Everyone’s hopeless, pitch-black pupils suddenly lit up with that glimmer of red. Jiang Xinghuai pointed toward the light, then turned to Fu Yan, a look of exhilarated joy spreading across his face.
“Kang Cheng is coming back! They’re coming back!” Jiang Xinghuai almost jumped up. He crouched down and grasped Zhu Gaofei’s hand, laughing and crying at the same time. “It’s okay now, godfather, you’re not going to die.”
Zhu Gaofei tugged at the corner of his mouth in a stiff smile, his rigid hand slowly closing just enough to grasp Jiang Xinghuai’s hand back.
Those who had been panicked and hiding slowly stepped out from their shelters and began doing what they could.
The men moved cabinets and tables to block the doors and used wire mesh to urgently repair the broken windows. The women wiped away their tears, picked up wooden sticks and shovels, and gathered the children and elderly together to protect them.
Hope rekindled in everyone’s hearts.
The mutant, hit by Jiang Xinghuai’s shot, should be in a lot of pain. It remained motionless for a long while.
Once everyone had regained their composure, a sharp, piercing howl began to echo, one after another, unceasing.
“He’s attracting other infected,” Fu Yan said, frowning as he looked toward the pitch-dark area outside the house. “Turn on the floodlights and find him.”
Lei Pengtao nodded decisively and switched on the large outdoor lights.
The mutant was crouched on the lookout tower’s pillar, mouth wide open, eyes like black holes staring at the people inside the house.
Lei Pengtao lifted his sniper rifle and pressed the trigger.
“Bang!”
The mutant twisted its body to dodge, but one of its arms was completely shattered by the shot.
Lei Pengtao frowned, his expression dark. He had been aiming for the mutant’s head.
“It’s too fast.” Jiang Xinghuai knit his brows and tried firing a few shots, but the mutant, moving, was disturbingly quick. He didn’t even graze it.
“There’s movement.” Lei Pengtao kept his eyes on the constantly shifting mutant in the distance and made a hand signal toward the ground.
Jiang Xinghuai crouched down, ear pressed to the floor, and his expression instantly darkened: “…It’s over.”
The infected had arrived.
The mutant’s commotion here was too loud. The monsters, drawn by the sound, surged toward them.
“Turn on the electric fence,” Fu Yan said in a deep voice. “Everyone, move things! Block the main gate.”
The electric fence powered up, and the gate was barricaded with heavy objects.
Everyone gripped their weapons tightly, holding their breath in tense anticipation.
The mutant also fell silent, hiding in the darkness, waiting for the right moment.
Time passed slowly between breaths until the first infected stepped into their line of sight.
“Wait.” Lei Pengtao held back the person about to fire.
The first infected was quickly electrocuted under the electric fence.
The second… the third… the tenth…
Soon, a pile of them had gathered by the fence, and more kept coming from behind. Lei Pengtao pulled out a grenade, removed the safety pin, and threw it.
“Boom!” The explosion rang out.
Black-and-red blood and severed limbs flew everywhere. The distance was too close. Both the sight and the smell were unbearably horrific.
Jiang Xinghuai couldn’t hold back and bent over to vomit.
“Kid, go stay in the back. Why are you on the front lines?” Binzi said, laughing as he patted Jiang Xinghuai on the back. “Go stand by your godfather.”
“Who’s a kid? Don’t look down on me!” Jiang Xinghuai wiped his mouth with his arm, straightened up, rolled his eyes, and said, “Uncle Binzi, I’m—”
Before he could finish, he bent over and vomited again.
“Oh, you’re so grown up, yet you can’t even finish a sentence?” Binzi laughed, then turned to shout, “Hey! Pass a bottle of water here!”
Fu Yan had just returned after helping to barricade the back door, only to see Jiang Xinghuai clutching his stomach and vomiting.
He grabbed a bottle of water and ran over, patting Jiang Xinghuai on the back.
“You’re done over there?” Jiang Xinghuai panted, painfully shifting to change direction with Fu Yan. “Don’t look over there.”
“Upset stomach?” Fu Yan wiped the grime off his chin.
“Not too bad.” Jiang Xinghuai drank a sip of water, the nausea easing a lot, and smiled. “Just a little while longer, and I’ll be fine.”
Outside, explosions rang out one after another, fire lighting up the sky.
Jiang Xinghuai was a complete mess—hair disheveled, face smudged with black soot—but when he looked up at him, he was smiling.
The kid was just too beautiful.
Fu Yan couldn’t help but lean down and kiss him.
Jiang Xinghuai froze for a moment, then, as Fu Yan’s lips pulled away, tilted his head back and kissed him in return.
“Hey! Over there!” Binzi shouted. “We’re filming a zombie siege, not sweet kisses between single old dogs!”
“Coming right up!” Jiang Xinghuai called back, turning his head to look at Fu Yan.
“What is it?” Fu Yan asked.
“Once we’re safe,” Jiang Xinghuai’s eyes sparkled, “we’ll do grown-up things. I’ve been holding back for a long time.”
“Alright.” Fu Yan couldn’t help but smile.
Their stock of grenades wasn’t large and was soon depleted.
One corner of the iron fence began to give way, collapsing under the sheer weight of the endless infected pressing against it.
“Open fire!” Lei Pengtao gave the order, and a barrage of gunfire tore through the horde, forcing the infected back and widening the gap again.
“Xiao Tao! We can’t keep this up!” Liu Changbin shouted over the thunder of gunfire. “Our weapons aren’t built for this kind of sustained heavy attack!”
“How much time do we have?” Lei Pengtao yelled.
“Ten… ten minutes!” Liu Changbin called back.
“That’s enough!” Lei Pengtao shouted. “My captain will be back!”
“I believe in him!”
“Alright!” Liu Changbin gritted his teeth and nodded.
“Boom!” A massive explosion suddenly erupted.
The infected in the rear were all blown away.
Before anyone could even react, a large off-road vehicle plowed through the corpses, unleashing heavy fire as it charged straight in. The massive vehicle skidded to a stop right in front of the broken section of the fence, blocking the gap completely.
“Kang Cheng!” Jiang Xinghuai exclaimed in surprise and delight, pointing at the man who jumped down from the driver’s seat.
“What the hell happened here?!” Kang Cheng roared as he slammed the car door shut, jogging inside with his team.
“Captain!” Lei Pengtao shouted joyfully.
“Why are there so many infected?!” Kang Cheng smacked Lei Pengtao on the back of the head. “What the hell were you doing? I told you to stay and protect the civilians. This is your idea of protection?!”
“We rescued a truckload of college students! They were attacked by a mutant. The mutant tracked them here,” Lei Pengtao said, clutching his head, the pain nearly making him cry.
“Mutant?” Kang Cheng turned around sharply. “Where is it?!”
“By the watchtower,” Lei Pengtao replied. “Jiang Xinghuai shot it once, and I hit it again. It lost half an arm and hasn’t come down since.”
“Lei Pengtao! Get ready!” Kang Cheng shouted as he charged out.
Lei Pengtao froze for a moment, then quickly snapped to attention and sprinted up to the rooftop terrace, setting up his rifle.
Mutants were different from ordinary infected. The virus mutation had altered their physiology, giving them strength and speed far beyond that of normal humans. They could infect others much faster, too. They had to be eliminated. Otherwise, they were far too dangerous.
Kang Cheng climbed the watchtower one-handed and fired several shots directly at the mutant. He missed. The mutant leapt down, clawing at him.
Kang Cheng let go and dropped straight down. The two slammed into the ground. Kang Cheng rolled, forcing himself up and pressing down on the thrashing mutant with all his strength.
“Lei Pengtao!” Kang Cheng shouted, one hand gripping the mutant’s neck, the other holding down its remaining arm.
Lei Pengtao steadied his breathing, his eye locked on the mutant’s head through the scope.
As the two men’s heads moved apart just a little—
That was the moment! He pulled the trigger.
The sniper’s powerful, armor-piercing round, in less than half a second, tore clean through the mutant’s skull.
The mutant seemed to have its power cut off in an instant. All movement stopped. With half its skull blown open, it toppled forward onto Kang Cheng’s chest.
Kang Cheng pushed the corpse off him and gave a thumbs-up to the roof above.
“How many rounds do you have left?” Kang Cheng asked as he took the towel a teammate handed him and wiped his face. “The mutant’s down. Everyone, go stay on the second floor. Combat personnel stay behind.”
“We don’t have many weapons left,” Binzi replied. “Have you contacted headquarters? How long will it take them to get here?”
Kang Cheng glanced at his watch. “An hour.”
“No way.” Binzi shook his head. “We’ll all die here. I suggest we drive out and break through. Do you have any heavy weapons left?”
“The mortar we used to ram in is the last one,” Kang Cheng frowned. “Even if we break out, most people here will die. The infected surrounding us aren’t as few as you think. More are coming this way. We must guarantee the survival of the majority first.”
“Can we hold out hiding in the house, then?” Binzi asked, brow furrowed.
“We must hold.” Kang Cheng said firmly. “As long as the sun comes up, the army will come.”
All the civilians were moved to the second floor, while the combat personnel remained on the first.
Five minutes later, the iron fence completely collapsed.
Ten minutes later, the villa’s front gate was forced open.
Half an hour later, everyone had retreated to the third floor, the stairwell packed with everything they could drag over to block it.
But soon, the infected began clawing and dragging the obstacles away, piece by piece.
Forty minutes later, everyone stood on the rooftop, staring into the distant darkness, waiting.
Despairing, yet still hoping for the sun to rise.
Fifty minutes later.
The first infected pushed open the rooftop door—
It was over.
All the ammunition was gone—not a single bullet left.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Mo Wang broke free from the chain around its neck, barking ferociously as it lunged forward, biting straight through the infected’s neck.
The second infected squeezed through the narrow rooftop doorway and charged up.
Kang Cheng stood in front of all the civilians and drew the military knife from his belt. He kicked out hard, then flipped backward, and with a reverse grip drove the blade straight into the infected’s eye socket.
The third infected rushed up, Lei Pengtao charged forward.
The fourth, Binzi ran up to meet it.
The fifth…
Then, the heavy whir of rotor blades filled the sky. Everyone looked up, searching for the source of the sound.
But a little girl’s gaze was caught by the faint streak of light on the horizon. She tugged on her mother’s hand and said, “Mom, look. The sun’s coming out.”
One helicopter after another appeared. Under the glow of the rising sun, soldiers in uniform descended on suspension ropes from above like divine reinforcements landing before the utterly exhausted survivors.
“Uncle.” Jiang Xinghuai panted, leaning against Fu Yan. The wooden stick he’d been gripping tightly slipped from his exhausted hands. Looking at the half-risen sun, he smiled. “Kiss me, quick.”
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