Chapter 130: Luring and Ambushing

"Damn it, who came up with this piece of junk?" Xie Han shook his head violently. That sharp, high-decibel noise was still ringing, endless and persistent. Even for the sentence he shouted in anger, the soldiers nearby could only see his mouth moving. "What a failure. We've had a few lessons already, yet I still always forget to bring earplugs. I'm such an idiot." He snatched the player from the soldier's hand, but after pressing stop, his ears were still emitting a buzzing sound.

After a grueling two or three minutes, his ears finally showed some signs of life. Xie Han asked gloomily, "Who made this player? How did I not know such a thing could emit such a loud noise?" Indeed, in Xie Han's imagination, the player would at most play a few segments of explosion sounds; who could have guessed that such a small device would have such immense power? It was comparable to the roar of a jet fighter flying overhead.

The soldier was in an even worse state than Xie Han. The ringing in his ears allowed him to hear Xie Han's question only vaguely. He scratched the steel helmet on his head and replied, "Reporting, sir, this just came down from above; we haven't used it before either." He pointed at his ears with a sheepish smile, the meaning clear: he hadn't known the device's true power, otherwise he would have been even worse off than the others.

Xie Han didn't mean to blame him. The higher the power of the player, the more zombies it could attract, concentrating them in one place. The soldiers' helmets had built-in ear protection, so having learned their lesson, they quickly activated the function. Only Xie Han, lacking a helmet, had to tear a few strips of cloth from his military jacket and stuff them into his ears before waving for the soldier to continue playing that terrifying, piercing sound.

"I must find out who the bastard is that came up with this. Not even a warning or instructions? This is clearly meant to give people a heart attack," Xie Han thought with some resentment. He took down the multi-barreled heavy machine gun from his back, drew his standard-issue military pistol, and sat brazenly at the roof's entrance. He figured that after several minutes, the zombies must already be climbing the stairs toward the roof. Xie Han didn't believe the broken furniture and iron bars he had used to block the way could hold them back for long.

Xie Han's guess was correct. As he sat firmly at the entrance, through the cover of the screeching noise, one could hear the faint sounds of impact and tearing coming from the makeshift barricade. The broken furniture was being shredded by the zombies' sharp claws; after three years of decay, these items were hardly sturdy. Even the iron bars wedged among them only served to slow the zombies' progress slightly.

Soon, a large hole was torn through the center of a dining table, revealing a hideous zombie head. Unfortunately for it, the moment that gruesome head appeared, Xie Han's pistol "banged." The bullet, before it could even accelerate fully, drilled straight into the zombie's skull. The spinning projectile ripped a fist-sized chunk of rotten flesh out of the back of its head.

The zombie collapsed instantly. Through the hole that had been torn open, one could see the staircase packed densely with zombies. The death of this one did not cause even a ripple among the others; it simply became a stumbling block under their feet.

Seeing that these obstacles could no longer hold the zombies back, Xie Han waved his hand. The remaining nine soldiers lined up, crouching at the entrance. They opened fire as soon as their submachine guns were aimed at the wreckage below.

Wood chips flew. Under the intense barrage, the broken furniture was pulverized; sparks flew as bullets collided with the iron bars. The zombies hiding behind were struck one by one. Although most of the bullets hit their bodies, the sheer ferocity and density of the fire easily punched holes through their rotting torsos. After enduring a few more hits, their limbs were severed, and they fell one after another.

In Xie Han's view, one didn't necessarily have to hit the heads of ordinary zombies. Just breaking their arms and legs, or blowing them into pieces, was enough; what use could their heads have if they were detached? Furthermore, in this narrow stairwell, only four or five zombies could squeeze through side-by-side. Once they were eliminated, their bodies would pile up, eventually blocking the staircase and sealing the passage entirely.

Given the frenzied nature of the zombies, a thick mountain of corpses quickly formed. The zombies knew only to advance, climbing over layers of bodies. But as soon as they exposed their heads, they were struck by bullets. This futile action only made the pile grow higher and higher, until eventually, there were no gaps left for the zombies to pass through. After ten minutes, the entire stairwell was completely sealed.

Watching the layers of zombies stacked up, even though he was accustomed to the disgust of the undead, Xie Han still felt his stomach churn. A foul, fishy stench rose from his gut and surged up his throat; he barely managed to keep from vomiting.

Across the pile of corpses, some zombies that had only had their limbs blown off—some with heads and torsos, others with heads and legs—were still struggling. The weight of the piled bodies pressed down on them. Maimed as they were, they had no way to push the corpses off. Looking at it, countless zombie heads were twisting, and limbs were flailing; at a glance, it looked like a writhing mass of disgusting maggots, which was blood-curdling.

"Use something to cover this entrance..." Unable to endure the sight any longer, Xie Han ordered the soldiers to find some tattered, rotted plastic tarps from the roof to cover the heap of corpses. Otherwise, he couldn't guarantee how much longer he could hold back from vomiting while facing this hellish scene.

The piercing sound continued. After more than ten minutes, the zombies in the vicinity had almost all been drawn in. The streets next to this residential building were very wide, but there were simply too many zombies nearby. They were packed like sardines in a can, nearly bursting the space open, layer upon layer.

Xie Han stood on the seven-story roof and looked down. He saw the zombies climbing up, layer by layer. In these dozen minutes, they had managed to stack themselves a story high—a staircase built of zombies. The zombies on the sides were frantically climbing this ladder, only to be covered by those behind them. Layer upon layer, they stretched out into the street, clearly intending to use this method to climb up to the seven-story roof.

If one said that twenty or thirty thousand zombies could build a seven-story ladder of corpses, it would be impossible. But now, Xie Han did not doubt the possibility, because all he could see was a sea of zombies; their numbers were simply incalculable. The piercing sound was enough to penetrate the entire East Suburbs, and the number attracted was likely over a million. This place was not far from the manufacturing plant; if so many zombies were to gather, they would definitely surround the plant along with everything else.

Realizing this, Xie Han quickly ordered the soldier to stop the noise and shouted, "Quick, we're leaving! Use these cables." The soldiers' gear in this post-apocalyptic world used soft steel belts with many loops and retractable hooks, allowing them to traverse obstacles when necessary. Undoubtedly, this function was now a powerful weapon for escape. Under Xie Han's lead, they pulled out the retractable hooks and attached them to the power cables.

Xie Han took the lead. However, he didn't use the hooks; instead, he relied on his arm strength to grip the cables and swung toward the center of the East Suburbs. The suburban cable system wasn't entirely buried underground; some parts were exposed. The power grid between cities had long since failed, and the cables were insulated, so there was no need to worry about electrocution.

This seemingly safe maneuver was only truly understood once experienced. First, this was seven stories up, nearly thirty-five meters high. Furthermore, if one looked down even slightly, the sight of countless zombies—swarming, gaping their mouths, and reaching out with their hands as if waiting for someone above to fall and become food—was enough to make the faint-hearted go weak in the knees and lose their grip.

Those who could become soldiers were the elites among the elites in the apocalypse, yet three of the ten soldiers Xie Han brought went weak in the limbs. If not for the retractable hooks securing them to the cables, Xie Han highly doubted they would have made it, unlike himself, who was moving purely by hand.

After a grueling five or six minutes, Xie Han finally swung his way along the cables to the roof of another seven-story residential building. By the time all ten soldiers reached the roof, Xie Han could still see their hands and feet trembling slightly. Xie Han gently patted one of the soldiers on the shoulder and said with a smile, "It's alright, what is there to be afraid of? Have we not killed enough zombies? Next time, just pretend they're air."

Being only one building away clearly wasn't enough distance. Xie Han let the ten soldiers rest for a moment before leading them to hook onto the cables again, continuing the incredibly perilous traverse.

Only after crossing four or five such buildings did they finally put a decent distance between themselves and the manufacturing plant. Seeing the exhausted soldiers, Xie Han had to suppress his desire to move further away and ordered, "Everyone, block the stairwell here, then rest." Compared to the previous building, this rooftop was much cleaner, with almost nothing to use. In the end, they could only pry up the heat-insulating cement blocks from the roof and throw them at the stairwell entrance.

After finishing the task, the ten soldiers sat down on the rooftop in a heap at Xie Han's command, panting heavily. In Xie Han's view, they still had physical strength; it was just the sheer mental pressure that made them feel so exhausted. He didn't blame them. Even as soldiers, they were ultimately human. One could say that the eleven of them were isolated at the epicenter of a million-strong zombie tide; who wouldn't feel immense mental pressure?

Xie Han took out his military radio, which used the field base command vehicle as its relay station. Its maximum communication range was five kilometers from the vehicle. The radio was powerful, featuring video, short-range positioning, and data transmission. Unfortunately, only the command vehicle was equipped with this system. Although Xie Han had ordered the Apocalypse Company to crack the system, progress was extremely slow, and there was no hope of widespread application anytime soon.

"Qiangzi, how is it on your end?" After sending a connection request, the interior of the command vehicle appeared on the screen. Xu Qiang stood sternly by the command chair, issuing orders. Seeing Xie Han's face on the large screen, his expression softened, and he said, "Team Leader, everything is fine. The vast majority of the zombies have swarmed toward your direction. They haven't discovered our presence in the manufacturing plant."

Hearing this, Xie Han felt relieved and said, "Tell them to hurry as much as possible. There are too many zombies; I'm afraid we can't hold them off for long." Xu Qiang looked troubled, "The production lines in the plant are massive, and moving them is very difficult. It's already been half an hour, and we've only managed to load a section of one line onto a truck. Team Leader, if you can't hold them, we can withdraw first; there will be other opportunities to come back for them."

Xie Han shook his head, "No need, just move faster. As long as there are no R3-level zombies, holding them for two or three hours shouldn't be a problem." He didn't want to hinder Xu Qiang's work, so after hanging up, he tucked the radio back into his storage space away from the soldiers' eyes and shouted, "Everyone, conserve your ammo. Our mission is to hold these zombies off for at least three hours."

The attraction of the zombies couldn't be interrupted for too long. After resting for only three or four minutes, Xie Han ordered, "Soldiers, resume playing the noise to draw them in. The rest of you, four guard the stairs, and five go to the edge of the roof. Keep an eye out for any high-threat zombies; if you spot any, notify me immediately."

The area around this building was also packed with zombies, and as the piercing sound resumed, even more were drawn in. The zombies' movement speed wasn't fast, but after half an hour of attraction, at least several hundred thousand had gathered in this area.

Repeating the process, the zombies pouring out of the stairwell were shot down one by one, quickly piling up and blocking the entrance. From start to finish, Xie Han didn't fire a single shot, as using his heavy multi-barreled machine gun here would be too much of a waste.

The zombies below, just as before, piled up layer by layer toward the seven-story roof. Xie Han was powerless against this; although they could switch buildings to lose them, he dared not venture deeper, as the deeper they went, the more dangerous and difficult the withdrawal would be. He didn't want to gamble with their lives.

The arrival of an R2 was faster than Xie Han expected. In less than five minutes, a soldier guarding the west side screamed, "R2, it's an R2..." Without waiting for Xie Han's order, he began firing freely at the R2 below.

"Everyone, stick to your assigned sides," Xie Han shouted, stopping the other soldiers who wanted to help. He ran to the west side, and indeed, among the zombies below, an R2 was moving rapidly through the crowd, climbing toward the summit of the corpse mountain. The soldier who spotted it had high accuracy, yet not a single bullet hit the R2's head. The submachine gun's power was limited, and hitting the R2's body caused minimal damage; it kept moving.

Xie Han drew his pistol and fired a shot, punching a finger-wide bullet hole into the R2's head. Watching the R2 collapse slowly and get covered by the surging zombies, Xie Han felt a sense of dread. Based on his knowledge of R2s, they usually acted as vanguard units. Their appearance often signaled that the terrifying R3 zombies were about to show up.

"Everyone, stay alert! Watch the zombies below carefully; don't let them sneak up," Xie Han roared, venting his anxiety. R3s left too deep an impression on him; every time an R3 appeared, it brought disaster.

The ten soldiers also became tense. Having taken courses on zombie experience, they knew what the appearance of an R2 meant. Xie Han's shout made them all nervous, gripping their submachine guns tightly and staring at the surging crowd below. They prayed that they could spot any abnormal zombies, while also hoping that these perverted R3s wouldn't show up. They just wanted to finish the mission and return to the base alive.

This tension reached its peak five minutes later with the appearance of a second R2. No one doubted that R3s would appear; they only wondered when and from where. The area was filled with dense zombies, making it very easy for an R3 to hide and approach the building. Once they got close, with their terrifying melee capabilities, no one could escape their claws.

Xie Han leaned over the edge of the railing. The zombies below were a sea of black, and he had to be extremely careful to spot a hidden R3. His heavy multi-barreled machine gun was loaded with explosive rounds, which were currently the only weapons that could make an R3 fear them. Fired from a heavy weapon, these rounds could leave a mark on the R3's incredibly tough skin, and if hit in the same spot multiple times, they could make the R3 bleed.

The atmosphere was heavy, and the sharp noise acted like a catalyst, leaving everyone on edge.

"Rat-tat-tat..." Suddenly, the sound of submachine gun fire rang out, snapping everyone's nerves to the breaking point. The ensuing shout made everyone feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.

"Breaker! It's a Breaker..." At this heart-wrenching scream, all the soldiers ignored Xie Han's orders and ran to the east side, unleashing a hail of bullets from their submachine gun barrels. Below, in the sea of zombies, a Breaker was leaping with incredible agility over the heads of the zombies. Each leap carried it several meters forward, moving through the crowd as if it were flat ground.

Soon, it reached the summit of the corpse mountain. Without even bothering to dodge the bullets, it plunged its sharp claws into the concrete wall and began climbing toward the roof at a terrifying speed, sending chunks of concrete flying.

"Stop it!" There was no need to shout; the soldiers' gunfire concentrated on the Breaker, wasting ammunition on its body.

Xie Han quickly extended his heavy multi-barreled machine gun, aiming at the climbing Breaker. His strong arms held the gun steady as the spinning barrels spewed fire. Explosive rounds detonated against the Breaker's body. The powerful impact knocked the Breaker from the fifth-story wall, sending it crashing back into the zombie horde below, where it vanished into the surging mass.

Xie Han didn't let up, his fire following it down. The terrifying explosive rounds instantly blew the zombies in that area into a mist of flesh, revealing the Breaker trying to flee.

The Breaker's defense was slightly lower than that of a Hunter. Xie Han's precise fire left bloody holes in its body. But attacks that only damaged its surface were hard to kill it with. Three holes leaking dark blood on its head were clearly the work of the explosive rounds, but unfortunately, this level of injury was still within the Breaker's tolerance.

This Breaker was strange. Under Xie Han's storm of attacks, it didn't flee. Instead, it moved frantically nearby, climbing up and being knocked down repeatedly. Even though it was severely injured, it didn't leave, as if trying to draw Xie Han's fire.

As the "click-click" sound of the machine gun running empty reached him, Xie Han's frantic heart calmed slightly. While reloading, he finally noticed the Breaker's anomaly, and a sense of impending danger crawled into his mind. Without hesitation, Xie Han lunged toward the other side, roaring, "Danger!"

"BOOM!"

A sound like the earth collapsing erupted. The six soldiers who were still firing, unable to react, were thrown high into the air, torn apart by flying concrete debris. The entire seventh-story roof was lifted and blown away by the blast, along with a large corner of the sixth and seventh floors.

In the swirling dust and concrete, Xie Han coughed violently. He grabbed the edge of the collapsed roof, dangling in the air, having no idea what had just happened.