Chapter 41 Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland 4
That shrill scream, like an invisible command, instantly ignited the entire dead city.
"roar--!"
"Ho ho—!"
A cacophony of roars echoed from all directions, as if slumbering demons had been collectively awakened. The ground began to tremble, growing louder and closer!
Zombie horde!
Zhou Jue's expression was more solemn than ever before. She didn't even need the drone's view; just by listening to the sounds, she could tell that the scale of this zombie horde was absolutely unprecedented.
[WARNING! High-intensity energy gathering detected! Zombie horde has formed! Estimated arrival time: 4 minutes 37 seconds!]
The alarm from System 001 mingled with the little girl's increasingly shrill screams, assaulting everyone's eardrums.
"Niu Niu! My Niu Niu, what's wrong with you!"
The middle-aged woman held her completely mutated child tightly in her arms, her face full of tears and disbelief. She was completely unaware that the "daughter" in her arms had her scarlet eyes staring intently at her neck, and sharp teeth were already sticking out of her mouth.
"Aunt Zhang! Let her go! She's not Niu Niu anymore!" Wang Yong's eyes were bloodshot as he raised the fire axe, wanting to step forward, but he hesitated to act rashly.
The other survivors were so frightened that they retreated repeatedly, their faces drained of color.
Zhou Jue's eyes were icy cold.
She didn't have time for any humane advice, nor did she have the energy to stage any apocalyptic sentimentality.
4 minutes and 37 seconds.
This is the countdown to their deaths.
"Let go."
Zhou Jue's voice was transmitted through a voice changer, devoid of any emotion.
The middle-aged woman seemed not to hear her and continued to cry out, "No! She's my daughter! She's just sick! Don't you dare hurt her!"
Zhou Jue moved.
Her figure moved with ghostly speed, leaving almost an afterimage in her wake.
The frantic mother felt a blur before her eyes, and an irresistible force came from her arm, throwing her to the side and slamming her heavily against the water tower.
Before she could even cry out in pain, a soft "plop" sound rang in her ears.
Everything fell silent.
The piercing shriek abruptly ceased.
The whole world seemed to fall silent instantly.
The woman looked up blankly and saw that Zhou Jue was already standing next to her daughter's body, holding a specially made silenced pistol with a wisp of smoke rising from the muzzle.
A precise bullet hole appeared between the little girl's eyebrows. Her small body lay on the ground, her scarlet eyes still open, dying with unfinished business.
"Ah—! You killed my daughter! You monster!!"
The silence lasted only a second before being shattered by a woman's even more piercing scream. Like an enraged lioness, she pounced on Zhou Jue recklessly, opening her mouth to bite his arm.
Zhou Jue didn't even frown.
She casually raised her foot and kicked the woman precisely in the abdomen.
"Bang!"
The woman was thrown out like a tattered sack, rolled to the ground, curled up, coughing violently, and could no longer get up.
The entire rooftop fell silent once again.
[Ding! 'T-virus' variant (sound-induced decoy) sample detected. Collect?]
"Collect." Zhou Jue silently recited in his mind, but his hands did not stop, collecting the small corpse and head.
The remaining survivors, including Wang Yong, stared at Zhou Jue as if he were a monster. They were completely stunned by this decisive, even cold-blooded, scene.
"I'll say it again, I'm saving you, not as a charity."
Zhou Jue's cold voice came through the voice changer, devoid of any emotion.
"From this moment forward, my words are commands. Those who understand, execute them. Those who don't understand, must also execute them. Anyone who cannot do so can stay here now and face what lies ahead."
As she spoke, she raised her hand and made a few gestures on her personal terminal.
The Hummingbird drone immediately projected the real-time external images onto a relatively flat wall in the center of the rooftop.
In the clear holographic projection, tens of thousands of zombies were pouring out of every block and every building in the city. They converged into black tides, sweeping towards the hospital with a clear objective.
Densely packed, endless.
The scene was more shocking and more despairing than any horror movie.
"vomit……"
The young survivor was the first to vomit, and he leaned against the wall to vomit.
Wang Yong's face was ashen, and his legs trembled uncontrollably. Only then did he truly understand what a terrifying thing the little girl's scream had attracted.
If it weren't for the decisive action of this man in black armor... they might have been torn to shreds by now.
“We…we’ll listen to you! Miss Zhou Jue, no, boss! We’ll all listen to you!” Wang Yong was the first to speak up. He suppressed his fear and bowed deeply to Zhou Jue.
The others also seemed to wake up from their daze, nodding vigorously in agreement, no longer daring to raise any objections.
Faced with absolute fear of death, any moral blackmail or personal emotions seem so pale and powerless.
"very good."
Zhou Jue was satisfied with the result. What she needed were capable assistants, not a bunch of burdens that held her back.
She glanced at the map and building structure diagram on her personal terminal.
"Breaking through the main gate is no longer possible. The horde of zombies is coming from all directions, and we will be overwhelmed in an instant."
"Then... what do we do? Are we supposed to jump off here?" a survivor asked desperately.
"Shut up." Zhou Jue interrupted him coldly: "Come with me, go down from inside Building B, cross the sky corridor connecting the two buildings, and return to Building A. My temporary base is there, and it's safe for now."
This was the optimal route she instantly devised.
"But...the building...the building is full of zombies!"
"Do you have a better option?" Zhou Jue asked rhetorically.
The man immediately shut his mouth.
Zhou Jue stopped talking nonsense and turned to walk towards the stairwell: "Wang Yong, you are in charge of covering their retreat and keeping an eye on them. If there is any unusual movement, I will allow you to use unconventional methods."
She tossed Wang Yong a pistol and two spare magazines.
Wang Yong took the gun, his hands trembling, but his eyes hardened: "Yes, boss!"
Zhou Jue then took out some ordinary knives and distributed them to everyone.
Seeing that there was no one holding them back, he nodded, glanced at the woman still lying on the ground, ignored her, and turned to walk into the dark stairwell.
Whether she survives or not depends on her luck.
Zhou Jue activated the thermal imaging mode, and the entire world once again transformed into an image composed of different color temperatures.
"Target: Building A, third floor. Move out!"
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