The next day, at noon, a truck carrying a group of six men, was moving out of Fuzhou, toward Nan An. Actually Nan An was part of Fuzhou, it was one of the smaller districts under Fuzhou's jurisdiction, therefore it should only take them a few days, depended on the road condition.
Huang Wen was one of those six. He still remembered clearly how surprised Zhang Hu was yesterday, when he told him that he would like to work on Zhang Hu's request right away.
If possible, he probably would go on that night but Zhang Hu insisted that he must spend the night at the base.
The next day, early in the morning, Zhang Hu brought Huang Wen to meet five men and introduced them one by one to Huang Wen. They would accompany Huang Wen to complete the request. If there were no big problem, the journey to Nan An would take at most two days of the journey by riding the truck.
They rather worried about the main provincial road, they predicted that there will be many people tried to escape, there might be many accidents and wreckage. Road to Nan An though, probably less traveled since Nan An just a small town near Fuzhou's border.
Depend on the result they might continue at completing the second request or returned to the base first with Chen Yao's and/or Xia Yue's parents, before left again for Huang Wen's hometown to find his parents where about, since Huang Wen's village was even further in the north, far from Fuzhou.
Five men who accompany Huang Wen were Zhang Hu's trusted men.
First was Zhang Tian Yi, the police sergeant who was saved by Zhang Hu and now working for him. He was in his forty. His face was rough, square line jaw and a prominent sharp slanted eyes. He was a heavy smoker. Before the world changed, his stamina got worse due to heavy drinking and smoking but after the world changed he fixed the problem by spending his points on stamina.
He hadn't lost his strength though. Behind all the fat you could see his muscles bulging. Facing Zhang Tian Yi, one felt like facing one angry truck. Along with his strength, Zhang Tian Yi also a good marksman.
He was an honest and direct person, which was one of the reasons why after tens of years of service, he still a sergeant, despite his perfect performance as a detective. He contradicted his superior too many times, fortunately some people acknowledge his good performance but even with their help he couldn't get a promotion higher than a sergeant.
The second one was Zhang Tian Yi's junior. Liu Wang Yun, he was young, only five years older than Huang Wen.
He had a good athletic physique, balanced strength, stamina and speed. He didn't give you the feeling of threat that you can feel from Zhang Tian Yi. He had a pleasant to look at face, not handsome but clean shaved, smooth healthy skin and a nice hair cut.
Complemented Zhang Tian Yi's, Liu Wang Yun used to play as the good cop while Zhang Tian Yi took the bad cop role. Both have good observation skill and together nothing could escape their sharp eyes.
The third person named Ma Heng, he was a mechanic before the world change. If anything happened to your car, he knew how to fix it. Since he used to work with heavy tools, you could easily see his bulging forearm that was decorated with snake like veins.
He didn't give much presence. In a group of people, one might forget that he was there. Ma Heng preferred to sit and quietly listen to other conversations, rather than voicing his opinion. That was until someone mentioned his favorite topics, either any stories about machines or football. In taking decisions, unless he strongly objected the decision, he would follow the leader or the majority.
He had a low profile, yet after spent certain time with him, people would start to trust him. Unconsciously they turned to look for his advice when faced with unsolved problems. His logical and structured way to analyze problems and find a solution, make him dependable.
He used to play football along with his friends, in a local amateur football team, once a week. So he had pretty good stamina.
The fourth one was the talkative Tian Zhong, totally the opposite of Ma Heng, he had silver tongue. Combined his tongue and his look, he could easily convince people to believe his words.
It wasn't a big surprise to know that he worked as a property salesman before the world changed.
He was the perfect example of modern carrier man. He carefully took care of his body and appearance. Even after the world changed, as soon as he was saved by Zhang Hu, despite all the work of killing the zombies, he always made sure to look presentable whenever possible.
He worked out at the gym twice a week and had a well sculpted body. Although he was lacking fighting experience, it was easily remedied in this new world. Still he was far behind the first three in term of ferociousness.
The fifth one was a doctor. Zhang Hu included him in the team so they had someone who had medical knowledge in time of need. He was gentle and friendly looking, Chen Wu Xuang.
Do not fooled by his appearance though. He was one of those who manage to get through the harshest earlier shocked by his own strength. He had the courage to take decisive action when he needed to. As a doctor who was assigned in ER Division, he knew when doubts could lead to a bad ending, while quick decision after a thorough observation could save a life.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The ability to stay calm in any situation was one of his main strengths. He could easily detached himself from any situation and perfectly stood as an observer, gave him an objective observation as he assessed the situation and make a decision based on all the information. The other would be his decisive action once he made a decision.
Each one of them, even the low profile Ma Heng, had the personality that drew people to them in a difficult time. After spent a few days with these people in time of danger, people started to listen to their opinion. Zhang Hu had tasked them to lead a group of people in the past few days. Quietly he groomed them into dependable right hand men.
Each one of them only needed little more zombies to reach level 10 and they showed their good judgment by spending their points to minimize their weaknesses. Actually Zhang Hu planned to improve their level upto Level 10, before he sent them to accompany Huang Wen. But since Huang Wen decided to go to the mission faster than the schedule, Zhang Hu and Fan Zheng decided to let them reach level 10 on the way.
Before they left the base, Zhang Hu talked with Huang Wen in person, "You... you plan to marry my daughter and become my son in law. I know Zhang Xuan didn't refuse your proposal and I don't have any reason to refuse it too. Although I would wait to see how you finish the tasks that I gave but 8 out of 10, you are my future son in law, as such, I want you to learn from these five men and at the same time win their trust."
"Once you all returned from this mission, I would talk to them and ask their opinion of you. They know your relation with Zhang Xuan. They also know my plan for the future, as such they know how important it is to have someone who is reliable. Based on that, they will give their opinion of you."
Huang Wen felt a bit annoyed but at the same time challenged by the set up, "Hmm... so in short, other than help me to finish the mission, they also people who will observe and judge me."
Zhang Hu nodded, "You can see it like that but if that's my intention, would I tell you these things now?"
Huang Wen frowned, Zhang Hu was right. If that was his intention then it was better to keep it secret from Huang Wen. The only reason for Zhang Hu to tell him all these, means Zhang Hu already accepted him as his son in law, unless Huang Wen do something that terribly stupid, nothing would change his decision. His main purpose rather, to make his trusted men to accept him. As Zhang Hu's son in law, means he had a special position. It will be natural if after certain time in the future, he will hold authority over Zhang Hu's men.
If he couldn't earn their trust when it happened, then such thing would only create conflict within the organization.
Suddenly Huang Wen could see Zhang Hu's plan for him in the future, depend on his ability, he could be one of Zhang Hu's most trusted men. Perhaps only slightly below Fan Zheng.
We should remember that by this time Huang Wen idolized Zhang Hu in his heart. This gesture from Zhang Hu, naturally made him felt extremely grateful.
Huang Wen raised his head, he looked at Zhang Hu and sincerely slightly bowed, "Many thanks Uncle Zhang...."
Zhang Hu smiled and waved his hand, sent him away, "Good if you understand, now leave and may heaven bless you with good luck, that you may return with good news. Go now, don't make them wait."
---- o ----
The one who drove the car was Liu Wang Yun, Tian Zhong sat next to him, while the rest sat on the back. Since the others were much older than him. Huang Wen who was a socially awkward sat in silent. Once and a while the doctor, Chen Wu Xuang would start a conversation, but similar to Ma Heng, Huang Wen tend to listen quietly and rarely joined the conversation.
Since they left, Huang Wen already thought about Zhang Hu's words. At first he was thinking about the best way to win their heart but at the end Huang Wen decided that it's better to act naturally, to be himself rather than trying to act. He believed that each one of them was men who have good observation skill and an unnatural act would be easily noticed. Rather than win their heart, they might think Huang Wen as dishonest or at best as someone who was lack of self confidence.
After all, Ma Heng was quiet and introverted person as well, but after a while people accepted him as reliable.
'I have plenty of time and in this dangerous time, it's easier to show whether you were reliable or not, through your action and the way you handle problems.', Huang Wen thought to himself.
There was silence for about half an hour when suddenly Zhang Tian Yi broke it, he turned to Huang Wen and directed a question to him, "Oy, A Wen, boy, had you kill a person before? Not zombies, not demon, but human."