698 Boarding the Cruise

In public waters, the Royal Caribbean Cruise broke through the tide.

Not far away, two Black Hawk Helicopters approached the target, slowing their flight speed and remaining parallel with the cruise ship. At the moment, Jiang Chen was sitting in a helicopter looking out the window at the cruise ship when his brows furrowed.

Blood.

There was blood everywhere…

On a white painted wall, the vivid red was so obvious. Looking around, he saw that all the waiters and visitors, aside from the living dead, were all dead.

City K.

"God ..." A droplet of sweat rolled down Ivan's forehead. He opened his mouth, clearly uncomfortable.

Even though he was used to hell from the civil war in Veit, he couldn't remain indifferent to what was going on even though he had been to City K. The soldiers seated in the helicopter all had stunned expressions.

Jiang Chen's expression was fairly normal. After all, this scene wasn't too out of place in the apocalypse.

From his position, he could clearly see a beautiful woman wearing a bikini, dangling half her head and staring at the sea blankly. There was also a man with an exposed stomach, lying on the ground. And also…

"We might be in trouble."

"Do you want to hand things over to UN?" Ivan looked to Jiang Chen.

The radio life signal detection device found signs of human life in all corners of the cruise - it was present in bars, kitchens, and some rooms. Like the T-virus in City K, not all people were infected once, and many people became zombies only after their second infection.

Of course, there were always the unfortunate ones who couldn't become zombies even after their second infection. Those people tended to become zombies' food, dying from zombies by being torn into pieces agonizingly.

"Board," Jiang Chen said expressionlessly.

"But ..." Ivan's expression was hesitant.

"Firing approved."

After taking a deep breath, Ivan nodded.

"Understood."

Up until now, the UN still hadn't drawn a conclusion on the infectious events that erupted in City K. The fact that the shooting of zombies didn't constitute a "crime against humanity" remained vague under international law.

No one wanted to bear the name of the executioner. No one wanted to have an "antidote" that could cure the infection eventually in the future as they would be tried by the families of the deceased and the International Court of Justice.

But now, there was no time to think. 

Jiang Chen wanted to know why an infection broke out on the cruise ship. Kurofune, who had been silent for nearly a year, surfaced again. He couldn't miss this opportunity. What's more - the uniqueness of Kurofune meant it would be inconvenient for it to be disclosed to the United Nations.

His intention was to collect all the clues and destroy them before they were handed to the United Nations.

Of course, fighting videos were essential.

The two Black Hawks descended in tandem and dropped ropes from the hatches on the sides. Hooks hung on the ropes, and a total of twelve heavily-armed soldiers slid down to the open swimming pool. After the sudden appearance of these living creatures, the zombies shifted their blank gazes in their direction.

The soldier taking the lead took a deep breath, made two hand gestures to his comrades behind him, quickly lifted his muzzle and shouted.

"Fire!"

An orange-yellow light flashed and rifle bullets rang out on the cruise ship's deck.

"Roar!!!"

Howling, the zombies rushed toward the landing soldiers. The two Black Hawks adjusted their angles, the gunners fixed their grenade launchers on the steel staircase providing access to the deck, and pulled the trigger.

Boom—

Steel fragments mixed with flesh filled the air. The staircase was blown into iron slags. The zombies fell back down in an attempt to rush from the bottom floor to the deck. Under cover, the soldiers landing on the deck were divided into two teams and quickly rushed to the stairs.

Under the protection of kinetic skeletons, zombie teeth and claws didn't pose a threat to the Celestial Trade soldiers. The residual T virus wasn't a threat at all to those who injected the E-grade genetic vaccine.

Team A headed to the captain's room and team B began to rescue survivors.

Because of the nature of the incident, the Level Four warning was upgraded to a Level Two warning. Celestial Trade Marines were onboard a small landing ship to provide reinforcements. Jiang Chen glanced at the cruise ship under thick smoke and took the combat video tablet from Ivan.

…

Garrett, a former UA Marine Corps soldier, previously served in Iraq. Like most comrades, he chose to join a private military contractor after retiring. Originally, he considered Blackwater and Trefoil Jungle, but he chose Celestial Trade in the end.

He really didn't want to go back to the god-forbidden place known as Iraq. His dream was to live the rest of his life on the picturesque West Pacific Island and risk his life for Wall Street tycoons and "gardeners" living in the White House.

What's more, his salary from Celestial Trade wasn't low, and after retiring, there would also be a generous pension.

Unfortunately, reality seemed to differ slightly from his ideal. He not only didn't get any rest, but at the beginning of the year, he was fighting a modern war? He was also then airdropped into zombie-filled Kejia for "peacekeeping"?

Was this really a military contractor?

Fortunately, the income Celestial Trade provided was great, the high-tech equipment offered great protection, and the military casualty rate was also shockingly low. Sometimes, he couldn't help thinking that the kinetic skeleton he was wearing was far superior to the one from DARPA's lab.

DARPA was known as the the UA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, also known as S.H.I.E.L.D. From the Internet to the GPS, they were behind all the technical innovations.

Since he had excellent combat qualities, he was incorporated into the Celestial Trade Rapid Reaction Force after the Moro War. Originally, he thought his days would be more leisurely, but he ended being unlucky once again.

Those damn zombies.

Hell, where did they come from?

He crossed the red-carpeted hallway and made it into the hall entrance. The captain's room was located on the top floor just above the lobby. The power system hadn't been interrupted, and the shortest distance to get to the captain's room was by the elevator. After confirming the route from his helmet screen, Garrett gestured at his comrades to prepare to break in.

His kinetic skeleton activated, and his kick directly busted open the metal gate of the lobby, sending the zombies behind the door flying.

Garret directly smashed a zombie's brain. Without any hesitation, he raised his rifle and pressed the trigger along with his comrades who broke into the two sides of the door.

"Bang-"

Bullets shredded the wooden decorations and zombie flesh. Pieces scattered the empty lobby. As seen from the clothes strewn about, a ball was underway when the infection broke out. Halfway through the ball, the singing stopped abruptly, and the men and women on the dance floor began to bite each other...

He felt nauseated thinking about that alone.

Zombies continued to rush at them, and the fire network formed by the group of six gradually began to lose its effectiveness.

Garrett fiercely gestured to his comrade, Norman, the main gunner. He understood and took out a grenade launcher from his backpack and launched a grenade at a zombie-dense spot.

Boom, ten zombies exploded. The ones who didn't die but lost their arms and legs fell to the ground and twitched.

Then five rounds of grenades flew out and the dense crowd of zombies was gone.

Garrett and others at the door kept firing and quickly cleared the area

"Area cleared."

Relieved, Garrett lowered his rifle.

But just then, an intermittent call for help came from the corner of the hall.

"Help... help me..."

Norman had just dropped the grenade launcher and he immediately lifted the assault rifle in his hands.

"It's survivors."

"Maybe they're infected."

"Rescue?"

Garrett was silent for two seconds.

"... Is the battle recorder open?"

"It's open."

"Let's rescue... I'll go."

Garrett signaled his comrades to remain cautious then he lowered his muzzle, wary of the undead zombies.

As it turned out, his instincts were correct.

As he crossed the room, a hand dangled on the ground, and a creeping zombie suddenly awakened and bit his leg. Garrett reacted quickly, lifting his right foot directly over the blood-stained mouth. He then stepped on its face and smushed it into ketchup.

As he watched the red and white mixture, Garrett's eyebrows twitched.

"Beautiful stomp." Bill whistled.

"I think the captain needs to apply to the company to get some reimbursement to cover the psychiatrist's bill." Norman squeezed his eyebrows.

"Shut up!"

Garret kicked that corpse while cursing, suppressing the strong discomfort in his mind. He jogged toward the direction of the person seeking help.

"OK, you'll be fine..."

He flipped over a table fallen in the corner, and Garrett's expression suddenly froze.

It was a body that obviously didn't belong to a living person and a cellphone stuck behind the long table with C4s...

It wasn't a call for help; it was a recorded message

"Lie down!"

As he roared, he jumped to the ground. At the same time, he felt a hot air wave smashing into his back...

...

Boom!

Dust exploded, covering the entire hall.

It was more than just one long table - almost one-third of the long tables were mounted with cigarette-box-sized C4s hidden by tablecloths, almost impossible to notice.

The bombs were hidden earlier, originally intended to be used for retreat by Tanaka. He didn't expect Celestial Trade to actually receive the cruise ship's distress signal and quickly dispatch a rescue force.

He thought, at best, he would encounter Country F's Coastal Guards.

Standing on the floor just above the hall, Tanaka shook his head, throwing away the detonator. A rare smile-less expression appeared on his face.

After a while, he looked at the dust downstairs and said to himself.

"I thought I could take at least two with me, but I didn't even manage to take one…"

He threw the rifle down to the dance floor, pulled a lighter from his pocket, and lit himself a cigarette.

He blew out a smoke ring and sighed.

"Another waste of life."

The cigarette slipped to the ground, the flames suddenly rose, and instantly ignited the floor covered with gasoline.

The burning flames reached his pants. With a smile, Tanaka removed his flat cap and was incinerated in the rising flames…