Chapter 30: The Passage of Life

Chapter 30: The Passage of Life

Shufu Town is not a place to linger for long. Deng Hu gave them only twenty-five minutes, after which, regardless of the outcome, the convoy would return.

They are now a hundred meters away from the technical school. This distance is not far, but it is very difficult to approach the dormitory building surrounded by zombies. At the same time, they must ensure that there is a way out, rather than being surrounded by zombies again after everyone gathers together.

Thus, Deng Hu readjusted the plan, abandoning the scheme to rescue survivors from within the technical school, and instead set the location at the granary ten meters behind the school, from which he would carve a path of blood for the survivors!

Over eight hundred individuals are not that easy to relocate. First of all, the sheer number is substantial. By calculation, without any unforeseen incidents, the minimum time required to create a 'life passage' for these people is at least 13 minutes. This minimum is based on the need to clear a path that is 10 meters long and 3 meters wide, which significantly increases the difficulty.

Upon learning that there was a granary behind the technical school, Shenchi immediately realized that the army's mission to rescue survivors was also aimed at securing this batch of grain.

Then the army must necessarily allocate some personnel to rush the harvest of grain, at which time human and ammunition resources will become even more strained.

Time, too, is of the essence.

The convoy set off again, bypassing the vocational technical school and circling around to the rear of the institution. In just a matter of two minutes, the zombies, as if drawn by the scent of fish, swarmed towards the convoy like cats!

Shenchi observed the situation outside through the observation window, noticing a zombie about to reach his car. His eyes immediately sharpened, and with a swift motion, he launched an ice arrow that spun and 'whooshed' into the zombie's forehead.

Under the encirclement of firepower, Shenchi's actions were not conspicuous.

One by one, the zombies fell under the fierce onslaught of gunfire, yet countless more rose to take their place. The wheels had crushed an untold number of zombies, and just as they thought they had successfully escaped a horde, a massive wave of zombies swarmed towards them at the turning crossroads.

The convoy maintained a tight formation, moving in perfect coordination as they traced an S-shape. The vehicles abruptly tilted, and amidst a chorus of gasps, Shenchi saw the rear door of a large truck being lowered. In the next moment, eight drones successively sped out, flying in five different directions before crashing and detonating.

The convoy halted in front of a row of granaries enclosed by a fence. Ten meters ahead of them lay the technical school, with the dormitory's back entrance on this side, similarly sealed off by towering barriers.

Deng Hu stood on the vehicle, surveying the situation. The technical school was surrounded by infected individuals, layer upon layer, with zombies densely packed from the dormitory building all the way to where he was standing.

Deng Hu aimed at one of them and shot it in the head. With the sound of the gunshot, our side opened fire, and the battle began in full swing.

Deng Hu, with a telescope in one hand and a megaphone in the other, shouted towards the people in the dormitory building: "Comrades of the 222th Legion, this is the 111th Legion stationed in Jiu Zhou City. Right now, our soldiers are creating a 'life passage' ten meters behind the dormitory building for you! Time is limited! Please quickly organize the crowd to come down!!"

Under the coercive pressure of the firepower, a zone gradually cleared in front of the dormitory building. The first squad charged into the web of fire, their dynamic posture shifting from interweaving to back-to-back sweeping on both sides. Amidst the dense machine gun fire, a 'life-saving passage' connecting to the back door of the dormitory building slowly opened.

The survivors in the dormitory building came down one after another, but the shocking and vivid scene before them made them so afraid that they all stopped in their tracks, and even a couple of them retreated, wanting to hide back in the dormitory building.

"Damn it!"

Seeing this scene, Deng Hu picked up the megaphone again and shouted, "What are you doing?! Are you turtles that can retract into your shells? Hurry up and run over here!!"

Upon seeing this, the two lead special forces soldiers said something to them, and only then did the survivors start running again, frantically, just to sprint towards the carriage ten meters away that was wide open to them.

It was a truly heart-stopping scene: a mere 3-meter-wide path, with countless mangled, flesh-eating monsters reaching out to them, just an arm's length away. A barrage of gunfire erupted at their feet, with people running and screaming, cries of agony unending, and even the wailing of infants echoing from within.

The scene was in utter disarray.

Slightly reassuring is that the imagined stampede did not occur.

The survivors were disheveled and ragged, their faces ashen. They ran toward the troops with hopeful eyes, while armed special forces maintained order among them.

As more survivors emerged onto the battlefield, zombies attracted by the commotion also increased in number. The soldiers had limited ammunition, and if they couldn't break through the encirclement within the designated time, they would face total annihilation.

When the first person was dragged away and instantly swallowed by the horde, the originally orderly group descended into chaos. Everyone ran forward frantically, desperate to board the trucks waiting for them.

A stampede finally occurred. Those few special forces could not manage everyone. No matter how loudly they shouted, all they heard were the screams of their comrades and the terror of being chased by zombies.

—Once you fall, there's no getting back up.

Eleven minutes had passed, yet many people were still inside the dormitory building, unable to come down.

Deng Hu's brow furrowed deeply. Over eighty soldiers held shields in their left hands and guns in their right, forming a human wall to protect the survivors.

Soldiers kept being knocked down or dragged away by zombies, but others immediately took their places, continuing to fire at the approaching horde.

"True to form, Chen’s soldiers don’t care about their lives," Cao Kun said, unsure if it was out of mockery or admiration. His power made dealing with ordinary zombies easy; fireballs took them down one by one. The only downside was his lack of precision.

A gap in the human wall was the worst thing that could happen. Seeing the escape route from the dormitory building blocked by zombies, Cao Kun lifted a massive fireball with both hands and threw it at the horde—

The fireball swept through the zombies like a bowling ball, pushing them away from the battlefield, creating a fiery spectacle!

Everyone froze for a moment, stunned by the sight of humans possessing such power.

"What are you waiting for?! Get on the truck or be zombie food!!" Cao Kun yelled, and those who were shocked into action moved faster due to fewer obstacles.

Cao Kun was drenched in sweat, continuously throwing fireballs. The wound on his right arm, caused by a bullet graze, began to bleed, making the zombies even more frenzied.

More zombies fell around him, and Cao Kun panted heavily, holding a level-one crystal core, hoping to extract its energy as he did before. But for some reason, the core showed no reaction.

The large truck transporting food crashed directly into the warehouse, where two strength-type ability users and one with elongating limbs continuously loaded food onto the truck.

Outside the warehouse, two convoys were parked. Soldiers directed the arriving survivors: "Injured over here! Uninjured over there! Hurry! Don’t push, cooperate with the checks!!"

Xia Yi was treating the wounded who needed immediate bandaging and blood clotting. Their medical vehicle was next to the inspected truck. Xia Yi watched the survivors scrambling to get on the trucks, his eyes narrowing.

Suddenly, he stood up and quickly walked to the truck, grabbing someone in the crowd by the hand.

The man tried to attack Xia Yi, but having learned a few moves from Shenchi, Xia Yi easily stopped him. Upon seeing Xia Yi, the man screamed as if he had seen a ghost.

The head of the medical team, seeing this scene, approached angrily to reprimand them. The man preemptively accused Xia Yi of attacking him without cause, trying to kill him!

The team leader was about to scold Xia Yi, but Xia Yi said, "I suspect he's infected with the virus."

The middle-aged man was taken aback, his face turning pale. He became furious: "What nonsense is this brat spouting?!"

Xia Yi remained silent and pulled down the man's collar, revealing a clearly bitten wound on his shoulder, which emitted a putrid smell.

The medical team leader's gaze turned cold.

Shenchi threw away the broken triangular bayonet in his hand and turned to pour the crystal cores from the grabber into his backpack. Before he could pull his hand back, he heard a whistling wind and then felt a scorching heat wave—

A zombie fell to the ground, and a knife immediately stabbed into its forehead, stirring around before picking up the transparent bead that rolled out.

Cao Kun kicked a lunging zombie away and said, "My abilities are almost depleted. How about you?"

Shenchi drew the handgun issued by the military and, rarely, shot it straight through the head of a zombie. "Do you think I'd tell you?"

Cao Kun chuckled. "Don't be so cold. After all... we're neighbors. We should at least maintain a cordial relationship for social harmony."

Shenchi glanced at him. "For the zombies to see?"

Cao Kun happened to be looking at him too, so when Shenchi's gaze shifted over, he saw the bangs brushing lightly over those almond-shaped eyes. In the sunlight, the fine hairs on his face looked soft and harmless.

Cao Kun, for some inexplicable reason, changed the subject. "Your hair is getting a bit long. Why don't I help you trim it when we get back? No kidding, I'm good at it."

Shenchi sneered.

Cao Kun grabbed a zombie's head and twisted its neck like a rope, then suddenly said, "Do you still remember—"

"Bang!"

Both of them looked up and saw two dark shadows rapidly descending from the sky. Just as Cao Kun was about to speak, Shenchi had already charged towards the two Level 2 zombies with his golden armor!

"Damn!" Cao Kun executed a backspin side kick, knocking down the zombie attacking him and followed up with a bullet. He then chased after Shenchi.

"Captain! Two Level 2 zombies at eleven o'clock, three kilometers away. One Level 2 zombie each at three o'clock and five o'clock, closing in! Captain! A fire ability user is heading towards eleven o'clock!"

Deng Hu paused, then shouted, "Send Mengmeng to assist! Prepare the ground-to-air missile launchers at three and five o'clock!"

"—Fire!!"