Chapter 52: Zombie Horde (Part 1)

Chapter 52: Zombie Horde (Part 1)

Xiao Hua went to wake Su Mo up.

By the time everyone went downstairs, Bai Mu had already prepared breakfast.

Eggs, milk, sandwiches. The seven of them sat together for breakfast, some still groggy, others fully awake.

Xiao Hua had just finished eating and was about to talk to Bai Mu about what to do next when an urgent, piercing alarm echoed through the base.

Xiao Hua was slightly stunned, then her heart skipped a beat. A possibility flashed through her mind—zombie horde.

Five minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

The guard who had guided them yesterday arrived; he was one of General Zou’s trusted men.

As soon as he entered, he got straight to the point, “A large number of zombies are attacking the base. The general sent me to bring you all over.”

Xiao Hua, Bai Mu, and Xiao Zui exchanged glances and nodded. The seven of them followed the guard to the conference hall.

The room was tense, filled with an uneasy silence. General Zou and several senior officers sat at the top, while many others stood around, including both soldiers and enhanced individuals.

Xiao Hua hurriedly arrived with Xiao Zui and the others and quietly stood to the side.

General Zou scanned everyone and spoke solemnly, “Zombies are attacking the base. I need everyone’s help and expect you all to follow orders.

“The F City base was just established, and the number of survivors is still small. We need to stand together and fight this off!”

General Zou’s words energized everyone, and he quickly issued orders.

Su Mo was assigned to the medical team in the rear to treat the wounded.

Bai Mu and the other five belonged to the special forces. They were now all back at their positions on the eastern section of the South Gate, facing the most intense attacks.

Xiao Hua stood alone on the western section of the South Gate, her eyes scanning the endless wave of zombies. For the first time, she felt a pang of worry for the others.

After surviving together for nearly a month, they had grown close.

Xiao Hua chuckled to herself. In a situation like this, maybe she should focus on worrying about herself.

“Roar!”

A sharp scream pierced the sky and exploded in everyone’s eardrums.

A high-level zombie was controlling the horde, and the scale was much larger than what Xiao Hua had experienced before—about ten times larger.

This meant there were more and stronger high-level zombies this time.

The zombies were at the city gates.

Xiao Zui, the overall commander of the South Gate, shouted, “First batch of enhanced individuals, attack!”

The commander of the western section also shouted, “Attack!”

Orders given, a barrage of bullets and a flurry of powers rained down on the zombies outside the gates, with a fierce momentum aiming to tear them all apart.

The zombies had just begun their attack, and the enhanced individuals were still fully charged with their powers, so the pressure wasn’t too great for now.

Someone unleashed their powers all at once, but Xiao Hua used only three-tenths of her strength.

She had to be on duty for four hours before being relieved from duty, so she needed to pay attention to her energy consumption to avoid exhausting herself too soon and putting herself in danger.

Xiao Hua fended off zombies with one hand while keeping an eye on the situation around her.

The first wave of zombies was fierce and numerous, but they were mostly level one zombies, with very few level two zombies.

Honestly, it had been a while since Xiao Hua had encountered this many level one zombies since the apocalypse started.

The large number of level one zombies meant that many of them had likely been recently born, indicating that some people had already lost their lives to the zombie horde.

It was also certain that they had been organized by a higher-level zombie to serve as cannon fodder, engaging in a war of attrition to drain their psychic energy and stamina.

Sure enough, as the fight dragged on, some enhanced individuals started showing signs of exhaustion. One of them, through a moment of carelessness, allowed a hidden level two zombie to break through the defense and rush up to the city gate.

"Ah!"

A nearby enhanced individual screamed in terror, desperately throwing their powers at the zombie, but it dodged all of them.

The zombie that had been at the base of the wall moments ago suddenly appeared right in front of them in the blink of an eye. The zombie raised its sharp claws to attack the nearest enhanced individual.

At the last second, a massive water curtain sprang up, separating the enhanced individual from the zombie.

Xiao Hua then raised her hand and threw an ice spike, which pierced the back of the zombie's head. The water curtain was withdrawn, and the zombie fell.

Xiao Hua glanced back at the stunned group and frowned. "What are you all standing around for? Get that zombie down!"

"...Oh! Quick, quick, quick!"

The nearby enhanced individuals snapped out of it, retrieved the crystal nucleus after shoving the zombie off, and worked together to push it down.

An enhanced individual approached Xiao Hua and handed her the crystal nucleus they had just retrieved, their face filled with gratitude. "Thank you!"

"No problem, don't relax your guard," Xiao Hua nodded and took the crystal nucleus without hesitation.

"Okay," the enhanced individual returned to their position and continued dealing with the zombies.

The other enhanced individuals who witnessed this didn't think anything was wrong. Since Xiao Hua had taken down the zombie, it made sense that she kept the crystal nucleus.

Moreover, most of the enhanced individuals had heard of Xiao Hua's reputation. Seeing her strength firsthand, they wouldn't dare to harbor any other thoughts.

People naturally gravitated toward strength, especially in this world.

Having such a strong individual by their side gave them an extra layer of protection.

Xiao Hua wasn't a cold-blooded person, but her willingness to save Su Mo despite past grievances proved otherwise.

In these troubled times, human lives were as fragile as grass, but she would always do what she could to save a life.

As the battle went on, the enhanced individuals became more cautious, but in a prolonged war of attrition, mistakes were bound to happen, especially among some lower-tier enhanced individuals.

While guarding her area, Xiao Hua took the opportunity to help them out, pulling people back from the brink of danger when needed.

Bonds forged in life-and-death situations were the strongest. By the time the first group of defenders left the city walls, they were already treating each other like brothers and sisters.

Even though Xiao Hua kept a stoic expression and didn’t want to join them, people still called her "Sister Xiao" and looked to her for leadership.