39: Ironback Zombie

The last one remaining was that Ironback Zombie with the most abnormal defense, its skin shimmering with a metallic luster!

Its original opponent was Yang Ning, an elite Heavy Infantry soldier from the Second Company.

Yang Ning's exoskeleton armor provided powerful strength and defense. His Iron Fist, carrying the roar of hydraulic drives, slammed into the Ironback Zombie, but only produced a dull "clang, clang" sound, like striking steel!

The armor-piercing rounds fired from his enhanced M249 machine gun could only splash a few sparks against its body, leaving behind only shallow white marks!

The Ironback Zombie not only had astonishing defense but also speed far exceeding that of ordinary zombies. Li Ang tried several times to lock onto its head with his sniper rifle, but it dodged by moving rapidly and irregularly!

"Yang Ning! Fall back! Let me handle this iron lump!"

Li Wei finished off the Butcher and immediately turned his target toward this tough nut to crack.

He gave a loud shout, lunged forward, and held his magnetic alloy shield steadily in front of him.

Hearing this, Yang Ning immediately performed a tactical roll, vacating the main attack position.

The Ironback Zombie seemed angered. Its scarlet eyes locked onto the newly appeared Li Wei. It let out a low growl, its massive body bringing a foul wind, and its sand-pot-sized steel fist, carrying immense power, slammed fiercely into Li Wei's shield!

"Boom—!!!"

A dull, heart-stopping boom! The shield didn't budge, but the ground beneath Li Wei's feet cracked open!

The immense impact force made his arm go numb.

Instead of being alarmed, he grinned, revealing his stark white teeth: "Hey, big dummy, nice hit!"

Before he finished speaking, Li Wei slammed the current switch on the inside of the shield!

"Zzzzt—!!!"

Blinding blue-white electric light, like violent lightning snakes, instantly spread from the surface of the shield!

The terrifying current of tens of thousands of volts flowed along the Ironback Zombie's steel fist and surged madly into its body!

"Roar—!!!"

The Ironback Zombie let out an unprecedented, shrill roar mixed with pain and anger!

Its massive body trembled violently, emitting charred, foul-smelling black smoke from its surface, and its metallic-lustered skin instantly turned charred black!

Like a beast burned by a branding iron, it violently retracted its fist. The immense force made it stagger backward for over ten meters before it could barely steady itself. Its scarlet eyes stared fixedly at Li Wei, filled with violent murderous intent!

"Little guy, how does the electrotherapy feel? It's not over yet!"

Li Wei did not let up, slammed his shield onto the ground again, and shouted: "Meteor Fall!"

Rumble!

The space above the Ironback Zombie distorted, and dozens of rocks, burning with earthy yellow flames and about half a meter in diameter, appeared out of thin air, slamming down like dense artillery shells with a whistling wind!

"Roar!" Although heavily injured, the Ironback Zombie's ferocity remained undiminished. It waved its arms, actually smashing the meteors falling toward it one by one with its fists! Rock fragments flew everywhere!

Braving the falling rocks, it roared and charged toward Li Wei again, determined to tear this guy who electrocuted it to pieces!

"Earth Spikes!" Li Wei activated his Supernatural Ability again and slammed his shield fiercely into the ground!

"Puff, puff, puff, puff—!!!"

The hard concrete ground instantly shattered, and dozens of razor-sharp rock spikes, half a meter high, broke through the ground like bamboo shoots after rain, densely blocking the Ironback Zombie's path of charge!

This sudden obstacle greatly restricted its movements, which were already sluggish from the electric shock!

Just then!

Li Ang (Commander of the Second Company), who had been lurking on the flank like a viper, looking for the best sniper angle, had eyes as sharp as an eagle!

He had long since locked the muzzle of his Barrett sniper rifle onto the Ironback Zombie's body, which had momentarily stiffened due to being blocked by the earth spikes! His finger steadily pulled the trigger!

"Bang—!!!"

A loud noise like a thunderclap on flat ground! The 12.7mm high-explosive armor-piercing round, carrying a scream that tore through the air, accurately drilled into the Ironback Zombie's eye!

"Puff!"

Like a watermelon bursting! The Ironback Zombie's incredibly hard skull exploded like paper in the face of the Barrett's destructive power!

Red, white, mixed with charred metal fragments, sprayed out radially!

The headless body swayed for a moment, then collapsed with a boom like a mountain of gold and a pillar of jade falling, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Whew... it's damn tough!"

Li Wei put away his shield, walked forward, and used his Black Dragon alloy military knife to laboriously pry open the Ironback Zombie's hard skull, picking out a yellow crystal core that was larger than the ordinary white ones from the mess.

"Rapidly contract the defense line! All Heavy Infantry squads stay behind to establish fire support points! Leave four more infantry squads to guard, relying on cover! Everyone else, follow me into the building, target: gold!"

Zhang Lei's voice was resolute, carrying unquestionable authority.

He wiped the splattered blood from his face and was the first to rush toward the bullet-riddled and glass-shattered entrance of the Tai'an Commercial Building.

The zombies on the first floor of the building had been alerted during the intense firefight just now, but there weren't many, and most were ordinary zombies.

Under the precise and efficient crossfire of the elite soldiers, over a hundred zombies fell quickly like harvested wheat, their foul blood staining the clean marble floor red.

"Split up! Zou Laofu, Fenghuanglou, Huaguojin, and Zhou Xiaofu! The four branded jewelry stores, must be scavenged clean! Move fast!"

Zhang Lei quickly assigned tasks.

As a large county with a population of one million, the scale and number of jewelry stores in Tai'an County's commercial center far exceeded those of Yongjiang County, and this was the biggest goal of this trip!

The soldiers, like well-trained worker ants, quickly divided into small teams, smashed open the bulletproof glass counters of the jewelry stores, and swept all the gold ornaments, gold bars, platinum jewelry, and even valuable items embedded with gemstones into specially made military backpacks lined with cushioning material.

The clattering of broken counters, the jingling of gold colliding, and the soldiers' rapid breathing were intertwined.

Tai'an Commercial Building Basement Level 2 - Civil Defense Garage:

(Civil defense garages are usually separated from ordinary parking spaces by heavy explosion-proof doors and have independent ventilation, power supply, and water storage systems, making them ideal shelters in the apocalypse)

Dark, humid, and the air was murky.

Hundreds of survivors huddled in the cold corners, relying only on a few emergency lights to provide weak light.

Despair, like a heavy lead weight, pressed on everyone's heart.

Suddenly!

"Boom... rat-tat-tat... bang!"

The faint, dull, and rhythmic sound of gunfire and artillery penetrated the thick concrete layer and reached the deathly silent garage like a sound from heaven!

"Listen! Quick, listen! It's gunfire! It's artillery!"

A middle-aged man leaning against the door suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes bursting with incredible light, his voice hoarse and distorted with excitement.

"It's real! It's gunfire and artillery! Dense gunfire! And explosions!"

"It's the state! It must be the state that sent troops to save us! I knew it! The state won't abandon us!"

Another woman shouted with a crying tone, her voice echoing in the narrow space.

"It's the rescue troops! They've fought their way in!"

The flame of hope instantly ignited the lifeless crowd, and the suppressed sobbing turned into excited whispers and cheers.

"But..."

A timid voice sounded, filled with fear, "Outside... there are many zombies guarding outside the door... how can we go out to call for help?"

The atmosphere of joy was instantly doused by reality.

Outside the heavy civil defense door, an unknown number of zombies were wandering; that was a barrier of death they could not overcome.

"Ventilation duct!"

A young man wearing glasses, who looked somewhat scholarly, suddenly pointed to a square duct opening covered by a grille in the corner of the ceiling,

"That ventilation duct! I remember it leads to the air conditioning machine room in the first-floor lobby! We might be able to get out from there!"

"Right! The ventilation duct! Quick! We need someone small and agile to climb up!"

The middle-aged man immediately organized.

"I'll go!"

A small, thin boy, about fourteen or fifteen years old, squeezed out from the crowd. His face was dirty, but his eyes were unusually determined, "I'm thin, I can climb up!"

Everyone immediately took action.

Several strong men stacked themselves up, and using a crowbar and a fire axe, laboriously pried open the heavy metal grille of the ventilation duct, revealing a pitch-black duct opening.

The boy took a deep breath, and under everyone's expectant gaze, like a nimble gecko, he crawled into the narrow, dust-filled metal duct, climbing toward the faint light above and the sound of gunfire and artillery that symbolized hope.