The closer they got to the central street, the more survivors they encountered. Those who dared to come out to scout at this time all possessed the courage to face zombies and were fully armed.
Lin Qi even saw some people carrying high-quality bows and arrows, elongated machetes, and some even holding double-barreled shotguns.
It was hard to imagine that in the Central Asian Federation, where gun control was strict, ordinary people would actually have firearms.
With so many people around, the two of them didn't seem particularly conspicuous.
"Zombies don't seem as terrifying as I imagined."
Lin Qi felt a bit dazed. In the apocalypse movies or novels he remembered, once a zombie crisis broke out, it was almost every man for himself; cities would fall in a short time, and order would collapse.
But seeing groups of survivors out on the street at this moment made him feel a sense of unreality.
"Brother Lin, what's wrong?"
Zhao Tuantuan saw Lin Qi stop in his tracks with a thoughtful expression and couldn't help but ask.
"It's nothing, let's just follow behind them."
In fact, thinking about it carefully, the apocalypse didn't just descend suddenly; it went through three months of changes. Perhaps the Federation had long known about this possibility and had laid everything out in advance.
From the initial quarantine to witnessing the changes in the virus zombies step by step, some people had even prepared for the arrival of the apocalypse two months ago.
Up ahead, some people had spontaneously formed a guard squad, constantly on alert for approaching zombies. Especially those survivors holding crossbows—whenever a zombie approached, they would run up to it, and one could even see the excitement on their faces.
Men all have hidden hunting genes in their bloodlines. In peaceful times, even playing with a slingshot was restricted everywhere, but now that the weapons in their hands finally had a use, how could they not show off their skills?
Seeing the group growing larger and larger, even survivors hiding nearby joined in upon seeing the crowd on the street. The number of people had unknowingly exceeded a hundred, making the originally empty street become lively.
"There's a large wave of zombies ahead! Those with ranged weapons, come and support!"
Someone at the front of the group shouted. The originally quiet group instantly became lively. Most people felt a sense of fear toward infected zombies.
After all, these were not those unlucky people who died of illness, but infected living people who possessed powerful attack capabilities.
"I have a crossbow! Me!"
"I have a slingshot!"
"How big is the wave?"
The survivors who were originally guarding the sides of the street in the middle of the group spoke up to support and quickly ran toward the front.
At the end of this branch road was a large roundabout with eight intersections around it, which could be said to be the intersection of half the urban area.
Therefore, the density of zombies here far exceeded that of ordinary streets, so it was no surprise that infected zombies appeared.
Zombie wandering is an irregular activity, but for some reason, it causes them to slowly gather together to form a zombie horde. The open space of the roundabout in the center of the road just happened to form a road loop, trapping a large number of zombies there.
Lin Qi and Zhao Tuantuan also crowded forward, and they were also extremely surprised to see the zombies surrounding the roundabout.
No wonder there were fewer and fewer zombies in the streets and residential communities; it turned out they had all run here.
The circular road around the roundabout was filled with dense crowds of zombies, and they were constantly circling in a clockwise direction. From the muddy bloodstains under their feet, one could judge that they had likely been walking for a long time, to the point where some zombies had been trampled into pulp.
"If we want to go to the central street, we must pass through this roundabout or take a detour to the sides. However, no matter which road we take, we won't face fewer zombies."
Lin Qi quickly made a judgment. To the left were urban shops, where the population was more dense. To the right was a newly built residential area with wide roads, but there were several quarantine zones, and it was feared that more zombies existed there.
Only after passing through the roundabout was this main road relatively empty, leading directly to the central street.
After a brief pause, the crowd slowly split into three groups. Some people didn't wait for any discussion and bypassed the zombie horde, diverting to the sides.
"Brother Lin, which way should we go?"
Before Lin Qi could make a decision, the roar of a helicopter came from the sky again. One helicopter after another flew quickly across the sky, seemingly patrolling the situation of the entire city.
One of the helicopters had already noticed the survivors near the roundabout. The helicopter changed direction in the air and quickly locked onto the zombie horde at the roundabout.
"The Third Flight Squad has discovered a large-scale group of survivors. Requesting support from nearby ground squads!"
The pilot on the helicopter saw the survivors on the ground, counted the number of people, and quickly transmitted the message.
Hundreds of survivors were enough to attract the attention of the rescue team.
"Rescue is here! We're saved!"
The crowd cheered. Some people even forgot that they were still in danger and began to shout for help loudly.
The sound grew louder and louder, to the point that the zombies wandering near the roundabout became alert. Some slowly turned their bodies and walked toward the survivors.
Just as everyone was in a panic, a six-barreled Gatling gun slowly extended from under the helicopter in the sky. As the sound of rotating gears rang out, streams of fire sprayed out!
The huge roar caused most people to cover their heads and squat on the ground. Some even quickly looked for cover to hide. Only when they felt the vibrations coming through the air did some dare to poke their heads out to take a look.
The zombies originally around the roundabout were instantly submerged by this tongue of fire. Blood mist permeated the air, spraying across the entire roundabout.
The hard road surface was riddled with holes, and severed limbs and bodies were piled up everywhere on the ground. As the flesh and blood gathered, a small crimson stream slowly flowed out.
The source of all fear is simply a lack of firepower!
"Survivors, follow the main road to the central street area. There will be a rescue team there to meet you!"
After the roaring sound disappeared, a loud voice came from the helicopter. The rotors whirled, and it slowly ascended.
However, this helicopter did not fly away but circled nearby, its machine gun occasionally spitting out tongues of fire to clear away approaching zombies.
"Hurry, let's go!"
Lin Qi pulled Zhao Tuantuan and quickly passed through the crowd, approaching the edge of the roundabout before the people around them could react.
As the crowd surged, those who were bold had already taken steps, and some even stepped through the muddy bloodstains to cross the roundabout road.
Even if there were stray zombies, their bodies were torn apart, with only half a body left crawling on the ground. To those moving quickly, they posed almost no threat at all.
Some people even wanted to go up and fire another arrow to enjoy the thrill of the slaughter.
"Sure enough, everything on TV is a lie. If people go crazy, they are much more terrifying than zombies!"
When one person is timid, the crowd is bold.
After passing through the roundabout, there was a wide avenue. Although there were many obstacles on the road, those were only meant for cars and could even effectively block the movement of zombies.
The intersections on both sides were blocked by iron railings, and one could even see zombies trapped outside the iron railings, stretching their arms and grabbing at the void.
At first, the survivors were still a bit panicked, but gradually, seeing the empty street with no zombies coming out from the sides, they unknowingly slowed their pace.
"The Federation installed guardrails on both sides of the main road two months ago and set up road restrictions. Could it be to prevent the spread of zombies?"
In the middle of the crowd, a middle-aged man pushed up his glasses and analyzed his guess.
"Teacher Zhang, who would have thought back then that the virus would turn people into zombies? It must have been to prevent quarantined patients from running around and causing the virus to spread."
Teacher Zhang was followed by several young people; judging by their appearance, they should have a teacher-student relationship.
"It's not that simple. There must be something we don't know."
Lin Qi was not far away and happened to hear their conversation. He had also experienced a virus outbreak in another parallel world, and the quarantine back then was still fresh in his memory.
By comparison, he really did discover some differences.
At the intersections of the main road, sturdy guardrails were installed, and even in the gaps of the green belts, steel wire mesh was added, almost sealing off the main road.
This seemed to be creating a clear path through the city.
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