Chapter 47

Inside that dark field, raindrops suddenly fell slower, the zombies' forward motion slowed, those that had almost reached the vehicles moved like they were in slow motion.
At the same time the black substance seemed corrosive, sizzling across the zombies' skin and eating it away.
With a few swift slashes, several streaks of metallic light cut through the darkness, toppling dozens of zombies in a matter of seconds. Mei Baisheng felt the pressure ease and withdrew his power, panting.
A clear, crisp female voice came to his ear: "Corrosion must target vital areas. They're zombies, even if you corrode a layer of flesh, they can still run and jump."
Mei Baisheng wiped the rain from his face and nodded.
"But buying that precious time at a critical moment is already impressive," Lin Tantan added.
Mei Baisheng laughed. "True enough."
Then he hoisted the machine gun again and resumed mowing them down.
Before long, the convoy left outside had thinned; the last major unit began moving through the base gates.
A massive swarm of zombies followed behind the convoy, huge and fierce, like a frothing, white-tipped wave at high tide. Nobody knew where they'd come from.
"Roar!" A zombie bellowed and, springing like a coiled beast, leaped several meters and landed with a slap on the roof of the last vehicle. Those inside screamed. The zombie swung a hand and an invisible force tore two long gashes across the roof. Lin Tantan, watching, narrowed her eyes, wind-type zombie!
She was about to act when a sudden gale swept through, driving the rain nearly horizontal. The zombie that had been peering into the vehicle was knocked down, splattering a huge puddle of muck.
A dark figure hurtled in and blasted the wind-type zombie back into the horde behind it.
It was Ye Xiao!
Then the familiar whirlwinds reappeared, four vortices rising from nowhere, flinging rain and scooping up zombies. The four merged into a single massive cyclone, and countless zombies were swept up and dragged several meters like rags in a drum washer, then hurled into the group behind them, flattening whole swathes.
Ye Xiao called back, "Move! Now!"
The vehicle tried to gun its engine, but the standing water on the ground began freezing inch by inch, and the tires of the last few cars were quickly locked in ice.
Ye Xiao's gaze tightened, his soles had frozen too; frost and ice climbed up his legs. He leapt onto the roof, scanned the horde along the icy path to find which one had done it, and shouted, "Fire users! Who's fire?"
Lin Tantan suddenly jumped down from the armored vehicle, stamped her foot on the ground, and countless hard, sharp spikes shot up from the earth, piercing the ice in an instant.
The ice created by powers was never the same as real ice; once the power was broken, the hard sheet instantly turned into cloudy slush. The vehicle that had been flooring it splashed and fired up again; Ye Xiao, thrown off balance by inertia, didn’t quite stay upright on the truck, but he quickly adjusted and, helped by a gust of wind, landed smoothly and with a practiced swagger.
He looked at Lin Tantan in surprise, but the heavy curtain of rain kept her from meeting his gaze. She pressed a hand into the mud; a current of energy spread rapidly underground. The soil beneath the distant horde of zombies suddenly grew softer and muddier, sinking them several inches and trapping them like a quagmire.
When she finished, Lin Tantan felt a tightness in her chest and a wave of nausea; her head spun, the usual aftereffect when her power was drained. She swayed as she tried to stand and then plopped down into the mud.
The sound of heavy footsteps splashing closer. A large hand pressed to her forehead and pushed her wet hair aside: "You okay?"
"Huh?" Lin Tantan looked at Ye Xiao, bewildered, wasn't he way over there? How did he get here so fast?
"Come." Ye Xiao had her hook her arm around his neck and with a single effort hoisted her up.
"Wah, no, n-no, you don't have to!"
But she was already lifted, and Ye Xiao's voice cut through: "Retreat! Back to the base!"
The gun truck and the people immediately headed for the base gate, falling in just behind the Tenth Battalion. The armored vehicle brought up the rear; on it, Mei Baisheng and Bai Cheng kept firing. As the zombies closed in, Mei Baisheng unleashed another burst, a hemispherical, viscous black field spread out, and every zombie within that semi-arc faltered.
The armored car drove through the base gate smoothly, Ye Xiao carrying Lin Tantan behind it. As they entered, the gate slammed shut with a bang; the zombies could only fling themselves at the doors, smashing and clawing.
When the gate closed, everyone let out a collective sigh, as if saved from catastrophe. Ye Xiao set Lin Tantan down and before he could speak, Mei Baisheng tumbled from the vehicle and began to retch, using his power too violently at once always left him like this. Lin Tantan wasn't as bad, but seeing him vomit made her feel faintly ill; she clutched her waist and gagged.
Ye Xiao steadied her with one hand and gently patted her back with the other.
"Oh ho, someone's hooked up, huh? Still hauling ass in the rain, impressive!" A flippant voice cut through. A troop armed with live rounds strode through the rain; at their head was a young man of vaguely mixed features, his hair dyed chestnut and probably permed, a silver earring dangling from his ear. Even in an ordinary raincoat he looked trendy and loud, a stylish, brash sort.
He smiled around at the group. "Sorry we're late. But seeing you all inside safely puts me at ease. Ah, because of you lot, we've attracted a whole mess of zombies; it's kept us busy, I can tell you."
Lin Tantan straightened and regarded him coolly, trying to place if she'd heard of him before; as for his jibes, they weren't worth answering.
She thought the convoy's entry had taken over ten minutes; if they had truly intended to help, how could they only be arriving now? It seemed people like them were not exactly welcome at the base, or maybe the Ning City base had always been this way, indifferent to the fate of new survivors.
Much of it, she figured, probably came down to overcrowding and scarce supplies; while numbers are wealth, if you can't feed them, more people are just a headache.
Ye Xiao didn't bother with pleasantries either. "Even without us, the zombies would have come. By the way, Major General Xing is still over ten kilometers away; we don't know his status right now."
The young man's expression shifted. "The commander wants to see you."
"We need a place to stay."
"We'll talk about that later. Going to see the commander is more important."
Ye Xiao stood his ground. "My people are soaked and need to wash and rest right away."
The youth frowned. "With over a hundred thousand people, where would you suddenly find that many places?"
"You don't need that many. Just arrange shelter for those who got soaked first."
The young man gritted his teeth. "Fine, I’ll have people take them there right away, okay?"
Ye Xiao then said to Bai Cheng, "Bai Cheng, make the arrangements."
"Okay," Bai Cheng replied.
Ye Xiao turned back to Lin. "When we get there, take a shower and get some rest."
Lin Tantan's face was pale, her lips white as well. "Are you going to see Xing Guoliang later?"
"Not sure. Depends what the commander here thinks; me going alone won't do much," Ye Xiao said. "But none of that is your concern, just rest. Especially you: so many people got soaked today; who knows how many will fall ill. You may still have to help."
Lin Tantan thought for a moment and nodded. "I understand." She glanced at Ye Xiao's wet clothes; her lips moved, as if she wanted to say something.
Ye Xiao smiled. "You forget what my power is, wind dries things fast."
Lin: ...Wind-dry? I didn't know you could use it like that.
But since it had been said, she didn't want to hold him up. Lin Tantan sighed inwardly. "Be careful."
The two of them might not realize it themselves, but others could see clearly: when Ye Xiao spoke to Lin Tantan, his voice dropped and softened by more than just a notch compared with how he spoke to others. The atmosphere between them felt distinctively different.
The mixed-blood youth rolled his eyes. "What time is this for romantic nonsense?"
Lin froze, then felt a jolt of panic. Her first instinct was to check Bai Cheng, but she couldn't read anything from him. Feeling suddenly self-conscious, she stepped back two paces and put distance between herself and Ye Xiao, as if she'd just committed some grave misdeed.
Ye Xiao: "..."
Ye Xiao looked coldly at the half-blood youth. "If time really mattered to you, your commander shouldn't have waited for me to come to him. He should have come himself, or at least issued meaningful orders immediately."
The half-blood youth choked on his words and was about to speak, but Ye Xiao had already said, "Let's go."
Ye Xiao left in the base vehicle; the others tidied themselves and headed for their lodgings. Under a distant eave, Xu Tianjin stared blankly as the car passed and murmured, "Ye Xiao... it really is Ye Xiao."
Zhou Yan smiled and asked him, "You know this Ye Xiao?"
"Uh, I've heard of him."
"Seems like a formidable figure. His people are strong too, they held off that tide of corpses for minutes on end. Truly admirable."
"Yeah." Xu Tianjin watched the figures left at the gate, blurred by the heavy rain. Were those members of Ye Xiao's team? That person called Mei-something is probably already dead. If only Dr. Lin could see this, she's a fan of Ye Xiao.
Then he fell into a tangle of feelings. He admired and was grateful to Dr. Ye for saving him. Now Dr. Ye's idol stood before him, yet here he was, about to hitch himself to Zhou Yan, perhaps even to help Zhou Yan in the future?
Zhou Yan glanced at him and told the others, "Let's go. My brother seems to be in that convoy, let's take a look."
...
Aside from Lin Tantan and the others, who were drenched through, the men on the artillery vehicle and the psychics and guards who had come out to help were in terrible shape too, some were caked in mud from head to toe. The weather was cold, and in sodden, heavy clothes they were all trembling uncontrollably.
They were settled in a fairly decent residential area, one of the few places in the Ning City base still on limited, scheduled water and power. Lin Tantan and her group were taken to the villa district. Not fashionable villas, just country-style houses at the foot of a hill, red roofs and white walls, very rustic.