Doomsday America

Chapter 112 The Howler, the Stayer, the Hunter (10k)

"Not good. Eugene couldn't hear anything on the way back."

As Madison answered, he glanced at Steve, who was heading upstairs.

After watching Steve walk into old Bert's room, Madison snorted and continued.

"God, I hope that when old Bert was treating cattle and horses, he also encountered cattle and horses with hearing problems. Oh well, this is the only condition we have now."

He shook his head and gently patted William's shoulder.

"But don't worry, young officer, Eugene is a tough guy. Even if he really goes completely deaf, he'll live a good life. Besides, we'll all take care of him!"

Upon hearing this, William took a deep breath and then stared motionlessly at Eugene's retreating figure.

Nikita hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and whispered to William.

“I’m sorry, William, it was my fault that Eugene’s ear was injured. I shot him in the ear.”

"Don't say that, little girl. You saved her life; she should be thanking you!"

Before William could react, Madison explained to him on Nikita's behalf.

"Young policeman, don't listen to Nikita's nonsense. The situation was extremely dangerous. At least three to five hundred zombies surrounded us and were attacking the car in hordes!"

"You saw what happened to Dodge Tyrannosaurus Rex, damn it, there are zombies everywhere, one after another, we can't kill them all!"

"We resisted for a while, but eventually the zombie pounced on the back seat. It grabbed Eugene's clothes, and while Eugene was struggling with the zombie, more zombies were crowding behind it, about to rush into the car!"

"We were too busy to save Eugene at the time, but luckily Nikita found an opportunity to finish him off with a shot, taking down the zombie that pounced on him, and Eugene finally survived!"

“Nikita saved your cousin’s life, you should thank her!”

At this point, Madison patted William heavily on the shoulder.

William, after a moment of astonishment, took a deep breath in fear and hurriedly tried to thank Nikita.

But Nikita interrupted William's actions and spoke up.

"Eugene saved my life too, officer. Whoever saved whom, it's only fair."

As soon as he finished speaking, Nikita turned and walked toward the old manor, waving to Madison as he went.

"I'm planning to check on Eugene's condition. Aren't you coming, Madison?"

"Together!"

Madison nodded heavily, then strode towards the old manor.

As he left the garage, Old Bert's voice and his wheelchair were pushed out by Steve in the second-floor corridor.

"Are you sure you're telling the truth? In just a short while, that red-haired brat who could out-mouth me has gone deaf?"

"Are you kidding me? If he can't hear me swearing at him in Texas slang anymore, wouldn't this old man be missing out on a lot of fun?"

"Cowboy, hurry up, let me see that kid's pathetic state as soon as possible!"

Hearing Old Bert's worried voice, Steve pushed Old Bert's smart wheelchair down the stairs and then took him to the old manor.

Meanwhile, besides Sariel, who is still persistently milking cows, and Doris, who is making Wellington steaks, there is also Bella, who is printing flyers.

Winnie and William followed old Bert to the old manor's medical room.

Originally, there were only Eugene and Gavin in the medical room.

Eugene gripped Gavin's arm tightly, staring dejectedly at the ceiling, listening to the intense tinnitus that filled his mind.

The life he wanted was not the boring life of staying at home milking cows and planting potatoes.

That's the kind of life he wants!

It has to be exciting, thrilling, and constantly enveloped in passion amidst gunfire and bloodshed!

Even in death, one must die a swift and painless death!
But he knew that once he really went deaf, he would never be able to do fieldwork again.

Even then, he could still set up a sniper post on the roof of the manor with his sniper rifle, monitoring the surrounding area and providing sniper support.

But without hearing, he was destined to be unable to participate in the perilous exploration!

He didn't want that, he really didn't want that!
His life absolutely deserves to be more exciting!

In an instant, Eugene's expression worsened, and he looked increasingly dejected.

But the next moment, the door to the medical room was suddenly pushed open, and Madison followed Steve and old Bert into the room.

The others stood in a row at the door of the medical room, looking at Eugene with concern.

Under the gazes of the crowd, Eugene was momentarily stunned. Then he quickly released Gavin, crossed his legs with a grin, and spoke.

"Tch, this is just a small matter, why are you all here? You don't think I'm really going to go deaf, do you?"

"Don't joke around. I'm an observer with thirty-seven real combat kills. I've encountered minor injuries like this more than once in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm used to it by now!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Eugene revealed a fierce smile and waved to the crowd.

Old Bert, however, approached him, laughing loudly as he spoke.

"Haha, alright, I'll take it as you weren't bragging. So let this veterinarian take a look at your membrane that's been repaired countless times, you little red-haired wench~"

"what?"

Eugene was taken aback by Old Bert's words, and his previously relaxed smile crumbled slightly.

His instincts told him that old Bert was not saying anything nice, but he couldn't hear it!

So he scoffed.

"Damn, I can tell you're not saying anything nice, but that doesn't matter. I'm not going to argue with the old man."

"Haha, Gavin, look at this bastard! Even at a time like this, he still dares to curse at the doctor!"

Old Bert laughed as he approached Eugene and gestured for Eugene to lower his head.

Gavin, standing nearby, whispered worriedly.

"Old Bert, aren't you speaking too loudly? It might hurt his injuries..."

"No impact? Impact my ass! People who fight aren't that fragile. Do you think all of you soldiers are gay guys who hang out in gay bars?"

Old Bert laughed without hesitation, then grabbed Eugene's ear and forcefully pulled him down to squat in front of him.

While briefly examining Eugene's ears, old Bert continued speaking.

“There have been too many cases like his on the battlefield. It’s rare for someone to be deafened by gunfire, but there are countless people who have been deafened for months by artillery fire.”

"And then what? After the eardrums are damaged, isn't the battlefield still deafening? Even if they are sent to the field hospital, isn't it full of cries of agony?"

"So you don't need to worry. People are spoiled by modern life. If you were thrown into my time, you naturally wouldn't take such minor injuries seriously!"

As soon as he finished speaking, old Bert raised his hand and rubbed the scab in Eugene's ear piercing.

Gavin, standing nearby, narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He wasn't sure if what Old Bert said was true, but he could only believe Old Bert.

As Gavin watched as old Bert gently tapped the scabs in Eugene's right ear canal, he pondered and continued to ask.

"Alright, but what's wrong with Eugene's ears? The gunshot only rang in his left ear, but he can't hear anything in his right ear. Are they connected...?"

"Huh? Wait a minute? Is his left ear injured?"

Old Bert suddenly realized what was happening and looked up to meet Gavin's gaze.

Meeting old Bert's gaze, Gavin stared blankly for a moment, then rolled his eyes helplessly.

Behind Old Bert, after hearing what he said, Madison couldn't help but laugh, even though he was worried about Old Bert's injuries.

While bursting into laughter, Madison slapped his thigh and said to old Bert.

"Luckily, Eugene was injured in his left ear, not his left armpit, otherwise I would have been really worried that you would have cut off his healthy right armpit when his left armpit was broken, hahaha!"

"Fuck you, Brother Ni!"

Upon hearing this, old Bert turned around and gave Madison the middle finger, then raised his hand to tap the blood clot that was tightly blocking Eugene's right ear, and continued to speak to Gavin with a sneer.

“Gavin, when you asked me why he can’t hear in his right ear either, didn’t you take the time to look at his ear?”

"It's all blocked by blood clots, what do you think he can hear? Your witty remarks and the blood in his ears having a meeting?"

"Especially for someone like him, the blood doesn't stay in the ear canal for very long, so the outside of the blood dries and scabs over, while the inside hasn't coagulated yet. The double layer of liquid and solid sound insulation is obviously better than his mother's noise-canceling headphones!"

As soon as he finished speaking, old Bert grabbed Eugene's ear and pulled him in a different direction.

"Hiss! Take it easy, old man, I'm not some old dog waiting for you to neuter me!"

Eugene cursed under his breath, but obediently turned around and pointed his left ear at old Bert.

At the same time, Gavin stared blankly at Madison and Nikita with his mouth slightly open, and then all three of them rolled their eyes.

The three of them hadn't even thought to show Eugene his right ear.

However, when he was in the car, Eugene's left ear was facing everyone, so they could see it clearly at a glance, while his right ear was pointed towards the car window, so no one in the car could see it.

Moreover, the atmosphere on their return journey was somber, so they really didn't expect that Eugene's right ear was just blocked by blood!

From the distant doorway, one could hear old Bert and Madison exchanging witty remarks.

The tense crowd breathed a long sigh of relief, and even William burst out laughing.

Of course he should laugh. His brother seems to be alright, so why shouldn't he laugh?

But as William continued to laugh, he noticed the bloodstains on Gavin and the other three.

He gradually stopped smiling.

At the same time, old Bert raised his hand and smacked Eugene on the head, cursing.

"Mazefak, why the hell didn't you offer your left ear in the first place? Tsk tsk, look at the color of this blood. I bet this bastard has had gonorrhea, because I get it all the time. I know too much about it, haha!"

While laughing, old Bert released Eugene and maneuvered the wheelchair around the medical room, looking for small items that might be useful.

Then he started busying himself with tweezers, alcohol swabs, and various medicines that Gavin didn't recognize.

First, he cleaned Eugene's ear canal little by little with an alcohol swab. Then, he turned on the light of the endoscope, and after carefully observing it with his old eyes squinting, old Bert laughed so hard that his beard stood on end.

"okay."

He patted Eugene on the head.

"That red-haired bastard was lucky. The muzzle of the gun was at least ten centimeters away from him, so the airflow when the bullet left the barrel wasn't enough to travel too far, and the sound of the gunshot was also slightly weakened. So his eardrum only has a tiny tear, and it will heal naturally in less than two weeks."

As soon as he finished speaking, old Bert turned Eugene's head, raised his hand, and began to pick at his right ear without any politeness.

A moment later, the tweezers removed a large scab from Eugene's ear, and then he used cotton to clean up all the remaining blood in Eugene's ear canal.

After it was all settled, old Bert casually remarked.

"I bet Eugene, that shorty, isn't even 1.75 meters tall, he's at most 1.7 meters!"

"You're talking nonsense! I'm 1.77 meters tall, 1.77 meters tall!"

Eugene immediately yelled at old Bert, who laughed and rubbed Eugene's head.

"Alright, Mr. Giant who's actually 1.77 meters tall, are your ears okay now?!"

"Holy crap, this is a miracle doctor!"

Eugene, who was about to continue his tirade, almost knelt down.

Seeing Eugene's delighted smile, old Bert blew his beard dismissively and chuckled.

"Now you know how to call yourself a miracle doctor? What a joke! Even if I were a veterinarian, I wouldn't want to be insulted by something as trivial as your ear!"

"So what if I'm a veterinarian? When I was a veterinarian, I removed tumors from cats, treated intussusception in Golden Retrievers, and even cut open conjoined foals. Do I have to tell you all about these things one by one?"

"Aside from failing dozens of times at transplanting cow hearts, which led to Gavin's dad chasing after me and beating me up for a while, this old man is also a master in the field of veterinary medicine!"

"Joanna knows nothing about surgery. All she can do is fix the foreskin of those virgin boys. With my old-school technique, you'll see if she runs away in terror, haha~"

At this point, old Bert laughed and patted Eugene's hand, then whispered a word of advice.

"As for you, Red Hair, after you wash all the blood off your body, go to the shooting range and find a noise-canceling earmuff. Just wear it on your left ear and take some antibiotics every day to prevent bacterial infection."

"I estimate that it will only take a week at the fastest, and no more than two weeks at the slowest, for you to recover from this minor illness."

As soon as he finished speaking, old Bert gave Eugene a hard slap on the butt, and Eugene immediately jumped up!
At the same time, everyone, including Gavin, let out a collective sigh of relief.

Winnie hurriedly ran over, took the tools from Old Bert's hands, and, relying on her excellent memory that she had never used in her studies, accurately put the tools back in their original positions, while also taking the blood-stained cotton with her.

Gavin then helped old Bert up and led everyone away from the old manor.

As Gavin walked toward the new estate, he glanced at Sariel.

The chubby guy was still working hard to milk the cows, and he had already milked two and a half buckets.

Although his movements seemed a bit slow, he was truly skilled at milking cows, and his overall speed was actually a bit faster than Eugene's.

Seeing this, Gavin nodded in satisfaction.

Madison and Nikita, who had been silent for a full forty or fifty minutes on the way back, finally smiled a little more.

Seeing that Eugene was healthy and well, they put the previous crisis behind them. Madison leaned closer to Gavin and asked.

"Boss, since Eugene is alright, what are our plans for later? Should we go to Richard Town again?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Madison clenched his fist tightly.

He will never forget those life-or-death thirty seconds in Richardtown.

Even so, it was not something he should fear like a tiger, because after several incidents, the team members had developed basic trust and cooperation and could become each other's support and backing!
Upon hearing Madison's words, Steve took out a cigarette and offered two to everyone.

This time, even Eugene got a cigarette, and old Bert didn't even stop him.

Although Eugene was injured and smoking would increase the risk of infection, Americans are heavy users of medication, and antibiotics are a necessity in their daily lives.

Risk of infection?

Eugene and Bert Sr. had always believed that they could just tough it out with antibiotics.

This is similar to how modern medicine forbids patients from drinking alcohol, but ancient generals would always prepare two jars of wine in public when treating knife wounds and arrow wounds.

Eugene and old Bert were clearly not people who cared much about medical advice.

As Steve lit Gavin's cigarette, he asked.

"What exactly happened in Richard Town, boss? With your personality, you shouldn't be facing a crisis like this!"

"Yes, I'm usually quite cautious, but this time it was really dangerous. Those zombies were more troublesome than we thought!"

As Gavin finished speaking, he led everyone to the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Looking at the car covered in blood, he casually remarked to William.

"William, leave the Tyrannosaurus Rex at home for now. Take some time to give the car a quick wash."

"No problem, boss, I'm just worried about not having any work!"

William immediately nodded emphatically, as if he had been injected with adrenaline.

Just by looking at the car, he knew what kind of terrifying danger Gavin and the field team had encountered!

In his eyes, ever since he lost his father and brother, his team members have filled the void in his heart and become his new family!
Therefore, he hated his foot injury and felt pain and shame for not being able to go out and fight alongside his brothers.

If I can't fight alongside the field crew and risk my life, then... I should at least share some of the burden with them!
With this in mind, William didn't wait any longer, nor did he need to take the time. He immediately staggered into the house and found all sorts of car washing tools.

Steve patted Gavin on the shoulder and said something.

"Boss, wait for me in the lobby. I'll drive William's car to the river so it'll be easier for him to wash it."

"No rush, we need to take a shower first. After we're done, we'll meet in the lobby. We can't do any other activities this morning!"

Gavin nodded to Steve, then pushed old Bert back to his room to rest, while he, along with Eugene and the other two, went back to his room and took a thorough shower.

He hadn't scrubbed his whole body so thoroughly in a long time. Even when he cleaned his penis on the first night of the apocalypse, he only focused on cleaning one part.

Zombie blood, zombie brain matter, zombie muscle fibers.

With just one rinse, Gavin turned the non-slip floor of the shower room blood red.

Letting the water flow over his head, Gavin rested his hands on the full-length mirror, looked up at himself in the mirror, and laughed.

"So you can be scared too?"

After saying that, Gavin's smile faded, and he continued to review the situation under the shimmering water.

He was reflecting on what he had done wrong in his previous actions!
Whether it was the helicopter luring away a large number of zombies, or the observation before entering the town and the two gunshots that attracted attention.

There are absolutely no problems with any of these. These are also basic procedures that humans must perform when dealing with zombies in urban areas.

So what happens after the seduction?

What did he do wrong?
Is it wrong to go straight to the library?
Their current goal is simply the professional books in the library. Besides, there hasn't been a single zombie on the way to the library, so this is definitely not reckless or wrong!

As for what happens next...

Gavin shook his head.

Perhaps his only mistake was underestimating how quickly zombies could change!

Thinking of this, Gavin raised his hand to smooth his hair and let the water splash on his face.

Feeling the problem with the water flow, Gavin reminded himself in his heart.

Then he looked at himself in the mirror, his face cold as he continued to think.

Gavin, Gavin, although you certainly don't have the ability to determine the specific principles and approximate timing of the various changes in zombies based solely on guesses and omens.

But once the ambush attackers start to appear, you should understand one thing!
That is... the zombies have begun to change!

When we see a cockroach in a house, there's at least one place in the house where cockroaches will swarm!

Since ambushers have appeared among the zombies, this is a special breed whose habits are completely different from ordinary zombies.

During the period when the ambush attackers changed, it was entirely possible that other special zombies, better adapted to the environment of the larger zombie hordes in Texas, would also have emerged!
Thinking this, Gavin gently shook his head, then pressed his head tightly against the mirror.

"You have no right to slack off; this is just the beginning!"

After giving himself a strong reminder, Gavin left the mirror, exhaled, and thoroughly cleaned himself.

After changing into new clothes, he picked up the clothes stained with zombie blood and took them to the laundry room.

As he entered the laundry room, Nikita happened to be walking out of it.

Upon seeing Nikita, Gavin smiled in surprise and asked,
"You're faster than me! That shatters my stereotypes about women."

"Is it?"

Upon hearing this, Nikita pondered for a moment, then responded with a smile.

"You're a superstar, sir. There must be many women who could leave a stereotype about you. Compared to them, I'm just an exception. You can keep your stereotype."

After saying that, Nikita tentatively reached out and punched Gavin's chest with her small fist.

Although she had the blood of a warrior in her veins, she had never worked or communicated with so many men before, and she really didn't know how to befriend or greet them.

She learned the gesture of punching Gavin in the chest from the male students at school. After punching Gavin in the chest as a gesture of goodwill, she didn't know what to do next.

Across from her, Gavin looked down, amused, at Nikita's still-raised hand, and asked softly.

"What are you waiting for? To punch me back? That's not impossible~"

With a light laugh, Gavin casually raised his fist and punched Nikita in the chest.

The next moment, Nikita was slightly taken aback and quickly looked down at her still not full chest.

Then, Nikita swallowed hard, looked up at Gavin, and continued speaking.

"I made a stupid mistake. You should just forget about it, sir!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Nikita walked past Gavin without looking back, quickly walked out of the laundry room, and then started jogging as soon as she left the house!

On the second-floor corridor, Winnie looked suspiciously toward the laundry room about forty meters away.

In her eyes, Nikita ran like a little bitch hiding under a table blowing a trumpet for her classmates, only to be caught by her parents!

For a moment, Winnie pouted her thin lips, silently turned around, turned herself toward the binoculars, and stopped looking toward the laundry room.

She personally witnessed Nikita and Gavin entering the laundry room one after the other.

She's not stupid; she's smart. Of course she knows Nikita's condition isn't like her usual self, so something must have happened between Gavin and Nikita.

For a moment, Winnie couldn't help but indulge in a frustrated fantasy.

Perhaps the boss told Nikita an explicit joke?

Or perhaps it was a hug between two people who had survived a disaster?
Hey……

Thinking of this, Winnie's pouting lips slowly softened, and then she let out a soft sigh.

Looking out the window at William washing his car by the river, leaving a large pool of blood, Winnie finally understood why her mother believed in God.

Just a few days ago, Winnie was still displeased with her mother's weakness and crying.

But now, recalling the image of Gavin getting out of the car covered in blood, Winnie suddenly understood a lot.

God, if I pray to you, may the people I worry about always return safely.

How could I be stingy with my dignity and soul?

Meanwhile, Gavin randomly picked a washing machine and threw his clothes inside.

After pressing the button, he left the laundry room and went to the living room to sit on his sofa.

Seeing Gavin sit down, Steve, who was helping William wash the car, wiped the water off his hands on his pants and then patted William's arm.

"I'm going to see the boss. You can keep busy for a while."

"Small things."

William responded without looking up, then got into the car and began wiping the seats.

Steve then came into the lobby and waved to Gavin from a distance.

When Steve arrived, Gavin happened to remember something and said to him.

"Steve, you've come at the right time. My dad has maps of the surrounding area in his study. Go find them and bring them over as many as you can!"

"receive."

Steve turned and ran towards the old manor. His running attracted the dogs, who followed him into the old manor.

Shortly afterward, Nikita returned to the hall and sat on the sofa to Gavin's left.

Madison and Eugene walked over together from the direction of the shooting range, and Eugene had already put on a noise-canceling earmuff in his left ear.

Without noise-canceling earmuffs, the echo of gunfire can easily cause temporary hearing loss in indoor shooting ranges, so noise-canceling earmuffs are standard equipment in indoor shooting ranges.

After the two sat down, Madison was about to say something, but Gavin raised his hand to stop him, indicating that he should wait for Steve to return.

Four or five minutes later, Steve returned carrying several rolls of maps, and handed Gavin the map of Richards District.

Upon receiving the map, Gavin immediately spread it out on the coffee table in front of the sofa, then pointed to it, showing everyone the environment of the Richards District.

He raised his hand and pressed it on Richard Town on the map, emphasizing the location of the library.

"Pen, did you have a pen? I just forgot something."

He said to Steve.

Steve paused for a moment, then shook his head helplessly.

Clearly, none of the people present had experience as excellent assistants. Fortunately, Winnie from the second floor jogged away from her post and raised the ballpoint pen in her hand.

"I have some, can I throw it to you? You have to catch it, boss!"

Winnie threw the pen at Gavin.

Gavin was slightly taken aback upon hearing Winnie's words, while Madison, standing to the side, simply laughed and said...

"We're rugby players, and among the best at catching and throwing things in the world!"

"Yes, rugby is still somewhat useful."

Gavin caught the ballpoint pen that flew toward his side, replied to the question, and then bent down to wave to the crowd.

Under everyone's gaze, Gavin drew an X on the library's location with a ballpoint pen.

After marking the important spot, Gavin straightened up and looked at the crowd gathered around the coffee table.

The coffee table was quite low, so Madison simply sat on the floor, while Nikita sat sideways with her legs curled up, propping herself up on the table with her elbows.

Eugene knelt on one knee, leaning against Gavin's right, a cigar dangling from his lips, his brow furrowed.

As for Steve, he used the Asian squat posture.

Haha, Gavin taught him the Asian squat when he was little and played with him.

Seeing everyone gathering around, Gavin raised his hand and pointed to the black cross and said.

"Steve, you had a bad day and missed a great opportunity."

"Remember when we were attracting the zombies last night? We only noticed that we lured away thousands of zombies, but I never imagined that there were still at least several hundred zombies hiding in the town!"

"Believe me, I remained cautious. We fired two rounds of shots outside the town, killing more than a dozen zombies that we had lured in, before entering the town."

"But here's the important part: after we entered the library, we encountered a very special zombie, which I've decided to name... The Howler!"

At this point, Gavin took a deep breath. He still couldn't forget that sound; it was one of the most disgusting sounds he had ever heard!

The level of disgust was comparable to a dozen or so androgynous creatures wearing strappy bikinis and panties in front of him, all raising their pinky fingers and saying, "Eat peaches, they're so cool!"
Alas!
Just thinking about it is disgusting!

Beside him, Steve swallowed hard and said softly.

"The Howler? Just from the name, you can tell it screams with heart-wrenching intensity, which is why it attracted other zombies?"

"That's right!"

Gavin nodded heavily, then said in a somber tone.

"This was my mistake. I misjudged the Howler's identity, treating it as an ordinary ambush attacker. So I wanted to verify the ambush attacker's attack logic and didn't kill it immediately."

"What the hell are you talking about!"

No sooner had Gavin finished speaking than Eugene growled at him from the side.

"Don't take all the blame on yourself, quarterback. When you were in the boss's position, as long as you didn't spend all your time hiding in the manor forcing the girls to give you blowjobs, you were already a fucking good boss!"

"Besides, none of us had ever seen a Howler before today. Unless you orchestrated the outbreak of the zombie crisis, how could you possibly have been on guard against a special type of zombie that we've never seen before!"

After saying that, Eugene took out a lighter, lit his cigar, and continued to puff away.

The people around him nodded in agreement with Eugene's words.

Seeing this, Gavin calmly nodded and continued.

"Getting back to the main topic, let's first record all the special zombies we've discovered, especially their characteristics."

"After spotting its target, the howler will emit a piercing sound comparable to steel rubbing against porcelain. That sound will cause the target who gets close to it to experience tinnitus, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting..."

"Wait, sir!"

Just as Gavin was saying this, Nikita couldn't help but raise his hand and interject.

"Sir, I don't think the vomiting reaction is necessarily that serious. Among the four of us who heard the screaming and howling indoors, I was the only one who vomited. And I... I actually get terribly carsick!"

At this point, Nikita curled his lip.

Gavin paused for a moment, then asked her in a daze.

"You mean... even if you hadn't encountered the screamer, you, who are prone to motion sickness, might have... thrown up right away?"

"That's right, sir. I've been holding on, thinking I could pull through, but after encountering the Howler, I just couldn't take it anymore..."

Nikita replied helplessly, but her words made Gavin excitedly slap the table!
Gavin laughed and continued speaking.

"That's good. Damn it, I didn't dare to underestimate the howler's roar. I was worried that the reason I only felt nauseous for a moment was because my constitution was better than yours. It turns out that I overestimated the power of the howler's roar!"

"Thinking about it, that makes sense. After all, we're just facing constantly moving corpses of humans, not the succubi of myths and legends!"

"I fucking thought the howler's screams were so powerful that they could make people vomit for at least five or six seconds!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gavin excitedly slapped the table again.

In his view, are the zombies changing or evolving...?

This distinction is crucial!

If the sound waves produced by the howler, in addition to being disgusting and excessively loud, can further stimulate the nerves and cause severe physiological discomfort, then...

That's absolutely impossible for humans to do with their own vocal organs alone!
Gavin's biggest concern was whether the Howlers had evolved vocal organs different from those of humans.

After Nikita explained her situation, the howler's voice felt to a living person just like an ordinary person seeing an old woman sitting on the street throwing a tantrum and howling, or like seeing a disgusting video online.

It's disgusting and extremely loud, but it doesn't cause any real harm.

This is clearly not true evolution!
The phenomenon of that zombie transforming into a howler is simply that the zombie has gradually changed its function!

Like an ambush predator, its function is to crouch there and ambush, but the ambush predator itself does not become faster or stronger; its physical attributes are still within the human range.

As for the core purpose of the zombies' rapid change of function, it is nothing more than to spread the virus more effectively.

The war between the living and the dead is destined to be a life-or-death struggle from the moment they appear, a fact that Gavin had already realized when he killed Gigi!

As for other types of zombies...

After a brief moment of joy, Gavin continued speaking to the crowd.

"Okay, let's stop here for the Howler. Its function is very clear: after spotting a target, it quickly gives a signal to attract other zombies in the town to the target."

"Speaking of which, we should talk about the next two types of zombies."

"After Steve and I lured away a large number of zombies, there were still a group of zombies hiding in the buildings of the town."

"This group of zombies, like the ambushers, is not easily attracted by sound. Moreover, after leaving their lodging area for a distance, they will abandon their pursuit of the target and return to their lodging area!"

"They would abandon their target without even hearing the gunfire?!"

Steve stared wide-eyed at him.

Gavin nodded emphatically and smiled.

"Don't be surprised, we'll have to deal with them again sooner or later, maybe even this afternoon!"

"In short, I call these zombies 'residents'!"

"Undoubtedly, they will stubbornly remain in their own territory and hide in their respective rooms while the other zombies are lured away."

"At least in our only example so far, they are not attracted by gunshots, chatter, laughter, or vehicle engine noises, except for the sounds of howlers!"

"And the reason they eventually gave up chasing us was not because they felt they couldn't catch us."

"When I realized they had given up the chase, I immediately stopped the car and opened fire on them to find out why they had given up."

"If they were only trying to conserve energy and would only give up the chase after realizing they couldn't catch up with their target, then they should have continued chasing us now that we'd stopped!"

"So they gave up the pursuit most likely because they were too far from their base. As for exactly how far that distance is, we'll have to verify it again and again!"

Gavin let out a long sigh of relief at this point.

Although their future explorations are destined to encounter far more troubles than in the past.

but……

As long as the zombies don't evolve to fly and burrow underground, Gavin has nothing to worry about!
At that time, humans were still in a primitive era, and ferocious beasts such as mammoths and saber-toothed tigers would also become human prey!
In the war between the living and the dead, zombies have undoubtedly gained a great deal of advantage, but as long as the zombies do not evolve into true monsters, Gavin will always adhere to the theory of human victory without wavering!

With a feeling of excitement, Gavin tapped the table and continued.

"After talking about the residents, we also need to distinguish between the residents who cannot be easily lured away and the zombies that we can easily make run around with just a few shots."

“Those zombies roaming the world, I call them hunters, they…”

"Wait, boss!"

Just as Gavin was speaking, Madison suddenly interrupted him, asking Gavin a question as he pondered.

"Boss, I didn't mean anything by it. I just wanted to say, is there another reason why those who stayed behind eventually gave up the pursuit, which is..."

Madison swallowed hard.

"There's an intelligent zombie leader behind them, directing them from the shadows!"

"will not!"

No sooner had Madison finished speaking than Gavin answered without hesitation.

"It's absolutely impossible for it to be like that, because if there really was an intelligent zombie directing the horde, then Steve and I shouldn't have been able to lure away such a large number of zombies."

"Because any mind that knows when to give up the chase wouldn't be foolish enough to send ground-based hunters to chase planes in the sky that they can never catch!"

(End of this chapter)