Chapter 171: Tier Four Zombie

Chapter 171: Chapter 171: Tier Four Zombie

He was wearing a dark green silk pajama set that would have been quite expensive before the apocalypse. Now, it was torn into shreds, hanging wetly on his body, covered in dark brown bloodstains and sticky gunk. A massive gash was torn open on the side of his round beer belly. Granular subcutaneous fat curled outward, its edges crusted with black-and-red scabs. A gray, dusty section of his large stomach and several loops of intestines swung wildly with his bouncy, stumbling run, constantly brushing against his slime-soaked pajama pants.

Those pajama pants had long been completely soaked through, clinging tightly to his legs and clearly revealing the swollen, rotting contours of his waist and thighs. With every step he took, murky liquid dripped down from the cuffs of his pants, leaving a trail of gooey footprints on the ground.

Not far from him, an elderly zombie also stumbled its way to the base of the wall. His gray hair was sparse, and more than half of his scalp had rotted away, exposing the raw, red flesh underneath. His cloudy eyes bulged out of their sockets, and the corner of his mouth was torn into a massive slit, from which saliva mixed with black blood dripped incessantly.

Upon reaching the earthen wall, he raised his withered, skeletal hands, sporting long, black nails. He clawed frantically at the wall, producing a harsh SCRAPE that left deep gouges in the dirt. As he let out HOARSE ROARS, chunks of rotting flesh crumbled from his face. It was a truly nauseating sight.

"It stinks!"

"Ugh!"

"I’m gonna puke!"

"It’s so cold, yet the stench of rot is still this bad!"

The soldiers and Superpower Users defending the wall couldn’t help but complain as they fought. Looking at the sea of zombies before them, a genuine sense of despair washed over them. All of them had been on at least several missions outside the walls. The thought of the return trip—having to escort three hundred thousand civilians—made the sheer difficulty of the task unimaginably daunting.

Following the orders of their respective captains, everyone first opened fire with firearms, strafing the horde. Then, the strength- and speed-type Superpower Users wielded blades to hack at the zombies already pressed against the wall. Only in critical moments did they intermittently use their superpowers to deal with the Aberrant Zombies, preparing themselves as much as possible for a protracted battle of attrition.

Just as the main force beside the convoy was frantically clearing out the zombies, they vaguely noticed a constant commotion coming from the front. Sometimes it was the RAT-TAT-TAT of heavy machine guns firing continuously. Other times, they saw thick bolts of lightning strike straight down from the pitch-black night sky, smashing into the zombie horde like a divine punishment. The electric flashes exploded instantly, spreading like a dense spiderweb of purple lightning.

There were also massive waves of raging flames sweeping up, the orange-red fire licking at the night sky. Countless ice and metal blades flew through the air like a torrential rainstorm. Wherever their cold gleam passed, zombie limbs were severed one after another. There was even the howling of a tempest, whipping up snow and minced meat like miniature tornadoes.

The distant zombie horde seemed to be swept away by an invisible giant hand, collapsing in massive swaths. That battlefield—a chaotic blend of roaring firearms and rampaging superpowers—outlined a breathtaking, soul-stirring scene of fierce combat in the darkness.

"Fuck!"

"Damn it!"

"Who’s that ruthless?!"

"Someone is wiping out the zombies on the perimeter!"

While the main force at the front attracted the attention of the massive zombie horde, Luna Dawson and her group launched a sneak attack from behind while perched in the trees. Taking advantage of the weak rear of the horde, they rapidly harvested zombie heads while quietly waiting for the Tier Four Zombie to arrive.

Occasionally, two or three Third-tier Zombies would notice Luna’s group and, completely unaware of the power gap, charge at them. In a matter of seconds, Little Sweet Potato taught them a brutal lesson in being a zombie, instantly piercing them with several vines and extracting their Crystal Cores.

Rollo, on the other hand, pounced over in excitement. He swatted the zombies away with his paws, scratching and batting them back and forth in midair like tennis balls. The zombies were torn apart, reduced to mangled, bloody messes. When they crashed to the ground, Rollo would jump down from the tree. Using his momentum and gravity, he would stomp their heads into a bloody paste with a single paw, dig out the Crystal Cores, and happily trot back to Luna with his prizes in his mouth.

Luna pulled out an exclusive baby carrier meant for a Little Tiger and strapped him onto her chest backward, turning him into a 360-degree, all-encompassing defensive shield that devoured anything that came close. This idea had been Kevin Keane’s. Luna had even praised him for his brilliant mind at the time.

Seeing that the main zombie horde had bypassed their group in the trees, Luna pressed her earpiece. "Francis Grant, sixteen Third Ranks are heading for the wall. I’m sending Aaron Palmer and Blake Blue to support you!"

Luna originally wanted to let Aaron Palmer, who had missed out on fighting the Fourth Rank Flytrap last time, stay behind. However, Lynn Shelby absolutely refused to leave—he was just short of rolling in the snow and throwing a tantrum!

Looking at him acting so shamelessly with Julian Palmer’s face, Luna was left completely speechless. He claimed he wanted to participate in the battle personally so he could film the Tier Four Zombie in detail and write a forum post about it. Left with no choice, Aaron Palmer could only reluctantly follow Blake Blue back to the main force.

"Luna! It’s dangerous! Return to my side! Immediately! Right now!"

Francis Grant, who had finally managed to contact her, completely broke his gentle and refined persona. He couldn’t stay calm in the slightest! The Special Operations Team’s Superpower Users standing beside him were badly startled by their leader’s sudden, unprovoked roar. They wondered if Francis Grant had been taken over by an alternate personality the moment he got bloodlust.

Luna had been completely unreachable ever since she notified him. If she died, the supplies stored by the few remaining Space Superpower Users wouldn’t be nearly enough to sustain such a massive convoy, and transporting the supplies from Corbin would be even harder!

"Colonel Grant, I know you’re anxious, but don’t be anxious just yet. Don’t get in the way of me making a fortune."

After saying that, Luna cut off the earpiece communication without hesitation. When her wristband immediately started ringing non-stop, Lynn Shelby simply blocked the caller for her.

Francis Grant stared intently at the red notification on his screen—"You have been added to the other party’s blacklist"—and a flash of incredulous shock appeared on his face. He abruptly raised his hand and snatched the Gatling gun from his guard. Taking two swift steps up the side ladder of the off-road vehicle, he vaulted onto the roof, raised the muzzle toward the zombie horde, and pulled the trigger!

"RAT-TAT-TAT—"

A dense hail of bullets tore through the night sky with ear-piercing shrieks, mowing down zombies in massive swaths.

Seeing that the zombies at the base of the wall had already piled up into a small mountain, Francis Grant violently channeled his superpowers. Dozens of spherical, black lightning bolts suddenly materialized, their surfaces wreathed in twisting, dark purple arcs. Carrying a devastating aura of destruction, they howled through the air and struck the zombie horde in front of the wall with pinpoint accuracy.

The moment they made contact with their targets, the black lightning exploded violently, spreading outward like a tidal wave. Wherever the blast swept through, the zombies’ bodies were instantly scorched through, leaving charred remains collapsing to the ground. Amidst the ZZT-ZZT of electric currents, a heavy, pungent stench of burnt flesh billowed out, viciously assaulting the senses of everyone present and making their scalps tingle with dread.

Luna raised her binoculars. The entire city was shrouded in inky darkness. Aside from the soaring flames of the fierce battle on the left, there wasn’t a single trace of the Tier Four Zombie to be seen.

"It’s coming. It’s a really disgusting big guy."

Little Sweet Potato stood on Kevin Keane’s shoulder, his immature voice calmly uttering terrifying words.

The group felt a tremor beneath their feet. The muffled sound of multiple heavy footsteps stamping on the ground reached them, messy and chaotic. Every step was sluggish and dragging, yet carried a certainty of soon obtaining a delicious meal.

Kevin Keane frowned. "The footsteps don’t sound like a single person."

Luna held her breath and looked in the direction of the sound. She was so shocked that her hands holding the binoculars began to tremble!

Damn it! What kind of freakish mutant is this?!

They were standing on a massive branch thirty meters in the air. The tiny twigs and leaves in the distance quivered slightly with every heavy footfall. But what froze their blood even more than the tremors was the colossal head in the distance—it was almost as tall as a three- or four-story building!

The monster’s four limbs were planted on the ground in a grotesque stance, making it look like a skinned, giant humanoid frog! It crawled forward in a twisted posture. Its exposed muscles and tendons writhed and knotted like a tangled mess of dark red vines. With every step it took, a shudder racked its torso, looking as if it were about to burst apart.

The most horrifying feature was its constantly swelling and contracting lower jaw. Like a pus-filled sac that could rupture at any moment, it opened and closed rhythmically, emitting a sticky, low-pitched hum that seemed to resonate from the very depths of its internal organs.