Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

After breaking through the fire, a new wave of zombies swarmed around them.

The city center was overrun with zombies; scavengers would steer clear of this area, which left the zombies here desperate and frenzied, clawing at the car, scaling its roof, and shaking it violently in their hunger.

Then came another round of the burning inferno.

Lin An sat in the back seat, mechanically spraying water on the glass with a small spray bottle, until the mist grew thicker, sliding down the glass. Realizing he couldn't cleanse the zombies, he stopped, looking helplessly out of the window.

Orange flames licked at the zombies' bodies as Lin An watched, dazed, the fiery reflection in their red eyes, until the zombies at the car's edge were incinerated, and then he slowly blinked.

Finally, there was a bit of cleanliness.

Suddenly, a burly zombie with swift movements climbed onto the hood of the car, in stark contrast to the other emaciated, slow-moving, hunger-stricken zombies.

It either had fed excessively on humans or was a special type of zombie.

The strong and agile zombie extended a fist and smashed it violently towards the windshield.

"It's an enhanced zombie with special abilities!" Xu Fang immediately shouted.

Before the zombie could shatter the glass, a massive billboard flew in from the side, striking the special zombie with precision, flinging it against the wall of a nearby building along with other zombies in that direction.

Xu Fang whistled, chuckled, and said, "Boss, it's time to speed up."

Shen Xiuzhe responded with a cold hum as billboards, lampposts, and various street signs began to fly towards them, metal objects of different shapes starting to morph as they neared the car.

It was as if an invisible, colossal furnace melted all the metal, reshaping it anew.

A layer of metal was affixed around the lower part of the car's body, especially at the front and back where a thick layer was applied, and then from this metal, sharp spikes began to protrude.

The ordinary white sedan was suddenly bristling with spikes.

Xu Fang pressed the accelerator, the heavily armed car speeding forward, skewering the zombies ahead like stringing calabashes. The cold, sharp spikes on the car retracted automatically once full of zombies, who were then flung away by the impact.

Relying on their fully armed vehicle, they broke through the zombie encirclement.

Near the busiest streets of the city center was a residential area, less infested with zombies. Xu Fang drove in, pulling off a drift to park the car inside the complex.

As they entered the complex, the metal wrapping the car instantly shed, sealing the entrance and blocking the pursuing zombies with two large iron gates.

Exiting the passenger side, Shen Xiuzhe went to the back seat to pull out Lin An, while Xu Fang, with his backpack on, led Xiao Fu.

The surrounding zombies slowly converged again. Though not as dense as in the city center, their numbers were still significant.

Xu Fang looped the leash's handle around his arm, squatted down, and pressed his hands on the ground. The ground beneath the zombie cracked open instantly, swallowing the unsuspecting creature before closing seamlessly, leaving hardly a trace.

Xu Fang chuckled proudly, standing up and dusting his hands.

His ability was quite impressive at the base, requiring only contact with the ground to activate, unlike their leader who could use his powers freely even while sitting in a car – a feat few could match. He wondered when he would be able to activate his powers without direct contact.

"With this thought, Xu Fang suddenly turned to look at Lin An."

"This zombie seemed to also have the ability to activate powers remotely, and quite powerfully at that."

"Xu Fang, who had been washed down the stairs by water and tossed around by a washing machine, rubbed his bald head. Among them, he was the one with the weakest powers."

"‘An-ge, apart from being clean and fearful of people, is really impressive. He has strong powers, looks better than the average zombie, and even keeps a dog,’ Xu Fang couldn't help but exclaim."

"'Afraid of people?' Shen Xiuzhe's narrow eyes gleamed coldly, and his brows furrowed unconsciously, making his expression particularly fierce."

"Indeed, Lin An was indifferent to zombies, even finding time to squat and inspect the damaged floor, but he seemed very scared of him and Xu Fang."

"Glancing to the side, the little zombie had been looking down, but his body stiffened when Shen Xiuzhe looked his way, clearly sensitive to the gaze."

"Shen Xiuzhe pondered thoughtfully."

"Lin An shrank back in fear. The ground around him was either stained with dark brown blood or littered with dried human limbs and various trash. He didn't want to walk anymore; he wanted to go home. It was so dirty here."

"But his arm was tightly gripped by Shen Xiuzhe's vice-like hand. Although it wasn't painful, he couldn't go anywhere and had to continue walking with them."

"Shen Xiuzhe, aware of the little zombie's penchant for cleanliness, deliberately avoided the stains on the ground as they walked."

"Lin An walked forward in a daze, occasionally spraying the surroundings with a spray bottle he held."

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and curiously looked up.

"From a high building nearby, a black figure rapidly plummeted down, landing with a loud thud not far away."

Xu Fang jumped in surprise: "Damn, what just fell down?"

What fell was a zombie, now clumsily getting up. Its body unnaturally twisted, indicating the high fall had caused multiple fractures. Yet, the zombie tenaciously approached them.

Its dark, blackish skin tightly clung to its bones, looking shriveled and ugly. Saliva dripped from its mouth, clearly starved for a long time.

Xu Fang looked up at the twenty-something-story building, then at the zombie in front of him: "Did it smell us and jump out of the window on its own?"

"Was the window left open? Or did the zombie open it itself?"

Shen Xiuzhe's brows were deeply furrowed, his thoughts seemingly more far-reaching. On the night of the apocalypse, most people were at home, so the zombies created then were still trapped inside, making up only a small portion of the wandering street zombies.

"But if the home-bound zombies have learned to open windows and doors to get out, then the bases in Chuxi City would be instantly surrounded by a wave of zombies."

As he pondered the consequences of this, Lin An suddenly started to back away.

The first zombie's fall seemed to signal others, as zombies from the adjacent buildings began falling like dumplings, jumping from various floors.

Their terrifyingly tenacious vitality allowed them to survive even after violent impacts.

"Damn! Is this a high-altitude corpse drop? What if they fall on us?"

Xu Fang quickly led the dog to safety, away from where the zombies could hit, while Shen Xiuzhe had already followed Lin An to avoid the danger.

Some of the fallen zombies looked relatively intact, while others had lost limbs or had their heads split open. They struggled on the ground for a bit before getting up and staggering towards them.

There were quite a few, but these zombies had been starved for a long time, almost all skin and bones, posing little threat and moving very slowly. Thus, Shen Xiuzhe and Xu Fang were calm. They took advantage of the zombies' slow pace to avoid areas where they might get hit, heading towards an outer building.

That building was a comprehensive mall with a wide variety of goods, including a direct back entrance to the underground supermarket from the neighborhood, which had fewer zombies.

They hadn't gone far when the sound of shattering glass came from above. Broken glass fell from a height, smashing to pieces on the ground, scattering everywhere.

"The two men, a zombie, and a dog all looked upwards in a remarkably synchronized action."

"Unlike the earlier zombie's fall, this time, on the topmost balcony of the building to their left, a person hung precariously outside the shattered glass."

"Xu Fang squinted for a while, initially thinking it was a zombie that had broken the glass and jumped, misjudging the angle. But as he observed the person struggling with their hands clinging to the window ledge and feet flailing, trying to climb back inside, he realized it was actually a human."

"'Boss! A person! That's a person up there!' Xu Fang exclaimed, eyes wide, pointing upwards."

"Shen Xiuzhe had already seen it, even more clearly than Xu Fang. Inside the window, a few people were standing; one was hitting the person outside with a stick on their arms and head, while the others were trying to pry off the hands clinging to the window ledge."

"'How can we save them? I'll go up and see if I can pull them back in,' said Xu Fang, already leading his dog towards the building."

"Shen Xiuzhe replied, 'It's too late.'"

"As soon as he finished speaking, the person above could no longer hold on and plummeted from the height in an instant."