The war had been raging in Yanjing for four months. During this prolonged period, ordinary citizens were unable to leave the city freely. The daily rations consisted solely of grains and flour, with no sight of vegetables or meat. Initially, people were content to endure, believing that victory was imminent. However, four months passed without victory, and to make matters worse, zombies began descending from the sky into the city.
This situation became dire. If their safety had been guaranteed, people would have stayed put, even subsisting on coarse food. But now, with zombies capable of entering the city, Yanjing was no longer the safest place. Compounding this, the Corpse King had promised to allow free departure from Yanjing. If people didn't leave now, who knew what the future would hold?
The mutated birds that appeared in the city last night had already left many with psychological scars. In the darkness, it was impossible to know when zombies would fall from the sky. Once bitten, there was little time for treatment before one turned into a zombie, resulting in immense casualties.
After all the burning buildings in the city were extinguished, a brief assessment revealed that twenty thousand people had been injured in the chaos. Such a massive casualty count was unprecedented.
Zombies did not fear overwhelming casualties, but humans did. As humans gained superior intelligence, their courage naturally dwindled. A slightest disturbance, anything that threatened their safety, would prompt humans to retreat.
The instinct for self-preservation was deeply ingrained in human DNA, not something that could be altered overnight.
When tens of thousands of people, laden with their belongings, appeared in the southern part of the city, leading the elderly and children, the headquarters felt a headache coming on. Opening the southern city gates would likely cause greater chaos, yet they could not ignore the gathered crowds. These people were already terrified to the extreme; if pushed too far, who knew what trouble they might stir up within the city.
After much deliberation, the headquarters found a solution. The train route from Yanjing to Tianjin was operational. The trains entered and exited the city via elevated tracks, posing no threat from zombies. Furthermore, not many zombies had been detected in the Tianjin area. If there was a safe way to leave the city, taking the train was the best option.
It was better to guide than to block. The headquarters decided to open the train service, allowing people to leave Yanjing, but not from the south. Instead, they were to depart by train. Ten trains would run daily, and those wishing to leave had to queue.
Upon hearing that they could leave by train, the gathered crowds immediately swarmed towards the train station. Within half an hour, the entire station was packed. If it weren't for the fact that trains did not allow standing passengers, these frenzied people would have been clinging to the carriages.
The headquarters' decision seemed reasonable, allowing those who wished to leave Yanjing to do so freely. However, they overlooked one crucial aspect: the blind conformity of human nature. Last night, people had blindly fled through the streets, and today, they were blindly fleeing Yanjing. When others heard the news about the trains, they immediately called their friends and relatives, all heading towards the train station.
As a result, by early afternoon, air raid sirens echoed throughout Yanjing. The mutated birds had arrived!
"Woooo..." The piercing siren sound reverberated through the air. Those still on the streets immediately sought shelter in nearby buildings, fear once again permeating everyone's hearts.
Satellites and radar detected birds flying towards Yanjing, triggering the alarm. This was different from last night's aerial attack. At night, the mutated birds' vision was poor, so they circled over Yanjing for two hours before leaving. But now it was afternoon, and the sun was still hours away from setting. An air raid starting at this time would likely be prolonged.
The headquarters was not entirely unprepared. After a night's work, heavy machine guns had been mounted on many rooftops, with dedicated personnel assigned to intercept the mutated birds. Pilots were also ready to deploy at any moment. On the ground, countless soldiers stood on the streets, fully armed, vigilant against the mutated birds.
Today, the number of mutated birds had increased by ten thousand. They were all carrying zombies in their claws, and a new round of aerial bombardment began. The mutated birds approached Yanjing from different directions. Upon nearing the ground, they immediately dropped the zombies. Meanwhile, fighter jets took off, and numerous machine guns on rooftops unleashed torrents of bullets.
When hit by bullets, the mutated birds immediately plummeted to the ground, bloodied holes appearing on their wings. After being shot down, soldiers on the streets rushed forward to finish them off.
However, with only one night to prepare, Yanjing's air defense systems were not yet fully deployed. More than twenty thousand mutated birds, dispersed, entered Yanjing. Only a small portion were shot down; the majority entered the city. Many mutated birds directly dropped zombies from the sky, only for them to become a bloody mess upon impact.
When the people on the streets witnessed this, many were puzzled. "Dropping zombies from such a height, wouldn't they be smashed to death instantly? Why do this?"
The mutated birds' actions were too abnormal. Simply dropping zombies from a height would result in their immediate death, offering no assistance in the siege.
As it turned out, when people approached the fallen zombies, they were stunned. Upon getting close, they could smell a foul odor. These zombies were not dead upon impact; they were already deceased zombies!
"Plague! These corpses are infected with plague!" Everyone panicked. They hadn't expected zombies to throw corpses into the city. Their methods were truly despicable, using plague to attack Yanjing. Such tactics were utterly low-class.
If zombies were thrown into the city, the soldiers would not be worried; a single shot could eliminate a zombie. But if the dropped items were plague-infected corpses, they didn't know how to handle them. The soldiers lacked professional protective equipment, and casual contact with the corpses could lead to infection!
The soldiers quickly reported the situation. The headquarters was in a frenzy, mobilizing specialized personnel to transport the corpses within the city to prevent the plague from spreading. The headquarters' command staff had never imagined that zombies would be so vile as to throw corpses into Yanjing. If medical standards were insufficient, the entire city could erupt in an epidemic.
The city's inhabitants became tense. The faint-hearted hid in their homes, while the brave darted for cover due to the air raid. Soldiers were eliminating zombies within the city, and medical personnel were transporting the corpses. At this moment, some zombies set fires within the city, further creating chaos.
Shen Feng, along with Lu Xian and Yang Chang, was heading towards the TV tower when they encountered the zombie air raid. Listening to the piercing sound of the air raid sirens, the three of them made their way towards the TV tower with difficulty.
The streets were filled with people hiding and seeking shelter, a scene that could be described as a sea of humanity. Even though Shen Feng and his companions were ability users, it was difficult to move through the crowds. They had to stick to the walls, slowly progressing. They couldn't simply attack civilians; that was not something a normal person would do.
Yang Chang could no longer bear it and said to Shen Feng, "City Lord, let's go via the rooftops. While I can't match your agility, I'm not too bad. If we keep sneaking like this, who knows when we'll reach the vicinity of the TV tower. The crowds are too chaotic!"
Shen Feng quickly shook his head and said seriously, "If we depart from the rooftops, we will be easily spotted from the TV tower. Therefore, we can only approach slowly from below, striving to enter the TV tower undetected."
Shen Feng did not want his movements to be discovered by the Corpse King, otherwise, the mission would be difficult to complete. It was best to infiltrate stealthily.
Yang Chang had no choice but to follow Shen Feng. He held a large silver ingot, which served as his weapon. After all, his ability was to manipulate silver objects; without a weapon, his ability would be useless.
Li Keyi sighed helplessly upon hearing the air raid siren. She knew it was time to depart. She was an evolved human, and the evolution serum was not given to her for free. Before receiving it, she had to sign a contract, and when danger arose, evolved humans were obligated to fight. Even though she was part of the research institute, at this critical juncture, she had to go and fight.
Normally, it would be impossible for Li Keyi to obtain the evolution serum. However, she had persuaded her superiors with the excuse of experimental research. After using the evolution serum, she needed to constantly challenge ability users to test their physical condition and the limits of evolved humans.
Li Keyi found her long sword by her bedside, slung it over her back, and instructed her parents, "Stay at home and absolutely do not go out. I'm going to fight. Please take care of yourselves."
Her parents understood Li Keyi's actions and quickly nodded, "Go with peace of mind. We absolutely will not go out. We will wait for you to return. Be careful, and if you can't beat the zombies, run faster!"
A look of disdain flashed across Li Keyi's face, and she then said, "Just zombies, I won't lose. Trust my strength. No zombie in this world can harm me!"
At this moment, Li Keyi was extremely confident. She knew her own strength. If it was just about fighting zombies, her combat experience was not an exaggeration, and being a third-tier evolved human, her combat ability far surpassed that of ordinary people.
Li Keyi went out to kill zombies, drawing her long sword and charging into the streets. No matter what kind of zombie it was, it was no match for Li Keyi.
A speed-type zombie leaped from the rooftop, attempting to ambush Li Keyi. However, Li Keyi's reaction was swift. She turned and thrust her sword, killing the speed-type zombie on the spot. She fought her way towards the city center, where the number of zombies was greatest.
The aerial assault strategy had outpaced Yanjing's defenses. When over twenty thousand mutated birds entered the city, they immediately caused immense trouble.
Concurrently, the zombie horde outside the city charged towards the city walls, seemingly intending to break in while the city's fighting forces were depleted. If the zombie horde could enter the city, victory would belong to the zombies.
The defending soldiers quickly engaged, killing all the approaching zombies. Even though the forces near the city walls had been redeployed, the defensive strength was sufficient to deal with the zombie tide.
The city walls were being attacked by zombie hordes on three sides, with no zombies sighted in the southern direction. In reality, the zombie population in the southern area had suffered heavy casualties. During winter, a gas attack had killed more than half of the zombies in the south, and when the plague erupted underground, it had killed a large number of zombies.
Therefore, there were not many zombies in the south. The million-strong zombie horde represented their last remaining force. The Corpse King withdrew the zombie tide from the south, which was like doing a favor. Since the zombie numbers were already low, their withdrawal was inconsequential. However, it was certain to cause unrest within Yanjing.
At this time, the zombies that had entered the city also began to gather, forming small zombie hordes and rampaging through the city. The mutated zombies, on the other hand, broke into smaller groups and advanced towards the TV tower. The zombies' actions were all controlled by Scarred Corpse King. His objective was simple: ordinary zombies were mere tools to attract firepower, while mutated zombies were the elite. All four hundred-plus mutated zombies that entered the city were heading towards the TV tower.
As the mutated zombies approached the TV tower, they did not stand idly by. They casually grabbed a person and carried them towards the TV tower. It turned out that the Corpse King felt there were not enough hostages and, taking advantage of the current opportunity, intended to capture more hostages to threaten Yanjing's command center.
Scarred Corpse King was smug. He believed he had found the human side's weakness. As long as hostages were held, the army would not dare to launch a large-scale attack on the TV tower, otherwise, the human side would become disunited. Hostages were undoubtedly the most important protective shield.
The reality was indeed so. The army had surrounded the TV tower last night, but they were worried that the Corpse King would kill the hostages, thus delaying their attack.