Chapter Ninety-Two: The Arrival of R3

The efficiency of soldiers was always the highest. From the moment Yang Xingjun gave the order to the moment everything was ready, a little over an hour had passed.

By then, the base was shrouded in billowing smoke. The underground garage beneath the command center, in particular, had become a vast subterranean slaughterhouse. Countless people were hacking at one another in a frenzy; gunfire roared without pause, screams rose to the heavens, and corpses piled layer upon layer.

Yang Xingjun had already been escorted by his guards onto an armored command vehicle. Around that armored vehicle were several heavy armored carriers, all there to shield his safety. The regiment’s equipment could be said to have reached a terrifying level. Not to mention the number of armored vehicles, those dozen rocket launchers alone possessed enough firepower to create a devastating barrage. And beyond that, nearly all the soldiers’ weapons were heavy firearms.

“Move out. Evacuate the base completely.”

Ignoring the panicked masses not far away, Yang Xingjun gave the order and sank heavily into the command seat. Because time was limited, he had not even had the chance to decide where he should retreat. For now, he could only leave the base first and make other plans afterward.

With a look of disgust, Yang Xingjun glanced at Sun Yinren’s convoy following behind the troops. If he had not feared the thing in that madman’s hands, why would he have tolerated him staying with them?

Outside the base, crowds of men, women, and children were already streaming in dense packs, their vacant faces fixed ahead as they clogged the entire road leading to the highway. Only a tiny handful had managed to seize cars. Most people were still fighting in the garages, and even those who had just stolen a vehicle were often killed the next instant by bullets flying in from nowhere. Caught in such a vicious cycle, the deranged masses still pressed on as though they knew no better.

Yang Xingjun frowned. With all these people blocking the way, it would be impossible for his massive convoy to leave anytime soon. More than an hour had already passed, and there was still only a little over an hour before the zombie horde arrived. He had to get out as quickly as possible.

He activated the communication system in the command vehicle and roared at the light laser tanks at the front, “Clear the crowd ahead. Kill anyone who resists on the spot.”

The tanks that received the order surged into the crowd. The laser emitters atop them began charging, glowing with an eerie red light. Commands blared from the light laser tanks, and the already chaotic mass immediately descended into even greater disorder.

If Yang Xingjun’s calculations were correct, there was just enough time for him to evacuate. But more often than not, accidents came suddenly. Just as the people blocking the way had been driven back enough to open a road wide enough for vehicles to pass, screams suddenly erupted from the crowd ahead. Like an infection, those cries spread panic through the already terrified people, and before anyone could even determine what was happening up front, they were already scattering in all directions in a frenzy.

Those shrieks made Yang Xingjun’s heart tighten. He shouted, “What is happening up front?”

No one could answer him. The road was packed shoulder to shoulder with people, and what was happening ahead could not possibly be relayed to the rear that quickly. Yet Yang Xingjun’s brow kept twitching, and a foreboding chill seized his entire mind.

On a ridge not far from the base, three R3s shaped like leopards appeared. Behind them, seven R2s followed closely. Like a silent hunt, ten figures raced with astonishing speed toward the evacuating crowd below. The running speed of the R3s had already reached a terrifying several dozen kilometers per hour; even the R2s were far beyond the range of normal humans. It was precisely this speed that allowed the R3s to reach the foot of the mountain in the blink of an eye.

The evacuees naturally could not notice anything strange by the hillside. To them, the faint sounds were nothing more than leaves rustling in the wind.

Zhang Yiyuan was carrying rather a lot of things. The result was that his movements were awkward. Unlike the others, who were pressed together on the road, Zhang Yiyuan was walking with a few others along the mountain’s edge. The hillside, though it seemed overgrown with weeds, was in fact faster to traverse than the congested road. Especially when he saw soldiers driving the crowd aside, Zhang Yiyuan could not help but sneer.

He cursed to his companions beside him, “See that? Only fools would fight their way along the road.”

His companions were hardly close friends; their acquaintance did not extend beyond knowing one another’s names. “Brother Zhang, what the hell is going on? Why are we evacuating all of a sudden? Damn it, at first I thought the zombies had come, but now we haven’t even seen a ghost. I really don’t know what everyone is panicking for.”

Zhang Yiyuan shook his head. “Who the hell knows what’s going on? But from the looks of it, the officials and soldiers are all fleeing like mad. Something must have happened. Otherwise, who wouldn’t want to stay in the safe and comfortable base? Heh... if you don’t believe me, go back inside the base. Damn it, right now the base is full of treasures...”

His companion shrank his neck. “Go back to the base? Who doesn’t know the base is full of madmen now? They hit and kill anyone they see. Damn, I...”

He stopped short, because Zhang Yiyuan had suddenly gaped wide-eyed, his pupils filled with utter terror. His face twisted horribly in fear, and even the handbag in his hand slipped to the ground without him noticing.

The man was puzzled. “Brother Zhang, what’s wrong with you—”

A stench of blood and rot abruptly cut him off. A faint sound rose from beside him, and what met his eyes was an ugly head, half human and half beast. Its slightly gaping mouth revealed black fangs, from which thick black saliva dripped.

A wave of dizziness surged up through his mind. Before he could make a sound, the R3’s sharp claws flashed in a savage blur and struck his head with brutal force. Like a beam of light slicing through it, half his skull slid away soundlessly, revealing a grotesque mixture of crimson and milky white brain matter that seemed almost to pulse. Yet that condition lasted only a fraction of a second before blood and cerebral matter burst from the severed half of the head, spraying into the air.

Zhang Yiyuan could even see the half of his companion’s head still hanging from his neck, one eye turning with unwilling disbelief. The next instant, that companion’s entire body was flung into the air by the monster’s blow, and when he fell, his chest was a mangled ruin, both legs still twitching slightly.

“Aah...”

Zhang Yiyuan let out a shriek of terror. The instinct for survival in the apocalypse made him instantly turn and run. Unfortunately, another R3 had already appeared behind him. As he turned, its sharp claws swept down before his eyes from top to bottom.

All Zhang Yiyuan felt was a flash of white before his gaze, followed by a faint pain spreading from his chest down to his lower body. He sensed his strength being drained away, and lowered his head to see a line of blood gradually widening as it sprayed crimson. His intestines, all slick and colorful, spilled out, still giving off a faint heat.

With only a shred of consciousness remaining, Zhang Yiyuan then felt himself take flight. It was as if he had been dismembered alive, with guts and chunks of flesh flying everywhere. He could still see the terrifying monster tearing people apart at unimaginable speed, some of them flung skyward just like him. Screams merged into one great tide at that moment, and to Zhang Yiyuan’s ears, for some reason, it sounded so strangely beautiful.

“What a pity...”

Zhang Yiyuan, with only half a body left, slammed heavily to the ground. The final thought in his mind had not even finished before everything was swallowed by endless darkness.