Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Carousel Defense Battle
Xiaotian’s unusual behavior caught Ye Fan’s attention.
"Xiaotian is a military dog. If something can make him so alert, it must be the appearance of a mutated zombie."
Ye Fan immediately checked the map and quickly discovered a clue.
About eight hundred meters ahead, a cluster of red dots was slowly moving.
The cluster consisted of several hundred red dots, among which one was bright red.
These dots were separated from Ye Fan and his group by a patch of trees, so neither side had noticed the other yet.
"Why is this one so red?" Ye Fan felt that this particular dot was redder than the others; the others were light red, but this one was bright red.
"Sir, the deeper the red, the stronger the zombie. This bright red dot indicates a mutated zombie!"
Ye Fan thought he had encountered an Iron Armor and quickly looked in that direction.
"Xu Haoran, binoculars!"
Xu Haoran handed over the binoculars, and Ye Fan saw clearly this time.
A large group of zombies was slowly approaching through the greenery on the other side.
At the front of the zombie group was a female zombie in her twenties.
Although the clothes were torn, it was still visible that she used to dress fashionably, likely a young mother before her transformation.
But now her arms had grown to below her knees, with her black nails extending nearly a foot long.
Her nose twitched slightly, as if she sensed a certain smell.
While sensing the origin of the smell, she moved toward Ye Fan.
She was followed by a group of zombies, many of which were child zombies, seemingly wandering aimlessly but unknowingly trailing behind the female zombie.
Ye Fan had seen zombies like this before in a small fishing village, where a female zombie moved very fast.
However, compared to this one, that zombie paled in appearance and skin texture, suggesting it wasn’t fully evolved, while this one was a fully evolved entity.
Besides this female zombie, there were even a few other females similar to those seen at the small fishing village.
Seeing the zombie’s black claws and slightly crouched body resembling a leopard, Ye Fan sensed trouble.
Agile zombies, in some ways, are even harder to deal with than Armored Zombies; these are definitely extremely fast.
Moreover, Ye Fan noticed a problem: ordinary zombies instinctively follow the lead of Advanced Zombies.
This was true in the small fishing village, and it’s true now. Mutated zombies definitely have superior smell or sensory abilities compared to other zombies; they can vaguely sense the presence of Ye Fan’s group despite the distance.
"Chen Chuan, can you hit the agile zombie with a single sniper shot?"
Sniper Chen Chuan raised his rifle and looked through the scope: "Sir, the trees are blocking the line of sight; there’s no absolute certainty."
Ye Fan motioned for him to lower the rifle. Without absolute certainty, they couldn’t make a reckless move. There were also three more near-agile zombies around, and there was no good hiding spot within the amusement park; if they startled the enemy, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Ye Fan felt a bit distressed; these zombies were very close to the Ferris wheel. To obtain the supply crate, they had to get through this group.
Forcing an attack seemed insufficient in strength.
This time Ye Fan didn’t consult Nana; such tactical questions wouldn’t help, and he had to devise a solution himself.
He tried to recall the various battles with zombies, judging the distance at which gunshots would attract zombies.
After checking the map of Yida City, which was about six to seven kilometers in width and length, he calculated that shooting closer to the center might not draw in zombies from outside the amusement park.
However, there were plenty of zombies inside the amusement park, roughly four to five thousand. Red dots were everywhere, showing there were no survivors in this area.
"To get the supply crate, my current strength may be lacking; I need more men and a suitable gathering spot to take down these zombies."
Ye Fan surveyed the surroundings and noticed another area.
There stood a massive castle, entirely composed of foam and plastic, housing hundreds of child zombies.
In front of the castle were about two hundred zombies, most of them female.
These female zombies were likely the children’s mothers, who had brought their kids to play before becoming zombies, and they mostly remained there.
Ye Fan’s eyes lit up!
The key to killing zombies was to target the female zombies for their jewelry; the males generally didn’t have any.
These two hundred female zombies were all young mothers, at an age of vanity, each likely carrying something valuable.
"If I take out these two hundred zombies, I’ll have money on hand, and then I can do whatever I need."
"But firing shots will undoubtedly attract other zombies’ attention. I should first lure away the group led by the mutated zombie."
A strategy formed in Ye Fan’s mind, and he immediately assigned a task to Xu Haoran.
"Rest assured, Commander. We’ll complete the mission!"
Xu Haoran turned and left alone, leaving Ye Fan to lead the main force.
"Let’s go, over there."
Ye Fan advanced along the edge of the amusement park, gradually approaching the large castle.
He lay in wait about two hundred meters from the castle and, after a while, heard an explosion in the distance.
That was Xu Haoran detonating a grenade.
The zombies in the distance reacted and moved towards the direction of the explosion, but the two hundred female zombies near Ye Fan didn’t move because it was too far away.
Seeing the zombies move further away, Ye Fan immediately took action. Everyone climbed onto the roof of a nearby carousel, which was less than a hundred meters from the castle.
Feeling secure, Ye Fan took out a .23 pistol and fired a shot at the group of female zombies.
The bullet went somewhere unknown, but the goal was achieved; the group of zombies immediately roared and pounced over.
It was early September, the temperature was still high, and they were all dressed quite fashionably. If they weren’t zombies, they might have looked charming.
Now it was rather terrifying — they were essentially a group of demons. Those with weak nerves might instantly break down.
But to the Red Alert soldiers, this was nothing — as soon as the zombies entered range, they opened fire.
After reaching star promotion, the accuracy of the Red Alert soldiers greatly increased, with zombies being continuously shot down, and by the time they reached the carousel, only half of the two hundred zombies remained.
Ye Fan was overjoyed; this proved that the strength of his troops had significantly increased. Even though there were only a dozen of them, dealing with a few hundred ordinary zombies was no longer a problem.
The soldiers stood on the edge of the carousel, firing downwards. Zombies below waved their arms in vain, unable to climb the carousel top, only to be shot one by one.
In less than ten minutes, the two hundred zombies were wiped out, forming a ring of corpses around the carousel.
"Quickly go down and collect the resources."
The soldiers jumped down and began collecting jewelry from the zombies.
Ye Fan took this opportunity to check the radar screen.
This was the tactic he and Xu Haoran devised: First, Xu Haoran would draw away the zombies near the Ferris wheel, then Ye Fan would fire a shot to lure the Ferris wheel zombies towards them.
Xu Haoran would seize this opportunity to fetch the supply box and then regroup with Ye Fan to escape Yida City together.
It seemed the strategy was working. The zombie horde led by the mutated zombie could vaguely hear the gunshots and was slowly approaching.
Before spotting any humans, the mutated zombie wouldn’t rush at full speed. It still had time to escape.
"Commander, the supply box has been collected!"
With Nana’s prompt, Ye Fan saw that the green supply box on the map had indeed disappeared, and the white dot representing Xu Haoran was circling the zombies and sprinting towards them.
"Great! As long as Xu Haoran reaches back here before the zombies, we’ll score a major victory."
Ye Fan felt a bit smug about his well-executed tactic. This mission was exceptionally smooth, not only retrieving the supply box but also managing to collect a lot of jewelry.
Just as success seemed imminent, an unexpected event occurred.
Inside the castle, a child zombie tore open the castle’s protective netting, leading a few hundred child zombies out!
On closer inspection, the leading child zombie was a head taller than the others, with thick arms, indicating a mutated state — a quasi-armored zombie.
Though it was a smaller version.
"Wow, even children can mutate to this extent? With those small frames, they may mutate into armor, but how strong can they be?"
It was certain they weren’t as strong as normal armored zombies, but they did disrupt Ye Fan’s plans.
The child zombies inside the castle outnumbered the adult ones outside, as some of the outside females had already gone far, but the children had all been in the castle, now pouring out in droves, numbering four to five hundred.
"Fall back! Everyone return to the top of the carousel!"
Just then, they had almost finished collecting jewelry, and all the Red Alert soldiers returned, quickly climbing back atop the carousel.
The tide of child zombies swarmed in, encircling the carousel.
Meanwhile, the massive zombie horde led by the mutated zombie also spotted Ye Fan’s team and accelerated their charge, roaring as they came.
At this time, Xu Haoran still hadn’t returned, and the zombie horde was now separating him from Ye Fan’s forces.
Holding the large pile of collected jewelry, Ye Fan actually wanted to see one of his subordinates panic and ask what to do so he could demonstrate his finesse as a commander.
Unfortunately, these Red Alert soldiers remained calm, without fear in their consciousness, not even fearing death.
This left Ye Fan slightly annoyed. He glanced at Xiaotian beside him, gently patting the dog’s head, "Don’t worry, everything is under the commander’s control."
"Woof woof!" Xiaotian shook its head slightly, seemingly disliking the head pat.
"Haha, it’s not a pet dog, quite brave," Ye Fan awkwardly retracted his hand.