Chapter 24: The Startled Monster
“Ugh… ah…”
Accompanied by staggering steps, the strange and meaningless low roars emitted by trembling, dessicated vocal cords drew progressively nearer.
They should have been corpses that had long since departed this world, but under the control of a mutated virus caused by pollution, they continued to roam the world as monsters, craving the flesh and blood of the living, driven by instinct to consume more active cells to promote the evolution of these withered husks.
However, this withered husk soon regained the eternal slumber that should have belonged to it but had been stripped away by the mutated virus.
A dark figure darted out from the corner it had just passed.
A simple hop and jump compensated for the height difference.
Before the walker could react, an arm from behind, bent at the elbow, encircled its neck, avoiding the mouth full of mutated virus, and clamped down tightly.
‘Pfft—!!!’
The hunting knife pierced through the side of the neck, which was more fragile than the skull.
As the sound of metal cutting into flesh rang out, the walker instantly ceased all bodily activity.
After briefly confirming that this walker truly posed no further threat, the hunting knife was withdrawn, the black bloodstains wiped on the walker's clothes, and then re-sheathed.
After this clean and decisive assassination, Zhong Jing quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
So far, the close-combat tactical movements she had improved based on her own changes and combined with her past combat experience were effective against these walkers.
The one-hit kill process had proceeded without mishap.
Compared to the inconveniences brought to daily life by her physical changes, the impact on her combat habits was the most fatal: reduced strength, lighter body, shifted center of gravity, and even changes in walking and running posture all meant that her previously effective set of tactical movements and habits were no longer applicable to her current self.
These degrees of change were crucial for combat.
For example, the entry point of her hunting knife just now, choosing to stab the neck, was also a change made out of necessity.
If it were before, she would have more directly broken open the walker's skull to strike the back of the brain.
However, after taking down three walkers, she noticed a significant decline in her stamina.
The hardness of the skull made her feel somewhat troubled, especially the soreness in the thenar eminence below her thumb, which forced her to change the killing spot for the walker this time.
However, this body wasn't entirely bad.
At least there had been a very significant improvement in flexibility… Zhong Jing thought with a hint of self-consolation.
“This is Crow, all walkers in the target area have been cleared.”
“This is Si Ling, same here.”
Soon, reports from other mercenaries came through the comms headsets.
Their mission was the same as Zhong Jing’s: to clear the wandering walkers around the demolition point and provide a safe working environment for placing the new plastic explosives.
Although there was still some distance from the corpse tide, there were still many wandering walkers.
The Commander was extremely vigilant.
To avoid alerting it, they even gave up using suppressors and instead adopted close-combat assassination to clear these wandering walkers.
“This is Stone, all walkers in the target area have been cleared.” Zhong Jing couldn't help but look towards the rooftop where Han Nianling, who was in charge of commanding the operation, was located.
Following Crow and Si Ling, Zhong Jing reported the completion of her task.
Although there was nothing unusual through the comms headset, Zhong Jing vaguely sensed that the other mercenaries in the team seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
In the original mission assignment, she was still arranged to be by Han Nianling’s side, responsible for protecting the employer’s personal safety.
Whether it was because of her gender or to take care of her injuries, this preferential arrangement certainly suited her trouble-avoiding personality, but it made Zhong Jing feel very uncomfortable.
In common terms: she always felt… very unhappy.
If it were in the past, she might have gladly accepted it, but now there was always an impulse making her want a chance to prove her individual abilities.
Perhaps when she killed the Tier 1 Swift Walker, they would have considered luck a larger factor in their assessment, but this individual operation was different.
Therefore, she insisted on participating in this mission, politely declining the others' care, even though Zhong Jing herself knew her behavior was somewhat childish.
“Uncle Lin, how is your situation over there.”
After a moment of silence, Han Nianling inquired about Uncle Lin, who was crucial to this mission.
“As per the employer’s instructions, I have already placed a set amount of plastic explosives on several load-bearing columns of this half-demolished building. I guarantee the commotion won’t be small.” Uncle Lin chuckled softly on his end, clearly very confident in his handiwork.
After receiving an affirmative reply, Han Nianling immediately issued an order: “Everyone gather towards me. The detonation delay is set to ten minutes. If the corpse horde is thrown into disarray by the explosion and achieves the expected effect, take action immediately. If an emergency occurs, immediately adopt corresponding emergency measures. We only have one chance.”
Emergency measures…
Hearing this term, Zhong Jing subconsciously touched the flashbang at her waist.
This was the emergency measure Han Nianling spoke of.
Everyone had been issued one flashbang; these were all Han Nianling had brought.
Just as Han Nianling said, they only had one chance.
Once discovered by the corpse tide, they would have no retreat.
Only one option would be left for them: to launch a forced attack, rapidly breaking through the corpse tide with fierce firepower.
Such an approach was nine-tenths fatal.
Unless absolutely necessary, how could they confront the corpse tide head-on?
“Time calibrated, set, withdraw!”
Uncle Lin’s order came through the comms headset.
Zhong Jing immediately stopped lingering and retreated towards the rooftop area where they had originally been.
A few minutes later, the mercenaries returned to the rooftop one after another and immediately raised their respective observation equipment, looking towards the direction where they had just placed the plastic explosives.
It was a precarious six-story building, only half of which remained.
Its own load-bearing capacity was on the verge of collapse, and there were no parasitic mutated plants providing external support.
Just a little explosive to demolish the key points would cause it to collapse.
But to achieve a greater effect, all the plastic explosives Han Nianling carried were used by Uncle Lin.
“How long until detonation?” Crow rubbed his sore eyes and asked. To achieve the best observation effect, he had disregarded the polluting dust in the dense fog and removed his goggles, observing directly with his naked eyes through the binoculars.
“Two minutes and thirty-six seconds…” Han Nianling didn't look at the timer in her hand but directly reported the countdown she was mentally keeping. This made Zhong Jing, who was beside her, look at the timer in Han Nianling's hand in disbelief. She was right next to Han Nianling, and during this time, Han Nianling hadn't lowered her head to check the time with the timer.
Two minutes and thirty-two seconds, this was the countdown displayed on the timer.
Considering the time difference between her hearing it and seeing it, it could be confirmed that the data Han Nianling reported just now had an error margin of almost within one second compared to reality.
At least Zhong Jing couldn't achieve such accuracy with her mental count.
Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.
The moment they were in gradually approached the detonation point of the plastic explosives.
It was clearly less than three minutes, yet it had already made everyone experience what it truly meant for a day to feel like a year.
For three minutes, everyone's heart rate reached the peak of their lives.
There was nothing more nerve-wracking than waiting for judgment.
Would the detonation succeed?
And would it affect the corpse horde?
These unpredictable and unestimable possibilities were the greatest judgment they faced between life and death.
“Beep beep~ Beep beep~”
The clear notification sound of Han Nianling’s timer chimed as the countdown ended.
Everyone’s breath froze in that instant.
What caused this, of course, wasn’t the timer’s notification sound, but the flash of fire that lit up in their line of sight at the exact same moment.
Clearly, at this distance, the different speeds of light and sound could only produce an almost imperceptible difference, but it was as if it had been slowed down.
This difference was infinitely magnified in their eyes, causing them to fall into a daze until the deafening explosion sound arrived, and everyone was startled awake from that momentary lapse.
It was clearly just a momentary lapse… yet it felt as if centuries had passed…
The successfully detonated derelict building collapsed to one side.
The tall building standing next to it experienced a chain reaction under this crushing force.
Even their feet felt the transmitted tremors.
As the tall building collapsed, it kicked up a cloud of dust over a hundred meters high.
The lingering sound of the huge explosion echoed in their ears for a long time.
This was the result Uncle Lin wanted, a domino effect that spread the impact, achieving the optimal detonation effect.
It also made the others in the team look at him in a new light.
This kind of directional demolition technique was not something a mercenary could easily learn.
“Look at the corpse tide!”
Xiao Liu’s excited voice shifted everyone’s gaze from that heart-shaking scene to another heart-shaking scene.
Sure enough, the corpse tide had indeed reacted hugely to the loud noise just now.
Attracted by the sound, the corpse tide slowly approached the demolition site.
The passage on the east side of the residential area was cleared as the corpse horde moved.
Only a few slower-moving walkers were left behind by the main group.
Judging by the current development of the situation, their plan seemed to have succeeded.
Now they just needed to wait a moment, wait for the core part of the corpse tide to completely move away a certain distance before they could pass.
However, the joyful atmosphere didn't last long among the team.
A roar suddenly coming from the explosion site made everyone's expression freeze on their faces.
This roar was definitely not something a walker's vocal cords could produce.
When a massive figure emerged from the ruins created by the explosion, everyone realized: their plan had deviated once again.
“Crawling Giant Lizard…”
Si Ling muttered the name of the dark figure.
It was the same type of creature whose corpse they had seen at that intersection in Sector 04.
However, the difference between this Crawling Giant Lizard before them and that corpse was too great.
Its larger body and reflective black scales showed them the differences between the two in the most direct way.
It… was a tier-two Crawling Giant Lizard, and what made it emerge from its hiding place was the explosion they had just orchestrated.
It was obvious that its lair had been destroyed by the explosion just now.
This was the main reason it appeared here, and this discovery also sent a chill down the backs of the four people who had carried out the mission.
How could they have known that such a dangerous existence was so close to where they had just been carrying out their mission?
At the same time, they were secretly glad that they hadn't disturbed this big fellow just now, otherwise they would have undoubtedly died.
“Let’s go!”
Han Nianling’s words broke the mercenaries’ train of thought.
At this moment, she had already picked up her suitcase and was no longer observing.
Even she frowned at the urgency of the situation before them, unable to maintain her composure any longer.
“Do you want to die? Quick, while the corpse tide and the Crawling Giant Lizard are confronting each other, pass through quickly!”