Because of the dire situation, no one had any expectations for lunch, especially Tsunade. Although Li Ke had prepared food for her, she hadn't even finished a single piece of bread after an hour.
The reason for not cooking was simple: all three were afraid of alerting the zombies, allowing them to discover them before the Blood Moon and forcing them to begin fighting earlier.
The cold luncheon meat and water didn't boost morale; instead, they made Li Ke feel drowsy. However, his mind was on edge, and he dared not sleep. The Blood Moon had clearly started earlier, and he didn't want to be asleep when it began—that would be far too dangerous.
Kiri was in a much better position than Li Ke. Although she had never witnessed such a scene before, the battle-hardened gunslinger had a strong heart. She was able to relax a bit, eating while watching the zombie's movements in the distance.
Unlike Li Ke, she was curious about where these zombies were come from. They had followed the same direction the zombies were traveling, yet they hadn't encountered so many, which puzzled her.
Furthermore, the fact that these zombies avoided the impassable cliffs also puzzled her.
Because this is clearly not right. If these zombies could see the situation on the other side clearly, then their observation would have been discovered long ago.
If they couldn't, how did they know they couldn't cross the cliffs?
"This world is truly amazing..."
While unconsciously fiddling with her revolver, Kiri continued to observe the pitted and uneven canyon they had dug, and the somewhat clumsy explosive traps Li Ke had left behind.
These zombies had no weapons or special abilities. Even if there were hundreds or thousands, they were only as strong as a squad of Kartel soldiers attacking.
Kiri had faced hundreds, even thousands, of Kartel soldiers more than once, and these zombies lacked both offensive and ranged capabilities, so she wasn't afraid at all.
However, looking at the sheer number of zombies before her, Kiri, chewing on her luncheon meat, couldn't help but ask.
"How did you survive last time?"
Li Ke shook his head. He himself didn't know how he had survived last time. To be precise, he felt it was a miracle he even managed to climb up to the gas station, let alone survive an attack by so many zombies.
But this time, it was impossible to rely on past experience, because everything seemed different from last time.
Last time, it wasn't this early, and it wasn't this fast!
"I don't know. I almost passed out after climbing to the top of that gas station, and when I woke up again it was the next day. I don't know how I survived. I think the fire might have burned all the zombies, but I don't have any proof."
Kiri nodded. She remembered clearly that on the day they arrived, the ground was covered with all sorts of charred bodies. If that was the case, then it made sense.
Although she didn't know why the zombie corpses disappeared afterward, it explained how they were eliminated in the first place.
"Is that why you put so much wood and fuel down there?"
Looking at the wood and gunpowder traps below, Kiri nodded. She was just trying to make conversation and ease Li Ke's mood.
"Yeah... I just don't know if it'll actually work, and whether we need to add more fuel."
Li Ke paused for a moment, his eyes constantly scanning the time and the moon in the sky. The red marks were gradually encroaching on the moon as far as he could see.
He dared not gamble on whether something even more terrifying might appear today, but given the game's progression, it was practically inevitable. So he gripped his gun tightly, hoping it would give him some sense of security.
However, he quickly found another way to distract himself.
He took out some empty cans and began filling them with gunpowder, setting one aside after another. Since he had no grenades, these were the only options he could use.
As for how to ignite them…
Li Ke didn't know these cans could be reliable grenades, so he was simply making something, hoping they could at least ignite some wood.
But Kiri came over, took out some scrap paper, and began helping Li Ke make a fuse.
The makeshift fuse didn't allow them to light it before throwing, but it could be thrown at a fire to ignite and detonate it. Even if there was no fire, Kiri could detonate it in mid-air with her revolver.
And so, the two continued making gunpowder canisters while observing the surrounding zombies.
As the crimson light intensified, the zombies' mobility and observation skills grew stronger. Several times, Li Ke and Kiri were even spotted by the zombies while observing, and if they hadn't quickly averted their gaze, they might have alerted them.
Time passed slowly. Just as they began to feel hungry again and started eating a little, the red moon, under Li Ke's watchful gaze, gradually turned completely red!
Almost instantly, all the zombies they could see, and those they couldn't, roared and, illuminated by the blood moon and yellow sand, turned and charged towards them.
Their terrifying faces wore horrifying expressions, and their half-rotten bodies, bathed in moonlight, looked as if they had emerged from hell.
Almost instantly, they all turned around and, with a physique that would put even Usain Bolt to shame, charged towards Li Ke and his group.
The zombies, who had previously hesitated to cross the road, now paid no heed to the towering man-made cliff. They charged down one after another. Even though many of the first wave broke their legs in the fall and were trampled underfoot by other zombies, ending their lives instantly, they continued their relentless charge towards them.
As they charged, green light flashed within their bodies. Li Ke could clearly see that with their movements, their bodies, eyes, mouths, and arms glowed with green light.
The yellow earth was instantly engulfed by the black torrent. Kiri instinctively pulled the trigger and gave the order.
"Fire!"
Li Ke instinctively pulled the trigger. With the system's assistance, the machine gun unleashed a torrent of deadly flashes, bullets pounding the zombies, knocking some to the ground or shattering limbs.
But it was useless. Li Ke and Kiri could take down over twenty zombies in an instant, but this was nothing compared to the relentless onslaught of zombies. In the brief moment they reloaded, Li Ke saw zombies already reaching halfway down the path of their artificial canyon.
The wooden traps he had set were instantly destroyed. The sharp logs pierced their bodies, but the zombies didn't seem to care. Some were pinned in place, but the charging zombies simply trampled over them or pushed them forward, relentlessly charging towards them.
Li Ke couldn't resist taking out a Molotov cocktails, but at that moment, Kiri stopped him.
"Don't panic! Wait until they get down there before throwing the Molotov cocktails! Don't light them, I'll just ignite them with my bullets!"
Kiri spoke to Li Ke while continuously firing. Her superior marksmanship allowed her to accurately blow a zombie's head off with each shot.
She wasn't particularly panicked, but she was afraid Li Ke might light the Molotov cocktails here and fail to throw them. Li Ke clearly hadn't received proper training, and she didn't want to take that risk.
"Okay."
Li Ke took a deep breath, put the Molotov cocktail back, and fired continuously like Kiri. Zombies fell one after another under his attacks.
But it was useless. The two of them couldn't form an effective coordinated attack, and the 15-round ammunition limit was fatal. They needed to reload every two or three seconds of firing, making continuous suppression impossible.
This was the direct reason why these zombies could keep charging at them. If they had modern machine guns, even just two, it would have been enough for Li Ke and Kiri to form an impenetrable firepower net and continuously kill the charging zombies.
The gunfire continued. No matter how hard Li Ke and Kiri tried, their efforts were largely ineffective against the seemingly endless horde of zombies. A thick layer of immobile zombies had already accumulated at the bottom of the cliff, and new zombies had reached beneath their feet, relentlessly attacking the soil beneath them that they hadn't yet dug away!
Clearly, these zombies wanted to climb or dig to reach Li Ke and Kiri's location and find them.
Although it was impossible, Li Ke and Kiri couldn't help but glance at each other after discovering this, and saw in each other's eyes that they shared the same thought..
Damn it!
Kiri and Li Ke immediately realized this; that was their backup passage, and below lay their reserve base. If these mounds of earth were breached, it would mean they had lost their last escape route!
"Damn it! These things are so troublesome!"
Looking at the dense horde of zombies rushing towards them in the distance, showing no signs of abating, Kiri cursed in frustration. This was simply too illogical!
The zombies' relentless charge didn't create any gaps in their manpower; instead, it allowed the zombies in the distance to accelerate their approach.
It was as if all the zombies in the world had instantly known their location, and the entire world of zombies was moving towards them.
"Throw Molotov cocktails!"
Gritting her teeth, Kiri gave the order, and Li Ke didn't hesitate, immediately throwing two bottles out the window. Almost the instant the bottles hit the ground, Kiri drew her revolver. Li Ke heard six gunshots, then saw the Molotov cocktails he had overdrawn change direction and ignite in mid-air, forming a curtain of flame that enveloped the surging zombies below.
Not only that, but six more zombies' heads were instantly blown off. In an instant, Kiri's revolver was reloaded, and she shouted at him again.
"Throw more! Otherwise, they won't ignite!"
Without hesitation, Li Ke threw twelve more Molotov cocktails, two at a time. Kiri's revolver flashed through the air, continuously firing the Molotov cocktails, keeping them burning and exploding the heads of the approaching zombies.
The previously dim vision suddenly brightened, and Li Ke could clearly see the zombies below. Their already ferocious faces appeared even more grotesque against the backdrop of the flickering flames.
His eyes gleamed with the light of increasing experience points, but he paid no heed. He instead used the flames to fire a bullet, taking down the approaching zombies one by one..
Fire, shoot, reload, fire, shoot…
The numb actions continued relentlessly. He had lost count of how many shots he had fired or how many times he had repaired his iron pipe machine gun, but he knew one thing:
It was all useless.
He watched helplessly as more and more zombies swarmed into the pit, while the zombies charging towards them from afar remained densely packed. His nerves were practically numb from this repetitive work; all he heard were the sounds of gunfire and the screams of the zombies.
His mind was gradually becoming muddled; the prolonged mental strain and immense pressure were almost crushing him, but—just then, the entire canyon shook.
Li Ke's already muddled mind was suddenly jolted awake. The next moment, he saw countless zombies being hurled high into the air, a series of iron nails whistling through the air, some even bouncing off their steel walls.
A large section of the canyon suddenly cleared out, the burning zombies being propelled into the piles of corpses almost level with the cliff, setting the remaining zombies ablaze.
This explosion energized him, allowing him to quickly turn his body and once again, with renewed passion, pull the trigger, continuously firing at the zombies that were gradually approaching their steel wall.
But, just as he had passionately killed over a hundred zombies, something happened.
Seemingly having reached their limit, or perhaps a zombie's hand had just managed to grasp the steel plate deeply embedded in the mound of earth, as one zombie fell after being shot in the head, it pulled down a piece of the plate.
Li Ke froze for a moment. He and Kiri had anticipated this moment; given the zombies' digging abilities, the steel plates would eventually be removed. But when he truly saw his escape route cut off, Li Ke couldn't hold back any longer and exploded.
He repeatedly threw the bottles filled with gunpowder around him, showering them on the already burning zombies.
The explosions of the gunpowder bottles didn't have much power. Even the most successful ones only knocked down three or four zombies; most just produced a burst of intense sparks, ignited a few nearby zombies, and then fell silent.
Seeing this, Kiri stopped trying to stop Li Ke and continued to silently pull the trigger, letting Li Ke throw the makeshift explosives they had made.
But it was still useless. Li Ke's throwing made no difference. Although he killed more zombies, their corpses became stepping stones and protective shields for others. Another half hour passed. Li Ke, constantly firing, could clearly see another steel plate being torn open, and then…Then came the third, the fourth, each plate being torn open faster than the last.
Not only that, but the instant the sixth plate was torn open, zombies had already crawled into the earthen wall, beginning to destroy the fortress from the inside.
Li Ke kept throwing canisters, but this seemed more like a final act of desperation and madness. After he had thrown all the improvised explosive canisters they had made, the shelter passage beneath their feet collapsed.
The steel plates and earth crashed down, and the zombies that had been almost upon their steel structure instantly dropped three or four meters in height. Li Ke and Kiri's hearts sank completely.
Seeing the densely packed swarm of zombies advancing towards their house, Li Ke glanced at the time—it wasn't even ten o'clock yet—and couldn't help but take out all the remaining Molotov cocktails.
Kiri, looking at the still-swarming monsters in the distance, took a deep breath and also picked up a Molotov cocktail.
They clearly couldn't stop the zombies' advance. Fortunately, Tsunade, at Li Ke's request, hadn't exposed any system blocks when building the house, so even at this point, they could still hold out for a while.
Molotov cocktails were continuously thrown onto the zombie-infested swarm. The two of them were no longer stingy with their firepower; Li Ke even threw out a stack of gunpowder.
Watching the bags of black powder continuously spraying into the air, Kiri's lips twitched involuntarily. Only she could still manage a smile at a time like this.
"This is truly an amazing world..."
Saying this, Kiri pulled the trigger of her revolver. In an instant, the bullet pierced the burlap sack spraying gunpowder, causing it to explode and release a large amount of black powder. This powder, already ignited, then burst into a dense rain of fire.
This rain of fire ignited the Molotov cocktails they had thrown, causing them to explode and burst into an eerie glow in the dark night, making everything look like a scorching inferno.
This time, the flames were incredibly intense, almost illuminating the entire canyon. Seeing this, Li Ke continued to throw gunpowder, even throwing out most of his plank.
Planks and gunpowder scattered throughout the canyon, but even this scorching inferno couldn't stop the zombies' interest. They continued their relentless charge, advancing relentlessly, trampling the flames, undeterred even as their bodies burned.
Finally, the first zombie struck their steel structure. Its arm slammed against the thick steel plate with a loud crack, breaking instantly. But it didn't give up, slamming its other arm into the steel as well.
Another arm hung limply, but immediately, it rammed its head into the steel structure.
Even now, the two didn't give up firing, relentlessly shooting at the attacking zombies to prevent them from reaching into their windows.
However, in less than ten minutes, they had to abandon their fire; it was pointless.
The dead zombies blocked the firing windows, forcing the two to block them up. They could only helplessly listen to the zombies relentlessly pounding on their steel structure, the constant thumping echoing.
Unable to see outside, they could only listen to the sound spreading, rising higher and higher, until finally—
even the ceiling was being pounded on.
"This is truly hopeless."
Kiri couldn't help but speak up, while Li Ke silently lowered his gun, tossing a grenade to Kiri. If the house was destroyed, this would be much more useful than a gun.
"Use this later."
"Thanks."
Kiri smiled as she caught the grenade, giving Li Ke a playful look, though unfortunately no one could see it here.
Then, silence fell.
But at that moment, Li Ke heard sobbing and almost hysterical groans in the darkness.
He looked in Kiri's direction, only to realize that the voice wasn't Kiri's at all.
It was Tsunade's.