There's no doubt, the room we're in right now is definitely not the one we were isolated in two months ago. Tang Xiaoquan, recalling the angry shouts he heard while passing through the corridor, made a bold guess:

Could it be that the first and second squads have returned?

He couldn't be sure of that.

After all, in terms of scale and capability, the other two squads shouldn't have been faster than us.

Does this mean the base has new arrivals? Tang Xiaoquan wasn't sure, but it seemed like a relatively reasonable explanation for now.

Time slowly passed as he indulged in his "personal game" of deductions, and Wang Qiang and the others, bored, were getting a bit sleepy in the dim environment of the room.

About half an hour later, a series of hurried footsteps echoed through the silent passageway, and moments later, the survivors heard the sound of a key turning in the lock of the sealed isolation room door. The iron door was then opened from the outside, and Zhao Yunhai's silhouette appeared before everyone.

"Oh! It's old Zhao! You're back!" Stretching lazily, Wang Qiang rubbed his sleepy eyes.

Zhao Yunhai didn't respond; he merely nodded indifferently. From his appearance, he seemed quite exhausted, which caught Tang Xiaoquan's attention.

With the various scenarios at the gate and his own deductions in mind, Tang Xiaoquan cautiously asked, "How did it go? Old Zhao, did everything go smoothly?"

Trying to hint at something, Tang Xiaoquan didn't spell out his thoughts clearly. In fact, his approach reflected his hope that his worries wouldn't come true.

Unfortunately, despite his good intentions, the reality...

With a heavy sigh, Zhao Yunhai found a vacant spot to sit cross-legged in despair. After a few seconds of hanging his head in silence, he slowly raised his head and said, "The second squad is in trouble!"

"What!"

These words were like a bombshell. Although the Survivor Squad didn't have a significant relationship with the second squad, and they hadn't even exchanged words,

in these circumstances, hearing about their trouble still elicited enough shock and horror from the survivors.

"W-Well... did any of them make it back? Or are they all..." Wang Qiang didn't finish his sentence. He was wide awake now, his eyes staring directly at old Zhao's face hidden in darkness, waiting quietly for the latter's answer.

After another round of silence, old Zhao weakly shook his head, his deep voice tinged with sadness: "Total annihilation! No one survived!"

These words, though few in number, struck the hearts of all survivors like a clap of thunder.

They had lived through life-and-death situations and understood the terror of being attacked by zombies. They could imagine the possible tragedy that the second squad had encountered today.

It's a feeling that's hard to describe in words, and the atmosphere in the room dropped to freezing point.

"Then what about the first squad? Did they return safely?" Tang Xiaoquan asked calmly.

Old Zhao nodded instinctively: "Sang Biao and his team returned; it was they who reported the situation with the second squad."

Upon hearing this, Wang Qiang couldn't help but heave a sigh. After all, in his view, the ones who deserved to die weren't the second squad but rather those beasts like Sang Biao.

Tang Xiaoquan naturally didn't have Wang Qiang's black-and-white, hatred-driven personality. He habitually played with his fringe, and moments later, he couldn't help but ask again, "So, did Sang Biao and his team gather any supplies this time?"

Shaking his head again, old Zhao replied decisively: "No! According to Xu Renjie, the first squad also encountered a zombie blockade, so for safety's sake, they withdrew early. On their way back, they came across the second squad's destroyed car, which was already on fire at the time, so..."

"Hmm!" Before old Zhao could finish, Tang Xiaoquan softly interrupted him with an acknowledgment, then asked again, "Did Commander Xu mention when the second squad was expected to return?"

"This..." After thinking carefully, Zhao Yunhai uncertainly replied: "Maybe 20 minutes ago. When I heard about the second squad's trouble, my mind was a bit jumbled, so I didn't quite catch it, but they returned earlier than us! Within half an hour!"

"Damn! Within half an hour! What were they doing? On a damn picnic?" Wang Qiang spat out angrily.

His words immediately drew the support of Wu Wen and another person:

"Exactly! Don't take up a porcelain job if you don't have diamond drills! Damn, driving two cars as if gas is free!"

"Ha ha! That group of fools, besides bullying honest people, what else can you expect from them? Gather supplies? Don't kid yourself. If you ask me, they were more likely delivering supplies to the zombies!"

The three young men chattered on, each voicing their inner dissatisfaction, while only Tang Xiaoquan sat quietly in the dark corner, lost in thought.

So, what exactly was he thinking? He wondered whether the second squad's demise was truly as the first squad claimed—a car accident leading to everyone's death.

Perhaps not entirely! Tang Xiaoquan didn't want to judge the first squad's intentions harshly with his own suspicions.

But considering all the signs and the first squad's composition today, he couldn't help putting a big question mark over the death of the second squad.

First: Why did the first squad position the second squad between them when setting out?

You'd expect the teams to line up together when setting off on a mission.

And this morning, Tang Xiaoquan noted specifically that the first squad's rear vehicle waited until the second squad moved before slowly starting their engine.

Secondly, despite deploying such a large force, the first squad didn't bring back any supplies yet returned in full force so quickly.

Although they cited zombie blockades as a security concern, Tang Xiaoquan instinctively felt the situation wasn't as simple as they claimed.

Lastly, and most importantly, according to Sang Biao, they came across the second squad's accident site, and their vehicle was burning at the time.

It's a plausible explanation, but timing-wise, it seems too coincidental.

Considering the analysis above, the entire duration of this incident was within half an hour. Within this period, Sang Biao's group reached their target, encountered a zombie blockade, and then evacuated, only to collide with the second squad at the crash site.

This implies the second squad's accident must have occurred shortly after leaving the base, necessarily on the base's only route, or Sang Biao's group couldn't have encountered the burning vehicle.

So the question arises, what terrifying event could cause five strong adults to meet such a catastrophic end shortly after setting off?

It's worth noting that the road from the base to the outer streets is quite spacious, and given the remote countryside setting with few private cars, the chances of an accident are almost negligible. Yet the reality is there was not only an accident but also a baffling fire. Such a bizarre, suspicious occurrence couldn't help but make Tang Xiaoquan harbor doubts...

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