Chapter Ninety-Seven: There Was No Choice but to Fight

Rebuilding Civilization

Here is today’s fifth update. If you still have any votes left, please spare a few for this book for my sake. Thank you.

Damn it, why does it always fall just short by a hair’s breadth?

The base was still in utter chaos. After Xie Han came out, the convoy, led by Chen Liu’s Hummer King, roared toward the main gate.

Seated in the front passenger seat, Xie Han could hear gunfire and screams from time to time. Blended together, those sounds gave the uncanny feeling of being right in the middle of a city battle in the Second World War. His heart was in turmoil, as though a cup of bitter, sweet, sour, and spicy liquids had been overturned all at once. For a moment, he was lost in confusion. But that confusion lasted only an instant. Thinking of the powers he possessed, he smiled again, glanced at the watch on his wrist, and said to A Mu, who was serving as the machine gunner, “Kill anyone who tries to ram the convoy on the spot.”

A Mu nodded indifferently. He did not use the six-barrel heavy machine gun welded onto the Hummer King, but instead took out the submachine gun he always carried on him, keeping a vigilant eye on the surroundings.

Unfortunately, though the road was in complete disorder, no one with a death wish dared to blunder into this small but imposing convoy. Anyone who had entertained that thought promptly shrank back the moment they saw the six-barrel gun mounted on the Hummer King. In times of such chaos, who knew whether the other side would make a scapegoat out of them? If they were lunatics too, and a burst of bullets came flying over, the joke would be far too big for comfort.

With such thoughts in mind, the convoy actually made it smoothly to the east gate of the base.

The base had four large gates in total. Under normal circumstances, only the one facing Wangtian City would be opened, but by now all four gates had already been smashed open by those fleeing the base, and scene after scene of bitter irony was unfolding.

At the very moment when the zombies were about to encircle the city, some were desperately trying to break out of the base. These were people who had not yet experienced the baptism of the R3s. In their minds, the R3s were no different from ordinary zombies at all. Meanwhile, others were desperately trying to force their way into the base, people who had been stunned senseless by the blood and slaughter unleashed by the R3s. They only wanted to squeeze into what now seemed to be a very safe base.

To Xie Han’s way of thinking, whether they wanted to get in or wanted to get out, their fate had already been sealed. All of them would become food in the mouths of zombies. Of the more than one hundred thousand people in the base, those who could escape the R3 massacre were definitely no more than one third, roughly fifty thousand people. Of those fifty thousand, at least twenty thousand were fleeing in the direction from which the zombies were charging. By any realistic count, the number who could truly make it out was only about thirty thousand.

By the time the convoy charged up to the gate, the place was packed solid with people trying to enter and leave, leaving not even the slightest gap. It was already extremely difficult for a person to squeeze through, let alone a vehicle. Faced with this scene, Xie Han was at a loss. As time ticked away and the low, howling sounds of the zombies drew closer and louder, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and roar at A Mu, “Use the machine gun and blast me a road through!”

Xie Han knew that if this had been the old him, he would never have given such a bloody order. But everything that had happened today had completely changed his view of the end of the world. It had transformed him from a modern man into a survivor of the apocalypse. And a survivor of the apocalypse meant cruelty, bloodshed, ruthlessness, and a willingness to stop at nothing, to use any means necessary, without restraint, in order to achieve his goal.

At Xie Han’s command, only the faintest ripple crossed A Mu’s face before it returned to its usual cold expression. He aimed the gun at the gate crowded with people and shouted, “If you don’t want to die, get the hell out of the way!”

The barrels began to spin. Perhaps to give those people a final chance, A Mu did not immediately bring the rotating speed up to its maximum firing rate.

Unfortunately, for people gripped by panic and despair, all they could think of was forcing their way in or out. How could they possibly listen to A Mu’s roar? Aside from a few who tried desperately to dodge aside, the rest might as well have been deaf. A trace of ferocity flashed across A Mu’s cold face. He squeezed the trigger all the way down. The barrels, which had only been warming up at a slow rate, instantly reached maximum speed. Explosive rounds burst forth, and in the packed crowd, crimson blossoms of blood erupted one after another.

The six-barrel heavy machine gun madly reaped the lives before it. Screams rose in an instant and merged into one continuous howl. One person after another was torn in half by the force of the explosive rounds. Severed limbs and splattering blood whirled through the air from the blasts, and in an instant the gate became a hell on earth. But the one-sided slaughter still continued, until every person at the gate had been thoroughly cleared away.

The convoy then sped through the gate, which had become carpeted with corpses. All around them were people fleeing in terror, and within ten meters of the convoy, there was not a single soul.

Yang Xingjun, stationed on the high wall in defense, could naturally see the massacre taking place inside the gate. But he had no intention of stopping it, because he was waiting. Waiting for this convoy led by Xie Han to serve as bait and draw the R3’s attention. As soon as the R3 became entangled with Xie Han, Xie Han’s abnormal abilities should be enough to delay it for a little while. And that little while would be the opening he needed to destroy the R3. One barrage of rockets would be enough to cover the area. Whether it was the R3 or Xie Han, neither would escape being torn to pieces.

Yang Xingjun did not care in the least whether Xie Han lived or died. For him, once the R3 was successfully eliminated, that would be the moment for him to flee. He had even already thought of a way to break through the R3’s defensive line. Everything was simply waiting on the effect of Xie Han’s convoy.

Naturally, Xie Han had no idea that he had already been targeted by Yang Xingjun. The moment the convoy burst through the gate and crossed the three useless electric fences, the massacre unleashed by the R3 seemed right before his eyes. Perhaps having noticed the convoy, the R3 guarding this side dropped a corpse whose head it had slapped off, then, with a howl, charged straight through the crowd toward the convoy. Wherever it passed, every human being was ripped apart by its swift and razor-sharp claws.

Xie Han frowned. From the moment he decided to return to the base, he had anticipated that this moment would come. His breathing grew rapid. This was unlike the first time he had faced an R3. He could feel death only a step away, right at his heels. Yet for the safety of the convoy, he had no choice but to confront the charging R3 himself. He had no other option.

“Follow this route and keep going,” he said. “When you get to the foot of the mountain, there’s an abandoned mountain road there. Take it across the ridge, and it’ll bring you to another highway.”

Chen Liu understood what Xie Han intended to do next. “What about you?”

Xie Han smiled. “Don’t worry about me. As long as you all get out safely, I’ll have my own way of escaping.”

Chen Liu nodded and said, “I won’t say much more. Kid, take care of yourself. I still want to drink a few good cups with you, so you’d better not lose your life here.” He paused, then said, “Remember, we’ll be waiting for you at the foot of the mountain.”

Xie Han gave a heavy nod, sprang up from the Hummer King’s front seat, leaped out of the vehicle, and landed on the ground.

Feeling both feet sink more than ten centimeters into the mud, Xie Han could only smile wryly. With the micro exoskeleton adding over a hundred kilograms to his own weight, he was now carrying more than one hundred and sixty kilograms in total. Given the force of his diving leap, the result was hardly surprising. But he had no time to dwell on that. He immediately raised the laser rifle and fired a single shot at the charging R3.

Xie Han had great confidence in his marksmanship, and this shot indeed hit the R3. Unfortunately, it only struck the creature’s ear. The power of the laser rifle was enough to melt away that fragile ear. After losing one ear, the R3 became even more ferocious and came roaring toward Xie Han faster still.

Although the injury had caused only slight damage, for Xie Han it was enough. As long as he could successfully draw the R3’s attention and allow the convoy to break through and escape, that was sufficient.