Chapter 211: Body of Steel

The bodies of comrades who had already turned into Zombies could not be taken away; Bai Chonghuan tore off his military tag, took one last look at the still-twitching body, and ordered everyone to evacuate.

They certainly could not go downward to evacuate; they had to return the way they came and take the cableway.

The Zombies followed closely; Bai Chonghuan stayed behind at the very end, urging the others to hurry onto the cableway.

"Go, I'll cover the rear!" The metallic luster on his skin was even more pronounced; although not much was exposed, it had reached a degree vastly different from an ordinary person, and he could no longer hide it.

His marksmanship was not top-tier, but taking out one Zombie per shot was absolutely no problem.

With a raging fire suppressed in his heart, he fought with extreme ferocity.

At this moment, Bai Chonghuan also noticed that there was almost no one left on the opposite rooftop shooting in this direction; when he looked up, those people had almost all turned into Zombies as well.

They were all suicide troops!

From the moment the other side targeted him, Bai Chonghuan understood that this trap had been prepared for him, only a Mecha and a mutated Military Dog had appeared in the middle and disrupted the other side's plan.

If the Mecha hadn't come, it was possible that he and the Rescue Team would have really perished here.

The comrades left one by one; no one disobeyed his orders, silent and fast, but an accident still happened.

A soldier moving to the middle of the cableway suddenly turned into a Zombie, his body twisting and shaking, causing the cableway to sway violently, and then he flipped over and began to crawl rapidly along the cableway with his hands and feet.

The soldier in front of him didn't have time to shoot; after his helmet was knocked off by the Zombie, he was grabbed and bitten on the neck.

In less than ten seconds, the person who was bitten also turned into a Zombie.

By the time Bai Chonghuan discovered it, he only had time to let the others continue sliding toward both ends, and he also turned his muzzle to shoot at the two people who were about to attack others.

However, these two people were not slow, and the cableway was swaying significantly; several shots failed to hit their heads, implicating two other soldiers nearby who were also scratched.

Cursing under his breath, he changed his magazine and didn't bother aiming anymore, simply firing a burst.

The first two were hit in the hands and feet and fell from the cableway. But the other two were still crazily pouncing toward the others.

Just as he was changing his magazine again, a comrade unbuckled his safety clip and pounced toward the incoming Zombie, "Division Commander, I'm going first, take good care of my mother!"

The helmet was torn off by himself, revealing a young face that still had some childishness, a smiling face covered in tears, his arms hugging the Zombie—who was his comrade a minute ago—tightly as they fell.

Bai Chonghuan's hand trembled, and he hurriedly went to shoot the other Zombie, but who knew that the comrade on that end also tore off his own helmet.

"No!"

His shout came with the sound of the landing; this comrade hugged the other Zombie, and this time it was even more extreme—as he fell, he relaxed the fingers holding the Hand Grenade.

Before they even hit the ground, the explosion blasted a large cloud of blood mist into the air.

"I'll fight you bastards to the death!"

Bai Chonghuan might be a bit fond of seeking glory and like to go on missions himself, but that did not mean he could calmly watch his own soldiers sacrifice themselves.

"All of you, go!"

The Zombies that had come up on this side had already surrounded him, and on the building at the other end of the cableway, there were also Zombies climbing up; if they delayed any longer, he feared not a single person would be able to evacuate alive.

"Division Commander..."

"Get out," things having reached this point, Bai Chonghuan no longer hid his ability, unbuckling his helmet to reveal his metallic-textured face.

Whether because of anger or the mutation in his body, his originally black eyes were now bloodshot; if one looked closely, one could see these blood vessels had already burst, but the red blood did not diffuse, instead condensing into his dark pupils, turning them completely blood-red.

The ammunition for individual combat was limited; when sending his comrades away, Bai Chonghuan did not ask them to leave behind part of their ammunition, as he had already anticipated that the following cableways would not be peaceful either.

The two ends of the cableway could be guarded, but the soldiers on the cableway had to use both hands to control the motorized slider and could not make timely counterattacks; this was also the reason why those two comrades just now chose to perish together with the Zombies.

The ammunition on Bai Chonghuan was running low; he drew the Military Dagger tucked under his armpit, while consciously releasing the feeling that would cause his skin to undergo Metalization to its strongest point.

Standing at this end of the cableway, he swung his blade toward the first Zombie that rushed up; the silver blade drew a line through the air, and the Zombie's head was directly chopped off.

"Come on, you bunch of trash who can't even control yourselves!"

At the other end of the cableway, the soldiers who had crossed first were also firing, while simultaneously requesting fire support from the high wall.

Nearly a thousand meters was not far, but for the shooting range of ordinary firearms, it was definitely not close; considering their safety, they could not use artillery shells, so for a time, they could only rely on themselves.

As the slaughter continued, Bai Chonghuan didn't even notice that the color of his skin was getting deeper and deeper, until he had slaughtered both batches of Zombies that came up, and it had already presented a deep bronze color.

However, human physical strength was limited after all; after killing the two waves of Zombies, he took advantage of the gap to look anxiously at the building his soldiers had left for. Fortunately, they had narrowly passed three cableways without any loss of personnel.

But... he could no longer leave.

Not to mention that Zombies had climbed onto the roofs of those buildings, the anchor point of the cableway on his side had also collapsed during the battle, and the metal rope had already fallen.

"If Heaven did not give birth to me, Bai Chonghuan, so be it. Today, if I die in battle here, it can be considered repaying the appreciation of Teacher Yang back then for..."

Bang bang, clatter!

Several smashing sounds abruptly interrupted Bai Chonghuan's death wish, and a metal head popped out, "What are you being so literary for? The Zombie decay will take a few more hours; are you leaving or not? Shall I take you?"

"... the kindness!" After a brief pause, Bai Chonghuan was not affected, stubbornly finishing the full set of sentiments before looking at Liu Mu, "Which unit are you from? What is your designation? Whose soldier are you?"

"Sea Soul Team One; the designation is too long, I can't remember it. I'm my own soldier," the Mecha's head unfolded, revealing Liu Mu's face, "Hey, who are you? Why did they fish you out to kill you?"

Fish... out to kill?

Bai Chonghuan couldn't save face; was he some kind of fish? What did she mean by "fish out"?

"Bai Chonghuan," he said his name indifferently, paired with the battle suit torn in several places on his body, as well as his white hair, red eyes, and bronze skin, he truly possessed a bit of inhuman, kingly aura.

"Ha? It's you. No wonder, no wonder. Nice to meet you, nice to meet you," truly a talent. One hand of Liu Mu's Mecha was carrying a person, and the other hand reached out, "Let's go, Division Commander Bai, I'll take you back."

"Your Sea Soul Team One..." Bai Chonghuan only knew that Tan Ziyan's Special Action Team had now been changed to Sea Soul Team One, but who was in the team and who was leading it were all classified, and he had no time to pay attention to such trivial matters.

Seeing Liu Mu, he only assumed it was someone left behind by the Special Action Team who had become the captain, but looking at that hand stained with much minced meat and mucus, he refused to move even half a step forward.

"How many people are there now? How should I address you, Excellency?"

Completely different from Bai Chonghuan, at this moment Liu Mu was full of interest in Bai Chonghuan, not because of the other party's tall and handsome appearance, but because of this obvious change.

"There are a few, Liu Mu," Liu Mu raised her eyebrows, and seeing him disgusted by her hand, she turned around and patted her shoulder, "How about you sit here? I'll fly you over. You can't walk below; Awakening can improve your resistance, but the Zombie Virus does not belong to the known virus sequence of Earth. You cannot completely resist it; you will still be infected."

Bai Chonghuan only heard the familiar name "Liu Mu" and the subsequent sentence "will be infected."

This woman was actually the Liu Mu to whom Teacher Yang had entrusted the heavy responsibility?

Bai Chonghuan examined the Mecha at close range again; he had only assumed the Mecha was developed by the military, and even he didn't know about it—sour!

Why wouldn't Teacher let him act as the agent for the Barrier? And why didn't he get a Mecha?

Bai Chonghuan was unwilling to sit on Liu Mu's shoulder, as it was practically the same as being a useless child, so... he chose to stand in the palm of the Mecha.

A section on the back of the Mecha shifted, extending a pair of silvery-white metal wings.

The wings spread over fifteen meters wide, vibrating at an extremely high frequency, yet the sound was merely a faint hum, like a nimble hummingbird.

The Mecha was six meters tall, with arms over two meters long; having a man nearly one meter ninety tall standing in its hand made Bai Chonghuan look a bit... petite?

However, Liu Mu's speed was not very fast, because Niu Boyi was carrying Ai Qi below, and she needed to look after the route at all times and clear out Zombies in advance.

After discovering this, Bai Chonghuan wondered if he could also let the Military Dog carry him; his current appearance was truly not imposing enough.

Seeing him staring at Gouzi, Liu Mu had to say, "Division Commander Bai, my Gouzi cannot carry you; this Iron Body of yours is not light."

It was at least half a ton.

His fighting spirit slowly dissipated, but Bai Chonghuan discovered that his body seemed unable to return to its ordinary human state, and for a moment, he felt a bit anxious.

Fortunately, the distance between them and the high wall was not far; in just a quarter of an hour, Liu Mu placed him on the wall, and she borrowed a cargo net from them to hoist Gouzi and Ai Qi over the area beneath the high wall where the Zombies were most dense.

On this side, the Rescue Team had fire support from the high wall during the second half of their journey, and after a total loss of seven personnel, the rest returned safely.

Liu Mu's Mecha caused quite a stir within the base inside the wall; thinking that it wouldn't be easy to gather everyone together again later, she flew directly above the base and used the Mecha's amplification device to deliver a speech.

"Fellow citizens of Haiyang Base, I am Liu Mu, the Acting Chief of the Haicheng Barrier and the Southeast Three Provinces. It is a great pity to meet everyone under these circumstances. I know everyone is very afraid right now, but the Barrier has not abandoned Haiyang Base, nor will it abandon any one of you..."

The current her was no longer the Liu Mu from the beginning of the disaster who only spoke for profit; having mastered the ability to deliver inspiring speeches, it took only a few minutes to calm the panicked crowd.

Afterward, Bai Chonghuan's men settled the crowd, who had once again become Survivors, preventing potential chaos.

Even so, the people waiting in line were still all in rags, staring nervously at those around them, terrified that someone else might suddenly go berserk and turn into the kind of unkillable Zombie outside.

The military also immediately arranged for triage and inspection; anyone with external injuries was separated and quarantined.

Liu Mu did not ask much about these details; she landed back on the high wall, watching thousands upon thousands of Zombies assault the ice-and-snow-covered fortress.

With so many eyes around, she did not store the Mecha into her space, only sliding her helmet down to reveal her head.

"Niu Boyi," she got Niu Boyi two buckets of Dog Food and let it eat in a corner, "You performed well today; you aren't hurt, are you?"

The only thing Liu Mu feared now was Gouzi getting hurt; fortunately, as a system-protected creature, it could automatically detect and timely treat non-fatal injuries.

The problem was, the system hadn't come up with an effective cure for the Zombie Virus yet...

"Woof woof woof, woo," Gouzi stared at its late lunch and drooled, shaking its big head to indicate it wasn't hurt. Just as it was about to eat, it remembered something, and a rumbling sound came from its nose as it spat out two wet, black balls that flew directly outside the high wall.

"Uh, eat, just eat," Liu Mu didn't want to dwell on what that thing was.

"Woof woof woof, Little Sister Ai Qi is hurt, I wonder if she will turn into a stinky Zombie."

Niu Boyi stared with slightly reddened big eyes to report to its Master, then buried its head to eat its Dog Food; it had run over from the other side of the mountain and fought, so it was truly very hungry.

Ai Qi?

Liu Mu turned back to look for the little girl who had been saved by Gouzi, but not seeing her, she stood up and walked with heavy clanking steps over to Bai Chonghuan, "Old Bai, I need to go pick up the Vaccine from the Sea Soul team; I'll leave Gouzi here to help you."

Bai Chonghuan, who was busy arranging defenses, originally didn't want to pay attention to this flashy Acting Chief; he was truly jealous, and the imbalance in his heart was almost impossible to suppress.

But, "Vaccine? Zombie Virus Vaccine?"

"A trial version, it doesn't have much effect," Liu Mu clarified beforehand to avoid giving these people too much hope only for them to be disappointed in the end, "I will patrol the city once; they definitely still have backup plans. Also... the Rescue Team should be careful as well; I will return as soon as possible."

After Liu Mu obtained the Mecha, she had thought about going to the Military Base in the mountains first, but she was worried about the situation in Haiyang and could only rush over first.

Perhaps because Bai Chonghuan had changed quite a bit after going out, the soldiers on the wall couldn't stop looking at the two of them, seemingly subconsciously linking the Mecha with the Iron Body, thinking it was some new black technology.

To be honest, Bai Chonghuan looked down on Liu Mu a little in his heart; it had nothing to do with gender, mainly regarding military capability, "Alright, then while you're at it, see if you can find their staging point; I can provide long-range attacks from here."

"Good man!" Liu Mu's eyes lit up, and she became even more curious about the military capabilities of Haiyang Base, but now was not the time, "Alright, let's go!"

She praised him, but it didn't delay her actions in the slightest, which appeared somewhat ironic in Bai Chonghuan's eyes.

Indeed, compared to the hidden strike capabilities of the base core, the Mecha was clearly more high-end.

Little did he know, as Liu Mu flew away, her heart was bleeding; although the Mecha was good, every strike consumed energy measured in units, and she felt like she was about to be hollowed out.

But this consumption had to continue; while she said she was going to meet the Sea Soul team, she was more worried about the next move of the Sky Viper.

Spreading the virus on such a large scale and sending hundreds of suicide soldiers—clearly, they were determined to take Haiyang Base.

The Zombies in the city were all attracted to places with people; after leaving the central area of the base, one could barely see a shadow of a Zombie on the road.

Liu Mu's Mecha sped along the road, taking the main thoroughfare of Haiyang, but at a 45-degree angle to the direction she had come from; mainly because Heitao A's analysis range was limited, and now, to find the people from the Sky Viper, she could only use this most time-consuming method.

However, compared to when she first arrived, now that she knew the situation on Bai Chonghuan's side, she was not as anxious.

According to Bai Chonghuan, the high wall gates had been closed for an hour or so, and the citizens inside had not continued to turn into Zombies, which meant the virus had already been isolated outside.

Plus, Liu Mu had stayed inside the high wall for over twenty minutes just now, and the Rescue Team had not shown signs of turning into Zombies, so they were likely relatively safe.

The reason she left Niu Boyi behind was, on one hand, because the dog's sense of smell and hearing were far more sensitive than a human's, allowing it to detect Zombie transformation at the first moment; on the other hand, she could use Heitao A to maintain contact, making it convenient for Liu Mu to know the situation there at any time.

Strictly speaking, the urban area of Haiyang was not actually large; after dividing the area using the map, Liu Mu's patrol became methodical.

But no one expected that shortly after she left, in the base core that was completely isolated from the outside, someone attacked the people around them without any warning.