Chapter 170: The Corpse Tide Attacks

Chapter 170: Chapter 170: The Corpse Tide Attacks

While everyone was preparing, the Sunset Squad had already started fighting.

When Luna Dawson came out to check her surroundings after finishing the farm work in her space, her heart inexplicably sank.

From the north, an incredibly oppressive energy fluctuation was faintly pulsing toward her!

Since waking up, her spiritual power hadn’t stopped scouting outward. It had repeatedly swept the surroundings, confirming there were absolutely no large-scale zombie hordes within fifteen hundred meters. Yet, this inexplicable unease wrapped tightly around her heart like vines.

With no time to overthink, she abruptly tossed the four little ones out of her space. Rollo was still dazed for half a second when it landed, but its little ears twitched rapidly. It ran to the door, sniffing urgently with its pitch-black nose. A burst of anxious grunts immediately rolled from its throat, and its large tail stood straight up.

Little Sweet Potato reacted the fastest, turning around to pounce on the villa door and pull back the deadbolt. Rollo and Little Tiger followed right behind, darting out the door with a "SWISH." The moment they landed, their bodies swelled rapidly, instantly switching to their awe-inspiring evolutionary forms, uttering low, intimidating growls.

"Bean, wake everyone up!"

Luna Dawson’s voice tightened. One look at the reaction of the four little ones, and she knew—trouble was here!

In the apocalypse, with the fresh scent of thousands of living people gathered in one place, it would be truly abnormal if nothing was attracted.

In the first-floor bedroom, Kevin Keane and the others were alarmed by the commotion in Luna Dawson’s room. They woke up almost simultaneously, abruptly rolling out of bed and rushing toward the door.

Little Sweet Potato swiftly ran back to Luna Dawson’s shoulder, its voice mechanical and slightly sluggish from just waking up. "Four kilometers to the north, a cluster of thirty thousand zombies. There is a Tier Four Zombie."

No wonder her spiritual power couldn’t detect it!

The energy shielding of a Tier Four Zombie... She was simply too weak!

Within two minutes, the entire family had gathered in the living room, their eyes vigilant and breathing rapid.

"Luna, what’s wrong?"

"Is it zombies or Aberrant Beasts?"

"Four kilometers to the north, thirty thousand zombies, led by a Tier Four Zombie!" Luna Dawson’s words fired as fast as a machine gun. "Elderly and children, get into the RV immediately!"

"A Tier Four?"

"Bring it on! I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time!"

"Let’s go! Let’s just wipe them out!"

Instead of fear, everyone grew excited.

What the hell? A whole den of warmongers?

Luna Dawson was the first to step out the door. With a thought, the villa was instantly stored back into her space. The four little ones were already lined up outside, ready for battle.

She immediately reached for her communication headset and shouted into it, "Francis Grant! Francis Grant! Get up right now! A cluster of thirty thousand zombies is approaching from the north, and there’s a Tier Four Zombie among them!"

Francis Grant had fallen asleep in his clothes. The piercing voice from the headset suddenly penetrated his eardrums, yanking him out of deep sleep.

He sat up almost reflexively, his eyes still a bit heavy with sleep. It took him two or three seconds to process the situation before he replied with a hoarse voice, "Luna Dawson?" His stuffed nose made his voice sound even more muffled.

"Trust me, wake up all the teams right now." Luna Dawson spoke rapidly, leaving no room for doubt. "My dog is already at the Fourth Rank. It sensed it."

She didn’t have time to explain further. These six thousand people were out on a mission, and every single one of them wanted to return to the base safely. Delaying for even a second meant an extra degree of danger.

Francis Grant’s mind buzzed as if exploding—a horde of thirty thousand zombies?!

Her dog was at the Fourth Rank? And there was a Tier Four Zombie coming with the horde?!

He jolted wide awake in an instant, without a shred of hesitation. "Okay! I got it!" Before his voice even faded, he had already leaped out of bed and hauled up the guardsman sleeping nearby. "Emergency assembly! Notify all nearby formations immediately!"

He chugged a mouthful of cold water to soothe his hoarse throat, his fingers flying across the communicator to broadcast the alarm and commands to the entire squad.

It wasn’t that he blindly trusted Luna Dawson, but the lives of six thousand people left no room for a gambler’s mindset. He had to be fully prepared for any unknown danger—this was a gamble he couldn’t afford to lose.

Grandpa picked up the still-sleeping Hector. The two of them got into the vehicle along with Purple Bean. Purple Bean instantly extended countless vines, completely wrapping both the RV and the Marauder in a protective layer.

Rhonda Dawson, Wayne Dawson, Mrs. Dawson, and Miles Dawson prepared to fight alongside the main force around the RV. The remaining few exchanged a glance and charged toward the north together.

"Fuck! It’s so damn cold!" Aaron Palmer hastily zipped his collar up to his neck.

A stench of rotting corpses, wrapped in the howling north wind, slammed directly into their faces. Even though everyone was wearing winter masks, the foul smell made them dry-heave and cough.

After running just two or three kilometers, the zombie horde entered Luna Dawson’s perception range.

"Get into the trees and avoid the main force first. A Tier Four Zombie possesses a certain level of intelligence, so it’s staying at the back." Luna Dawson switched her communication channel back to squad mode.

"Got it!"

With a deft assist from Rollo and Little Sweet Potato, the group quickly scaled the massive trees lining the road. They stood on branches twenty to thirty meters above the ground, observing their surroundings.

Less than a minute after they found their footing, a dark, swarming horde of zombies trampled the ground below. The entire bombed-out road and clearing were densely packed with the undead. Their roars and footsteps pounded against everyone’s nerves.

The horde was rushing straight toward the encampment of thousands; the few little "snacks" up in the trees were nowhere near as appetizing as the massive feast over there.

Back at the encampment, dozens of Earth Ability Users had erected a series of walls—about one and a half meters high and twenty centimeters thick—facing the direction of the oncoming horde. Within mere moments, everyone tacitly remained silent, focusing their Spirit entirely on unleashing their superpowers.

The zombies were now less than three kilometers away, and their distant roars were already carrying over.

Hank Holt, the only Third Rank Earth Ability User, was being carried on Phillip Sharp’s back. They dashed from the front of the line to the rear, reinforcing any gaps and weak points in the walls one by one.

As soon as the military orders were issued, the soldiers sprang into action with incredible agility.

A few young men teamed up to haul heavy machine guns to designated positions. They swiftly secured the tripods, aiming the pitch-black barrels steadily toward the north, where the zombies were coming from.

On the other side, the muzzles of the anti-aircraft guns slowly rose. The operators rapidly adjusted the parameters, loading the artillery shells in one perfectly fluid motion. The metallic "CLANG" of collisions could be heard clearly in the night.

There were also soldiers carrying grenade launchers, half-crouching as they mounted their weapons, ready to fill in any gaps at a moment’s notice.

The formation at the breach was even more orderly. Soldiers lined up to erect riot shields, stacking them so tightly that they formed a solid wall. The men behind the shields held their assault rifles, pulled back the safeties, and slightly raised their muzzles. Every single one of them held their breath with intense concentration, waiting to open fire.

"BOOM! BOOM!"

A few massive explosions shook the night sky. The anti-aircraft guns, having locked onto their targets long ago, fired first. Artillery shells tore through the dark sky, trailing brilliant flashes of fire, and smashed precisely into the center of the zombie horde a kilometer away. In an instant, chaotic clouds of blood mist and debris blasted outward. Countless zombies were instantly blown into a fleshy pulp.

But the zombie horde continued to surge forward like headless flies, their dense numbers washing over the landscape like a tidal wave.

The first to reach the base of the earth walls was a mixed pack of First and Second Order zombies. Howling, they rammed their heads and bodies against the walls. The "THUMP THUMP THUMP" of their impacts was muffled yet relentless, vibrating the dirt barriers until dust crumbled down.

There were also zombies capable of ranged superpowers, hurling colorful energy spheres and sticky, corrosive acid over the walls. The projectiles hit the ground with loud "HISSES," immediately wafting a bizarre, foul stench into the air.

Among this entire group of zombies, the one sprinting the most eagerly was a bald, middle-aged zombie.