Long-term salvation

The five people currently present opened fire at the same time, and five bullets penetrated five heads at the same time. At the moment when the dirty blood and brain matter exploded, violent explosions also occurred in other places in the warehouse area!

Soap and Ghost, who went to plant the bomb, directly blew up a small warehouse storing ammunition - accompanied by flames rising into the sky and thick smoke, this dark warehouse area was as bright as summer noon at this moment. Even those members of the Ibris organization who were accustomed to the darkness could not help but be shocked on the spot!

This would not happen just once, and soon there were several more explosions scattered in different areas, making everything under the night sky shrouded in the flickering flames and the same constantly twisting shadows.

In the shadows, members of Task Force 141 rushed into the main management building of the warehouse area like thunder. It was a low three-story concrete building that looked ordinary even among the warehouses of different heights.

However, the worst-case scenario that Price had anticipated had already occurred—the terrorists here had already prepared for battle. If it weren't for Gas's quick eyes and hands, Xiaoqiang, who had rushed in first, would have been shot to pieces by the firepower of several AK47 rifles!

"Fuck! Can they really get so many Soviet-made AKs?! Don't tell me they're Type 56 assault rifles!" Xiao Qiang yelled in shock. He pulled off a grenade and threw it under the cover of the others' firepower. "Try this!"

The gray-black smoke from the grenade explosion mixed with the screams of metal fragments spread in all directions. When the smoke had just dissipated, the soldiers of Task Force 141 quickly moved forward on the spreading blood, while also shooting at the "corpses" that were still trying to stand up as they passed by - by shooting through their heads.

Now, the soldiers have become alert to the enemy's strangeness, but they have no time to explore the truth behind it.

"It's still the same as what we said at the mission briefing. The target is locked in a corner room on the second floor," said Joseph Allen, masked like a ghost. He tilted his head slightly, only to see a few shadows moving in the depths of the corridor. "But this information is two days old, and the warehouse porter who delivered the information hasn't been very clear-headed since then... Be careful, brothers."

"Oh, thank you for the information, Allied Intelligence Officer."

Someone muttered this in the communication channel, and it sounded like a complaint from someone who was feeling overwhelmed by the AK's firepower.

"Hey, hey, hey, this isn't my fault, okay? I'm just a messenger!"

Allen replied angrily, checking the remaining bullets in the magazine before leaning forward and firing several shots into the depths of the corridor, targeting the terrorists who were coming to reinforce from the other end - there were also some former members of the Iraqi Republican Guard, who had been beaten like stray dogs on the battlefield and were deeply disappointed with Saddam after the war... Such people are easily targeted, used, and brainwashed, becoming part of the darkness.

"Keep suppressing fire, brothers," Price had to raise his voice amid the intense gunfire. "Xiao Qiang and I will go inside to find people, and the helicopter to pick us up is on the way! Reinforcements will arrive soon!"

Although the soldiers of Task Force 141 all knew that "reinforcements" were extremely unreliable in their military careers, with being late, disappearing, or even falling on their own heads being commonplace, this was still good news, at least it made people happy.

During the fierce exchange of fire between the two sides, Price took Xiaoqiang upstairs and knocked down the enemies who rushed out from the rooms on both sides. After finishing his shots, Price stood in front of the door - the innermost room, the white door with strange symbols painted on it.

Is that CIA agent really still alive?

Price had no hope for this, but confirming the agent's death was also very important information.

Thinking of this, Price signaled Xiaoqiang to kick open the door, while he threw a flash bang grenade into the house!

After the explosion and flash, Price rushed in, but there was... only one person in the room.

A man wearing half a silver mask was sitting on a wooden chair. He was the CIA agent that Price and others were looking for.

After looking around and confirming there were no booby traps or other traps, Price quickly stepped forward, ready to rescue the target person:

"What happened here? And how did the enemy get back...your mask...you were branded with the mask?"

The captured CIA agent said nothing, but calmly raised his head and looked at Price - half of his face was covered by a silver mask, but the exposed part exuded a breath of death - his right eye was dull and covered with dust raised by the stun grenade. He did not blink, did not complain, and even his breathing did not rise or fall.

It's like a corpse, and every movement of it seems to be pulled by threads that ordinary people cannot see. Just looking at it will make people feel creepy!

Instantly, Price, alarmed, stopped in his tracks. He raised his gun and aimed at the "CIA agent" who was slowly standing up, then asked sternly:

"You're not from the CIA... Who are you?"

"Why don't you take a guess? A dog in the free world, but I have to say, even a dog can provide us with quite a bit of information."

The being controlling the CIA agent's body said this, with no intention of revealing his identity at all - even the power brought by the fragments of the Book of the Dead could not make him immune to the damage of the thousand-pound bomb, and... now was not the time to die.

After all, the previous leader died not long ago, and he still has so many things to do.

With a sneer, the "CIA agent" walked towards the horrified Price. He had already seen that the latter was approaching the truth of the world:

This is great. If we can obtain the body of this man in front of us and grab the memory information in his brain, then... the Ibris organization will be more at ease in the Middle East and even when facing NATO's military forces.

"Stay here, hollow clay!"

Chapter 432: The Empire of Corpses! (3K)

Dream world, Hill Villa, reception room.

After listening to Price's description of the "CIA agent", Rhodes was able to confirm that it was "Chaos", the leader of the Ibris organization, and the second-generation leader known to date... The guy of the previous generation has probably given up thinking about it now.

After pondering for a few seconds, Rhode decided to reveal some information about the leader. He tapped the porcelain cup with a teaspoon to attract the attention of Price and the other two, then said:

"The leader of the Ibris organization is called 'Chaos'. He wears a silver mask and can wield supernatural powers. Killing him once isn't enough. While I don't think you can completely eliminate him, it would be nice if you could give them some trouble."

"Like those corpses that 'resurrect'?" Price asked in astonishment. "I think that guy... no, no, no, I don't think he's using the agent's body the same way he's operating a drone."

Hearing this, Rhode smiled slightly. He took a sip of black tea and said with a smile:

"Nice imagination, Captain Price. If I were Chaos, I would definitely do the same thing."

"I've made a note of this. Thank you for your reminder."

Price nodded slightly, suppressing the joy that rose in his heart from obtaining information. He put the teacup on the coffee table, patted the shoulder of Soap who was about to try the biscuit, and continued his story.

+++++++

Basra, Iraq.

Xiaoqiang, guarding the corridor, could only hear the fierce gunfire coming from downstairs and the faint noise from inside the house. The next second, Price flew out from the inside, his back slamming hard against the wall! The dull pain from his back and body almost suffocated the veteran at that moment, and the dizziness and trance that followed made him even more painful.

Without any hesitation, Xiaoqiang immediately fired several shots towards the door to buy time for Price. Price didn't even have time to catch his breath. He quickly turned over and half-knelt, pulling out his pistol and firing while stumbling back the way he came.

"Mission failed, we retreat immediately! Call headquarters, call headquarters! We need support!"

Ignoring the chaotic noise in the communication channel, Price pulled Xiaoqiang, who was still a little confused, and ran. When he was about to reach the corner of the stairs, he pulled off the grenade hanging on his chest and threw it behind him.

Warm smoke and dust from the grenade explosion streaked past Price's side, and the wall paint blocks scraped off by the shock wave were falling down with a crackling sound, like huge raindrops hitting a tent on a rainstorm... But Price could still hear - heard the slow and dull thunder - the footsteps of the "CIA agent" who never stopped for a moment, casually using thunder to cut through the rain curtain and walk towards the uninvited guests who came here.

"What on earth just happened in the room?!" Xiaoqiang asked in surprise. He watched Price change the magazine for his rifle. The latter's face was full of fear at the moment. This expression had never appeared on the veteran's face before!

"Are there many enemies? Are their weapons very sophisticated?"

"No... I'm not sure either, but there's only one enemy, and he's very strong and strange. Be careful!"

Price took a deep breath. He inexplicably recalled the memory of fighting against hordes of monsters in that strange dream at Crawford Manor in England. However, today, no one was here shouting:

Take up arms and go to fight!

Price wanted to shout the same thing, but he didn't have the ability to summon killing weapons or steel beasts. Perhaps he could try another form of "summoning." After speaking calmly for a few words on a specific communication channel, Price took a deep breath and said:

"We...we have to evacuate. This is beyond our ability to handle right now."

Xiaoqiang was full of doubts, but he just patted the gun to indicate that he would obey the orders of the commander of the occupation.

After quickly ending the conversation, Price threw another grenade and quickly ran downstairs, shouting to the rest of Task Force 141 on the communication channel as he ran:

"Everyone, disengage from the battle. We are following Evacuation Plan No. 6—Wait, what the hell are those?!"

Corpses. A quick glance revealed nearly a hundred shaky corpses, weapons in hand, charging towards this location. Their eyes were glazed, their mouths drooling, yet they were still able to pull the trigger and wield their swords. Their movements became even more agile and stable the closer they got to their handlers!

Not only that, there are many living dead mixed in with the corpses. Their wisdom has not been lost, but their strength is greater than before.

The dead marched forward in the dim firelight, their meaningless cries and mutterings like a marching army. As legions linked together, the living corpses marched shoulder to shoulder, as if this place had become a kingdom of the dead—an empire of corpses! "Iblis," the ruler of the empire, watched indifferently from a thousand miles away, unconcerned with the legions' losses... Corpses were everywhere in today's world.

Even if there aren't enough corpses, they can still be "created."

At this moment, hordes of corpses were constantly squeezing the space of the living, making every attempt of theirs dangerous - the danger came from the scattered bullets, the rusty and poisonous sword blades, the supernatural malice from another dimension, and the chaotic energy that was carefully prepared and summoned here - the soldiers of Task Force 141 were lucky, if they had come earlier or later, they would not have encountered so many enemies in a day.

"I told you to stay here, hollow clay. You can't escape."

The head of the "CIA agent", still with a calm expression, popped out from the top of the stairs... squeezed into the narrow gap in the stairwell, and the neck of the body was slowly stretching, as if the spine was constantly extending, pushing out the cervical vertebrae and head.

The skin, which had become thinner due to the elongated neck, even reflected the shadow of twisted bones in the flickering gunfire!

At that moment, an invisible mental pressure suddenly penetrated the minds of every normal person nearby, and Price, the target, was particularly affected. The veteran couldn't suppress a cry of pain, leaning against the wall with a frown, completely unaware that he had been marked for tracking.

"Fvck! Fvck! Are all these attacking enemies corpses?!"

Xiaoqiang screamed in surprise. Before he could fire at the monster, he and Price and the others who had already reunited heard an explosion outside the building. It was the roar of an RPG-7 rocket hitting the zombies. The shock wave and metal fragments generated by the explosion instantly tore apart the surrounding flesh and blood, but the corpses with their limbs mostly intact quickly stood up again and continued to move forward with a desire for raw food. Then they were knocked down again by the explosion of the rocket!

Soon, Soap's slightly complacent voice could be heard on the communication channel, his words also carrying a hint of heavy panting after running wildly with a heavy load on his back:

"I'll have to use my under-barrel grenades sparingly, but the best thing about finding the armory is that I can use it whenever I want... I asked the janitor about it, and he said he had no problem with it."

"Stop talking nonsense, kid, and cover us as we leave!"

Price breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to look at the gloomy "CIA agent" retreating into the shadows. The latter's shadow twisted and reorganized in the darkness, transforming into something Price absolutely did not want to see.

The surrounding corpse fragments and rotten blood were trembling slightly, as if the sound of some chanting spell was transmitting resonance here.

Ignoring the flesh and blood that began to flow upstream, Price and his soldiers quickly fled the building and escaped into the darkness of the warehouse area before the circle of corpses completely surrounded them.

The staggering corpses were still in pursuit, and the zombies quickly stepped over their "kind" and prepared to continue the pursuit - but the order from the unknown made them stop and turn to rescue the supplies that were about to be burned by the spreading fire.

The leader of the Ibris organization is ready to take action himself... After all, this body is really not useful enough at the moment. It doesn't have many valuable memories, and it can't accommodate a dark and evil soul to reside in it for a long time.

After running for just a few minutes, Price almost bumped into Soap, who looked rather disheveled. The latter was covered in a layer of gray and black, and his whole body exuded an unpleasant burnt smell - it was obvious that the explosion of the ammunition depot had also affected him, not to mention that he had just been walking through the smoke and fire.

Without saying much, Price simply patted his brother's shoulder vigorously and asked about the other person's situation:

"Where's the ghost?"

"Ghost got a drivable Japanese Toyota pickup truck to the east and is guarding it now. We'll be able to leave in it soon," said Soap. He leaned against the wall and let out a long breath, saying helplessly, "We have to leave quickly, otherwise we'll have to pick up the enemy's weapons... Including the ones on my rifle, I only have half a magazine left."

The same was true for the other soldiers in Task Force 141. In the second half of the battle, the corpses whose heads had been blown off staggered to their feet again, firing randomly or simply serving as shields for the more intelligent zombies.

Only by breaking their limbs and spines and completely destroying their bodies can death be returned to death.

Fortunately, today's human civilization is not short of such violence——

"Air support has arrived!"

Price shouted loudly. He looked at the strange creature that was slowly emerging in the firelight not far away, but the fear in his heart had mostly dissipated.

Because the thunderbolt that pierced the night was already coming from afar, emitting a low roar:

Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Chapter 433: Awakening from a Nightmare (3K)

The night enveloped the entire warehouse area like a canvas soaked in motor oil, but the flames rising from it were like piercing swords, illuminating the entire dark sky with dancing flames.

The foehn wind blew through the gaps between the concrete fragments, bringing with it a faint stench of corpses and a burnt smell.

The soldiers of Task Force 141 were still exchanging fire with the enemy. Bullets from opposite directions crisscrossed the murky air, flashing a light unseen by mortal flesh. The crackling of gunfire dotted the chaotic battlefield, but the deep roar that followed completely overwhelmed it all. The A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft, often called "Warthogs," roared and approached from afar.

Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!

The attack aircraft's GAU-8/A "Avenger" cannon - seven 30mm barrels were firing high-explosive incendiary bombs at a low rate of fire of 2100 rounds per minute, turning them into a terrifying vortex of death - the warheads hit the ground, stirring up a series of nearly two-meter-high flame and dust fountains, smashing the abandoned forklift parked on the roadside into broken and twisted parts, and the fireball formed by the explosion instantly engulfed the surrounding corpses!

After all, humans are nothing more than fragile carbon-based creatures. Even with the blessing of supernatural powers, they can hardly resist the brutal iron and fire... Flesh and blood are so weak!

The machine guns roared again and again, the muffled sounds of shells piercing through the concrete brick walls and the swelling of flesh and blood overlapped with each other, beating out the most delightful music of destruction.

But this is not over yet!

The rocket pods mounted on either side of the A-10's wings began firing in salvos, their rounds raining down in a steady stream, setting off a new round of explosions and flames! Steel, human bodies, and concrete roads began to twist and deform in the intense heat. The detonation of large and small ammunition hurled debris dozens of meters into the air, leaving burning remains dangling from the crumbling warehouse walls, crackling and flaming.

"Damn, is that pilot a newbie?! The explosion was too close to us!" Soap shouted in shock. He pulled out the small piece of iron stuck in his shoulder and touched his helmet - there were several pieces of fragments embedded in it and a few slightly depressed places - if it weren't for the warehouse wall blocking it, he would have been almost killed by the explosion!

"Sandman, have you really done a good job of guiding the target?"

"Of course I did, but in this emergency situation at night, I shouldn't ask for too much!"

Despite their clamor, the soldiers of Task Force 141 ran out of the warehouse area without looking back, wanting to escape completely. They gasped for breath, letting the polluted air poison their lungs - if they ran any slower, they wouldn't even have the chance to poison their lungs.

After a few complaints in their hearts, the soldiers could already vaguely see the Toyota pickup truck parked on the roadside at the edge of the warehouse area in the distance. Although Ghost's figure was not there, his voice was clearly audible on the communication channel:

"One, two...it looks like everyone's here...wait, where's Captain Price?!"

Everyone subconsciously looked back. The veteran who should have been at the side of the team had already disappeared in the darkness. All this happened in an instant, as if the whole world had been taken away for a frame!

Such a strange situation made the soldiers of Task Force 141 feel depressed. Soap, who was even closer, turned around and replaced the last full magazine in his rifle. He ran in the direction they came from and said to the others:

"Get in the car and prepare to pick us up. That warthog can't help us clear the enemies in front of us. I'm going to find Captain Price!"

There was no quarrel or panic. The soldiers who shared life and death carried out their orders quickly, whether they were guarding the retreat vehicles, preparing to explore the road, or turning back into hell to find their commanders... The power of responsibility, friendship and morality drove these tired and injured bodies to move forward, rather than some ridiculous supernatural force from another dimension.

Crashing into darkness and walking in the flames of war, Soap ran wildly in the billowing smoke and dust with a rifle in his arms. Soon he saw a figure standing there in a daze - John Price, his captain - just as Soap wanted to get closer, he felt as if he had passed through a thin film. Although the environment outside the film was unbearable, the inside was like hell!

In the fishy wind and dim light, Soap saw an altar suddenly appear before him and the dazed Price:

It was a mobile altar made of corpses! A dozen or so people who should have died but weren't dead were carrying this thing slowly towards them, standing on a platform made of cold, corpse-stinking arms, thighs, and torsos. The "person" wearing the silver mask spoke with a hint of annoyance:

"Unexpected... intruder, was he noticed after all?"

The corpse altar was still deep within the warehouse area. This was only an illusion projected after precise positioning. In reality, the flames caused by the attack of the A10 attack aircraft were spreading.

The United States Air Force brazenly intruded into their long-determined territory and wantonly destroyed a supply transfer node. This had already infuriated the Ibris Organization leader who was controlling the corpse, but he did not allow himself to continue to indulge in anger:

So, the "CIA agent" who sacrificed his soul to cast the evil curse was looking at the two humans below with indifference. They were panting and exhausted, with only their strong spirit and will left - time was running out, and they had to break through this crumbling line of defense immediately and turn the man named Price into their puppet.