Tang Zheng divided the one hundred and twenty people into six teams, each with a unique number for easy command. With the cannon fodders, he planned to take full advantage of them.
After searching the building for half an hour and finding nothing, they had already been attacked by ghouls once. By this point, the female models were persuading Tang Zheng to leave.
"Shut up." Qin Yan yelled, picking up a piece of paper from the dust-covered ground. The paper crumbled instantly under her grip.
"The Russians left in a hurry, they probably destroyed all the data they couldn’t take." Lu Fan stepped over a smashed monitor, looking at the messy office and imagining the chaotic scene that had taken place.
"Wasteland scavengers have probably already been here several times." Tan Hui coughed due to the dust, which flew up at the slightest movement, making it very irritating to the nose.
"Could there be a shelter underneath us? Where else could the president have escaped to?" Gao Yu was bored; he thought Tang Zheng was just wasting time.
"Possibly, but we can’t find the entrance." Dantai, leading a group of young soldiers, walked in, "I found the Ministry of Defense. Want to see it, even though there’s nothing left?"
"Forget it, let’s go check the police station. I want to see Moscow’s census records. The big shots from the military should have valuable information in their homes." Tang Zheng felt helpless. After more than a hundred years, and several generations of wasteland people, all those who knew about the pre-nuclear war information were long gone. This left Tang Zhen without a guide.
"This is like finding a needle in a haystack." Gao Yu didn’t think much of the mission, "It’s just wasting time, we should just rob the mutant tribes."
Before Tang Zheng could respond, scattered gunshots echoed from outside the building followed by screams. The terrified female models reflexively shrunk back, right at a loss for what to do.
"Let’s move." Tang Zheng took off his AK74M, a minute later, he raced to the first floor only to find that the sixth team was left with twelve people. They were defending the main entrance and in a shootout with a group of wastelanders.
"Group Leader, someone is trying to hijack the armored vehicle." The team captain yelled. Almost instinctively, he stood up to report, but a bullet instantly blew up his head. His grey and white brain matter sprayed all over the marble floor.
The female models screamed and shifted towards the back of the lobby in hopes of getting further away from the entrance. Li Meilian and Liu Yue moved closer to Tang Zheng’s side instead.
"What are you waiting for? Hurries out." Gao Yu called on three smaller teams to follow him. Some of the remaining young soldiers were gathering in the lobby.
"These are the people from the other settlements." Old Pavel didn’t believe that anyone in Settlement no. 12 would dare to mess with Tang Zheng.
"Old Pavel, I’ll give you teams one and two, crush the enemy for me." Tang Zheng wasn’t planning to charge himself, he was sending the cannon fodders instead.
"Let’s go." Old Pavel gritted his teeth and waved his men on. If he refused at this time, he’d probably be killed on the spot.
Tang Zheng wanted to inspect the situation first, but sudden screams and gunshots echoed in the lobby. Five young soldiers, who wore panicked expressions, rushed down the stairs. The unluckiest one lagging behind was ambushed by two ghouls who appeared from behind. They pounced on him, broke his throat, and a spray of blood spurted out. But the other four didn’t last much longer. More ghouls surged out from the stairs, quickly attacked them, struggled for few seconds, and were killed on the staircase.
"Damn, where did these monstrosities come from?" Gao Yu was surprised. Regardless of the risk of friendly-fire, he instantly opened fire to these creatures.
Not just the stairs, but the ceiling, glass windows or anywhere with a passage—the ghouls all swarmed towards the humans in the lobby.
The quick responders immediately opened fire. Panic was inevitable.
"Don’t retreat! Teams Three and Four establish defense." Tang Zheng bellowed, firing towards the female models. They had hidden in the back to avoid being struck by stray bullets and had drifted from the main group. Now they were completely surrounded by ghouls. Looking at the terrifying monsters just few meters away, they were scared stiff.
Bullets whizzed through the air, frightening the female models into a chaos of screaming and running towards the entrance. Because they were huddled together, like cyclists racing for a lane during the start of a race, a crowd-crush inevitably occurred. Two women who were originally in the lead were tripped up by others behind them who grabbed their hair and clothing, making the girls fall over. The others, however, didn’t care and stepped over them in their rush to escape.
Apart from the husky roars of the ghouls, there were only cries and curses from the girls in the lobby.
"Don’t panic." Tang Zheng was steadily shooting, trying his best to kill the ghouls. But the girls who were in the midst of a desperate escape couldn’t obey his orders, each fearing that they would be the last one standing. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ n0velfire.net
"Don’t panic." Old Gao’s 81-barrel gun proved to be quite accurate. Together with Dantai Zongqi’s 95-model gun, they effectively suppressed the ghouls. At least, this would ensure the safe return of the girls for now. However, when two of the girls tripped and fell, it was as if the ghouls were bloodthirsty sharks that had caught the scent of blood. They immediately grappled and fell onto the girls.
As Qin Yan’s Howling Reaper spat out a tongue of flame, the ghouls hit by its bullets were all ripped apart. But still, a few slipped through the net, approaching the two girls who had just gotten to their feet. At this moment, their true nature suddenly broke out. The girl in the back suddenly grabbed the one in front and pulled her down, trying to deflect the ghouls’ attention to her. However, that girl fought back just as fiercely, reacting swiftly, berating her all the while as she held onto her clothes and pressed her down.
"Have you all gone mad!" Li Meilian was surprised. But the girls could no longer hear her. The few ghouls that had slipped through the net first sank their fingers into the girl’s scalp, then bit down on their throats. Their blood was hastily being gulped down by ghouls.