Chapter 81 Mountain of Corpses

The industrial park is an irregular pentagon in shape, with two main entrances in the southeast direction. The main entrance is for the Peace Base, and the smaller one is for the Spark Base.

As night fell, the hunt began.

According to the superhumans' observations, zombies are less active at night and are more sensitive to light and sound. Each team, including Jiang Rong's, searched for advantageous terrain along their respective routes to set traps that would attract zombies.

Jiang Rong and her team were assigned to an area with many pharmaceutical factories. They set a trap in the large square in front of one of the factories. The team's superhumans drove slowly along the road next to the factory, each with a loudspeaker mounted on its roof. This method worked well; soon, the zombies, hearing the horn, staggered out towards the sound.

Chu Qiang, driving his pickup truck, frowned as he looked in the rearview mirror at the zombies desperately chasing after his car. When he saw the zombies' hideous faces, his face turned pale. "My God..."

Fortunately, the zombies have only been active in the industrial park so far. If they were everywhere in the world, ordinary people would have no chance of survival. The thought that these zombies were all ordinary people in life made Chu Qiang's face even uglier. "I'd rather be burned after I die than become like this."

Jiang Rong's voice came through the headset, "Stop dawdling, quickly lead the zombies towards the trap."

Perhaps the entrance they were responsible for was too far from the residential area; explosions were already heard from the direction of other teams, and their traps hadn't caught a single zombie yet.

Soon after, the first wave of zombies appeared in everyone's night vision goggles. When they first saw the zombies on the big screen, everyone had a surreal feeling, as if they were watching a science fiction movie.

But when they faced the horde of zombies head-on, the grotesque faces and the stench of decay gave them a tremendous visual and olfactory shock. For a moment, several of the superhumans in the group turned pale and turned away. Even though they were used to seeing the dead, they felt a severe sense of unease upon seeing the zombies.

The zombies staggered, making incomprehensible noises, as they followed the loudspeaker toward the trap.

The first wave of zombies numbered about five or six hundred. Once the main force entered the encirclement, Guan Shao detonated the explosives buried in the trap. Several loud explosions followed, and a bright flash erupted in front of the pharmaceutical factory. Most of the zombies that had stepped into the trap were caught in the blast wave; after the explosions subsided, only burning remains remained on the ground.

Zombies feel no pain or fear. Upon seeing the firelight, instead of retreating, they moved closer to it. This is when the superhumans had to step in.

Elementalists don't need to come into direct contact with zombies; they can simply stand on the rooftop and unleash their powers to sever the heads of zombies.

In contrast, those with enhanced abilities are at a disadvantage. Guns are useless against zombies, so they have to switch to melee weapons and charge into the zombie horde to personally harvest the zombies. At this time, broadswords and hammers are particularly popular. Chu Qiang and his group, armed with weapons, charged into the zombie horde and could easily take down several zombies with a single swing.

Fearing that the enhancement-type ability users might get hurt, the logistics-type ability users in the team kept a close eye on their movements. If anything seemed amiss, the other teammates would immediately come to their aid.

Most of Jiang Rong's team members were professional soldiers, and their teamwork was excellent and their speed was astonishing. With a powerful weapon like Xiao Guaiguai on the team, the first wave of zombies was wiped out in no time.

As per Jiang Rong's usual procedure, the group needed to clean up the battlefield. Xiao Guaiguai was responsible for gathering the zombies together, and after the fire-type ability users burned the corpses, the earth-type ability users buried them. Everyone was already familiar with this process, and the area around the traps was quickly cleared away.

Jiang Jinhu asked in bewilderment, "What the hell? I don't think zombies are that powerful?"

Wang Cheng was diligently sharpening his slightly warped knife on the whetstone. "Maybe it's because we have fewer zombies here? If tens of thousands came, we wouldn't be able to handle them so easily." Besides, if zombies were really that weak, how could they possibly trap so many superhumans?

Hearing this, Jiang Rong agreed, "The New Humans and the people of the Imperial Power have shared the main pressure. The number of zombies on their side far exceeds ours. Everyone, hurry up and clear out the zombies in the vicinity as soon as possible, and rush to the residential area to support the other bases."

*

At midnight, according to the previous battle plan, the superhumans from various bases should have been meeting in the large square in the residential area. However, the new human superhumans were trapped in an office building four kilometers away from the large square, and as time ticked by, their expressions grew increasingly grim.

As the two largest bases in this operation, the New Humans and the Superhumans of the Imperial Power were under immense pressure. They were facing hundreds of thousands of zombies in the residential area. Although a single Superhuman facing zombies was not particularly frightening, even the most powerful Superhuman could not possibly wipe out hundreds or thousands of zombies at the same time.

After several hours of intense exertion, most of them were exhausted. They had used up all the crystal cores they carried. Listening to the roars of the zombies outside, a terrifying thought arose in the minds of the superhumans: would they be strangled by the zombies?

They came to exterminate zombies, so how did things turn out like this? Aren't they the chosen ones? Among them are those with supernatural abilities who can manipulate natural elements, and those with enhanced abilities. Why are so many supernatural beings no match for zombies that act only on instinct?

The entire team was in a slump. An Ran peeked out the curtains at the scene below. The firelight outside illuminated her pale face, and in the firelight, a steady stream of zombies continued to gather. Judging by the situation, it wouldn't be long before the obstacles they had set up downstairs were breached by the zombies.

After lowering the curtain, An Ran looked around with a dim expression. "Any news from other bases or other teams?"

The superhuman guarding the radio shook his head helplessly. "No." Ever since they entered the residential area, their radio had lost all outside signals, and naturally, they had lost contact with other bases.

An Ran pursed her lips. "Everyone, hurry up and recover your strength. I'll try to lure the zombies away in a bit, and you can use that opportunity to break through. Remember, don't linger in battle. If you see any other superhumans from other bases, tell them to retreat immediately."

This was a miscalculation on her part. She originally thought that a thousand or so superhumans would have no problem dealing with more than two hundred thousand zombies. But after trying it, she discovered that even superhumans would be no match for such a massive number of zombies.

Upon hearing An Ran's words, the superhumans at the New Human Base paled in shock: "Captain An, this won't do! We're a team, we'll go together!" "Right! Let's rest a little longer, then we'll break through together!"

An Ran took a deep breath and raised her hand to calm everyone down. "I'm sure you've all felt it too. Our strength has been depleted too quickly since we entered the residential area. Now is not the time to be reckless. Everyone must conserve their strength and try to get out alive."

The zombie screams outside the window grew louder, and at the same time, everyone heard a gurgling sound. The sound grew closer, and the building beneath their feet trembled slightly with it.

An Ran's expression changed, and she quickly darted to the window and lifted the curtain. One glance was enough to reveal a puzzled look: "This is..."

Two enormous shadows were rolling towards the road directly opposite the office building window. By the dim firelight, An Ran could vaguely make out that they were two spheres. These two spheres were nearly four meters in diameter, and their surfaces were covered with a layer of zombies. As the two spheres moved side by side, the zombies blocking the road were crushed to the ground.

The sound of bones breaking was crisp and clear; in the blink of an eye, hundreds of zombies had been crushed into flattened pancakes. The zombies swarmed towards the sphere, their rotting hands reaching out towards it. What awaited them was not delicious food, but merciless crushing.

As the two spheres rolled near the office building, they shook, shedding a swarm of zombies that had been clinging to them and revealing their true forms. In the firelight, the sphere on the left was nearly three meters in diameter, its red vines covered in sharp thorns. The sphere on the right was a black and yellow cactus, looking quite menacing.

An Ran's pupils contracted sharply. Bloodthirsty vines and cacti? How could there be such terrifying mutated plants in a residential area?

In the firelight, the bright red bloodthirsty vines and the blackish-yellow cacti stood out starkly; every thorn on them had once pierced through zombies. As they shed their burdens, the bloodthirsty vines unfurled.

As the vines stretched out, the heads of zombies near the office building were torn off. The ferocious zombies were utterly powerless against the bloodthirsty vines.

In the blink of an eye, the ground was covered with a thick layer of zombies, and the bloodthirsty vines gathered the severed heads of the zombies together. There were thousands upon thousands of zombies on the entire street, and in no time, the zombie corpses had piled up into a mountain of corpses almost as tall as an office building.

Then the cactus finally moved, wobbling as it rolled towards the top of the hill. The zombie's body wasn't flat, so the cactus rolled very slowly, and just as it was about to fall, a vine would reach out and catch it.

The superhumans in the office building turned pale. "Captain An, are these two mutated plants using this place as a nest? Are they going to use the zombie corpses as nutrients?"

No wonder the superhumans say that; plants love fertilizer. Although they don't know where these two mutated plants came from, they're already acting like they're ruling the mountain. If they don't leave soon, they probably won't be able to.

An Ran didn't speak; she wanted to leave too. But how? The other three sides of the building were teeming with zombies, yet two mutated plants had appeared on the side free of them. No wonder so many superhumans had perished here before; even if they had escaped the zombies, they couldn't have avoided these two mutated plants…

Just as An Ran and the others were ashen-faced, the two mutated plants that had slaughtered an entire street stopped atop the zombie mountain. They huddled together like two large eggs, and with a sudden tremor from the Bloodthirsty Vines, everyone gasped in horror: "What is it going to do?!"

After shaking twice, the Bloodthirsty Vine produced a tablet from somewhere. Upon opening the tablet, a cheerful melody echoed outside the office building: "Meow meow meow meow~"

The superhumans at the New Human Base were dumbfounded. "What... is going on?" "It sounds like an anime theme song? My son loves watching that anime." "You mean, the mutated plants are watching anime?"

Just as the superhumans were whispering among themselves, several small red dots flashed outside the window. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be a drone. Seeing the drone, An Ran drew back the curtains and opened the window.

The drone flew into the office building, and Jiang Rong's handsome face appeared on the small display screen on its body. "Hello, Captain An, this is Jiang Rong from Xinghuo Base. We have arrived at the southeast direction of the residential area as agreed."

Hearing Jiang Rong's voice, An Ran felt relieved. "Team Leader Jiang, how is your team doing? What are the casualties? Did you encounter any other bases along the way?"

Jiang Rong said gently, "Our team is fine, there were no casualties. We have reunited with the superhumans from the Peace Base, and we are preparing to enter the residential area together."

After struggling for a moment, An Ran said frankly, "Captain Jiang, you don't need to come in. There are too many zombies in the residential area, and we are already trapped here. We have also discovered two very terrifying mutated plants. You will only be throwing your lives away if you come in."

Although they desperately hoped someone could save them, their current situation meant that even the King of Heaven himself couldn't get them out. Why let innocent people risk their lives?

Jiang Rong smiled slightly: "Captain An, are you referring to the Bloodthirsty Vine and the cactus? Don't worry about them, they are the mascots of our Spark Base. If needed, they can help everyone get out of trouble."

An Ran was shocked. She turned her head to look at the two balls outside the window, happily watching cartoons. These two terrifying mutated plants were actually mascots?

Author's Note:

The old cat is back; those past few days have been so painful.

I couldn't sleep for the past few days, and my head was throbbing so badly it felt like it was going to explode. Every night I would sit on the bed wrapped in a blanket, waiting for dawn.

I didn't have a fever a couple of days ago, just a headache. Old Cat thought it was just a common cold, so he took a shower.

I woke up in the middle of the night in pain, and then I started to have a fever.

If you're infected, remember, don't take a shower, don't take a shower, don't take a shower until you've fully recovered.

COVID-19 is different from the common cold; I still have a low-grade fever.

I feel like my writing lacks emotion.