Meng Chao could not decide whether he should continue chasing after Gao Ye or follow up on the rat horde.
The next moment, he connected to Ye Xiaoxing’s channel and heard the captain of Group 9 speak urgently, “Come back to the surface, quick!”
Meng Chao and Lu Siya exchanged a glance and returned through a tunnel that inclined upwards. Then, they climbed up a simple ladder and flipped open the manhole cover, which led them to the surface. It was only then that they noticed that the south of the city was in chaos.
They used a military-grade tactical computer and received information Ye Xiaoxing had just sent to them. It was screenshots of the junctions at the south of the city, all of which were taken from the CCTVs.
They could clearly see that half an hour ago, “black geysers” had suddenly shot out of the corners, drains, and manholes in the south of the city. They surged to residential areas like a flood and especially targeted the temporary tents.
Naturally, those “black geysers” were rat hordes that filled every corner of the streets.
In the past, when a monster invasion happened, a space-time rift would open, and it would usually cause ripples beforehand. Due to that, it would be predicted by the weather forecast station, so the areas that would be affected could enter a fortified state. The residents would also go into a state of alertness and prepare for war.
But the rat horde came without a warning. They had been living under Dragon City instead of being sent from outside , so before they shot out into the city, the weather forecast station didn’t release any alarms about the fog. Naturally, no areas were fortified. They were not even at 10% of fortification.
Besides, the residents whose homes were destroyed during the previous monster invasions were still living in tents that only offered simple living conditions. It was impossible for them to fortify those places.
The rat horde dived straight into the community areas and residential areas to fight against the citizens.
Within a short moment, Meng Chao heard chaos all over the place. People were hitting things in panic, which created lots of noise. It was as if a pot of congee had started spilling out of the pot while popcorn popped out of the pan beside it at the same time.
Ye Xiaoxing shouted hoarsely in the communication channel that hundreds of residential areas in the south were invaded by the rat horde, and based on the signs that the rats had appeared at the same time from various directions, it was a large scale attack that had been planned beforehand.
“What do you mean?” Lu Siya wore a pair of long leather boots that had steel plates and spikes on them. She stomped on one rat and kicked it far away. Then, she asked in puzzlement, “Do the abnormal beasts want to use these rats to destroy Dragon City’s defenses?”
Meng Chao was also puzzled by this.
Even though the weather forecast station would not send alarms if they used the rat horde already in the city so that the buildings would not be fortified, the rats were weak. It was a stretch to even call them monsters. Dragon Citizens were all skilled in martial arts and were strong, and all the families had weapons hidden in their homes. They could deal with rat hordes.
Once Group 9 sent out drones, they quickly captured the scenes from above the community areas nearby, and they saw what they expected.
It was the peak hour at night. The streets and public transports were full of people.
The sudden appearance of the rat horde brought about chaos in the subway and all sorts of public transport, catching the community areas off guard.
But soon, the citizens reacted to the situation and launched a resolute counterattack.
Many of the office workers in the public buses wore leather boots with steel plates and sharp blades. There were also people who had soft swords and whips at their waists. Some of the women lifted their skirts and unsheathed chilling daggers from their thighs as well.
The families in the residential areas also had secret weapons to deal with pests—huge nets that had great flexibility. Once they threw the nets over, they could catch a few rats and pin them to the ground.
With the arm strength of the Dragon Citizens, they could easily break the rats’ bones and smash their heads.
Hence, the disturbance only lasted for a moment before it soon calmed down.
But Meng Chao could smell the scent of a plot.
‘Sneaking into Dragon City to control so many rats in the dark? Whoever it is also made them go berserk at the same time to attack the places with the densest number of people. The abnormal beasts must have used a lot of brainpower for this, but what’s the result they want? Do they just want the citizens to relieve some of their boredom while they’re going home after work?’
Suddenly, Meng Chao’s pupils shrank.
The screen on the tactical monitor showed twenty scenes at the same time.
And his gaze was fixed on the sixteenth scene at the top left corner.
He tapped on that scene lightly. The drone in the distance immediately received the command and lowered itself so that Meng Chao could see what was going on on the surface clearer.
It revealed a strong man who was built like a tower and had a shiny bald head.
Moments earlier, when the rat horde surged into a public bus, he was the first to fight against the rat horde. In one breath, he squashed eight rats. He even crushed two rats with his huge palms.
The rats’ sharp claws had left a few bloody marks on his face and arms.
The streets were full of public buses whose crystal engines had exploded after rats crawled into them and they could not move. The streets were obstructed.
Before the ambulances arrived, the man sat down by the road to rest.
Meng Chao saw the man wave his hand to refuse someone offering to treat his arm. His face was full of smiles while his mouth moved. He seemed to be saying, “These are just minor wounds. You don’t have to trouble yourself with it.”
Then, the man leaned against a tree and shut his eyes, as if he had fallen asleep due to exhaustion.
He was twitching like someone suffering from neuroticism. It seemed like he was having a nightmare.
Green veins stretched from his arms to his shoulders until they reached his face.
The man only slept for half a minute before he opened his eyes wide. His gaze was filled with confusion… and shone with a brutal light.
The twitches never stopped, but became fiercer. He looked like a crazed dancer, but also like someone who was unable to extract himself from a nightmare.
Soon, some people noticed his strange actions.
But before they could shout, the man revealed unbelievable mobility. He charged at them like a mad dog weighing more than one hundred kilograms.
Meng Chao saw the man knocking over a citizen who had been fighting alongside him just now. That person crashed into a public bus like a kite with its string snapped. The bus swayed viciously, and the citizen coughed up blood before he fainted.
The man pounced on another citizen and opened his mouth wide, which revealed sharp canines, and he bit viciously into the citizen’s neck.
No… That man was not the only one affected. Meng Chao saw many citizens who were injured while fighting gloriously against the rat horde turning into zombies within a short minute, and it happened in a lot of places in the south of the city!
Meng Chao’s mind raced before he reacted to the situation. He shouted into the communication channel, “Virus! Captain Ye, the rat horde carries a new mutated zombie virus! Their goal wasn’t to use the rat horde to crush our defenses, but to spread the virus!
“Damn it! The new mutated zombie virus attacks so quickly. It activates half a minute after the person is scratched or bitten. After it’s activated, the infected’s mobility increases by leaps and bounds. By the looks of it, it’s not a pure zombie virus. Instead, it’s the combination of a zombie virus and rabies. There’s a high chance that it’s a product from a lab and is an evil biochemical weapon!”
“Roger that,” Ye Xiaoxing said gravely. “We’ve already reported the situation to the higher ups. The south is going to immediately enter the highest state of alert. The superhumans from the other regions are rushing here. Stay where you are and be ready to help the citizens at all times.”
Before his voice faded away, Meng Chao heard the shrill sound of an alarm.
It was made of three long beeps and two short beeps—red alert. The citizens were urged to quickly fortify the residential areas in the south.
The vanguards of the Red Dragon Army brought armored airships to multiple regions in the south. They released steam while they sank down. Then, ropes were released and squads of elite soldiers slid down until they were between seven and eight meters from the ground. Then, they let go and landed on the ground on nimble feet.
Even though the streets were blocked off by crippled public buses, there were a lot of huge runic symbol fighting vehicles shaped like spiders and crabs. They crossed over the public buses to arrive at the crossroads. Then, they sat down to bring out cannons that could fire 360 degrees around it. They formed a tight defense on the streets.
Even though a lot of the rats had scratched and bitten the citizens, causing them to turn into zombies within a short half a minute, Dragon Citizens had been fighting zombies for half a century ago, so they were not scared out of their wits because of something as small as this.
When they faced the monstrous, growling zombies, most of the citizens did not choose to retreat. Instead, they went forward boldly to fight against the zombies.
As the south of the city entered red alert, the underground warehouses that had eye-catching yellow paint painted on their roofs and were buried under the streets or the entrances of large retail shops rose slowly. The plates were opened up, revealing the guns that filled those warehouses.
The citizens surged forward and grabbed weapons in a flurry of motion. With familiar moves, they fit in a sufficient amount of ammo and started executing tactical maneuvers with ease by looking for hiding spots and locking down the streets.
With guns in hand, they received a huge boost in confidence. They fired at the zombies nonstop, which turned the horror show into an action war movie.
Soon, the superhumans from all regions of the city came to provide reinforcements to the south of the city.
The Heaven Realm superhumans used their maglev abilities to fly over.
The Earth Realm fighters wore the 3D mobile gear made for superhumans and jumped down from the skyscrapers.
The normal citizens, Red Dragon Army, and superhumans worked together as one to fend against the attack, and while the rat hordes and the spread of the zombie virus might have arrived among them fiercely, they did not manage to completely destroy the order in the southern part of the city.
However, the zombies this time were smarter than normal zombies. When they noticed that they were not the opponents of guns, armored vehicles, and superhumans, they went into the depths of the residential areas or the corners of shabby streets, just like cunning monsters.
The chaos in the southern part of the city would not easily die down. They were bound to have a sleepless night.
Bang, bang!
Meng Chao held a gun and hit a zombie’s knee.
The zombie that had been about to pounce on an innocent citizen immediately fell to the ground.
It continued screaming madly and struggling. It scratched the ground with its hands and tried to crawl to the innocent citizens.
Meng Chao stomped on it and handed it to the Red Dragon Army soldiers who surged forward.
“Why didn’t you blow its head off?” Lu Siya asked after she rushed over.
“These people are infected with acute zombie virus. They might have a chance to return to normal.”
As Meng Chao spoke, he looked around. Flames burned everywhere, and the gunshots rose and fell all over the place. The streets were rife with chaos.
Puzzlement filled his eyes, but then he remembered his previous life, and his eyes shone.