This villa was so sturdy and had held out for so long during the apocalypse that it must have had ample food reserves. Rather than letting zombies break in and ruin everything, it was better to take matters into his own hands and eliminate them. Once the people inside were dead, the zombies would naturally stop charging in, and the food supplies would remain intact.
Besides, they weren't innocent anyway!
But just as he was about to pull the trigger and finish them both off, a sudden roar of engines erupted from outside, causing Bai Wen to freeze in shock.
Such a deafening noise could only come from something like a tank or an armored vehicle!
As he stood there dumbfounded, a six-wheeled armored vehicle with camouflage paint rumbled into view, flattening any zombies that rushed toward the sound.
The hatch on top of the armored vehicle opened, and a heavily armed burly man emerged, gripping the mounted heavy machine gun before unleashing a furious barrage of gunfire.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat—" The large-caliber machine gun roared with rage, shredding zombies into minced meat wherever its bullets struck. Under the overwhelming firepower, half of the thousand-strong zombie horde was mowed down before they could even charge.
Who were these people? How did they have an armored vehicle? Had they raided a military armory?!
Following the armored vehicle were over twenty heavily armed militants dressed in combat uniforms and bulletproof vests, wielding standard-issue military firearms. They moved with seamless coordination and disciplined precision, making it impossible for zombies to get close.
With the addition of twenty automatic rifles joining the onslaught, the zombies besieging the villa were torn apart by bullets, their agonized shrieks filling the air as they fell like wheat before a scythe.
The once-ferocious horde of over a thousand zombies was swiftly wiped out. Against the heavy machine gun's firepower, the zombies stood no chance—annihilated without resistance.
The villa's reinforced security door might as well have been made of paper in the face of the machine gun, blasted apart in seconds. Seven or eight militants stormed inside, dragging out the occupants—two men and two women—along with a mangled corpse.
Too far away to hear their conversation, Bai Wen could only watch as the two trembling men were executed with a single shot to the head by a bearded leader.
As for the women, their screams were cut short as two militants hauled them into the armored vehicle. Bai Wen didn't need to think hard to guess their grim fate.
The militants didn't linger, likely wary of attracting more zombies with the gunfire, and soon departed, leaving the villa complex in eerie silence.
The gunshots hadn't drawn too many zombies. Bai Wen remained motionless on the rooftop, waiting as the undead arrived, only to stumble away again after catching the scent left behind by the departing militants.
With so many zombies dead in one place, the overwhelming stench of blood and decay masked Bai Wen's presence entirely, leaving him undetected.
Bai Wen lay on the third-floor balcony, waiting for three hours before taking action. He stepped out of the villa, ensuring no Zombies were nearby, then pulled out his dagger and began searching for Crystals among the piles of Zombie corpses. With the help of the SCV, his progress was swift.
Of course, some Zombies weren't completely dead yet, but the cautious Bai Wen remained unharmed. He swiftly drove his dagger into their eyes, destroying their brains!
This time, he collected eighty Crystals. Combined with the initial thirty-seven, he now had a total of one hundred and seventeen Crystals.
Noticing the rapidly darkening sky, Bai Wen found a relatively clean villa to settle in. He gathered some food and supplies from the surroundings before sealing the security door and stairwell. He also prepared a rope as an escape route, then lay down on the large circular bed on the third floor to rest.
The appearance of those armed individuals forced Bai Wen to be even more cautious.
He didn't know how long he slept, but he was suddenly jolted awake by the sound of frenzied gnawing. He leaped up, grabbed his binoculars, and rushed to the window. What he saw chilled him to the bone—the area littered with Zombie corpses was now swarming with live Zombies.
Though the light was dim, he could still make out the horrifying scene. The Zombies were crouched on the ground, ravenously tearing into the flesh of the dead Zombies, even gulping down the thick green blood.
Bai Wen's eyes twitched at the sight. To an ordinary person, this would be nothing short of a living hell.
By dawn, the sounds of tearing and devouring finally ceased. Bai Wen peered through his binoculars again—the thousand or so Zombie corpses had been reduced to nothing but scattered bones and scraps of flesh. The scene was utterly gruesome.
Taking a deep breath, Bai Wen did some push-ups in the bedroom, checked his firearms and ammunition, and suited up in his gear before quietly leaving the villa area.
Next on the agenda: continue hunting Zombies and scavenging for supplies!
He chose a building near the villa district—the famous Fulihuang Grand Hotel in S City. The large square in front was teeming with Zombies, meaning his controllable range was limited to the Spotlight. He slipped in through a broken window at the back of the building, finding himself in what appeared to be the hotel staff's locker room.
The place was a mess—dried bloodstains everywhere, lockers dented and broken, evidence of a brutal struggle.
Bai Wen paid no mind to the chaos. Pistol in one hand and dagger in the other, he stealthily moved out of the locker room into the opulent yet equally ravaged lobby.
There, he even spotted a skeleton picked clean of flesh—some unfortunate soul who hadn't even turned into a Zombie, as their brain had been completely devoured.
After thoroughly searching the first floor, he discovered several more skeletal remains, likely victims of infighting among survivors rather than Zombie attacks.
He checked the kitchen next but found no food—probably already consumed by previous survivors, which might explain the violent conflicts.
As he reached the second-floor stairwell, he heard dragging footsteps and the low growls of Zombies. Hiding behind the door, he peeked out and saw four ragged Zombies wandering the hallway, unaware of his presence.
Bai Wen took a deep breath, suddenly turned around, and fired two shots from his pistol simultaneously. One bullet struck the zombie's right eye, penetrating directly into its forehead, while the other missed its mark, grazing the zombie's neck and leaving a deep bullet hole in the wall.
"Roar roar roar~" Bai Wen's sudden appearance immediately aroused the hunger for fresh flesh in the other three zombies, who roared and lunged at him.
"PiuPiuPiu~" Bai Wen raised his gun and fired, instantly taking down one. With the dagger in his other hand, he plunged it fiercely into another zombie's forehead, then lifted his foot and kicked the last zombie flying.
By the time the flung zombie scrambled to its feet, Bai Wen's gun barrel was already pressed against its forehead. He pulled the trigger without hesitation, blasting its head apart!
(End of chapter)