CH 11

Chapter 11: Power type high-level zombie

The group advanced carefully and with only a few beams of lights to brighten their way, they fumbled along the deep corridor. It went all the way down and the room where weapons and military equipment were stored was underground.

There must have been a few fierce battles here. The walls on both sides were mottled with blood, the smell rotting and metallic, and they would occasionally stumble on a few zombies and human corpses lying across the tunnel.

Everyone stepped cautiously and Chi Xin tried to suppress her nausea. She squatted down and flashed her light on a mouse crawling out of a bloody eye socket and observed carefully. Noticing she had fallen behind, Yu Xiang came back and whispered to her: “What’s so interesting about mice? Let’s go, if you like them so much, I will catch a dozen for you when we get back.”

Chi Xin felt even more disgusted. She looked at the small rodent again, a little uneasy, ignored Yu Xiang, and stood back up to follow the rest of the team. It had been three months since the outbreak and there was still no sign of animal mutation. But Chi Xin knew it had occurred in the middle and later stages of the movie; the world didn’t know anything about it yet and would be unprepared for it.

“Bang, bang, bang.”

There were doors on the wall and whenever they passed one, crashing sounds could be heard and everyone knew it couldn’t be good. But killing zombies was not the mission and they all ignored the noise and sped up their pace.

They soon reached the core of the building and after pushing the door open, the first thing that caught their eyes were a few big blood-red letters: Don’t open it!

The words were written in dry blood and the dark brown exclamation point was particularly creepy. In the direction of the exit, another heavy door was locked and debris was piled up in front of it, fully expressing the intentions of the people who had died here. Although they could only hear silence behind it, it was pretty obvious that something terrifying was sealed there and fear and anxiety rose in everybody’s heart.

Jing Xiubai turned sideways, made a few gestures, and nodded to Yu Xiang to have him guard the door. Rong Feng wouldn’t participate in the gathering work either; he observed the surroundings for a while before finding a spot with a good view and picking up his sniper rifle.

Perhaps it was the smell of living people but the faint echo they had heard before gradually became stronger. It was accompanied by a faint running sound and the howling became clearer, as if countless zombies were rushing towards them.

“Speed up.” Jing Xiubai threw a full bag at Yu Xiang, which he put on his back.

Chi Xin hid in the corner farthest from the blood-stained door. After seeing the room, Chi Xin’s heart sank; not because of whatever was hiding behind but because of her understanding of the system these last few days. It would obviously not miss on the opportunity to create trouble and Chi Xin felt it was better to stay away.

She had never seen so many guns in her entire life and looked a little dazzled. Although she had the system, she had to touch the weapons to know what their names and brands were. But those were guns and those were useful during the apocalypse. Chi Xin didn’t pay attention to their size or weight, stretched out her hand, and gathered all of them in her space.

Jing Xiubai frowned when he saw her confusion. He put out the gun he had just taken in his backpack and walked towards her: “Do you prefer long guns or short guns?”

His sudden appearance scared Chi Xin and she exclaimed: “What?”

Jing Xiubai reached out and took out a gun. He checked the magazine and put it in Chi Xin’s hand: “I have seen you hit the tank with a rifle and your hit rate with your Desert Eagle is frighteningly accurate. But you don’t seem to be focused and no matter which weapon you have in your hand, your posture is always the same and you only assume the correct pose after a split second. This is… rarely seen.”

Chi Xin noticed his hesitation and guessed he was being suspicious.

“It’s just a habit.” She pretended; she never missed her target anyway.

But suddenly, Chi Xin’s body alarm rang. At the same moment, Rong Feng’s eyes sharpened and he fired his weapon. Yu Xiang cursed and followed him with continuous gunshots.

“They’re here!” He shouted.

“Prepare to evacuate!” Jing Xiubai didn’t care to study Chi Xin’s abnormality any longer. He stretched out his hand, pulled all the guns in front of him into a pile, and motioned Chi Xin to pick them up. He had seen how she had been collecting food at the gas station and as soon as she touched them, the weapons disappeared instantly.

Chi Xin was not surprised the hero had guessed how she used the space. She shrugged him off, raised her Desert Eagle towards the door, and exploded a zombie’s head that was about to rush in. 

The smell of blood was full of temptation and zombies burst in their direction faster than usual.

“Dammit! They’re all here, we can’t go this way anymore!” Yu Xiang was overwhelmed and tried to close the door with Chen Xing as he dodged. The zombies roared and scratched the metal behind it.

The group gasped and fear was in their eyes. Former soldiers turned zombies far surpassed ordinary ones both in strength and speed and in such a dry and narrow space, Jing Xiubai couldn’t condense enough ice cones. They now had a choice between two paths but the empty ones exuded a more dangerous atmosphere.

“Chen Xing, you are injured. Let me help you bandage it.” Yu Pengcheng’s voice broke the silence and everybody looked at Chen Xing in shock.

The heavy door blocked them from the outside world but also temporarily isolated the zombies, which could be considered as a short respite.

“We are lacking everything.” Yu Pengcheng said, “Alcohol and antibiotics are almost all used up, if we don’t replenish it, I am afraid future missions will become even more dangerous.”

“There is no more at the base but they should have sent someone to find some. We will be able to get more before the next outing.” Yu Xiang’s voice was a little tight but he tried his best to ease the mood with his usual silly tone: “Hey, there will be another mission right?”

“Thank you for the comfort.” Rong Feng had been fumbling on his side and gave him a cold look as he came back, “I have observed every single gap and crevice here. There are only these two exits.”

On one side was the unknown and the fear that came with it, on the other was the entrance already full of zombies. No matter which choice they made, death was forever.

“Captain, give the order and we shall follow.” After getting his arm bandaged, Chen Xing stared at Jing Xiubai, “We can’t stay there forever, whatever you decide, we will obey.”

“Yes.” Yu Xiang agreed, “You are the captain, we all listen to you.”

Rong Feng and Yu Pengcheng didn’t speak but their silent gazes also fell on Jing Xiubai one after another, expressing the trust they had in him. Jing Xiubai pondered for a moment, maintaining his calm despite the roars from the other side of the door, and looked at Chi Xin.

Chi Xin looked thoughtful as she watched the sealed door. She was wondering why the system hadn’t come out to make trouble yet when she heard Jing Xiubai’s voice: “Chi Xin, which side do you think we should choose?”

Chi Xin had not expected the hero would place his trust in her and have her make that big of a decision. She blinked in surprise: “Are you asking me?”

Jing Xiubai nodded: “Yes.”

The team walked carefully; the scene was even more tragic than the entrance, with layers upon layers of rotten corps. Nobody spoke and everybody was tense. Suddenly, Chi Xin felt as if a needle pierced her temple and her nerves trembled.

“Watch out!” She yelled.

A hidden door was knocked open as Rong Feng walked past it. The huge force knocked the 180 cm tall man away and his back hit the wall. He fell heavily to the ground, covered his chest, and spit a mouthful of blood. His eyes filled with horror and he looked at the now open door with the rest of the team.

Several guns stood to attention and the scraping sound of metal dragging on the ground was heard. It sounded like something huge was dragging its heavy body and… the weapon that would kill them.

An arm full of muscles and knots appeared and a monster that was more than two meters tall, a combination of a zombie and a boulder, came out of the door.

Two sentences crossed Chi Xin’s mind as she saw the creature…

System, as expected of you.

Yu Xiang, you big crow’s beak1!