Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 290 - 16: Winter Yak!
Chapter 290: Chapter 16: Winter Yak!
A mess everywhere.
Li Yan avoided the scattered remains of the undead on the ground and walked through this abandoned building inside and out. Not finding anything of value, nor any other sign of undead existence, he finally stepped out and walked to the door.
He stared at the undead he had smashed to death on the ground for a moment, hesitated for a while, and, enduring the nausea, searched the bodies of these undead in uniform one by one. In the end, he found nothing.
Li Yan cursed his bad luck under his breath, pulled out the map Kuang Zhuoma had given him, and headed deeper into the desolate basin, following the direction marked by the red arrow.
…
The sun sank behind the mountains. Along the way, Li Yan passed through three ruins. What he saw most was not charred skeletons, not the ruined clusters of buildings, but pits.
One after the other, they were ugly scars that stretched as far as the eye could see. On the distant horizon stood a chain of black withered mountains.
The once incomparably beautiful green mountains had been relentlessly excavated by the military in their frenzy to prepare for war. At night, the wind passing through the caves sounded like weeping sobs. And now that the Age of Winter had come, these caves had all become paradises for the undead.
Thump!
In the gloomy cave, Li Yan wiped the bloody specks off the hammer on his wrist, took a deep breath, his arm sore and numb, his body drenched in sweat.
Scattered on the ground were the bodies of the undead, lying askew.
Li Yan came to Selincuo Great Devil Lake and spent the entire day without seeing even a ditch, let alone a lake.
The undead of the Great Demon Lake were essentially just slightly fiercer carnivorous animals. Like most living beings of this era, they loathed intense ultraviolet rays, so they would usually stay in groups within abandoned buildings, caves, and various man-made underground constructions.
Therefore, Li Yan’s cleansing mission didn’t require much thought. Wherever there was shade, he was sure to find clusters of undead. It was like lifting up a brick after the rain to find snails underneath.
Within only one day, he had cleared more than a third of the area designated by Yin Xiong.
However, the process was not smooth sailing. As Li Yan advanced, the strength of the undead hordes had noticeably increased. Even more horrifying mutations started to appear.
Their attacks were fiercer, their claws able to penetrate stone, their bones and flesh much tougher. What troubled Li Yan the most was that some mutants had begun to use weapons. Li Yan had even encountered an undead wielding two PPS-43 submachine guns, and its expertise with firearms reached an astonishing 79%!
Despite the high level of combat intelligence these undead possessed, they still had an unparalleled desire to attack and devour the living, making Li Yan feel nothing as he killed them in droves. Without a doubt, the existence of these mutants greatly slowed down Li Yan’s cleansing pace.
Of course, such changes still didn’t pose a fatal threat to Li Yan. But for other Hunters who ventured into the Great Demon Lake, it might not be the same.
Wilderness Hunters spent years wandering the outdoors, their guns their lovers and children. Should these men witness the vigorous undead wielding submachine guns with deadly ability, they might ponder over humankind’s hopes of survival in the Age of Winter—has it dimmed again?
The night had already fallen. Li Yan took an oil-based pen and marked a check on the map, signifying the route he had covered. He planned to spend the night in this cave and set off again early the next morning.
He kindled a fire, found a relatively dry and soft pile of grass, pulled over a black blanket—not minding that it had been used by the undead before—and with his face toward the glowing flames, he fell into deep thought.
“Yu Shu wants me to go to Shuishu Park, and Qiong Qi is there, too. What exactly is Shuishu Park? And where to find the super genetic sample of the Great Demon Lake?”
From Yin Xiong’s words, it wasn’t hard to see that the desolation stricken Great Demon Lake, ravaged by the walking dead, held secrets that Kuang Zhuoma, and even the majority of the Age of Winter powers, were eager to seize.
It could be scientific research materials or perhaps a terrifying weapon, but with the account of the Yan Fu incident included, Li Yan began to think that what Kuang Zhuoma needed was probably the so-called “super gene sample.”
That is to say, if Li Yan himself wanted to get his hands on this object, not only would he have to match wits and valour with the “living zombie little bros,” but he’d also have to be prepared to turn against Kuang Zhuoma.
Considering the current situation, the disadvantages outweighed the advantages.
Let’s play it by ear; if you guys get it first, fine, but if I get it, and you want to snatch it, it wouldn’t be me being unfair.
At this time, Li Yan had long forgotten the promise he made to Yin Xiong to “only operate within the area he was responsible for clearing out.”
Thinking about these things, he heavily closed his eyelids.
Hu~
The blazing campfire was suddenly extinguished, and a chilly breeze furiously rolled out of the cave, bringing with it a gust that funnelled down Li Yan’s neck.
Li Yan, on the brink of sleep, was jolted awake.
There was a draft in the cave?
Li Yan turned around; this cave was deep, and it was riddled with branching paths leading straight down to the earth’s depths, a place of eerie horror.
Li Yan had wiped out the living zombies entrenched here and hadn’t been too curious, but this sudden chill emanating from the depths of the cave had piqued his interest.
With the cave pitch black to the point where he couldn’t see his own hand in front of him, Li Yan grabbed a handful of dirt and sprinkled it on the ground, verifying that the dust was indeed being stirred by the wind, coming from deep inside the cave.
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Li Yan did not hurry to move, but instead called upon the long-unused Sudu bird.
Dozens of black Sudu birds, flapping their wings, flew into the cave, and through their eyes, streams of information converged in Li Yan’s mind. After about twenty minutes, Li Yan’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he unhesitatingly headed towards a particular passage and walked inside.
Even with a flashlight, Li Yan’s visibility did not exceed ten meters, and as he went deeper underground, even the air became thinner. However, Li Yan seemed to be confident in his course.
After walking for roughly ten minutes, the temperature became colder and colder, and Li Yan’s line of sight suddenly widened. The uneven dirt path beneath his feet turned into solid stones and finally into flat iron plates. Li Yan could vaguely make out black and yellow zebra stripes, rusty rail cars, and spider webs covering the area. Above him were rubber pipelines, twisted electrical wires, and, still glowing, lights.
Suddenly, the vision of a leading Sudu bird turned pitch black.
Li Yan’s footsteps halted, his face turned gloomy, and he mentally called for the other Sudu birds to return.
As if terrified by something, the Sudu birds hurried back to Li Yan’s side upon his call, and closely following them was a 5.45 mm caliber Soviet-made bullet aimed straight for Li Yan’s eye socket.
The bullet couldn’t penetrate the Gang Dou and lost all its kinetic energy. Li Yan activated “Hidden Flight,” which also signified his firm intent to kill.
Brown stockings, mid-calf black leather boots, silver-grey military uniform, golden epaulettes, holding two oversized TT-33 pistols in hand, and beneath the grey round-fur hat, were locks of light golden short hair.
And a terrifying mummified visage.
Unidentified soldier type: Winter Yak!
