Chapter 517: Regaining Confidence

"Back! The Yam Luo Corps guys led the zombies over here!"

"Huh? Why bring them here…?"

"You've been staring all this time—what the hell were you watching? We brought them here to kill them, not to cook them for you!"

A group of people standing by the windows on the second and third floors chattered nervously; the sight of the charging zombies still unsettled them, but the thought of the solid barricade built by the Yam Luo Corps below brought them considerable comfort.

Some had once resented the fighters for eating meat and drinking alcohol in comfort, but now all their grievances vanished—these fighters were risking their lives to defend the camp's safety; without them holding the line, the ordinary members would be slaughtered.

"Get ready, everyone—get ready! That smoky bastard's coming too! Damn it, thanks to his slow legs, he's wasting my time!"

Qi Xiaoshuai burst through the mall's main entrance, gasping and cursing.

Earlier, shortly after he began luring the zombies, he'd realized a serious problem: the black-gas zombie moved shockingly slowly—about as fast as ordinary zombies in cold weather before the snowfall—and in the blink of an eye, it was left far behind by the big guys and the regular zombies!

Qi Xiaoshuai tried ignoring it, assuming it would eventually catch up, and pushed forward hard—but soon discovered the black-gas zombie had lost track of him.

This drove him frantic; he wanted to abandon it, but then he remembered his promise—he had to bring the black-gas zombie back.

Sprinting hard and taking advantage of his initial lead, he was two or three hundred meters ahead of the zombies. In desperation, he ducked into a shop beside the street; once the big guys and regular zombies lost sight of him, he leapt from the second floor to the back of the shop, circled back, and found the black-gas zombie again…

If he kept heading the same way with the black-gas zombie, he'd run straight into the big guys and regular zombies who'd lost their target and fallen back into confusion—he'd have to detour onto another road!

What should've taken three or five minutes turned into twenty because he had to backtrack twice and detour; he barely made it through without disaster, but his lungs felt like they'd burst, his face was pale, and sweat the size of beans rolled down his neck.

"Good job, Xiaoshuai—you rest and watch. The rest is our job!"

Zhang Su watched the regular zombies burst out from beside the office building, charging wildly, and spoke to Qi Xiaoshuai.

"Everyone, ammo is limited—aim carefully and pick off targets. Whoever fires a burst tomorrow will be cleaning the toilets!"

At the order, no one hesitated—they began shooting immediately.

Tap-tap, pop-pop, rat-a-tat…

The mix of gunfire formed an organized, disciplined defense—far more comfortable than a surprise ambush. This preparation wasn't just about fortifications and weapons; it was psychological too. Waiting for enemies to walk into an ambush was nothing like encountering them on the road and shouting in panic. Flames flickered along the dim street; the light was weak, but not so dim that they couldn't see. Calm minds improved their aim—the fastest zombie reached the greenery beside the LeGou Mall before being shot down; some unlucky ones were killed the moment they peeked out from beside the office building.

The number of regular zombies was far higher than Qi Xiaoshuai reported—about fifty, likely drawn from shops along the way—but they meant nothing against the firepower, especially with Tan Huajun and other expert marksmen joining in; the ratio of ammo used to zombies killed was excellent—roughly three to five bullets per kill. No gaps remained; before the last few regular zombies even fell, the big guys were already charging out with a thunderous thud-thud-thud, like little locomotives—don't even mention biting or slapping, just being hit by one would make you spit blood.

"Huh?"

Lu Yubo asked, "Is this big guy mute?"

"Yeah, no sound—it's really weird…"

The defenders at LeGou Mall immediately noticed the anomaly; they'd grown so used to the zombies' guttural screams that their sudden silence felt unnatural.

"I think this is an upgrade—we'll need to stay alert from now on!"

Zhang Su spoke seriously. Regular zombies were dumb—they screamed at the sight of people, even when no one was around, always making meaningless noises that made their movements easy to track; they couldn't hide, and that actually helped humans fight them.

But the big guys? Their mouths hung wide open—yet not a sound. Unless they started running, which wasn't really running—it was more like long, powerful strides—only then did they make noise. At all other times, they were utterly silent! Exaggeratedly speaking, if a few big guys were hiding behind a door, you wouldn't sense a thing before opening it!

From their bodies, it was clear the big guys included both men and women; no one knew why they'd changed this way, but whether they'd been male or female before didn't matter—their post-transformation physiques were nearly identical, and their strength likely didn't differ either.

Everyone quickly understood Zhang Su's point; those who'd encountered big guys up close for the first time shed their earlier contempt.

Tap-tap-tap…

Plop.

No matter their shooting skill, many fired—the big guys' heads exploded as expected, their bodies tumbling forward from momentum, rolling twice across the road before being stopped by the corpses of regular zombies.

Plop-plop…

Two more big guys fell to gunfire.

"Blew your head off, hahahaha! That shot was mine—Fat Sister didn't even fire!"

"Bullshit—that was my shot! Don't believe me? Check the bullets later!"

No one had argued before because Tan Huajun was focused on shooting, but now that she was reloading, everyone suddenly felt like heroes—each convinced they'd landed the kill! "Damn, feels good—finally got revenge!"

The fighters, who'd nearly been wiped out by zombies, now felt a surge of pride—they realized big guy zombies weren't so terrifying after all; one shot was enough to drop them! Gun in hand, the world was theirs!

Fighters with poor aim secretly swore to themselves: after this crisis, they'd train hard to improve their shooting. Whether they'd have enough ammo? They hadn't even thought that far yet…

Plop-plop, plop!

Without regular zombies leading the charge, the big guys stood alone—and under concentrated aimed fire, they all fell. The luckiest one barely reached the road, never crossing the double yellow line before collapsing. "Boss Zhang, we're pretty badass, huh?"

"Gunpowder and firearms are truly great inventions!"

"I'll learn from Fat Sister—I want to be a sharpshooter too…"

People longed for the strength Zhang Su had to fight big guys alone, but clearly, using guns was simpler—and training to shoot well was far easier than achieving Zhang Su's level of combat prowess! Firearms greatly narrowed the gap between ordinary people and experts, and restored everyone's confidence.

"Don't get too excited yet—the real big one hasn't been dealt with!"

Zhang Su looked at the motionless zombie corpses on the road, feeling a quiet relief—but he couldn't show it. The real enemy hadn't even appeared yet—why celebrate prematurely? "Boss Zhang, we still have ammo—we're not scared of the mutated zombies. Watch me blow its head off!"

Lu Yubo was smug; no matter how they'd won, this was clearly a bloodless little victory—worth celebrating.

The term "mutated zombie" was sometimes used to classify zombies: when big guys and regular zombies appeared together, the big guys were called mutated zombies. But now that the black-gas zombie had appeared, the big guys were downgraded to merely stronger regular zombies—they were just bigger, with no real special traits, and there were too many of them.

(End of Chapter)