Chapter 432: Reversal
“These people have survived by fighting in the wild. They’re not weak. I don’t know if the base has accounted for that. If they’re involved, and we try to withdraw, we might run into ambushes along the way.”
Lu Weiyi went quiet, scanning the space around him.
“Zhuang Mingxu had me bring the jet fighters.”
“What?”
Li Zhuang’s voice was so loud that everyone looked over. He waved it off and lowered his voice:
“Our base has jet fighters?”
“My uncle sent us two J-10s a while back. Zhuang Mingxu had the Weapons Research Center retrofit them with Purification Core weaponry. They’ve been stored in my spatial ability as a backup. I guess… this is the moment he was waiting for.”
*
“But fighter jets carry limited personnel. Did you bring other aircraft?”
“One Z-10 attack helicopter and a Little Bird. But their weapons haven’t been modified.”
“That’s enough. We’ll bring some trained military pilots back to the base. Even if there’s an ambush, they can’t touch us from the air. Let’s hold position for now, delay as long as possible. Once the base crisis is under control, we’ll return with reinforcements.”
The two agreed and began issuing commands.
Many of the current soldiers had only been trained after the apocalypse and didn’t know how to operate old-world machinery. Li Qing searched the camp and found that only he had any experience, and the only other option was Li Zhuang, who was familiar with aircraft.
*
Wu Yue ended up staying behind to hold the camp.
“I’m taking four tanks. Help Tang Bai clear a path—don’t disrupt the power balance on that side too much,” Lu Weiyi reminded.
“Don’t worry. Nothing will go wrong here,” Wu Yue assured him.
Ye Jia, who had been summoned, added seriously,
“I’ll fully support Minister Wu. Please, hold the base. My mom’s still there.”
Even though they knew the rebel leadership likely wouldn’t harm ordinary citizens, everyone realized that if things escalated, their families could be used as leverage.
Compared to people he couldn’t trust, Ye Jia chose to place his faith in Lu Weiyi.
Lu Weiyi nodded and, with members of Team Two, quietly left the temporary camp under the cover of abilities.
It wasn’t until they had completely left the zombie encirclement that they finally brought out the three aircraft. Li Qing and Li Zhuang each boarded a fighter jet, while the remaining members quickly boarded the helicopter.
“Captain, I don’t know the route.”
The pilot, Lei Jun, slowly ascended, adjusting the onboard instruments before realizing they couldn’t be used. He looked confused and said, “I’ve got no idea where to go.”
Lu Weiyi took out his phone, intending to check the newly made map, only to find that the temperature was too low—the phone wouldn’t even turn on.
“Don’t fly too high. I’ll do my best to recognize the route.”
As their group clumsily flew toward the base, inside the base…
*
On the ice wall, Gu Qingyue was leading all water-type ability users to repair the sections melted by enemy ability users from below. Zheng Jun and his soldiers kept firing downward. Cries of pain echoed from those hit, and sometimes the groans of comrades struck by enemy powers were heard.
*
On the South Island, Gu Qingji and Xiong Jie, along with pre-hidden ability users, were engaging the enemy. Two towering green plants assisted them. Green vines covered in blossoming flowers swayed among the ability users, exuding a strong fragrance. Occasionally, an enemy’s expression would suddenly go blank—then they’d be swiftly killed by another ability user.
*
On West Island, Lin Yimu and several dozen older soldiers were pretending to push a large ship. They weren’t really applying force—it was more like shouting commands with no effort. All their eyes were frequently glancing toward North Island.
*
Meanwhile, on North Island, Xu Chu and the police force had already controlled the zombie outbreak in the residential district.
But just as he finished reporting the situation, Yu Le’s manic laughter came through the walkie-talkie—and that’s when Xu Chu realized they’d been lured away, and their leadership had been captured.
North Island had now effectively become an isolated island. With a large number of enemy ability users present, Xu Chu didn’t hesitate at all—he immediately ordered his team to abandon resistance.
“Chief Xu, you’re not even going to put up a fight?”
Li Feng found this man’s pragmatism amusing.
“I’m just a normal human. Getting caught up in an ability user battle is asking to die. I’m not ready to die yet,” Xu Chu shrugged.
“Besides, no matter which side wins, surely they won’t kill all of us? With this many people?”
Li Feng didn’t respond. Even if he wanted to eliminate these freeloaders, now wasn’t the time—there would be time to settle accounts later.
“Of course not. Chief Xu, your position won’t change,” Li Feng promised with a smile, though inwardly he was frustrated. He turned to Zhuang Mingxu mockingly:
“Commander Zhuang, wasn’t it you who promoted him? Touching, isn’t it?”
Zhuang Mingxu didn’t even spare him a glance. That silent treatment made Li Feng grit his teeth, but he couldn’t act out in front of so many ability users.
Just then, someone hurried up and whispered something in Li Feng’s ear. His brows furrowed, and he turned to Yu Le.
“We can’t break through on the West Island. Take some people and go check it out?”
Yu Le shot him a sideways glance, not showing any intention of obeying.
“The Purification Core equipment and staff are on that island—supposedly there’s even a weapons development site,” Li Feng said, trying to contain his irritation and coax cooperation.
Yu Le spat out, “Trash,” then openly descended from the platform and summoned hundreds of ability users who had sided with them. He made no attempt to hide his intentions—it was practically written on his face:
“We already planned this. What can you do about it?”
Watching them leave, Li Feng handed a walkie-talkie to Zhuang Mingxu and said,
“Commander Zhuang, contact the West Island guards and tell them to surrender.”
Zhuang Mingxu reached out, glanced at it, and said, “Wrong one.”
Li Feng handed him another, but Zhuang smashed both of them to the ground with force, the shattered pieces scattering everywhere.
“You motherf—”
The ability user restraining Zhuang Mingxu cursed and instantly ignited a small flame on his hand. The fire caught on Zhuang Mingxu’s clothes and began to burn. Though the man controlled the flame’s size, it continued to scorch Zhuang’s flesh where he gripped him.
Zhuang Mingxu grunted, clearly in pain, but didn’t show it on his face.
It was Tao Tao who noticed something was wrong and shouted, “Daddy, what’s wrong?”
“Let go of my dad, you bad guy! You’re burning him!”
Tao Tao’s cries caught the attention of the surrounding ability users. Some immediately launched attacks on the man restraining Zhuang.
Caught off guard, the man had no choice but to release Zhuang Mingxu. Zhuang Mingxu collapsed to one knee, the arm that had been pinned now exposed. His sleeve had been burned through, the fabric fused into his skin.
“Daddy…”
Tao Tao reached out with his tiny hand, hesitant to touch. His eyes welled with tears.
“Does it hurt?”
Zhuang Mingxu forced a smile and shook his head.
“Li Feng, is this what you meant when you said no retaliation?”
An ability user in the crowd immediately questioned.
“We just wanted to…”
Before he could finish, Feng Chengjun, who had been quietly standing in the crowd all along, suddenly stepped onto the stage.
He shoved Li Feng aside and smiled at the crowd, unleashing S-rank power from his body, forcing nearby ability users to take a few steps back.
“Since you all want to stay neutral, it’s best if you don’t interfere,” he said.
Then he turned toward Zhuang Mingxu and deliberately stepped on Zhuang Mingxu’s knee, increasing pressure with his ability.
“Commander Zhuang, there are over ten thousand ability users outside the base. And in the city center, teams from Pingjin Base are surrounding us with zombies. You’d best not waste time. That cute child of yours…”
He reached out for Tao Tao, who dodged him skillfully, glaring warily.
“Stop.”
Zhuang Mingxu’s voice was hoarse from pain. He reached out toward Feng Chengjun.
Feng Chengjun sneered and handed him another walkie-talkie.
Zhuang Mingxu’s hand trembled as he adjusted the frequency, but before he could speak, someone came running and shouted:
“Bad news! A massive zombie horde has appeared outside—tens of thousands! They’re almost at the coastline!”
“What? I thought all the surrounding zombies were already cleared out?!”
“I don’t know, but there are tons and tons of zombies coming!”
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Mingxu’s hand paused for a moment. He glanced quietly around and spotted the signal flags raised at the perimeter sentry posts. He gave Xu Chu a subtle nod.
“How many are there?” Xu Chu suddenly asked.
“A lot—they said they can’t even see the end of them.”
“Captain Feng, shouldn’t we focus on fighting off the zombies first and protecting the base?” Xu Chu asked, then looked toward the ability users who hadn’t sided with the opposition.
“I still have family in the base. I don’t care who’s in charge—what matters is that the base survives. I don’t want to go back to the days of wandering without a home.”
“I’ve seen my family die right in front of me. I’ve watched friends get torn apart by zombies. It took everything to finally find a safe place—and I don’t want to lose it. Who’s willing to stand with me and protect the base?!”
The last four words were shouted at the top of his lungs.
His police colleagues behind him were the first to respond:
“Protect the base!”
“Protect the base…”
“Protect the base!”
More and more voices joined in, stirring up the surrounding mood.
Seizing the moment, Xu Chu waved his arm and shouted:
“Let’s head to the ice wall—there are weapons there to support us. Just like last year, let’s wipe out every last zombie!”
“Leave none alive—!”
The crowd roared their slogan and followed Xu Chu with great enthusiasm. The remaining people looked at each other in confusion, then turned their eyes toward Li Feng and his group.
“Captain… aren’t we going?”
“Yeah, what if the zombies really breach the base? I mean, it’s fine for us, but what about our families…”
“Maybe we should go fight first. Those guys have already…”
The crowd erupted in scattered voices and anxious chatter. No one noticed that Zhuang Mingxu was quietly retreating. Nearby, Du Ping calmly closed in on him. Suddenly, a burst of metal sparks exploded midair, like welding sparks—only they looked more like fireworks.
