Huang Wen felt uncomfortable, having the journey with 30 men under his command. He'd rather had the journey all by himself, but he couldn't refuse Zhang Hu's offer.

Besides, he could learn a thing or two from this experience.

At the first day, Huang We led them to Genggu Village, east of Nanping. It took them half day to reach Genggu Village, Huang Wen refused Yue Rang's offer to bring vehicle with them. He preferred to have the journey on foot.

He had his own reason of course and as soon as they secured part of the village from any hostile forces, be it zombies or thugs. He gathered everyone around a big table and laid a detailed Chinese map.

"As we can see from the map, if we took main road, then we have to travel a longer route. We also need to move southward, bring us closer to Fuzhou. That was why, I decided to travel on foot.", Huang Wen explained.

"So we won't follow the main road and keep going east. We'll have to pass several mountains on our way.", one of them said.

Huang Wen nodded his head, "Yes, that's my plan. Deng Zheng, that's your name right? So what do you think about this plan?"

Deng Zheng scratched his chin and answered, "Uhmm... it won't be easy to go through mountainous area. If we're not careful, we might get lost."

Another man spoke, "The problem would be water. If you get lost in the mountain, it might not be easy to find source of water."

Huang Wen asked, "Yu Heng, right? But we have map and compass. Don't you think we can plan it before we go? And then using the map, we could more or less stay on that route."

Yu Heng nodded, "Well, I suppose so. It's possible, but it won't be easy. It seem that we take a shorter route, but there is a good chance that it will take longer than taking the main road."

Huang Wen nodded, "That's true, but we will avoid any trouble with the demon lord in Fuzhou."

Another man asked, "How strong this demon lord is? I heard people say you killed few demons yourself."

Huang Wen shook his head, "I have no idea how strong a demon lord is. I killed few demons, but I don't think, I can compare them to a demon lord. Besides, if we succeed at finding my parents, then it will be hard to bring them back to Nanping if the demon lord detect us on our way there."

"That's right, Leader Huang, we're here as your men. You shouldn't worry too much of our opinion. We will tell you our opinion when you ask us to, but you should decide and we will follow your decision.", said the one who were asking about demon.

Huang Wen nodded, "Hmm... I don't know how to say this. Actually, I feel a bad, having you work under my command. I feel that it is quite selfish of me, to have 30 men to help me finish a mission that had nothing to do with everyone. The mission is about me and my family."

Almost together, they shook their head and tried to comfort Huang Wen.

"Leader Huang, everyone heard your heroic feat to save those people from Nan An. Everyone also heard of your contribution during the battle of Nanping. Some of us here saw it with our own eyes. You have to believe me, when I say, we all happy to work under your command."

"That's true, when Colonel Yue Rang told us, that he would assign 30 men to serve under your command. Many stepped up and volunteer."

"At Fuzhou, Master Zhang also form a rescue team, to save my family. How could this be any different?"

One by one, they assured Huang Wen.

Huang Wen gratefully bowed to everyone, "Brothers, since you're willing to help, then I'll gratefully accept your good intention."

"Alright, since we can't afford to lose our way in the mountain for too long, less we'll run out of water supply. Let's plan our route and make sure that every day we'll reach a village or a brook or river, on our journey."

They began to earnestly plan their route. Huang Wen formed a group of five, where each group had someone to coordinate them and made sure no one could be separated and lost in their way at the mountainous area.

With that they have six small groups formed, six men who were chosen to lead them were : Yu Heng, Deng Zheng, Yie Tang, Jian Bao, Mi Fang and Yan Chou.

"Look, we still have more than seven hours before nighttime. Everyone, let's have some rest for 30 minutes and then we'll hit the road again until we reach Chakeng Village, we'll spend the night there.", said Huang Wen .

That was how they began their journey to Huang Wen's hometown. It was a hard journey but uneventful. Once in a while, they would meet wandering zombies but with Huang Wen's current level, they posed no threat at all. When they reached their goal for the day, Huang Wen's men will set up the camp. Sometimes they reached a village and all they needed to do, was to clean few buildings. Sometimes, they stopped in the middle of nowhere, in a clearing near small river, and they will set up tents and everything.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

After couple of days having the journey together, they began to notice Huang Wen's schedule. He would train Xing Yi Quan and the use of his sword in the morning. Whenever they reached their destination for that day, he would began to meditate.

Huang Wen didn't spend much time with his men. He did make sure that he checked on everyone's well being. He would talk to the group leaders and sometimes he personally talked to few people randomly. But, perhaps due his introverted personality, he treated them politely, but didn't spend much effort to befriend them. Even after spending the journey together for a few days, their relation didn't grow closer.

That was why, when his men noticed Huang Wen's schedule, many were curious, but none dared to ask anything to Huang Wen.

One evening Huang Wen accidentally heard their conversation about him.

"Do you think that's how he get so strong?"

"Practicing kungfu and meditating?"

"Yea"

"Isn't it from killing zombies and demons?"

"But we haven't seen him kill zombies in the past few days."

"Besides, even after reaching level 10, it is hard to level up by killing zombies.", another one spoke.

"That's why he didn't kill them anymore, but if he detected a demon, I guess he will hunt them."

Huang Wen was going to join in, but now he hesitated since they were talking about him. He stood there for a few seconds and then quietly left. Sitting alone in his room, he sighed bitterly. Suddenly he missed Ding Yun and Cao Bao. He could only feel at ease with them two.Even with Zhang Xuan, with whom he shared some of his most intimate experience, he couldn't feel at ease.

Whenever he thought about Ding Yun and Cao Bao he felt guilty.

Cao Bao, because he was the one who killed him. Even worse after he found out about Ding Yun who could regain his conscience.

Ding Yun, because the last time they met, he chose his own position over Ding Yun. Of course at the end, Ding Yun voluntarily left, but for a split second, he was wondering whether he should bring Ding Yun with him or not.

"Brother Ding Yun..., I swear, the next time we had chance to meet again. I will treat you better.", Huang Wen silently told himself.

He thought about how Zhang Hu and Zhang Xuan might react about his relation with Ding Yun, "Will they be okay? People might hate it. Many were killed by zombies, how they will react if I befriend one?"

Huang Wen sighed and thought about them, quietly he shook his head, "No ... , even Zhang Xuan, she gave herself to me, because she want something from me."

"Ding Yun and Cao Bao, they're just there for me. They accept me even when I'm in bad mood and treated them badly. For them it doesn't matter whether I know how to fight or not. Whether I'm smart or not. Ding Yun, he saw me hesitated to bring him to meet other people as friend. He understand though."

Huang Wen shook his head, "No, the next time I see him again. I will treat him better. He is my friend, no matter what people say about him. Even if Uncle Zhang Hu or Zhang Xuan doesn't like him, I won't deny him for the second time."

Now, that he was thinking about possible conflict between him and Zhang Hu in the future, suddenly he remembered Zhang Tian Yi's advise.

"Wait, if I bring my family to Nanping...."

Huang Wen began to doubt the wisdom of his decision that day, "But ... Nanping would be the safest place at this situation. The problem is, once my family live in Nanping, it wouldn't be easy to get them out of that place. Just like today, it might seem that Uncle Zhang Hu want to help me by giving me command over 30 of his men. But if we look at it from another point of view, it could be said that they are here to keep an eye on me."

Huang Wen now in deep thought, "Before I reach my hometown, I need to come up with some sort of plan."

Next : Chapter 60.