Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 1145 - 28 Licker

Chapter 1145: Chapter 28 Licker

Tang Zheng was lucky, the pharmaceutical factory marked on the map was just a ten-minute bicycle ride away, far happier than those group leaders who needed a full hour’s drive. However, the most unfortunate were the survivors who were neither too far nor too close.

The mission given by Trojan was difficult but definitely not impossible to complete. At this time, the group leaders were already scattered throughout the city of Chicago due to their previous judgments and escape, so those survivors who were too far from the pharmaceutical factory would receive other missions, while those within a half-hour drive could only lament their bad luck, having to rush here through streets infested with zombies. But this might not necessarily be a bad thing, after all, those who entered the pharmaceutical factory first would encounter more trouble.

"Can’t help but come, huh." Tang Zheng sighed, considering the number of people chosen by Trojan for the mission, even if they failed, they wouldn’t be wiped out, but he didn’t want to idle in a hotel doing nothing. Having given up the first mission, this time, he wanted to take the initiative no matter what and knew that the R-virus strain was greatly related to the main biochemical plot.

The city attacked by zombies was in chaos—corpses, blood stains, and cars parked on Long Street, exposed in the scorching afternoon sun. Added to this, the survivors hiding without daring to make a sound, made the environment seem even more deadly silent.

Chicago had turned into a city of death, not even an hour after the biochemical attack.

Li Xizhu wasn’t a crow’s mouth, but when zombies dominated the city, and they suddenly burst onto Main Street, it was like a herd of deer entering a lion’s domain—not to be attacked would be the real surprise.

The zombies wandering on Main Street spotted Tang Zheng’s team and started to run after them, gradually forming a group. However, because they couldn’t keep up with the speed of the bicycles, they were quickly left behind.

"So many of them," Kong Licheng, who was very brave, took a glance back and whistled at the sight of the dense crowd of zombies chasing them, their arms extended and their throats emitting low growls.

"Stay focused," Dong Zixuan reminded them, keeping her eyes wide open to observe the path, afraid of missing any detail.

The rest didn’t have that kind of courage. There were many zombies on Main Street, some of which were right in front, and when they saw the newcomers, they pounced at them. The newcomers had no choice but to open fire to stop them from getting closer, but the effect was negligible. They had never practiced shooting; their marksmanship was utterly poor. On top of that, shooting from bicycles made it impossible to hit the targets, and the worst part was the gunshots attracted even more zombies.

Luckily, Tang Zheng was there. He held onto the handlebars with one hand, while the other hand shot with a G36C. Due to his posture, the recoil put a heavy burden on his wrist, but it was still within his tolerance.

"Stop shooting, focus on biking," Tang Zheng warned them as he overtook Hu Hong and the long-faced young man, charging from the back to the front. He went to help Dong Zixuan clear the zombies blocking the road.

"Take out the one on the left," Dong Zixuan was very competitive and, in order to save time, even let go of the handlebars to reload with both hands.

"Be careful, if you fall nobody will save you," Tang Zheng glanced at the map on his wristwatch and encouraged the newbies, "We’ve covered half the distance. Stop shooting and bike with all your might; head straight for the pharmaceutical factory."

This was a death-defying sprint, the newbies biking desperately, narrowly racing past the zombies, seeing their shriveled, rotten skin, their crimson eyes, and smelling the pungent stench, which made them sweat profusely and their hearts beat like drums, almost bursting from their throats.

"Go faster, we’re almost there," Kong Licheng urged the newbies. He didn’t care about their lives but wanted to get into the pharmaceutical factory, which was bound to be fraught with crisis—having more targets to attract the monsters was always good.

The zombies were still more than a hundred meters behind them, and those on the sides posed no immediate threat for now. After turning the corner, the pharmaceutical factory came into Tang Zheng’s view, probably because of the commotion and lack of supervision, some chemicals had leaked, and the air was tainted with a sour smell, causing everyone to sneeze.

The iron gate was open a crack, and there was no sound of zombies pounding on it, which suggested that no zombies were gathering on the other side. This reassured Tang Zheng quite a bit.

The newbies, seeing they were only fifty meters away from their destination, began to relax. Among them, Hu Liwen, Wen Xiao, and the man killed by Zhuo Yijie, who hardly exercised, were already terribly tired and couldn’t help slowing down.

"Don’t you think it’s too quiet?" Tang Zheng frowned and surveyed the surroundings. Even though this was a suburb with relatively fewer people, for a factory with a large workforce and various shops on both sides, there definitely should be people—and thus dozens of zombies at least...

"Could someone have led them away?" Dong Zixuan reacted quickly, riding with one hand and drawing her handgun, but then they heard Hu Liwen’s scream from behind.

Everyone turned in horror and saw three mutated zombies rushing out of a supermarket, their mouths bloody and carrying chunks of flesh, quickly closing the distance with the three at the rear of the group.

"Help me!" Hu Liwen was lucky she kept looking back in fear, worried about being attacked, otherwise, she would have surely been caught up and bitten to death.

"It’s a Licker, damn it, they sprint so silently," Kong Licheng had seen Biohazard before and recognized this type of zombie at a glance. Lickers had no skin, their red muscles exposed, with long claws that allowed them to crawl on the ceiling and stealthily attack, but the most terrifying part was their exposed brains, where the grooves could be clearly seen.

"Pedal fast!" the man shouted, standing up to pedal the mountain bike fiercely, but then, the chain snapped with a clink, and he flashed forward, falling to the ground.

Hu Liwen and Wen Xiao pedaled for their lives, not even shouting for help, while the others sped up as well.

The Lickers, despite lacking eyes, were just as proficient in tracking with their keen sense of smell and hearing. Dragging their two-meter-long tongues, they closed in on the man.

"Don’t come any closer, don’t..." the man scrambled to his feet, but upon seeing the broken chain, he cursed in anger and then saw the Lickers within ten meters. He turned and ran.

"Save me." Just as the man shouted, he saw a shadow rapidly covering his head on the ground—it was a Licker pouncing.

Bang, bang, Tang Zheng had no time to change weapons and could only shoot with the G36C. But the 5.56mm caliber bullets were weak against the fiercely pouncing Lickers, and these creatures moved very fast. After his physical abilities were restricted, Tang Zheng found it somewhat difficult to hit with every shot.

Twisting his body to shoot, Tang Zheng managed to send a Licker lunging at the murdered man flying, but he couldn’t deal with the second one. He watched helplessly as it pounced like a fierce tiger onto the murdered man’s back, followed by its sharp tongue aiming for his head.

In a moment of desperation, the murdered man managed to dodge, and the tongue shot into his shoulder, causing him to scream in pain. But it would have been less torturous to just die at once, as the Licker then bit down on his throat, blood spurting everywhere.

The murdered man struggled in agony, but it was useless. A third one leaped over its comrade’s head, pursuing Hu Liwen.

"Xuanxuan, save me!" In her inability to stay calm, Hu Liwen called out loudly.

Dong Zixuan fired her gun, trying to stop the Licker’s pursuit, but unfortunately, all her shots missed.

"Don’t waste time, sprint full speed; there might be monsters inside, too. First, we need to ensure it’s safe." Seizing the opportunity while Tang Zheng was firing, Kong Licheng overtook him. Then he slammed on the brakes, stopping in front of the factory’s main entrance, with a rifle raised, he dashed in.

Tang Zheng also stopped, adopting a shooting stance. Bullets poured out, hitting the Licker’s body.

Feeling the bullets whiz by her, Hu Liwen was nearly scared out of her wits, while Wen Xiao felt like she had wet her underwear.

Tang Zheng initially wanted to observe the Lickers’ movement patterns, but the bullet attacks made them evade, rendering the collected data probably unreliable.

Dong Zixuan, trying to save her colleague, didn’t follow into the iron gate but shot at the Lickers instead.

"What are you spacing out for? Get in here; there are zombies." An anxious growl from Kong Licheng rose, causing the already panicked newbies to be even more disconcerted.

"Into the door, stop dawdling," Tang Zheng urged, spending twenty bullets to kill two Lickers.

Dong Zixuan also used her Benelli to blow the head off the one that was gnawing at the murdered man, but it was too late for him; he was already dead.

"In." As Tang Zheng entered the factory through the gap in the iron gate, he saw hundreds of zombies, drawn by the gunshots, running towards them. Kong Licheng was squatting on the ground firing, with two kills to his name.

"Which way to escape? Do we have a target?" Kong Licheng, using a civilian version M4A1 which was semi-automatic, was depleting bullets very rapidly despite the gun’s mechanism.

That’s how people are; when faced with danger, they wish they could wipe out all the zombies at once, and the other newbies began to open fire as well.

"Everyone stay calm!" As soon as Tang Zheng made his move, headshot after headshot, zombies toppled over dead, and they could finally catch their breath.

"We’ll follow this route." Observing the map, once inside the factory, it switched to a three-dimensional mode, clearly marking a red line.

"I’ll take the lead, Li Xizhu, come with me." Kong Licheng knew they couldn’t delay, and he wanted to show his worth. Only by doing so could he earn Tang Zheng’s trust and respect in future combat. But he wasn’t foolish; he knew to bring the reticent Li Xizhu, who could serve as a meat shield in a critical moment.

"Hurry up, let’s conserve ammunition." Although Tang Zheng was carrying a large bag of ammunition, it was still not enough for the consumption.

"Why are there no common zombies, yet there are three Lickers?" Dong Zixuan was still fixated on this question.

"Maybe they were hiding in the supermarket, feeding on corpses?" Zheng Sheng’s mental fortitude was good; his mind had gradually calmed down, and he could even make some simple deductions.

"What do you think?" Dong Zixuan valued Tang Zheng’s opinion.

"Look at their clothes; these should be the ones from outside, but some people led them in. As for the Lickers, I’m not sure." Tang Zheng actually hadn’t paid much attention, as there was too little information to analyze.

While waiting for all the newbies to enter through the iron gate, a young man in a military uniform, eating ice cream, appeared at the entrance of the supermarket from which the Lickers had emerged.

....

PS: Struggling with writer’s block, sigh, I’ll adjust and aim for three Chapters tomorrow! (To be continued. If you like this work, please feel free to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)