Chapter 1129 - 1117: Operation Old Xu Rescue (15)

Chapter 1129: Chapter 1117: Operation Old Xu Rescue (15)

Driven by the sound sources, all the Zombies were following the script the Survivors had set, step by step.

It was a huge piece of good news, but the good turn didn’t last long before things reversed as Zombies started breaking out one after another.

There was no helping it. No matter how thick the emergency exit door was, under that kind of brute shoving—especially with hundreds of Zombies ramming it together—getting breached was only a matter of time.

All of this had been anticipated by the Survivor Squad; it’s just that once the door went down, the variables would shoot up. At the very least, they’d lose control of the situation.

Right now they could only hope the Zombies wouldn’t find where the sound source was planted too quickly.

Even as he thought that, Tang Xiaoquan knew things would never go as smoothly as he imagined.

After all, the sheer number of Zombies was right there in front of them, and he’d been in that building himself. Even if the interior was fairly spacious, once a horde of Zombies poured in, honestly, that bit of space wouldn’t mean much.

And Zombies weren’t exactly the type to sit quietly. Packed into the corridors, no way they’d stay put. Driven by the sound source, they would scratch and claw everywhere. At that rate, forget the twenty-odd rooms on each floor—even if you doubled that number, it probably still wouldn’t be enough to contain their rampage.

So barring surprises, Tang Xiaoquan figured those wooden doors inside the rooms that were blocking the Zombies’ advance would soon start getting busted one after another.

The reality wasn’t far off his estimate; the Zombies were tearing through the wooden doors at a terrifying pace.

They clawed, they scratched, some even just slammed their skulls into them. To find prey as fast as possible, they were practically "all Skills active."

Fortunately, when the Survivor Squad had left, they’d piled quite a lot of desks, chairs, and stools in the stairwell. Those things couldn’t harm the Zombies, but they did take up corridor space, and they were all stacked around the rooms, which at least caused the Zombies some trouble in breaking through.

At this point, Kanghui Mansion was practically a grand hall for Zombies. Countless Zombies were swarming toward the building, pouring inside. The place was like a vortex infused with Magic Power, endlessly sucking in these evil beasts.

The "Pacers" who’d come on foot kept filing into the building, and Tang Xiaoquan was still watching the whole scene like a hawk.

About fifteen minutes after the operation started, the signal receiver of the second sound source device dimmed and went out.

No doubt, another device had malfunctioned.

Then the third, then the fourth.

It was as if these devices had agreed on it, going dark one after another.

Watching the signal indicator lights on the table go out one by one, the Survivors staying back at the house all wore tense, heavy expressions.

The lights were going dark, but there were still plenty of Zombies on the street.

"Damn it! At this rate, by the time those beasts destroy all the equipment, there’ll still be plenty that haven’t gone in!" Duan Chengwu slapped his thigh, unable to sit still. Hearing him, Wang Qiang let out a heavy breath: "Yeah, Chengwu! But we don’t have any other options right now. We can only watch how this plays out."

In the past, with Wang Qiang’s violent temper, he would’ve been yelling to charge out and "fight the Zombies to the death" already.

But now, he’d really grown. After the Yang Xue incident, it was like something suddenly clicked in him. He’d become steady, restrained, with none of that impulsive, brute-force attitude.

It really did fit that old saying: love makes people grow up.

The device signal lights kept going out, and of course, Zombies were still streaming in the whole time.

"Chengwu! Send a message to Old Xu, ask him about the Zombies inside the building."

Ignoring Duan and Wang’s conversation, Tang Xiaoquan calmly issued his orders.

He, too, was worried about how the situation was shifting, just like Duan Chengwu and Wang Qiang. But right now, anxiety wouldn’t solve anything.

And as the observer Hu Xiaodong had assigned, he had to stay cool and assess the situation.

Hearing Tang Xiaoquan’s order, Duan Chengwu immediately picked up his phone and started typing.

Old Xu replied as fast as he could once he received it.

Things on his side were no easier than for his brothers outside. To grasp the situation as much as possible,

Old Xu had Lei Tong stay at the window, watching the Zombies’ movement outside.

While he himself crouched beside the door, pressing against the wall to listen for changes in footsteps from outside.

So when he got the message from outside, he was able to respond quickly: "The Zombies on this floor have already left; situation downstairs unknown."

He held nothing back. Knowing that his situation was directly tied to whether the rescue succeeded, Xu Renjie was completely honest.

"What’s Old Xu say?" Hearing the buzzing from inside the room, Tang Xiaoquan hurriedly asked.

"Old Xu says the Zombies on his floor have been lured away, but he doesn’t know about the other floors."

"Got it." He nodded to himself, and as he answered, Tang Xiaoquan’s hand went up to toy with his bangs.

That was his unconscious habit when he was thinking. Old Xu might not know about the other floors, but Tang Xiaoquan did have a good idea.

Why? The logic was quite simple.

From where he was, he could see clearly the situation where Old Xu and Lei Tong were trapped.

From his observation, he’d seen quite a few Zombies coming out of the building.

By rough estimate, there were at least dozens.

Even though Tang Xiaoquan wasn’t sure if that was all the Zombies inside, the fact that no more came out afterward told him there likely weren’t any left inside.

After all, Zombies are extremely sensitive to sound.

And on top of that, they’re blindly herd-following by nature. If there were still Zombies inside, there’s no way they wouldn’t follow the horde out.

And now, with Old Xu on the scene confirming that all the Zombies on his floor had left,

that only further nailed down Tang Xiaoquan’s judgment that there were no Zombies left.

Which meant... His hand froze in his bangs. Tang Xiaoquan gauged the situation on the ground, then decisively ordered, "Chengwu, send a message to Old Xu, tell him to begin the breakout. Tell him to wait at the gate and keep his hand-held radio open. We’ll send a car to pick them up."

"Qiangzi, get in touch with Brother Hu and the others. Tell them to be ready—once they get our order, they’re to drive straight to Old Xu’s stairwell to pick people up."

With the two orders given in quick succession, Duan Chengwu’s right hand, holding the hand-held radio, hesitated for a moment. In the end he couldn’t help voicing his doubt: "Xiaotang, isn’t it too rushed to move now? Look, more than half the Zombies are still on the street, and we’re already arranging pickup..."

"I get what you’re saying, but look at these sound source signals. If we wait for all the Zombies to go in, the devices we set up will probably all be destroyed. By then, once the cars start up, the engine noise becomes the main lure for the Zombies. Instead of that, better to use the sound sources while they still work and launch the rescue early."

"But the Zombies’ positions..."

"Doesn’t matter. They’ve already left Old Xu and Lei’s location, and most of them are in the building. Even if the Zombies notice something and give chase, we have vehicles to pick them up—speed won’t be an issue!"

There was no denying Tang Xiaoquan’s decision was highly risky. One misstep, and the rescue team could end up in serious danger.