Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 104 Doubts
Inside the trench, flames rose into a wall.

The zombies at the forefront were oblivious, falling one after another into the sea of ​​fire.

They struggled in the flames, their subcutaneous fat igniting with crackling sounds, and their bodies quickly turned into charred remains.

However, the horde of zombies was so enormous as to be almost absurd, the gray ocean seemingly capable of swallowing the land whole.

As soon as the person in front fell, the person behind immediately surged forward.

"Roar--!"

One after another, the enormous corpse monsters, with a sudden burst of power from their legs, easily leaped across the ten-meter-wide trench and crashed heavily into the opposite position.

The mutant warriors were already on high alert, raising their tower shields and battle blades to form an impenetrable defensive line.

"Hold on, everyone!"

"rush!"

Metal and flesh collided, and everywhere there were sounds of bones breaking and shrill screams.

On the city wall, armored soldiers stood with their rotating machine guns, looking down at the battlefield below, but hesitated to fire.

The machine gun turrets and anti-aircraft guns were pointed at the sky, their dark muzzles motionless.

They are waiting.

Waiting for that dark red cloud that blots out the sky.

The distance is too great now; the bullets may have already disintegrated in the eerie fog before they even hit the Red Corpse Bird.

"call--!"

The crimson cloud composed of red corpse birds undulated and surged slowly across the sky, drawing ever closer.

Under the onslaught of the zombie horde, the surrounding eerie fog grew increasingly thick, and visibility at the front lines was extremely low.

The commander lowered his binoculars and stared intently at the radar screen, watching the huge, rapidly moving red dots. His expression gradually became serious.

"Two kilometers away."

"One kilometer."

"Six hundred meters!"

The red dot crossed the 400-meter warning line and entered the coverage area of ​​the fog-clearing lighthouse.

Millions of red corpse birds flapped their rotting wings, their scarlet eyes fixed on the city below.

"Everyone open fire!"

The commander finally gave the order, which was broadcast throughout the entire defensive line via loudspeaker.

“Da da da da—!”

The armored soldiers pulled the triggers, and the rotating machine guns spewed out scorching flames.

The machine gun turret automatically aimed at the aerial target, increasing the rate of fire and sending a barrage of brass shell casings flying like a rainstorm.

"boom--!"

The anti-aircraft guns fired at the densest swarm of corpse birds, instantly creating clouds of blood mist in the air.

Limbs and feathers rained down like a storm.

The mechanical soldiers piloted drones into the air, attempting to block the Red Corpse Birds.

But there are just too many of them.

The Red Corpse Bird, fearless and even using the remains of its companions as cover, broke through the first line of fire.

The officers at the front lines were hoarse: "Hold on, everyone! If we can hold this wave, we'll be done for!"

The rear defenses were weak, and refugees and soldiers were constantly attacked by swooping red corpse birds whose sharp beaks could easily pierce their bodies.

"Well--!"

Many of the refugees carrying ammunition didn't even have time to scream before their skulls were pierced by red corpse birds.

Large numbers of red corpse birds have ventured deep into the city.

"Martial law is hereby declared. All citizens are to immediately take shelter in buildings!"

The machine gun turrets atop the buildings automatically turned and aimed, strafing and intercepting these stragglers.

“Da da da da—!”

Their debris fell like rain, hitting buildings and streets with muffled thuds.

"Don't let them into the city, stop them now!" the commander roared.

Armed drones took off and shot down a large number of red corpse birds in an attempt to stop them from entering the city.

The armored soldiers on the city wall were firing machine guns into the air, their firepower becoming even more frenzied, but the rate at which they were consuming ammunition far exceeded expectations.

"Ammunition resupply! Hurry up and follow!"

Soldiers from the reserve battalion and refugees struggled to push carts loaded with ammunition boxes forward.

The barrels of the armored soldiers' rotating machine guns were already red-hot, and brass cartridge cases poured out, piling up in a thick layer on the ground.

But no matter how fierce the firepower, the corpse bird cloud in the sky remained vast and oppressive, like a slowly writhing living thing, so thick it was suffocating.

The commander's face was grave. He stood in the command tower, gazing at the dark, surging tide of corpses in the distance.

This wave of zombies has broken records in scale; it doesn't even resemble an attack, but rather a slowly moving geological disaster.

The horde of zombies could easily fill the trenches, at which point the defenses would be in grave danger, or even completely lost.

The commander hovered over the communications panel for a moment, but ultimately did not press it.

He decided to temporarily suppress the battle reports from the front lines.

In his view, reporting now would only exacerbate the chaos in the city and would not help the situation.

The defense line hasn't collapsed; it can hold on a little longer.

The adjutant beside him was deathly pale and asked in a low voice, "Sir, should we notify those dignitaries in the inner city?"

The commander's gaze swept over the sea of ​​fire below.

“Those old guys have already hidden underground. Do you think they’d still leave in a hovercar? Anything that dares to fly in the sky becomes a sitting duck.”

His gaze shifted from the trench to the front lines, which had long since become a bloody meat grinder.

A tiger-man soldier was fighting a corpse monster on the front line. He tore open the corpse monster's throat with his claws, twisted off its head, and finally kicked it into the trench.

He wiped the blood from his face, looked at his companions and refugees falling one after another around him, and couldn't help but curse under his breath.

Beside him, an even larger bear-man warrior was wielding a giant axe, splitting the corpse monster in two, while still having the leisure to make sarcastic remarks.

"Be careful not to let your intestines spill out again."

The tiger-man soldier paused for a moment, subconsciously touching his abdomen where there was a hideous scar.

He remembered it clearly.

During a previous zombie horde, his abdomen was ripped open by the claws of a zombie monster, and his intestines spilled out onto the ground.

He thought he was dead.

Later, however, he was dragged out of the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood by two small, thin humans and sent to the rear medical area, thus saving his life.

He had been looking for an opportunity to thank those two humans, but he never saw them again in the subsequent battles.

He's probably dead... the tiger-man sighed inwardly.

Just then, a red corpse bird descended from the sky and landed right next to him.

He instinctively raised his battle blade and found that the red corpse bird was already lifeless, with wisps of heat rising from its body and its feathers slightly charred.

He looked up in confusion and saw that the swarm of red corpse birds was in a state of violent agitation, as if they were trying to avoid something.

Faint rays of light pierced through the gaps in the flock of birds, growing more numerous and brighter.

"What's going on...?"

The bear-man warrior scratched his head and nudged the tiger-man's shoulder. "Hey, you know what?"

The tiger-man muttered, "...Darwin's effect."

More and more mutants noticed something was wrong and looked up at the sky.

At first it was just a ray of light, then it became thousands of rays.

Countless rays of light pierced through, illuminating the hazy sky with countless holes.

Like kites with broken strings, the red corpse birds fell densely from the sky before they could even utter a mournful cry, their bodies charred black.

Then, without warning, the sky suddenly became blazing bright.

A blazing sun, hot enough to sting, appeared above the haze, its light pouring down without reservation.

"...It's scorched earth."

A mutant soldier muttered to himself, his voice filled with awe.

The commander's expression changed slightly.

The border defense zone has withstood countless waves of zombies, but this is the first time we've encountered a combination of scorched earth and a zombie horde.

But he sensed a chance to break the deadlock.

"Put up the sunshade immediately!"

He made a decisive decision, and his voice echoed throughout the defense line.

"All frontline soldiers, withdraw and change into protective suits! Armored troops, stay and continue the attack! Reserve battalion, transport large quantities of water to the front to cool them down! Quickly!"

The command was executed swiftly.

Along the edge of the city wall, thick supporting iron rods extend out by hand-cranking.

A huge white canvas was then unfurled, covering the city wall area and the front line of the moat, blocking the heat radiation.

But even with the sunshade, the surrounding air is heated at an alarming rate.

The mutant soldiers on the front lines of the trenches barely survived, but every breath felt like inhaling a scalding hot iron, burning their lungs.

"Sir! Those mutants are retreating and avoiding battle!"

"Anyone who dares to avoid battle will be executed on the spot!"

The commander's eyes were bloodshot. "What more do you want with a sunshade? Do you expect us to put a chair on them and give them a glass of juice to watch them fight? Those beasts are tough and can take it!"

The horde of corpses across the trench was completely exposed to the scorching sun, with nowhere to hide.

The skin of countless zombies rapidly burst under the high temperature, their oils burning and emitting large amounts of white smoke.

The air was even filled with a strange, burnt meaty smell.

But they feel no pain and continue to move forward numbly.

The flock of red corpse birds in the sky fled in panic, and the eerie fog in the wilderness also dissipated.

The world became unusually clear, and the eerie fog was no longer visible.

"She, finally we can have a proper fight!"

The armored soldiers on the city wall simultaneously let out a suppressed, strange cry.

Without the interference of the eerie fog, they could finally point their guns at the sky and unleash all their pent-up anger.

Many soldiers, blinded by rage, turned their guns on the zombies in front of them, purely to vent their anger.

The commander cursed loudly:
"Don't fucking waste bullets! Let the sun slowly bake them to death!"

The commander's judgment came true.

Without the protection of the eerie mist, the zombies also lost their ability to regenerate and collapsed in droves.

Their bodies were scalded, the moisture evaporated rapidly, and they eventually turned into dried corpses, twisted and lying on the ground.

But the stronger corpse monsters were howling in agony.

They kept scratching their backs, creating deep wounds that exposed bone, from which green pus oozed.

Unlike the numb zombies, they began to search for shadows and cover.

Some tried to jump under the sunshade, but were quickly blocked by the mutant soldiers and kicked back into the trench.

The sudden arrival of scorched earth greatly reduced the pressure on the coastal city's defenses, but at the cost of the entire city's lamentations.

Exposed cables and pipes throughout the city melted and broke under high temperatures, triggering a devastating chain reaction.

Fires caused by short circuits were everywhere, and the entire city was plunged into a large-scale power outage, with only underground power generators barely functioning.

"Boom—Boom—!"

On the streets, exposed hovercars, cars, and trucks suffered chain reactions of fires and explosions due to battery thermal runaway.

Garbage mountains in the city began to spontaneously combust, sending up plumes of black smoke.

The worst situation is in the slums.

The makeshift shacks built with wooden planks ignited rapidly under the high temperatures, causing a large-scale fire.

Black smoke obscured the alleyways, and countless refugees wailed in the sea of ​​fire, scattering about like headless flies.

The entire city was engulfed in flames and chaos.

Meanwhile, the Spark Base.

A simple water circulation cooling device is operating quietly. Although it is not very cool, it can effectively dispel the stuffiness in the room.

The Wasteland Traveler on Watson's wrist is triggering an emergency alert for the coastal city. On the screen, shacks in the slums are burning, vehicles are exploding one after another in the streets, and black smoke is billowing into the sky.

There were refugees everywhere, and some bandits were committing robberies and other crimes.

Everyone looked at the mess, no one spoke, only their breathing became heavier.

Cole's voice was dry: "We... seem to be very lucky."

Everyone agreed.

This good fortune stems from the fact that Gage specially thickened the cement walls and external armor plates during the renovation.

It also stemmed from the dozen or so wisps of black mist floating outside the base.

Those corpse monsters that charged around seeking refuge would automatically avoid the black mist and never dared to approach.

Zhuang Fan stood in the shadows at the top of the tower, looking down at the horde of corpses in the wilderness.

Countless zombies were charred black by the sun, their bodies twisted like forked black branches, covering the earth.

Perhaps the Queen of Corpses realized the danger of the scorched earth and summoned back the remaining zombies, no longer engaging in fearless deaths.

The roar still seemed to linger in Zhuang Fan's ears, but now only the deathly silence of the sweltering heat remained.

The distant horizon was also blurred by the heat wave.

The air was filled with the aroma of burnt roasted meat, but it smelled nauseating.

On Zhuang Fan's panel, the alarm from the Linhai City Astronomical Observatory marked nearly half of the southern area in red.

The scorched earth lasted for two hours before gradually disappearing.

Rather than disappearing, it's more accurate to say it moved to a more northern region to wreak havoc.

Zhuang Fan only left the rooftop when the southern region was covered by clouds, the eerie fog regenerated, and the temperature gradually dropped.

Within several kilometers of the base, charred corpses lay scattered as far as the eye could see.

Zhuang Fan endured the stench and struggled through the corpses, inhaling all the floating black mist into his body.

Then he walked to the small vegetable garden next to the base.

They escaped the zombie horde, but not the scorched earth.

Whether it was the carefully cultivated fruits and vegetables, or the swings and climbing frames built by hand, everything was burned to the ground.

Even the small pond evaporated, leaving only a patch of cracked earth.

When Hua Sheng and the others saw Zhuang Fan standing outside, they all followed him out of the base.

When they saw the charred, black sea of ​​corpses outside the door, they remained silent for a long time.

Watson looked at the scene before him and sighed:

“After the scorched earth is burned, all the valuable things will be burned, which will delay our progress.”

"uncertain."

Zhuang Fan gazed into the distance. "The scorched earth will drastically reduce the number of zombies. Some dangerous areas that we dared not venture into before have now become safe zones. We might be able to find some items of even higher value."

"Right."

Hua Sheng nodded, "Risks and opportunities coexist."

After inspecting the warehouse, Gage came over and said, "The trucks inside are fine, everything's okay."

Xiong Er frowned as he looked at the road covered with charred corpses. "But there are too many black corpses. It will probably take several days to clear them away, otherwise the car won't be able to get out."

Zhuang Fan pointed to the truck: "Let's load up some shovels, that way we can clean up faster."

Watson rubbed his temples. "Well, that's the only way."

Hua Xin and several cat-people stood outside the wall, looking at the small vegetable garden that had been burned to a charred black, and simply stood there in silence.

Mao Shanwang was equally frustrated.

He looked at the palm-leaf fan in his hand, which had been burned down to a bare umbrella handle, and sighed softly.

He then looked towards the distant garbage dump, where he saw Old Cui leading his men in a desperate effort to put out the fire.

But those mountains of garbage were burning fiercely, the burned area was too large, and the black smoke was soaring into the sky that it was impossible to control.

"Old Cat, what are you standing there for? Come and help!"

"Here I am," Mao Shanwang replied.

The flames over the garbage mountains were not completely extinguished until nightfall.

Old Cui slumped to the ground, looked at the chaotic garbage dump, and sighed deeply.

"If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have taken over this junkyard. I didn't make much money, and I lost a lot of money myself."

The land that Lao Cui took over previously belonged to a local boss, but after the authorities investigated it, the boss was sent to jail.

King Mao was too exhausted to speak. He got into the passenger seat and signaled his men to drive out of the city.

He himself has citizenship, but the cat people in the caravan do not, and they will be fined if caught.

But the convoy was stuck on the road out of the city, where piles of charred corpses lay everywhere, and bulldozers were still working hard to clear the road.

At that moment, Zhuang Fan's communication came through.

"Old Cat, how's it going on your end?"

“The losses were heavy.”

Mao Shanwang said listlessly, "I need a few days to recover."

"Same here."

Mao Shanwang grumbled and cursed, extremely irritated: "This damned weather, it's too hard to even make a living."

"It's too difficult," Zhuang Fan echoed.

Just as Mao Shanwang hung up the communication, the convoy slowly left the city, and all that could be seen on both sides of the road were hideous black corpses.

His panel vibrated again; it was a call from the captain of an airship.

"Old Cat, where are your two upper-class passengers? Did they get roasted to a crisp? My flight is about to take off, and I'm not giving refunds."

"They might be on their way. Let me ask first, you wait a moment."

Mao Shanwang hung up the call and then contacted Pipi and Chu Ningyan, only to find that both of them had lost contact.

His heart skipped a beat.

"You spent ten thousand on tickets, what's going on..."

At that moment, Chu Ningyan's communication request popped up.

He quickly answered the call, but a serious male voice came from the other end, "What's the matter?"

Mao Shanwang recognized the voice and tentatively asked, "Are you Mr. Qiu, Captain Qiu?"

"Who are you?" the person on the other end asked with a hint of doubt.

"Team Leader Qiu, it's me, Old Cat. Didn't you buy a batch of supplies from me last time?"

"Oh, so it's Boss Cat."

Qiu Shan chuckled. "What do you want?"

"Excuse me... where is Team Leader Grey Goose? Is she unavailable to answer the phone?"

"Yes, she is on an emergency mission. This scorched earth operation is so destructive that people are needed everywhere."

"So that's it."

Mao Shanwang responded, "The two tickets that Group Leader Grey Goose booked are almost up. The airship won't wait for anyone, and they won't be refunding the tickets."

"Well, there's nothing we can do. She's very busy right now. If we can't refund it, then we'll just void it."

"Ok."

Mao Shanwang responded and hung up the communication.

He paced back and forth, unconsciously fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, but no wind came out. Only then did he realize that the fan had been burned, leaving only the umbrella handle.

He became increasingly agitated, feeling that something was wrong.

There are too many suspicious points.

Pipi was a regular customer of his, and later Pipi and Grey Goose became frequent patrons of his business.

Gradually, he also became familiar with the gray geese.

In his memory, the greylag goose was a cautious and keen hunter who liked to calculate carefully when buying things.

Not long ago, she bought a premium version of the "Wasteland Traveler" from me, saying it was for privacy and security.

If she was on an emergency mission, why wasn't she wearing the panel, and instead ended up in Qiu Shan's hands?
Moreover, Pipi said last night that they were going to resign and return to Zhongdu after receiving their bonuses. How come an urgent mission suddenly appeared today, and the two of them lost contact at the same time?
He talked a lot with Pipi. That girl is a chatterbox and sends him a message every half hour, but she hasn't made a sound all day today.

Mao Shanwang shook his head.

Even if there were an urgent mission, the tickets for those two airships would cost a good ten thousand gold coins, and given Grey Goose's personality, she would never give up so easily.

Even if there's a real emergency, I'll cancel the ticket in advance.

Combined with what he learned from Pipi, he learned that after Harry's death, the relationship between Grey Goose and Hill Mountain had been tense.

Something is wrong, so wrong.

Grey Goose and Pipi must have both gotten into trouble.

The captain called again, his tone impatient: "I'm asking one last time, are they coming or not? I'm not waiting anymore!"

"I'm not coming. I'll get a refund. There's still more than half an hour before takeoff, enough time for you to resell it."

There is no precedent for this.

"Refund." Mao Shanwang's voice turned somber.

"You can only get half back."

"If you don't return 90% of the ticket price, don't expect me to bring you a single customer in the future."

"...Fine, you win."

After hanging up the call, Mao Shanwang felt only annoyed.

The convoy had driven into the open wilderness, where the surrounding horde of corpses was gradually thinning out.

They returned to one of their underground hideouts, a makeshift structure made of a dozen shipping containers and sheet metal.

Mao Shanwang leaned against the crab shell, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled the smoke.

"This cat's body is quite precious, isn't it? Better to live a miserable life than to die a good death?"

He muttered to himself, "If the cat lives, we can eat meat every day. I must think twice."

Finished a cigarette.

He stomped the cigarette on the ground to extinguish it, then took out another one.

"A drop of clean water can save a life. Yesterday you ate meat, today you become meat. Hmm... saving your life is the most important thing."

Mao Shanwang stared at the umbrella handle in the distance, and couldn't help but think of the candy skewers that Pipi often brought him.

"Ugh……"

He shook his head. "This cat's abilities are limited. That's the headquarters of the Sharp Edge. My physique can't stop bullets."

He extinguished the second one and then pulled out the third.

"To put it mildly, it would take a hundred days to recover from a serious injury. It's really not worth it. People who are overly kind are just tired of living..."

Mao Shanwang muttered for a while, his voice getting softer and softer, and his cat head gradually lowered.

A voice boomed in my mind:
"Tom Jasper, look at yourself, you're such a coward, aren't you ashamed!"
"He vowed to become the next King of the Cats and wanted to save his people, but now he can't even keep his friends!"

"If you were facing a life-threatening situation, would your friends risk their lives to save you?"

Mao Shanwang suddenly looked up, "Pipi will definitely do it, and Grey Goose will too."

He stomped the cigarette butt on the ground, his eyes growing cold:
"Old cats won't be cowards."

He turned and went into the crab shell, then pulled out the weapons box.

A cat-man approached: "Boss, is something the matter?"

"It's alright. You guys stay here and don't wander off. I'll be back soon."

"Ok."

King Maoshan did not want to put his people in danger.

He counted the bullets, then the grenades, and finally pulled out a heavy machine gun.

"Neither my father nor my mother is as dear as the gun in my hand."

After he finished humming the tune, a sense of powerlessness followed.

He's all alone and powerless, what can he do?
Wait, that's not right...

He seemed to remember something and suddenly slapped his forehead.

How could I forget about him!
Grey Goose is from the same hometown as that man, and based on that relationship alone, he certainly wouldn't stand by and watch someone die!
He immediately dialed Zhuang Fan's number.

"Come quick! Something's happened to your fellow villager!"

(End of this chapter)