The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH145

Chapter 145 — Information During Battle

Ever since obtaining his metal ability, this was the first time Yan Fei had truly experienced being attacked by another metal-type user.

In every previous battle, even when facing zombies with higher-level abilities than his own, he had usually eliminated them quietly through other means before they could directly confront him.

But now…

This was truly his first one-on-one encounter with a same-type opponent whose ability level surpassed his own.

Yan Fei rapidly retreated backward, but the enormous mass of metal continued relentlessly wrapping toward him.

Although Yan Fei also activated his ability to resist, all he could do was weaken the attack slightly.

Seeing the situation go bad, Zhang Su and the others immediately launched abilities toward the giant bird.

Yet shockingly—

The creature’s combat instincts seemed extraordinarily experienced.

The instant it sensed the fluctuations of their abilities, it swiftly peeled away metal from outside Luo Xun’s apartment and raised it in front of itself as a shield!

“Damn it!”

Zhang Su cursed furiously, glaring at the enormous metal turtle shell protecting the bird.

Having fought alongside Yan Fei for so long, everyone knew exactly how terrifying a metal-type user’s defensive power became when sufficient metal resources surrounded them.

The most infuriating part was:

As long as enough metal existed nearby and the user possessed sufficient mental strength, they could endlessly stack layer upon layer of metal defense.

Like impossible-to-kill cockroaches.

The more you thought about it, the more irritating it became.

“Zhang Su, Song Lingling—you two circle behind it with your abilities and harass it. Everyone else, clear the nearby zombie birds as much as possible!”

As more zombie birds gathered due to the sounds of battle, Luo Xun immediately forced himself calm.

One hand rested on Xiao Xinran’s shoulder.

“Turn this section of wall into sand and block their vision.”

Xinran nodded obediently, instantly sandifying the designated wall section. Yellow sand immediately swept outward toward the zombie birds circling overhead, disrupting them.

After confirming Zhang Su’s attacks successfully forced the bird to move its metal shield behind itself—

And after seeing Yan Fei nearly completely engulfed in metal but still managing to hold on—

Luo Xun abruptly crouched beside the little dog and pointed outside.

“Use your ability!”

He had no idea whether the little guy understood his words or intentions.

But now he could only gamble on the bond between himself and his dog.

After all, the little dog’s ability came from that enormous mutated duck they’d killed before. On a battlefield, this power clearly possessed terrifying crowd-control potential.

If they couldn’t communicate properly and direct it when needed, it would be far too wasteful.

“Everyone brace yourselves!”

Before Luo Xun even finished speaking, an overwhelming pressure suddenly descended upon both the room and every bird outside!

The people indoors fared relatively well. They’d heard Luo Xun’s warning and previously experienced the pressure firsthand. Though initially confused about where the bizarre force came from, they immediately reacted by crouching low and trying to adapt.

But the zombie birds were airborne.

The sudden gravitational pressure instantly transformed nearly every bird into free-falling projectiles dropping toward the ground.

Meanwhile, the leading metal-type zombie bird focused entirely on controlling the metal around its talons and behind itself, completely ignoring the sudden environmental change.

As it plummeted downward, its lower jaw smashed directly into the steel spike Yan Fei had earlier extended diagonally outward from the window!

The heavy impact instantly disrupted its control.

All surrounding metal crashed noisily to the ground.

The bird ended up skewered on the steel spike like roasted meat, frantically flapping its wings.

At the same moment, the metal surrounding Yan Fei violently split apart.

He stepped out with a dark expression.

For some reason, his half-length home coat billowed dramatically behind him, almost resembling Zhang Su’s wind ability.

Yan Fei strode directly to the window.

Nearby metal suddenly came alive under his control, gathering into a massive metal net around the bird still struggling on the spike.

CRUNCH.

The zombie bird was instantly crushed to death within the converging metal.

Yet Yan Fei didn’t stop there.

Under his control, every scattered metal fragment that had fallen from the sixteenth floor suddenly defied gravity, floating back upward at the same speed they’d originally fallen.

The stripped-away exterior defenses were immediately restored.

Meanwhile, Luo Xun reacted quickly and had Xinran use sand to “catch” the bird’s head as it fell once the metal shell vanished. They extracted the crystal core from inside.

Very soon, every damaged portion of the outer metal defenses had been fully repaired by Yan Fei.

He even casually restored the wall section Xinran had earlier turned into sand.

Outside, dawn had reached that darkest hour before sunrise.

Inside the room, the sudden end of the battle created an eerie silence.

Then Luo Xun suddenly stood up and let out a long breath of relief.

Still holding the crystal core Xinran had recovered, he walked over and handed it toward Yan Fei.

“Use it first.”

Use it.

Grow stronger.

Then continue fighting to protect their home.

Yan Fei turned toward him.

At the moment, the brightest thing in the room remained the little dog’s glowing titanium-alloy eyes.

Yet even so, he could still vaguely see Luo Xun’s own shining eyes in the darkness.

Yan Fei reached out—

Not for the crystal core.

Instead, he pulled Luo Xun entirely into his arms.

“I said, there are still zombie birds over here!! Can you two stop flirting for five minutes?! Someone bring me more crystal cores already!!”

Xu Mei’s furious roar exploded from the neighboring room, making everyone jump.

Ahem.

They’d all become so focused on the emergency over here that they’d forgotten the other firing slit still needed defending.

Xinran immediately ran happily toward the other room with the little dog.

Song Lingling, Li Tie, and the others followed carrying bags of crystal cores.

Only then did Yan Fei finally release a long breath.

Now that the life-threatening danger had passed, the anger he’d felt during the battle transformed into lingering fear.

Truthfully, Yan Fei wasn’t someone afraid of death.

But he feared loss.

He feared losing Luo Xun.

Feared losing the beautiful life they’d built together.

Feared never seeing their shared future again.

Accepting the crystal core Luo Xun offered once more, Yan Fei lowered his head and kissed his forehead.

“I’ll be done soon.”

He needed to grow stronger.

And beyond that…

He needed real combat experience outside the base.

Up until now, thanks to Luo Xun’s careful planning, every victory had come through teamwork.

Which was ideal.

They’d achieved maximum gains with minimal losses.

But the downside was obvious too:

Individually, none of them possessed enough experience facing deadly danger alone.

Compared to most survivors in the base, they were undoubtedly already strong.

But still—

Not strong enough.

Yan Fei retreated into a nearby room to absorb the crystal core and level up.

Outside their previous firing slit, the zombie birds had mostly been smashed to the ground by the little dog, leaving the area temporarily safe.

Meanwhile, a fresh wave of zombie birds attacked Xu Mei’s side, only for the little dog’s gravity suppression to send them crashing downward once again.

“Luo Xun! Tell the little guy to stop using its ability for now! We’re on the sixteenth floor! Even if those birds die, we can’t dig out the crystal cores down there!”

Xu Mei nearly exploded again.

Why was everyone in this team so troublesome?!

Especially Luo Xun, who was obviously distracted right now.

Luo Xun hurriedly snapped back to attention and called the little dog back, hugging it while monitoring the living room windows and simultaneously paying attention to Yan Fei’s condition.

Not long afterward, the door to Yan Fei’s room opened.

Luo Xun immediately stood up to check on him—

But at that exact moment, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

Subconsciously pulling it out to check the message, Luo Xun immediately cursed loudly.

“They actually want us to reinforce the city walls right now?!”

The entire sky above the base remained filled with zombie birds. They’d only just dealt with one wave, and another had already gathered again.

Their own situation here still wasn’t resolved—

Yet the military had sent a mandatory mission notice ordering all squads to report to the city walls within a specified time!!

“What?!”

Everyone’s eyes widened.

“Which brain-dead idiot sent that message?! They’re seriously ignoring the zombie birds covering the entire base?! If we go outside now, those birds will strip us down to bones!!”

“Forget that message. Deal with the zombie birds outside first,” Zhang Su suggested with complete disdain after glancing at Luo Xun’s phone.

“Yeah. Ignore it.”

Mandatory mission or not, were they supposed to risk their lives and rush outside because of it?

Whoever issued that order had to be brain-dead. Couldn’t they see what was happening outside?

Actually…

The people who issued the order genuinely hadn’t realized what was happening aboveground.

The sturdiest structure in the entire base was the military camp’s black fortress. And within it, the most important area wasn’t the office building visible in the center of the fortress—

It was the underground base hidden beneath layers of specially reinforced earth walls and metal protection.

Even if an earthquake collapsed everything aboveground, this underground facility might remain untouched.

The instant the zombie siege began, all high-ranking officials with real authority had already evacuated there.

After leadership issued instructions to organize this siege defense according to the same squad rotations and assignments used during the previous zombie siege, they all gathered in the conference room for meetings.

Meanwhile, the staff responsible for actually assigning wall defense duties remained working inside the same underground offices, organizing and distributing missions.

Since everyone was sealed inside highly enclosed underground offices, when zombie birds appeared aboveground, the people upstairs became completely occupied dealing with emergencies and meetings.

As a result, the staff in charge of communications and task assignments were accidentally forgotten.

Only after they’d already mass-sent the mission notifications and gone to report progress in the conference room did they finally hear:

Zombie birds had appeared over the base.

Everyone needed to focus on dealing with those monsters first.

Information gaps really were tragic beyond belief.

So less than five minutes after Luo Xun’s group received the first message, another one arrived:

The previous notification had been sent in error. All squads should prioritize clearing zombie birds within the base.

As if anyone needed to say that now.

People had already been fighting these damn birds to the death long before the correction message arrived. If they’d waited until receiving official orders to act, the daylilies would’ve gone cold already.

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