Chapter 181: Chapter 181: Aren’t Zombies Supposed to be Brainless?
His tone was solemn, his expression earnest.
He looked so serious, in fact, that Nathan wondered if the man was about to kneel down in front of him.
The mere thought made Nathan uncomfortable.
"Alright, alright!" Nathan waved his hand. "I get it! You don’t have to be so formal!"
’It’s making me uncomfortable.’
The injured man... Leon Shaw, that is... noticed Nathan’s unease and didn’t continue with the sappy gratitude.
Instead, he firmly committed this to memory.
He knew that he owed Nathan his life.
In the future, no matter what Nathan needed, he wouldn’t hesitate for a moment. He would stand by Nathan’s side in a heartbeat.
Leon Shaw kept this thought to himself, not saying a word.
Some things sound less sincere when spoken aloud. It was better to just keep it to himself.
Nathan had no idea what Leon was thinking, but when Leon fell silent, he heaved a huge sigh of relief.
Compared to this kind of formal exchange, he much preferred trading jokes and banter.
Nathan glanced around and only then noticed they were enclosed on all sides by walls of sand—even above them.
It was like a small, airtight room that had them completely sealed in.
There was no sand stinging their faces, no gale-force winds roaring in their ears.
There was only silence and safety.
"What is this...?" Nathan’s eyes widened slightly. "Sierra and the others are out there. I wonder how they’re doing. How are we supposed to get out?"
Dominic Crawford had been itching to get out; he also wanted to know what the situation was outside.
Before Dominic could even speak, the sand walls around them suddenly began to collapse.
The abrupt change startled all three of them.
But a moment later, Sierra Sullivan came into view.
Sierra quickly scanned the three of them. "All set? If you are, then get yourselves ready. We’re moving out!"
"What about those two-beaked birds?" Dominic asked quickly.
"They’re all eliminated," Sierra said, her tone light. "It’s just a shame a few of them saw things were going badly and turned tail and ran."
"No big deal," Nathan said hurriedly. "Let them run. They’re just stragglers. They’ll end up dead at your hands sooner or later anyway."
Sierra gave Nathan a surprised glance.
’When did Nathan learn to be so smooth?’
Though surprised, Sierra nodded. "You’re right! Sooner or later, they’ll still die at my hands."
This wasn’t a good place for idle chit-chat, after all.
After exchanging a few more words, Sierra urged the three again to get ready so they could set out.
「Ten minutes later, they set off again.」
This time, they didn’t just wander blindly based on instinct.
Visibility was severely hampered, and the complex was a maze of crisscrossing paths. Wandering aimlessly would only put them in greater danger.
Jayce was now holding a compass.
They still remembered the direction of the main gate where they had entered.
Now, with the help of the compass, they could at least maintain the correct direction, even if they couldn’t see the road.
But even though their direction was correct, the journey was anything but smooth.
All sorts of Aberrant Beasts emerged one after another.
They would always spring out from unexpected places, trying their utmost to land a fatal blow.
However, they hadn’t come this far for nothing; everyone was already prepared to defend themselves.
They got injured, they stumbled, and they looked a bit ragged, but in the end, they always emerged victorious.
Before they had even reached the complex’s main gate, Sierra’s dimensional space already held many more Aberrant Beast corpses.
Aside from the scrawny two-beaked birds, which barely had any meat on their bones, the other Aberrant Beasts they’d encountered were quite large and had plenty of flesh.
Although Sierra herself had no desire to eat Exotic Beast Meat, in these times of food scarcity, it was a rare prize for many people.
It would be of great use back at the base, so it certainly couldn’t be wasted.
After walking for another ten minutes or so, Jayce, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped.
Sierra was right behind him, keeping a close eye on him at all times. When he stopped, she immediately halted as well. "What’s going on?"
Jayce had already taken a step back to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Sierra.
Standing so close, they could hear each other over the wind as long as they raised their voices a bit.
Jayce’s voice carried over the whistling wind, and Sierra heard him perfectly clearly.
"Zombies ahead!"
In truth, Sierra had already seen them even before Jayce said anything.
Not far ahead of them, the shadowy figures of a row of people were standing.
Because of the distance, she could only vaguely make out their silhouettes, not their faces.
Although they were standing, every one of them had a terribly contorted posture.
No living person could stand like that, no matter how much pain or discomfort they could endure.
The only things that could be standing in a line like that were zombies.
"Why aren’t they moving?" Sierra found it strange.
’Could it be that the sandstorm is so severe it’s blocking their senses of smell and hearing?’
Otherwise, the moment they sensed humans, they would have charged forward, teeth bared and claws out.
Jayce shook his head. "I don’t know why they aren’t moving either, but I think—"
"You think what?"
"I think they’re waiting for something," Jayce said, sounding uncertain but voicing his thoughts anyway. "Like... like soldiers waiting for a general to give an order..."
Hearing Jayce say that, Sierra was visibly stunned.
’That’s a... strange description.’
’But as strange as it sounds, it’s also incredibly fitting.’
’It really does feel that way!’
As they were talking, Sierra sensed something and immediately glanced to her right.
Only then did she see another row of zombies there.
She had no idea when they had arrived; they were completely silent, and just like the others, they had stopped a short distance away.
Sierra glanced to her left. It was the same story there.
She couldn’t see what was behind them; the distance was too great.
But she had a feeling that, given the current situation, it was probably the same behind them.
’So, they were surrounded by zombies?’
’It was as if these zombies knew that fighting alone was ineffective and had started using tactics.’
’But... aren’t zombies supposed to be brainless?’
’If they’re brainless, how could one come up with this kind of plan and get the others to execute it with it?’
’Could it be that there’s a zombie behind them that’s different from the common ones?’
’Like some kind of psychic-type zombie?’
’That’s entirely possible!’
’The terrible weather and poor visibility were already a huge handicap.’
’Now they had to face a zombie like that, too. Just the thought of it was a headache!’
