Chapter 152: The Zombie Emperor
A long time had passed before Ge Xiu finally lost interest in the small half pack of cigarettes.
He looked down at the scraps of paper and shredded tobacco in his hands, guiltily stuffed back the empty cigarette case back into the locker, and then closed it with a “snap”, as if he hadn’t done anything.
Ge Xiu turned to look out of the car window.
The dappled sunlight sprinkled from the gaps between the clouds, flickering and dimming, changing with the blows of the wind.
Ge Xiu closed his eyes and sniffed the scent in the wind.
The next second, he froze slightly and as if he had noticed something, he turned his head and looked towards the end of the valley.
Ge Xiu opened the door and got out.
The gradually picking up wind messed up his hair, the half-length black hair fluttered in the wind like a torn flag.
There was a faint rancid smell floating in the air, so intense that even humans with a not-so-sensitive sense of smell could smell it.
Zombies were near, and they were in great numbers.
Ge Xiu closed his eyes and sniffed again—
the total number was more than 30,000.
The number of mutated zombies was four hundred.
And…
There was a leader, a high level zombie that had evolved intelligence.
Number One, Two, Three and Four also seemed to realize that something was wrong, and began to slowly approach the vehicle.
Ge Xiu opened his eyes and gazed thoughtfully at the direction the wind was blowing from.
The dense layers of clouds were blown to the very center of the sky by the strong wind, the dappled flickering sunlight was hidden under the clouds, and the sky and the earth darkened in an instant.
Survivor Base of the Dawn.
The tall, lanky man sat restlessly inside the sentry post.
He had also heard some rumours about the changes at the top of Base of the Dawn, about Xie Shili’s disappearance and the new leader’s takeover. At the beginning, although people didn’t say anything, most of the survivors still felt relieved and grateful. They preferred to go back to peaceful life from before the apocalypse within the safe city walls, rather than being constantly whipped with a sense of crisis and driven outside the walls to expand the scope of the safe zone. However, when the era of mutant zombies predicted by Xie Shili came, no one could laugh anymore.
After several extremely tragic battles, Xie Shili’s previous strategy was quietly restored.
Some people questioned the strangeness of Xie Shili’s disappearance, but they were quickly silenced.
In this era, it was not uncommon for one or two people to disappear.
Soon, the doubts disappeared.
Times are tough, being alive was challenging enough and one bothered to get justice for a dead person.
However, the person that everyone thought of deceased appeared in front of him alive.
Four hours ago, Xie Shili, the former founder of Base of the Dawn, top level ability user with dual abilities, entered through the door he was guarding.
The tall and thin man was restless and kept turning his head to look at the wall frequently.
But it was quiet inside, as if nothing had changed, and it was impossible to see the undercurrents in the base from over the wall.
A strong wind blew from the other side of the valley.
As the sun overhead was covered by clouds, everything darkened.
At this moment, the man took a deep breath, then frowned tightly.
The whistling wind was mixed with a faint rancid smell. Although most people got used to the smell as it was very common in the apocalypse, it was still rare in the safe area where humans gather.
It might have blown from afar.
The man didn’t take it to heart.
At this moment, he saw a pale young man walking towards the base.
The man regained his energy and asked,
“Name?”
The young man just glanced at him expressionlessly, and walked straight into the base without slowing down his pace.
What the hell? How dare he force his way?
The tall thin man was angered. Not only did he not open the door, but he even slammed at the warning bell at the door heavily. Hearing the bell, the team of supernatural users being stationed by the city wall skilfully gathered towards the city gate.
Ge Xiu stared at the group of supernatural beings standing in front of him, hesitating.
Should he just kill them directly?
Although the wall in front of him was made of hard metal, in his opinion, it was extremely vulnerable, and he could easily break through the encirclement.
Ge Xiu quickly rejected this idea in his mind.
It’s not the time yet.
Although he couldn’t clearly sum up what he had perceived, Ge Xiu had a faint understanding in his heart——
There were too many zombies this time, even with other high-level zombies as leaders, so the tens of thousands of zombies would no longer be in a brainless mass, but work like a huge machine with a central control core. It means that his zombie suppression may no longer be as effective as before. If he wanted to enter the group of zombies, it would be necessary to have other beings to contain the huge number of zombies.
He shouldn’t weaken the fighting power of human beings at this time.
However, it’s okay to give a little warning.
Ge Xiu turned his head to look at the man sitting in the guard post and walked towards him calmly.
——This was a movable guard post placed at the foot of the city wall. The exterior was made of reinforced metal. In the event of a crisis, he could easily return to the city through the simple passage at the back.
The man’s complexion changed drastically. He saw the other’s cold gray eyes, subconsciously tightened his heart, and leaned towards the corner of the guard post.
There was a protective layer on it, so he should be safe…
“Zhiiiii.”
A piercing metallic sound rang in his ears.
The man stared dumbfoundedly at the seemingly frail young man in front of him, while the other party was tearing apart the special metal on the outer layer of the guard post without changing his expression. The metal that was said to be able to block the power-type mutant zombies was like a piece of water-soaked paper ball in the other party’s hands, torn apart without any trouble,
“You… what are you doing?”
The man’s voice changed a few octaves in fear.
“I’m warning you…”
Before he could finish speaking, the young man leaned over and grabbed his collar.
The man subconsciously grabbed the other’s wrist, but the moment his palm touched the opponent’s skin, his whole body shivered— it was too cold.
It was as cold as a dead body, or a stone without temperature.
But in the next second, the man’s brain blanked out, and he couldn’t think about anything anymore:
“Ahhh AHHhhhhhhhh AHHHHHH—————!!!!!”
He was thrown onto the city wall in the accompaniment of his ear-piercing screams.
Gosho looked away.
He had chosen this location early on. The place where the human landed was a pile of debris that could buffer his fall. Although arm or leg, maybe a few ribs could be broken, but at least his life was safe.
Things happened so fast that the people in the ability users team couldn’t even react, and everything was already settled.
They carefully observed the young man in front of them.
The visitor was not good news.
And based on the strength he showed before, they were afraid he will be very difficult to deal with.
When the two sides were in a stalemate, the young man suddenly frowned and turned to look at the other end of the valley.
Without warning, he turned around and walked into the distance.
The team of supernatural users was slightly taken aback.
They didn’t expect that the other party would give up the fight at the critical moment and choose to leave directly. Just as they were looking at each other in puzzlement, they heard the ear-piercing shouts from the man who had just been thrown on the city wall above their heads: “Zom… Zombie! Tide!!”
On the city wall.
The tall and thin man limped on one leg, he stretched out his hand to cover his seriously aching bones. His face was pale as paper and his pupils were slightly dilated due to fright, as he stared at the end of the valley in the distance.
A dense black flood of zombies was rushing towards the base, with no end in sight. The zombies were marching in close proximity, seeing this terrifying tide people couldn’t help but feel chills down their spines.
The dark clouds overhead had completely covered the sun, the sunlight was completely swallowed up by the gloomy sky and the dense heavy clouds were hanging low, making it hard to breathe.
The man fell to the ground with a thud, trembling uncontrollably.
It’s over… It’s over…
The first zombie tide appeared a month and a half ago, and the base in City B on the east was destroyed in that zombie wave, leaving no survivors.
Immediately afterwards, there was a second time, and then a third time.
Every time, a flood of zombies would engulf a base, every time ability users would desperately resist and fight. But still with every time, a base would end up completely destroyed and the safe zone for human activities would shrink by a little more. Survivors of the zombie tide revealed that the zombie tide was completely different from the usual zombie groups, they seemed to have a purpose and organisation and they were not as easy to be attracted by the sounds and noises made from other directions as the wandering zombie masses, they would even take the initiative to attack people with supernatural powers, eliminating the main spark of hope of the human beings— some researchers believe that the zombie tide had a core at its center, responsible for organisation.
However, so far as they knew, there was no strong evidence to prove this speculation.
In any case, the attack of the zombie tide often meant the decline and destruction of a base.
The man got up from the ground tremblingly, stumbled and ran towards the city, all he wanted was to escape from this place that was bound to be destroyed.
Information about the zombie tide spread rapidly in the base.
The people were panicked and all order was thrown into chaos.
The air was filled with fear, everyone was scrambling to try to leave through the back door left behind the base, but just as they were about to squeeze out of the escape route carrying their belongings, the road in front of them was suddenly engulfed by a raging fire, blocking escape.
The person who rushed to the front was scared and backed away, trying to extinguish the sparks left on their body in a panic, but the flames on their clothes instantly disappeared on its own as soon as they left the passage.
“Plop.”
A bloody head was thrown on the open ground, rolling towards people’s feet.
People backed away, and there was a terrified gasp from the crowd.
——they recognized it as the head of their current base leader.
“The management is a mess and the guards are lax.”
The man’s deep and calm voice sounded from above their heads: “You got the news of the zombies coming when they were already at the base’s doorstep— Is this how Base of the Dawn changed after I left?”
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice.
Under the heavy clouds, a man with a stern face was watching them from above, his powerful aura was so heavy that it was almost impossible to breathe.
Everyone stared at him in astonishment,
Xie Shili…?
It was really Xie Shili!
A wave of whispers swept through the crowd, everyone’s face was filled with disbelief, as if they were seeing a ghost that shouldn’t exist in the world.
Xie Shili lowered his eyes and stared at the panic-stricken people with children and families below him, and sneered,
“Like a plate of scattered sand.”
He moved his fingers slightly, and the flames followed his instructions like an obedient pet, and a passage opened in the middle.
Xie Shili ordered coldly:
“Fifth and sixth ability users’ team, lead to evacuation women and children, the old, weak, sick and disabled.”
“Yes.” The team leader subconsciously agreed.
“The seventh team of supernatural users, organize all ordinary people capable of fighting, go up to the city wall with weapons, and restrain the zombies.”
“Yes!”
“The rest of supernatural user, come out of the city with me to create time for evacuation.”
“Yes!!!”
There was a tsunami-like response from the crowd.
They were still scampering to the exit just now, and the eyes of those who wanted to escape were lit up with newfound fire. They frantically stared at Xie Shili, who had miraculously come back to life, as if they had finally found their backbone and their savoir—all of his subordinates, old and new, carried out his orders smoothly, very naturally, as it should be, as if he had never left.
outside the city.
Ge Xiu quietly watched the dark tide of zombies in the distance.
A pair of gray eyes gleamed with inhuman ruthlessness and the bloodthirsty instinct roared in his bones, tearing down all the shackles ferociously.
Burning desire burned in his eyes.
Eager to bite and to fight.
Ge Xiu could smell it, an extremely alluring and powerful smell came from the center of the zombie group.
From somewhere came the call of instinct.
——Devour it.
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