Including the captain, all the crew rushed out of the cabin, standing on the deck staring at the sea. Everyone was stunned by the sight before them and completely ignored Yang Xiao's order to drive the ship forward.
Yang Xiao's face darkened. Just as he was about to lash out, a crewman standing at the ship's rail suddenly screamed, "Ah!" At the same moment, a swollen hand, soaked by seawater, grabbed the crewman's ankle and violently pulled downward. The crewman fell backward and was dragged into the sea with a scream.
The closest to the incident was Ximen Lian. Although he was a step late, he was the first to see hundreds of bloated corpses clinging to the hull. Seeing so many dead bodies densely packed like that made even someone like Ximen Lian—experienced in the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation—break out in goosebumps.
"Damn it! That's an illusion! The dead are climbing up from under the ship!" Ximen Lian shouted while firing his assault rifle. A "bang" cut off the hand pulling the crewman into the water, and he immediately followed with another shot, blowing off the head of a corpse that had surfaced.
By this time, corpses were already climbing onto the deck from all sides. The crew panicked and retreated to the ship's cabin, locking the doors and peering out through a tiny window no bigger than a palm.
Ximen Lian and two others formed a triangle formation and opened fire on the zombies. But the number of undead climbing aboard increased rapidly. Soon, all three ran out of bullets.
Xiong Wanyi was the first to run dry. "Damn! No ammo left! Who brought extra mags?" he shouted, slinging his rifle behind his back and drawing his pistol. Several shots quickly took down the closest approaching zombies.
Because of the rain, their backpacks were left inside the cabin, so they hadn't grabbed spare magazines or gear. Now surrounded, panic set in. Soon, Old Mo and Ximen Lian also emptied their magazines. Following Xiong's example, they slung their rifles, drew pistols, and fired at the zombies closing in. The three fired while inching toward the cabin where their gear was stored.
Unfortunately, pistol ammo was gone in an instant as well. Almost simultaneously, the three tossed their pistols aside, drew batons, and swung them in the wind, preparing for hand-to-hand combat.
Faced with an inevitable melee, over a hundred zombies surrounded them. Xiong Wanyi shouted, "Twenty years later, we'll be heroes again!" Just then, a flash of cold light streaked through the air. The heads of the zombies nearest Xiong exploded instantly, splattering sticky red-and-white matter all over his face. Before he could understand what happened, another flash followed. Three or four zombies in front of Ximen Lian had their heads blown apart simultaneously. Ximen was wiser and shielded his face with his arm, avoiding the mess.
It was me who acted. As the zombies climbed aboard, I started to summon my two short swords from the cabin. Each time I almost reached them, a zombie would interfere. Although handling these zombies was no real challenge for me, their endless numbers—constantly crawling up from under the ship—were headache-inducing.
While fighting, I stole a glance at Yang Xiao, who stood calmly by the ship's rail. Despite the chaos, he appeared unfazed, hands behind his back, staring at the distant sea where more zombies kept surfacing. Oddly, the zombies climbing aboard showed interest only in me and Xiong Wanyi's group. They deliberately avoided Yang Xiao, as if terrified of him.
After tearing the head off a zombie, I shouted to him, "Yang Xiao, you're just going to watch?"
Yang Xiao finally looked back, sighed, and flicked his hand in front of me. A large copper spike suddenly appeared and shot like lightning through a line of zombies, skewering them like candied hawthorn on a stick. His copper spikes had a corrosive effect—wounds began to rot instantly. In just a few breaths, I watched those zombies rot into two pieces.
Taking advantage of the moment before more zombies overwhelmed us, I reached out toward the cabin and clenched my hands in the air. A loud "boom" sounded as the cabin's steel plate was punched with two fist-sized holes. At the same time, my hands tightened around the twin short swords—Blades of Sin and Retribution—materializing in my grip.
Seeing that Xiong and the others were nearly out of ammo, I didn't hesitate. I threw the two short swords out in quick succession, temporarily breaking their encirclement. After recalling the blades, I struck several more times until the path to the cabin was cleared.
Xiong Wanyi was the first to reach the cabin door. Before he could kick it open, the captain had already opened it and passed out their backpacks and rifle cases containing magazines. With me covering them, the three quickly swapped magazines and unleashed a barrage on the zombies still coming aboard.
As a former sniper, I winced watching them waste ammo. Seizing the moment as I retrieved my blades, I shouted, "You fools! Do you think the ammo can take this? Aim for their heads, turn off auto-fire, and shoot one by one!"
Under these circumstances, Xiong Wanyi and the others didn't have time to listen to me. They kept firing their rifles nonstop at the ever-approaching zombies. Fortunately, Sun Fatty had prepared well this time, and combined with the strong penetration power of the 5.8mm rounds in their assault rifles, a single bullet often pierced through two or three zombies. With me using my two short swords to slash back and forth outside, after about five minutes, the rate at which zombies climbed onto the ship began to slow down. Another two or three minutes later, no more zombies climbed aboard, and most of the undead lay fallen on the deck. Only a few stragglers remained, still being picked off by Xiong and his team's precise aimed shots.
Only when no more zombies could stand on the ship did Yang Xiao finally turn to look at us. The calm, confident expression he had before was completely gone, replaced by a poker face as cold and dark as still water.
After scanning the area, his gaze fixed on me and he said, "Looks like you don't need me after all. You can handle this situation just fine." He paused, sighed, and continued, "Inform Sun Desheng, tell him I was wrong earlier — Lin Feng has already appeared."
The main player was finally going to show up. When I took out my phone, I realized it was soaked from the rain. Xiong and the others were in the same situation. Phones couldn't connect to the Bureau's network out here, so we had no choice but to send Old Mo to find the captain and try to contact Sun Fatty using the ship's radio. While Old Mo was looking for the captain, I asked Yang Xiao, "You say Lin Feng has appeared, but why can't I sense his aura?"
Yang Xiao had already turned back to face the sea. Staring intently at the troubled waters, he replied, "There's definitely more than one container's worth of dead down there. At first, I thought Lin Feng wanted to set up a confusion formation to distract us. But now it seems he gathered a massive amount of corpses on the seabed to conceal his aura. Earlier, when I drew the corpse aura up from beneath, Lin Feng probably realized his location was exposed, so he just released all the dead as a prelude to a fight to the death."
After saying this, Yang Xiao closed his eyes and took a deep breath. But he only inhaled halfway before suddenly opening his eyes wide, as if something had just dawned on him. Then he burst into a wild laugh.
His laughter sounded especially eerie amidst the rain and piles of corpses. Xiong, who had just opened the cabin door to come out, heard the laughter and quickly shut the door, retreating back inside. Through the cabin window, he watched the outside scene nervously. Having just been tricked by Yang Xiao, he was somewhat afraid and uncertain about Yang Xiao's intentions.
When Yang Xiao's laughter stopped, he turned his head and gave me a strange smile. Before I could ask what was going on, Yang Xiao suddenly jumped—straight into the sea.
Yang Xiao's sudden move startled me. I rushed to the ship's rail and saw him plunge into the water. Waves rolled and splashed, then his body surfaced. To my shock, he stood upright on the water's surface and began walking step by step toward the sea filled with corpses.
Before I could react, a voice suddenly echoed in my ear: "You all stay here. Sun Desheng should be arriving soon. Hopefully, I can resolve this before he gets here…"
It was Yang Xiao speaking, but I couldn't understand how he projected his voice so clearly through the air. I shouted back, "Wait for Sun Fatty and his team to arrive! It's too dangerous for you alone. There might be more than just Lin Feng there. Would Hao Zhengyi and Crow let you get near Lin Feng safely?"
Right after I finished speaking, Yang Xiao's laughter rang in my ear again. When it faded, he said, "Whether Hao Zhengyi is there, I can't say for sure. But one thing is certain — he's not. No Underworld Envoys like Crow could stand this many reanimated corpses."