146

The sky was darkest before dawn, the sun shined on the snow and ice. The people on the wall dealt with the attacking zombie birds while also watching the mix of black and white. Who knew how many bereaved birds were wantonly looking for food. The people were fearful since their walls were of no use against the birds.

Of course, when they looked outside, the walls seemed to still have some use.

There were many shadows in the snow, most of them small but some giant zombies were at the back. Mindlessly throwing the surrounding snow blocks, rocks and zombies over the wall.

Thankfully there were protective barbed metal on top of the wall to block the projectiles. But it was inevitable that some thrown zombies would try and climb the metal thorns.

It was a crisis, the base survivors had to think up a method to deal with the monstrous, giant zombies as soon as possible.

Luo Xun and team were very thankful that Puppy had an ability, although it was not super lethal, it was very useful in the present situation. They lived on the upper floors, as long as Puppy user gravity ability outside, the birds would splash against the ground.

The 16 storey building was at least 30 metres high. A fall from this height would cripple if not kill the zombies.

Unfortunately, since they were so far from the ground, it was not convenient to go out and pick up the cores. Otherwise they would simply let the dog deal with all the zombie birds and then they could go down and pick up the crystals – it would have been so convenient.

But although Puppy was very effective, her mental strength was very limited. After a while her tongue flopped and she looked very tired.

Luo Xun took some level one nuclei and put them in front for her to replenish, but Puppy twisted her head and showed no interest.

The inconvenience of communication barriers made Luo Xun scratch his head. However they could still fight zombies without Puppy's help. Right after Zhang Yi and Xu Mei cooperated – let them start burning off wings and other attacks!

Screams from downstairs and the neighborhood filled the air. Although it was better than when the zombie birds started attacking, but after a while there would sounds of explosions and collapsing buildings.

The team pressed down the uneasiness in their hearts and stopped themselves from looking away, focusing on the enemies in front of them. One shot after another, although the crossbow recoil was not comparable to large caliber firearms, too much was not bearable. Fortunately Yan Fei only opened two holes for shooting so that everyone could alternate. But sometimes metal zombies destroyed the outermost wall and then they had back up.

When they were outside base in the past, they faced thousands of zombies but they had strong metal cover, well designed traps and could use mushroom juice and petrol. Now they could only rely on the weapons in their hands and cycling through teammates.

The squad ground their teeth and continued fighting. The war continued from early morning into the afternoon...

"I'll get something to eat." Luo Xun unwittingly glanced at his phone screen – just some more useless news from base – have people who had been attacked by the birds hide in the underground bunker...Come on, until now they had not even dug a single cellar, where would they hide? It was now past 1:30 pm and they had not eaten since this morning!

"Find someone to go with you." Yan Fei needed to make sure of their safety outside the rooms. He had to keep an eye on mending the outer metal layers so he could not accompany Luo Xun.

Xu Mei said she would go and Puppy wagged her tail and suddenly came over.

Luo Xun rubber her head and laughed, "I'll take Puppy with us. We'll go back home and grab some tomatoes to mix with noodles and make them in the kitchen."

In the dark hallway, Luo Xun turned on the light while checking around.

The hallway looked as usual in contrast to the chaos outside. However there was fighting and screaming from inside the building. Once the zombie birds broke through a window, it could enter rooms. If someone opened their door to escape, the zombies would of course rush into the hallway.

Luo Xun walked lightly with his dog back to their home. He quickly went up to the second floor to remove some noodles. Then he went back to the kitchen to grab the basket of quail eggs and hurried back.

Before he entered, he heard the something crash into the iron gate on the 15th floor along with yelling.

Luo Xun ducked into the room. It was not that he would not rescue but they had to deal with the zombie birds targeting 1601. They could not spare any firepower of they would get killed due to enemies on all sides.

Li Tie had tomato sauce in their room – stuff Luo Xun had stored fot everyone.

Shredded some onion into the pot, added tomato sauce and let Song Lingling add water. Once the water started boiling, added the quail eggs.

The meal was simple but warm. Everyone took turns eating and manning the windows. Outside the window some zombie birds were once again ground bound due to Puppy.

"Zombie birds in the hallway, don't know from which floor but I heard some movement from the 14th floor but there should be no problems."

The crowd exchanged heavy looks.

Zhang Yi asked, "Go over and see?"

"I am afraid the scent of people will attract more to attack the gate." Luo Xun shook his head.

"Okay, everyone take turns resting while listening for movement in the hallway. If there is a problem, it would be best to be prepared in advance." Yan Fei suggested, it seemed like the only way.

For nearly an entire day, the densely packed flock of zombies attacked base. Then the battle finally reached its end.

People who survived the apocalypse until now had a strong danger sense even if they had little fighting power. Although the fighting power of the birds was murderous, it was not as much in comparison to some previous enemies.

In particular, they were unluckily living on the top floor so any waves would first land there. Then more powerful, higher level zombies would flock together.

Other people would also have to deal with stronger zombie birds but the lower floors were relatively safer. Someone could hide in places difficult for the birds to enter such as windowless storage rooms or bathrooms with tiny windows. Coupled with some safety measures, there were many people on base who could escape danger.

The backlash zombie siege started early in the morning after almost all the zombie birds had landed. Ability users had cleared the zombies near their homes and the rest of the soldiers fought back with weapons. After clearing the residential areas of military family members, they gradually cleared up the streets and neighborhoods.

At the same time, ability users from New Town also participated in the operation. While teams that did not live there, such as the Otaku squad received the call to help clean but they could not organize an effective counterattack at the moment and could only kill as many nearby zombies as possible. They gave priority to killing the zombies in their neighborhood.

The team had a relatively safe sleep, early the next morning they left Puppy, Yu Xinran and the five students while the remaining five would go together and kill the zombie birds in the hallway.

Although Li Tie and the others had no abilities, they could stay at home with enough weapons. Yu Xinran and Puppy had abilities that would be an effective defense. Each of them carried a mobile phone in order to receive information from the base. The phones had been well-charged overnight and they were ready for action.

147

A line of five people, each holding a crossbow, water gun and ammunition clips along with a backpack. Yan Fei was controlling metal so it followed wherever he went. Each of them wore waterproof raincoats, helmets, gloves and rain boots, armed to the teeth.

The group carefully approached the iron door separating the 14th and 15th floor. They heard no movement outside as they quietly opened the door. Once they confirmed that there was still nothing, they continued forward.

For safety reasons Yan Fei walked in front with a shield erected. His ability had increased to four, he did not know the exact effect of his level up but is was much easier to handle more metal.

In fact, Xu Mei and Zhang Yi had also risen to level four but Yu Xinran and Song Lingling had not found matching cores. Their ability had plateaued and only needed to appropriate nucleus to go further.

The group opened the door and walked step by step through the stairwell. THere was unknown liquid, maybe blood near the completely broken windows. The cold wind blew through and everyone felt a burst of cold. When they reached the 14th floor, everyone was ready to check out the situation. Yan Fei carefully looked outside, suddenly a metal shield flew in front of him!

*Whomp* The loud echo in the almost silent hallway served as a signal of war. From some other rooms there was the sound of strange footsteps and flapping wings.

""Pay attention and guard the corridor, priority to clearing out the zombie birds!" Luo Xun explained as he heard the sound.

Before they came down, Yan Fei had made large, dense shields that could be carried. Luo Xun and Song Lingling held their respective shields facing the corridor. The others were heavy firepower to clean up the zombie birds.

With Yan Fei in front, they soon figured out the situation of the 14th floor. The doors of 1401 and 1404 were wide open. A few zombies were lurking in the hallway and rushed out hearing noise. Although 1402 was closed, there was movement inside but it was definitely not a human voice.

As for the closed 1403, there was no movement so the situation was unclear.

*Wham, wham* Luo Xun felt something hit his shield. Song Lingling also felt the impact, the pair squatted to brace the shield.

Luo Xun pulled out his improved water gun, waiting for a chance to shoot the mushroom juice. He also mouthed to Song Lingling. "They move very fast, get up fast."

Song Lingling peeked over the shield, the corners of her mouth twitched. "They look hungry..."

Zhang Yi's wind had increased the lethality of Xu Mei's fireballs, which were whizzing through the hallway. His wind abilities were more precise so he could ensure that while the 14th floor hallway was also filled with wind, nothing got caught on fire.

Of course, the smoking zombie bird corpses that hit the walls did not count or the ones blown away.

As for Yan Fei, as long as he had metal in his hand and the opposing side was not metal based, it would be easily dealt with. For example, he manipulated the metal in front of him to pierce directly in the zombie heads. The zombies mistakenly underestimated the thin metal that suddenly crushed their heads...

Before the apocalypse, the game over screen of zombie games would be "The zombie ate your brain" but now that Yan Fei was absolutely decimating the zombies the screen would say "Human crushed your head..."

The three who leveled up last night cleaned out the zombies very fast. It was not long before all visible zombie birds were gone. Of course, Luo Xun and Song Lingling had blocked many with their shields but there were more that tried to squeeze past.

At this time Luo Xun and Song Lingling stood in the corridor and sighed as another hit the block – fortunately the elevator room corridor was relatively narrow otherwise they might have lost a few heads.

The shields in their hands had become severely deformed and the two started to attack the undead birds with mushroom juice. The battle on the 14th floor was finally over and the others rushed to assist Luo Xun with the zombie bodies in the hallway. Yan Fei immediately blocked the open houses with metal to solve their security problems, and also helped process the zombie birds.

It was nearly an hour before they cleared all the zombie birds that rushed into the hallway. They checked the two closed homes, confirmed that everything was calm and the ragged windows were sealed. They did not want to just clean the floors, also wanted to make sure that no more crazy birds came in through the windows behind them.

The base began work clearing the zombie birds, they were a very scary threat flying in the sky but once they were on the ground, half the danger was gone. They became similar to the other zombies that could only walk on the ground. The only difference was that human zombies were more stable on the ground since birds were birds and not meant to walk around.

Because of the gun firing sounds and fighting, some of the zombie birds were lured away which helped some people who were desperately fighting against the zombies.

After just one day and night, most of the zombie birds were cleared from the base. At the same time, the base population had once again plummeted.

Luo Xun's team dragged their tired bodies back to the 16th floor. After clearing the zombies in their building and digging out the nuclei from their kills, they met other teams in the area who had ventured out to fight zombies. Most were people who were unable to move into the new town.

Unlike Luo Xun's group, these people beat the zombie birds but their combat effectiveness and efficiency were low. Their main purpose coming out was not the nuclei but the spoils from the destroyed homes due to the zombies.

Many people saw the Otaku squad's prowess and wanted to win them as allies. The group of five silently reviewed whether they were too kind while they were clearing out the zombies. While they were working, empty houses were sealed after the zombies were dead before turning around and walking away.

As for houses where there were signs of other living people, they did not knock on the doors as they passed by, let alone finding allies to fight with.

But while those people were clearing up zombies, in addition to accepting 'inheritance', they could also receive a 'lifesaving fee' from anyone who ended up alone with zombies. They could not only take some nuclei but also any other needed supplies.

It was winter, everyone was short on food. Although people suffered a big loss after getting attacked by zombie birds, the losses could be mitigated if they went to other's homes for food.

"You're back? How did it go?" Noticing that Luo Xun and company had returned, the group of students ran out with their weapons and asked in concern.

"Most of our building and the one next door had been cleared, the rest of the neighborhood is less cleared but there should be teams in those areas as well. There are basically no zombie birds on the nearby street but be careful when you go out." Luo Xun explained while petting Puppy who was wagging her tail.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and spoke of other topics.

Wang Duo said, "At noon, someone ran to our floor and seemed to want to pry open the door. When they heard us they ran away. We watched the balcony for a while and did not see anyone leave, it must have been someone in our own building."

Wu Xin angrily scolded, "What kind of person was that? Brother Luo and the others cleaned up the zombies in the building and when people come out, they don't want to help fight zombies but come up to break in!"

Luo Xun, Xu Mei and Yan Fei exchanged helpless smiles. Zhang Yi had an indifferent sneer, "Whatever, you've never seen those people help fight zombies in their homes and they are no different than robbers."

The group could not help but complain. The alarms that had been quiet for two days suddenly started ringing across base. They nearly forgot that this time there were not only those horrible zombie birds that could fly directly into base but also the base was surrounded by who knew how many zombies!

148

The damage to base from the zombie bird attack was not small, especially because of the alarms, many people turned on the lights in their homes which became the main targets of attacks.

The vast majority of buildings on base have been damaged to varying degrees, with the exception of homes such as Luo Xun, where the exterior walls were wrapped with sturdy metal in advance. The makeshift houses, especially those built on roofs if not collapsed because of the two blizzards were completely destroyed by the zombie birds.

Now, after having such a hard time dealing with the zombie birds they remembered – the wall! There were zombies outside the walls! If they were not defeated, the base, their home and even their lives would be lost sooner or later!

Luo Xun received and confirmed the message from their phone. He found that they had to defend the same position as last time with the similar task requirements.

Li Tie and the other students saw that the shift was from 11 PM to 6 AM and quickly said to Luo Xun. "You take a break first, we don't go out until the afternoon, you sleep and restore some energy."

It seemed that there was no better method.

Luo Xun thought for a moment and then nodded. "Then you go first...the best ability users first and then come back later – at least have someone at home."

Puppy has now been identified as a mutant ability animal, but they were not yet known to the majority on base, so she was still unable to go out for the time being. Of course, the next time everyone left base to hunt cores, she could be brought along.

So the dog needed to stay at home along with Yu Xinran, although her ability was very easy to use, her combat experience...Adding to that her age. Song Lingling's combat power was relatively limited so it would be better to act with the army.

The rest of the ability users looked at each other and Zhang Yi left last. Once they left the remaining went back to work.

A short time before they needed to go to the wall, both Luo Xun and Li Tie needed a quick break.

Around 10 o'clock, Li Tie and the others packed up their needed weapons and equipment and followed Zhang Yi.

Luo Xun took the time to sleep and woke up around one o'clock and rushed to the wall.

Today while they cleaned up, they also checked the situation in the neighborhood. The worst damage from the zombie birds was to the highest floors. Several buildings had holes in the roof and top floors due to zombie birds with abilities. The roofs resembled swiss cheese.

Second most damaged was the first floor. The crazy birds' first target was the penthouse but once the zombies were beaten back and fell down. The half-crippled birds got back up and attacked the nearest floor.

As time went on, the number of zombie birds on the first increased and increased. How could the occupants last? No one could resist forever!

The team went downstairs and found that the wall had been damaged, there was even a big hole punched through the load bearing wall. Yan Fei slightly mended these important walls for the rest to be reassured.

The opposite occurred in the middle floors and basements where the most people survived.

Luo Xun had a strange feeling in his heart, while living in his house during his last life, how did the base escape the first wave of zombie birds?

Although the number of zombie birds was much smaller, there was still considerable danger to the base, plus there were families without ability users, how would they survive?

Perhaps there were more powerful ability users among their neighbors?