Chapter 402: Defending the City
As the group talked, they promptly followed their squad leaders down along the ice wall. The last ones left, Chen Xiang and his team, asked, “Base Commander, where is our team going?”
“You’ll be divided into four teams based on power levels. Go to four outposts to help soldiers prevent zombie-powered attacks.”
“Yes.” Chen Xiang quickly assigned his team and left in different directions.
Just as Lu Weiyi finished speaking, the walkie-talkie crackled with Ning Yuan’s voice. “Base Commander, those who arrived are the Meng Hu Squad. I accidentally killed Meng Hu. The rest want to help us fight zombies. Should I let them join us or kill them outright?”
“Let them hold the frontline. If they survive, let them go.” As he spoke, powered users below had already engaged closely with the pursuing zombies.
The not-so-high city walls were covered with various powers flying about. Artillery fire echoed in the distance; zombies kept falling, while more zombies trampled over their fallen comrades and advanced.
It seemed they were facing an early zombie siege.
Rocket launchers occasionally took down approaching zombies, but still more kept coming. Night fell quickly, and the scene beyond became pitch black.
Lu Weiyi could only send out spiritual threads to monitor the zombies’ movement and numbers.
“Xiao Yi? How’s the situation?” Zhuang Mingxu’s hoarse voice came over. Lu Weiyi turned to see him wrapped head to toe, barely recognizable except by his voice.
“There are still zombies coming. I can handle it. It’s just too cold. You should go back.”
“It’s fine. The regular base troops are holding too. I’ve been training these months; I’m no worse than them,” Zhuang Mingxu said. He took a telescope from the side and glanced; a hundred meters away, only a mass of heads was visible, and beyond that was total darkness.
“Darkness isn’t friendly to us,” Lu Weiyi said. Zombies rely on smell and sound to find direction, but powered users mostly depend on sight.
“I had them train in advance to use their powers in all parts of their bodies. I don’t know how long they can hold.” At life-and-death moments, Lu Weiyi wouldn’t hide such things, but not everyone had the single-minded dedication of his own squad members to relentless training.
“Xu Yidian, there are injured powered users below. Go down to help and speed up driving the zombie energy out of their bodies.” Lu Weiyi scanned the available powered users behind him and named two, “Li Dongsheng and Wu Yue, each protect one. They must not get hurt.”
The four were sent down to the ice wall while Lu Weiyi used the walkie-talkie to instruct squad leaders to transport injured members to the rear.
“Are there enough spare crystal cores? The people below need resupply,” Lu Weiyi asked Zhuang Mingxu as he quickly threw a small green crystal to collect the mountain of zombie crystal cores into storage space.
“If all these powered users rely on us, we won’t last four rounds,” Zhuang Mingxu said, adjusting his telescope. “I told them earlier to use their own crystal cores in emergencies. Then, depending on their power level, we’ll supply some purified cores. They agreed.”
“Are more zombies still coming?”
“Yes. No idea what’s happening behind us.” They had already held for nearly two hours. No one knew when the zombie horde would end, and whether their stockpiles of crystal cores in the squads would suffice.
Lu Weiyi thought about this and glanced at Zhuang Mingxu, who was still observing the situation below.
“You can see them?”
“Telescope plus night vision. Within a certain range, no problem.” Zhuang Mingxu noticed Lu Weiyi’s expression and hesitated, “You want to go down and help?”
“Yeah.”
“Not yet. Let those who can’t hold on swap with Chen Xiang’s team. When most reach their limit, you make your move.” Zhuang Mingxu switched his walkie-talkie to another channel.
“Baimiao, report.”
“Received, Brother Mingxu. What do you need me to do?”
“Lead the team to make some strong ginger-sugar water and easy-to-eat food. Have it sent directly to the rear rest area later.”
“Received. Will deliver in half an hour.”
With Zhuang Mingxu’s help, Lu Weiyi only needed to keep an eye on the rear and occasionally use the little green branch to assist the people below. Everyone looked like they were struggling desperately, but there was no major danger.
Until Lu Weiyi detected the presence of a dozen or so vehicles within the range of his spiritual thread.
“Cars are driving this way,” Lu Weiyi said just as the vehicles threw something ahead and then split into two groups, heading off in different directions to the left and right.
The night was too dark to make out exactly what they threw, but since the zombies abandoned the chase after them and instead rushed toward here, Lu Weiyi knew it definitely wasn’t a good sign.
“Looking for death,” Lu Weiyi gritted his teeth. “Someone’s brought more zombies. I’m going to stop them.”
As he spoke, he used the little green branch to bind the sentries, then jumped down himself. Upon landing, he charged toward the zombie horde. A surging SS-level spiritual force spread out from him, quickly clearing a path straight to the land as he moved.
“Who’s at command? What’s happening? Why do I see…” Ning Yuan’s breathless voice came through the radio.
“It’s me, Zhuang Mingxu. There’s an emergency ahead. Base Commander Lu is going to handle it. I’m taking over command now. All squads continue their original orders,” Zhuang Mingxu quickly responded.
“How many zombies are left up front? B-level powered users can’t hold much longer,” Li Zhuang asked.
Holding an infrared telescope, Zhuang Mingxu could vaguely see the situation ahead. Not as detailed as powered users, but it was clearly a mass of moving heads.
“It’ll take some time. B-level powered users withdraw to rest for half an hour,” Zhuang Mingxu said, then switched the channel. “Full fire support. Don’t let any zombies approach the coast.”
Artillery fire never stopped. Lu Weiyi was already a kilometer away. Around him, zombies were kept in a vacuum circle by his powers. Cars that tried to detour had their tires shredded, and the powered users inside lost any chance to escape.
Thousands of people attacked the zombies while also moving closer toward Lu Weiyi.
“I am Jiang Ning, base commander of the Pingjin base. More than half the zombies in Pingjin have been attracted here. If we don’t unite and rely on ourselves alone, no one can survive.”
“So…” Lu Weiyi looked at the medium-build, slightly plump man in front of him, unsure if this was really Jiang Ning.
Rumor had it Jiang Ning hated ordinary people because his wife and children were ordinary people. In the early days of the apocalypse, he cared for them.
But his powers were weak then, so he spent all day gathering food outside. Meanwhile, his wife used the food he brought back to feed a pretty boy, and even brainwashed their children into thinking it was okay—because Lu had no time for them, but that man could be with them daily.
After catching them in the act and angrily slapping his wife, his two children, who he never scolded harshly before, stabbed him metaphorically by calling him a mutated monster, an alien.
Powered users had strong vitality. Jiang Ning survived and did not take revenge. He went alone to Pingjin to establish the base, and from then on refused to accept any ordinary people.
As they said, powers had divided them into two races. Conflicts were inevitable, so he simply crushed everything at birth.
“How many zombies did you bring?” Lu Weiyi asked.
Jiang Ning didn’t answer, and the powered users with him exchanged silent looks.
Lu Weiyi turned to leave when a woman said, “At least ten thousand. We… we only wanted to…”
“You just wanted to lure zombies here so our base people die for you,” Lu Weiyi finished for her.
The woman said nothing.
Jiang Ning said, “What do you want? I have crystal cores, food, supplies—you name it.”
“Ransom: 10,000 crystal cores for A-level powered users, 8,000 for B-level,” Lu Weiyi said.
Jiang Ning glanced at the people who had barely survived with him and gritted his teeth. “…Deal.”
“Cooperate. You take responsibility for zombies from one to five o’clock. If any zombies cross the line, it’s your problem.”
“If we pay ransom, doesn’t that mean we get to enter the city?” someone asked.
“What are you thinking? If you don’t solve the zombies you brought, everyone dies here,” Lu Weiyi said, commanding the little green branch to circle a 200-meter perimeter around him. Approaching zombies were absorbed of their crystal cores and fell, quickly forming a zombie wall.
“What about your ransom?”
“Of course, it’s the ransom after you survive,” Lu Weiyi shamelessly said, looking at Jiang Ning. “You don’t think the Pingjin base’s good deeds will be erased just because zombies attacked, do you?”
“As long as people live, debts must be repaid.”
Lu Weiyi finished speaking, then led the way back to the base. At the same time, his spiritual force and the little green branch extended outward. Zombies on the ice were crushed under the pressure. Explosions echoed nonstop, and soon only scattered limbs remained.
“All from one to five o’clock direction, retreat and rest. Execute now,” Lu Weiyi turned back to look and nodded toward the squads returning in the distance.
Jiang Ning’s face was dark as he stared at Lu Weiyi. Finally, he waved at those behind him and led the way forward.
“Captain, what’s the situation?” Xu Sa asked.
“We have… help,” Jiang Ning’s team hadn’t gone far, and Lu Weiyi didn’t feel like explaining more.
“Let the Meng Hu Squad allies rest together,” Zhuang Mingxu’s voice came over the radio. Then Lu Weiyi’s personal radio rang. “Xiao Yi, how’s your power? Can you suppress the area from nine to eleven o’clock for a while, so they can rotate rest?”
Finally, he asked, “How many zombies are left? Do you have a sense of it?”
“There are still zombies approaching within my spiritual range. At least several hours more. Prepare for a long fight. I’m collecting some zombie crystal cores now,” Lu Weiyi replied as he walked toward Li Zhuang and the others, continuously gathering the crystal cores from the fallen zombies.
