The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH148

Chapter 148 — Defending the City

The losses the base suffered from the zombie bird assault this time were truly severe.

Especially because, when the air-raid sirens first sounded, many households instinctively turned on their lights. Those lights became the primary targets for the zombie birds’ attacks.

Aside from homes like Luo Xun’s—whose outer walls had long since been reinforced with extremely sturdy metal—most buildings in the base suffered varying degrees of damage.

Those temporary structures, especially the earthen shacks built on rooftops, had already partially collapsed during the earlier snowstorms. And the few that had survived both blizzards were almost completely destroyed during this zombie bird attack.

Only after the survivors finally managed to roughly deal with the zombie birds inside the base did they suddenly remember—

The city walls.

There were still zombies outside the walls.

If those zombies weren’t driven back, their base, their homes, and even their lives would eventually all be lost.

Another message arrived on everyone’s phones.

After checking it, Luo Xun’s group realized the position their squad was assigned to defend this time was the same place Li Tie and the others had guarded during the previous siege. The mission requirements were basically the same as before.

Seeing the assignment required defense duty from eleven at night until six in the morning, Li Tie and the others immediately said to Luo Xun’s group:

“You guys should rest first. We didn’t go out this afternoon, so we still have energy. We’ll head over first. You all sleep for a while and recover before coming later.”

At this point, there really didn’t seem to be any better option.

After thinking it over, Luo Xun nodded.

“Then you guys go first… But at least one ability user should go with you. Once the rest of us arrive later, that person can bring one of you back to rest. Someone has to stay home to guard the place.”

The little dog had now been confirmed to be an evolved ability-user dog.

But mutated animals were still largely unknown to most people in the base, so for now it couldn’t be taken outside openly.

Of course, next time they left the base to hunt crystal cores, they could finally bring it along.

So the little dog needed to stay behind to guard the house.

Xiao Xinran’s ability was very useful, but considering both her age and lack of combat experience, they temporarily ruled her out.

Song Lingling’s combat ability wasn’t especially strong either, so it was better for her to move together with the main group.

The remaining ability users exchanged looks.

In the end, they decided Zhang Su would accompany Li Tie’s group first. Once Luo Xun’s group arrived later, Zhang Su would bring one of Li Tie’s people back to rest.

There was still some time before they needed to report to the city wall, so both Luo Xun’s group and Li Tie’s group hurried to get some sleep.

Around ten o’clock, Li Tie and the others packed their weapons and equipment and left together with Zhang Su.

Meanwhile, Luo Xun’s group seized the chance to sleep, planning to wake around one in the morning and head to the wall then.

During the day, while clearing zombies, they had also checked the situation throughout the residential complex.

The upper floors had suffered the worst damage from the zombie bird attack.

The top floors of several buildings even had huge holes blasted directly through their walls by zombie bird abilities.

Those top-floor apartments had practically become ghost towns—nine out of ten stood empty.

The next worst-hit area was the first floor.

The zombie birds naturally targeted rooftop levels first when they attacked. But once survivors counterattacked and the birds were knocked down, even half-dead birds that managed to crawl back up would immediately attack the nearest targets—

Which were the first-floor apartments.

And as time passed, more and more zombie birds accumulated down there.

How could first-floor residents possibly endure that for long?

When Luo Xun’s group went downstairs earlier that day, they’d even discovered severe damage to the walls beneath their own building. One load-bearing wall had been blasted clean through with a massive hole.

Only after Yan Fei repaired and reinforced those dangerous sections with his metal ability did everyone finally feel safe again.

As a result, the middle floors and basement levels actually ended up with the highest survival rates.

Luo Xun found himself extremely puzzled.

In his previous life, how had the family of three who’d lived in this very apartment survived the base’s first zombie bird invasion?

Although that earlier attack had been much smaller than this one, it had still posed enormous danger to the base.

That family hadn’t even possessed a single ability user among them.

So how had they survived?

Maybe one of their neighbors back then had been a particularly powerful ability user?

These thoughts drifted through Luo Xun’s mind, but they couldn’t stop his exhaustion.

Before long, he pushed those questions aside and fell asleep with his head resting on Yan Fei’s arm.

At one in the morning, the alarm rang.

Everyone climbed out of bed, washed their faces, got dressed, and prepared to head out.

When they reached the fourteenth floor, they clearly heard hurried footsteps retreating through the stairwell.

After thinking for a moment, Luo Xun turned around and asked:

“Should we leave another person behind to guard the house?”

Even though they trusted the sturdiness of their doors, what if someone tried breaking in by force?

Leaving the house completely unattended didn’t seem safe at all.

Everyone exchanged glances, all troubled over who should stay behind.

Suddenly, Xiao Xinran rubbed her sleepy eyes and blinked at Luo Xun.

“Uncle Luo, let me and Little Guy guard the house! If anyone dares come in, I’ll make the floor disappear and let them fall through!”

Come to think of it, leaving the little girl behind actually wasn’t a bad idea. She was still too young—standing on the city wall all night in the freezing wind would probably be too much for her.

“Then we’re leaving the house to you and Little Guy. Remember, no matter who comes, don’t open the door unless it’s us. If anyone tries to force their way in, turn those walls there and there into sand and scare them off.”

The little girl nodded vigorously and wrapped her arms around the dog’s neck.

Yan Fei simply modified a small section of the outer metal door into a viewing slit just large enough for Xiao Xinran to see outside.

Even though it was very dark now, once they met up with Zhang Su and the others they could tell them to call out before returning, and the little girl would know it was them. Besides, all their phones were fully charged now—if necessary, they could always call.

The group quickly headed out, trudging with difficulty through the muddy snow toward the city wall.

The base was still brightly lit everywhere.

Snowplows, people shoveling snow by hand, and squads clearing remaining zombie birds from the city could all be seen throughout the streets. The whole place was unexpectedly lively.

The closer they got to the city wall, the louder the noise became.

Gunfire, ability explosions, loudspeakers shouting orders—it was chaos everywhere.

After much difficulty climbing onto the wall and finding the Otaku Squad’s assigned position, they switched shifts with Zhang Su. He immediately headed back with Han Li, who had barely slept after standing watch all day.

Of course, Luo Xun reminded them that Xiao Xinran was guarding the house and warned them not to accidentally get themselves attacked by the little girl on the way back.

With his wind ability, Zhang Su moved extremely quickly, and Han Li’s speed also increased significantly under his buff.

Zhang Su’s ability had only just advanced to level four as well. Though he still hadn’t fully figured out its limits, he vaguely sensed that he might now be capable of lifting himself into the air. He definitely couldn’t truly fly very fast, but hovering for a short while probably wouldn’t be a problem.

The two returned far faster than Luo Xun’s group had traveled to the wall.

When they reached around the fourteenth floor and their flashlight beams swept across the wall, they immediately noticed something strange.

“Xinran? You there?” Zhang Su stared at a huge hole in the wall, instantly recognizing the traces of sandification from the little girl’s ability.

“Uncle Zhang!”

The little girl stood up excitedly. Zhang Su could also clearly hear Little Guy panting happily nearby.

Only after Zhang Su and Han Li entered through the iron gate and led the little girl and the silly dog back into their tightly sealed corridor did they have time to ask:

“Did someone come by just now?”

Xiao Xinran nodded energetically.

“I saw some people sneaking upstairs and trying to mess with our door. Me and Little Guy stayed quiet and secretly made a bunch of sand on the wall just like Uncle Luo said! We smeared it all over their faces and scared them away!”

The little girl had nearly given those people a “face-covering execution.” Fortunately, she’d only intended to scare them as Luo Xun instructed and hadn’t completely sealed their mouths and noses with sand. Otherwise, she really might have killed someone.

But after hearing something so dangerously inappropriate for a child’s worldview, Zhang Su actually praised her enthusiastically and patted her head.

“Good job. Next time people like that come around, we’ll make sure they don’t leave.”

The little girl nodded hard.

Han Li, standing nearby, felt his legs go weak from fright. While Zhang Su went inside first to take off his coat, Han Li hurriedly crouched beside Xiao Xinran.

“Xinran, if you run into bad people again, it’s enough to scare them away, okay? Don’t block them with sand for too long!”

The little girl looked confused, but obediently nodded anyway.

After all, they were just supposed to scare the bad guys away. The two “moms” had also told her that zombies should have their heads smashed, but people were different—you had to show mercy depending on the situation. She understood that much!

Luo Xun’s group had no idea such a terrifying incident had happened back home. And even if they did know, they currently had no energy to deal with it.

Because what stood before them now was the endless zombie horde outside the city walls.

Yes—endless.

The zombies were packed together densely, surrounding the entire base once again.

The black masses trampled across what had once been pristine white snow, turning the world that had looked like a heavenly winter landscape into a muddy, pitch-black nightmare.

Looking out, the horde stretched so far it seemed to have no end.

Holding their assigned weapons, everyone kept firing downward.

Firing.

Firing again.

Yan Fei and the others conserved their abilities for the time being, only occasionally joining forces to unleash a coordinated attack that blasted apart the zombies that were nearly climbing over each other, piling up corpses to form living ladders toward the wall.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Everyone’s hands had long since gone numb—not just from the recoil of constant firing, but also from the bone-deep cold brought by the January wind.

Then suddenly—

A rustling wave spread through the densely packed zombie army below.

Those with sharp eyes or keen hearing noticed it immediately. Their faces turned pale with terror as they pointed into the distance.

“Z-zombie birds! There are still zombie birds?!”

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