BANG! BANG! BANG!
Tatatatatatatatat....tatatatata..
The rattle of gunfire filled the sky, reverberating throughout the crumbling streets of Apex City.
Bullets tore through the shaking figures, tearing their rotten flesh apart like paper.
Heads burst open like ripe watermelons, and torsos exploded into mangled heaps of flesh, limbs torn from bodies under the relentless hailstorm of bullets.
The ground started to shake as an armored convoy of trucks barreled down the wide streets.
Heavy machine guns mounted on top of the armored trucks spewed out fire, their muzzles glowing red and as hot as iron as the endless hailstorm of bullets clawed through the tide of corpses.
Wherever the convoy passed, zombies were torn and blasted into smithereens, leaving nothing in their wake except flesh and blood.
But these zombies seemed to come in endless streams; it was simply endless.
For every hundred zombies that were killed, two hundred more crawled out from various corners, alleyways, and collapsed buildings, drawn by the sound of gunfire and the smell of blood.
Zombies are very sensitive to sound; their dead brains are wired to instinctively chase blood and noise.
Once they lock onto their targets, they will not give up until they tear their prey into pieces. Even if it means they have to claw their way through walls or dig, they will do everything.
Ordinary people can't stand such hordes of undead unless they have such relentless firepower as Cyrus.
---------
Cyrus stood atop the lead truck, his silver-white hair tied into a ponytail, whipping wildly in the wind. Clad in his black uniform, he stood there with the electromagnetic cannon on his shoulder.
BOOOM!
A blinding arc of blue energy shot forward from the muzzle.
Five zombies in front were immediately vaporized, their heads and upper bodies turned into ash in an instant.
BOOOOOM!
Another shot blasted through a small horde of zombies emerging from a corner; they were immediately turned into charred bodies before dissipating into ash.
Cyrus's eyes were shining brightly at the power of the electromagnetic cannon, but his eyes were cold as ice.
"Nice!"
He muttered under his breath while stroking the cannon as if he was holding the most precious thing in the world.
"If I had this in my previous life, my life would have been easier!" he thought to himself as he looked ahead.
He shook his head and then looked at the ruins around him; his face seemed to darken slightly.
Originally, according to Noah's estimate, the infection should have taken three hours to reach downtown Apex City.
But one businessman, desperate to escape, had to speed through traffic while coughing blood. His reckless driving had shortened the timeline by one hour.
Cyrus finally understood why the virus was able to spread so quickly to the center of the city in his previous life. When the virus broke out, according to sources, it started at the airport. Normally, according to the speed of the virus, it would have taken a while before it reached the city center, but that was not what happened.
He finally understood; it was clearly this reckless rich businessman who accelerated the spread of the virus.
Cyrus shook his head and pressed the intercom clipped to his ear, saying in a calm but commanding voice, "All squad leaders, split into formation and spread out according to Noah's real-time map. Your top priority is to rescue the key researchers and talents projected by Noah. Save as many civilians as you can, but if anyone tries to stop or delay you, don't hesitate to kill them."
"Understood, Commander! The voices of all the squad leaders came one after the other.
Immediately, the convoy split into many formations and shot in all directions. Each team followed their own route, while armored trucks and buses barreled through the streets as the sounds of gunfire continued.
Cyrus's main squad, consisting of five armored trucks and twenty buses, remained in position.
He checked the electromagnetic cannon in his hand; its coils glowed faintly with power.
"Move!" He raised his hand and gave the command.
With a deafening rumble, engines roared to life as the convoy charged forward, smashing through abandoned cars, crushing zombies beneath their wheels and sending them through the air.
They tore through any blockade as if they were made of paper.
For ten continuous minutes, the streets transformed into a true battlefield filled with gunfire and explosions.
Grenades turned hordes of zombies into gory scenes of rotten flesh.
Rockets blasted through cars and trucks, turning buildings into fiery flames that buried everything inside.
The air was thick with smoke, blood, and the scent of charred flesh and death.
After another twenty minutes of grueling combat, the convoy finally reached its destination.
An imposing gate appeared in front of them, and above the entrance was written: Apex City Gene Research Institute, in metallic letters.
What was once a pristine and elegant entrance now resembled a cemetery, strewn with broken corpses and ruins.
Blood and flesh were smeared everywhere. This place had been a beacon of hope, a symbol of progress in genetics and biology with some of the brightest minds in the country.
Cyrus jumped down from the truck, his boots crunching over shattered flesh and bones as he looked at the ruins in front of him.
His eyes were cold and emotionless; he waved his hand and gave the command.
"Move in!"
The convoy rumbled and barreled inside the campus. From every corner of the campus—dormitories, classrooms, laboratories, etc.—zombies poured out like a flood.
Their faces were gruesome, with rotten flesh hanging from their bodies and eyeballs protruding from their eye sockets.
The stench that followed was simply overwhelming.
Cyrus remained expressionless as he raised his hand again.
"Light them up."
Tatatatatatatatata...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Boom!
Gunfire erupted like thunder; the ground beneath them started to shake, and the mounted machine guns went back and forth.
The trucks simply mowed through the hordes of zombies in an endless wave of bullets.
Heads burst into gory juice; limbs were sent flying in all directions.
Cyrus placed his cannon on his shoulder and pulled the trigger.
BOOOM!
A huge clearing immediately appeared in front of him; the battle didn't take long—within minutes, it was already over. The floor was covered in corpses.
Cyrus frowned slightly; he knew better than anyone not to waste ammunition. If they continued to fight these zombies like this, they would simply be wasting bullets.
They needed a strategy to draw out the zombies and kill all of them on the campus systematically.
"Split into teams," he immediately commanded. "Use the trucks; make enough noise to lure them out. Kill everything that moves!"
"Yes, Commander!" all the soldiers said in unison.
The convoy split into different directions, horns blaring. As predictable as always, the zombies immediately crawled out from various corners.
The plan worked out perfectly; slowly, they began to clear the campus of all the zombies.
---
From the windows of classrooms, labs, and dormitories, heads popped out—students, researchers, and professors, all survivors who had not turned into zombies, watched the armored soldiers as despair in their eyes was filled with hope.
---
Cyrus's team pulled up to a massive building at the center of the campus. The primary research lab of the university stood tall with its sleek design.
The vicinity was empty and eerily quiet; the zombies here had all been drawn away.
Two trucks and a bus parked at the front of the entrance. Cyrus jumped down, his electromagnetic cannon slung across his back.
He stood at the front while looking up at the building and said, "Clear this up; save all the survivors here."
The soldiers nodded and immediately followed Cyrus into the building.
"Administrator, approximately 200 survivors have been detected in this building; key researchers are on the second floor."
Noah's cold voice sounded in his ears.
Cyrus nodded and said again to the soldiers, "As I said, secure everyone you find; I'll head up to the second floor."
With that, he pulled away from the team and went up to the second floor.
The hallway was eerily silent; there was blood everywhere and a few zombies with their heads smashed into pulp.
When Cyrus saw this, he raised an eyebrow as his eyes flashed with a cold glint.
A smirk appeared on his lips as he continued down the hallway. He strode down the dimly lit corridor with the light bulbs flickering in and out.
At the end of the hallway, he saw a massive reinforced door. Cyrus casually approached the door and knocked on it.
"Open up! I'm here to save you!"
There was silence for a while before a muffled shuffling of heavy objects being moved.
Finally, the door opened, and two young men and an old man emerged. The elderly man's hair was disheveled, and his eyes were filled with exhaustion and fear.
His eyes widened when he saw Cyrus; it wasn't only him; the two young men were also quite shocked.
A faint smile appeared on Cyrus's lips as he looked at the old man with heat in his eyes.
"Professor Albert," he said calmly, "thank your lucky stars I'm here to save you. Do you want to get out of here alive?"
Behind the professor, a crowd of terrified faces appeared in view, men and women huddled together, their eyes wide with sheer panic and fear.