Chapter 79: Hive Zombie Battle p2
Lin Jiayao didn’t celebrate but immediately turned and ran down another street.
“Damn it… why was it so loud even with a suppressor…?” she cursed inwardly.
The gunshots had been much louder than the Biter’s growls in the otherwise silent city.
If there was a Hive Zombie nearby, it would have definitely heard.
As expected, shortly after turning, she sensed movement behind her.
Were Hive Zombies really this densely packed here?
Or was she just unlucky?
She had just wanted to reach the extraction point…
Reaching another street, Lin Jiayao was about to continue towards the extraction point.
This time, however, she sent her faster flying insects ahead to scout, about 300 meters in front and behind.
But as soon as one of the insects reached the corner ahead, before she could even see what was there, a flash of red zipped past, and then the insect’s vision was gone.
She could sense that the insect hadn’t just flown out of range… it had been eaten.
Devoured by a larger, faster, red, glowing insect.
“Damn it…”
She regretted thinking this extraction would be easy.
Change of plans. Run.
She had definitely been detected by another Hive Zombie. She hadn’t realized they were so territorial.
She had barely stepped into its territory, and it had immediately given chase.
Had it sensed her weakness, or were Hive Zombies naturally this aggressive?
Like two tigers fighting for the same mountain?
Lin Jiayao didn’t have time to think. Although she had evolved the Control Center, extraction failure still meant a 12-hour cooldown. She didn’t want to abandon Goldie yet.
After all, extracting with Goldie might give her a mental enhancement, which was crucial. She had to try.
And the blood crystals were already in the safehouse; even if she failed, she would still profit.
No losses either way.
“Buzz—”
The insects behind her were faster than she’d anticipated.
With her 360-degree vision, she saw several fast-moving red lights approaching.
Without hesitation, the black holes in her eye sockets buzzed, and dozens of emerald green insects swarmed out, intercepting the red insects.
If she couldn’t win with speed, she would win with numbers.
Although a single green insect was no match for a red one, outnumbered, the red insects were quickly overwhelmed.
“Crash—”
The sound of shattering glass from behind caught her attention. She sent an insect to investigate and saw a black figure running towards her, almost skimming the ground.
That exaggerated running style reminded her of… Devilman. No human could run like that.
No, I can’t outrun that… It was a mutated Sprinter, seemingly unique to America; Lin Jiayao hadn’t heard about this type of zombie from Survivor’s Light.
“Screech—”
Lin Jiayao skidded to a stop, her momentum carrying her forward slightly.
She quickly turned, knelt down, gripped her rifle, her cheek against the stock, an insect flying from her right eye socket and hovering in front of the holographic sight, guiding her aim.
“Click—”
She switched the fire selector to full auto.
These gun-loving Americans, unrestrained by laws… they would have definitely modified it for automatic fire.
She aimed at the charging Sprinter and pulled the trigger.
“Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—”
5.45x39mm rounds streamed towards the zombie, now only 20 meters away.
Only after firing did she see the red tracer rounds mixed in the magazine.
She clearly saw one of the bullets, trailing a red streak, hit the Sprinter’s eye, shattering its brain and exiting through the back of its head.
The Sprinter collapsed. Lin Jiayao didn’t even bother checking if the magazine was empty.
She quickly swapped it for a new one and chambered a round.
Then she turned and ran, already hearing the thunderous footsteps from the street leading to the extraction point. This Hive Zombie controlled more subordinates than she’d imagined.
That wasn’t the sound of just a few thousand zombies.
But she had no other choice, no other escape route.
She wasn’t a local Hive Zombie; she didn’t have time to build an army, to accumulate brains.
She couldn’t fight a well-established Hive Zombie on its own turf, not with its zombie legion.
If she couldn’t escape, she would grab a few controlled mutated zombies and fight.
At least she would try to put the resulting blood crystals into her safehouse before being torn apart, securing one last profit; the safehouse couldn’t have any empty slots.
The closest zombies were less than 100 meters away, even the ordinary Biters seemingly faster than her.
Just as she released all her insects, preparing for a last stand, she heard the distant rumble of vehicles.
Sending her airborne insects to investigate, she saw a heavily armed convoy.
And at the front… a tank.
A tank?!
Reinforcements called by the men she had encountered earlier?
Without time to think, Lin Jiayao dropped to the ground and rolled to the side.
“Boom—”
A deafening roar, and she felt the shockwave from the tank shell passing overhead.
“Rumble—”
A flash of light and a wave of heat from behind. A piece of shrapnel struck the soft tentacles on her left hand, severing a few.
And the explosion wiped out almost half of her airborne insects.
Lin Jiayao scrambled to her feet and ran towards a nearby building.
“Bang—”
“Crash—”
She shot out the windows, entered the building, and then, without stopping, ran through it, hoping to reach the street on the other side.
“Boom—”
Another tank shell, the horde roaring in fury. Her remaining insects, sent to scout behind her, saw that the horde had bypassed her, now chasing the human convoy.
It seemed that, to them, or rather, to the Hive Zombie controlling them, devouring humans was a higher priority than consuming their own kind.
Gunfire, roars, explosions… the once quiet city center had become a warzone.
A full human combat unit, facing off against a powerful Hive Zombie horde.
And the cause of all this… seemed to be Lin Jiayao.
Sensing the zombies weren’t pursuing her anymore, Lin Jiayao slowed down, her mind racing.
Had she… just escaped death?
That had been a certain death situation, hadn’t it?
But the humans she had attracted… seemed to be fighting the Hive Zombie horde now?
Looking at the remaining hour and a half on the extraction timer, Lin Jiayao made up her mind.
I’ll just watch, just for a little while. If anything goes wrong, I’ll run.
This life was a bonus anyway. A little greed wouldn’t hurt. If one side gained a clear advantage, she would leave immediately.
If they were evenly matched, both sides suffering heavy losses, or if the battle moved elsewhere, then she would “clean up” the battlefield.
Ensuring that neither humans nor zombies would find a single blood crystal.
She’d already gotten ten blood crystals from Wisconsin. Seeing the humans’ firepower and the dying zombies, she was tempted.
So many blood crystals just lying there…
Even just two would be a huge profit.
No, not stealing.
Unclaimed items on the ground, abandoned in battle… that’s called scavenging!
The thought of blood crystals sharpened her focus.
Instead of leaving through the back of the building, she climbed the stairs to the eighth floor.
From this vantage point, she could observe the battle through the windows.
She hoped either the humans or the zombies would retreat, moving the battlefield, so she could scavenge the leftovers.
“Boom—”
“Boom—”
“Whoosh—Rumble—”
The Americans’ heavy firepower was relentless. Compared to this, Brother Gou’s equipment seemed paltry.
But Brother Gou’s base was a supply depot, not a military base; they didn’t have many armored vehicles.
And even if they had tanks, no one knew how to operate them.
Besides, using tanks in the city center would definitely attract hordes of zombies. Even with unlimited ammunition, they wouldn’t be able to withstand a full-scale assault.
The zombies might not be able to penetrate the armor, but they could trap the humans inside, a slow and agonizing death.
There were simply too many zombies.
But…
Lin Jiayao frowned, watching the carnage below.
Why weren’t zombies from other districts being drawn to the battle?
They couldn’t have missed the noise. The only explanation was…
The territorial nature of the Hive Zombies.
This area likely belonged to the Hive Zombie that had chased her earlier. They wouldn’t interfere unless they were attacked directly.
This seemed like the most plausible explanation.
“BUZZZZ—”
Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound rattled the building’s windows, some even cracking.
The sound momentarily silenced the human’s gunfire, creating a brief lull in their suppression of the horde.
“BUZZZZ—”
The window in front of Lin Jiayao shattered. In the distance, she saw some of the human soldiers vomiting, unable even to hold their weapons.
But perhaps because Goldie was also a Hive Zombie, she was unaffected.
Lin Jiayao looked towards the source of the sound.
“BUZZZZ—”
Another intense buzzing, this time from around the corner, followed by the whoosh of a rocket.
“Boom—”
The rocket struck a supporting pillar of the building on the corner, not harming the zombies, but triggering another barrage of gunfire from the humans.
And finally, the Hive Zombie revealed itself.
The first thing Lin Jiayao saw was a pale, abnormally long leg extending from around the corner.
And the muscles on the leg were more developed than those of an ordinary Biter, more like a Sprinter’s.
Then, more legs appeared.
All seemingly belonging to the same creature.
“Waaaa—”
A strange, wailing sound echoed through the air.
And through her 360-degree vision, Lin Jiayao saw the humans, despite their superior firepower, turning their vehicles and retreating.
They were abandoning the fight after seeing just a few legs?
Lin Jiayao quickly understood why.
Legs, legs, thighs, more legs.
Dozens of legs, arranged in a circle like an insect’s, supporting a massive, grotesque entity that emerged from around the corner.
A red and white “meat tower.”
Human brains, seemingly fresh, piled atop the legs, connected by glowing red tendrils, stacked upwards like rows of corn on the cob.
And surrounding these stacked brains was a translucent, gelatinous membrane, like the green fatty from before.
The brain-tower was almost ten meters tall. Every movement caused the brains to sway and jiggle, a “squish” sound with each tremor.
And at the front of this ten-meter-tall, three-meter-wide “corn-brain-thing” was a three-meter-wide, circular black hole.
Lin Jiayao recognized this black hole; it was like Goldie’s eye sockets, the green fatty’s neck and shoulders.
The large black hole was filled with smaller holes, far more numerous than Goldie’s.
And at the center of the hole was a swirling mass of red, glowing insects.
Like a will-o’-the-wisp in its massive eye socket.
Even Lin Jiayao, having seen so many grotesque things, felt a wave of nausea. She instinctively took a few steps back.
It was terrifying… disgusting… beyond human comprehension…
If she had to compare it to something, she could only describe it as:
A coiled centipede, carrying a soft, swaying white corn cob, with a black, porous eyeball and a red pupil in the center.
And this disgusting corn cob was wrapped in plastic wrap, filled with formaldehyde, the kernels shifting and squishing with every movement, making a “gurgle” sound.
Then, magnify it a few dozen times, and that was what Lin Jiayao saw.
She lowered her rifle. Even if she could penetrate its gelatinous skin, it wouldn’t do anything. It controlled too many brains…
Unless she could destroy them all at once, it was pointless.
And the only thing capable of such destruction, besides a missile…
Huayibai.
Her “daughter” could resist mental attacks. Even with so many brains, Huayibai could still infect it.
It would become a battle between a control-type zombie and a fungal zombie, and Huayibai had a higher chance of winning.
Of course, Huayibai wasn’t invincible. Creatures that had fed on fungi before the apocalypse, after evolving with blood crystals, could easily counter her.
“Waaaa—”
The wailing grew louder, and Lin Jiayao watched the monstrous head pass below her.
And, was it just her imagination, or had the Hive Zombie’s red eye flickered towards her before continuing its pursuit of the humans?
Perhaps it had lost interest because Goldie only controlled a single, ordinary zombie brain.
After the terrifying Hive Zombie and its horde disappeared, Lin Jiayao remained frozen in place.
Such overwhelming power… how could Goldie survive here?
Fungal zombies could infect Hive Zombies, but her fungal zombies were in Chi—
Suddenly, she thought of the safehouse.
Could she have Huayibai give her some spores, store them in the safehouse, and then bring them to America to infect the zombies here?
She would have to test if the spores could be stored in the safehouse. If so, she had a bold plan.
Create another Huayibai in America, a personal bodyguard!
As long as she had Huayibai’s spores, and enough blood crystals, she could create a Huayibai clone anywhere.
It seemed she had a “gift” for the people and zombies of America.
But she would have to experiment later. Right now, extraction was the priority…
No, before extracting, there were the blood crystals from the corpses below.
“Buzz—”
Her insects swarmed out, flying down through the broken windows.
And Lin Jiayao, controlling Goldie, ran towards the stairs.
Every second counts! Scavenge the battlefield! Take everything I can! Extract before the battle ends!
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