"Watch behind you. Don't walk in a straight line," Chen Wan said quietly.
"Understood." Qin Ke had already anticipated this. The two of them moved not in a direct line toward the depot, but in a loose, irregular arc.
"Captain — what are they doing?" The man with the broken eyebrow watched the entrance to the grain depot with nervous eyes.
"They're worried we'll shoot them in the back. Underestimating us — we're proper soldiers, not assassins." Xing Feng said this with easy confidence, conveniently forgetting he'd been stripped of his rank. Privately, he knew that if he hadn't needed them to scout ahead, he likely would have pulled the trigger already.
Chen Wan and Qin Ke moved with careful precision. After approximately four hundred meters, they reached the entrance of the grain depot — which turned out to be not one structure but four warehouses set tightly in a row, each one rising six or seven stories high.
Chen Wan scanned the corridors running along either side and found what she was looking for — several bodies, and dark purple-black bloodstains smeared across the ground. She signaled to Qin Ke, and the two of them broke into a swift run toward the rear warehouses, slipping behind the thick tangle of industrial pipes running alongside the buildings. Within moments, they had vanished from sight, with absolutely no intention of pushing open the main doors to investigate.
Back by the vehicles, Xing Feng watched through binoculars and swore under his breath. "Cowards. Should've opened fire when I had the chance." Then something shifted in his expression, and a vicious smile spread across his face. "Think you can run? I'll drag you back and deal with you properly right here. All units, combat readiness. On my signal, we advance on the warehouse. If those two don't have the guts, we do — and we'll show the Commander that Zone A belongs to us. Move out."
Yet even as he gave the order, he sent the man with the broken eyebrow and several other soldiers to lead the advance — keeping them at the front while he followed. The courtyard remained eerily, unnervingly still. It was as though nothing alive existed in this place apart from their own squad.
Meanwhile, Chen Wan and Qin Ke had climbed the exterior emergency staircase running up the side of one of the warehouses and tucked themselves into a concealed position. There was no question of walking into a death trap — if this was the military's problem to solve, then the military could solve it themselves.
Carefully, just enough to see, they raised their heads above the ledge and watched. From their vantage point, they could see Xing Feng leading the remaining sixteen soldiers — all but the driver — advancing in cautious formation toward the entrance of the first warehouse. Whether the doors were opened from there was beyond their line of sight.
Seconds later, a thunderous crash rang out — the heavy, hollow sound of something massive being forced open.
Through the breach, the squad caught sight of row upon row of stored grain. A ripple of excitement ran through the group.
"Captain — look at all of this. We've really done it this time." The short soldier grinned broadly.
Even Xing Feng exhaled with something close to relief and began giving orders. "A few of you, go in and do a sweep first. If it's clear, everyone starts loading."
"Yes, sir!" The man with the broken eyebrow led a small group inside and began checking the main hall.
Xing Feng pulled out his radio and called the driver. "Bring the truck up. Nothing to worry about — turned out to be nothing."
"Copy that." The driver started the engine, and within less than a minute, the truck was parked in front of the first warehouse entrance.
Chen Wan saw the truck move up and still didn't budge. Her experience from her past life told her something was wrong. A silence this complete, this unbroken — there was no way they were walking out of here with a truckload of grain this easily.
She was still working through it when the sharp crack of a single gunshot rang out from inside the first warehouse. Chen Wan and Qin Ke both raised their rifles.
Inside the warehouse, the man with the broken eyebrow was already reporting back in a voice stripped of its earlier confidence — trembling slightly at the edges: "Cap — Captain. We have zombies in here."
"Then shoot them. Do I have to tell you everything?" Xing Feng cursed at him and moved in to see for himself — and stopped dead.
Every inch of both staircases leading from the first floor to the second was packed with zombies. They stood absolutely motionless, packed together in dense, silent rows. No wonder the squad had seen nothing.
"What are you all standing there for? Open fire!" Xing Feng shouted the order and started shooting into the mass of bodies.
And the zombies that had stood still as statues a moment before surged forward like a breaking wave.
"What the hell — why are these things so much faster than the ones we've seen before?" The man with the broken eyebrow swept his rifle across the wave of zombies surging toward him, shouting over his shoulder at the same time.
"How should I know? This is basically a death sentence. There are way too many of them — twenty people couldn't handle this, let alone a few hundred." The short male alpha had already switched to his sidearm and a knife. At this range, a rifle was useless — the space was too cramped to maneuver, and half the time there wasn't even room to aim. He would have given anything for a proper machete.
"It's those two women's fault. They're the ones who should be dying right now. If I ever get my hands on them—" The man with the broken eyebrow was screaming himself hoarse, eyes bloodshot, while the zombies kept coming without the slightest sign of exhaustion. And unless he was imagining things, they were being herded inward — surrounded on all sides.
Wave after wave of gunfire wasn't pushing the zombies back. Instead, the ones at the rear had begun using the bodies of those in front as leverage — climbing up onto their shoulders and launching themselves at the soldiers from above.
"These things are smarter than before. Faster, too," the short alpha called out.
"You think I can't see that? If we don't break through right now, we're all dead here." Xing Feng bellowed the words.
Outside, the soldier in the truck had a clear view of what was unfolding inside the warehouse. He gritted his teeth and held his position, unwilling to flee without his squadmates — but as it turned out, his loyalty wasn't returned in kind.
"Captain, Old Gao is outside — have him draw some fire, or none of us are making it out." But the word out had barely left his mouth before two zombies tackled him from the front. Moments later, blood was pouring from his throat.
Xing Feng clenched his jaw and stopped hesitating. In the time they had been standing there, five members of his squad were already dead. He drove a zombie back with his knife, then raised his pistol with his right hand and fired a shot at the truck's reinforced military glass. It was bulletproof — but the impact still made a sharp, cracking sound.
A loud crack rang out, and a portion of the zombies finally registered the truck parked outside. Old Gao, who had been waiting by the vehicle, was completely unprepared for his own squadmate to fire in his direction. In that brief, startled moment of confusion, a large number of zombies caught the movement and came thundering toward him.
With death bearing down on him, Old Gao stopped thinking about anything else. He floored the accelerator and tried to turn the truck around — but these zombies were nothing like the slow, lurching ones they had faced before. Within seconds, they had swarmed the vehicle. And they weren't moving the way zombies usually did, charging blindly in a straight line. They fanned out, approaching from every direction as though following a coordinated strategy. Before Old Gao could react, five or six had already hauled themselves onto the truck.
Chen Wan and Qin Ke couldn't see what was happening inside the warehouse entrance, but they had a clear view of the truck. "Their movement speed has increased," Chen Wan noted. "And they don't seem as mindless as before."
"Maybe they've upgraded?" Qin Ke suggested.
Chen Wan wasn't certain, but one thing was clear — they needed to leave. Right now, those soldiers were the zombies' primary target. But once every last one of them was dead, she and Qin Ke alone wouldn't be able to hold off this many. "We have to go. Qin Ke — I'll cover the rear and hold them off. You find something to drive in that lot over there. Anything you can get started."
She was already moving toward the stairs as she spoke. Qin Ke nodded sharply. "Got it."
They had no RV to fall back on this time. All they had was themselves, and they needed to get out of this place fast. What concerned Chen Wan most was the implication of what she'd just witnessed — if the zombies here had evolved, what about the ones near the Funan City base? Had the same upgrade swept through them simultaneously? Were they now operating with a degree of actual intelligence?
Chen Wan relayed everything she and Qin Ke had encountered to Yi Yi through their mental link. She kept moving as she waited for a response — the two of them carefully skirting the right side of the first warehouse. The military truck was parked to the left, which meant the zombie density on that side was far higher.
Yi Yi's voice came through clearly: "The zombies have most likely reached Level 2. Level 2 zombies are faster and more agile than their predecessors, and they possess a degree of rudimentary intelligence. Stay safe, both of you."
"Understood. Keep the others safe on your end — there's a good chance Level 2 zombies are about to hit the base as well." Chen Wan sent the thought and went quiet. She and Qin Ke had circled to the outermost edge of the warehouse's right flank. One more step and they'd be in full view.
Chen Wan glanced at Qin Ke. Qin Ke gave a single nod, then broke from the cover of the wall and sprinted hard toward the vehicles parked across the square. Chen Wan was right behind her. The moment they moved, the zombies noticed.
Especially the ones clinging to the truck — Old Gao in the driver's seat had long since been silenced, and several zombies were crouched over his body, feeding. Chen Wan and Qin Ke's sudden movement pulled them away. Not just those, either — a substantial number from inside the warehouse peeled off and began streaming toward them.
Chen Wan planted herself roughly ten meters from the cluster of vehicles and prepared to hold the line. The problem was that raw strength alone, without the right tools, made a defensive stand nearly impossible in an environment this saturated with zombies.
There was no time to think through a better plan. The zombies were already closing in on within thirty meters. Chen Wan raised her rifle and opened fire, targeting heads — anything else, and they kept coming. But there were simply too many of them, and a significant number had broken off toward Qin Ke's car. If that engine died, there would be no second chance to restart it — not with these things swarming them.
This was the closest Chen Wan had come to dying since the world had ended. She found herself thinking, almost desperately — if only they would stop.
And the moment that thought took shape, the dozens of zombies lunging toward her stopped.
Chen Wan blinked. Then, cautiously, she formed another command in her mind: Turn around. Hold back the ones still coming. Protect that blue car.
The dozens of zombies around her moved. They turned in unison, repositioning themselves as a barrier between Chen Wan and the oncoming horde. The ones near the car ceased their attack as well, joining the others to block the surge pressing in from behind.
Chen Wan didn't waste a single second. The moment the gap opened, she sprinted for the passenger side of the small car and threw herself in. She had barely pulled the door shut when Qin Ke stomped on the accelerator and wrenched the wheel around.
As the door clicked closed, the dozens of zombies Chen Wan had somehow commanded were already swallowed up by the thousands flooding the square. It wasn't just the first warehouse — every warehouse had been packed with them, and now they had all poured out at once. Looking at the mass of bodies blanketing the square, Chen Wan found herself deeply missing her RV.
Qin Ke hit the gas, and the small blue car shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring. The moment it cleared the depot's gates, the horde came pouring after them — a surging tide of bodies giving chase.
Chen Wan leaned back against her seat, noticing a faint dizziness. She pushed it aside for now and kept her eyes fixed on the side mirror. Thousands of zombies streaming behind them — it was almost a spectacular sight. Fortunately, their speed was roughly on par with a sprinting human, and they couldn't close the gap against a moving vehicle.
As for Xing Feng and his squad, they had been completely consumed by the horde. Not a trace remained. In his final moments, Xing Feng still blamed Chen Wan. If she and Qin Ke had just followed his orders and gone to scout, it would have been them dying here, not him.
The blue car flew down the road and quickly put considerable distance between them and the horde.
Qin Ke glanced at Chen Wan. "What happened back there? Why did those zombies turn on their own kind and help us?"
Chen Wan's dizziness had eased slightly. She answered with measured uncertainty. "I think I controlled them. With my mind. We were completely surrounded — you'd cleared a few behind me, but new ones kept filling the gap. I thought to myself: I wish they would just stop. And the ones around me actually stopped. Then I mentally ordered them to block the horde and protect the car — and they did it. So I think I might have awakened an ability."
Qin Ke was speechless for a moment. Controlling zombies — it was something that defied ordinary imagination. Yet in a world that had already become this, where the dead walked, and everything had been turned upside down, it wasn't entirely beyond reason.
She also found herself thinking back on her own shooting just now. During her time in Special Operations, she had been a competent marksman — but nothing like what she had done today. Close-range combat had always been her stronger suit. With Chen Wan's words hanging in the air, her own uncertainty began to surface. "Come to think of it, something felt strange when I was shooting back there."
"What do you mean?" Chen Wan looked over at her.
"It felt like I couldn't miss. I was firing two guns at the same time, and every single shot landed in the skull. That's not normal. Looking back on it now — it really wasn't normal."
"You might have an ability, too. A firearms ability."
"And one more thing." Chen Wan tilted her head. "Did you feel dizzy after firing?"
"No. Same as always." Qin Ke answered honestly.
"Hm. Then why did I feel dizzy?" Chen Wan muttered to herself. "Are abilities really that different from each other?"
At that moment, Yi Yi's voice surfaced in her mind: "The base is under zombie attack. Not a massive wave yet, but the ones that have gotten in are difficult to handle. Dozens of people have already been killed. If you two can get back, bring the RV. I think this is only the first wave of Level 2 zombies testing the base's defenses — there will likely be more. Things may deteriorate quickly."
"Understood. We're heading to pick up the RV now. Yi Yi — is Zone A still secure?"
Chen Wan couldn't help but worry. Of everyone left behind, only Yi Yi had real combat capability. Jiang Yanxin could hold her own if necessary, but Jiang Wanning, Jiang Zhao Yuan, Ye Lan, and Yang Yang had no real way to defend themselves. If something went wrong, Yi Yi was all they had.
"For now, yes. The casualties have all been in Zones C and D. The Level 2 zombies are intelligent enough to scale walls — many of them bypassed all three defensive lines by climbing over."
"Good. As long as it holds for now. We're on our way. Oh — Yi Yi, I think Qin Ke and I may have awakened abilities. Neither of us is certain yet."
"That tracks. You've both been consuming crystal cores for a while now, and you've eaten a fair amount of the mutant beef on top of that. Awakening at this stage is within the expected range. Jiang Yanxin and Yang Yang may not be far behind — it's just that without a triggering condition, they may not have noticed anything yet."
Chen Wan exhaled. "Good to know. We'll go over the details once we're back in the RV. Keep everyone safe."
"You and Qin Ke, be careful. A large portion of the zombies outside may have reached Level 2 by now."
"We will. Stay in contact."
"Understood." Yi Yi's voice went quiet.
She was sitting upright on the living room sofa, eyes closed, facing the front door of the villa. She had positioned herself there deliberately — with the situation outside growing increasingly unpredictable, being close to the entrance was the only way she could feel remotely at ease.
Jiang Yanxin had retreated to a room upstairs with her parents and Yang Yang. Even the little one seemed to sense the weight of the atmosphere and had made herself small on the bed, quietly entertaining herself by studying her own chubby fingers.
Ye Lan and Jiang Zhao Yuan were frantic with worry — Ye Lan especially. Without Chen Wan here, she felt rudderless, and she couldn't stop sighing.
Jiang Wanning noticed that Yi Yi was the only one not in a room and figured she ought to check on her. When she came downstairs, she found Yi Yi sitting on the living room sofa with her eyes closed, her posture perfectly straight — not at all like someone who had fallen asleep.
Wanning assumed she must be exhausted after staying up all night watching over her, and was now resting with her eyes closed.
"Yi Yi?" she called softly.
Those bright, warm eyes opened immediately. "What is it?"
"Nothing — I just thought you looked tired. Maybe you should go lie down in your room? It can't be comfortable sleeping sitting up like this."
"I'm fine. I wasn't actually sleeping just now — and I don't want to be away from this spot. I don't think the zombie attacks are going to stop at just one wave. Things may get worse. I'd rather stay here where I can keep watch." Yi Yi smiled at Jiang Wanning, keeping her voice easy and calm. She made no effort to let the anxiety running through her optical brain show in her expression — the last thing she wanted was to pass her worry onto the others.
They were all ordinary people. If they understood the full picture, they would only panic more than she already was.
Jiang Wanning looked at her for a moment, then sat down on the sofa — leaving a person's width of space between them. "Then I'll stay here with you. You kept me company the whole night. It's my turn."
Yi Yi smiled. "Alright."
It didn't really matter where she sat. If a large enough wave of Level 2 zombies broke through the base perimeter, it was only a question of when they would reach Zone A — not if.
Meanwhile, Chen Wan had already told Qin Ke about the plan to retrieve the RV. Qin Ke confirmed the route back and steered toward the residential area where they had left it.
On the mountain road, they ran into five or six more zombies. Two were struck and sent flying by the speeding car. Three managed to dodge clear. The last one leapt directly onto the windshield — slamming its rotting, filth-smeared skull repeatedly against the glass.
This was only an ordinary civilian car. Cracks spiderwebbed across the windshield almost immediately. The winding mountain road was treacherous under the best of conditions, and now Qin Ke's view was being blocked by the thing thrashing against the glass.
The windshield was giving way with every impact. Chen Wan made a decision — better to finish it herself than let the zombie smash through. The glass was already lost either way. She slapped a fresh magazine into her pistol and fired several shots directly into the zombie's skull.
The zombie tumbled off the car. The windshield was left in ruins — more holes than glass — and both Chen Wan and Qin Ke had taken a spray of blackened, putrid blood across their faces.