Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 294 - 20 The Fuse

Chapter 294 -20 The Fuse

“Roar~”

These reanimated corpses were as nimble as wild apes. They leapt down in succession, wielding sabers, and their military boots created cracked pits in the ground as they landed.

The saber-wielding corpses stood erect, their upper bodies straight, eyes fiercely watchful.

The old man chewed the peanuts to a pulp yet spoke with clear enunciation, “Their combat style is similar to Wandering Deity soldiers, but they seem to only use daggers and sabers. Like other reanimated corpses, they must have their brains destroyed to be killed. Moreover, this group of corpses possesses quite a high degree of collective combat experience, almost indistinguishable from that of regular wasteland veterans.”

He paused, then continued, “These corpses don’t breathe or have a body temperature; they’re masters at stealth and invasion. I was so focused on you that I ended up being caught off guard.”

Li Yan stepped aside, his foot pushing a dust-coated handgun toward Song Zuo’s feet, “Where’s your sniper rifle?”

“Left it in the building; in that situation, grabbing the gun would have cost me my life.” Song Zuo added, “Don’t worry, my customized RS107 isn’t something an ordinary third-tier Hunter can use, let alone these corpses.”

The leading saber-wielding corpse tightly gripped the Russian Chachik in its hand and in a flash had halved the distance to Li Yan.

Li Yan’s spear trembled, and Devouring Blade, like a living thing, thrust towards the space between the corpse’s eyes. Unexpectedly, the saber-wielding corpse dodged, and although Li Yan struck it into an awkward retreat, it sustained no real damage.

“Huh?”

Surprised, Li Yan couldn’t help but voice his astonishment. Ordinary corpses, even when wielding firearms, still resembled primitive animals due to their instincts, with almost no surveillance awareness. Their dwellings were closed structures, which gave Li Yan, a slaughterer wielding a hammer, the upper hand. Even those specializing in close combat with sharp fangs and claws stood no chance against the Tiger Head Bronze Spear, nicknamed “Gun Lance Fang”—they’d simply die more miserably. Yet here, the saber-wielding corpses could survive a round against Li Yan, which was something he hadn’t encountered since arriving at Great Demon Lake.

[Beta-Level Radioactive Corpses]

Originally survivors of a nuclear disaster, they were infected by intense radiation, becoming elite corpses with normal intelligence and combat experience from before their transformation, greatly enhanced in random directions corresponding to types of Genetically Modified Agents.

Note: According to incomplete records found by Kuang Zhuoma, these are formidable monstrosities of Great Demon Lake, close to the core area, identified by the pre-Winter institutions as “β” level. Their activity is on par with regular first-tier to second-tier soldiers, occasionally producing variants of the third tier. However, due to the intense radiation in their blood and the shared trait of needing brain destruction for a kill, they are much more troublesome to deal with than gene-modified troops of the same scale.

Occasional third-tiers? From what I see, each of these “Soviet Iron Fists” isn’t any weaker than Abaningma.

So Li Yan thought.

The saber-wielding corpses closed in on the dead-end alley, their faces expressionless, yet sending chills down one’s spine.

Suddenly, a roar from one of the corpses sounded like a battle horn, as the “Iron Fists” fearlessly charged forward, raising their Chachik military sabers.

Li Yan snorted softly through his nose, his great spear dancing in his hands like a dragon. The shimmering cold platinum flow almost filled the entire alley.

Song Zuo held his pistol steady, the bandage on his neck having come loose during the skirmish, exposing a collarbone covered in red scars and scabs. Yet his grotesquely shriveled body burst with sudden vitality, as the blistering bullets fired from his gun in mere seconds struck each of the saber-wielding corpses in the eye sockets without fail.

The bursts of gunfire and the clanging of weapons echoed throughout the desolate ruins.

The blood-stained boots trembled slightly, a saber belonging to one of the corpses snapped in two, leaving a serrated edge, and several others had their Chachik blades flung aside by a few casual twists of “Dragon’s Craned Neck” from Li Yan’s hand. Ghastly wounds were added to their bodies.

However, not a single corpse fell under Li Yan’s spear; instead, it was Song Zuo’s bullets that took down two saber-wielding corpses.

Li Yan didn’t mind. Judging by Yan Fu’s standards of strength, these saber-wielding corpses’ close combat skills were at about 80%, and besides their heads, they had no real weak points. The fact that he was able to dominate them in combat was due to having the advantage of terrain and a longer weapon.

“Let’s go outside to fight, they have backup coming,”

Song Zuo told Li Yan.

Li Yan glanced at him and stepped forward, his great spear instantly bursting with an even more dazzling torrent of metal, forcefully driving back the fearless group of saber-wielding corpses out of the alley. Song Zuo rolled to his feet, swiftly reloading and firing, providing relentless support behind Li Yan’s defense.

Seeing the tide turning, the horde of corpses didn’t hesitate to turn and flee. Li Yan had no intention of pursuing, but the thought crossed his mind, what if they had reinforcements armed with actual firearms…

Suddenly, an angry Tibetan curse from Song Zuo reached Li Yan’s ears as he saw one of the corpses, covering its eye sockets, pull out a shiny, round object from its pouch. Li Yan felt his scalp tingle at the sight.

With a throwing range of thirty to forty meters, an effective kill radius of thirty-five meters, and a short fuse, it was known as the “Glorious Grenade”—the Soviet F1 hand grenade.

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“Damn!”

Li Yan cursed angrily.

Song Zuo had sharp eyesight; at this moment, he didn’t care about Li Yan. Without a word, he darted toward the doorway beside him and threw himself to the ground. The terrifying sound of air being ripped followed, along with the onslaught of shrapnel blasting through the air like a violent storm.

In the muffled boom accompanied by a frightening splashing sound, Li Yan burst forth from the water, his hair and clothes completely soaked. Streams of clear water as thick as water tanks swirled around him, dancing gracefully.

Li Yan looked around and saw that the zombies had scattered, hiding in the surrounding ruins. Just one meter away from where Li Yan stood, in a cramped partition, several zombies were hiding behind a white ash wall. One of them, a sabre-wielding zombie, pulled a bullet that had nearly gone through its leg. As it showed its head, Li Yan caught a clear sight of it.

That zombie clearly paused for a moment, not expecting Li Yan to be unscathed.

Li Yan’s expression was grim as he raised his right hand, aiming the dark golden hand cannon at the partition and pulled the trigger.

Angry Shocker!

Boom!!

In an instant, the white ash wall was riddled with holes, blood plasma staining the entire partition. The zombies inside looked like pieces of an unfinished human puzzle, a sight of extreme brutality.

By this time, the majestic stream that had been on Li Yan’s body had disappeared, and the remaining zombies had already fled, no longer entangling with Li Yan, the harbinger of death.

Old man Song Zuo wiped his face and stood up. Li Yan, with a semblance of a smile, said, “The zombies in your clearing range seem to be a lot more difficult to deal with than mine.”

“That charred building is their nest.”

Song Zuo, expressionless, said, “Inside, there are bio-research samples left by the superpower before the onset of winter.”

…

Meanwhile, in the heart of Great Demon Lake.

If β-level radioactive zombies possessed combat intelligence indistinguishable from normal humans, then α-level radioactive zombies were endowed with humanity’s prized creative talent and independent thinking. In a sense, they should be considered a subspecies of humans.

Brown silk stockings, mid-calf black leather boots, silver-grey military uniform, golden shoulder boards, and a grey fur cylindrical hat.

Winter Yak, the former Soviet female officer named Vera.

This was inside a black building akin to a battlefield fortress, with black carpets on the floor, swan-shaped chandeliers, vintage record players, and even black-and-white film reels of Joan Crawford.

“No offense intended, honorable Iron Lady.”

The same black eye sockets and the pale skin, but unlike Winter Yak, whose face was shriveled beyond recognition, the speaking man with white short hair and a fluent Moscow accent seemed almost indistinguishable from a living person.

“I haven’t seen the shadow of a fourth-order soldier.”

The man slowly shook his head: “Moreover, my guard is still at their post, and as for the periphery, that’s not important.”

Winter Yak had been hanging her head, but something triggered her to suddenly jerk it up and furiously pull the trigger at the white-haired man!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Flames burst in midair, and the air suddenly distorted. A figure with a stunning figure clad in a black latex bodysuit rolled out, her big wavy magenta hair cascading like a waterfall. The woman, clutching her shoulder, was in pain with a touch of ferocity.

“Shooting at me?”

Boom!

The black stone fortress burst open with a three-meter-high hole as Hao, emotionless, stood on top of a silver-grey armored vehicle, holding an RPG. The cap-wearing boy inside the vehicle laughed loudly, “JOJO, I told you exploding soldiers were straightforward, now you’ve had a setback, huh?”

Winter Yak turned the gun barrel, aiming at Hao, who had revealed his upper body. Unexpectedly, a chandelier suddenly fell from above, her quick reflexes had her rolling away to dodge, and in the process she fired two shots, hitting a steel cable.

Yin Xiong, expressionless, retracted the steel cable.

The white-haired man stood up with a grim expression, “Who are you?”

“Kuang Zhuoma.”

JOJO continued, glancing at the white-haired man and comparing him with a photo, “The manipulator of Great Demon Lake, the prophet of the α-level radioactive zombies, not that impressive after all.”

A bluish flame spread rapidly as the man with the cigar leapt off the armoured vehicle, and a crowd surged behind him, fully-armed Kuang Zhuoma Guards!

“Cut the crap, just kill it.”