Chapter 380: Power of the New Virus
Just when both of them were about to leave, they saw a zombie nimbly crawling over from a corner.
At first glance, it was a business elite, since he wore a suit and had a computer bag hanging diagonally over its chest.
But its grayish-white limbs were much longer than the average size. They came out of the sleeves and pants, which made the zombie look hilarious, like it was an adult wearing a child’s clothes.
In the short few minutes since its turning, its bones and muscles had grown and deformed it. Its grayish-white skin was stretched so taut that it was as thin as a cicada’s wing. It also tore and formed intersecting lines, revealing bunches of b.l.o.o.d.y granulation tissue.
But the zombie did not seem to notice. Like a human-shaped spider, it could move quickly over the walls and trees by the sides of the street.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
A series of rapid gunshots came from behind it.
They were followed by chaotic footsteps, and a group of pa.s.sionate citizens who had just got off work showed up. They had replenished their ammunition from the underground warehouses that rose in the streets and equipped themselves to the teeth. Then, they started hunting the rat horde and zombies.
There were people of all sorts and sizes in the group. While holding their guns, they pushed forward with their squad. But they did not look like they were professionals, so Meng Chao guessed that they were a motley crew formed on the spot.
People like them should have stayed and defended the fortified communities. They should not have run out on their own to hunt.
“It’s too dangerous here!” Meng Chao shouted at the pa.s.sionate citizens. “Look for a place and defend it! Wait for the Red Dragon Army to come to you!”
The group grinned and said nonchalantly, “It’s fine. They’re just weak zombies. We’ve equipped ourselves from head to toe in armor, so they won’t be able to bite us.”
As the leader spoke, they raised their arms up and patted their necks.
It was winter right then, and everyone was dressed in thick layers. As long as they used bulletproof and anti-stab material to wrap up the limbs that were exposed outside, the teeth and nails of normal zombies would have a hard time tearing through their defenses.
Besides, the new generation Dragon Citizens had basically grown up on the stories of their grandparents fighting zombies.
Decades ago, when the old generation had just transmigrated to the Other World, they were confused and had to rely on hammers, kitchen knives, and lawnmowers. Even so, they could kill the zombies until they were scared of them.
The current Dragon Citizens were not even afraid of monsters, so naturally, they were also not afraid of “mere zombies”.
Meng Chao wanted to stop them, but the long-limbed zombie who was shaped like a human spider popped its head out of the crown of a tree.
The pa.s.sionate citizens cried out and charged forward. They fired their guns and instantly left multiple holes in the zombie. It fell from the crown of the tree.
The pa.s.sionate citizens cheered victoriously and charged forward to check their spoils.
Alarm bells rang out in Meng Chao’s head. He cussed and activated his 3D mobile gear. He stomped on the ground violently, and a powerful gust of air shot out from his back, allowing him to jump thirty meters in an instant. He landed on a broken down public bus.
Whoosh!
His chain sabers left his hands, and with the addition of spirit energy, one turned into burning flames, and the other dazzling lightning. Two long cracks were left on top of the public bus.
Meng Chao reached into the crack and summoned his strength. Then, he tore off a steel plate from the public bus.
In the current generation, public buses were built with the thought that they might run into monster invasions during the peak when people went to work or clocked off work. The windows were really small, and the outside walls were really st.u.r.dy. They were basically super armored vehicles.
The steel plate Meng Chao yanked off was in charge of protecting the crystal engines, so it was like a huge arc-shaped shield.
With the shield in hand, he jumped twice to the spot where the zombie fell after it was shot down.
The pa.s.sionate citizens began to shout.
The severely wounded zombie was stimulated by the mutated zombie virus, and in just a few seconds, its organs turned into liquid, then gas. Its body swelled up in a deformed manner.
Very soon, its head was submerged by the flesh from its body, and only its long and thin limbs were left.
At first glance, it looked like a balloon filled with liquid poison and four matches sticking out of it.
The poison that leaked out of its wounds splashed onto the plants, and they instantly turned yellow and withered away. Pungent white smoke rose from them.
The pa.s.sionate citizens saw that the situation was bad,and wanted to retreat, but it was too late. The zombie had swelled to the max and exploded with a bang. The poison spread out like rain and went straight at the pa.s.sionate citizens. They had nowhere to hide.
The citizens screamed. Most of the group could only wrap their arms around their heads and squat down on the ground while praying that their winter clothes would be thick enough to fend off the poison.
Fortunately, Meng Chao acted fast. He tossed the shield forward and warded off most of the poison flying forward.
The shield let out sizzling sounds, and white smoke curled up.
Only drops of the poison splashed onto the pa.s.sionate citizens’ clothes.
Meng Chao shouted sternly, “Everyone, immediately remove your coats! Form groups of two! Bring your guns up and aim at each other’s foreheads! The new zombie virus activates very quickly! Be alert! Observe each other for three minutes! Three minutes later, recite the first rule of Dragon Citizens and make sure that no one’s brains have been invaded by viruses! Otherwise, the other citizen’s downfall might be your downfall as well! Do you understand?! The countdown starts now!”
After returning from the apocalypse, once Meng Chao becomes serious, he would have a sharp, murderous air that not even experienced fighters who had gone through hundreds of battles in the current era, possessed.
The pa.s.sionate citizens were shocked by his murderous intent and shuddered.
Many of them recognized Meng Chao. He was one of the younger generation superhumans and the leader of the Golden Era.
They cast a glance at the zombie who had already turned into pus and poison. When they remembered how this pitiful person had been a human just like them more than ten minutes ago, they no longer dared to be careless. At their fastest speed, they removed their coats, because they might be stained with poison, and tossed them far away.
The citizens who were the closest to the zombie even removed their sweaters and thermal clothing. They would rather shiver in the cold wind instead of letting poison seep into their skin and turn into a zombie after they were infected by the virus.
Everyone formed pairs of two and raised their guns at each other.
Meng Chao had Lu Siya watch them while he inspected the zombie’s corpse.
The zombie had self-destructed very “cleanly”. Aside from its thin and long torn limbs, it did not leave behind a lot of useful things.
Meng Chao sent spirit energy into his eyes. They shone with intense light while he searched through the corpse. Then, he brought out a long and narrow pair of forceps to pick up a finger. He stared at the severed part and observed it for a long time.
After that, he brought out more than ten portable reagents and powder, then gathered some of the zombie’s blood, poison, and torn flesh. He started conducting all sorts of tests on them.
Some of the reagents did not react when they were poured on the zombie’s blood. The reagents did not mix with the blood and stayed clear from it.
When he used the seventh reagent, he dropped a bit of faint red liquid on it, and the zombie blood immediately started moving madly. Spikes grew on the surface of the liquid; it was as if the blood had been given new life.
The camera on Meng Chao’s shoulder recorded the entire process of him testing the reaction of the zombie’s blood.
Three minutes were up.
On the surface, the pa.s.sionate citizens did not show any changes.
Half of them managed to smoothly recite the first law of Dragon Citizens.
The other half might have stumbled in their recitation, but they could sing the newest popular songs and knew the newest gossip. They could even recite the 9x timetable.
There was even a girl with sparkling eyes. She ran over excitedly and said that she idolized Meng Chao, so could he please sign his name for her as a memory?
By the looks of it, they were not infected by the virus.
They still retained a clear head and an independent will. They also had appreciation for beauty.
Meng Chao signed his name for the fan.
The armored vehicles from the Red Dragon Army came roaring from the end of the street.
Meng Chao sighed in relief and handed the pa.s.sionate citizens to the soldiers. He then thought about it and connected to Ye Xiaoxing’s communicator again.
“Captain Ye, what’s your situation? Do you have a lot of injured citizens?” Meng Chao asked.
“How did you know?” Ye Xiaoxing sounded a little anxious. “We were trying our best to defend the important facilities, but on our way, we ran into a lot of injured citizens. These zombies are not easy to deal with!”
“That’s right. I have a zombie who exploded just now. I inspected its corpse, and I noticed that it produced a great reaction to the Blood Flower Reagent,” Meng Chao said. “I’m certain that the newest group of zombies are biochemical weapons created by the abnormal beasts’ lab.
“Also, when the abnormal beasts created the new virus, not only did they combine the characteristics of the zombie virus and rabies virus, they also extracted some strange substance from Blood Flowers, so the virus has the characteristics of Blood Flowers.”
Ye Xiaoxing was shocked. “What?!”
“Based on the monsters we hunted in the wild, once a monster is infested by a Blood Flower, not only will its mobility largely increase, it might also gain all sorts of strange skills, such as spitting fire or acid. They can also self-destruct to spread viruses, bacteria, and spores. After they die, the chances of their carca.s.ses mutating increase by a large degree, and they might also gain other abilities.
“I highly suspect that the characteristics that once appeared in the monsters will also appear in the new zombies. These zombies are not weak at all. If normal citizens view the new zombies’ fighting power the old way, they will definitely suffer major losses.
“I suggest that before we understand all the characteristics of the new zombies, the normal citizens should not recklessly engage them in close quarters combat. They must be especially on guard against the zombies self-destructing and a second mutation after their deaths!”
“Makes sense,” Ye Xiaoxing said. “I’ll notify the related departments and have the citizens move to the fortified communities as soon as possible.
“d.a.m.n it. These abnormal beasts really do possess intelligence that is not to be underestimated. They intentionally chose to attack us during the peak when we clock off work. A large group of citizens were stuck in the streets, and when they noticed that their enemies are ‘just’ rats and zombies, many people chose to attack.
“They did not think about retreating somewhere, not that there’s any place for them to go. If this continues, there will be a lot of casualties, and it will be hard for us to restore order.
“But I will handle the situation. Hurry up and go to the construction site of the tunnel under the river. The enemy has planned this meticulously, so something major will definitely happen tonight!”
“Roger!” Meng Chao ended the call and replenished his batch of bombs with grenades and flash bombs. He got them from the pa.s.sionate citizens and soldiers.
He then turned around and said urgently to Lu Siya, “Trust me. My instincts are telling me that something will definitely happen in the construction site under the river. We can’t delay things any longer. We must seize every second we have to rush over!”
“Meng Chao!”
Before Lu Siya could speak, the fan who had asked for his signature ran over and waved her handphone. She started chattering away like a lark, “I told my friends just now that I ran into the legendary Meng Chao and fought against zombies with you, but my friends don’t believe me. They said that I was boasting. Can I... take a photo with you?”
“Sure.” Meng Chao smiled brightly and motioned for the girl to hand her phone to Lu Siya. Meanwhile, he bent his knees a little and made a victory sign.
“...” Lu Siya.