Malin threw the dagger in his hand, toppling the furthest zombie from him onto the ground, and in turn, knocking over a rack behind it.
The sound of it being stabbed and hitting the rack diverted the attention of its companions to the other side, allowing Malin the opportunity to slap a Silent Barrier onto the hall with a silent hand gesture as quickly as possible, intercepting its scream and the sound of the rack falling down.
At that moment, the sizzling sound of the igniting flare no longer made any noise, when Malin pulled the trigger of his pistol, there was no sound of the firing pin striking the primer, and no dull thud when the bullet penetrated the zombie’s skull.
And when the Punishers of the Lord of Justice joined in with their assault rifles, the casings falling to the ground made no echo, their bullets penetrating the zombies and hitting the walls made no sound, the wide-open mouths of the shot zombies emitted no noise, and even the fallen racks and bodies made no sound upon hitting the floor.
Everything happened in silence, continued in silence, and ended in silence.
Watching the last zombie fall, Malin motioned with his left hand towards the far end of the hall, where there was a partially closed door. The three Punishers of the Goddess of Harvest stepped over the zombies on the ground to shut that door, to prevent any monsters from coming through this entrance.
If they had come in, it would have been a feast for the zombies, but now the situation was different.
The Punishers of the Lord of Justice began to deliver the final blow to the zombies with their pistols, as true death was the best gift humanity could offer them.
Malin replaced the magazine in his gun, and once the large door was shut and the zombies went through roll call, Malin then released the Silent Barrier.
"I thought our gunfire would attract a lot of zombies," the half-human Punisher commander said with a residual fear.
"These zombies are contaminated by Chaos, and are no longer of the same kind as those in the south, they are stronger, more fearless, and most importantly, they are no longer considered living beings," a Punisher from the Church of Justice said as he cut off a zombie’s head and handed it to Malin.
With just a glance, Malin confirmed that it was completely different from the zombies they encountered while riding the train south to Rongma.
These zombies looked more like real moving corpses, with pale and rigid skin as if affected by albinism.
"Is this why my infrared scan is ineffective?" Jason exclaimed, looking at the zombies: "Look, Malin, this is the best gift Chaos has left for our world, these creatures that we once planned to use for transforming areas uninhabitable by humans have turned into such horrific forms."
"You?" The person in charge of the Church of Justice fell silent for a moment, and when he looked at Malin, there was increased fear and shock in his eyes.
"Do not be afraid, there are many secrets left from the great destruction, and you are now only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Do not fear, for that is poison to the soul," Malin said to the person in front of him.
The latter took a couple of deep breaths and nodded vigorously, accepting Malin’s words.
The energy core was a round metal artifact, which was not in this hall; Malin then saw the words on the wall—entrance and exit.
He glanced at the lowered metal doors: "The doors are shut, what about that door ajar, any footprints?" he asked the half-humans, looking towards the closed door.
"Not many, just a few footprints. It seems that these creatures don’t often use this door when going out," the half-human offered a response, which gave Malin some reassurance—at least the zombies generally wouldn’t use this exit when leaving.
"Is there a basement here, Jason?" Malin asked, as he holster his pistol and leaned towards the door, aiming at the only open passage.
"Yes, there are three levels. I’m connecting to the old database to confirm... the energy core... is in the materials section of the innermost layer of level one," Jason said, projecting the floor plan onto Malin’s retina.
"Good, at least it’s not in the basement area," the leader of the Church of Justice grasped the meaning of Malin’s actions; he followed by Malin’s side, moving towards that passage.
"Jason, prepare for a pulse scan to see how many entrances there are between the first floor and the basement," Malin commanded.
"Not ready, countdown fifteen seconds, fifteen..." Jason started the countdown, and Malin, peering sideways, saw that the passageway was empty—though not entirely, considering the scattered bones on the ground certainly belonged to some unfortunate soul.
The half-human squad was now hugging the interior wall near the entrance to the passage; the half-human with glasses peeked out at the top of the passage, gave a thumbs-up, and retreated. His companion opened up a flare, placed it on the ground, and let it roll into the passage.
As expected, Malin watched the flare roll into the corridor, lighting up the entire space.
"Looks clear, do we have only this route?" Jason asked, meanwhile providing Malin with an answer: "Four exits, two in the everyday shopping area, one in the food section, and another at the northern end of the engineering section."
"All less than I expected," Malin instructed the half-human responsible for cover to return the way they came, and ordered the half-humans on the second floor outside to find cover and to retreat—if they were discovered by the zombies, holding their position would only lead to a dead end. He gave them the order to escape on their own initiative.