There was a darkness rapidly approaching from the horizon. It was not long before one could make out what the moving objects were.
Zombies!
A horde of zombies!
The category A defence alarm1 rang throughout the base. The people who had been planning to open the gates for Gu Nan didn’t dare to do so anymore. The iron gates for the second and third lines of walls were also shut.
Upon seeing the zombies coming their way, the people lining up outside the safe-zone immediately started banging on the door. Workers who had been too slow were captured by the enraged mob who wanted to use them as hostages to get in. But the safe-zone wouldn’t open the gates for a few workers.
In fact, the doors further in were closing in an orderly manner. Shi Sheng was stuck in between the third and fourth gates. The distance between the gates wasn’t too wide; only about a few meters at best. There were people who hadn’t had time to retreat into the safe-zone and were now trapped too.
But they weren’t as panicked as the people outside. After all, this was behind the third gate so it was much safer than those outside.
Chang Xin’s group had been trapped behind the fourth gate. Chang Xin was soon called away. He left behind a few people to keep an eye on Gu Nan.
Shi Sheng got out of the truck and climbed to the top to get a better look. ‘Zombies are sieging the city? That isn’t right… they didn’t come this early in the original setting. They should still be at the stage where their IQ is lacking, so they shouldn’t have any commander-types yet…
By the time they did appear in the original plot, it should’ve been around a year into the apocalypse, so where did this horde come from?’
The gates were very tall but there was no roof on so Shi Sheng was able to leap from the roof of the truck to the top of the gate. She clambered nimbly up the city walls. Seeing her movements, people started to panic and shout for someone to stop her.
But the people on top of the city walls were already busy enough as it was. Added to the fact Shi Sheng moved very quickly, it took little effort for her to vanish from their sights.
From the top of the city walls, the view was extremely overwhelming. The horde looked like a stretch of dark clouds pressing in on the city, causing the hearts of onlookers to beat faster. The desperate cries of the survivors stuck outside, caused despair to rise in the watchers’ minds.
They had clearly gone through all sorts of difficulties and finally reached the safe-zone. Yet, at the last moment, they were trapped outside while the horde approached.
“They’ve stopped.”
“Strange. What are they doing?”
The people on the city walls were originally rather nervous but after seeing the zombies halt suddenly and split to reveal a path, they became confused.
After the path had been formed, a zombie with a metal ability created a shining gold path that reached all the way to the top of the city walls like a bridge.
This caused the hearts of the people on the walls to tighten with anxiety once again. But they hadn’t been given any orders so they didn’t dare to attack. They could only watch as the golden bridge halted at a certain point on the walls. The part where Shi Sheng was.
‘I was just guessing before but now I’m sure of it. It’s that Zombie Emperor that ran away from home again. Only he could command this many zombies and prevent them from attacking.’
“What are they doing? They aren’t attacking at all. It’s almost as if someone’s commanding them.” Though that person had muttered in a soft voice, the people who heard it felt their hearts thumping. ‘Someone commanding them…’
While ability users were getting more powerful, so were zombies. And when comparing ability users and zombies at the same stage, zombies were clearly stronger. Before they had turned into zombies, they were humans so it wasn’t impossible that a high level zombie could command a low levelled one.
Once the golden bridge had been completed, zombies wearing relatively clean clothes walked down the path, flanking both sides. It looked like they were lined up to welcome somebody. Perhaps it was because the zombies’ behaviour was too abnormal for the safe-zone didn’t react for a time. People could only watch as the zombie walked to the city walls.
Those ability users that hadn’t managed to enter the safe-zone started launching attacks at the zombies but they didn’t retaliate. Even when some zombies fell, others just stepped forward to take their place.
They were like a welcoming committee as they stood at both sides of the path and lowered their heads. They looked completely harmless and as still as statues.
The entire area fell silent.
……
‘Dunno where Qian Li is. Can’t see him anywhere. But I like this style! It’s certainly flashy enough!’ Shi Sheng placed her hand under her jaw as she thought long and hard about what position would make her look the most awesome as she went down. She didn’t have any awesome ability that could act as on-the-spot special effects.
“Nan.” A clear voice rang out beside Shi Sheng’s ear.
The youth was wearing a clean white sweater, black slacks and a pair of sneakers. His hair was slightly curled and he wore a pure and immature smile on his face. His eyes were as clear as lake water which was rippling.
Shi Sheng felt like she was being blinded by this pure image. ‘Is this really the future Zombie Emperor?! Why do I feel like he’s more like an elf?! I must’ve opened my eyes the wrong way or something. I thought the Zombie Emperor would be more… macho!’
Shi Sheng blinked a few times but the youth in front of her remained as pure as before.
“Nan. Here. To. Fetch. You.” Zombie Emperor-sama’s smile reached his eyes.
“You can speak now? Have you got your memories back?” Shi Sheng rubbed Qian Li’s face out of curiosity. It felt was very smooth, like she was rubbing silk. Qian Li allowed Shi Sheng to rub and pinch his face as much as she wanted, his smile remaining unchanged.
“Leave. Don’t. Like.”
“En?” Shi Sheng tilted her head. Qian Li’s brow wrinkled as he thought about how to phrase his thoughts.
Only after a while did he slowly speak, “Here. Not. Good.”
His speech was very slow; it was clear he had to think hard for each word. But his voice was very pleasing to the ears, like the trickling of a spring, so one wouldn’t find his speech too awkward.
‘I think he means he doesn’t like this place and wants me to leave with him. That’s fine with me. Was gonna leave anyways.’
Qian Li revealed an innocent smile as he hugged Shi Sheng and teleported them to the golden bridge. When the people on the walls saw them suddenly appear, they were startled. Especially so when they saw that woman walking on the bridge and not being attacked by the zombies. Instead, they slowly followed her as she walked and escorted her back to the main force.
“Who are those people? Why aren’t the zombies attacking them?”
“It’s Gu Nan!” Chang Xin was the first to identify her, his face paling.
“Gu Nan? When did she get down there? Were those zombies brought by her?”
Gu Nan was a familiar name to the leaders of the safe-zone. She was FU’s Captain who had managed to bring it just ranked beneath the Hurricane mercenary band in only a month. More importantly though, she was the only surviving witness to the events at D County apart from Song Shi’s group.
And just a short while ago, she had taken out some strange explosives and wreaked utter mayhem. Now she was actually in collusion with the zombies.
“Kill her! We can’t let her leave!” The Mayor gave the order.