looked at those who were gathered together wanting to stay in the prison and continued, "Of course, we won't force anyone. If you don't like living in the dorms, then don't. If you like living in the prison, I won't stop you. Is there anyone who still wants to live in the prison? You can come forward now, and I'll arrange it for you first! I really want to know how many people would rather live with criminals because they're afraid of the spirits of soldiers!"

Hearing Li Chenzhou say that he wouldn't stop them, a few survivors hesitated and walked over, joining the group. However, a dozen people from that group actually walked out of the group and returned to the ranks of the other survivors.

"Old Qian, why did you leave? You're not staying in the prison?"

Someone couldn't help but ask curiously.

"I'm not staying! I didn't know who those bodies were before, I thought they were prisoners. Now I know they were soldiers, and they almost completely annihilated themselves in order to prevent the mutations here from spreading outside!"

Old Qian turned around and said loudly:

"That young man is right. They protected us when they were alive, and we don't need to be afraid of them now that they're dead, because whether they're alive or dead, they're our guardians. Living in their dorms is reassuring!!!"

Hearing Old Qian's words, the survivors who were originally going to move over and stay in the prison couldn't help but hesitate, eventually stopping in their tracks.

"Anyone else?"

Seeing that the crowd was no longer moving, Li Chenzhou asked again. After waiting a few seconds, when no one answered, he nodded and looked at Duan Lei, waving his hand and saying:

"Let them in!"

Duan Lei looked at the survivors in front of him, still about two hundred of them, men, women, old and young, even some with children.

"You're taking your child to live with criminals? Aren't you afraid they'll be bullied?"

Duan Lei couldn't help but ask a woman with a 7 or 8-year-old girl.

"A criminal is still a person, better than a dead ghost, right?"

The woman curled her lips and said.

Duan Lei looked at the girl, who was about the same age as Xiao Ya, with some regret, sighed inwardly, but said nothing more, waving his hand to signal them to enter the prison.

"Ladies! Are you also going to live in the prison with the criminals?"

Tianya also saw three seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls in the group, so he stepped forward and asked.

"Criminals are better than those stinky corpses, right? They're starting to rot, it's disgusting!"

"Exactly! I don't want to live in such a smelly house!"

"What about criminals? Haven't you seen *Prison Break*? The criminals in it are super handsome!"

The three girls replied with disdain.

"But the corpses have been buried, and those people were soldiers, they..."

Tianya tried to explain, but was interrupted by the girls again:

"So what if they're soldiers? Just stinky soldiers, who with money would become a soldier? It's hard and tiring, and they're always dirty, doing dangerous things all day long. Haha, they never get the good stuff, they're the first to die. People like that, whether they're dead or alive, are a burden!"

"That's right, look now, they're all dead, right? But we're all alive and well, so soldiers are nothing special, they're no different from migrant workers!"

"Ignore him, let's go in quickly, I want to see if there are any handsome guys in the prisoners like in *Prison Break*!"

Hearing the three girls' words, Tianya's eyes instantly turned cold, and the previous regret and pity suddenly disappeared without a trace.

He didn't speak anymore, just watched the three girls walk into the wide-open prison gate, as if watching them walk into the entrance to hell.

Although the three girls were survivors fleeing from disaster, their clothes showed that their families were wealthy. People like that were Tianya's envy in the past.

But their words just now completely subverted Tianya's previous thoughts. When Li Chenzhou issued the order before, he felt that Li Chenzhou was a little too ruthless, because he didn't give these people a chance to repent at all.

But now, he didn't know why, but he suddenly felt that Li Chenzhou did it happily. Some people just shouldn't be given a chance.

So, Tianya stood aside, just quietly watching the team enter the prison gate. Even when he saw the children, the elderly, or the young boys and girls among them, he no longer spoke, just watching these survivors with a look of excitement as they lined up to walk towards the gate to hell...