Chapter 38: Benefits

【System Prompt: Day 9 of the apocalypse, current environment: sunny, outdoor temperature -47°C, 5 'Shadow' organization helicopters have arrived over the 45th floor, heavy armor-piercing cannons charging.】

"Hurry and hide!"

Lin Chen pulled Xia Nuan behind the shelter, and Chen Mo and A Kai also squatted down immediately. Just after hiding, the helicopter outside the window opened fire. The "da-da" sound of the Gatling gun exploded,

bullets hitting the bulletproof glass like a rainstorm. The hole previously blown out instantly expanded, and glass shards fell with a clatter.

"Boom—!"

The first grenade was thrown in, landing in the center of the living room, the blast wave overturning the supply boxes,

compressed biscuits scattering all over the floor. Xia Nuan gripped Lin Chen's arm tightly, her body unable to stop trembling. The helicopter's firepower was much fiercer than last time, and the bulletproof glass was about to be shot through.

"They want to blow up the window!" Chen Mo roared, taking several steel plates out of his backpack, "Hurry and block the window!"

Lin Chen and A Kai rushed over, stepping on the full floor of debris to nail the steel plates to the window.

But just after nailing one, another bomb was thrown over, with a "bang" exploding on the steel plate,

the steel plate was blown open with a crack, and the hot debris splashed onto Lin Chen's arm, making him wince in pain.

"This won't work! The steel plate can't hold!" A Kai wiped the dust off his face, his voice tight, "They have heavy armor-piercing cannons; if this continues, the window will definitely be blown apart!"

Lin Chen gritted his teeth and said nothing, his eyes fixed on the window outside. The helicopter was still throwing bombs, every explosion making the room shake, and the cracks on the floor were getting more and more.

He knew clearly that if they continued to outlast them like this, let alone blocking the 'Shadow' organization, they would sooner or later be buried in the room by the bombs.

And at this time, in a hidden valley a few kilometers away, the 'Shadow' organization's temporary base was hidden here.

Heavy tents blocked the cold wind. In the center of the tent, a man in a black leather jacket sat in a chair. He was the leader of the 'Shadow' organization, codenamed "Black Crow."

"Who is willing to take ten people to the 45th floor and smash open Lin Chen's safe house?" Black Crow's voice was cold, sweeping over the dozens of people in the tent.

The tent was silent, no one spoke. It was minus forty degrees outside, and there were wandering zombies; going to the 45th floor was sending them to death. Some people quietly shrank back, some lowered their heads and stared at the ground; no one wanted to be the first bird.

"What? No one is willing?" Black Crow's face sank, the whip in his hand "slapped" on the ground, "What's the use of raising you trash? Not even a bit of courage!"

Still no one spoke, the tent was so quiet that the sound of the wind outside could be heard. Black Crow was completely angry, pointing at the ten people in front: "You ten! Go now! If you can't complete the task, I'll skin you alive when you come back!"

Those ten people's faces instantly turned pale, some wanted to beg for mercy, but seeing the ruthlessness in Black Crow's eyes, they swallowed the words back. Black Crow's men pushed them out of the tent,

threw them into the snow, and threw over a rope and a crowbar: "Within half an hour, you must reach the 45th floor! Otherwise, don't wait for the zombies, I'll let you freeze to death first!"

Those ten people didn't dare to delay, running toward the residential area against the biting cold wind. The snow was up to their knees,

every step took a lot of effort, and they had to be vigilant about the surrounding zombies. Fortunately, most of the zombies were lured away by the smell of blood, they didn't encounter too many obstacles, and finally ran to the 1st floor of the residential area within half an hour.

"Hurry! Run up!" The leader panted, rubbing his frozen hands, "If Black Crow knows we delayed, there will be no good fruit to eat!"

Those ten people didn't dare to delay, climbing up the stairs. The 45th floor was very high, they climbed until they were out of breath, two people almost slipped halfway, fortunately they were pulled by their companions. Finally arriving at the 45th-floor door,

they saw the supply boxes piled behind the door, and regardless of anything, they picked up the crowbar and smashed it on the door: "Lin Chen! Open the door! Otherwise, we'll smash your door!"

Lin Chen in the room heard the smashing sound, his heart even more anxious—there were helicopters bombing the window outside, people smashing the door at the entrance, and zombies that might appear at any time; they were surrounded.

Just at this moment, the 【System Prompt】 suddenly popped up:

【Detected fatal threat: 5 helicopters heavy armor-piercing cannons about to fire, window will be destroyed in 30 seconds, safe house will collapse.】

【Emergency protection task triggered: Hand over 1 piece of "Rare-grade supplies", and you can perform "Absolute Defense" reinforcement on the safe house door, window, and wall. After reinforcement, it will be immune to all explosions and bullet attacks, and carry sound insulation effect; if refused, everyone will be blown into fragments in 30 seconds, with no possibility of survival.】

Lin Chen's pupils shrank, hurriedly asking: "What is rare-grade supplies? Do I have any here?"

【Detected that you have 1 "Apocalypse Energy Core Fragment from the previous life" in your storage room, which belongs to rare-grade supplies and can be used for exchange.】

Lin Chen's heart tightened. That fragment was snatched from the Zombie King in his previous life. He wanted to keep it to study abilities, but now saving his life was important. "If I don't exchange, will I really be blown to death?"

【Yes, the power of the armor-piercing cannon is enough to destroy the entire building, with no probability of survival.】

"I agree!" Lin Chen didn't hesitate anymore, "Exchange energy core fragment for absolute defense!"

【Exchange successful! Starting reinforcement... reinforcement complete!】

Almost as soon as the system prompt sound fell, the heavy armor-piercing cannon fired from the helicopter outside. With a "Boom—" loud noise, the cannonball hit the window, but it was blocked by a layer of transparent protective film, not even leaving a trace. Immediately after, Gatling bullets, grenades, bombs,

no matter how they hit, the window and door remained motionless, even the vibration was reduced a lot, and the sound insulation effect also took effect, the explosion sound outside becoming very light.

"What's going on?!" The people in the helicopter were stunned. They clearly saw the cannonball hit the window, how could there be nothing wrong?

And the ten people smashing the door at the entrance were also stunned. They smashed the door with crowbars for a long time, but the door was still fine, not even leaving a mark. Just when they were stunned,

A zombie roar suddenly came from downstairs! The zombies previously attracted by the smell of blood actually climbed up along the stairs!

"Zombies! It's zombies!" Someone shouted, his face pale. Those ten people hurriedly turned around and wanted to run, but the stairwell entrance had been blocked by zombies, and several zombies pounced over, biting the person at the front.

"Save me! Save me!" That person screamed, but no one dared to look back; looking back was death. But there were more and more zombies, soon surrounding those ten people in the middle,

screams one after another. Within a few minutes, the screams stopped, those ten people were gnawed by zombies until not even bone dregs were left, leaving only pools of blood on the ground.

The helicopter outside the window saw this scene and fired several more armor-piercing cannons at the window, but it was still useless.

Black Crow saw all this through the monitor at the base, so angry that he threw the cup to the ground: "Trash! A bunch of trash! Can't even handle a safe house!" He roared into the intercom: "Retreat! Retreat back first! Find an opportunity to deal with them next time!"

The roar of the helicopter gradually went away, and the people in the room finally breathed a sigh of relief. Lin Chen collapsed on the ground, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Just those 30 seconds, he thought he would definitely die,

fortunately the system gave a glimmer of life. Although the energy core fragment was used up, at least they all survived.

Xia Nuan walked over, sat beside him, and patted his shoulder gently: "We... survived?"

"Survived." Lin Chen nodded, his voice still a bit hoarse, "The door and window are reinforced, from now on 'Shadow' organization's bullets and bombs can't hurt us."

Chen Mo and A Kai also breathed a sigh of relief. Chen Mo walked to the window, looking at the departing helicopter: "Black Crow definitely won't give up, they might bring even more powerful weapons next time."

Lin Chen stood up, walked to the storage room, looking at the empty box—that was where the energy core fragment was originally placed. He took a deep breath: "No matter what they bring,

we must live on. Now the door and window are safe, we must hurry to organize the supplies, and think about what to do next."

Just at this moment, the 【System Prompt】 popped up again:

【Absolute defense reinforcement duration: 7 days】

【Need to exchange rare-grade supplies again after 7 days, otherwise the reinforcement effect will expire.】

Lin Chen's heart sank. It turned out that the reinforcement wasn't permanent, and he had to find rare-grade supplies again after 7 days. He looked at the snow outside the window, knowing clearly that the danger in this apocalypse was far from over. ===== CHAPTER 39 =====