Chapter 37

Zhou Li was on the scene as well. A few of his subordinates were posted here: one water-type who could raise a hand and unleash a water dragon to sweep a zombie dog away; a fire-type who spat chains of flame that bound two zombies and burned them into walking torches; and a metal-type who could form golden blades that flew out and cleaved zombie skulls in two.
Their destructive power was substantial, and they used their abilities with real flourish, they were among the stronger members of Zhou Li's team. Zhou Li had put some effort into winning them over.
Bringing the three of them forward was partly to show off, but Zhou Li didn’t feel overly proud; his attention was fixed on the other ability-users.
To be fair, these ability-users weren’t that powerful. Compared to the veterans on his team who’d each killed dozens of zombies, these newcomers were like greenhouse flowers. What worried him more was how fast most of them were improving.
Take Fan Fang, the ice-type girl. Her power had awakened less than ten days ago, at first she could barely form a thin sheet of ice, and now she could effortlessly spin out ice spikes and accurately aim them.
Or Liu Mingchao, the earth-type man; at the start he could only produce irregular clods of earth, and now he could send up sharp ground spikes within a two-meter radius.
Then there was Zhao Yidan, the lightning-type, clearly a middle-school girl. Her ability had only appeared four days ago, yet she could already release fine streaks of lightning that could smash a zombie’s skull in a single strike. They said when she first arrived four days ago she’d been delirious; after being isolated she recovered that same night, and gained her power.
During that time, Lin Tantan was the only one who’d had contact with her.
He’d also heard about a formidable water-type here: at first she could only use enough power to produce the equivalent of three cups of water at a time, but now she could unleash a whole bucket in one go, and several large buckets a day. Many people tried to curry favor with her just to get a little water.
There were many such examples, and behind a lot of these people you could see Lin Tantan’s influence.
Zhou Li drew a deep breath and looked at Lin Tantan on the high wall: the short-haired girl with clear, delicate features and a smile at her lips, wrapped in a thick down coat, every gesture carrying the air of someone strong (Lin Tantan: ?). At her feet trotted a pale gray lump, supposedly a mutant rat she’d caught and kept as a pet.
Lin Tantan felt someone watching her, but when she turned there was nothing to see. She crouched and spoke to the rat at her feet. “Hey, can you beat those cats and dogs? You can’t, you’re a rat, you’re scared of cats, and dogs are so big you’d never stand a chance.”
The pale gray rat glanced up at her; its shifty little eyes seemed to say it wasn’t convinced. Then, hauling itself on its short legs, it slid down the wall, raked a zombified tabby’s head open with a paw until the creature finally died, tore out the crystal core from the bloody skull, climbed back up, spat the core at Lin Tantan’s feet and let out a triumphant squeak.
If she wasn’t mistaken, that look in its eyes was equal parts smug and disdainful.
It was a powerful rat now, it wasn’t afraid of cats anymore.
Lin Tantan arched an eyebrow. “Not bad. But you picked it up with your mouth, won’t you get infected?”
“Squeak!” the rat replied, ears pricked up. I won’t get infected!
Lin Tantan inspected it closely; there really were no signs of infection. This rat was full of hidden depth, was it immune to zombie energy?
“Still, your paws and fur are filthy. Since you’re already dirty, run another round, call all your brothers and sisters and get them to come help.”
The rat: “...”
That night the zombies besieging the west side of the city were many, and zombie animals had appeared too. As in daylight, they could relatively easily cross the ditch and scale the walls, forcing the humans to send more defenders. Generators clanked away, feeding power to the searchlights atop the wall.
Bullets and abilities poured out intermittently. Sections of the wall had been fitted with electrified rings; when manpower was insufficient they’d power the rings, which offered strong defense.
Lin Tantan joined the defense. Under the wall lights, shadows swayed and the beams revealed horrifying faces, zombies swarming in from the dark in endless waves like cockroaches.
Before they could reach the ditch she sent out golden flashes that killed them one by one. In her sector the zombies couldn’t even get a hand on the ditch’s edge.
But sometimes they were overwhelmed. When a ditch piled high with zombies, they’d climb atop each other, and these days the zombies’ wall-climbing ability had improved a great deal.
“Ah!” someone cried. “They’re coming up!”
Lin Tantan turned toward the sound. It was too far to see clearly, but she made out a familiar figure leaping onto the wall, and quickly that stretch fell silent.
Her ears sharp, Lin Tantan vaguely caught Ye Xiao’s voice on the wind as he barked orders.
She smiled faintly. Then Bai Cheng’s cool, stern voice came through her earpiece: “A large group of animals is approaching from the west, in great numbers, mostly rodents and insects, plus other species.”
There were many mountains to the west of the western sector; few zombies usually came from there, so it was the weakest point in their defenses.
Lin Tantan immediately had someone relieve her, climbed down, and ran south.
When she arrived, Ye Xiao was already there, peering through a spyglass. The men who’d been defending the spot hurriedly set up more lights, preparing to meet the attack.
Lin Tantan climbed the steps onto the wall and came up beside Ye Xiao. “What’s the situation?”
Ye Xiao handed her the binoculars. They had night vision, and through the absolute black she could make out shapes running in the distance.
In the blur she could pick out rats and some things skittering close to the ground, probably the insects Bai Cheng had mentioned, rabbits, chickens, snakes, even sheep and cattle. Some were running, some flopped, some crawled. There seemed to be a lot of them, and they all looked like zombified animals.
Ye Xiao said, “They must have come out of the mountains.” His expression was stern; the numbers were indeed larger, but with him, Lin Tantan, and the few dozen people here, they should be able to handle it.
He silently drew on his inner energy. In the past few days he’d worked out a new way to use his power, far more potent than a simple wind blade, though still a bit awkward to wield.
Lin Tantan put a finger to her lips and blew a long, clear whistle.
Ye Xiao looked at her in surprise.
Lin Tantan smiled. “I’ll see if I can call in some help.”
After about a minute Ye Xiao heard rustling, and under the dim light a swarm of dark shapes came running from who knew where, like a black torrent, charging into the advancing animal horde.
The animal wave was scattered, and then the two groups clashed.
After a raw, inarticulate roar from some unknown creature, most of the animals regrouped and resumed their advance toward them.
Ye Xiao narrowed his eyes, quickly locating the source of the sound. Lin Tantan’s face darkened. “They’ve got a commander?”
Ye Xiao said in a low voice, “Prepare to meet them.”
The assorted zombified animals arrived quickly. Ye Xiao reached out; his long fingers were still sharp and elegant against the night, as if they contained boundless force. The air around them fell unnaturally still, so quiet it made Lin Tantan’s heart race, and then several columns of wind suddenly whipped up from below.
Lin Tantan’s pupils tightened and she looked at Ye Xiao sharply.
The lights were all trained outside the high wall; where they stood was left in shadow, so Ye Xiao’s face wasn’t clear. Lin Tantan couldn’t make out his expression, but she could see the deep, steady line of his profile and the resolute, solemn light reflected in his eyes.
Her chest tightened. She drew in a breath, how had he improved so fast? He’s practically at Level Two, isn’t he?
The wind columns were like miniature tornadoes, terrifying in force. They whipped up dust and lifted the animals into the air, funneling them into the center and corralling them together.
Then Ye Xiao called softly, “Fire!”
Several obviously modified heavy barrels had been set up on the high wall. The men manning them pulled the triggers. With each recoil something roared into the clustered animals; the shots detonated and fierce flames erupted instantly.
After a few volleys, swathes of the zombified animals were dead and many more were engulfed by the inferno.
Of course some weren’t touched by the flames and still charged down the trench. Lin Tantan flicked her right hand and five golden blades shot out, neatly severing the heads of five zombified animals.
The others moved in to finish off the trapped ones.
Thanks to the tremendous force of Ye Xiao’s wind pillars, the rest was cleanup work, and surprisingly easy.
Another wave of zombified animals surged forward. Ye Xiao gave a light push with his hand and sent out a broad gust. The wind fed the flames, wrapping the creatures in fire. The blaze roared higher and wider, at that moment Ye Xiao was more fire than a fire user.
Lin Tantan felt equal parts admiration and pride. This was strength. She thought of the fire user under Zhou Li from earlier who’d summoned burning chains, locking and burning two zombies at once looked petty in comparison, like a novice showing off before a master.
She happily helped Ye Xiao with the finishing blows. Ye Xiao unleashed another wind pillar; everyone moved in perfect sync, and the once-menacing animal horde from the mountains was soon wiped out.
Silence fell on the wall. After making sure there were no stragglers, everyone relaxed and turned to Ye Xiao with looks of pure worship.
Without Ye Xiao, this fight would have been extremely difficult.
Lin Tantan’s eyes sparkled, but she was still worried. She leaned in and asked quietly, “Are you all right?”
Ye Xiao shook his head slightly, peering into a patch of darkness. He picked up the binoculars again and studied them for a moment. “That commander thing is gone.”
“It slipped away?” Lin Tantan wondered whether it had been a zombie or some other animal. Anything capable of command either had unusually high intelligence, exceptional strength, or both, making it the hardest to deal with.
The apocalypse had only been underway for two weeks, and already leadership roles were appearing among these creatures.
“Squeak! Squeak!”
Suddenly a chorus of squeaks rose up and everyone tensed, but Lin Tantan said, “Don’t worry, it’s friendly.”
She blew another whistle and signaled everyone to stand down. Then a plump, light-gray rat climbed onto the wall, followed by a string of smaller rats.
Black ones, white ones, brown ones; long-tailed, short-tailed; pointy-eared, round-eared; long-haired, short-haired, a motley three or four dozen in all. They were a mixed bunch, and mostly pretty filthy.
People gaped at the parade of rodents. Ye Xiao blinked, then said, “They were the ones who helped us, weren’t they?” He looked at the lead gray rat and the corner of his mouth twitched. “Looks like you picked the right pet, big help. But that wasn’t all, was it?”
Lin Tantan studied the gray rat as it chirped. Not fluent in rat-speech, she guessed, “They probably didn’t bring the others with them.” She inspected them one by one, confirmed none bore grievous wounds, and told Ye Xiao, “They helped us, let’s give them a little reward.”
“Reward for what?”
A few minutes later, in a small room, Ye Xiao had a box of canned meat and Lin Tantan a box of sausages; they handed them out one by one to the rats and mice, each one chomping away with obvious delight.
Ye Xiao glanced at Lin Tantan, who watched the creatures with a smiling, almost “kindly” expression. He felt a mix of helplessness and amusement. He’d seen girls feeding stray cats and dogs, feeding birds and pigeons, but feeding a whole bunch of rats was a first.
Looking them over, okay, not all were ordinary rats; a few were actually rather prized pet mice.
Watching the group eat made Lin Tantan suddenly hungry. She plopped down on the floor, peeled a sausage for herself, and asked Ye Xiao, “Is everything outside okay for now?”
“Mm. No new zombies for the moment. There might be another wave later tonight,” Ye Xiao said.
Lin Tantan said, “Then take the chance to rest for a bit. By the way, are you really all right?”
“What?”
She pointed at his face. “You don’t look well. Those two rounds of wind pillars earlier, weren’t they a bit much?”
Ye Xiao was about to insist he was fine, perfectly fine, when something made him pause. He touched his face. “Is it that obvious?” He sat down beside her; his handsome features showed a faint weariness. “I do feel a little tired.”
Lin Tantan was startled, getting Ye Xiao to admit he was tired meant he must be really, really exhausted. Seeing his drawn look, she felt a pang of sympathy. “And you still used so many wind pillars, plus two whole rounds, we could have taken our time.”
“Those animal-zombies move too fast. If we don’t deal with them quickly it’s dangerous. Don’t worry, I’ll rest a bit and be fine.”
Lin Tantan had no argument. This was just how Ye Xiao was: if he could handle something, he wouldn’t spare himself and make others take greater risks.
She sighed inwardly, thought for a moment, then, through his clothing, gripped his forearm and gently sent over her wood-type ability. Her power could heal, so it naturally helped relieve fatigue, though much of Ye Xiao’s weariness came from overusing his own ability.
Ye Xiao looked at the open concern on her face; it felt as if that soothing energy flowed straight into his heart, making him feel like he was soaking in warm water.
She really does care about me, he thought.