Chapter 52: Chapter 47: Some Deviations from the Plan
“The sense of smell is mainly responsible for capturing prey at close range, while the sense of hearing is relied upon for long distances, and the eyes probably function like those of someone who is severely nearsighted, assisting the sense of smell in hunting and killing.”
Tao Yu had avoided several zombies and had now come to the side of a wine-red house on the outskirts of the city.
This building was about six or seven stories high, with iron fire escape staircases and railings on the side, and garbage bins below emitting a stench of decay.
Tao Yu looked up and saw a zombie stuck at the railing of the metal walkway on the third floor, but for the moment, he could only see that one.
He pushed off his feet, jumped up, and reached out to latch onto the metal railing of the fire escape. He easily vaulted over it.
The creaking of the metal alerted the zombie on the third floor, but before it could react, Tao Yu had already kicked it off the building.
Then he quickly proceeded up to the roof.
There was a body on the roof which on closer inspection showed a gaping gunshot wound to the head, but it had mostly dried up in the wind, to the point where not even the flies were interested.
“It must be quite old. First, let’s go to the place where the curtain is lifted to take a look. It would be best if we could find a native to talk to.”
If it wasn’t an Abyssal native, whether they were intelligent zombies or Pioneers, that would be acceptable too.
Information could also be exchanged with the Pioneers.
After estimating the gaps and distances between the houses, Tao Yu made a short sprint.
His strong physique combined with the various moves of Five-Form Boxing made him seem like a highly compressed spring.
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Easily carrying his backpack, he leaped over the alleys between houses and landed on the opposite side.
Once he found his rhythm, he began to accelerate continuously, moving as if he were parkour running.
The alleyways between ordinary buildings were no obstacle at all; as he passed by the zombies, a slap with his palm clad in puncture-resistant gloves struck like a bear’s paw, casting the zombies aside as if they were rag dolls.
Running, pushing, sliding, jumping, and rolling—even with fifty kilograms of supplies on his back, Tao Yu was much more agile than experienced parkour athletes.
“Seventh floor to the right.”
As Tao Yu sped across rooftops, feeling the strong wind whistling by his ears, he occasionally scanned over the previously identified buildings.
During his travel, people in that window were still occasionally observing outside, but they had not spotted Tao Yu on the rooftops.
“We can at least rule out the Inner City Pioneers.”
Tao Yu made a quick judgment based on the abilities of people like Jose and Wino, though he was moving on rooftops, if it were newbies from the Inner City, they would have easily spotted him.
Even if Inner City folks wouldn’t bother with the yields here, being able to further rule them out still added an element of controllability.
Even the current him, upon comparison with Jose and Wino from before, still lacked the ability to confront them head-on.
Swish~
As the soles of his tactical boots scraped across the surface, Tao Yu suddenly decelerated and came to a stop at the edge of the rooftop.
What lay before him wasn’t the alleyways he had passed along the way, but a four-lane highway, forming a T-intersection with the road he had come in on.
The room that Tao Yu had determined had people in it was in a hotel diagonally across the highway.
As Tao Yu stepped to the edge of the rooftop, fully exposing himself, the person behind the curtain who had been occasionally looking out finally spotted him.
Tao Yu and the hidden onlooker locked eyes for a moment, causing the latter to panic and immediately leave the window.
After a little while, it seemed like another person took over at the window, lifting the curtain and locking eyes with Tao Yu—a muscular bald man with tattoos, looking very formidable.
At this point, Tao Yu was fully equipped in a tactical suit and tactical helmet, shouldering a backpack, armed to the teeth.
Just on appearance alone, he was quite an imposing sight, and the man, after seeing him, simply lifted the curtain and then made several hand signals.
But Tao Yu really couldn’t understand the abstract gestures the man was making.
After realizing they couldn’t communicate, the burly man extended his finger to point upward, then placed his finger over his lips, making a universally understood gesture for silence, and then left the window.
This time, Tao Yu roughly understood what he was trying to convey: he was probably planning to come to the rooftop and wanted Tao Yu to be quiet.
Sure enough, not long after, three silhouettes made their way to the rooftop.
Although each person’s attire was somewhat different, Tao Yu could generally determine they were likely not Pioneers from the Outer City.
It wasn’t that Outer City Pioneers lacked nice clothes, but most of the time, they would carry their own backpacks and belongings constantly, and even with nice clothes, they were sure to combine various items into a strange ensemble.
That sort of temperament was easy to judge.
The three people who approached included a white bald muscular man, a tall black man, each holding a shotgun and a handgun respectively, and it seemed like they also carried a crossbow on their back.
But what was most abnormal was that the one walking in front was actually an Asian with a large nose and a scar on his face, appearing to be the leader of the three.
The key was that Tao Yu’s vision was clear enough at this distance to make out the Asian’s face, and it was surprisingly familiar to him.
What’s going on?
Is that Big Nose Uncle Dragon from the furniture city?
Had he acted in a zombie movie?
Although the Asian’s face had a deep scar that made his entire appearance somewhat fierce, without a doubt, it was that Big Nose Uncle Dragon.
This was Tao Yu’s first encounter with a local native in the Abyssal Fragment, and he hadn’t expected that his first meeting would be with such a significant figure!
After seeing Big Nose Uncle Dragon, Tao Yu had a vague sense of foreboding in his heart.
This world wasn’t as simple as just a Zombie World!
This guy definitely hadn’t acted in a zombie movie!
Thinking of the Python that had been parasitized by an Alien, Tao Yu also had some speculations.
At this moment, the three people on the roof had also jumped over a small alley’s distance and landed on the rooftop opposite Tao Yu on the highway; the Asian with the face of Big Nose Uncle Dragon kept waving at Tao Yu, signaling him to move back.
Then Tao Yu saw the tall black man take out a crossbow from his back, and the crossbow was attached to a rope, which made Tao Yu instantly understand their intention.
He looked down at the street below, where the zombies were not too dense, and at the roadway and sidewalk, which were about twenty meters wide in total.
Tao Yu actually felt that it might be faster to go down and climb up directly.
But after thinking it over, he still chose not to act rashly.
Buzz~
The crossbow bolt shot straight over and pierced through the water tank on the rooftop.
The bald white man with tattoos also made a pulling motion towards Tao Yu.
Tao Yu went with the flow, checked that the rope was not too tight, directly pulled the arrow out, and then tied the rope to the water tank’s frame with a knot similar to a trailer hitch, pulling it tight, then signalled the other side to pull.
Soon, the rope was taut, and the other end was secured to something.
Tao Yu didn’t hesitate at all, he grabbed the rope with both hands and quickly alternated his grips to move across.
However, during the movement, Tao Yu still kept an eye on the other side.
Although most of the time, Uncle Dragon’s roles were ones with a strong sense of justice, he wouldn’t completely entrust his safety to others.
Now, he focused his mind, even if they started firing unexpectedly from the other side, he could cope using “Bullet Time.”
If he fell from this height, he could throw out his backpack to adjust the distance and manage to land on top of a car.
As Tao Yu reached the other side, what he’d been guarding against didn’t happen.
It was just that the tall black man and the bald white man both held their guns in full caution.
Tao Yu’s full gear and the ease with which he hand-over-handed across the rope still warranted their necessary caution.
In this post-apocalyptic world, sometimes humans were more frightening than zombies.
“Hello, I’m Jack, temporarily the leader of this Survivor Base. Friend, you’ve got some nice gear there, where did you get it?”
Uncle Dragon introduced himself in English first, tentatively asking, the scar on his face twisting as he spoke, making him seem somewhat ferocious.
Jack?
Tao Yu felt a bit unclear; it was a purely beautiful name, probably from a Hollywood movie, indeed somewhat unfamiliar compared to a name like Chen Jiaju.
But quickly, he responded in English, which was still quite fluent,
“I came from the south, what exactly is going on here?”
Tao Yu didn’t know if they had had any contact with the Pioneers, but through the radio information, it was clear that they had noticed the prairies and rainforests to the south.
The Pioneers didn’t have any specific requirements for keeping secrets from the locals inside the Fragment, but most of the time, they would still try to maximize their informational advantage…