Chapter 296: 22 The Bombing Begins (Part One)

Chapter 296: Chapter 22 The Bombing Begins (Part One)

Moonlight flickered.

Scattered traces of blood and remains were left unattended, adding a few more strokes of desolation to the already decrepit, charred building.

This building was originally square, broader on one end and narrow on the other, like a dark coffin standing upright. However, bombing from decades ago had made the upper halves of its two corners disappear, leaving a dark, sludgy mess of concrete and rebar clearly visible within its structure.

As the cold wind blew through the skeletal skylight, a glaring red grenade flew towards it at speed and exploded mid-section, ripping open the already crumbling abandoned structure.

The flames left by the grenade burned silently on the rooftop, but the building, resembling a cornerless coffin, remained indifferent to such provocation, showing no reaction whatsoever.

Below the blazing flames, Li Yan stepped out of the darkness with a platinum spear in hand, an anachronism in the current era. On his belt, hung a brass-colored large-barreled shotgun.

Song Zuo was hiding in a poplar tree that grew recklessly through a shattered balcony, about five hundred meters away from Li Yan, the rendezvous point they had agreed upon beforehand.

He wrapped his jacket tighter around himself, pursing his lips as he twirled a brass bullet in his hand before shoving it into the robust body of his gun. Through his optical scope, he saw a desolate expanse of ruins shimmering in green phosphorescence.

Rip~

Li Yan stepped on a piece of rebar, emitting a bright, crisp sound, and immediately, a seeking reticle’s red dot swept across Li Yan’s forehead. At the same time, the resounding blast of a bullet streaked across the sky, enduring on.

Bang!

The head of a sniper, wrapped entirely in a black combat suit, vanished completely, his blood and flesh spraying out in a fan shape. He fell back as if reaching for the sky, his finger trembling on the trigger for a long while, but failing to press down. The pale skin peeking out between the gaps in his clothing undoubtedly revealed him to be one of the undead.

Upon hearing the gunshot, Li Yan didn’t look around; instead, he brazenly made his way toward the building. At this moment, he was exposed to the scopes of an unknown number of undead snipers. The only one covering him from behind was Song Zuo alone.

The initial suggestion was for each of them to attack from one side, but Li Yan proposed a more efficient method.

“You shoot to break the door, I’ll assault from the front, and you take down any undead snipers that might be hiding. Leave the rest to me.”

Indeed, this approach doubled their efficiency, but at the same time, it also doubled the pressure on Li Yan.

Of course, Song Zuo believed that in this era, no one would joke about their own life—besides, even if someone did, it wouldn’t be his loss.

Unlike most Hunters in Zone B, the red grenade Song Zuo initially fired was not directly produced by the Raine Brothers’ arms company. Instead, leaning on the military factory they provided, Song Zuo crafted it himself. Its power was oddly strong, managing to ignite the charred-black building’s framework, which had no room left for burning, yet now it started to exude black liquid. The frame of the building, already in a state of decay, now looked on the verge of collapse.

Hisss~~

Finally, something inside the building couldn’t endure having its lair destroyed in such a way and stood up at the edge of a hole in the building.

It wore an inflated, old-style radiation suit, one hand holding a red Mosin Nagant rifle and the other a high-pressure hose, furiously spraying towards the fire. Two lenses of radiation protection goggles reflected Li Yan’s face.

[Beta-level Radioactive Undead](Genetic Collapse)

Note: With the intervention of some external substance, this undead has survived for nearly two years in a state of genetic collapse. Its research value alone exceeds that of most samples from the old era.

Li Yan paused his step at first, a gesture of respect for this clearly extraordinary undead. Unexpectedly, the undead lifted its protective mask, revealing a distinguished face that apart from lacking color, was almost indistinguishable from that of a human.

“Hunters hired by Kuang Zhuoma, you truly don’t know what’s good for you,” it said.

Even though Li Yan had grown accustomed to the bizarre on his journey, he was still taken aback. He was not only surprised that the undead could speak but also that it had identified him outright.

Regrettably, the undead clearly didn’t intend to give Li Yan much time to ponder and aimed its rifle barrel straight at him.

Whooosh!

The scorching bullet streaked through the air, creating a long arc, only to be promptly struck down by a glint of frost, crumpled, and fell powerlessly.

Li Yan reversed his grip on the Tiger Head Great Spear, leaping towards the undead that had just spoken. Without thinking, the undead swung its hose at Li Yan, but upon contact, the stream of water instantly froze into white chunks of ice, and the hose could not withstand the pressure—bursting apart in an instant. Li Yan charged through the shower of ice shards, the Devouring Blade lifting, slashing towards the undead’s head.

Throughout the process, on three separate occasions, red dots lingered on Li Yan’s vital spots, but almost precisely the second before the snipers could fire, a brutally powerful bullet exploded across the bodies of these undead snipers.

Precise, cold, and ruthless, as if shadowing him, and even imbued with an elusive sense of mockery. Of course, these ordinary undead snipers didn’t feel such pressure.

Atop the poplar trees.

Song Zuo’s forehead was beaded with sweat, his own neck bandage also continuously oozing blood, the result of a bullet graze from a sniper—dead set on targeting him. These zombies, in their lifetime, were likely top sniping experts. In terms of sniping ability alone, compared to Li Yan of the Age of Winter, whose vision and physical functions had been genetically enhanced, the difference wasn’t much. Unfortunately, there was a significant gap in equipment between them.

Before the Winter, mass-produced military firearms, and the weapons of the new era crafted decades after the Age of Winter to deal with a variety of mutated creatures, battling for resources unabashedly disregarding humanitarianism—the firepower wasn’t even on the same level. The older-generation rifles commonly equipped by these zombies were on par with organized mob groups.

The Raine Company’s Wild Yak RS107 could even ignore the zombies’ cover. As long as Gu managed to pinpoint these zombies’ locations, he could directly shoot to kill. The bullets could penetrate concrete walls and shatter the zombies’ hardened skulls.

Compared to these apocalyptic firearms, the antiques in the hands of the zombies—just Moisin-Nagant rifles from the end of the 19th century modified with bent handles and fitted with scopes—were like incomprehensible extraterrestrial technology.

Over here, the pipe-wielding zombie made a split-second decision, hurling the cracked pipe at Li Yan, then retreated into the darkness beyond.

Li Yan leaped into a high-rise building. The Tiger Head Great Spear sliced through the concrete ceiling, collapsing the entire rooftop.

Seeing that Li Yan had entered the building, and his task of providing cover was mostly complete, Gu heaved a huge sigh of relief when suddenly, he heard a gunshot. A copper bullet ricocheted off the iron railing, heading straight for Gu’s neck.

Blood splashed!

…

“Da da da da da~”

Amidst dust and smoke, a jet of flame erupted, sweeping across Li Yan’s chest.

The zombie somehow pulled out a PPSh submachine gun and wildly sprayed bullets into the dust where Li Yan was.

Li Yan swiftly darted through the hail of bullets, the dark cyan Gang Dou around his body quickly fading. Just as the light was about to extinguish, Li Yan’s great spear had already pierced through the zombie’s ribcage!

Behind the Phoenix-patterned Gang Dou, Li Yan clenched his teeth and lifted the spear, flinging the zombie into the air and pinning it against the wall. The PPSh submachine gun dropped powerlessly to the ground.

Li Yan stomped on the fallen submachine gun, crushing it, then approached its owner, the Angry Shocker pressed against the zombie’s skull.

“How did you know I was sent by Kuang Zhuoma? Be honest, and you won’t have to die again,” Li Yan said.

The zombie glanced at the Tiger Head Great Spear piercing its chest, momentarily dazed. Its own bones were supposed to be impenetrable even to ordinary rifle bullets.

“I don’t have that much patience,” Li Yan warned as he pushed the gun barrel forward slightly.

“Neither do we, insect of Winter,” the zombie retorted coldly.

Li Yan felt a chill on the back of his neck and suddenly turned around. Amidst the gray haze, pairs of blood-red eyes filled the entire floor. Menacing growls echoed, revealing pack after pack of hideously skinned, blood-red fierce dogs, each with two or even three heads—one decaying, others inlaid with mechanical parts, alloy dog heads with flickering lights in their electronic eyes.

[Beta-level Radioactive Zombies: Vladimir Dogs]

Before the nuclear war, products of the Soviet “dog head separation experiments.” Named by the pioneering organ transplant specialist who hosted the experiments, Vladimir Demikhov. They became infected with radiation, turning into the secret weapon of the Great Demon Lake zombie population.

Note: Demikhov’s greatest regret in life was not being selected for the Big Ben Laboratory experiments. Although it ultimately meant he didn’t have to bear an eternal legacy of curses and guilt.

Li Yan put down the shotgun in his hand and turned to face these bizarrely modified canine breeds head-on.

From behind the ferocious dogs, a stern voice carried over, “None of you will survive.”

Li Yan didn’t speak, he just raised his arm behind him and pulled the trigger.

Boom!

Angry Shocker!

The bullets raced out of the barrel, eager to shoot the pinned zombie’s head and upper body, turning it into a gruesome, unbearable wasp’s nest.