Chapter 199

Chapter 199: Zombie Siege 2

Gu Ning spoke in a deep voice, “All machine gunners, get ready.”

The zombie horde finally emerged from the darkness. Those staggering, lifeless corpses slowly came into view, like a black tide pressing in from all directions toward the base.

Thousands of zombies walked out of the darkness into the light, an endless stream.

On the wall, only Gu Ning, Xiang Xu, and the mute boy could see into the darkness. Gu Ning remained calm, but Xiang Xu and the mute boy had already turned pale.

The number of zombies stirred up was far more than they had imagined. Gu Ning even suspected that all the zombies from the Capital City were rushing toward them.

Even the zombies already exposed in the light numbered over ten thousand, and those still in the darkness continued to pour into the light…

The machine gunners still hadn’t received Gu Ning’s order to fire.

There were already thousands in sight, and who knew how many more were out there?

This thought sent chills down the spines of everyone on the wall.

The wall was eerily silent.

Below the wall, it was also silent. They could hear the footsteps of the zombies outside, the sound of countless bodies pressing against each other. How many zombies would it take to make such a noise?

Gu Ning glanced back at the brightly lit base. If the zombies broke through, Oasis Base would suffer the same fate as Zhongnan Base. How many people could she save this time? She turned her gaze back to the zombie horde now at the base of the wall. Her expression returned to its usual calm and determination. There was no retreat; they could only fight to the death.

“Machine gunners, ready!”

“Fire!”

Gunfire once again echoed across the base!

At the same time, grenades were thrown in parabolic arcs. There was no need to aim; the ground below was teeming with zombies. Anywhere the grenades landed, they would blow apart a group of zombies. However, the cleared area was quickly filled again by the zombies behind, stepping over the shattered remains of their fallen comrades, continuing to surge forward.

Ordinary zombies had no thoughts or fear, driven only by their instinct to feed. They crowded forward, the front lines pierced by the thorns on the vines, yet feeling no pain.

“Special Ability users, attack!”

In an instant, fireballs streaked across the sky like comets, their fiery tails trailing behind, before crashing into the zombie horde, instantly igniting a massive blaze.

Water orbs rose into the air, bursting open like a torrential downpour. A thunder orb followed, and the sound of crackling electricity filled the air as zombie bodies exploded, their moisture evaporating, leaving behind only charred remains.

Wind blades, riding the night breeze, sliced through the zombie horde like scythes of death, their sharp edges mercilessly harvesting zombie heads.

An ice spike plummeted from the sky, embedding itself into the ground. Cold air instantly spread out from the spike, freezing the joints of all zombies within a fifty-meter radius, slowing their movements to a crawl.

The zombies were densely packed, and the Special Ability attacks were wide-ranging, quickly clearing out large areas. But in the blink of an eye, those areas were filled again by new zombies. The horde seemed endless, as if they could never be fully eradicated.

“Daozhang, focus on clearing the zombies at the main gate!” Gu Ning ordered. The zombies there had already started bashing against the gate.

“Understood!” Jia Daozhang acknowledged, sending down several ice spikes that froze a large group of zombies at the gate. Without needing to be told, Cheng Ming redirected his wind blades toward the area, quickly clearing a twenty-square-meter space.

“Speed, Strength, and Metal users, follow me down!” Gu Ning shouted.

She led by example, grabbing a vine and leaping down.

As she landed, several vines burst from the ground, piercing through the front lines of zombies, their momentum unbroken, continuing to push forward! They skewered over a dozen zombies before flinging them to the sides, sweeping through the horde! By then, Fang Fa and his team of over forty Speed users had landed and charged into the nearest zombies.

The Strength and Metal users also arrived.

They wielded bayonets over a meter long, capable of stabbing or slashing.

Shi Tou, now a third-tier Strength user, held a bayonet in each hand, stabbing through the heads of two zombies. Instead of pulling the blades out, he pushed forward, skewering three zombies on each bayonet before finally withdrawing them. He then turned to the next group of zombies. Ordinary zombies couldn’t get close to him. He swung his bayonets horizontally, blocking the zombies, then pushed with all his might, toppling a pile of them. He stepped forward, crushing a zombie’s head under his foot.

Metal users were impervious to blades and bullets. They were one of the few Special Ability users who didn’t need to practice controlling their powers but required physical training and combat skills. They feared no zombie bites and were all skilled in close combat, often diving deep into the horde with impressive results.

However, their presence was like throwing a large piece of meat into a lake full of piranhas. The nearby zombies went into a frenzy, surging toward them.

The pressure on the group, which had been relatively light just moments ago, suddenly skyrocketed!

Gu Ning shouted into her mic, “Daozhang, hold them off!”

“Understood!”

Jia Daozhang quickly directed the Special Ability users on the wall to relieve the pressure on Gu Ning and her team.

Gu Ning no longer cared about conserving her energy. Vines burst from the ground, charging straight into the zombie horde!

In a very short time, they managed to clear a fifty-meter radius within the densely packed zombie tide!

Gu Ning stomped her right foot heavily, and several vines erupted from the ground beside her, intertwining to form an incredibly sturdy barrier, extending forward and forcibly creating a two-meter-wide path! Gu Ning, wielding two blades, fought her way back and forth along this path.

From the wall, it looked as if they had torn a gaping hole through the zombie horde!

Gu Ning roared, “Third Brother! Open the gate! Send out a battalion!”

“Understood!”

Third Brother calmly acknowledged, then turned to the soldiers below, “Open the gate! First Regiment, First Battalion, fall in! Engage!”

The soldiers guarding the gate quickly removed the three iron bolts and slowly opened the heavy iron doors.

The soldiers of the First Battalion stood at attention.

The battalion commander stepped forward, shouting, “Men of the First Battalion, follow me!”

“Yes!”

The three hundred soldiers of the First Battalion quickly fell in and jogged toward the gate.

Though they had heard the zombies’ roars from inside the base, the sight of the endless horde outside the gate still filled them with uncontrollable fear.

The young battalion commander’s voice trembled but remained firm as he roared, “Brothers, kill!” He raised his gun and opened fire on the zombie horde!

All the soldiers cast aside their fear, their blood boiling once more. Not a single one looked back at the slowly closing gate. They all charged toward the zombies, shouting, “Kill!”

More and more soldiers poured out of the gate. First a battalion, then a regiment, and now two full regiments!

As they tore a larger gap in the zombie tide, casualties began to mount. The wounded were carried back to the base.

New soldiers rushed forward to fill the gaps. When their bullets ran out, they switched to melee weapons—bayonets, machetes, daggers, and axes.

The Special Ability users had no idea how many Crystal Cores they had consumed to replenish their energy. There was no time for natural recovery; they could only keep shoving Cores into their mouths. When they couldn’t go on, they sat down for a few minutes to rest before standing up to fight again.

Four regiments were now on the ground. The first regiment to engage had been rotated back to the base to resupply and rest. This was all the strength they had.

How many zombies had she killed with her own blade? At least eight hundred, if not a thousand. Combined with her Special Ability attacks, the number was probably over two thousand. Even someone as strong as Gu Ning could feel her hands trembling slightly when she paused. Her blade no longer sliced through zombie skulls with ease; there was a slight resistance. It wasn’t that the zombies’ heads had hardened, but her strength was fading. She took two steps back, breathing heavily, her grip on the blade trembling. She looked around. They had cleared a large area, with piles of zombie corpses everywhere, but the horde seemed no smaller. Apart from the newly arrived Fourth and Fifth Regiments, who were still in their prime, everyone else was starting to struggle. But they couldn’t retreat now. If they did, the gap they had torn open would be filled again by the zombies, and reopening it would be no easy task.

The more troublesome zombies were the evolved ones hidden among the ordinary zombies. They would suddenly emerge from the horde, striking unsuspecting soldiers! Then there were the smaller zombie beasts, lurking at the zombies’ feet, making them hard to defend against. As time passed, even the Special Ability users began to suffer casualties.

“Ah!” Shi Tou cried out in pain, but he reacted quickly, stomping on the tail of the zombie rat that had bitten him and crushing it with his other foot.

“Shi Tou! Are you okay?!” Fang Fa pulled his blade from a zombie’s head and asked urgently.

Shi Tou glanced at the zombies still surging toward them, then gave Fang Fa his signature goofy grin, “I’m fine! Just scared by that rat! I already killed it.”

“Good, be careful,” Fang Fa sighed in relief.

As Fang Fa turned away, Shi Tou pulled up his pants slightly to inspect the bite. There were two deep tooth marks. The base had no antidote for the zombie beast virus. Even if he went back, he might just be waiting to die. Better to stay here and die on the battlefield, alongside his comrades.

Just as he was about to charge back into the fray, someone grabbed him and yanked up his pant leg, exposing the bite marks. Shi Tou was stunned, “Gu, Gu Ning, you…”

Gu Ning glared at him coldly but ultimately just waved over the medics who were standing by, “Take him back to the base! Tell Gao Yue that if the second antidote isn’t ready yet, cut off his leg to save his life!”

Shi Tou insisted, “Gu Ning! I want to stay and kill zombies!”

“There will be plenty of zombies for you to kill once you’re healed!” Gu Ning’s face was terrifyingly cold, her suppressed rage evident. She turned to the medics and barked, “What are you waiting for? Get him back now!”

Neither Shi Tou nor the medics had ever seen Gu Ning so angry. Though she was usually cold and distant, she had never lost her temper before. Now, with her rage barely contained, her face icy, covered in blood and filth, she looked like a bloodthirsty demon. They all froze, and before the medics could move, Shi Tou quickly lay down on the stretcher.

“What happened to Shi Tou?” Fang Fa asked, seeing him being carried away.

“He was bitten by a zombie rat,” Gu Ning said grimly.

Fang Fa thought of Shi Tou’s earlier smile and wanted to say something, but in the end, he remained silent.

Two hours had passed since the zombie siege began. People around them kept falling, only to be carried away. Those scratched by ordinary zombies were given an antidote shot and sent back to the front lines with their blades. Only the seriously wounded, those in critical condition, or those already dead were taken back to the base.

They had already suffered so many casualties, and they had killed less than a tenth of the zombies. As they grew weaker, the number of casualties would only increase. It wasn’t hard to imagine that even if they killed all the zombies here, the base would pay a heavy price.

The young, vibrant faces were now filled with despair and fear. They had been killed by zombies, but it was the blood-stained hands of certain people in the Capital City who had pushed them into the horde. None of this should have happened. Those people, for their own vendettas and interests, had gambled with the lives of hundreds of thousands.

Gu Ning gazed toward the Capital City, her icy eyes filled with undisguised hatred.

These people owed Oasis Base a blood debt, and as long as Gu Ning lived, she would make sure it was repaid.