Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 17 Line of Defense
Soon, the nearly three-meter-tall corpse monsters emerged from the horde of corpses. They ran extremely fast, leaping across a cliff more than four meters wide.

"boom--!"

The first zombie to leap over was hit squarely in the forehead by a sniper rifle; the immense kinetic energy ripped its head off its body, causing it to explode in mid-air.

The headless body landed on the edge of the cliff due to inertia and tumbled down.

This shot officially sounded the charge of death.

More zombies leaped over, and two armored soldiers immediately turned their machine guns and opened fire, riddling the first few zombies with bullets.

The machine gunners on the side also set up heavy firepower, and bullets rained down like a storm, intertwining with the precise bursts of the riflemen to form a net, firmly suppressing the momentum of the zombie horde.

But under the monster's frenzied ramming, the wooden door covered with iron sheeting shook under the strain, and the already precarious door panel completely shattered, dented and deformed.

"boom--!"

The horde of corpses surged into the cave like a flood bursting its banks.

The red corpse bird, which had been hovering above the cave, also found an opening and swooped down with a shriek.

"Watch out above!" Grey Goose said urgently.

Under the cover of the eerie fog, the swarm of corpse birds surged forward like a tidal wave, launching a suicidal attack.

The flamethrower soldier immediately raised its flamethrower, unleashing a terrifying burst of flames that formed a dense, impenetrable wall of fire that nearly ignited the air.

Large numbers of red corpse birds fell to the ground, burning and quickly forming charred mounds of corpses. It was the first time Zhuang Fan had ever seen such a scene, and the visual impact was extremely strong.

Two armored soldiers were at the forefront, the barrels of their rotary machine guns were already red-hot, the fire was incessant, and spent cartridges were scattered all over the ground.

Grey Goose fired while staring at Durian: "At a time like this, are your men still wasting time?"

"They did their best."

Durian's tone was innocent. "You know they're just militiamen, their quality is far inferior to yours."

Zhuang Fan observed coldly and found that Dulian was particularly cunning, a typical slacker, probably trying to wear down the overall strength of the Grey Goose team.

Grey Goose was too lazy to waste words with him. She directly took out the fire control button and activated two high-explosive detonators. "If you're not willing to help, I'll blow up our escape route. Let's all die together."

The air became silent for a moment.

Durian was used to life-or-death threats, but he could tell from the grim determination in Grey Goose's words that the other party was not joking.

His pupils contracted sharply, and his expression finally changed. He roared at his men, "Everyone, get on track! Do a good job! Hurry up and bring the ammunition boxes over. You two are in charge of changing the ammunition belts. Anyone who slacks off, I'll shoot them!"

After the two sides joined forces, flames soared into the sky and gunfire rained down. With the narrow tunnel providing cover, the pressure on the defensive line was instantly relieved.

Mechanic Morey went to set up the explosives at the designated location, but due to the hardness of the rock in the wall, he needed more explosives and time.

Zhuang Fan stayed alone in a corner, quietly watching the battlefield, trying to minimize his presence.

In order to accelerate the corrosion of the steel ring, he had risked compressing the eerie mist into a black mist, and in a few more minutes he would be able to easily break free.

At this moment, in the very center of the zombie horde, a small patch of land began to sink and then collapsed, revealing a bottomless black hole.

Immediately afterwards, a woman's head and upper body, which were well-proportioned and even beautiful, emerged first.

But from her waist down, there is a huge, bloated abdomen that is 15 meters long and 3 meters high and wide.

Its grayish-white abdominal skin was layered, like a rotting, diseased silkworm pupa, with densely packed segments underneath supporting it as it wriggled and crawled in a nauseating way.

Everyone present had a momentary shock, their pupils contracting and their minds going blank.

It was a physiological rejection stemming from biological instinct, a shudder at the complete distortion of the human form.

An ancient word from seven hundred years ago tumbled from Zhuang Fan's mouth:
"Fuck."

Amidst the deafening gunfire of the battlefield, this comment was barely audible, but Grey Goose heard it nonetheless. Her brows furrowed almost imperceptibly beneath her mask as she suppressed her inner shock.

He was speaking Chinese, he was absolutely speaking Chinese, I didn't mishear.
"Attention everyone! The Queen of Corpses has appeared!" Her voice came through the tactical mask, tinged with seriousness.

At this moment, Zhuang Fan's thoughts were immersed in the old man's memories.

[The Corpse Queen has a human body and an insect's belly, multiple legs, and is a pupation machine. It is estimated that there are more than 100 Corpse Queens in the wasteland. Each Corpse Queen can produce more than 10,000 pupal clusters per day, and each pupal cluster contains 200 pupal vesicles, hatching 2 million walking corpses per day.]

Their habits are similar to those of a termite queen. Worker ants (corpses) are responsible for carrying and preserving the pupal mass, soldier ants (corpse monsters) are responsible for guarding the nest, and servants (corpse men) are responsible for attending to the queen.

The elderly person's memory could not provide any further information.

Compared to others, Zhuang Fan could observe more of what was happening within the eerie fog.

He strained his eyes to see into the distance and, sure enough, spotted a dozen unusual figures around the corpse queen – those were the “corpse people.”

They resembled humans, but their skin was ashen, their eyes were bloodshot, and their spines bulged out from under their backs.

Unlike other zombies that only know how to roar and charge, they have specific roles:
Some were armed with rusty guns and machetes, driving back any zombies that dared to approach;

Some shouted loudly, as if giving advice to the Corpse Queen, indirectly commanding the Corpse Monster to launch a new round of attacks.

It appears that the undead act as strategists, but they hold the lowest status among the undead, like slaves. If they leave the undead queen without permission, they will be surrounded and devoured by other undead.

Human society also cannot accept the corpse people; they are a race abandoned by both worlds.

Looking at those lifeless corpses, Zhuang Fan felt a strange sense of familiarity. They were not the only ones abandoned by both worlds.

He glanced casually at the horde of zombies, then suddenly sat up straight, thinking he was seeing things.

Under the eerie mist, the grotesque corpse's torn and rotting wounds were visibly healing little by little.

Some of the zombies that were smashed into pieces were reassembled into new "shattered corpses" under the eerie mist, like building blocks, slowly walking towards them, immortal and indestructible.

Zhuang Fan finally realized where humanity's troubles lay.

"Hey, you're the only one who's really free here!"

Harry pointed his gun at Zhuang Fan: "Go to the front and do your part!"

"Sending a bound person to their death? It's pointless."

Grey Goose didn't turn her head; her sniper rifle remained locked on the distance, attempting to aim at the corpse behind her.

“Then untie it! More people means more help!” Harry shouted stubbornly.

Grey Goose's tone was flat: "I'll say it again, it's pointless. Just mind your own business."

Harry, his face flushed with anger and unable to vent his frustration, kicked Zhuang Fan in the stomach, saying, "I just don't like you."

Ugh. Is this guy crazy?!
Zhuang Fan looked at him coldly.

Harry looked around again, then pulled back the tattered burlap in the corner to reveal the large iron cage inside.

Inside the cage were only two barely alive refugees, their skin torn open and blood flowing everywhere.

Harry pointed to the soldiers beside him: "You, lock him up!"

But the soldiers were all busy fighting the enemy at the front lines, and no one paid him any attention.

Feeling humiliated once again, Harry grabbed Zhuang Fan by the neck, opened the cage door, and kicked him inside.

Zhuang Fan has sentenced him to death.

If it weren't for the difficulty in condensing this small wisp of eerie mist, he would definitely have injected it into Harry's body, letting the other party experience the taste of mutation.

The refugees inside the iron cage trembled with fear and despair.

Zhuang Fan leaned against the cold iron bars, calmly observing the movements of Dulian's group through the gaps in the iron bars.

Although they were firing, they were mostly moving heavy crates filled with smoked jerky, which were covered in dark red stains.

Not quite right.

He turned to a trembling old man beside him and lowered his voice: "What's in those boxes?"

The old man glanced at him fearfully, his lips trembling, and after a long while, he managed to squeeze out a few words: "My wife..."

Zhuang Fan's heart sank. Dulian and his gang really were cannibals. He asked again, "Is Dulian your leader? What have you done?"

“He’s not the leader… Our leader is called Pierce…” The old man’s voice trembled with tears as he recounted the massacre that had taken place two weeks earlier.

It turns out that Durian's team was committing crimes all over the place. After kidnapping a small team that was transporting supplies, they used coercion and enticement to learn that a mysterious refuge had been discovered in Strange Rock Hill.

They then stuffed bombs into the bodies of five hostages, forcing them to return to base.

The moment the base gates opened, Durian detonated the bomb, killing fifteen guards instantly and injuring countless others.

What followed was an inevitable massacre and looting; the base, which originally housed 150 people, was reduced to less than 60.

Despite his best efforts, Dulian was unable to open the shelter door, wasting two weeks in the process.

Zhuang Fan listened silently, having already made up his mind.

He knew that Grey Goose was cautious enough, and that the "Chief Batu" he mentioned earlier was just a test; it was impossible that he hadn't discovered that Durian was an imposter.

The trust between the two sides was already extremely fragile, and he could easily use this to his advantage.

On the battlefield, the sniper was basically useless. He aimed at the corpse several times, but his vision was blocked by the shadows, rendering his night vision goggles useless.

Durian stared at the moving fortress of flesh in the distance and roared angrily, "You've even attracted the Queen of Corpses! It must be the work of you mercenaries!"

Grey Goose calmly retorted, "If you look closely, the corpse looks more like it's fleeing; we just happened to be on its route."

逃难
Of everyone present, only Zhuang Fan noticed something was amiss.

He stared intently and saw that, indeed, a small cloud of thick black mist was swirling around the corpse.

Although its form was blurry, he was almost certain that it was the same monster he had encountered in the XR-662 shelter.

It was like an invisible puppet, controlling the massive killing machine behind the corpse.

So this is no coincidence; it is that monstrous creature that has driven the horde of corpses to hunt you down.

With sandworms in front and corpses behind, the hatred level is at its maximum.

Clearly, the Queen of Corpses was also putting up a fierce resistance, her bloated body occasionally spewing out powerful gusts of air, while the corpses beside her raised torches in an attempt to dispel the black mist.

The black mist was unstable; it hesitated for a moment before giving up and then silently disappeared from the battlefield.

Once the corpse was no longer under control, it began to slowly move away from the front lines of the battlefield, as its massive size made it an excellent target for snipers.

Even if they retreat, the current zombie horde offensive is already in place and is enough to completely engulf the Stone Hill.

"Roar--"

The number of zombies was so enormous that the subsequent zombie monsters stepped on the corpses of their companions, piling up the corpse slope nearly three meters high.

As soon as one of Durian's men poked his head out, a monster crawled out of the pile of corpses and bit his neck; his scream was quickly drowned out.

"Morey, hurry up!"

The breach in the defensive line was widening, and more monsters were trying to break in, frantically clawing at the soldiers.

"withstand!"

Grey Goose personally filled that gap.

A flame soldier's fuel canister was pierced by the claws of a red corpse bird, and the high-pressure fuel instantly ignited, engulfing him into a torch.

"Ahhh!"

He let out a final roar amidst the flames and charged toward the densest part of the horde of corpses.

An armored soldier's rotary machine gun was rendered unusable after prolonged firing, with the barrel completely red-hot.

"Broken to pieces"

He used the heavy metal lump as a war hammer, smashing it hard into the head of a ghoul. The rotting flesh was burned by the red gun barrel, producing a clear "hissing" sound.

"No one is allowed to retreat!" Durian personally supervised the battle, his face contorted with a ferocious scar.

At this moment, everyone was in a bloodthirsty frenzy. Bullet casings covered the ground, mixed with the stench of blood and bits of flesh, and severed limbs were everywhere.

The air was thick with the smells of gunpowder, burning, and death; the defenses were on the verge of collapse.

Morey came running over, covered in sweat. "Team leader, the detonators are all installed."

"withdraw!"

Durian was the first to turn and run back, pointing his gun at the civilians and yelling, "What are you standing there for? Get in!"

The Grey Geese retreated in alternating cover, but when she saw the crates of bloody meat, her eyes behind her mask blazed with fury.

She fired several shots at the iron cages holding the people, breaking the locks and releasing Zhuang Fan.

"Open the cages! Everyone!"

Durian was taken aback, but then realized that these were all reserve meat, so he ordered his men to release all the prisoners.

The rescued civilians and prisoners screamed and scattered, colliding with the surging tide of corpses, making the scene increasingly chaotic.

The armored soldier at the bottom, like a raging bull, smashed through the three-headed monster and slammed it against the rock wall with his mechanical arm, causing its brains to splatter.

"Team leader, you guys go quickly, don't worry about me!"

Soon, his arm armor was also torn open by the monster, leaving a gruesome gash, with metal parts and flesh intertwined.

Grey Goose tried to save him, but it was too late. She could only watch helplessly as the armored soldier was swallowed up by the zombie.

Her mind went blank for a moment, then a picture flashed through her mind.

That was his first mission with the team. By the campfire at night, this usually somewhat dull young man was carefully holding a rusty music box he had picked up from the ruins with his clumsy armor gloves.

He grinned, revealing a set of white teeth, and asked in a simple and honest manner, "Team leader, do you think people used to listen to this stuff to fall asleep?"

This armored soldier, named Stone, is an orphan, a refugee, and only 21 years old. He has already followed her through 20 life-and-death missions and is the most reliable heavy gunner in the team.

Grey Goose's eyes were slightly red, but her hand did not tremble at all as she resolutely pressed the detonator.

"Boom——!"

Amidst the series of explosions, the entire cave shook violently, and countless boulders crashed down from the cave ceiling, completely sealing off the entrance.

The dust has settled.

The cave was deathly silent, save for the sounds of coughing and the pervasive dust.

After calming herself down, Grey Goose turned on her shoulder light and counted the number of people. As she counted, another wave of grief washed over her; her team had only ten people left.

There were still twenty bandits and thirty terrified civilians on Durian's side, and medics were treating the wounded.

Morey looked around but couldn't find an exit. His face turned grim: "We're completely trapped."

Grey Goose looked at the shelter door: "We have to try that door again, or we'll all die here."

Durian shook his head, a hint of sarcasm in his voice: "We've been tinkering for two weeks, and this broken door doesn't even have a scratch. What kind of commotion could you possibly have made?"

Grey Goose remained silent, also pondering a way to break the deadlock.

The dark mist within Zhuang Fan's body had completely corroded the steel ring. He moved his wrist, stood up from the corner, and walked straight towards the silver-gray alloy door.

He placed his palm on the cold door, and a familiar sensation came through.

Xu Renyi's clear memory told him that the voice-activated password to open the door was a poem that only he knew, and there was no other way.

"Hey kid, what are you doing?" Durian frowned.

Zhuang Fan turned around and met the surprised gazes of the crowd.

“I can open this door.” His voice was exceptionally clear in the silent cave.

(End of this chapter)