Chapter 3 - Life and Death Unpredictable

In the High School Division of TP High School, in a classroom where desks and chairs lay scattered haphazardly, a pair of students were conducting a peculiar experiment in the corner.

“Put some effort into it, didn’t you eat?” said a bespectacled girl with a look of mild annoyance.

The boy with bangs shrugged his shoulders helplessly, “I’m exhausted. Besides, we’ve been doing this for almost half an hour after sneaking out from them.”

“Hmph, Liu Yonglin, you’re useless. I’ll do it myself!” “Shen Wei, I give up, fine. Just be careful. If we’re discovered by zombies, we’re done for.”

“If you’re scared, you can leave. I still need to finish this experiment.” With that, the girl named Shen Wei took a piece of chalk from the nearby desk, peeked her head out of the window to check the position of a zombie wandering nearby, and then threw the chalk at it with force. It was a perfect throw, hitting the zombie on the head, but the zombie remained unresponsive, continuing to meander aimlessly.

“See, the zombie didn’t react when hit. This suggests they’ve lost their sense of touch,” Shen Wei said, adjusting her glasses. “Next is their sense of hearing.”

Shen Wei took another piece of chalk and threw it vigorously next to the zombie that was still wandering leisurely.

“Snap!”

The chalk broke into several pieces with a small collision sound, and the zombie turned its head to look at the chalk on the ground. Upon realizing it wasn’t something edible, it let out a few growls before resuming its aimless wandering.

“It seems they react to sound. As for their sense of smell, they are likely very sensitive to the scent of blood. We don’t have the conditions to test thermal sensing at the moment. That’s enough experimenting for now; let’s head back to the infirmary.”

TP High School Rooftop

“Ye Xiang, Qimeng, are you two ready?” I asked as I secured a steel spike to my hand with strips torn from my clothes.

“Ready,” Ling Qimeng nodded, holding a wooden stick embedded with nails that I found in a pile of junk. A steel spike was still a bit too heavy for a girl. Meanwhile, Ye Xiang was swinging his steel spike with a laugh, “I’ve been ready for a while. Soon enough, I’ll be able to go on a zombie-killing spree, hahaha.”

Ignoring the perplexed looks from Ling Qimeng and me, Ye Xiang continued, “Why are you two giving me such weird looks? You’re making me feel self-conscious.” Is Ye Xiang a bit deranged? Looks like I’ll need to keep my distance from him in the future.

I composed myself and said, “Ye Xiang, let’s skip the killing spree.”

“Why? Isn’t it simple to take them out? Just smash their heads, right?” Ye Xiang replied, confused.

“I know what Tiankuang means,” Ling Qimeng interjected. “You know, to kill a zombie, we need to destroy its head. But the problem is, at our current skill level, we can’t manage headshots while moving. So, to smash their heads, we’d have to stop, and in this environment, once we pause, we’re easily surrounded. Plus, those zombies are incredibly strong-if they catch us, it’s game over.”

Indeed, if caught in a narrow hallway, trapped by zombies on both sides, there’s really no escape. On the first floor, we might still climb walls, but on the upper floors, we might as well leap to end it all quickly.

I checked my phone, which was about to shut down from low battery, to confirm the time: 12:20. There’s still 40 minutes until the agreed meeting time. Under normal circumstances, it takes less than two minutes to walk from the rooftop to the infirmary. But now, we must cautiously avoid the wandering zombies; it might take over half an hour to reach safely. This path is now filled with too many unknowns, and these are the challenges we’re about to face.

“Hurry up, Ye Xiang, stop fooling around,” I shouted, using the steel spike to push away a zombie trying to get too close and calling out to Ye Xiang, who was still playing with the zombies.

There weren’t a lot of zombies in the school corridors. It seemed that when the outbreak happened, most people desperately ran downstairs. But it turns out the zombies didn’t stay in one place; instead, they seemed to prefer wandering around rather than sitting idly in one spot.

So, occasionally, large groups of zombies would pass near us. In such cases, we’d try to take a detour or hide in an empty classroom, shutting the door and waiting for the “parade” to pass before continuing. A journey that would normally take five minutes ended up taking nearly 30 minutes!

Fortunately, we had reached the third floor; the infirmary was within reach. But we couldn’t afford to let our guard down. In this environment, any lapse in vigilance could be disastrous. Even a corpse that seemed completely dead could unexpectedly bite when you walked past. And one bite, if it draws blood, is enough to turn you into one of them. So relaxing our guard just because we’re close to our destination would be the dumbest move.

“Alright, that zombie group outside is gone,” Ye Xiang said, peeking out the window. But just as we were about to leave the classroom, we heard gunshots from the direction of the Grade Office!

“Gunfire?! Could it be a rescue?!” The three of us exchanged glances and quickly ran toward the Grade Office. Ye Xiang and I couldn’t help but smile. We’ve had enough of this hellhole! If it’s the Tian Chao rescue team, we might not be far from being rescued! At least a team of professionals would protect us!

But I didn’t notice that Ling Qimeng showed no joy, and even seemed a bit disappointed.

The Grade Office was only a few dozen meters from our classroom. But upon arriving, we found that the office was surrounded by about a dozen zombies. Inside weren’t rescuers as we had hoped, but Liu Yonglin and Shen Wei. Liu Yonglin was fumbling to load nails into a modified gas nail gun, while Shen Wei held a mini drill gun, her whole body trembling. It was clear these tools were taken from the science lab.

Though it wasn’t the rescue we imagined, at least they were allies. With some teamwork, we should manage to take down these zombies, but we had to act quickly. The sound of the nail gun was simply too loud, and the zombies from nearby floors were already converging on us.

“Damn it!” Liu Yonglin cursed after accurately shooting a zombie in the head with the nail gun. “I’m almost out of nails! Are we really going to die here? I’m not done living yet. Haha, Shen Wei, it’s your fault I’m in this mess.”

Despite his words, Liu Yonglin instinctively positioned himself in front of Shen Wei, whose trembling subsided slightly with this small gesture. She pouted defiantly, “I didn’t force you to come.”

“Bang!” Another zombie’s head exploded as Liu Yonglin fired, but he realized the nail gun was now out of ammo. After futilely pulling the trigger a few more times with no response, he had to accept the grim reality-he was out of “bullets.”

“Damn it, I’ll fight you all!” Liu Yonglin shouted, tossing the nail gun aside. He grabbed a fallen table leg from the ground and charged at the zombies. Meanwhile, Shen Wei, clutching the mini drill gun, was cowering in a corner of the wall. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to escape the zombies’ attention.

A zombie resembling a teacher, still in a tattered suit and with bits of flesh hanging from its mouth, lurched towards her. It emitted a low, guttural growl from its throat.

“No, don’t come any closer,” Shen Wei trembled both physically and vocally in the presence of the disfigured zombie. Yet it continued to approach her.

Liu Yonglin was overwhelmed, surrounded by a group of zombies himself. We were too far away to help Shen Wei directly. Just as the zombie’s mouth neared her, Shen Wei abruptly raised the drill gun and thrust it into the zombie’s head. “I told you not to come closer, ah-!”

The drill gun shattered the zombie’s skull, driving the bit deep into its brain, turning its insides into mush. The zombie’s skin distorted grotesquely with the powerful rotation, white and red matter spraying out of the hole. Shen Wei was drenched in it, but she didn’t stop. She screamed maniacally, “Die! Die! Die!” as she drove the drill gun deeper into the zombie’s skull. We were all momentarily stunned-this woman was fierce when pushed over the edge.

Shaking off the brief shock, we quickly divided tasks. “Ye Xiang, handle the two on the left. Qimeng, control the ones on the right. I’ll go help Liu Yonglin,” I instructed. Then I grabbed my steel spike and charged at the zombies surrounding Liu Yonglin. Ever since I was bitten and passed out, then woke up, I felt a strange change in my body. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was different, but I sensed improvements in my reflexes, stamina, speed, and strength. However, this was my first time facing off against so many zombies directly.

Life and death, unpredictable!

I still hadn’t noticed the faint smile lingering at the corners of Ling Qimeng’s mouth.

At the same time, in FZ-HOPE City, at the Armed Forces Department.

The perimeter of the Armed Forces Department was already surrounded by hordes of zombies. This area served as the temporary base’s second line of defense, but now it was engulfed by a surge of zombies, resembling a deadly tide made of corpses. Blood splattered everywhere, and the soldiers’ screams were drowned out by the zombies’ excited growls. The gunfire from the walls of the Armed Forces Department was relentless, with shell casings piling up on the ground, and gore splattering the walls. Yet, even this barrage couldn’t halt the oncoming zombie tide.

“Commander Yi, you must lead the main force back to the third defense line! I’ll stay behind with Class 4 to cover the retreat!” shouted a middle-aged man with a long scar across his face, after shooting a zombie in the head with his pistol as it tried to approach.

“No! Vice Director Zhou, you go first! I’ll cover! Ah! Vice Director Zhou, watch out behind you!” “Ah-!”

A soldier, covered in blood and dirt, stumbled into the hastily set-up command room, too hurried to even give a proper report, and shouted, “Director Li! It’s bad, the outer three lines of defense have already been breached by the zombies! If this continues, they’ll break through in half an hour! And Vice Director Zhou, he’s… You should evacuate by helicopter!”

The middle-aged man addressed as Director Li showed a brief but intense constriction of his pupils, but his demeanor quickly returned to calm. With his hands clasped behind his back, he turned and strolled to the window, gazing at the winter sky that offered no warmth. After a moment of silence, he waved his steady hand and quietly said, “I understand. You may leave.”

“But Director!”

“Leave.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thud.”

As the door to the temporary command room was shut by the soldier, the room fell into a dead silence, although Director Li, Li Feng, couldn’t quiet his mind at all.

Outside, countless zombies had already surrounded the Armed Forces Department. The defensive lines were down to the last one. Even though they had deployed every helicopter available around FZ-HOPE City, less than half of the over ten thousand survivors at the Armed Forces Department had been evacuated. It was impossible to evacuate everyone even if they sped up, especially with over a thousand comrades-brother-like soldiers-still here! How could he possibly leave them behind?

“Zhou, oh Zhou, you ended up leaving before me after all. Now you’re at peace, but who am I supposed to discuss these headaches with?”

Li Feng let out a self-mocking laugh, then growled in frustration, “What the hell is going on with those zombies outside?! In this situation, the higher-ups still refuse to send reinforcements! Just throwing weapons and ammo at me is useless! What I need are people!”

Despite his outburst, Li Feng knew that no amount of swearing would change the situation. The only plan now was to hold the zombies at the last line of defense to buy time for the remaining survivors to evacuate.

After all, Li Feng was a director. Taking a deep drag of his cigarette, he harshly stubbed it out in the already overflowing ashtray, then turned and exited the command room: “Xiao Li! Relay my orders, activate the electric net! Tighten the defense! Divide the remaining personnel into three teams. Teams one and two will take turns holding off the zombies’ attack. Bring out all the heavy weapons airdropped over the past two days, it’s no time to hold back! Team three is responsible for quickly evacuating the survivors! Xiao Wang! Lead the guard squad and join me on the defense line!”

Having said this, he drew the pistol from his waistband and headed to the main entrance of the Armed Forces Department with his men. As the commander, he needed to be there now; losing morale would mean the zombies would soon overrun their position!

Standing atop the wall, Li Feng saw that the obstacles meant to slow the zombies’ advance at the outermost first defense line had long been overwhelmed by the tide of undead. The zombies cared nothing for those barriers.

The massive barricades at the second defense line, which required seven or eight adults to move and were designed to exhaust them, were overturned and even shattered under the persistent assault of just three or four zombies! Those so-called barricades couldn’t stop or even slow down the relentless advance of these overwhelmingly powerful zombies! Although under Li Feng’s command, the soldiers managed to extend the distance between the zombies and the defense to over 80 meters, they could see chunks of flesh flying as bullets hit the zombies! Yet they kept advancing, relentlessly pushing closer!

Li Feng was the first to shoulder a rocket launcher and fire at the zombie horde-a German Panzerfaust! But the damned rocket pierced straight through its soft target, blowing the obstacles behind it to bits!

Li Feng watched as one of the zombies was hit squarely by his rocket. He knew he had shattered its spine because the zombie bent over like a fallen leaf. Yet its legs kept moving, and it continued to close in tightly on the defense line!

Hand grenades! The soldiers hurled their grenades!

But these took down only a small fraction, and even those few moments later got back up! The grenades relied on shrapnel to kill, but these were zombies! Tiny shrapnel was utterly useless against them!

The zombies were fearless! The distance closed again, down to just 50 meters. Li Feng ordered the activation of the Vector SS77 mounted on the walls! They even brought out the MG3, nicknamed the “cloth shredder”! Yet their effectiveness was disappointingly limited!

Li Feng could even see bits of organs and shattered bone flying off their backs, limbs seeming to be sawed off their bodies, but the impact was negligible! Most bullets striking zombies felt like hitting a pillow! Some of the living dead were still crawling determinedly toward the defense line even without their lower halves!

The heavy machine guns they deployed were designed to unleash a barrage of bullets, meaning it might take hundreds, even thousands of rounds before one randomly hit the bullseye-the zombie’s head!

This tactic was at least able to slightly hinder the zombies’ advance.

At this moment, Li Feng noticed one fortunate and one unfortunate situation: The temporary base had a sufficient ammunition supply. Unfortunately, the number of zombies was rapidly increasing! Their gunfire was luring countless zombies, not just from around the Armed Forces Department, but from nearly the entire FZ-HOPE City! The thick scent of blood was intoxicating their bloodlust!

Meat grinder! This was the only phrase that could describe such a battle!

Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Li Feng shouted, “Xiao Li! How is the evacuation of the survivors going?! How many are left?”

Xiao Li, also sweating profusely, replied, “We’ve evacuated 1,500 people, but at least 3,000 remain! Director, there are too many people! We can’t possibly evacuate everyone in such a short time! Director, you should leave first!”

“We have to evacuate them all! Asking me to abandon my own troops and flee, that’s something Li Feng will never do!”

Indeed, the presence of leadership had a tremendous impact. Inspired by Li Feng, the soldiers fought back with all their might. Even so, the distance between the humans and zombies continued to narrow, shrinking from 80 meters to less than 30 in a matter of minutes-the zombie tide had advanced 50 meters!

The soldiers could clearly see the terrifying faces of these demons! The battle had reached a fever pitch, with a fearless tsunami of zombies on one side and human defenders fighting desperately for survival on the other!

Life and death, unpredictable!