52: Million-zombie horde riot

Above Luocheng

A camouflage-painted military reconnaissance plane, like a bolt of silver lightning tearing through the gloomy sky, roared over Luocheng. Inside the cockpit, the pilot, Chen Feng, gripped the control stick tightly, his face tense beneath his helmet as sweat slid down his forehead. His sharp gaze peered down through the bulletproof window, and the sight before him made him gasp, a chill rushing from his spine to the top of his head.

Below, the once-prosperous Luocheng had now turned into a squirming, nauseating sea of corpses. Countless gray, decaying figures, as if driven by an invisible whip, surged out of the broken buildings and twisted alleys with an unprecedented, near-frenzied posture! They were no longer aimless wanderers but had converged into foul torrents emitting the stench of death, galloping with a clear objective in the same direction—toward Xingyang Base! The density was such that it seemed as if all the "residents" of Luocheng had been awakened and were coming out in full force!

"Reporting to headquarters! Reporting to headquarters!!" Chen Feng's voice trembled slightly with shock as he quickly dialed the communication channel. "Direction of Luocheng! A massive abnormal gathering of zombies has occurred! The numbers are... difficult to estimate! Repeat, difficult to estimate! Direction of movement... clearly pointing towards Xingyang Base! Specific cause... under further investigation! Over!"

A steady but equally grave reply came from the base Commander over the communicator: "Headquarters acknowledges. Continue reconnaissance and be sure to find out the cause! Report any new developments immediately!"

"Understood!" Chen Feng took a deep breath, suppressed the throbbing in his heart, and pushed the control stick. The fighter plane circled over the Zombie Tide like a falcon, not missing any clues.

After several circles, the clues seemed hidden deep within the deathly silent city. When the reconnaissance plane lowered its altitude and swept past the iconic Luocheng TV Tower, Chen Feng's pupils suddenly contracted! At the tip! Atop that towering spire, a bizarre figure stood prominently!

It was not human. It stood about two and a half meters tall, with a hunched back and skin of a grayish-blue hue characteristic of a corpse, covered in sparse black hair like dried bird feathers. Most chilling of all were the pair of huge, bat-like membrane wings on its back! At this moment, it stood steadily on the narrow spire, its head tilted back as it emitted bursts of highly piercing, non-human roars at the galloping sea of corpses below! The roar seemed to contain some primitive command; with every expansion of the sound waves, the speed of the Zombie Tide below seemed to quicken by a fraction!

"A Corpse King?!" A terrifying thought instantly seized Chen Feng. He was almost certain that this winged monster was commanding this horrific Zombie Tide! Without the slightest hesitation, a strong sense of mission overwhelmed his fear. He slammed the control stick forward, the fighter's engine letting out an angry roar as the nose dipped, diving down toward the TV Tower! The crosshairs of the machine gun were firmly locked onto the hideous figure at the tip! He had to destroy it while it was off guard!

Altitude dropped rapidly: 800 meters... 700 meters... 600 meters... As the fighter approached the dangerous altitude of 500 meters, the Winged Corpse King on the spire seemed to sense a fatal threat. It abruptly stopped its roaring, and its head, covered in sparse black hair, twisted 180 degrees at a bizarre angle. A pair of eyes burning with ghostly green fire precisely locked onto the diving fighter!

"Not good!" Alarm bells rang in Chen Feng's mind, his finger already poised on the machine gun trigger! However, in that split second, a sudden change occurred!

The Winged Corpse King let out an even sharper, ear-piercing shriek and violently flapped its massive membrane wings! The air around the spire seemed to be instantly sucked away, forming a visible vortex! Its seemingly heavy body erupted with incredible speed, like a black arrow released from a bow, or a fighter jet from hell, charging boldly toward the diving plane!

It was too fast! Faster than Chen Feng's reaction limit! He pulled back on the stick desperately, trying to pull the plane up to evade. But it was all too late!

"Bang—Crack!"

A tooth-gritting loud noise! Sharp claws covered in bone spurs, like a siege ram forged of steel, easily tore through the sturdy bulletproof glass of the cockpit! The shattered transparent crystals splattered like hail. Following that, a thick arm covered in viscous filth and emitting a strong stench of death flashed into the cockpit! Cold, hard claws like iron pincers clamped tightly around Chen Feng's neck!

"Ugh... cough..." Chen Feng's face instantly turned purple-red from suffocation, his eyeballs bulging as his hands clawed futilely at the non-human arm, like an ant trying to shake a tree. Intense pain and the coldness of death swallowed him instantly. In the final moment before his consciousness sank into darkness, he used the last bit of strength remaining in his lungs to convulsively press the communication button. A hoarse, broken voice, accompanied by splattered blood, squeezed out with difficulty from his throat:

"Corpse... Corpse... King..."

The communication stopped abruptly.

The Winged Corpse King bared its fangs in a bloody mouth, let out a satisfied hiss, and suddenly lowered its head to take a savage bite!

Inside the communication room of Xingyang Base, the atmosphere was as heavy as a block of lead. On the Radar screen, the signal point representing Vulture One flashed with an ominous red light. Operators wore their headsets, holding their breath and focusing their attention to catch every faint bit of static noise.

Suddenly, Chen Feng's intermittent, pain-filled, and terrified "Corpse... Corpse... King..." clearly spread throughout the communication room! Everyone's heart seemed to be gripped tightly by an invisible hand!

"This is headquarters! Please respond! Repeat, please respond! Report your situation!" The communications officer shouted hoarsely into the microphone, his voice cracking with tension. Responding to him was only a suffocating silence, followed by a sharp, ear-piercing long beep representing the complete interruption of communication.

"Beep————————"

Dead silence. An absolute dead silence enveloped the communication room. The operators looked at each other, their faces pale, seeing the immense fear and disbelief in each other's eyes.

"Corpse... Corpse King?" A young communications soldier's voice trembled. "What Chen Feng just said was... Corpse King? Could it be... that something is really commanding them?!"

"Quick!" The officer suddenly snapped back to his senses, his voice sharp with extreme urgency. "Immediately notify all city wall guards! Level one combat readiness! Sound the highest alarm! The zombies are launching an organized attack! Repeat, the zombies are launching an organized attack!"