As dusk settled, Shen Feng was driving towards Rongcheng with his men. It would take a few hours to reach the city, and by then it would be dark. Shen Feng couldn't speed things up, as he was carrying a lot of equipment that couldn't be abandoned, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to launch an effective strike. The artillery had suffered heavy losses, but the fifty-plus men could still cooperate. With over twenty truckloads of artillery shells, they could inflict significant casualties if all were fired.
Just then, Shen Feng's walkie-talkie crackled to life. "Shen Feng, you are ordered to accelerate your travel. You must reach Rongcheng before dark to provide support. Ideally, pressure the Corpse King from the outskirts, otherwise, Rongcheng's crisis will be difficult to resolve!"
Shen Feng, hearing the order, asked in confusion, "Weren't there supposed to be three more defense lines? Have they been breached so quickly?"
The command center explained, "The defense lines have been fine. The zombies couldn't get close, but they entered Rongcheng through the sewers, causing chaos within the city. It's now very difficult to restore order inside the city."
"Understood! I'll be there as fast as I can," Shen Feng replied irritably.
After ending the call, Shen Feng was furious and complained to Chu Chaoyan beside him, "Don't these people in Rongcheng learn their lesson? The previous four defense lines were breached by tunnels, and they're still not careful. Now zombies are in the sewers, and Rongcheng is about to descend into chaos!"
Chu Chaoyan sighed upon hearing this. He had thought Rongcheng was impregnable, but it seemed to be facing one problem after another. The zombies were constantly attacking from underground, while a massive army pressed from the front. In such a situation, he wondered how long Rongcheng could hold out.
Shen Feng had no other options and could only accelerate his advance, hoping to reach Rongcheng quickly. As long as he could launch an attack outside the city, he was sure to alleviate the pressure from the zombies.
Inside Rongcheng, five young men and women in military uniforms were in action. They wielded swords and knives, charging to eliminate any zombies that appeared. Although they used cold weapons, their movements were exceptionally swift, making their zombie-killing efficiency very high.
Xiao Sheng observed the chaotic crowds on the streets. The number of zombies was surprisingly small. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that more people had died from trampling than from being killed by zombies. Feeling anxious, he said to the four people around him, "Let's split up and focus on killing zombies! We must not let the chaos spread, or it will affect the soldiers outside the city."
The other four agreed with Xiao Sheng's assessment and dispersed to hunt zombies.
Xiao Sheng held a long, narrow blade. Suddenly, a blue flame erupted from his hand, engulfing the blade. The surrounding temperature rose significantly. The flame in his hand was blue, the same color as a blowtorch, making it much hotter than ordinary flames.
Ordinary flames were fiery red, but flames weren't limited to just one color. As temperature increased, flame colors could change to blue or white, all of which inflicted far more damage than ordinary flames.
"Sizzle," Xiao Sheng lunged forward and decapitated a speed-type zombie with a single strike. There was no blood on his blade, and the speed-type zombie, unable to dodge his attack, died instantly.
"Die," Xiao Sheng began his slaughter of zombies. No matter what kind of zombie it was, it couldn't withstand his blade. Throughout this, his blade remained spotless.
Fang Qinghao held a short knife, surrounded by flowing water. Among everyone, his weapon was the shortest, but his defense was the strongest. When speed-type zombies charged, they were quickly blocked by the water, unable to get close. Seizing the opportunity, Fang Qinghao swiftly killed the surrounding zombies.
The members of the guard team also joined the fray, armed with assault rifles. As soon as they spotted zombies, they unleashed a barrage of gunfire. The zombies inside the city were only speed-type and regular zombies, and firearms were clearly effective against them.
Fang Qinghao continued to hunt zombies, but he discovered that the biggest obstacle wasn't the zombies themselves, but the crowded populace!
People rushed through the streets, parents holding their children's hands as they ran. Some children were pushed aside by the surging crowd, lost their parents, and began to cry loudly. No one stopped to look at these crying children.
Sometimes, a child carried on a parent's back would accidentally slip and fall to the ground, only to be trampled to death by the people rushing behind. Then, the cries of the mother or father would echo, having wanted to escape with their child, only for them to be trampled to death – a tragedy they couldn't bear.
Some elderly people, holding children, squatted by the roadside, not joining the escape. It wasn't that they didn't want to run, but they were simply too old and couldn't run anymore!
"Why is it so chaotic? Can't people just stay home obediently?" Fang Qinghao said angrily, witnessing this scene. He wanted to kill zombies and protect people, but the streets were filled with fleeing individuals, making normal hunting impossible.
The people on the street were in complete disarray. Panic was contagious, and in a city of five million, once panic spread, it was a complete disaster!
Fang Qinghao personally witnessed the elderly and children being trampled to death. Trampling wouldn't normally occur so easily, but now it was commonplace. Under the threat of three million zombies outside the city, the people inside had gone mad!
Fang Qinghao had no choice but to withdraw his water barrier and began climbing buildings. He moved across the rooftops, hunting zombies. He noticed that the number of people killed by zombies wasn't particularly high; rather, more people were dying from being trampled by each other.
After advancing a distance on the rooftops, Fang Qinghao suddenly saw a quiet area in the distance, with many people standing around without running. Seeing this, Fang Qinghao hurried over, only to find that it was the research institute. A large group of people had gathered outside the institute, and a woman holding a boning knife stood at the front of the crowd. The ground around them was littered with zombie corpses; it seemed this woman had killed all the zombies.
Yu Renshu was still wearing her lab coat while fighting. She hadn't expected zombies to appear within the city while she was conducting experiments. The people at the institute were all ordinary individuals with no ability to resist zombies, so she had to step forward to protect them.
As the only person in the laboratory who had combat experience, Yu Renshu stepped forward without hesitation when danger arose.
After killing the nearby zombies, Yu Renshu clarified the situation and immediately had people move the manhole covers. She then saw zombies crawling in the sewers.
Next to the research institute was a park with a lake. Yu Renshu waved her hand towards the lake, and instantly, a stream of water flew out from the lake. Yu Renshu controlled this water and poured it into the sewers, drowning the zombies within and ensuring no zombies would appear in the surrounding area.
The nearby residents, witnessing this, rushed over for shelter. Consequently, the area around the research institute became calm. Everyone was grateful to have found an ability user to protect them, believing they were now safe.
"Splash..." The lake water in the park continuously poured into the sewers, and the water level in the lake was steadily decreasing. It was certain that the lake water wouldn't be drained anytime soon.
Fang Qinghao, seeing this, rushed over. He had never heard of such a person in Rongcheng before, so he quickly asked, "Why are you pouring lake water into the sewers?"
Yu Renshu, seeing Fang Qinghao in military uniform, explained, "There won't be many zombies inside the city. What needs to be done now isn't killing zombies, but preventing more from appearing. The purpose of these zombies isn't to kill people, but to create chaos! If the city descends into chaos, the battle outside the city will also be affected."
Fang Qinghao nodded in understanding and continued to ask, "But pouring water into the sewers won't wash the zombies away, and it might even cause blockages!"
Yu Renshu casually replied, "My goal is to block the sewers. I don't expect to wash the zombies away. I just want to drown some of them and cause blockages in the sewers so that zombies can no longer crawl out."
Fang Qinghao nodded upon hearing this, a thought he hadn't considered before. He asked, "If the sewers get blocked, they'll be difficult to clear later."
Yu Renshu looked at Fang Qinghao with surprise. She hadn't expected him to ask such a question and directly asked, "If you were dying of thirst in the desert and only had a cup of urine in front of you, would you drink it or not? Would you wait until you found pure water to drink?"
Fang Qinghao chuckled awkwardly and said, "I was thinking too much, my apologies."
Saying this, Fang Qinghao also waved his hand towards the park's lake, and instantly, a stream of water flew out from the lake and began pouring into the sewers. The zombies crawling in the nearby sewers, encountering this situation, were drowned by the lake water before they could even react. The corpses of these zombies then blocked the sewers, preventing further progress. Since the sewers were interconnected, zombies in other areas were also affected.
Yu Renshu glanced at Fang Qinghao, surprised to find that he was also an ability user, and like her, controlled water. This was novel; she hadn't expected the same ability to exist in different people.
The situation at the research institute stabilized, but the southern district was in chaos. This area had the highest concentration of zombies, with both speed-type and regular zombies chasing humans in the streets. When these zombies bit humans, their primary goal wasn't to kill them, but to tear at their limbs or torso. These humans were often infected on the spot and turned into zombies!
Many people witnessed their former friends and family turn into zombies and fled in terror.
Normally, zombies bite people to eat flesh. Once a person was dead, they could feast. But now, the zombies' objective had clearly changed. Their aim wasn't to obtain food, but to infect other humans!
The guard team discovered this and could only kill the humans who had turned into zombies. They began to feel fear. If the zombies in the city were not eliminated, wouldn't they continue to infect humans? What if most of the city's population turned into zombies? Spreading from one to ten, then to a hundred, who could withstand that?
Terrified by the zombies, tens of thousands of people gathered and began to charge towards the city's outskirts. The soldiers were still engaged in combat and didn't expect people to rush out of the city. There were no city walls here, so many people, in their panic, directly ran into the battlefield.
At this moment, the soldiers were stunned to see a crowd of people charging into the battlefield. They were unsure whether to open fire or not and stood frozen. The zombies seized this opportunity to charge towards the defense lines, forcing the soldiers to open fire with heavy hearts.
However, these tens of thousands of people, upon reaching the battlefield, discovered that the area outside the city was swarming with zombies, baring their teeth and charging forward like an endless tide, with no end in sight. This scene immediately shocked the fleeing residents, who immediately turned back towards the city.
Unfortunately, this turn of events created difficulties for the soldiers behind the defense lines. With so many civilians charging at them, they couldn't effectively counter the zombies. Tens of thousands of civilians, dragging their families, instantly broke through the defense lines and even swept up many soldiers in the process!
"What's going on? Why are our own civilians charging our own defense lines?" The frontline commander was furious upon witnessing this. If no incidents had occurred, these defense lines could have been held, but now, why were civilians rushing out of the city and charging into their own ranks?
At this moment, the commander's mind was filled with four words: "Rolling up the pearl curtain." His own lines were being broken by his own people, a scenario from ancient times, only seen when bandits or refugees caused such a situation. Now, his own army was disintegrating due to the impact of the crowd.
"The third defense line has also collapsed. We must immediately establish a defense on the second line!" the commander ordered urgently.
"With these civilians running around in a panic, we can't organize a defense line!" a nearby soldier replied helplessly.
"We must organize a defense line! If absolutely necessary, we will have to sacrifice a small portion of the people to ensure the safety of the majority! Only firearms can deter these people!" the commander gritted his teeth.
Rongcheng had five million survivors, the last hope for Sichuan Province. Once the zombies in Sichuan were eliminated, these people would be the main force for reconstruction. If Rongcheng fell, the casualties would inevitably be heavy, and without manpower, Sichuan would lose its hope of revival.