Pan Tuan and more than a dozen other Velvet Star people were assigned to the same team.
Along with them were staff members from Agriculture College, groups 143–149, Zone B.
On either side of their group were two squads of white-robed priests.
Although Pan Tuan hadn’t spent much time interacting with the Blue Sea people, she had already learned that the temple’s priests were essentially doctors.
These white-robed priests were military medics accompanying the troops.
At first, she felt a little disappointed.
“I thought joining up meant we’d be participating in combat,” she said.
But in the end, they were treated the same as the military medics and other non-combat personnel.
A Velvet Star person beside her said, “No, that’s not it. Didn’t it say so on the list? We’re here as translators.”
Pan Tuan replied, “But the requirements said we needed combat experience.”
The Velvet Star person said, “That’s because ordinary people without combat experience simply can’t keep up with the Blue Sea people’s pace. And during Blue Sea combat operations, they tend to panic so badly that it affects everyone around them.”
Pan Tuan: “?”
She couldn’t quite accept that.
She could understand the part about not being able to keep up with their pace. After all, Blue Sea warriors all had long strides and moved extremely fast even when they were just walking. In battle, they were probably even faster.
But “panic so badly during combat”?
What was that supposed to mean?
The apocalypse had already been going on for half a year. Survivors that inexperienced practically didn’t exist anymore.
At this point, even two-year-old children knew they had to stay quiet outside.
She turned to look at the Velvet Star person speaking beside her. He looked to be around forty, with a blade of grass between his lips, and his eyes kept darting left, right, up, and down. He was clearly far too vigilant.
Was he that “one in ten thousand”?
Pan Tuan immediately tensed and subtly put some distance between them.
In the apocalypse, having a rookie on your team could genuinely get you killed.
Seeing her reaction, the man smiled around the blade of grass and said:
“Don’t worry. I’m not a newbie.”
“I’m a scavenger. Back when I was out scavenging, I traveled pretty far and saw the Blue Sea military clearing out zombies. I just have a little more experience than most.”
He looked at Pan Tuan.
“Have you ever seen how the Blue Sea military opens a route?”
As it happened, Pan Tuan really hadn’t.
She had only ever seen the Blue Sea military fighting the Klan people, and at the time, she certainly hadn’t had the luxury of studying their tactics—after all, she had been on the side getting beaten.
Fortunately, they had surrendered quickly.
Otherwise, how could she be enjoying such a good life now?
Seeing the man wearing an expression that practically screamed, You’re about to witness something incredible, Pan Tuan couldn’t help asking:
“So how exactly do the Blue Sea people clear a path?”
…
“How are they able to advance like that?”
The survivors at Zilan University pressed themselves against the windows, staring wide-eyed at the approaching army and the zombie horde.
Tanks led the way, crushing the zombies directly in front of them.
Behind the tanks were rows of raised shields. A line of soldiers advanced steadily with shields braced on their shoulders, while the soldiers behind them launched fierce attacks against the zombies beyond the shield wall.
In their wake stretched a crimson road paved with zombie flesh and blood. Severed limbs and mangled body parts were scattered everywhere.
There were simply too many zombies.
After all, this was a medium-sized city. Although the helicopters had lured away a large portion of the horde, the zombies that remained still formed a sea of corpses.
The army marched forward along that crimson path.
On both sides, grotesque zombies piled on top of one another. There were so many of them that they formed living ladders of bodies, allowing the zombies behind them to climb upward.
Most of the zombies that made it to the top were dealt with by the soldiers stationed along the outer edges.
A very small number fell directly into the formation.
But before they could even get back on their feet, the soldiers inside swiftly killed them.
Combat.
Combat.
Nothing but combat.
Tall buildings lined both sides of the street. The zombies inside spotted the advancing force and began leaping down from above. However, since the helicopters had already drawn away one wave of them, at most only two or three zombies would jump from a building along any given stretch of road.
Most of the zombies were shot several times while still in midair. At the same time, the soldiers protected within the shield formation had to quickly dodge the falling corpses.
As a result, the battle looked like this:
The soldiers on the outside fired without pause.
The soldiers carrying the shields kept advancing.
The soldiers in the center had to deal with the piles of zombies pressing in from both sides while keeping an eye on the corpses beneath their feet to make sure none of them were merely half-dead. They constantly fired additional shots to finish off any lingering threats.
At the same time, they had to watch for zombies falling from above and, amid the tangled mass of corpses carpeting the road, quickly and carefully find their next foothold so they could keep moving forward.
Whenever they reached an area where the zombies became too densely packed, the flamethrowers came out.
The army would then emerge from a sea of flames, continuing its advance with silent, unwavering determination.
In a remarkably short amount of time, the force had advanced dozens of meters.
Behind them, the crimson road of blood and flesh stretched farther and farther.
By now, Pan Tuan was completely drenched in zombie blood.
Up! Down! Left! Right!
Now she finally understood why ordinary people became overwhelmed with panic when accompanying the Blue Sea military.
What kind of insane bulldozer-style combat tactic was this?!
At that moment, Pan Tuan wished she had eyes in every direction and ears everywhere at once. Very few zombies managed to break through the formation, but nobody could predict where one might suddenly appear.
Take what had happened just now, for example.
She had shot a half-bodied zombie lying on the ground.
Who knew why the damned thing could still struggle out from beneath a pile of corpses and try to bite someone when all it had left was half a torso, one arm, and a head?
She fired at close range.
The zombie’s brains and blood splattered all over her face.
Moments like this made her especially resent the fact that zombies apparently no longer counted as living people, yet somehow their blood still hadn’t coagulated.
Now she finally understood why everyone on this mission had been issued transparent goggles and metal face masks.
Pan Tuan shouted, “Wipe my face!”
Of course, no one was actually going to come wipe her face for her.
When she shouted that, it was simply a signal to her teammates that she needed a few seconds to clean her visor.
During those few seconds, the people around her would keep an eye on her and make sure she wasn’t attacked by a zombie while she temporarily couldn’t see.
In fact, as one of the protected personnel positioned in the very center of the formation, even if Pan Tuan did absolutely nothing, the soldiers on the outer perimeter would still ensure her safety and deal with any threats that came near her.
At the beginning, when she hadn’t yet adapted to the pace of combat, that was exactly what had happened.
And when the helicopters flew overhead, they hadn’t only been luring away zombies.
Along the route, they had also dropped more than a dozen snipers onto suitable rooftops.
The snipers lay prone on the rooftops, firing continuously and picking off any zombies that might pose a threat to the advancing soldiers.
As the army moved forward, some of the snipers remained where they were because of the terrain, waiting for helicopters to return and extract them.
Others slung their weapons across their backs, fired grappling hooks toward nearby buildings, and relocated to new positions.
Theoretically, even if Pan Tuan did absolutely nothing, she would never be bitten by a zombie.
But when your life was on the line—
Could you really trust something just because it was theoretically true?!
When it came to your own life, the only protection that truly felt reliable was your own.
So all the Velvet Star people, including Pan Tuan, quickly joined the fight.
Technically, translators were non-combat personnel and weren’t required to participate in battle.
But the Blue Sea soldiers didn’t stop them.
Just as they hadn’t stopped the Agricultural College staff when those people rushed into the fight.
If they wanted to fight, then let them fight.
As long as they didn’t become a burden.
Pan Tuan vigorously wiped her goggles with the sleeve of her combat uniform.
The world instantly became clear again.
This combat uniform is amazing for wiping off blood.
No wonder Blue Sea had specifically required them to wear the uniforms they issued.
Not only did the material make it easy to wipe away blood, it also prevented zombie blood from soaking through to the clothes underneath, making it much safer.
After quickly cleaning her face, Pan Tuan immediately plunged back into combat mode.
Pan Tuan was no rookie.
Before the Blue Sea people appeared, she had been quite proud of the combat experience she had accumulated over the past six months.
Every bit of that experience had been hard-earned, forged through countless life-and-death situations.
But now, Pan Tuan realized—
What had those so-called life-and-death crises even amounted to compared to this?
Six hours.
She had been fighting nonstop for six straight hours.
Her mind remained in a state of extreme concentration. Her head never stopped moving. Zombies could appear from any direction, so she had to watch every direction at once.
Since she didn’t have eyes in the back of her head, the only solution was to turn her head faster.
By now, she had reached the point where, whenever she spotted a moving zombie, her brain hadn’t even finished processing what she was seeing before her hand was already raising the gun and pulling the trigger.
Just moments ago, a zombie had flipped into the formation from behind and to her left.
She hadn’t even looked back.
Relying purely on instinct, she spun around and dropped it with a single shot.
Previously, Pan Tuan had assumed the Blue Sea people were such formidable fighters because of their superior physical abilities and natural advantages.
Now she understood.
Not a single bit of the Blue Sea people’s combat experience had come for free.
With this kind of combat style, anyone who survived a full day of it would inevitably become a battle-hardened veteran.
If Pan Tuan had an experience bar floating above her head, it would probably be exploding with:
+100
+200
+100
+200
every second.
Three hours earlier, she had seen a staff member from Blue Sea Agricultural College smoothly gun down two zombies clinging to a shield, sidestep another zombie falling from above, then excitedly raise his left arm and shout:
“Woohoo!!!”
The fluid combination of movements had left Pan Tuan utterly stunned.
First, she was shocked that even people from the Agricultural College were this strong.
Then she was shocked by the man’s mental state.
She simply couldn’t imagine what kind of person could be covered from head to toe in blood and still be so excited that he looked like a complete battle maniac.
Pan Tuan now:
She swiftly sidestepped a zombie falling from above.
Then immediately fired a finishing shot.
Blood splattered all over her head again.
But this time, because she had deliberately chosen her angle before firing, it barely affected her vision.
Pan Tuan was extremely pleased with herself for finally learning how to position herself when shooting. She no longer had to worry about blood spraying all over her goggles.
Filled with excitement and exhilaration, she instinctively raised her left arm.
“Woohoo!!!”
Huh? Why did I “woohoo” too?
Whatever.
Fighting is awesome!!!
The survivors at Zilan University stared at the scene in shock.
“Those people… are human, right?”
“I… think so?”
Because they were looking down from a high building, the survivors had a broader, more panoramic view of the battlefield.
They could see the entire army advancing below.
Everyone was covered so thoroughly that their faces were impossible to make out. All they could distinguish was that every soldier wore the same combat uniform and military boots.
Each person was coated in layer upon layer of zombie blood.
The tanks had become blood-red machines.
Behind them stretched a landscape almost entirely dyed crimson by the living sea of zombies.
The army marched forward in perfect formation, stepping across a scarlet “carpet” of blood and corpses.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Forward.
Fearless.
The synchronized footsteps of thousands of people drowned out the zombies’ howls.
Combined with the thunder of gunfire and artillery, they formed a stirring symphony that was impossible to ignore.
The sheer sense of pressure was overwhelming.
Even from this distance, people unconsciously found themselves holding their breath.
They should have been eagerly awaiting the army’s arrival.
Instead, many of the survivors felt afraid.
Even the elderly academician—the oldest person present and someone who had seen more than his fair share of the world—felt his heart pounding as he watched.
Elite.
Every single person in this army had to be an elite among elites.
But how was it possible that he had never heard of such a terrifying military force existing in the country?