Doctor Liu smiled almost imperceptibly at Luo Xi, then put his mask back on properly. It seemed he had long anticipated this kind of situation, so in everyone’s heart, he had always played the image of a good doctor.
Luo Xi’s lips moved. Suddenly, her expression changed. Then, she heard several wailing cries mixed in with the wind and snow. She hurriedly used the walkie-talkie to instruct everyone to be on alert.
Just as the vanguard team was stepping into the crossroads, a dilapidated sedan flew across with the momentum of flashing lightning and roaring thunder. Before anyone could react, the upper bodies of the male and female captains walking at the very front were directly sheared off by the car. The remaining half-sections fell onto the snow-white ground, which in a moment was dyed a piercing red.
“Ha!”
Two zombie infants of enormous size sat in the middle of the road, completely blocking it. The moment they smelled fresh blood, they unexpectedly clapped their hands and roared, like joyous laughter.
The zombie infants’ entire bodies were covered with red blood vessels. One of them was missing the flesh on half of its cheek, revealing grim white bone. There were no teeth in their mouths, but they possessed an astonishing biting force. A toy-like bicycle, after a few nibbles in their mouths, became smashed-to-pieces scrap metal.
When they saw living people, their eyes emitted a red light. They shakily stood up and, like babies, stretched out their hands to find their balance, then ran towards the crowd.
Continuous strafing from bullets could not stop their steps, because they simply could not penetrate their skin and flesh.
Su Wenwen glanced at the bright red on the snow, lowered her gaze, and ran over. She undid the buckle on her belt, took down a hand/grenade, and threw it toward the zombie infants.
The sounds of explosions were continuous.
The zombie infants, crying “wawa”, rushed out of the firelight. They casually picked up a trash can from the road, crushed it into a ball, and like a professional baseball pitcher, threw it toward the crowd.
And the trash can’s flying speed was comparable to a bullet’s, kicking up a trajectory like a strong gust of wind. How could everyone’s physical reactions compare to the trash can’s flight speed? It looked as if a group of people were about to be knocked away like bowling pins.
At the moment of a thousand jun hanging by a single hair1, Luo Xi’s mental power erected a wall, and the trash can shattered into fragments before their eyes.
But before they had time to breathe a sigh of relief, the zombie infant’s clumsy body crashed over. Luo Xi’s long and slender brows clearly knitted together. Then, the other zombie infant sat on the ground, crying “wawa” like a child who could not get candy.
After that sharp sound entered their ears, it was like an iron rod continuously churning inside their brains. Su Wenwen knelt on the ground in discomfort, and the others did as well. Even the mentally powerful Luo Xi was dazed for a moment, causing the wall erected by her mental power to be broken open.
“Ah!”
One person was grabbed by the zombie infant, sent directly into its mouth, and crushed into a paste. Bright red blood flowed down from the corners of its mouth, as if the zombie infant was wearing a red dudou2, filling the scene with a strange sense of horror.
After biting one person, it was still not enough, and it reached for another. Seeing this, Luo Xi raised her hand and pushed, and the zombie infant was sent flying several tens of meters away.
She then bound the zombie infant sitting on the ground, but because of this, it cried even louder. The penetrating volume of each cry was like a knob turned to its maximum setting, and many people rolled on the snowy ground in pain.
Su Wenwen gritted her teeth and took out an iron awl from her spatial backpack. An originally ice-cold piece of iron, after spinning once in her hand, turned a scalding magma color.
She took three steps as one, and with a push from her feet, she leaped high into the air, aimed at the zombie infant’s open, crying mouth, and stabbed straight down.
It did not have the expected hardness; instead, it was abnormally soft. Under the high temperature, the zombie infant’s mouth was directly scalded and melted open, and the iron awl pierced out easily from the back of its skull.
Only after smelling a burnt odor did Su Wenwen come back to her senses. She hurriedly pulled out the iron awl and attacked the other zombie infant.
Doctor Liu smiled at the Adjutant beside him: “I remember your report said that Su Wenwen is not an ability user, right?”
The Adjutant said: “At that time, I tested her with a crystal core, and she was indeed not an ability user. Perhaps it is an ability that awakened later, it’s not certain. If you don’t believe me, when we get back to the Sea Base, you can ask the survivors who were traveling with me at the time. They all saw that Su Wenwen had no reaction to the crystal core.”
“Don’t be anxious, I was just speaking casually. However, Su Wenwen’s ability looks quite strong. Is she a strength-type ability user or a fire-type ability user?”
“It should be fire-type. As an ability user, her physical fitness would naturally be much stronger than an ordinary person’s,” the Adjutant said.
Hearing this, Doctor Liu smiled but did not speak.
Previously at the Sea Base, Luo Tianyang had wanted to get Su Wenwen killed. So regardless of whether she is an ability user or how strong she is, it was not important. In any case, he would not let her return; he had to find a way to make her die outside.
After the two zombie infants were killed, before Su Wenwen could even catch her breath, she heard Shen Ming exclaim: “How are all the reagents gone?”
Su Wenwen and Luo Xi exchanged a glance and hurriedly walked over. They saw that the secret box that originally held the reagents had been forcefully pried open at some unknown time, and the contents inside were gone.
This box was not large, but it was not small either. There was no way to fit it into a backpack, so four people were always assigned to guard it in shifts.
Shen Ming said anxiously: “Did any of you see who opened the box just now?”
Everyone shook their heads. The zombie infants’ cries just now had given them splitting headaches; no one would have paid special attention to the box.
At this moment, Lin Wan spoke up: “Don’t be anxious. The box was already empty. Before we set out, I gave the reagents to someone else for safekeeping.”
“And even if it was lost, there’s no need to worry. I have the copied data on me, and I’ve also memorized the reagent’s production method. As long as one of the three can be brought back to the Sea Base, the reagents can be produced.”
Doctor Liu, who was at the side, smiled and said: “Then I wonder to whom Miss Lin entrusted the reagents for safekeeping?”
Lin Wan did not speak, only shaking her head. She then stroked Sisi in her arms and said softly: “Was Sisi scared?”
“Sisi is very brave, will not be scared.”
Compared to Sisi’s well-behaved and sensible nature, the son of Father Lin and Mother Lin was crying nonstop. Moreover, it was unknown if the zombie infants’ cries had injured him, but a little bit of fresh blood was flowing from his ears.
The couple directly pleaded with Doctor Liu, asking him to help see if the child was injured anywhere.
Doctor Liu said with a smile: “I will take a look when we get to a safe place. In this situation, even if the child is truly injured somewhere, I can’t treat him!”
Hearing this, the parents’ hearts ached to death. They could only keep trying to comfort the child. Seeing that the child had no intention of stopping his crying, they immediately directed their anger at Lin Wan.
“As his older sister, can’t you show some concern for your younger brother?”
Lin Wan pressed her lips together, clearly not wanting to pay attention to the pair. But Sisi was more simple-minded and proactively approached them to ask what was wrong with her younger brother, only to be forcefully pushed away by Mother Lin.
Sisi did not stand steady and sat with her buttocks on the snow. She looked aggrievedly at Mother Lin. Because she was so thin and small, her eyes appeared very large, and tears welled up in them, swirling a few times without falling.
“Stop pretending! You and your older sister are both white-eyed wolves……”
“That’s enough. If you dare say one more word, I’ll have to trouble you to leave the team.” After helping Sisi up, Su Wenwen glared at the pair.
Father Lin and Mother Lin were choked speechless. But looking at Su Wenwen’s originally gentle gaze turn sharp, they remembered how she had killed the zombie infants just now, like a god of slaughter, and did not dare to rebut at all.
Several people in the team had died, but there was no way to bury them. This was especially true for the male and female captains; both were left with only half a body lying in a pool of blood. The lonely, cold wind and snow seemed endlessly desolate. The trainees could only silently wipe their tears and continue on their way.
Su Wenwen led the team from the front, while Luo Xi circled to the rear to continue using her mental power to search for the hidden zombie.
As things stood, whether zombie or human, they all possessed only one type of ability. Except for Su Wenwen, dual-types did not exist.
And the zombie hidden in the corner—even if its ability was mental power, it was clearly of the control-type, commanding zombies in battle. How did it hide itself?
All these strange things left Luo Xi without an answer.
She had searched many places with her mental power, including the footprints people left on the snow, but had discovered nothing. It was as if this hiding ability directly erased something, or perhaps it affected the nerves in the brain, automatically shielding everything related to the zombie, even a single footprint.
A black cloud was floating this way in the sky. Luo Xi fixed her gaze on it and saw that it was not a black cloud at all, but mutated zombie bats.
These bats had no fur, had grown four limbs, and had pointed ears and sharp teeth, looking more like the winged vampires from movies. One of the zombie bats seemed to be a zombie king; its size was similar to a human’s, and it had likely evolved into this form after devouring land-based zombies.
Luo Xi could no longer be bothered with the hidden zombie. She looked all around and used the walkie-talkie to tell everyone to prepare for the zombie bats’ attack.
The zombie bats’ flight speed was extremely fast, and in a short while, they had caught up with the team. Like rain, they fell\down from the sky. The dense black dots were covering the sky and obscuring the sun. Zombie bats were everywhere, frightening some people into screaming, which was mixed with the sound of gunshots rising and falling.
Bullets could occasionally hit the zombie bats, but it only slightly changed their flight put down. They would circle in the sky for a moment before continuing to glide rapidly downwards.
Luo Xi raised both hands, deploying a large-area mental power shield in the sky. The zombie bats crashed against it, completely unafraid of having their heads broken and blood flowing3, and began to tear and bite with their sharp teeth, seemingly trying to break open the mental power shield.
The ordinary people were so scared they huddled together in a ball.
Shen Ming pulled Lin Wan and Sisi behind him. At this time, Father Lin and Mother Lin no longer dared to say three talk four4; with pale faces, they hid together behind Shen Ming.
More and more zombie bats gathered on the mental power shield, blocking the little remaining light. Vision was obstructed, and their ears were filled with bloodthirsty “yiya” cries. Their eyes were like crimson ghost fires5, grimly cold and terrifying.
Luo Xi could not maintain such a large mental power shield for long. Creatures of the sky were much harder to deal with than creatures of the land. Once the zombie bats broke through, they would gnaw wantonly among the crowd without any obstruction.
Luo Xi closed her eyes. She had always been good at weighing pros and cons. When she opened her eyes again, a powerful burst of mental power erupted, causing the surrounding snow to ripple outwards.
Su Wenwen sensed something and turned her head to look at Luo Xi’s bleak and cold expression. Immediately after, the heads of the zombie bats in the sky began to explode, one by one…
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