Chapter Eighty-Six: Ruthless Confrontation

Rebuilding civilization without a trace—every human being fears death. Gao Tianhao was no exception. In fact, his dread was even more acute. To have survived the XR virus outbreak in this apocalyptic world was already an extraordinary stroke of luck. This fortune made the survivors cherish their lives all the more, and Gao Tianhao was no different. Indeed, he feared death profoundly, and had always strived to keep its shadow at bay.

Although he appeared brave and always accompanied the hunting convoy on their forays, only Gao Tianhao himself knew that it was all for show—a calculated performance meant to win the allegiance of the entire hunting team. Deep inside, he loathed venturing out with the team, braving the endless hordes of the undead.

Now, the zombies, like a ticking time bomb, had detonated right beside him. The relentless tide of walking corpses filled him with bone-deep terror. They were thirty kilometers away from base, and his heavy road-clearing machine was positioned in the lead segment of the convoy. While vehicles fore and aft shielded them from the zombies ahead and behind, the threat from both sides was something even his machine had to face directly.

“Damn it…” Gone was his usual veneer of refinement; Gao Tianhao erupted in a crazed roar. “Why couldn’t you give me just a little more time? Why? Why…”

Yes, if only he had been given two more days—no, even a single day—he would never have needed to risk his life hunting with the convoy again. He could have sat safely at the base, free from danger. According to his plan, in two days’ time, he would have used Sun Yinren’s challenge to Yang Xingjun as an opportunity to leverage his control over the ten-thousand-strong hunting team and formally become the fourth power within the management of the base. With such a formidable, elite force at his command, he could have distanced himself from the threat of the undead forever.

But man proposes and heaven disposes. Who could have foreseen this unfathomable event today, with the zombies behaving as if orchestrated, besieging the convoy with uncanny coordination?

Could the undead be controlled? If Gao Tianhao had heard such a notion before, he would’ve dismissed it with a sneer—utter nonsense, a joke even a three-year-old could see through. Everyone knew the nature of zombies: how could they possibly be controlled?

But now, Gao Tianhao had no time to ponder such questions. The proof was before his very eyes. Cold sweat drenched his clothes in an instant. The escalating rattle of machine-gun fire outside snapped him awake.

“Hold the line, every last one of you! All vehicles, move forward—anyone who lets the line break, I swear I'll see you dead myself!”

In this predicament, Gao Tianhao no longer cared about appearances. Facing such a vast horde, it was uncertain whether the convoy could break through at all; to emerge with even a tenth of their strength would be a miracle. In the face of such odds, what did his reputation matter?

Had the road been as open as the old highways, the convoy could have outrun the zombies on either side, escaping at full speed. But this time was different. In just a few short minutes, the road ahead was packed solid with the undead, not a gap to be seen. Countless more zombies were struggling to cram onto the road, and under such circumstances, the lead vehicles had no hope of plowing through the densely packed mass.

The convoy hesitated for just a moment, and the surging zombies overwhelmed them.

A scream shattered the din.

At the very front, a King Hummer was swarmed by a sea of zombies. This type of vehicle, lacking an enclosed cabin, could not hold off the undead even for a second.

“Get the hell away!” The men atop the King Hummer had completely lost their nerve. The heavy machine gun welded to the roof spat bullets in a desperate frenzy, the ammo belt jerking like a living thing. Spent shells rained down as zombies near the vehicle were mowed down in swathes.

But there were simply too many. The machine gun couldn’t cover every angle. Soon, a zombie reached inside with its only remaining hand, raking its claws across a terrified man’s flesh, tearing away a chunk of bloody meat.

“No… damn it, damn it…” The man, his voice nearly breaking into sobs, went mad with terror. Everyone knew: a scratch, even the tiniest wound, meant death or worse. If you were lucky enough not to be devoured on the spot, you’d become a zombie yourself within minutes.

Driven insane by desperation, the wounded man leapt from the King Hummer, hurling himself at the nearest zombie. He clamped its head with both hands and, heedless of the rotting stench, bit and tore with his teeth. In the blink of an eye, the zombie’s scalp was ripped open and half its brain gouged out.

The moment its brain was destroyed, the zombie stiffened, its movements slowing, then ceasing altogether. But the valiant man, too, was quickly engulfed by the swarm. Dozens of hands tore at his body, rending flesh from bone amid his screams. Even after he fell, more zombies, like sharks drawn by blood, descended on him, ripping away bloody chunks with their jaws.

“Sanzi…”

His companions atop the King Hummer saw the carnage, but with zombies pressing in from every side, there was nothing they could do. From the instant Sanzi was wounded, his fate was sealed. Faced with an army of the dead and a vehicle brought to a standstill, they all knew their own end was near. Sanzi had merely gone before them.

The wild gunfire did nothing to halt the advance. Soon, the King Hummer was buried beneath a tide of zombies, their bodies piling atop it, layer upon layer, until the shrieks faded to silence. Blood trickled from beneath the vehicle, pooling on the ruined highway, until only the grisly sounds of feeding remained.

This scene was but one of countless tragedies within the convoy. Their force, over eight thousand strong, stood no chance against the overwhelming numbers of the undead.

Only now did Gao Tianhao understand why their hunting expeditions had always succeeded so easily. Every last one had been a carefully laid trap, designed to fatten them up for this slaughter. A twisted grin spread across his face as he slumped onto the smart textile sofa, dragging out a heavy laptop from the lowest shelf. With practiced haste, he plugged it into a socket in the lounge and set his fingers flying across the keyboard.

“No one will stop Gao Tianhao from returning to base. Not even a million zombies can bar my way…”