Chapter 569: Resident Evil?
Translator: _Min_Editor: Caron_
[Damage Percentage: 65%]
[Draining nutrient fluid…]
500 meters from the spot where the plane crashed, a "metal coffin" stood tall among the debris. After five minutes of silence, a faint electric static noise began to buzz and the hatch door to the hibernation chamber began to open, followed by the sound of gas leaking.
"Ahem." *puke*
Jiang Chen tumbled out from the hibernation chamber while one of his arms pressed against the half-destroyed wall. He dry-puked on the ground.
Before the plane crashed, Jiang Chen, who realized the impending doom, immediately walked into the lavatory. After he locked the door, he took out the virtual reality hibernation chamber stored in the storage dimension. While it should've technically been connected to the virtual reality network, due to the quality standards of PAC, it could also be used as a temporary shelter. When nutrient fluid filled the inside of the hibernation chamber, its potential to allow the user to survive a crash was better than power armor.
He used GPS to confirm that the plane would land in the city then Jiang Chen installed a timed bomb on the wall of the lavatory before stepping into the hibernation chamber. The second he entered the hibernation chamber, the bomb blew open the wall of the plane and the turbulent airflow took the entire hibernation chamber out of the body of the plane.
But what Jiang Chen didn't think about was the "user experience" of the hard landing; he didn't realize it would be so painful. Although the function of the hibernation chamber included shock resistance and floatation, a drop from a hundred meters up was not considered in the design.
Jiang Chen rested for a while, leaning against the wall. After a deep breath, he stood up and began to observe the environment around him.
The half-collapsed buildings didn't look like the aftermath of the plane crash but more like damage from missiles and shells. Taken into consideration with the yellow lines in the surrounding area and the situation around MLL Island, this should be the hotspot between the government forces and the guerrillas.
Fires sparked in the distance. Judging by the body of the plane severed into several pieces, the passengers inside probably didn't make it.
"Then… I'll have to make contact with the guerrillas to leave the territory. But as the only survivor, it's going to be quite problematic…" Jiang Chen let out a sigh, put the hibernation chamber back into the storage dimension, crossed an exposed reinforced steel beam, and walked onto the street.
For some reason, the street was terrifyingly silent.
In the unusual quietness, Jiang Chen sensed something was abnormal.
"There's no ambulance even after an event this serious?"
Jiang Chen furrowed his brows, took out his phone, and called Ayesha's number.
"The user you have dialed is not in service or has turned off their phone…"
Jiang Chen hung up and glanced at the top left corner of the phone.
[No signal?]
Normal cell phone calls were transmitted through the signal base station and signal cable. For international long distance calls, a submarine cable would be added to the process. Only a dedicated satellite phone (such as the American Iridium phone) could make a phone call via satellite.
If a phone call couldn't be made, there could only be two reasons.
Either the plane destroyed the antenna to all the signal base stations or F voluntarily shut down all the signal base stations in the City K.
The former was obviously impossible, so the latter was the only possibility.
"Shut down the signal base station? But why?" Jiang Chen put away his phone and began to contemplate.
If a phone call couldn't be made because of an accident, that would be understandable. But what if F shut down all the signal base stations? That was worth pondering.
[Blockading communication after the air disaster - did they not want to rescue the passengers?]
[Or did something happen here that forced them to hide the truth?]
The sound of mortar firing constantly reverberated in the distance. It was evident that a battle was ongoing outside the city. With the noise in the far background, the silence on the street appeared particularly peculiar; it felt like this place wasn't a city but a grave…
"Ahhhh! Go away! Sh*t!"
A scream abruptly echoed in the street, disrupting the silence of the "graveyard."
The smell of blood drifted along with the sound of agony. Blurry figures wavered in the haziness of the flames.
Jiang Chen gulped, put his hands into his pockets, and took out a pistol from the storage dimension.
He didn't do it because he thought he would really use it, but rather, the metallic feeling of the pistol gave him a sense of security.
The people looked slow and dumb. Their eyes were covered in blood and even ten meters away, they were clearly visible under the light of the streetlights.
Suddenly, a terrifying thought surfaced in Jiang Chen's mind.
[Could it be…]
[That's impossible!]
Although he was thinking, Jiang Chen still subconsciously took out his pistol and aimed at the civilian tumbling toward him.
"Stop."
Without any reaction, when the civilian heard Jiang Chen's voice, he sped up and bared his teeth stained red.
Without any need for clarification, only the dead were unafraid of weapons…
BANG!
The sound of the pistol broke the silence on the street.
With a bloody hole in his forehead, the zombie with a blank look collapsed onto the ground.
"What actually happened… Fu*k." Jiang Chen lowered his gun while cursing. He walked to the zombie and used a dagger to cut open the back of its neck.
Different from the zombies in the apocalypse, there was no sign of infection from the X1 virus nor was there a grain-sized crystal. By the looks of it, the infection mechanism was different.
Jiang Chen felt somewhat relieved by this result.
"Grhhhh…"
Deep roars came from two ends of the street. Jiang Chen looked up and the zombies began to surround him. Inside the buildings along the street, terrifying faces were pressed against the glass windows, smudging blood all over the surface.
"Is this because of the gunshot?" Jiang Chen looked at the pistol he was holding. He muttered to himself, "Whatever, I'll retreat for now."
Then he put away his weapon and commenced traveling…
A cold gust of wind blew by, carrying along a few plastic bags.
Jiang Chen was in the same position with his left hand raised and his eyebrows awkwardly jumped.
[It was unsuccessful?]
[What's going on?]
The windows on the nearby apartment building shattered. A person covered in blood fell onto the street along with some glass shards. Falling from a height of three storeys, any normal person would've been crippled, but this person didn't look affected at all as he climbed up from the ground while aiming his bloodthirsty pupils towards the only living creature on the street – Jiang Chen.
With his hairs raised, Jiang Chen gave up on commencing interdimensional travel and he immediately took out his Reaper Assault Rifle.
The zombies crashed down onto the street like dumplings entering boiling water and swarmed toward him.
His blazing rifle shredded the zombies nearby.
With one hand holding the gun while the other wielded his laser sword, Jiang Chen slashed a zombie leaping toward him and cut his ugly face in half.
"Fu*k! What's going on?! This isn't the apocalypse!"
He kicked away another zombie and changed the mode of the laser sword. He threw out a propelling laser blade. At the same time, he threw the laser sword back into the storage dimension, instantly taking out a new clip and replacing the emptied one.
Flesh and bullets flew in the air. He made a path through the swarming zombies and ran to the tallest apartment building nearby.
Along the way, he used his one hand to reach for a pickup truck and put it in the storage dimension. When he ran into the building, he gunned down a few zombies pursuing him then he moved the pickup truck to block the entrance of the apartment building.
The storage dimension was functional!
The zombies flooded towards him and compressed the pickup truck against the door. The massive force made the steel surface let out a painful whine, unable to withstand the massive pressure. But regardless of how hard they pushed, they couldn't enter the building.
With short breaths, Jiang Chen leaned at the entrance of the apartment building and lowered the rifle in his hand.
After a moment of rest, he grinned at the zombies outside the apartment and raised his left hand.
He stared at the engraving with the energy clearly full, and his eyebrows furrowed.
The confusion lingered in his mind.
[Why can't I use this?]