Chapter 394 – Machine Gun Maiden

They had taken the highway from City A to City S on their way there but chose a different route for the return trip.

In hindsight, selecting an unfamiliar path without any recon was a reckless decision, to say the least.

Of course, Ling Mo’s intentions weren’t to satisfy the female zombies’ curiosity, nor was he trying to live up to their belief that “a good man doesn’t backtrack”…

“While we managed to avoid the risk of running into Falcon on the highway, the trouble we’re facing now doesn’t seem any less problematic… How far are we from City X anyway?”

Ling Mo propped himself with one hand on the edge of the vehicle, nimbly leaping down, and with his mental Tentacles, he instantly subdued a zombie that was furiously charging at him.

After the vehicle was forced to stop, more zombies—about a dozen—squeezed out from the gaps between the abandoned cars on the roadside.

They reeked of the distinct stench unique to their kind and immediately made a beeline for Ling Mo upon appearing.

One of the female zombies, still donning a high heel on her right foot, agilely pushed off the wreckage, vaulted over the car, and swiftly closed in on Ling Mo, hugging the ground.

“Looks like drawing fire has become my most striking feature, huh…”

He stood his ground, seemingly doing nothing, but his mental Tentacles were firing off in all directions.

In relatively open areas like this, where zombies approached at different speeds, Ling Mo had ample breathing room and handled them with ease.

“Hmph, humans are such a nuisance,” Yu Shiran remarked as she stood up in the vehicle, her voice laced with schadenfreude.

However, no sooner had her words fallen than a zombie corpse suddenly flew over her head.

For a leader level zombie like Yu Shiran, dodging this was as simple as breathing. Yet, at that moment, Ling Mo issued an instruction to Black Silk through their mental connection.

So the dignified leader level zombie could only stand there, watching as the filthy female zombie grew larger overhead…

“Thump!”

Hearing the muffled sound and Yu Shiran’s cry of surprise from inside the vehicle, Ling Mo revealed a satisfied grin.

Wild girls like her needed to be properly… educated.

This road was clearly a major escape route for the survivors from City X during the Disaster Outbreak.

Likewise, they hadn’t anticipated that their companions, just as panicked as themselves moments before, would suddenly Mutate, turning their path to salvation into a highway to hell.

After dealing with the zombies, Ling Mo climbed atop a truck and looked towards City X, his expression turning somewhat helpless.

As far as the eye could see, the road was littered with abandoned vehicles, with zombies occasionally seen wandering between them.

The numbers weren’t overwhelming, but it was certainly going to be a hassle.

The green iron fence along the roadside had many gaps, and who knew how many deadly threats were lurking in the overgrown rice fields beyond.

“Compared to unseen threats…” Ling Mo shook his head, hopped off the truck, and spread his hands out towards them, “seems like we’ll have to go on foot.”

The zombie girls accepted this decision with surprising cheerfulness.

In fact, they were as excitable as elementary school students going on a field trip for the first time.

Watching them leap agilely on the roof of the car, slaying zombies one by one and bursting into laughter, Ling Mo couldn’t help but reveal a look of satisfaction…

“No, this isn’t right.” Ling Mo suddenly shuddered, quickly shaking his head, “Is this really something to be pleased about?”

As Ling Mo and his group continued down the road, a helicopter was slowly descending onto the vacant rooftop of a service station some distance away from them.

A zombie that had just lunged at the helicopter was riddled with bullets mid-air and fell down like a tattered sack.

Once the helicopter had landed, a woman holding a machine gun jumped out, her face expressionless, as she faced the horde of zombies charging at her.

“Ratatat!”

The sound of gunfire erupted, accurately shredding the zombies into pieces.

A zombie hit by several bullets hadn’t fallen yet and rushed at the woman. Unfazed, she swung her machine gun to the side, taking out several zombies while simultaneously kicking the knee of the one before her.

Twisting to the side, a handgun suddenly appeared in her left hand, pressed against the back of the kneeling zombie’s head, and with a “Bang!”, she ended it.

By the time the other men and women descended from the helicopter, she was the only one still standing on the rooftop.

After watching the helicopter take off, a rather handsome man popped his collar and smiled at the machine gun-toting woman: “Lucy, you truly live up to the nickname ‘The Grinder.’ It’s a pleasure to work with you this time…”

“Captain Liu Baodong, let’s discuss the situation on this road and our mission,” Lucy frowned, cutting him off.

“It seems Miss Lucy is quite the impatient one,” Liu Baodong appeared somewhat effeminate, and the dismissive gesture from Lucy made his slender eyes narrow slightly, “We haven’t informed Falcon Camp of your presence. On the contrary, we’ve given you some information about Falcon. Your superiors have sent you as the vanguard, so I assume you’re aware of the situation…”

“What Falcon does is of no concern to us. City X is a big pie; they can’t finish it nor have the energy to prevent others from taking their share. I’m mainly here to scout for suitable areas. As for the deal between the Air Force Corps and us, it will naturally be honored once the job is done.”

Each of Lucy’s sentences carried a formal tone, and coupled with her cold demeanor, gothic hairstyle, she seemed like a glamorous vampire queen straight out of a movie.

But compared to those characters, she was far more violent…

“We’ve already discussed some details aboard the helicopter. We can’t transport your people directly into City X, so you’ll have to enter through this road. Considering the vanguard we sent last time disappeared, we will be accompanying you on this mission.”

After Liu Baodong finished speaking, he couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh, his tone laced with sarcasm as he said, “Seriously, can’t you guys send a few more people out?”

“Having you follow us gives us peace of mind, doesn’t it? We still don’t know what happened to the last companion who went missing,” Lucy retorted with a shrug, meeting his challenge head-on.

Another curly-haired woman immediately interjected dissatisfiedly, “Do you really think this has anything to do with us? We did take him to this location, and then we split up!”

Lucy’s response was unexpected: “Personally, I do have my suspicions.”

“You just come out and say it like that! Admitting it to our faces!”

Waving his hand, Liu Baodong pulled out a smartphone and brought up a map: “There’s more than ten kilometers to go from here…”

“Do you really need to land so far away?” Lucy cut him off once again.

“Could we land properly anywhere else!”

Lucy glanced again at the corpses on the ground and the zombies being attracted by the scent of blood from afar: “And not dealing with the bodies last time led to zombies crowding around the rooftop again, wasting bullets.”

“Who knew he would disappear, who knew!”

Liu Baodong’s face flushed with anger as he snapped the phone shut and said, “This road is also full of zombies, but we’ll keep our promise to conserve your energy. Just watch us clear the way! Everyone!”

He turned to face the other four members: “The road is dangerous, but with a determination to face death, we will navigate this perilous path and safely escort our… ally in! Air Force Corps, fearless in the face of sacrifice!”

Despite a slight hesitation, these words still sounded full of fiery determination.

After Liu Baodong finished his rallying cry, he raised an arm, ready to enjoy the team’s unified response…

But quickly, he noticed that the gazes of his teammates were a bit off, their expressions somewhat strange…

Following their eyes, he turned around and was instantly stupefied.

Several figures were rapidly approaching from the distance. Their graceful movements and the ease with which they dispatched the zombies were jaw-dropping.

The young man at the rear looked like he was just taking a stroll, his hands always in his pockets. Yet any zombie that came close to him would collapse to the ground two or three meters away, often making it seem like he would be splattered with blood the next second…