Chapter 44: The Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital

Chapter 44: The Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital

Shenchi was startled. He put on his gas mask, grabbed a wooden stick, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and quickly stepped to the entrance of the air-raid shelter. Peering out from under his coat, he saw all the zombies moving toward the direction of thick smoke.

Shenchi frowned. They were too close. If they attracted a Level Three zombie...

Shenchi darted out sideways. A red glow spread across half the sky. Shenchi pressed against the wall and followed the direction the zombies were running.

However, it wasn't long before a zombie spotted Shenchi, turned around, and charged at him with great excitement—

Several ice arrows shot out, piercing the zombies' foreheads. Shenchi ran up the wall, grabbed the burglar bars, but before he could hook his other foot up, the bars suddenly snapped with a metallic sound. Shenchi plummeted down as the gathering zombies reached out to grab his legs.

Shenchi instinctively clung to the wall. In the next moment, four ice blocks protruded from the wall, providing footholds for his limbs.

Shenchi looked up and saw two more ice blocks growing from the wall. He quickly climbed up.

When he reached a height of over two meters, one of the zombies below jumped up, attempting to grab Shenchi's legs.

Several ice arrows whizzed into the zombies' foreheads. Shenchi climbed two more steps until the zombies couldn't reach him anymore, then ran horizontally along the wall on the ice rocks.

Within a mile, two Level One zombies rushed towards him, leaping to tear open his chest!

Shenchi waved his hand, and an ice shield suddenly appeared beside him. At the same time, two ice arrows rose in the air. As the Level One zombies collided with the ice shield, the ice arrows pierced their foreheads with a swift swoosh.

The two corpses fell, crushing several zombies beneath them. Shenchi leaped down, and an ice pillar slammed into a large group of zombies, propelling them forward. Shenchi followed closely behind, while an ice net blocked the pursuing zombies.

The gunshots grew closer. Shenchi recalled the map he had drawn; the sounds seemed to come from near the police station.

There were many side roads in the residential area. Most of the earlier zombies had been left behind. Shenchi moved based on the direction of the sounds, inadvertently attracting the wandering zombies in the neighborhood.

Exiting the residential area, the gunshots gradually ceased, and the city fell silent again, with a gust of wind blowing against him.

His hair brushed his face, and Shenchi's heart skipped a beat. He saw the countless zombies that had been running forward suddenly stop in unison, turning their heads with eerie synchronicity. Their white eyes fixed on Shenchi, saliva dripping from their mouths.

Shenchi took a step back, and a twig under his foot snapped with a crisp "snap." In the next moment, Shenchi sprinted backward.

A horde of zombies pursued him, pouring in from all directions.

Shenchi ran frantically, feeling the weight slowly seeping into his limbs. He adjusted his breathing, seeing only the buildings receding behind him, hearing only the howling wind and the constant thumping of his heart.

As the zombies closed in, Shenchi shifted his weight to his left leg and turned into another alley. However, a wall appeared in front of him.

Shenchi abruptly stopped, turned around, and spread his arms. The air suddenly froze, and the temperature dropped sharply. Chilling energy gathered in his hands.

In a breath, the zombies had closed the distance significantly. Shenchi pushed forward with both hands, releasing the cold energy. Ice walls sprang up, blocking the path of the countless zombies. More zombies surged from the sides like a flood breaking through a dam.

Seizing the opportunity, Shenchi leaped onto the wall, spun halfway, and slashed the neck of a Level One zombie that suddenly appeared in front of him. Then he jumped into the crowd of zombies, using a three-meter-wide ice pillar to knock them away.

This alley was no more than three hundred meters long. Before he could encounter the zombies on the main road, he heard the sound of a wall collapsing behind him. Dust and shadows poured down!

Shenchi dodged the zombies chasing him from all directions when a hand reached out from the darkness, pulling him into the darkness.

Shenchi swiftly sidestepped and raised his leg to strike, but after being blocked, he grabbed the opponent's neck instead!

"It's me."

Shenchi paused, the curved knife at the opponent's throat stopping just short of contact.

"Follow me."

Cao Kun shut and locked the door, then walked inside, bare-chested, beads of sweat rolling down his strong back, sliding into the crease of his waist as he moved. "Why did you run out?"

"I heard gunshots," Shenchi said, sheathing the palm-sized curved knife into his thigh pocket and following Cao Kun, examining the place.

It was a traditional Chinese medicine shop, facing the road in front and a residential area at the back. Unfortunately, all the cabinets were overturned, and there were visible dead insects and cockroaches scattered around. "What happened?"

"We encountered two groups. One was heading for the police station's supplies, but the building was full of zombies, including some high-level ones. Those idiots started shooting randomly in front of so many zombies." Cao Kun put on a white coat hanging on a hanger and readjusted his backpack. "The other group seemed to be from the military. I saw them retreating towards the hospital."

"The hospital?" Shenchi frowned, looking around. "I remember the nearest traditional Chinese medicine hospital is nearby."

Cao Kun: "That's right. It's just two streets ahead, an old traditional Chinese medicine hospital. They were planning to rebuild it, and the walls are already half demolished."

Cao Kun led Shenchi up the stairs to the rooftop. Rather than a roof, it was more like a canopy, covered with writhing insects and decaying herbs.

They didn't mind the disgust and stepped directly on them, occasionally brushing against the soft bodies of the insects with their bare feet.

Wanqian City was dusty, and a gust of wind could cover someone in dust.

From here, they could see the street Shenchi had come from. Another kilometer ahead was the police station. That was where the gunfight had occurred. If not for Shenchi diverting some of the zombies, they wouldn't have escaped so quickly.

Now, countless zombies had gathered downstairs. In less than three minutes, the area was surrounded by a dense mass of zombies covering nearly ten square kilometers.

Shenchi furrowed his brow. "Has half of Wanqian City's zombies gathered here?"

Cao Kun's expression was equally grim. The highest-level zombie he had encountered recently was a Level One zombie, without even a glimpse of a Level Two zombie, let alone the scar-faced Level Three zombie.

Where had they gone?

Cao Kun said, "We can't go back to the air-raid shelter. Let's head to the old traditional Chinese medicine hospital."

Shenchi: "How do we get there?"

Cao Kun: "I saw you use ice pillars to push back the zombies. Can we ride on top of them?"

Shenchi frowned, pondering for a moment. "It's too far, but I can build a one-meter-wide ice bridge on this street. It should support our weight."

A heavy thud came from downstairs. The two exchanged glances. Shenchi stepped forward, crouched down, and placed his hand on the ground. The surrounding temperature dropped sharply, and a one-meter-wide, twenty-centimeter-thick ice bed extended along the ground toward the balcony across the street.

Cao Kun stood behind Shenchi, raising a fire net in front of him. Fireballs continuously shot out, exploding like cannons.

"Hurry over here!"

Cao Kun turned around and saw a transparent ice bridge connecting the balconies on both sides, emitting a chilling aura. Below, a horde of zombies with their mouths agape and claws outstretched began piling up like human towers trying to reach the bridge.

Shenchi led the way onto the ice bridge, shooting ice arrows that pierced through the brows of the climbing zombies.

Cao Kun followed, hurling a scorching fireball that exploded into the zombie horde, instantly scattering the zombie tower.

Wave after wave of zombie towers piled up beneath them. In front of the traditional Chinese medicine shop, nearly twenty square meters of the area was stacked as high as a floor with zombies. Two shields guarded the sides of Shenchi and Cao Kun.

After landing on the balcony, Cao Kun cast another fireball at the ice bridge and simultaneously threw a fiery net over the zombie pile, turning countless zombies into dust. The air filled with the nauseating smell of burnt flesh.

The room was filled with zombies. An ice shield protected Shenchi, while countless ice arrows flew in unison.

Upon entering, Cao Kun used several fireballs to burn all the ordinary zombies, and the remaining four or five Level One zombies fell under their second wave of attacks.

The two rushed into another room, locking the door behind them. Cao Kun set the window ablaze, but the old hospital across the street was still a hundred meters away. Facing them was a partially collapsed wall exposing the rebar and concrete inside, with endless zombies running past. The half-collapsed wall crumbled down.

"There!" Cao Kun patted Shenchi's shoulder and launched a fireball towards the fourth-floor window opposite them. "Turn the ice into steps; we'll run over."

Before Shenchi could consider whether it would work, the door behind him was suddenly smashed open, and hundreds of zombies surged in, filling the room like moths.

Cao Kun condensed a massive fireball and hurled it at them!

In the next moment, the house shook violently, flames shot up, and countless zombies were blasted away. Cao Kun followed Shenchi, stepping on the "heavenly ladder" toward the fourth-floor window of the hospital. At that moment, machine gun fire echoed from below...

Countless zombies fell, and a tall man, holding a gun in one hand and a person in the other, swiftly dodged among the zombies. Empty shell casings ejected continuously, and judging by their trajectory, they were also heading for the hospital across the street.

From the fallen corpses, several naked zombies charged at them with lightning speed—

A fireball met them head-on, pushing back the first zombie dozens of meters. The second one crashed into an ice shield, followed by the third, fourth, and fifth Level Two zombies. One of them suddenly appeared in front of Cao Kun, its sharp claws aiming for his head!

Cao Kun instinctively dodged but slipped and fell off the ice ladder!

The other two zombies dove towards the two people below, but just as they were about to collide, a solid wall suddenly appeared in front of them.

A square wall materialized in the middle of the road, and countless zombies pounced on it. The two trapped inside threw out several grenades, which the zombies did not understand and did not dodge.

With successive explosions, the chest of the diving Level Two zombie was blown open with two bowl-sized holes.

At the same time, Cao Kun was caught by an ice pillar that rose from the ground, and an ice shield enveloped him, blocking the sharp claws of the Level Two zombie.

Zombies climbed the ice pillar, quickly covering the ice shield around Cao Kun with their bodies, creating a dense, nauseating mass.

Inside the thick layer of ice, Cao Kun could feel the pressure from the ice shield and the distorted faces pressing against it.

With a series of faint cracking sounds, the ice shield suddenly shattered!

---

Thank you, little angels, for watering me with nutrient fluid!

Thank you to the little angel who watered me with nutrient fluid: White Rabbit Who Doesn't Like White Radishes (1 bottle)

I am very grateful for everyone's support, and I will continue to work hard! ^_^