Chapter 134 - Searching For Satella
"Feng!" Satella called Zhang Qin Feng's name loudly as they got separated while rolling down from the cliff. What happened to them was going on too fast, and they had not enough time to react accordingly. By the time their momentum stopped, the two were separated by a tall building in between them.
'Stein, scan for Satella's Luna Device signal. Guide me to her side immediately.' said Zhang Qin Feng after taking the Centurion S-11 Rifle out from the Dimensional Storage. He had no time to think anything else right now.
[Instruction received. The system noticed a few vague signals around the perimeters, but none of them were in the device's record. Suggesting that the user investigate the nearest signal before deciding to continue or give up]
'Remove the giving up option from the list. Guide me to the nearest signal right now.' Zhang Qin Feng said. Holding his rifle up, Zhang Qin Feng opened fire at the incoming zombies around him.
In an instant, he took down close to six zombies before Stein advised him to keep moving. If he were to stay at this location for five more minutes, he would be overwhelmed by the zombies attracted over by the sound of his gunshots.
Kicking the metal gate open, Zhang Qin Feng accessed one of the abandoned houses and tried to make his way through using the door leading to the garden. It was a smooth journey so far, considering that the house was empty.
But his path was soon obstructed by the neighboring houses after coming from the garden. It was packed with zombies left and right due to the broken fences. This allowed the zombie to enter this area without obstruction.
Based on the corpse and bloodstain that hardly dried, it was evident that the survivor meets his end here not long ago. There's still some flesh and inner organs behind the ribcage.
What attracted his attention was not how gore is the corpse looked but something else. Zhang Qin Feng noticed that the ribcage was cracked and piercing into the innards. This means something else entirely.
'Stein... What's wrong with that corpse?' Zhang Qin Feng asked. The Centurion Rifle in his hand still firing continuously at the incoming zombies that noticed his arrival at one of the fence's pillars.
[Based on the system's initial hypothesis, this survivor died due to a powerful strike on his chest. For him to come over here before collapsing is worthy of praise]
The system's judgment was partially correct. It was right about the location this incident happened, but not about how this survivor came here. His arrival here is likely based on luck and his teammates looking from the few empty guns nearby.
Since there's not single weaponry on the corpse, he's likely dead before the party left his body here to be the bait for the zombies.
[Alert! The system spotted a screamer on top of the roof! Eleven o'clock direction!]
Zhang Qin Feng immediately pointed his Centurion Rifle 45-50 degrees upward. Using the iron sight of the rifle, he fired a few suppressive shots at the moving target.
He was lucky for taking it down before the screamer could start screaming. The memorable scene of how the zombies suddenly turning into athletes sprinting at him was traumatizing, even if nothing much happened after that.
[Move, User! Another group of zombies is coming over to your position!]
Stein's instructions keep coming. But this would end up using a portion of the reserved energy from the system. Luckily, he could keep replenishing the charges from the zombies he killed, but this wouldn't last.
That's because for each scan Stein executed, it uses five to ten charges from the system.
Furthermore, Zhang Qin Feng's current situation does not allow him to stay in a spot for too long. This was how significant is the difference between a solo runner and a team. Without support, Zhang Qin Feng is expected to perform at 100% of his total performance.
[The system has prepared the two injections in case of emergency. Instant Recovery Spray is also active and ready for application at your command. We're two hundred meters away from the first signal! Stay cautious!]
Stein's short and direct notices came at the correct time. Following the system's direction on where to go, Zhang Qin Feng quickly arrived at the first signal.
[We're mistaken. This is Satella, but likely a random survivor in a party with the corpse earlier. The system copied the signal of his Luna Device. We will make fewer mistakes as we go]
[Toot... One moment. Please collect the firearms on the ground. The system believes that it would contribute after some maintenance]
It seems Stein noticed something different on the firearm on the ground. After picking up the gun and looting the corpse, Zhang Qin Feng continued searching for Satella. Up till now, there's a question in his mind.
(Why were there no gunshots after so long? Don't tell me that something happened to her after we separated?)
[The next signal was 300 hundred meters away. Shall we start moving right now?]
Stein asked before it continues to exhaust the charges collected from the zombie's Zhang Qin Feng killed.
'Keep on moving. We'll have to get to Satella, no matter what happened. I'll rely on you, Stein!' he said. Pointing the gun at the horde of zombies getting closer, Zhang Qin Feng fired.
Gunshots were heard, but almost all of them came from Zhang Qin Feng. Although the distance between wasn't too much, due to the obstruction of buildings and debris around the area, it ended up making the journey three times longer than it should.
"Urgh... Where Feng?" Satella finally wakens up after separated from Zhang Qin Feng in the fall. She reached her hand around for her weapon, and when she managed to grab something from the darkness, it felt a little weird.
There was a slimy texture around the gun.
Putting on some strength to pull the gun over to her side, Satella noticed that the gun was not hers. There's no bullet inside the magazine, and based on the rust, it was abandoned for a while.
"Where... Where is this place?"