Chapter 230 - The Land of the Living Dead (Part 1)
Number of Words: 3226 Update Time: 2012-11-19 12: 43: 00
Special military boots are placed on the ground full of radiation snow, using close-fitting design military boots, using the fifth generation artificial leather. Not only is it light, but it also has the function of keeping warm. The soles of the shoes were thickened by a cushion height. The bottom layer was covered with dense amounts of small steel needles to provide this pair of military boots with a better grip.
With that, Zero stomped through the snow and headed towards the Cossack Military Base with the rest of the troop. The wind grew stronger, and snowflakes like goose feathers drifted down from the sky. The world was vast and if one looked at it like that, they would see nothing but white. Other than white, there was no other color.
In the old era, this could have been considered a kind of romantic weather, but in the new era, this was a deadly environment. If exposed to radiation and snow for 10 minutes, the ordinary person's organs and skin will begin to necrosis. After 15 minutes, immunity will drop to 0. After 20 minutes, there was no one left to save. Strong radiation triggered a complete genetic collapse, causing one to become a pool of blood.
For example, Zero and the others, having the Nightdown Tactics suit covering almost their entire body, had to wear a full overturned helmet to ensure that their bodies were not exposed to the threat of radiation and snow.
Half an hour later, the group reached the edge of the military base along the damaged highway. Zero can already see the high voltage grid that surrounds the entire base, as well as the sentry towers that are set up behind the grid. However, the base was abandoned, leaving behind only a layer of ordinary barbed wire. There was no longer any high voltage current that could instantly cause a person to be electrocuted. As for the watchtowers, most of them were dilapidated. Thick cracks extended from the foundation of the towers to the observation window. A large area of the towers collapsed, leaving behind only fragmented remnants.
Farther away were the other buildings of the military base. These low but extensive buildings were no longer as glorious as they were in the past. The thick snow had buried them, leaving only a few of the building's walls exposed to the wind and snow.
A warning sign that read "Military Gravity, Forbidden" hung on the barbed wire at the entrance, rattling in the wind.
The group entered the entrance one by one and, according to the directions given by the electronic map, headed towards the building of the military command center in the base. There was a huge entrance to the underground base. There was a main lift at the entrance, but it was clear that this machine, which required a lot of power, could no longer run. However, it did not matter. The map indicated that there was a safe passage for the base's personnel near the entrance.
The safety passage adopts the Z-shaped staircase without the power drive and reinforced concrete structure, which allows the base personnel to freely enter the base and outside without the power to be trusted.
Going down the safe passage, they would reach the first floor's underground base. This was a tactical armor layer, constructed from layers of tactical armor plates up to a thickness of 50 cm. Its defensive capabilities were sufficient to withstand the attacks of the underground nuclear warheads. Unfortunately, before this layer of defense could be tested, the day of the Cataclysm had suddenly arrived, causing a world-shaking change.
Now that the tactical armor had lost its former significance, it had instead isolated the radiation and cold from the outside world, providing an environment for the beasts living in the underground base to survive and reproduce.
The team entered through the entrance to the base and followed the main drive and road signs until they found the military command post. A three-storey building with a hexagonal design that covered an area of nearly ten thousand square meters. Entering through the main entrance of the building was an empty hall. The lobby was huge, like an airport terminal. There were a lot of signs showing the different functions of the lobby.
They walked quietly into the hall, which was a mess. At the entrance, he saw several corpses lying on the ground. They were crawling in and out of the exit, but the picture was forever fixed at some point in the decades. The flesh and blood of the corpse had already dried up, but it did not melt completely. Instead, it had turned into a dried up corpse. One could imagine that after the catastrophe, the global temperature had been falling. Especially in this northwest region, which was located far away from the tundra, the temperature here was incomparably cold.
At that time, not everyone in the base died on the day of the catastrophe. The tactical armor layer of the underground base was able to withstand most of the natural disasters. The staff who were hiding in the underground base survived the first few months and left the underground base. However, they did not expect that the temperature outside the base had already become extremely low. Judging from the scale of the base, it was obvious that there was a large amount of food stored there.
However, in the past few months, he had definitely used up all of them. They left the underground base and, without food, were eventually starved to death or frozen to death.
Almost instantaneously, they pieced together the conjectures that were closest to the truth. And as they went deeper into the building, they saw more and more corpses. Finally, in the middle of the hall, there were probably over a hundred corpses gathered here. Some held each other, some held themselves, but all of them, without exception, were full of fear before they died.
These pitiful people had already left this world, but the living had no choice but to watch helplessly as the world became more and more cruel and dangerous. Compared to them, those who were alive or dead, it was unknown who was luckier.
This was clearly an unanswerable question. At the very least, the people in front of him were unable to answer it. Therefore, they chose to silently pass by the corpses of these people. In front of them, there was still an even more cruel reality to face. Now, they didn't have the time to stay and pray for these people.
However, when most of the corpses passed by, Feng stopped.
"What's wrong?"
Noticing his pause, Zero walked back and asked.
Feng pointed to a corpse and said, "Look here."
It was the body of a woman, probably a civilian. There was a pair of glasses on the withered corpse's face. Zero's gaze moved from the corpse's face all the way to its chest, then it stopped. He crouched down and fingered the uniform on the body. His uniform had become fragile in the cold weather, and the fabric of his clothes had long since become brittle from the cold. His fingers had just touched his clothes, but the place they touched had instantly turned to ash.
Beneath the uniform was the body of a woman. Even after so many years, a flat wound had clearly appeared on his parched chest.
"He's the one." Zero raised his head and looked at Feng.
Feng nodded, and then pressed his hand on the woman's pants, which had also turned to dust. There was a huge hole in her calves. Judging from the flesh that was covered with threads of wounds, it seemed like something had bitten into it.
"Do humans eat humans?" Zero frowned.
Feng sighed, "This is not impossible. It was obvious that this woman had been killed by someone, and then her muscles had been devoured. In a situation like that where food was scarce, the normally gentle person would become a wild beast. However, this is not the biggest problem. "
As he said this, Sue and Mappa left the line and came back.
Feng looked at Zero, and said, "The bigger problem is, I'm afraid the living corpses in the underground base are not outsiders. but these people from the base. "
"So what? What's the difference between living corpses from outside and from the base?" Sue asked, puzzled.
Zero finally grasped what Feng meant. He stood up, reached out to take off his helmet, and took off the golden eye mask. He said in a deep voice, "There is a difference. Most of the living corpses retained their instincts. Therefore, if the living corpses in the base were just ordinary office workers, then that would be fine too. "If the soldiers change, I'm afraid we'll have to face monsters with machine guns."
Su Mo was speechless, "You said that living corpses can use weapons? It's not that exaggerated, right? "
"It's hard to say. In this damned world, I wouldn't even be surprised if the corpse wolf used a weapon." Feng also stood up, pointed at his head and said, "It's not unusual for living corpses to use weapons, and the mutated butcher among them can make his own. Although the weapons were simple, they were an expression of instinct and wisdom. Anyway, we have to be careful. "
Looking at the corpse at his feet, Zero suddenly felt that this mission might not be that easy.
By the time they found the safe passage to the underground base and reached the first level through the spiral staircase, the other two teams were long gone. Zero put the helmet back on and turned on night vision. Immediately, a dark corridor appeared before his eyes. On both sides of the walkway were mottled walls, and the rusted pipes extended along the walls to who knew where.
It was pitch black in front of him, like a dark, lightless hell. Zero nodded to the three squad members behind him, and the four of them prepared themselves with rapt attention as they walked towards the entrance to the second level.
Shortly after they had left, Bridget pulled back from the wall at the corner of the passage. He turned and walked forward until he was almost a hundred meters away from a small room. Bridget knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal an underground operating platform. However, the operation room was no longer functional, but served as a temporary resting place for the vanguard team.
"What's the situation like?" Anthony, who was resting by the corner, opened his eyes after hearing the commotion. What caught his eye was the small, skinny figure of Bridget. This scheming captain asked this question.
"Chief, they've all come down." Bridget laughed.
Anthony nodded, "This underground base is extremely spacious and is also occupied by many monsters. It didn't matter if it was Zero or that idiot Rankin, it wouldn't be easy to obtain the quest items. By conservative estimates, they would need at least five days to return. We'll meet them here at the entrance. "
"It's still better to have a head, if I can't think of a good way to save strength." The big one, Olamm, pointed at his head.
Anthony smiled and thought to himself, A guy like you who has strong limbs and a muscular head knows how to scheme. He looked at Bridge: "Although it will take them at least five days to come back but to be safe, from this moment on we have to arrange people to stand guard at the exit 24 hours a day." Bridget, let's start with you. No problem, right? "
"Leave it to me, my head. Keep a fly safe! " Patting his chest confidently, Bridget left the room.
Closing the door, the world outside was pitch black, filled with a depressing atmosphere. Bridget cursed under her breath and went around the corner to find a secluded spot to sit down. Twelve hours isn't a short time, thought Bridget, closing her eyes and dozing off. However, what Bridget didn't know was that in the dark underground base's first floor, there weren't just the few living beings of the vanguard team.
There were other things approaching quietly.