translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
Bai Jing casually retrieved the zombie's nucleus, then quickly rejoined the battle, not daring to delay for a single moment.
At this time, the level two zombies had begun to attack. Sounds of explosions rocked the night sky, smoke and dust were everywhere, debris flew through the air, and the dark night sky seemed to reflect the red light from the fire; it was so beautiful but so tragic!
The level two zombies attacked as fast as lightning. Bullets could only stop them momentarily and didn't affect their overall strength and speed at all.
The waves of attacks grew more ferocious. The zombies' abilities could not be underestimated. Although there was no organization to speak of, they were more lethal, and their methods were more brutal and direct.
Everyone found it extremely tiring to deal with the level two zombies' powerful attacks.
Xu Feng was sweating heavily. His face was stained with blood as he desperately threw bombs at the horde of zombies. His brain seemed to have already forgotten how to think; he only remembered one command: he must not stop. He couldn't let the zombies rush over.
Qin Lie was the only level two ability user within the team, and he had constantly been at the forefront of the battle. His resolute face had long been smeared with smoke and dust, leaving only his sharp eyes as he gripped the handle of a knife with both hands, his movements skilful. The blade was covered in roiling flames as he slashed directly at the zombies' heads.
How could level two zombies be so easy to deal with? It leapt back and jumped out of Qin Lie's range of attack, then rushed back in at high speed, its claws slicing through the air and attacking in a flash.
Blades and claws clashed together, but in the blink of an eye, just when Qin Lie was about to gain the upper hand, another zombie suddenly attacked him.
“Be careful--” Yang Lin saw that Qin Lie’s situation was not good and pulled the trigger, firing several shots towards the zombie. He quickly ran forward and engaged one of the zombies, striding forth with both an ice blade and bullets. He fought as he ran, praising himself for his own skills at managing to distract the zombies at the same time.
With Yang Lin’s help, the pressure on Qin Lie dropped sharply, and he quickly decapitated the level two zombie. But before he could even catch his breath, he heard Yang Lin shouting pitifully, "Bro-- Bro-- Bro Qin, hurry up, save me!"
“Thanks!” Qin Lie laughed lightly and didn't dare to delay. His expression changed in an instant, filling with killing intent as he quickly blocked off one of the zombies chasing after Yang Lie and slicing towards it with his knife. The zombie changed targets immediately, forgetting about Yang Lin as it focused on its new target.
“How dangerous!” Yang Lin patted his chest and wiped away his cold sweat. As soon as his footsteps stopped, a zombie’s claws sliced out at him from behind.
Seeing the situation, Zhao Lei rushed forward to help, and Yang Lin rolled forward on the spot, narrowly escaping the zombie's dangerous claws.
“F*ck! Can't they give us a chance to live?" Yang Lin got up from the ground and cursed as he immediately began to help Zhao Lei. Although two of them combined their strength to deal with the level two zombie, it wasn't going to be enough. Fortunately, after having gone through this period of cooperation, two more people quickly joined the fight.
The four of them were responsible for delaying the zombies while Qin Lie was responsible for killing them. In this way, they tried their best to stabilize the situation at the front. Soon, three level two zombies were killed, but they couldn't be happy because in their hearts, they knew that this wasn't a long-term solution. There were too many zombies, and they would eventually become exhausted…
Bai Jing made use of his teleportation to take several zombies by surprise and wipe them out. He might not be as fast as the zombies, but his powers were definitely enough for him to rampage freely amongst the level two zombies and even keep up with the level three zombies. Because of his space, Bai Jing had several times more energy in his body than other ability users of the same level. Moreover, he had his space shield, and as long as he was careful, level two zombies were unable to discover his existence.
Soon after, Bai Jing had collected the nuclei of five level two zombies. He was now engaging in guerrilla warfare everywhere, showing up where he was needed, and he earned a lot of goodwill in just a few moments.
"Little Hua--" A woman cried out sadly, tears of grief sliding down her face.
“Sister--Be--” The word 'careful' hadn't left his mouth when the teenager's voice stopped abruptly. After a muffled grunt, bright red blood gushed out of his chest. The claws of a zombie had pierced through from under his armpit, and a big hole appeared in his stomach. The young man who had been full of vitality just now suddenly in the twinkling of an eye, hung onto life by just the thinnest gossamer thread.
The zombie opened its mouth wide, its sharp teeth dimly visible.
“No--” The woman rushed forward in horror and desperately unleashed her powers.
The woman was distracted, and several zombies immediately rose up to attack her. A zombie's claw swept forth and was about to puncture her body…
“Sister Yun…” The people around them didn't have enough time to come to the rescue.
There was a flash of a knife, and the zombie's arm was cut off. A figure appeared out of nowhere, and the sharp blade of the knife embedded itself in the zombie's head, splitting it apart. The situation reversed in an instant.
“Be careful in the future.” Bai Jing frowned and urged once again. His blade shone with a cold light as he swung at several other zombies. For Bai Jing, level one zombies could be killed off with a single blow.
“My younger brother…” The woman had not yet recovered from the thrilling danger she had just experienced, but her mind was full of her younger brother's blood-soaked appearance.
Bai Jing teleported over but didn't focus on attacking the zombies. He shattered space to distract the zombies' attention, then hurriedly grabbed the youth and teleported again, returning to the area where the vehicles were parked.
The youth was already having difficulty breathing; Bai Jing pretended to bring out two tablets of anti-inflammatory drugs, but in fact, he was using a bottle of spring water from his space to help the youth wash the drugs down. Looking at the frail teenager, Bai Jing sighed softly. This youth was perhaps even younger than him. He murmured, "Whether or not you can live will depend on your luck."
The woman was extremely grateful. She had quickly rushed over to where Bai Jing and the youth were. "Thank you, Young Master Jing, thank you…"
“You’re welcome. We’re a team. You can stay here and take care of him. I've just given him some medicine, and if he can make it through tonight, he should be fine." Bai Jing spoke calmly. Looking at the woman's uneasy mood, it would probably be fatal to have her continue to fight the zombies. It was better to take this opportunity to build up more goodwill.
Bai Jing however had never expected that the woman would wipe away her tears, throw her younger brother a reluctant glance, and finally say firmly, "No need. If Little Hua can't live on, that's his fate. Thank you Young Master Jing for your lifesaving grace. The situation is urgent now, so how could I only worry about myself? We'll only have a chance to survive when we've killed all the zombies."
Bai Jing looked at her in surprise, then smiled and didn't say anything further. He glanced over at Xiao Sa who was still meditating, then teleported back to the place where he had just rescued the youth. That level two zombie was currently raging having lost the food that had almost been in its mouth. It was now attacking even more fiercely, and roars of "Wuwu--" were emerging from its throat as it expressed its anger.
Bai Jing blocked its attack cleanly, releasing one ability after another. Others also attacked the zombie when they could, and it was quickly dealt with.
Bai Jing dug out the zombie nucleus, looked at his teammates who were still fighting, then back at the fierce level two zombies as well as the endless waves of ordinary zombies, and instantly came to a decision.
He ran around the entire battlefield and called out to several level one ability users and ordinary ability users. After observing them carefully, Bai Jing felt that they had good strength, were courageous on the battlefield, and had contributed a lot to the team.
Bai Jing straightforwardly took out the crystal nuclei and told them how to use them. No matter how surprised they were, Bai Jing only urged them strongly to hurry up and take them. Now that a dozen of their main fighting force was missing, the rest of the team might not be able to hold on for long.
Yang Lin was as tired as a dog at the moment. When he heard Bai Jing’s words, he flatteringly took out the crystal nuclei he had collected. He laughed and said, “I just knew that they were useful.”
Bai Jing gave him a bland smile. How could he not have noticed Yang Lin's small actions while he was running around everywhere? However, Bai Jing was satisfied that Yang Lin hadn't secretly hidden them. He showed a bright and honest personality and didn't insult the favour that Bai Jing had shown him.
Some people wanted to know why Bai Jing hadn't told them to rank up one by one to better ensure their safety.
A sneer hung on Bai Jing's lips. His expression was indifferent as he answered, "If level three zombies come now, you all won't be able to fight back."
The thirteen of them instantly froze into a tense mood and fell silent. They understood that time was pressing and didn't dare to delay any further, sitting on the floor and picking up the crystal nuclei to start absorbing the energy. The level one ability users absorbed the level two crystal nuclei, while ordinary ability users absorbed energy from the level one crystal nuclei.
No one voiced any complaints about Bai Jing's arrangements, because they understood that this was already the best arrangement for everyone!
The people who were fighting also did not raise any objections. Instead, they worked harder and hoped that they would be the next ones to be chosen.
Qin Lie was the one who now faced the most pressure. He had used the most effort to kill the most zombies but had obtained the least benefits. At the moment, he was still killing endlessly, fighting bravely and fiercely. It appeared as though he wasn't under any pressure at all; after having spent several days together, he now had a basic understanding of Bai Jing and Xiao Sa's personality. He believed that if there were level three zombie nuclei, they wouldn't short him of his share. Why should he worry about it now? It was better to focus on killing more zombies.
When Bai Jing saw that they had begun to absorb the energy, he immediately turned around and rejoined the battle, where his abilities were brought out into full play. The silver flash of a space ability user using their powers shone all over the battlefield in an instant.
Bai Jing released his powers to their fullest, removed his space shield, and used himself as bait to attract the zombies' attention.
The number of level two zombies was relatively low and didn't total much more than 300. Considering their team of only a hundred odd people though, it seemed like there was an endless amount of level two zombies.
Another round of hide-and-seek began. Bai Jing focused on dodging and only used attacks as support. What he had to do now was to delay for as long as possible. If he had guessed correctly, after the level three zombies arrived, level four and level five zombies would soon follow suit. Only by increasing the strength of the entire team would they be able to reduce the amount of unnecessary sacrifices.
However, it was also possible that the high level zombies were currently attacking other survivors' bases at the moment. Compared to the total human population in a single base, the number of people in their team was obviously just a drop in the bucket. There wasn't even enough of them for the high level zombies to fill in the gaps between their teeth, which was why only low level zombies had attacked up till now.
However, perhaps because the zombies had developed wisdom, they knew that a small team would be easy to deal with and hadn't sent out all their forces, relying on these small shrimp soldiers and crab generals to take them down. In any case, if the high level zombies didn't come, their team would have earned themselves a reprieve. In this short period of time, they had to improve their team's strength again and again!