It was fairly easy for Zane to learn how to communicate in Chinese with his exceptionally high intelligence stat. In addition to this, Gwen and Evilyn were able to learn just as quickly as he was if not quicker.
As for the other Horde Kings, their intelligence was all still in the superhuman level, even if it was not as exceptional as Zane and the other two aforementioned companions. Because of this, they were quickly able to learn how to communicate with the locals in their native tongue.
Something that would go a long way towards their goals of figuring out how to get back to North America. In the meantime, Zane was indeed curious why the local Horde King had not retaliated against the local human population of Beijing, who had slowly but surely begun to reclaim its desolate streets for humanity.
As a result, when he found a section of the city which had been walled off. And was currently full of human survivors. Zane quickly reached out to them. It turns out some of the locals were much more friendly to them the moment he revealed that he understood Chinese.
After all, if that was the case, then it was likely that Zane had lived in the area prior to the outbreak of the apocalypse, even if he was a foreigner. Which was better than the dreadful thought that foreigners were coming to visit years after the world had ended.
That would mean they must be from a powerful faction, one that could cross the ocean. And that was a terrifying idea. Luckily, now that Zane knew how to speak English this didn't seem to be a worry that locals had when interacting with him.
And because of this he was quickly able to convince the guards of one of the settlements to let him inside. It was a brief interaction, but not one with any hostility.
Once inside the walls of the settlement, Zane was honestly surprised by what he saw. The streets were bustling. People were walking around without a care for the world. And there were even open markets where people were exchanging items through free trade.
Most people looked on at Zane, Gwen, and the other companions by his side with a bit of surprise. It was rare, after all to see foreigners in these parts as most had died out during the early days of the apocalypse.
But the locals supposed that if some survived, then they would have done so by banding together. So it wasn't all that surprising, especially if this small group of foreigners were the only ones left in the region.
As Zane was walking through the streets, he definitely noticed that people were eying him, some with curiosity, and others with more hostile intent. Being a foreigner in an apocalyptic China wasn't exactly an easy thing.
Perhaps because of it, someone eventually came up to Zane to make trouble for him. It was a relatively large local man. Dressed in armor that depicted him as if he were going for a barbarian style class. He had a large axe on his back, and was looking at Zane as if he were some kind of easy prey.
He said in the most broken English he could manage.
"Believe me, if he tried anything hose three would have eaten him alive..."
Though the woman laughed, she did so because she did not know that Zane was not being figurative, or hyperbolic with his language, but rather literal. I mean few humans even after three years had interacted with Horde Kings.
And the ones who had had encountered those who had some sign of physical distress when they had died. Like the hideous scars Eliza previously had prior to Zane resurrecting her.
But it was because of this misunderstanding that she was more friendly with Zane and his companions than she would be if she knew they were undead.
"Well, welcome to our little town. We get visitors from other settlements quite frequently. But I have to say in the past three years I have not seen a foreigner like yourself. I honestly thought you had all gone extinct by now.
If you need a place to stay while you're in our town, then you might want to take a crack at the Peach Blossom Inn. It's my own little slice of heaven in this fucked up world. I promise you the rooms are nice and heated, and the beds are comfy and clean."
Seeing how this woman seemed intent n making a customer out of him. Zane simply left the matter to be decided as another time, as he instead questioned her about things about the town, and the other surrounding settlements.
"Well, you could say we're new to the area... We've been on the move for quite some time now, and we don't exactly know the situation in the city. As long as you decide to throw in some information about the cost of a room. I'll consider your offer."
Zhao Qiu's eyes lit up when she heard this. She damn near grabbed hold of Zane's hand as she tried to interrogate him with a bunch of questions about his identity and where he was from. But he was much faster than her and easily managed to evade her attempt.
"I knew it! Where are you from? Europe? Or maybe America? What's the situation where you are from? How many of you are left?"
Zane honestly did not know how to deal with such excitement, and thus he took a step back from the woman as he promised to answer her questions in exchange for information that he required. Thus, Zane and his companions had found a place to stay for the night.
At least until they figured out more of Beijing, who the local factions were, what their capabilities were. Et cetera. Once they learned all that they needed to know over a hot meal, they would be able to plot their return to the North America.
But in the meantime that was something that would have to wait for another time.