Chapter 1118: Operation Old Xu Rescue Begins (Part 4)

The long night ended, and finally, the heavens did not disappoint the survivors’ expectations. The weather change everyone worried about did not occur, and the long-missing sunlight still hung high in the sky.

“We’ll start the planned action right after breakfast. As for the manpower, we’ll proceed as we discussed last night!” During breakfast, Hu Xiaodong issued orders to everyone.

According to last night’s discussion, today Hu Xiaodong will lead the team, with Duan Chengwu, Huo Yuankai, and Tang Xiaoquan responsible for setting up sound source tasks.

Meanwhile, Hua Biao and Wang Qiang will stay at the base camp to guard the vehicles.

None had objections, and after finishing breakfast, everyone prepared themselves.

The pressure of this action was immense because its success directly related to whether Old Xu and Lei Tong could be rescued.

“Hua Biao, we leave home to you. If anything unexpected happens, make your own decisions, but safety comes first.”

“Understood, don’t worry, I know what to do.”

With simple instructions, Hu Xiaodong led his brothers out of the house and downstairs.

Upon reaching the bottom of the building, Hu Xiaodong slightly moved the van blocking the main door.

Once all the brothers inside the building had moved, he then retreated and reblocked it.

With this sorted, the group continued onward.

Meanwhile, Xu Renjie, receiving the news, was already fixed by the window, peeping through the gap to view the target location provided by the squad.

After a day’s wash, most of the snow on the ground had melted, which facilitated the team’s appearance.

Snowmelt continuously streamed from walls and windows, thus concealing sounds made by their footsteps on the snow to some extent.

Furthermore, due to the noise generated earlier by Old Xu, Lei Tong during their chase with the earring man and zombies, there were now hardly any active zombies on the street.

Though the survivors had carefully assessed the street from the rooftop, they remained vigilant while walking through it.

Since no one could foresee if lethal danger was lurking in those corners.

They advanced with the help of outdoor objects like wall corners, trash cans, and billboards.

Hu Xiaodong and his team threaded through the roads, encountering zombies roaming alone; Hu Xiaodong would use the compound bow to hunt them from afar.

Thus, this group successfully reached the building below “Kanghui Mansion.”

At the entrance, the four-member squad immediately split between the two sides, tightly sticking to the door frame walls, forming a ready-to-act formation.

Only outdoor locations could be scouted from above, so with unclear conditions inside the mansion, the survivor squad did not dare to rush inside.

Shooting a glance at the teammates on both sides, Hu Xiaodong signaled everyone to prepare for combat.

After the reminder, he tightened his grip on the compound bow and peered inside.

Soon enough, as he looked in, he spotted a zombie.

And that beast leisurely faced away from the door, aimlessly wandering inside entirely unsuspecting.

Estimating the distance between them, Hu Xiaodong abandoned the thought of shooting it with the bow.

From his probing results, only one zombie was visible.

The zombie had its back turned to them, so there was hardly a need for such a cumbersome method as sniping.

“Go!” With a low shout, Hu Xiaodong reversed his grip to draw the cleaver from his back, then charged in first.

Crouched, knife in hand, Hu Xiaodong moved subtly, quickly sneaking up behind the zombie.

Yet the zombie, oblivious with the knife nearly at its neck, continued shaking its head.

Without a second thought, Hu Xiaodong raised his steel blade, aimed at the beast’s skull, and angrily hacked downward.

“Splat!” Blood sprayed in response, and as the zombie collapsed instantly, Hu Xiaodong took a step forward, intercepting the creature’s torso, promptly stooping to lay it gently on the ground.

At the same time, his teammates also swiftly followed up.

“Move, up the safety passage!”

This was the only path upwards at present, and after a quick check of the lobby guide map, the group locked onto the route.

Going straight, then turning right, the green “EXIT” letters came into view.

Pushing open this door meant heading upward, yet encountering zombies while inside made escaping quite troublesome.

No normal person would dare to do such a foolish thing, yet the survivor squad did not think twice before entering.

The internal scenario they had experienced more than once, so the psychological fear had long been conquered.

Moreover, since this action was related to the life or death of their brothers, regardless of danger, they had to take the risk.

As the door opened, a zombie face immediately pressed against it.

The zombie had not expected this tightly shut door to open from the outside, but upon seeing the figures behind the opening door, the bloodthirsty gene spurred by the virus immediately triggered its instinctive attack response.

Raising its hand, opening its mouth, its sharp, waxy, yellow teeth drip with greedy fluids.

“Die!” Hu Xiaodong’s hand raised with the blade, prepared beats unprepared, the zombie’s quick reaction was in vain.

Duan Chengwu proved his military background, as Hu Xiaodong raised the blade, he immediately lunged from behind, grabbing the zombie as it withered to the ground and caught it within his embrace.

Dragging the corpse to a clear position, Duan Chengwu then laid the dead body down.

He then leaned forward to glance upstairs, unfortunately restricted by the building structure, they could not see the zombies’ traces.

Gesturing with his hand, Hu Xiaodong signaled everyone to continue upwards.

To avoid zombies inside Jingdong Building, the survivor team would tie their prepared hemp ropes to the doors of the safety passage on each floor climbed.

This was a precaution in case of any unexpected events later, ensuring they wouldn’t be trapped by zombies from below.

It also spared them from having to painstakingly clear each floor of zombies.

Thus they ascended floor by floor, slaying at least six obstructing zombies along the way.

Upon reaching the sixth floor, the survivor squad paused from their ongoing advance.

According to the plan, from the sixth floor onward, sound source devices would be gradually installed.

This was done to disperse the number of zombies to avoid too many rushing in at once, which could halve its effectiveness.

Secondly, to prevent the zombies from destroying the equipment, as once the sound is emitted, zombies will inevitably pursue the sound to find the source.

If found, the source will inevitably be damaged, which evidently hinders the rescue operation.

Therefore, instead of conveniently placing devices in one spot, it’s better to attempt spreading them out.

This although slightly troublesome, was very necessary for the whole operation.

“Phew!” Almost simultaneously, they began to adjust their breathing; everyone knew what opening the safety passage door meant.

From the moment they left the first floor, the survivors already knew that the presence of zombies inside was an undeniable fact.

And from common reasoning analysis, it was comparatively easier for the commotion caused by Old Xu and Lei Tong earlier to attract zombies from the building’s ground floor, but reaching the upper floors might not be that simple.

So it essentially guaranteed that the number of zombies inside the building was far greater than those below.

The survivor squad’s actual battle was just beginning.

Could they smoothly set up the devices and complete their planned mission?