Late at night, Xiaoyun was sitting in his office alone.
Typically, the three take turns 'sleeping' with Xiaoyun to be fair to each other. But today, he wanted to sleep alone.
Xiaoyun tries to imagine a rifle in his hand as he lies down on the bed, but simply gets a severe headache and is unable to continue.
"I have to do this. Come on, Xiaoyun. People's lives depend on this."
Xiaoyun tries again after the headache disappears, but the same thing happens again as he collapses onto the table.
"Maybe I should just do a pistol."
Xiaoyun imagines a pistol, and it instantly appears in his hand. After two more pistols lying on the table, the headache resurfaced.
By the time the headache was gone, it was already way past midnight as the clock pointed at three.
"Now the magazine," Xiaoyun murmured as he started imagining the rifle rounds.
After creating several magazines, Xiaoyun felt he had reached his limit. So he quickly assembled them before going back to bed to sleep.
---
The next day.
When Xiaoyun woke up, he felt someone's hand was constantly shaking his arm, preventing him from sleeping any further.
"Hm? What's wrong?" Xiaoyun asked as he yawned out loud.
"Get up. It's almost seven thirty now. We need to go soon," Leyan replied.
"Oh snap! Give me three minutes..."
When Xiaoyun walked downstairs with his backpack carrying several weapons, all of them were already sitting in the living room waiting for him.
"Let go."
The four of them quickly got up and opened the door as Xiaoyun followed right behind, before Nami suddenly turned around.
"Lily, you are going to stay home, okay? We will be back by tonight." Nami whispered as she gently patted her head.
"Okay... be safe!" Lily waved as she watched them disappear into the distance.
---
Everyone was on time as the clock hit eight.
Some of the people's faces looked a little tired, as if they were too nervous to sleep last night. But all of their eyes were wide open as they waited for the roll call to finish.
"Gantian, you were staying up late last night for night duty. How close are the zombies?" Yiming asked.
"They are still on the road, and the estimated walking distance is one hour," Gantian replied, his eyes barely looking tired at all.
"Mayor Xiaoyun, do you want to say any last words before we start moving?" Yiming asked.
Xiaoyun nodded in agreement as the two switched places, letting Xiaoyun be in the center of attention.
"Before anyone thinks about running, let me remind you that there is nowhere else to run to other than living like a caveman in the wilderness.
This is do or die. Remember all the progress we had made in the town. We have to fight to keep our homes safe.
I will fight alongside everyone else on the front line... Nobody is exempt from dying, but I promise you all one thing.
I will be the last one leaving Luoping before everyone... Godspeed, comrades."
As Xiaoyun saluted towards everyone, they all saluted right back before he stepped back down to be a part of his group.
"Okay, groups A and B, please get in the assigned car. Group C follows Jixi to the wall. And group D follows Yezi to the back entrance."
Everyone immediately split into the group Yiming assigned yesterday, with Group A in the back of Yezi's pick-up truck and Group B in Xiaoyun's car.
With Group C heading toward the wall and Group D heading toward the back, only Xiaoyun and Yiming remained on the field along with the two cars.
"Yezi found more weapon stockpiles," Xiaoyun explained before handing his backpack filled with guns over to Yiming.
Yiming didn't question it as he handed the bag to the two cars, giving them each a pistol and a magazine along with it.
"Remember, you are training and only shoot when you are sure to hit the head. Gantian, can you drive group A?"
With a nod from Gantian, Yiming turned his attention to group B.
"Does anyone here drive a car? Shit..."
Yiming immediately noticed all four of the people in group B were in passenger seats or the back, which clearly indicated none of them knew how to drive.
"I can drive group B. Don't worry about it." Xiaoyun volunteered as he got inside his car's driver's seat.
"Thank you... Okay, you two can go now. Remember the plan!"
As the two cars drove off into the distance, Yiming slowly headed towards the wall all alone.
---
Xiaoyun, driving his car, and Gantian, driving Yezi's pick-up truck, quickly drove past the entrance after the drawbridge was lowered.
After driving for a few minutes, they could finally see the massive zombie horde heading toward the town.
"Mayor, we need to turn the car now." The militia in the passenger seat stated.
As Xiaoyun started reversing the car, Gantian's car had already finished reversing. With no time to waste, the militia in the back of Gantian's truck started firing.
"God damn, this car sucks at turning," Xiaoyun complained as his car finally finished reversing, allowing the soldiers to fire back at the zombies.
But despite the gunshots, it barely made a dent in the zombies' number, forcing the two cars to start driving back towards the base.
Noticing Gantian driving at a slower speed on purpose, Xiaoyun quickly copied it after realizing it allowed the militias to shoot back at a steady pace.
Still, the zombies ran faster and faster as the gunshot drew the entire zombie crowd to chase the two cars.
Within seconds of passing by, the zombies were almost tailgating the two cars when Xiaoyun took a short peek at the rear window.
Some of the zombies were even stomping over each other, running over the slower ones just to get closer to their cars.
Xiaoyun started increasing the speed of the car, but Gantian also started increasing the speed of their pick-up truck.
"Fuck this is nerve-racking."
Just as Xiaoyun commented, the two could see the town entrance in the distance. They were now in the touching distance as the soldiers kept firing their guns.
"Get ready!" Gantian yelled through the window as he started speeding up even faster than before.
Xiaoyun maintained the same speed, letting Gantian drive ahead of them. But it meant only Xiaoyun's militia could shoot back at the zombies.
With the zombies closer and closer, his car was stuck, unable to go any faster as Gantian's car was still a few seconds away from driving past the drawbridge.
What's worse was that the lane entrance towards Luoping was much smaller than when exiting, making it even scarier with no other direction but forward.
After what felt like forever, Gantian finally made it past the drawbridge. Xiaoyun immediately floored the gas pedal.
The zombies were only inches away from touching the rear window as the car scraped past the front entrance.
"Bridge up!"
Yiming yelled so loudly that even Xiaoyun could hear his voice in the car. As the bridge was lifted back to the wall, the main groups of zombies were just five steps away.
"Everyone, get ready! When I say drop, you drop the log on top of them. The people under the wall, get ready to lift the log to the people on top of the wall!"
Yiming ordered, changing his plan on the spot after seeing that the number of zombies trying to climb the wall was much greater than he had imagined.
"Yes, sir!"
"Everyone else that is not assigned to the log, start firing at the zombies that aren't killed by the log! I repeat only the zombies that aren't killed by the log!"
"Yes, sir!"
By the time both Group A and Group B left their car and reached the staircase, the logs were being thrown down, crushing all the zombies along the way.
"You guys, throw the gun up here. Help them carry the log up here."
The two groups immediately followed Yiming's order and started carrying the log up the stairs.
---
When Xiaoyun arrived on top of the wall by himself, he was stunned by the number of zombies.
The narrow pathway was filled with long lines of zombies, all trying to climb the wall by stacking on top of each other.
Fortunately, Jingming's prediction was absolutely right.
The zombies simply crowded up and rushed towards the part of the wall where humans were on top of it.
It was forcing the zombies to push aside rather than go towards the section of the wall that was clearly empty.
"Drop!" Yiming yelled.
As the log dropped right on top of the zombie's head, the sound of bone cracking and being crushed could be heard as it rolled down past the moat.
Unlike what everyone had thought initially, since the moat was so full of zombie corpses, the log simply continued to roll down until it reached a small hill in the distance.
But with some zombies still making it past the log, the people on the wall with the guns immediately fired their handguns at them.
"Drop!" Yiming yelled again.
Another log crushed the zombie's head, crushing rows of zombies down and even tripping the ones on the back as they made their way up.
After repeating the same thing over ten different times, both groups, along with the people below the wall, were getting extremely tired.
But there were still at least a hundred zombies right outside the wall, not to mention the bodies that had already built up almost up to the wall.
"Everyone gets off the wall. Open the bridge!" Yiming suddenly ordered, confusing everyone.
After seeing the gate operator hesitating, Yiming pulled out his pistol before pointing it right towards their direction.
"It's an order! Open the god damn bridge and everyone off the wall!" Yiming yelled out loud.
The two of them immediately opened the bridge, causing the zombies to flood right in as people ran down the stairs and abandoned the walls.
"Fire!"
Gantian and Jixi immediately fired their rifle as they stood at the entrance, penetrating multiple zombies as they tried to flood through the narrow entrance.
Within seconds, the entrance was completely blocked off as the dead zombie corpses prevented the newer zombies from going in.
Still, the zombies quickly got around it as more and more of them began going over the wall before jumping down, lunging at the nearest human they could see.
Fortunately, the rifle fire from the two of them had brought enough time for everyone to run away to a safe distance.
Still, there were now zombies running straight towards them. As they got closer and closer, everyone with a gun immediately began free-firing at the zombies.
It worked initially, forming a bullet wall as the first few waves were instantly pushed back. However, it exacerbated the ammo problem.
"Shit, out of ammo!"
"Me too!"
Seeing everyone starting to panic, Yiming could still see around forty zombies still climbing over the wall.
"Everyone, melee weapon! Remember the training! Stick together and don't turn your back!"
Everyone on the ground immediately split up into threes, taking out their melee weapon. Back against each other's backs as they prepared for one last battle.
With the bloodbath of what melee combat is about to start, Yiming had no choice but to take out his shovel, getting ready to fight himself as well.
Just as the zombie was about to reach the first person, a loud engine suddenly filled everyone's ears.
A pick-up truck suddenly rammed right into the crowd of zombies, driving like a maniac as it started drifting in circles.
People in the first row were inches from being hit by the truck before it turned around and ran straight into the zombies once again.
By the time the truck had stopped, less than ten zombies remained, which the Gantian and the militia easily cleaned up with their shovels in hand.
"Holy shit. Thank god you came in with that car." Yiming complimented as Xiaoyun stepped out of his car.
"I just thought of it at the last second... Yezi is going to be really mad how fucked up this car is now though..."
Xiaoyun murmured as he pulled out his ax, chopping at each of the zombies that got stuck at the truck's edges.
With all the zombies in sight moving at all, everyone let out a sigh of relief before some of them collapsed onto the floor from exhaustion.
"Holy shit, we did it!"
"We survived the zombie hordes!"
As families and friends hugged each other in pure excitement, Xiaoyun couldn't help but cheer alongside everyone else.
Even Yiming and his two assistants smiled, letting them celebrate rather than telling them to get back into formation.
However, as the celebration began to die down, a clear, transparent figure was slowly walking past the mountain of zombie bodies.
Just as it got through the entrance and was about to sneak toward one of the people nearby, Xiaoyun suddenly felt something was off.
At first, he couldn't put his finger on it... Until he noticed the air behind Yiming's back looked a little weird.
Without any hesitation, Xiaoyun immediately created a pistol in his right hand and pulled the trigger.
Everyone was confused, with the soldiers and Xiaoyun's family even more confused by the gunshot flying straight towards Yiming's direction.
But as blood started dripping out of thin air, the transparent figure was finally revealed. It was just one step away from biting down on Yiming's neck.
As the body dropped onto the floor, it had a headshot wound on its forehead.
"The fuck is this? Everyone, stay alert."
Yiming quickly took a few steps back before he carefully examined the corpse's body in front of him.
Seeing the blood dripping all over its skin, people could finally see it was a zombie that was almost invisible.
"Group A and Group B, to finish off any leftovers and make sure every single zombie is dead. Everyone else, get a mop and bucket of water." Yiming ordered.
With the cleanup order in place, Xiaoyun headed over to the invisible corpse and examined it himself.
Although it was 'invisible' to most people, only the skin made it extremely transparent, blending into the background if it weren't for Xiaoyun's sharp eyes.
"What the hell was this zombie?" Gantian murmured.
"Probably some sort of mutated zombies from the city. Everyone, be extra careful! We'll clean up the zombie corpses outside later.
Make sure to bash the zombie's head for precaution, even if they look dead. They can still be alive." Yiming warned.
---
As the corpses of zombies began to stack up in a small pit, Yiming ordered several of the men to dig the hole deeper.
After almost an entire hour had passed, the corpses inside the wall were finally all gathered in a massive hole.
The bridge could finally be lifted again as the corpses at the entranceway were all dumped into the massive hole as well.
"What should we do with them?" Yiming asked as he turned over to Xiaoyun, unsure of what they should do with the corpses.
"Hm... Burn them. We can't risk it contaminating the ground." Xiaoyun replied.
"Okay. Everyone, let's get working. You heard the mayor."
Several people started pouring gasoline on the corpses, with some gathering nearby chunks of wood onto the massive pile.
With a flick of a lighter, Xiaoyun lit up a piece of paper before throwing it into the pit. The zombie corpses were immediately engulfed in a massive flame.
It was burning rapidly as everyone took a step back. Its nauseous smell instantly sent people going even further back.
"Everyone, stay back further. The smoke might be extremely dangerous." Xiaoyun warned, further scaring people away from it.
After almost walking back all the way to the security room, everyone could still smell a faint corpse smell coming from the burn pit.
"Maybe we should have buried it... We still have tons of corpses outside," Yiming suggested after seeing the massive smoke forming in the sky.
"We can't risk contaminating the ground. Who knows if the virus can infect the soil..." Xiaoyun argued.
"But this smoke might attract some unwanted attention." Yiming raised his concern as he looked a little afraid.
"Too late now..."
---
When Yezi arrived with his men at the front entrance, he was stunned as he couldn't believe the car that was parked outside.
"Your side really didn't have any zombies?" Xiaoyun asked first as he noticed his rifle didn't look to be used at all.
"Yeah... What the fuck happened to my car?" Yezi questioned as a few workers were still trying to wash the blood stain out of it.
"Um, well, I had to use it to run some zombies over." Xiaoyun awkwardly scratched his head as he looked in the other direction.
"That's fine... Holy shit, you guys had a lot of zombies."
Yezi murmured as he watched the mountain full of zombies that was still burning in the pit.
"Yeah... There were a lot of zombies," Yiming replied as the three watched the burn pit in the distance.
After almost waiting for an hour and a half, the corpses in the fire pit were finally finished burning.
To both Xiaoyun and Yiming's surprise, they were burnt into ashes rather than some sort of dry corpses.
Only after a closer examination of the corpses outside did the two realize most of the zombies were already dried rather than corpses full of moisture.
It was just more convenient for them as they quickly gathered all of the zombies' corpses outside to be burned.
But this time, the corpses outside took much longer as they continued blazing from Noon all the way to six in the evening.
Besides the corpses, the cleanup to wash the blood and zombie parts was relatively easy, as the cleanup crew just sprayed water at the wall and the ground.
The blood just flew right into the soil before vanishing. At this point, there was no point in worrying about contamination.
When everything was done and dusted, it was seven o'clock.
---
"Welcome back!" Lily excitedly opened the door as the five of them walked inside the house.
They only replied with a hey, barely any energy in their voice as they sat on the sofa.
"How is it? Is everything okay out there?" Lily curiously asked, handing a bottle of water to each of them.
"Everything is fine. We're just a little disturbed by the number of corpses we had to burn," Yueyue replied, her face still showing a little bit of disgust.
"Same... That smell was so strong. It's like a mix of durian and gasoline combined with rotten fish." Leyan commented as the soap smell lingered in her hand.
"Shut up, Mom. I don't want to hear about it again. I already threw up once." Nami complained before chugging half of the bottle.
"So much ammo burned... I'm going to be so tired for the next few days to make up for it." Xiaoyun murmured to himself.
As everyone leaned back onto the sofa, Leyan was the first one to get up after noticing the time was almost seven-thirty.
"I'll go cook dinner——"
"It's okay. I don't want to eat today after seeing all those." Nami interrupted, with Yueyue and Yuqi both nodding in agreement.
Even Xiaoyun nodded in agreement, causing Leyan to sit back down after Lily herself said she had already cooked herself dinner.
"We probably should take a shower first," Xiaoyun suggested after noticing the dried blood stains on their clothes.
"Oh, right... Ahem, Lily, you probably should just go to sleep early today. Don't worry about us." Leyan murmured as her face suddenly blushed a little.
"Okay!"