Chapter 306: Chapter 209: Corpse Rain
Sean Raines put a hooded cloak on his Zombie and led it out.
All the team members were in position.
Their expressions turned a little strange as they watched the Zombie stand in the center of the ambush.
But at this moment, no one spoke.
Paige Summers glanced at Ben beside her and saw that he, too, loathed the Zombie. His gaze flickered past it, as if he couldn’t be bothered to look at it a second time.
’It’s not that I don’t have my doubts, but none of that matters. The most important thing is luring out the Zombie Leader.’
Unfortunately, everyone was disappointed.
Nearly another hour passed with no sign of movement.
Sean Raines let out a breath, unsure if he should feel relieved or disappointed.
The longer they waited, the more anxious they grew. But everyone managed to control their emotions. At most, they were frustrated internally, but their actions remained meticulous as they lay in ambush.
Paige Summers never expected that the first one to lose their patience would be Ben!
When he shot to his feet, she couldn’t help but look over in confusion, mouthing, "What?"
Ben didn’t look at her, so he didn’t answer. He just stared into the distance for a moment, then suddenly bent down and grabbed Paige Summers. Before she could ask, he pulled her up with an unyielding grip and started running out of the ambush circle!
Everyone was momentarily stunned.
What was going on?!
Claire Chapman watched their backs as they quickly vanished among the dilapidated buildings. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. ’Ben is a Zombie too, did he sense something? But why did he only pull Paige Summers away?’
’No, this is bad. What if there’s danger!’
Turning her head, she immediately called out to a few team members. "You, go follow them. If you find the Zombie Leader, send a signal!"
The team members acknowledged and took off.
Watching them leave quickly, eight or nine members of the Power Corps exchanged glances. One of them spoke up, "Captain, why don’t we search the vicinity as well? We might be able to lure the Zombie Leader over."
After a two-second pause, Claire Chapman agreed.
’Just waiting around like this isn’t a solution. Morale is highest at the start; it wanes with the second push and is gone by the third. Waiting too long will just sap their fighting spirit. Better to let them try their luck.’
Meanwhile, Paige Summers was initially just being dragged along by Ben at a full sprint.
She found it very, very strange, but she trusted that Ben wouldn’t do something without a reason. ’He must have a purpose.’
So she didn’t resist, and instead matched his pace, speeding up.
With both of them running at full tilt, their speed increased dramatically.
They quickly passed through one ruin and open lot after another, arriving at the deepest part of the Foundry.
The Foundry had been built into a mountain in a valley, and this spot was precisely where it met the mountainside. The original perimeter walls had long since collapsed, revealing a large stretch of the mountain face. They were now at the foot of the mountain.
Ben walked ahead, leaping over large piles of rock and dirt, heading straight for the mountain face. Paige Summers followed behind him. She could already hear some faint noises, but they were definitely there. And the source was from within the mountain itself.
A thought struck her.
’Could this be the Zombie Leader’s hiding place?’
’But even if a lot of Zombies died the other day, there should still be at least thirty of them left. Isn’t it too risky for just the two of us to be here?!’
Just as she was thinking this, Ben stopped.
And right in front of them was a cave entrance, about as tall as a person!
Ben took a few steps and stood just inside the entrance. He didn’t go any deeper. Instead, he suddenly threw his head back and let out a long, drawn-out howl!
One after another, it echoed without end!
It seemed to contain a warning, a deep-seated wariness, and other emotions she couldn’t quite decipher. The end of the cry, in particular, was like a long, sharp needle trying to pierce one’s brain. It was unbelievably grating!
If she weren’t outside the cave, if that howl hadn’t been directed away from her, Paige Summers probably wouldn’t have been able to resist covering her ears!
If it was like this for her, one could only imagine what it was like inside the cave, where the walls would only amplify the effect.
Soon, waves of shrill wails began to rise and fall from within the pitch-black cave!
But their cries were no match for Ben’s; they were completely suppressed.
Ben’s howling continued.
After about three or four minutes, the numerous wails from inside the cave weakened until they nearly stopped. But then, there was a stir from the very depths of the cave!
"ROOOOAR!!!"
It was a roar of absolute fury!
As the roar echoed out, Paige Summers could have sworn the mountain itself was faintly trembling.
’It has to be it!’
’The Zombie Leader!’
The moment the sound emerged, Ben immediately backed out, pulling Paige Summers with him. They retreated a good sixty or seventy meters before stopping.
And in that same instant, a Zombie appeared at the mouth of the cave.
Its figure was indeed that of the Zombie Leader, but its face... its face had changed.
Paige Summers looked over, and her heart sank.
Its once-shriveled cheeks had filled out, no longer cracked and threatening to shed chunks of rotting flesh at any moment. Its skin was no longer an ashen, sickly green. While still unnervingly green, the aura of death around it had lessened somewhat. Even its bulging, lifeless eyeballs seemed to have found a focal point...
Aside from its unchanged body, just looking at its face, its resemblance to a human was only a step below Ben’s!
Paige Summers suddenly understood.
’It was evolving!’
’And Ben... he must have interrupted its evolution!’
’That’s why its face didn’t change any further, and its body was still the same as before.’
’No wonder it was so furious.’
’Based on its state, if its evolution had succeeded and it became more human-like, like Ben... with a bit of disguise, it probably could have infiltrated a human squad! If it then got inside a city... combined with its Space Ability, this would be a Zombie version of a Trojan Horse operation!’
A deep chill rose from the bottom of Paige Summers’s heart.
The Zombie across from them didn’t approach immediately. It just glared viciously—or more accurately, it was glaring at Ben. In response, Ben let out a soft cry. Paige Summers recognized the sound: it was mockery. He was mocking the Zombie Leader.
’Ben can actually mock someone... So he’s already capable of such complex expression.’ The ill-timed thought flashed through Paige Summers’s mind before she refocused her attention on the Zombie Leader.
It was only then that she noticed something white and viscous clinging to the Zombie’s mouth and sharp claws. If she wasn’t mistaken, it had to be brain matter.
Combined with the fact that there were no more wails and no other Zombies had followed it out, Paige Summers wondered, ’Could it be that because its evolution went wrong, it ate all their Crystal Cores to supplement itself?’
She didn’t know if her guess was right, but just as her entire body tensed in heightened alert, the Zombie Leader suddenly moved!
It swung its arm violently. All of a sudden, Paige Summers felt as if a hole had opened up above her head. A huge, overwhelming pile of objects started falling out of it.
Not only that, but it was followed by a torrential downpour of fresh blood!
Amidst the pungent, heavy stench of blood, as Paige Summers rapidly retreated, she caught a glimpse of what was falling...
Bodies!
They were all bodies, some whole, some in pieces!
