Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 1174 - 53: Major Reduction

Chapter 1174: Chapter 53: Major Reduction

Over sixty people were staying in the corridor. Due to fear of being attacked by zombies, they were huddled closely together, seeking safety. When suddenly attacked by zombies, it was like an anthill doused with boiling water, completely descending into chaos.

Zhou Meng was jostled around but still did his utmost to protect Su Su. At that moment, he regretted immensely. Given Li Wenbo’s poor command, chaos was bound to ensue. He should have foreseen this.

The crowd was crowded, shoving each other, all wanting to get away from the zombies as quickly as possible. A woman failed to hold her son tightly, and the little boy was squeezed and kicked several times. Someone saw this and tried to help, but the continuous pushing from behind made it impossible to stabilize oneself, let alone help.

"Stay calm, don’t panic," the traffic police yelled, trying to control the situation. Unfortunately, it was to no avail. Once the gunshots rang out, the chaos worsened.

These newbies were all ordinary people before, clueless about how to use firearms. Nervous Wang Ning accidentally pulled the trigger, firing unintentionally.

Bang, the shotgun blast took down two men immediately. One was killed, while the other was shot in the waist and fell to the ground, his blood splattering onto nearby people, causing them to scream.

"Don’t fire, watch for friendly fire," Zhou Meng yelled at the top of his lungs. At this point, he could no longer worry about attracting zombies.

Tong Dahong couldn’t go to assist. The crowd surged like a river, making it impossible for them to stand still. They could only follow the flow downward.

"Be careful, zombies," said a backpacker who feared being trampled and ran ahead only to see about a dozen zombies gathered in the staircase, continuously swarming in.

The color drained from the backpacker’s face. He raised his shotgun to fire. Fortunately, his M870 Shotgun was loaded. He fired, hitting a zombie in the chest.

The zombie stepped back but was blocked by others and continued moving forward.

"Don’t come here, don’t come here!" The backpacker went insane, screaming as he fired the three remaining rounds in his magazine. He managed to kill one zombie, but before he could feel relieved, he heard the clicking sound of an empty chamber, with at least ten more zombies in front of him.

The backpacker had no time to reload and turned to run.

"Run your mom!" Tong Dahong shouted angrily, lifting his right leg and kicking the backpacker in the stomach, sending him tumbling back.

The backpacker, hit hard, felt like his intestines were cramping, grimacing in pain and unable to stand steadily. Staggering back a few steps, he ended up sitting on the ground.

Before the backpacker could get up, he saw several rotting hands grasping at his shoulders.

"Don’t!" The terrified backpacker had just screamed out when two zombies bit into his neck and back. Blood sprayed more than a meter away, splattering on the white wall.

Even if the backpacker hadn’t run, Tong Dahong would have found an excuse to use him as a meat shield. There were too many zombies; it was the only way to buy some time to attack.

The black-faced miner was originally going to run too, but seeing this scene, he froze.

Li Wenbo cursed. The close proximity of the zombie horde meant he couldn’t aim properly. He unloaded his bullets as fast as he could. Fortunately, he was more accurate than the backpacker and Zhang Tie, killing three zombies.

"What are you panicking for? Hurry and reload," Tong Dahong scolded. This teammate was really not helpful. He was using an AA-12 with a 20-round drum magazine, thankfully providing temporary suppression of the zombies.

With zombies still up above and the crowd unable to stop, and even seeing zombies below because of inertia, they couldn’t immediately restrain themselves. Li Wenbo and Tong Dahong smartly moved towards the wall, but the black-faced miner was less fortunate. Along with a skinny woman, they were pushed toward the zombies.

Facing the delivered ’feast,’ the zombies didn’t hesitate and directly grabbed and bit them.

Li Wenbo reloaded. Zhou Meng, because he was taking care of a woman, didn’t attack. Huang Shan and Xiao Hu, fortunately, weren’t utterly useless and fired their guns wildly. Although they didn’t kill any zombies, they managed to buy some time.

The black-faced miner and the woman hadn’t yet died; they were turned into a sieve by their own people, shot by them under the threat of death, forgetting that killing teammates would result in point deductions.

At the rear, the composed traffic police didn’t retreat; finally breaking free from the crowd, he faced the zombies with the M3 Shotgun in his hands, rapidly firing and immediately knocking down a pursuing zombie. The second shot blasted its head off.

Policeman He Lian also emerged then, joining the fight. He aimed at a zombie that was gnawing on viscera and blew its head off. He ultimately dealt with four of them when he had already been bitten to death by three people, two men and one woman, including one who was Tang Zheng’s middle school classmate.

"Everyone, come back, keep your distance," the traffic police shouted. "Watch the stairwell, yell if you see zombies."

The poor guy who was shot in the waist lay on the ground, ignored, getting trampled several more times by the panicked crowd. The woman rushed to her child, only to discover his ribcage had been crushed and his body was covered in bruises, unconscious.

"Baby," the woman held her son tightly, sorrowfully begging, "Please, help him."

Li Wenbo simply sidestepped her, void of any compassion. Tong Dahong sighed. He couldn’t afford to care; more zombies were catching up.

Since leaving the room, there had been gunshots and screaming in the team, the zombies had heard, constantly rushing over. If not for the team working together, moving quickly to leave ahead of time, they might have managed, but Li Wenbo’s poor leadership had delayed them too much, trapping them squarely.

"We can’t go down anymore, there will be more zombies below," Zhou Meng yelled, reminding Li Wenbo. The longer they delayed, the more zombies would arrive.

Despite wielding weapons, people felt no sense of safety, living in constant fear, and at this moment, they all regretted coming out. Some even thought that if Tang Zheng were here, this would never have happened.

"Get some people over here, let’s fight our way out," Li Wenbo said, sweating profusely. He didn’t want to go back or else he would lose all his credibility; as for the dead, he didn’t care.

No one wanted to come down and face death, all were retreating.

More and more zombies poured into the stairwell, densely packed, with swaying heads filling the view.

A woman, holding her severely injured and unconscious son, saw zombies right in front of them. Gritting her teeth, she tried to go back but twisted her ankle during the struggle and fell to the ground without any strength.

The zombies grabbed her ankle, dragging her forward while lowering their heads to bite into her calf, tearing off a chunk of flesh.

"Save my child," the woman cried, desperately handing her child forward, determined to at least save her son.

Tong Dahong saw the woman’s pleading eyes, reminiscent of a dying beast, and his heart softened. He stepped forward to take the child.

"Kill the zombies first," Li Wenbo stopped Tong Dahong, warning, "There’s no saving them, dying is a release."

Tong Dahong didn’t let his emotions control him; once he calmed down, he understood that the woman, having been bitten, was beyond saving. And the child, already a burden, especially since he got stomped on, couldn’t be taken to the hospital for treatment now.

The woman, in despair, held her son tightly, trying to shield him with her body, but it was utterly ineffective.

Four zombies devoured the mother and child, while the others continued upstairs. Tong Dahong’s group fought and retreated, eventually stabilizing the situation.

"Save me!" A man, accidentally wounded in the waist, lay on the steps with a thin breath. He didn’t want to die, but no one cared, and as legs stepped over him, his hope faded.

"I curse you, may none of you die a good death," the man used all his strength to curse, giving up resisting when he saw the zombie pounce on him.

The zombie tore open his throat, and another newbie died.

"Li Wenbo, you’re nothing but a useless fool!" Even without Lickers appearing, just because a few zombies showed up at the rear, the whole team collapsed, nearly driving the traffic police to rage. Those who died didn’t deserve this, but greater troubles were yet to come. As the team fell back to the sixth floor, two zombies suddenly sprung out, instantly splitting the team.

Those at the back didn’t care and ran desperately back toward their rooms to hide, while those in front were once again stopped.

With too many people, the two zombies didn’t miss and instantly bit two unlucky individuals, one of whom was Tang Zheng’s classmate.

"Zombies!" The wail sounded as if doomsday had arrived.

"Shut your damn mouth, what are you holding in your hands, torches? Fire your guns!" Zhou Meng cursed loudly and opened fire, "Keep close to me."

Su Su nodded frantically, tightly holding onto Zhou Meng’s clothes.

Zhou Meng shot dead two zombies, allowing the team to retreat again. During the escape, he admired Tang Zheng more than ever for having robbed the gun store at the first opportunity and armed the team with easy-to-operate shotguns, saving at least half of them from death.

Cao Rongxuan could do nothing but flee with the group, which greatly frustrated his proud nature.

"Ninth floor now, just a bit faster, run back to your rooms and you’ll be safe," the traffic police shouted, trying to stabilize morale.

Li Wenbo completely lost control of the situation. His plan was shattered, and seeing over twenty zombies below, not wanting to cover the rear, he entered the room ahead of time when a Licker suddenly appeared, moving swiftly across the ceiling and lunging at the crowd.

"You guys handle below," Tong Dahong didn’t run but aimed upwards, firing at the Licker, sadly missing all his shots.

Shotgun pellets hit the ceiling, sending chunks of plaster flying and dust scattering.

The Licker was hit but not in a vital area. It leaped over the powerful Tong Dahong and pounced at Li Wenbo.

"Fuck." Li Wenbo turned to run, grabbing Zhang Tie’s clothing in front of him and yanking him back to use as a meat shield to block the Licker.

"What the fuck!" Zhang Tie, losing his balance, tumbled down the stairs, furious and about to shoot Li Wenbo when he collided with the zombie horde and got bitten.

Li Wenbo was unlucky because Zhang Tie’s fall didn’t distract the Licker; it pounced, pressing down on Li Wenbo’s back.

"Get off." Li Wenbo’s muscles, developed from gym workouts, came to use as he burst forward, slamming the Licker into the wall.

Xiao Hu and Huang Shan had already run away, leaving only Tong Dahong fighting. He seized the opportunity, firing three shots and killed the Licker, but his expression grew somber when he looked at Li Wenbo. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it and donate monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)