A deafening otherworldly scream sounded, which shocked Captain Guan and his subordinates hiding in the near buildings. Immediately after, the intense gunshots and the sound of the mutant birds' fluttering wings stopped.
The whole area had suddenly turned silent.
However, the shattered glass fragments on the ground, as well as the deep scratches on the windows made everyone feel scared.
At that moment, Zhang Haojing crawled with all his strength to the nearest building. His chest was violently undulating, and his face was white as a piece of paper. His whole body covered in blood and dirt.
"I am alive...alive..." whispered Zhang Haojing.
Zhang Haojing was devastated by the loss of his leg. He had joined this mission as it would help him gain merits and elevate his status. But, the reality was crueler than he could imagine.
"How many brothers did we lose?" asked Captain Guan.
"Seven," answered a soldier.
Everyone was shocked by the tragic outcome. Not only had they lost their comrades-in-arms but also their vehicles were heavily damaged.
"Where did those birds go?" asked Bai Jiayan as he stood beside the window and looked out.
A paranormal's vision was better than ordinary people, so Bai Jianyan had only to focus his sight at a certain direction. Shortly after, he saw a few flying black spots far away, heading for the city.
The mutant birds swept through the air until they reached a remote area of the ruined city. Then, they dove down one by one and landed on roofs or poles.
Although they were bloodthirsty vultures, their bloodshot eyes betrayed that they were also intelligent. They were all staring at the ruins below. That area used to be one of the city's bustling districts, but now only collapsed buildings and destroyed roads could be found.
However, in the middle of the collapsed buildings and destroyed roads, an odd-looking honeycomb stood. It was not made of mud. Instead, it was as if several chunks of meat had been fused together with a layer of black hard shell covering it. At the bottom of the hard shell seemed to be something similar to a mouth. It was a blood-curdling sight.
From afar, it was looked like a huge hornet's nest which was slowly moving!
The Honeycomb passed by some fresh corpses on the ground. After it passed, the flesh of those corpses disappeared without any trace, leaving only a few bones.
In that area, were also several survivors and soldiers of the Jiangning Safety Zone. They were the members of one of the two teams responsible for the recon mission that Captain Guan had mentioned earlier
"No!"
As the survivors and soldiers saw the Honeycomb moving toward them, they felt their scalps tingling and fell into despair. They all tried to flee, but suddenly cracks appeared on the ground beneath their feet, trapping them where they were. They could only watch as the Honeycomb was slowly approaching them. Some of them had guns, but the bullets couldn't even leave a dent on its hard exterior, let alone penetrate it. The most capable ones had already thought of aiming for the chunks of meat and succeeded in doing so but to no avail. The hurt flesh could be regenerated.
"Ah! Ah!!"
When the Honeycomb reached them, its black swamp-like mouth opened, dragging them in at once. Their screams suddenly disappeared.
The Honeycomb continued to move forward. It pulverized a car, making it as thin as a piece of paper and one with the road. While moving, its size was constantly increasing.
At the same time, mutant beasts started appearing from all directions of the ruined city. They also looked at the Honeycomb quietly like the mutant birds.
A group of mutant mice, as well as a mutant wildcat, were hiding in the shadows. They had shiny eyes, and their hair was like steel needles. There were also mutant dogs in the vicinity…
It seemed that the most common mutant beasts in the city had all gathered in the vicinity of the Honeycomb.
One of the birds holding a few bodies between its huge claws landed on the Honeycomb gently. Then, it dropped those bodies at once, like offering sacrifices. The other mutant birds and beasts did the same one by one. Meanwhile, more and more mutant beasts were emerging from the ruins, dragging the bodies of zombies.
The Honeycomb constantly devoured those offerings, and it became bigger. After devouring, it headed toward Jiangning Security Zone's direction.
Nobody was aware that such a mind-numbing and terrifying ritual was taking place in the deepest part of the city. Those who had been unlucky enough to see the Honeycomb had long been turned to bones…
"Brother, are you okay?" Jiang Zhuying suddenly asked.
She had been having an ominous feeling a long time now, and she had also noticed that her brother had been acting strangely. They had been living together for 20 years so she could tell when her brother had something in his mind. Although Jiang Liushi always looked calm, she understood him better than anyone.
"I'm fine," replied Jiang Liushi. But after thinking about it through, he added, "Zhuying don't watch anime all the time. You should focus on adjusting to your best state." After all, his sister was the most powerful one in the team.
Jang Zhuying was stunned. But soon, she smiled and said, "I got it, dear brother. I will adjust and take care of Luoluo..."
"Luoluo...?" Jiang Liushi nodded.
Luoluo was still very timid, hiding in the minibus every day. Although it was a special lifeform, it had yet to show its value. However, Jiang Liushi didn't have any time to care about it. He believed that those mutant birds were strange as they seemed to have attacked him on purpose.
Li Yuxin took the map and said suddenly, "Brother Jiang, we arrived."
On the map was the general location of the crash, but not the specific spot. As a result, they needed to search for the helicopters.
Jiang Liushi looked around from the gunner room until he spotted the wreckage area. He pointed to a building and said, "It's there."
One of the helicopters was stuck into the building, while the other was on the ground. The rotors were twisted, and nobody could be found inside. Words couldn't describe the tragic sight.
"Zhang Kai and Sun Kun, go and get rid of the zombies on that side. Zhuying and Ling will take the other side. Xiyu, you're responsible for their safety," ordered Jiang Liushi quickly.
They parked at the road. As soon as they stopped, a large number of zombies rushed toward them. They opened their bloody mouths widely, pressing their scary faces against the windows.
At that moment, Ling and Jiang Zhuying jumped out of the minibus. In an instant, an electric light flashed, electrocuting the zombies. Ling swiftly passed through the stunned zombies, harvesting their lives with her cold dagger.
Zhang Hai launched his off-road vehicle, while Sun Kun started shooting with his machine gun.
Upon seeing that Jiang Zhuying and the others had separated the zombies, Jiang Liushi ordered, "Let's go!"
"Let's go!"
The helicopter stuck in the building was not too high. All Jiang Liushi had to do was to adjust the angle of the robotic arm and accurately bring the helicopter down, leading it next to the other.
'Boom!'
In the midst of a huge muffled sound, a lot of dust was raised.
Jiang Liushi showed a happy smile. Then, he drove his minibus to the side of the two helicopters. The 2-ton light helicopters' rotors were made of composite materials. Although the two helicopters were nearly destroyed, Jiang Liushi felt excited.
'Fortunately, the two helicopters are well-preserved. I can get a lot of materials,' thought Jiang Liushi.
'Starseed, activate the automatic absorption function,' said Jiang Liushi in his mind.
The minibus could automatically absorb materials through the particle beam. As long as the automatic absorption function was launched, what Jiang Liushi needed to do was just to wait.
Soon, Starseed projected all the absorbable targets' pictures in his mind. Currently, all the vehicles and helicopters around his minibus were all within the absorbable range.
Jiang Liushi chose the two helicopters directly. A flash of light appeared, and then one of the helicopters disappeared. In the next moment, Jiang Liushi saw the decomposed materials in his storage space. Those materials were neatly placed.
In the blink of an eye, the other helicopter also disappeared. In its original spot only dust remained. It was as if the two helicopters never existed.
Luoluo was totally shocked as it had witnessed the whole scene through the window. Even its ears had stood up while its furry short tail was twisting like crazy.
"Excellent, let's go," Jiang Liushi said with satisfaction.
After scanning the materials in the storage space, Jiang Liushi knew that he only needed the listed materials he had given He Junhong to find. He believed that the latter would not let him down.
"So fast?" Both Ran Xiyu and Li YuXin were shocked.
When the helicopter was brought down, they couldn't help but close their eyes. Naturally, they hadn't paid much attention to it after that because in their minds it would take a lot of time to disassemble it.
Was everything really okay? Jiang Liushi had ordered them to do everything quickly, but it was way too fast.
"How about the helicopters? Don't we need them?" Ran Xiyu asked and turned back. However, when she looked back, she found that two helicopters had disappeared.
"Special ability?" Ran Xiyu looked at Jiang Liushi.
Actually, not only Jiang Liushi's special ability but also his minibus were mysterious. However, Ran Xiyu and Li Yuxin couldn't be entangled in such kinds of things.
Jiang Liushi drove his minibus quickly to the side of Jiang Zhuying and Ling. Ying was also there to help. She could fight easily just with her tri-edge bayonet. She and Ling were like two fast-killing machines. As for Jiang Zhuying, she was constantly releasing electrical attacks.
However, more zombies were rushing toward them than the rate they were being killed. What would one expect from a city with more than 10,000,000 residents? The center of the city was like a limitless generator of zombies; their numbers were simply unimaginable.
Jiang Liushi stepped on the brakes and shouted, "Get on quickly and let's go!"
As the door was opened instantly, Jiang Zhuying and the others quickly killed the zombies close to them. Then, they jumped into the minibus.
'Boom!'
The moment they closed the door, the zombies which had already rushed from the back slammed on it.
Jiang Liushi smiled slightly. "Go!"