Chapter 58: True Safe Evacuation |
The transport ship, the factory building, the dark corners...
As the four of them approached the transport ship, the Infected surged out from all sides.
The vast majority of the Infected were dressed in military camouflage, while a small portion wore the blue overalls and white gloves typical of the corn factory workers.
Following the initial wave, it was as if a silent signal had been cast. Even more of the Infected began to converge on their position, forming a horde far larger than the one they had encountered at the mall.
Aside from the ordinary Zombies, the number of Mutants was staggeringly high. Another Jockey descended from above, unleashing a manic, grating laugh as it bounced across the rooftops like a monstrous flea.
Bai Mu aimed at the agile Mutant and fired. Muzzle flash illuminated the area as the bullet accurately pierced the small creature's head, swatting it out of mid-air.
The military-grade equipment was exceptional. The M16 had pristine iron sights, and it felt incredibly natural in Bai Mu's hands.
The countdown read four minutes and five seconds. Even though the first Evacuation Point had grayed out on their interface, the timer had not paused. They still had to reach the transport ship before time ran out.
"Keep moving, time is running out," Bai Mu urged.
Things had escalated to the point of no return.
Nancheng Port and Great Northern Wilderness raised their weapons, unleashing a hail of bullets into the approaching horde.
Truthfully, after taking the Painkillers, Nancheng Port no longer felt any physical agony.
The medication had instantly maxed out his Health. Even though the restoration appeared as a translucent green temporary gauge, it could absorb damage just the same as long as it lasted. Functionally, he was back to peak physical condition.
His earlier trembling had stemmed entirely from psychological terror. But once that terror peaked, it morphed into fury. It was humanity's most primal instinct—or rather, the primal instinct of all living creatures.
Even a cornered monkey would bare its fangs and bite back when struck.
This furious survival instinct ignited within Nancheng Port. Gripping his AK-47 tightly, he laid down suppressive fire against the undead tide. Bai Mu noted that the archer's accuracy was significantly better than that of Great Northern Wilderness; perhaps Nancheng Port had a natural talent for marksmanship, or possessed a dedicated shooting skill.
Great Northern Wilderness and Misty Rain Traveler fired alongside him. While their aim was subpar, the Zombies were ultimately still carbon-based lifeforms. Against the sheer stopping power of modern assault rifles, even taking rounds to the chest, legs, or arms was enough to cripple their mobility.
With his three teammates holding the line and clearing the bulk of the horde, Bai Mu could focus entirely on picking off Mutants and the Zombies encroaching on their blind spots. Adding to his earlier kill of a Smoker, he successfully dispatched another Mutant known as a Spitter.
According to Paradise, this creature's primary weapon was its corrosive acid. It had been skulking behind the main throng of Zombies, stealthily closing the distance toward their group. It seemed the Spitter's attack range was relatively limited, forcing it to move closer before it could douse them in its lethal payload.
However, Bai Mu had tracked its erratic movements long before it posed a threat. Just as it prepared to spew its toxins, he blew its head off. The volatile bile stored within the Spitter ruptured upon its death, painting the soil in a highly corrosive pool of green sludge. Any Zombie foolish enough to shamble through the puddle instantly began to sizzle, releasing thick plumes of white vapor as their flesh melted away.
"Dammit, why are there so many of them here?!" Great Northern Wilderness roared. "Where were they hiding before?!"
"Will we really trigger the Hidden Ending just by boarding that ship?" Misty Rain Traveler asked calmly, continuing to gun down the undead without a word of complaint.
"There might be a few lingering Mutants on board. In the worst-case scenario, we'll have to clear the deck before the system considers the objective complete," Bai Mu replied. "But that shouldn't be a problem. At our current pace, we will breach the transport ship within two minutes. Even if there is resistance aboard, it won't be a massive force. We have plenty of time."
He pulled the pin on a fragmentation grenade and hurled it into the throng. The resulting explosion ripped a temporary gap through the horde, allowing the four of them to push forward along the riverbank, tramping over shattered corpses as they went.
"How do you know there are Mutants on that ship?" Misty Rain Traveler shouted over the deafening chatter of her Uzi. "Did you see them?!"
"Because that transport vessel was requisitioned by the military specifically for hauling Mutants!" Bai Mu yelled back. "If you paid attention, you would have noticed that every single Mutant we fought in the cornfields had shackle abrasions on their limbs, and several even bore old bullet wounds!"
"Think about it! We only encountered two Mutants in a massive, densely populated shopping mall. Yet, out here in the desolate cornfields, I ran into at least eight Witches alone! And that is just a fraction of them. The military rounded all of them up and brought them here!"
"Long before we arrived, the military deployed capture teams into the city. They were incredibly successful!" Bai Mu fired a quick burst, dropping a leaping Hunter mid-arc. "They intended to ship the captured Mutants across the river to a research facility, but the operation went south. The Mutants broke out of containment, and the vessel was abandoned right here on the shore."
"If it's really military hardware, why the hell did they just abandon it?" Great Northern Wilderness asked in disbelief.
"Because they were terrified of infection," Bai Mu answered flatly.
"That makes no sense! If they were capable of capturing so many terrifying Mutants, how could their plan possibly fail?! They just made everything worse for everyone else!" Great Northern Wilderness growled in frustration, thoroughly convinced that this massive roadblock of Zombies and Mutants was entirely the fault of military incompetence.
"They had weapons, ammunition, and manpower. The fact that they managed to haul so many Mutants to the riverbank proves they were fully capable of handling them in combat. The only logical explanation for their downfall is an internal collapse," Bai Mu explained calmly. "Just look at the Zombies wearing camouflage uniforms in this horde. That should tell you everything."
Bai Mu took point. The hulking transport ship was finally within arm's reach, its heavy steel boarding ramp still lowered and resting against the muddy bank.
They had plenty of time. Two and a half minutes remained on the clock.
The realization struck Misty Rain Traveler like lightning. "The soldiers and the researchers handling the transport... they were all infected!"
"Holy shit, how stupid can you get?!" Great Northern Wilderness cursed loudly. "Someone got bitten by a Zombie and nobody noticed?!"
"It wasn't noticed because nobody was actually bitten," Bai Mu corrected. "It's highly likely that the military initially believed the virus was strictly bloodborne or transmitted via bites, so their containment protocols were fatally flawed. Given everything we've seen, it's practically certain that this strain is airborne."
The scattered clues suddenly formed a crystal-clear picture in Misty Rain Traveler's mind. "I get it now. The military personnel had been operating inside the hot zone for too long. The airborne pathogen was already incubating inside them. Once the dormant virus finally mutated and erupted, the entire operation descended into chaos. The infected soldiers turned on each other, allowing the Mutants to slip their restraints and overrun the farmlands."
"But how can you be absolutely certain that's what happened?" Misty Rain Traveler asked as she followed Bai Mu onto the steel ramp. "Is this purely theoretical? You dragged us all the way out here without any concrete proof?"
"The concrete proof was the supply crate they paradropped from that helicopter." Bai Mu ejected the spent magazine from his M16 and smoothly slapped in a fresh one. "If immune survivors were a common occurrence, the military wouldn't waste precious resources airdropping a crate to a group of random, unidentified civilians."
"They dropped it because they were terrified we might die before they could get to us. That's why they practically showered us with top-tier medicine, firearms, and ammunition. We represent an extreme anomaly. According to this Script's lore, we are local civilians who managed to carve our way to an Evacuation Point a full month after the initial outbreak."
"That implies our bodies have successfully fought off the airborne strain. They were desperate to keep us alive and rushed to dispatch a rescue chopper. But their goal wasn't to whisk us away to a safe zone; it was to secure us, lock us up, and turn us into their newest lab rats."
"That is precisely why we had to aim for the secondary Evacuation Point. The Main Quest strictly instructed us to cross the farmlands and reach an evacuation zone. It never specified that we had to board the military's designated chopper. Hijacking this abandoned transport ship is the only way we will secure a true, safe evacuation."