Chapter 7: Cleanup Work
Cleaning starts from .
displayed the entire power station's floor plan in front of the group, like laying out a combat sand table.
was the area with the densest zombies, so it was put off until last.
He planned a route for and the other two: push through from toward , clearing the zombies in batches.
"Seal the doors in sections, clear grid by grid." typed on the corridor screen. "I open a door, you clear a section, then I seal it off again. They can't escape, and you won't get surrounded."
read it and nodded. "Works."
[Then let's begin.]
In the first corridor, sent out three robot vacuums to draw attention.
Their round bodies hugged the floor and shot forward, slamming into the backs of the zombies' knees.
The front row of zombies tripped in droves, and those behind stepped on them, causing another chain of falls.
Then and the others simply shot them in the head one by one with their guns—extremely efficient.
couldn't really help in this kind of situation, so she stayed off to the side, but her attention remained fixed on the bodies that had gone limp after the headshots.
[ 2 Progress: 47/327.]
Having professionals made a real difference. This pace was much faster than when he and had slowly been matching wits and courage.
The second section was a narrow corridor behind the dormitory building.
There were even more zombies there, packed together.
didn't have them charge in blindly. Instead, he turned on a display screen at the far end of the corridor and switched on the public address system at the same time.
A crackle of electricity, and then a sharp equipment alarm burst out from deep in the corridor.
The zombies turned at the sound and surged toward it in a dark, teeming mass.
[Now, go in.]
took the lead, cutting into the narrow corridor and striking the zombies from behind.
Still one shot per , clean and neat.
The zombies in the back turned at the gunshots, but by then it was already too late.
In less than ten minutes, the narrow corridor was cleared.
[147/327.]
Watching the number climb so fast, felt a surge of satisfaction.
But just as they advanced to the junction with the , an image in the surveillance feed made his attention snap tight.
He noticed a gap between pipe runs in , where a had somehow gotten in and was lying there.
And even stranger, this one seemed a little different.
It was a whole size larger than the other zombies. Its skin had a blackish, gray-blue tint, its back was hunched, and its muscles were so swollen they had split its coveralls.
The strangest thing was its movements—the other zombies were slow and stiff, while this one crouched silently, like a wild beast lying in wait for prey.
switched that camera to zoom in.
The monster's eyes were still murky, but it was indeed completely different from the other zombies.
[Stop.] He immediately typed to .
[There's something off ahead.]
raised his hand, and the three of them halted.
"What's the situation?"
sent the footage of that to the corridor screen.
The moment saw it, her expression changed.
"This... is indeed different from the others," she said, brows knitted, voice low, but speaking quickly. "Excessive muscle growth, abnormal swelling of the subcutaneous tissue, and it doesn't seem to be severely decayed. Could this be some kind of secondary mutation?"
She paused, her throat tightening.
"I've said it before, this is completely unscientific. Now it's even more ridiculous—there are actually special forms."
"Oh my god, have a little respect for biochemistry, okay?"
[Can you fight it?] asked .
stared at the screen for two seconds.
"Hard to say. I don't know its actual combat power," he said, a note of gravity in his voice.
Clearly, that thing's abnormal size was putting pressure on him too.
"But with guns, it should be no problem."
He reloaded his gun to full capacity, but his expression remained serious.
swallowed hard and, copying him, did the same.
quickly calculated. That thing really was intimidating.
And he had no intel on it either; he couldn't get a read on its actual strength.
If it was the type that didn't fear a hail of bullets and could go on an unstoppable rampage, then the survivors he had just taken in would be done for.