"Prepare yourselves!"
From the colossal chain-armored vehicle in the rear, soldiers fully decked in heavy armor, wielding swords as big as doors, sprung skyward on jet packs, rushing to launch targeted attacks on the high-level zombies in their way.
The Level 3 New Human moved deftly among the zombies, his butcher sword hooking under the skulls of countless zombies and slicing them off with each swing. Foul, blackish-brown zombie blood splattered everywhere, coagulating almost instantly in the cold weather into solid chunks, bouncing like jelly as they hit the ground -- a truly nauseating sight.
Bright flashes of chilling light emerged as he swung his butcher sword, cleaving deep gashes into countless zombie skulls.
Ecstatic at the sight of the Level 4 zombie now just three or four meters away, he swung his butcher sword at it. He expected his sword to land on the zombie’s head and retrieve its Evolution Crystal, following which he planned to make a quick exit.
But fate had other plans. He was abruptly halted when a pale hand from a zombie grasped onto his shoe. Looking down, he realized it was a Level 1 Speed Zombie.
Yelling in fury, he swung his blade downwards.
His butcher sword carved a gaping hole into the zombie’s brain. But before he could react, another zombie’s hand latched onto his trouser leg, almost tripping him over.
The zombie’s head exploded as a gunshot rang out. Turning towards the source of the gunshot, he saw a soldier with a sniper rifle standing up, anxiously yelling at him, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Retreat!"
Confused, he looked around and realized he had ventured deep into the horde, with the closest group of advancing soldiers being several tens of meters away from him.
"Not good..." Overwhelmed by a sense of dread, he glared coldly at the shouting soldier.
"None of your damn business!"
Undeterred, he continued to charge forward, but then, a zombie lunged high in the air, hurtling towards him. Seeing it a mere ordinary zombie, he smirked in contempt as he slashed at it. His blade glinted, and the zombie was cleaved in two in an instant.
But following the first one’s lead, four or five more zombies quickly leaped at him.
Furious, he spun his blade wildly, sending zombie blood spraying everywhere. The soldiers behind him went crazy, intensifying their attacks. The advancing tanks crushed everything in their way, demolishing buildings and rotating their gun turrets to unleash a volley of cannon fire, lasers, bullets, and BB-13 penetration rounds. The ensuing barrage resembled a sideways rainstorm that shredded countless zombies into pieces.
A cannonball detonated near the Level 3 New Human, blowing away countless zombies and creating a vacant space. He quickly seized this opportunity and hopped onto the open space. Drawing his handgun, he shot down a few zombies that were about to leap at him.
In no time, another zombie lunged at him. He didn’t react in time and part of his outfit was torn by the zombie.
Furious, he spun around and kicked the zombie, sending it flying over ten meters and knocking down other zombies behind it. Before he could catch his breath, an evolved zombie and three ordinary zombies lunged at him again.
Frantically swinging his butcher sword, he managed to kill some of the zombies and thought of retreating towards the main force. Now he realized how dangerous the horde was. There were simply too many zombies; he wasn’t powerful enough to fight them all. His only option was to retreat. The idea of getting the Level 4 zombie’s Evolution Crystal now seemed impossible. He continued his attack, but his efforts weren’t enough.
After hacking down a zombie, he felt an immense force pushing him back as an overwhelming number of zombies advanced onto him. In a flash, four or five zombies jumped on him.
His blade shimmered again as he killed these zombies, but more surged forward. After defending against four or five waves of zombies, he felt dizzy. At last, a zombie managed to climb onto his back, bit into his head, and tore off a piece of his scalp.
Unsteady on his feet, he swung his sword back and bisected the zombie on his back. But the next moment, two more zombies attacked from the same direction. Despite his strength, he was on the verge of collapsing. No sooner had he killed several zombies, more appeared: the first, the second, the third, and countless more.
Dozens of zombies, including three or four evolved ones, pinned him to the ground. The rumbling hoard of zombies closed in, piling on top of him like a small hillock, swallowing the Level 3 New Human before he could even let out a scream -- they brutally tore him to shreds.
The soldiers behind him were now fighting only for themselves. The battle-hardened soldiers roared their battle cries, unafraid of alerting the horde.
A cannonball whooshed past, hitting the pile of zombie corpses, sending pieces of rotten flesh flying everywhere and causing a rain of blood to fall from the sky.
The military force had by now entered the city sector. Five or six tanks filled the streets, crushing everything in their path and paving a bloody path with the bodies and flesh of zombies. As soldiers walked on it, blood splattered everywhere.
Once they entered the city, their firepower seemed to increase, sending buildings collapsing one after the other, barricading the road ahead. The army did not hesitate, leveraging their immense firepower to blast through, the sturdy steel tracks of the metal behemoths clanging as they fiercely crashed into the hordes of zombies.
Meanwhile, the New Human soldiers were taking full advantage of their melee weapons, their effectiveness surpassing human imagination. Once in a while, a few could be seen expertly maneuvering through the horde and quickly retrieving an Evolution Crystal before securing it in their pockets, a sight that would ignite envy in anyone.
"The demolitions squad at the rear, hurry up! We can’t keep this up!"
A couple of miles into the city, the commanding officer of the operation finally gave the order. The Mobile Armored Soldiers up ahead gradually fell back, and the lead tanks cleared a path. Then, an odd-looking vehicle appeared, its front resembling an inverted faucet and a robust cannon barrel stretching from the back to the front. Shockingly, the barrel was triangular!
"Three, two, one, fire!"
A non-commissioned officer counted down, and at the last second, he brought down his hand forcefully. The triangular cannon then shot a beam of light into the sky.
"No! That’s not a laser," Chen Zhouquan muttered, clearly confused.
The beam moved slowly, and after covering only a kilometer, it started to descend. The commanding officer blew a whistle and immediately ordered, "All units retreat!"
"What’s going on?" Chen Zhouquan asked, looking awestruck. But seeing the rest promptly holster their weapons and retreat without looking back, he too followed suit, perplexed.
Upon catching up with Fu Yangyang, he voiced his confusion.
"What is happening? How can they decide to retreat after firing only one round?"
"That’s the T-shaped Pyro Cannon," Fu Yangyang said, his face grave.