"Quick, to the three vehicles at the back!"

As Wang Longzhong and his group were thirty meters away from the Mercedes RV, Zhang Su pointed to the rear and shouted. Although the other party had no spare breath to respond, they would surely understand.

Meanwhile, Zhang Su pulled the pin from a hand grenade and forcefully hurled it forward.

The hand grenade, slightly larger than a goose egg, turned into a small black dot in the firelight, tracing a graceful arc across the night sky. By the time it reached its highest point, Wang Longzhong's group was already within ten meters. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

The grenade, thrown with Zhang Su's great strength, flew a full eighty meters (a soldier's record is a hundred and two meters), and the timing was calculated to perfection, landing precisely at the dragon head of the flaming dragon!

"Everyone, open fire!"

When the flames engulfed the grenade, Zhang Su ordered.

Boom!

Steel balls shot out; their power might not surpass that of a detonator, and their lethality was limited, but they played an excellent restraining role, clearly slowing down the zombies' advance!

Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat...

As the gunfire echoed, the zombie horde was met with firelight flying in all directions. Occasionally, a zombie would fall, but more would fill the gap, and the flame dragon's march was not entirely halted, still valiantly advancing toward the RV. This bravery and perseverance would be truly laudable if placed in human warfare!

Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat.

Zhang Su stood near the driver's seat, emptying a magazine. Just as he was about to change it, Fukner Meifu's horn sounded in his ears.

Honk honk!

"Cease fire!"

Zhang Su shouted, quickly leapt into the car, and with a hard press on the accelerator and a swift turn of the steering wheel, chased after the van's taillights heading north!

In the rearview mirror video feed, Zhang Su could clearly see the flaming zombies, after a simple regrouping, once again relentlessly chasing the vehicle. However, their speed was no match for the internal combustion engine and they quickly fell behind, disappearing further and further away until they vanished from the screen!

"Damn it, what's with those zombies?"

Zhao Dezhu kept looking back at the zombies until they were out of sight, then closed the window that was letting in the cold air, sniffled, and said loudly, "Why do I feel like those zombies were hopping and jumping, like they were burned?"

The heavy and tense atmosphere was lightened by Zhao Dezhu's comment about being "burned".

"Brother Da Zhu, you're such a talent, zombies aren't afraid of pain, you know!"

Qi Xiaoshuai leaned against the refrigerator, thinking about the shooting earlier, his heart surged with excitement that couldn't calm down.

Zhang Su said, "I also feel the zombies are strange. Logically, even if we can't achieve precise headshots like Old Tan and Teacher Yu, hitting other parts of their bodies should cause damage; they could lose their ability to move. But just now..."

At this, Zhang Su hesitated slightly, because he could see details others couldn't. If he spoke too specifically, it would arouse suspicion, so he reorganized his words.

"Just now, not many zombies fell, we can't all have just grazed them, right?"

"Indeed, indeed, I also felt that not many zombies were killed, were you guys conserving ammo?"

"Nonsense, I emptied a whole magazine."

"Me too, I even fired an extra ten bullets!"

The group calculated that in the brief minute or so, they had used more than four hundred bullets.

By the usual kill ratio, that many bullets should have taken down over a hundred, as everyone was aiming precisely, not just spraying blindly.

But what happened just now, you didn't even need to count, you could feel the difference just from the fallen flames. The flaming zombies that fell numbered close to a hundred, but clearly, some were still struggling and crawling on the ground, not dead at all. Only about forty or fifty were really killed!

The bullet expenditure and zombie death count reached an astounding ten to one ratio, which is far too exaggerated.

"We'll ask Wang Longzhong later what exactly happened."

Zhang Su had a heavy expression; he had caught up to the vehicles in front and could even hear the rapid panting from inside.

Speeding along, the four vehicles quickly returned to Celestial Horse Island.

"Younger Brother Zhang, United Village is gone, it's over, it's all my fault for poor commanding!"

When the vehicles stopped, Wang Longzhong got out, his legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground, crying bitterly.

On the way back, over the course of ten-plus minutes, he gradually calmed down, realizing that his command had led to heavy casualties for the villagers. They were nearly wiped out, filling him with remorse and despair.

Every leader bears the mission to lead their companions to survive. A leader is the spiritual support and hope of a group, and Wang Longzhong felt deep in his heart that he had failed everyone who trusted him.

United Village villagers who got off the vehicle had tear-streaked faces. Wang Xingui consoled Wang Longzhong on the side, his own expression mournful.

The people of Celestial Horse Island, infected by the somber mood, let out sighs. United Village, as an important subordinate force, suffered a heavy blow that affected everyone.

Zhang Su could see that Wang Longzhong wasn't acting. He had just taken on the village leader's role, was ready to roll up his sleeves and work hard, but ended up like this. It seemed like, if handed a knife, he would commit seppuku right there as atonement.

"Let's not cry here; I want to know what happened with those zombies. Old Wang, explain clearly to me!" Zhang Su pulled Wang Longzhong up, then said to the others, "Find them a place to sleep, carry on as usual. Let's not panic!"

With that said, he led Wang Longzhong to Fu Weijun and Duan Wuhu's room.

Previously, there were no related research personnel in the camp, and everyone could only guess wildly. Now with experts specialized in zombie research, they naturally should be consulted.

The same information might sound like noise to laypeople, but insiders can see the underlying patterns.

Outside, hearing the commotion, Fu Weijun and Duan Wuhu naturally realized something had happened and before they could speculate further, they heard a knock on the door.

"Brother Zhang, what's going on? Quickly, come in and we can talk!"

Duan Wuhu opened the door, seeing Zhang Su's serious face outside with a sobbing middle-aged man by his side, puzzled.

Zhang Su hadn't informed Duan Wuhu and Fu Weijun about rescuing United Village as they had just joined the camp and didn't even have guns, so they wouldn't have participated in such an operation.

"United Village has been attacked by a zombie horde, but these zombies are different from before. He's the village head of United Village and will explain tonight's situation to us."

Zhang Su and Wang Longzhong entered the room.

"Mr. Zhang and dear uncle, my leg is a little uncomfortable, so I won't get up. Please have a seat."

Fu Weijun leaned against the bedhead, put down his book as they came in, and sat straight up.

After they sat, Zhang Su took out a cigarette, thought for a moment and lit it by the window, throwing one to Duan Wuhu, then said, "Old Wang, tell us, what happened tonight? From calling for help to running for your lives, it took a whole quarter-hour? Were you playing snakes?"

This was what frustrated Zhang Su the most; he thought their actions were quick enough, assuming United Village was fighting hard within. They would flank from behind, taking out zombies and successfully rescuing the villagers, possibly bringing back supplies to Celestial Horse Island as well.

The reality was quite unexpected; before they even arrived, the villagers were already routed, fleeing in panic — absurd!

"Sigh..." Wang Longzhong sighed, trembling slightly, calmed himself, then said, "I had just finished my dinner and was discussing migration with Xingui when someone shouted that zombies were coming. After finding out..."

"Zombies climbed out of the quarry, where over two thousand were piled up. Even if half came out, it was overwhelming. At that point, I sounded the highest alert."

"Thinking there was time to prepare, we barely gathered people when the zombies were already in the village! It felt like they were coming specifically for us. Maybe the sentries at the quarry made noise, catching the horde's attention."

"Then we engaged in standard combat with the zombies, but things went wrong. Damn, usually zombies are stalled by obstacles, only walking forward dumbly. But these zombies were jumping, not very high, just over ten centimeters."

Wang Longzhong gestured, face full of fear, "Zombies would tumble over the barriers and get up to continue charging. Barriers were essentially ineffective, though there were tripwires at waist height that delayed them slightly..."

"Is this... minor jumping ability?" Fu Weijun said as Wang Longzhong paused, "It seems yesterday's snowfall brought changes to the zombies. Mr. Zhang, my theory must be correct; their program has been upgraded, and their abilities slightly enhanced."

From mindlessly walking to understanding a bit of jumping, while seemingly small, it signifies a massive shift. Numerous methods used against zombies need simultaneous upgrades and changes, or errors like United Village's will be repeated!