Chapter 22: Bone-Deep Instinct
s limbs. The pain caused Wu Junyi to break out in a cold sweat, his eyes filled with terror as he stared at Lianyi."Little brother, your grades have improved recently, you've become a little too proud...A 100-kilometer journey, which used to take only two hours before the apocalypse, now takes much longer. Besides the occasional zombies, there are vehicles scattered across the road haphazardly and people who suddenly appear to flag down cars for help.
...Military airfields are generally located in areas with few residents and no tall buildings, essentially flat plains. If surrounded by a horde of zombies, there wouldn't even be a place to take cover, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of their mission.
This time, the entire Black Hawk squad of twelve people participated in the mission. Eagle Wing was the captain, and Eagle Fang, the captain of the second team, was the deputy captain. Along with five superhumans, seventeen people left the base at sunrise and headed for their mission target.
The journey wasn't peaceful, they had already escaped two large zombie hordes. As they approached the military airport, the horde disappeared, replaced by isolated zombies which they dealt with easily. Now, nuclei are a valuable commodity.
Then everyone grabbed some time to rest and eat in shifts, and the three cars sped up. They had to reach their destination before sunset and spend the night at a military airfield.
Wu Lianyi was eating the onigiri she had made herself. The onigiri wasn't just plain rice, it was filled with nutritious and filling ingredients like braised pork, eggs, sausages, and shiitake mushrooms. After finishing five adult-fist-sized onigiri, she began to meditate with her eyes closed.
Three months into the apocalypse, the gap between those with abilities and ordinary people had become obvious. Take herself as an example, her ability level had increased, so had her appetite. The speed at which she absorbed energy from a Level 1 crystal core was also getting faster and faster, and now a Level 1 crystal core could no longer meet her needs for advancement.
Although ordinary people don't have superpowers, their strength is noticeably greater than before the apocalypse, and their senses have also improved to some extent. This is evolution. Now, ordinary people can easily kill level-0 zombies, and even if they encounter a level-1 zombie, they can still kill it if they cooperate properly.
"Everybody, get ready, we'll reach the airport in two kilometers."
Eagle Wing's voice came over the car radio.
Wu Lianyi opened her eyes, checked her equipment, making sure everything was in order. As soon as the car came to a stop, she jumped out.
An unmanned reconnaissance drone was launched and soared over the entire airport, identifying the target of the mission.
There were no planes on the runway, they should be in the hangar, while inside the airport, zombies were moving aimlessly. Because of the drone's appearance, they all looked up with their eyeless eyes toward the sky.
In the northwest corner, there are two detached two-story buildings, which serve as the airport's office and dormitory. In the southeast corner is a large warehouse, where their sought-after ammunition should be located in the logistics warehouse.
With everyone understanding the current situation, Hawkwing began assigning tasks. Hawk Maog led the second squad and the space ability user to search the warehouse for ammunition. The rest were responsible for eliminating wandering zombies, clearing the runway, and ensuring a smooth takeoff for the fighter jets.
Wu Lianyi was not optimistic about simply flying the fighter jets away, because with the appearance of zombie animals, there would also be zombie birds in the air. Once they met, it would definitely be a disastrous end for both planes and people.
"Zombies animals already exist, have you considered zombie birds"
"As a matter of course, it is not permitted to raise birds around the airport, and the airport conducts regular cleanings. However, after three months of the apocalypse, there have been no cleanings, and what Ziying said might happen. Everyone be quick and alert at that time."
Eaglewing spoke directly, and everyone nodded immediately.
"Action!"
The two teams entered the airport in tactical formation, one on each side, and began to act independently.
The Hawk Wing Squad moved quickly, wiping out all the wandering zombies in the airport within an hour. They primarily targeted airport staff, but the numbers didn't quite add up.
"Captain, the numbers don't add up. The message said there were three hundred men stationed here, and we haven't even killed a hundred zombies."
A player whispered a report.
"Go check out the office building and the dorms."
The squad quickly moved to the northwest corner. After getting closer, they saw through the window that there were zombies gnashing their teeth inside, and they were locked on the second floor.
"Get ready to fight!"
One person entered from the first floor, cleaning each room as they went. After entering the second floor, gunfire started to intensify. Wu Lianyi lagged behind, taking point and constantly scanning her surroundings.
On the second floor, there were ten rooms, each with about ten to fifteen zombies. It took an hour to clear them all out. Then, in the innermost monitoring room, Eagle Wing found a zombified pilot curled up in the corner, looking dead.
Everyone looked at each other's blackened calves and fell silent. It was obvious that the other person had lured these zombies into the office building and was also scratched and mutated, now becoming a zombie themselves.
The other party seemed to have heard the movement and slowly opened their eyes. Their eyeballs were gone, and a "hiss" came from their throat, but they still didn't attack the eagle wings so close to them.
A suffocating silence spread through the Black Hawk team. Wu Lianyi sighed and walked directly from the tail of the team to the room, opening her mouth:
"You guys check the dormitory building at the back. I'll handle things here."
"You"
I will see him off properly.
Eaglewing finally waved his hand, leading his teammates and mutants out of the second floor.
Wu Lianyi was very decisive, directly slashing with her sword to relieve the other party's suffering. Afterwards, a crystal core rolled to her feet. This crystal core was a whole circle larger than a level-one crystal core.
It's obvious this zombie is Level 2. The zombies in the room are probably under his control, kept there to prevent them from harming others. Perhaps this is an instinct ingrained in their beings.
After Wu Lianyi put away the crystal core, she left the room and rushed to the dormitory building. The situation here was similar to that of the office building. Since the second-level zombies had been killed, and there were no higher-level zombies to suppress them, they began to swarm the members of the Black Hawk squad.
A skirmish broke out, and half an hour later, the entire dormitory building was evacuated. However, everyone's mood was low.
"Eagle Wing Leader, our operation went smoothly. We've acquired the ammunition and are heading to rendezvous with you now."
Got it! Come straight to the dorm building, it's already cleaned up.
The eagle-wing replied in a low voice.
Half an hour later, the second squad joined them successfully. The two captains exchanged a few low words and decided to stay here overnight, waiting to leave early the next day.
Only Wu Lianyi looked at the sky outside, her brows furrowed.
The setting sun seemed to have a tinge of blood red, which gave her a bad feeling. Especially the wind that swept past, carrying a hint of moisture, foreshadowed rain tomorrow.
Wu Lianyi recalled what she had seen from a God's eye view and went straight to Eagle Wing.
"Captain, I don't feel well. We should either return to base tonight or be prepared to be trapped here." this, Anne would have definitely exploded. But coming from Hong Tu, she didn't argue. After all, he was the only one in Class A who had ever fought a Star Thief and walked away unscathed.It seems you...