After waiting for two days in the small western-style building, Jiang Jingchao still hadn’t received any news about his family.
Meanwhile, the missing persons notices on the task hall’s LED screen didn’t display any information containing their code, confirming that his family hadn’t reached the base. Otherwise, they would have found a way to contact him.
After another two days, Jiang Jingchao decided not to wait at the base any longer. He resolved to check his home and brothers school. However, he worried that during this time, his family might arrive at the safe base and miss him. To avoid this, he went to the task hall and updated the notice:
—”If you see this message, stay at Base No. 3 and wait for me.”
If Jiang Jingchao couldn’t find anyone at home or school, he planned to return to the base.
During these days, Ruan Ning occasionally joined others to gather information. Although they didn’t find Jiang Jingchao’s family, she heard some rumours explaining why the Dragon Tiger Squad hadn’t come after them recently.
They had run into trouble outside the base.
On the day of the fight, the Dragon Tiger Squad had taken on a task to collect supplies from outside the base. According to the mission description, the supermarket they were heading to contained some ordinary zombies and two first-tier mutant zombies—one with speed abilities and the other with wind abilities. Mutant zombies are generally stronger than ability users of the same tier, but the Dragon Tiger Squad’s captain was a second-tier wind ability user with a team of skilled members. Their strength was more than enough to handle the two mutant zombies.
The squad had also taken the mission to acquire the crystal cores from the mutants, especially the wind-type core that the captain coveted.
However, things went horribly wrong due to erroneous intel from the base.
First, the supposed first-tier wind mutant zombie had advanced to the second tier, becoming much harder to deal with. Secondly, there wasn’t just two mutant zombies in the supermarket—there was a third one.
Because of the faulty intel, the Dragon Tiger Squad was trapped in the supermarket for three days and nights. It was only yesterday that they managed to escape in a desperate attempt, suffering heavy losses. Several ability users in their team were killed, and even their second-tier wind ability captain sustained severe injuries.
Now overwhelmed with their own issues, the Dragon Tiger Squad had no time or energy to retaliate for the earlier fight. Moreover, the fate of the burly man’s ability-user brother was still uncertain—it was possible he didn’t survive the mission.
Hearing this, Ruan Ning felt a twinge of guilt for her relief, but she couldn’t help but breathe easier.
It seemed that the matter of the fight was now resolved.
The team planned to leave the base that morning. Even if the ability-user brother survived and sought revenge later, they would already be far from the base, leaving him with nothing but regret.
With the addition of Su Yunjin to their team, space in the two vehicles was no longer sufficient. Considering they would soon pick up Jiang Jingchao’s family, the team used their remaining contribution points to buy a modified SUV within the base. It wasn’t expensive and, compared to pre-apocalypse prices, could even be considered cheap.
This wasn’t surprising, as cars—damaged or intact—littered the roads everywhere, even outside the base. Many were still usable, some even with keys left in the ignition. However, gasoline was so scarce that most people abandoned their vehicles.
Ruan Ning’s team was different. Back in S City, she had stored an entire fuel tanker in her spatial storage. While not unlimited, they had enough fuel to supply an additional vehicle.
Gu Yicheng also had several top-tier vehicles stored in his space, collected before the apocalypse. However, they were too new and flashy to use without drawing unwanted attention.
Splitting into three vehicles with twelve people, they now had much more space.
Ruan Ning’s vehicle carried the original team line-up: herself, Gu Yicheng, Lin Yang, and Jiang Jingchao. They led the convoy since Jiang Jingchao, as the driver, was the only one who knew the locations of his home and school.
The remaining members—Xue Chen, Xu Chi, Dr. An, Su Yunjin, and the others—split into the other two vehicles.
Their first destination was Jiang Jingchao’s younger brother’s university, B University.
B University, the top university in G Province, had two campuses. Jiang Jingyang, a freshman in the philosophy department, attended classes at the new campus this semester.
During their stay at the base, they had found a student from B University and bought a hand-drawn map of the new campus using contribution points. The student, a sophomore in the philosophy department, hadn’t escaped from the university himself. He had been on a date nearby when the apocalypse broke out and was rescued by a relief team.
If Jiang Jingyang were still at B University, he would most likely be in the supermarket, cafeteria, or dormitory, as food was crucial for survival. These were the only places on campus that offered food and hiding spots.
Jiang Jingyang was fortunate to be at the new campus in the suburbs, where development was sparse and the population low. The old campus, surrounded by bustling neighbourhoods and a large shopping mall, would have been far more dangerous with its high population density.
However, the new campus wasn’t without challenges. Most programs had relocated there this semester, significantly increasing the student population. Even if only a quarter of the students had turned into zombies, the numbers were still staggering.
The first half of the journey to the new campus went smoothly, likely due to the frequent traffic of task teams passing through. They encountered only a few zombies along the way, which were quickly dealt with.
But things changed in the latter half. As they passed through an old residential area, a series of deafening explosions suddenly echoed through the air, growing louder each time.
“What’s happening?” Everyone heard the commotion.
“Look over there!” Lin Yang, sitting in the front passenger seat, pointed ahead.
Through the windshield, they saw a few dilapidated buildings just a few hundred meters away. With a loud boom, one of the buildings collapsed, sending up clouds of dust.
___
Half an hour earlier, in the narrow alleyways of the residential area, a large rescue team was fleeing while firing behind them. They had just rescued Dr. Chen, a virologist trapped in a lab for over a month, from the city centre. Under intense pressure, they fired wildly into the horde of zombies pursuing them. The narrow alley funnelled the zombies into a tight cluster, and the concentrated gunfire felled many.
However, the noise attracted more zombies from nearby. Soon, their path forward was blocked by another horde.
In the centre of the team, a middle-aged man in a military uniform barked orders. Following his command, part of the firepower was redirected to clear the path ahead.
In the front of the group, someone was accidentally dragged into the zombie horde by a zombie’s hand. The person next to them quickly reacted, firing at the zombies in an attempt to rescue them, but it was futile. Once pulled into the horde, the person’s voice quickly disappeared, and within less than half a minute, their body was reduced to a blood-soaked skeleton.
Another soldier was ambushed by zombies, his internal organs torn out. Realizing he wouldn’t survive, he threw away his gun, grabbed a grenade, and staggered into the horde.
With the grenade’s explosion, a cloud of blood and shattered limbs erupted, splattering the walls in bright red.
For the enormous zombie horde, however, the loss of a dozen zombies was negligible. The humans, instead, were being drained of their strength and ammunition.
Although grenades were powerful, they couldn’t be used recklessly. The buildings in this area were old, and with so many zombies pressing in, another few explosions could cause the entire place to collapse, burying everyone before the zombies could even get to them.
“Damn it! What rotten luck! Where did so many zombies come from in such a remote area? We’ve never seen a horde this size, even in the city!” a man in the rear, wearing a tactical jacket, cursed as he wiped fresh blood off his face.
“Yeah! Boss, don’t you think this horde seems to be targeting us? We’ve been running for half an hour since we left Shangyuan Street, and we still can’t shake them off,” another person added.
Since the chase began half an hour ago, they’d been running and fighting, yet the zombie numbers didn’t seem to decrease. On the contrary, the horde seemed to grow larger. This wasn’t a mere few hundred zombies—it was a massive horde, likely numbering in the thousands.
“Could it be that the zombies from B University’s new campus all migrated here?!” someone speculated.
The group wasn’t made up entirely of soldiers; it included small teams from the base who joined for contribution points, as well as civilians rescued from the city.
One of the men had previously participated in a rescue mission to B University. The university housed thousands of students and many internationally renowned professors, including Dr. Chen, a visiting professor from B University whom they had just rescued.
After Base No. 3 stabilized, a large rescue team was dispatched to the new campus of B University to save as many students and faculty as possible. That mission, conducted about ten days ago, involved 200-300 heavily armed personnel. Despite its scale, it ended in a retreat shortly after they entered the campus. The campus, once a spacious and beautiful site, was overrun with zombies, with at least half the student population, numbering in the thousands, infected.
“It’s impossible! B University is at least ten kilometres from here. If such a massive horde moved, the base would’ve noticed,” someone argued.
Regardless of how the horde formed, the priority now was figuring out how to escape.
The prolonged battle left everyone exhausted, with no strength to spare for further conversation. Human stamina is finite, and the tense atmosphere only drained it faster. After thirty minutes of fleeing, some group members were already gasping for air, unable to keep up.
“Tell them to use the explosives,” the middle-aged man leading the team finally ordered. He had watched too many comrades fall, unable to outrun or fight off the horde, and made the tough decision.
They had entered this alley not only because its narrowness allowed for concentrated fire but also because they could collapse it with explosives to trap the pursuing zombies beneath rubble.
However, this plan required sacrifices. Those tasked with planting the explosives and holding off the zombies would likely not survive. This option was only to be activated as a last resort if it meant giving the majority a chance to escape.
The lieutenant quickly arranged a team of ten volunteers—some to plant the explosives, others to cover the retreat. Each volunteer knew the risks but stepped forward without hesitation.
“I’ll take care of your families,” the middle-aged leader promised, feeling a deep sense of helplessness as he looked at the volunteers. Several were veterans who had served under him for years. As the commander, it was his responsibility to bring everyone back alive. Yet, with the horde growing larger and pressing closer, he knew there was no other choice.
The main group began retreating toward the alley’s exit while the volunteers moved to the front. They were given the remaining grenades and explosives, and the rest of the team provided covering fire while they set up.
Once the explosives were planted, the group quickly withdrew, leaving the ten volunteers to hold the line. As the zombies surged closer, the volunteers fought fiercely, buying precious time for their comrades.
Two minutes later, after ensuring the rest of the group had cleared the blast zone, the volunteers began retreating.
“You go! I’ll cover!” shouted a young soldier whose arm had been severed, leaving only a stump. He had been bitten and knew he wouldn’t survive. Using his remaining strength, he urged the others to leave while he stayed behind to hold off the zombies.
“Go now! If we don’t leave, we’ll all die here!” he yelled.
The six remaining volunteers reluctantly left, their faces etched with pain and grief.
The young soldier, now surrounded by zombies, gripped a grenade tightly. As the zombies tore into him, he glanced at his retreating comrades, a faint smile on his face. Using the last of his strength, he pulled the pin.
The explosion lit up the alley, scattering fire and debris.
—
When Ruan Ning and her group saw the explosion, they didn’t immediately drive away but stopped nearby to investigate. A few members got out to assess the situation.
The scale of the explosion was massive, even for decades-old buildings. Such a large amount of explosives could only have come from the military.
For the military to take such a risk, the danger they faced must have been extraordinary.
Gu Yicheng suspected the group might be the rescue team sent from Base No. 3 to save Dr. Chen, a virologist. In the future, Dr. Chen would develop a serum capable of purifying polluted water—a critical breakthrough in the post-apocalyptic world. If this was indeed the team rescuing Dr. Chen, they couldn’t let him die here.
**Nomad: Hi everyone, many of you may have noticed that some novels haven’t been updated for a while. I struggled to regain access to my account after my site went down, which took some time to resolve. I’m also in the process of moving the website to a different hosting plan, which I’ve been handling manually in the background. This has taken up a lot of my time, but I’m almost done. You might notice the website going down for a few hours now and then while everything gets sorted. Sorry about that!**
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