A few hundred more member clicks and we'll hit the front page rankings. After reading, please click a few more times. I was planning to rest today, only posting two updates, as I’ve already managed three updates a day for five consecutive days! I’m exhausted, but we’re so close to the front page! I can’t give up now! I have to push through. Everyone, please help me get there!
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The people on the flatbed truck kept firing their pistols relentlessly, trying to shoot down the zombie dogs and swarms of zombie ants chasing them from behind, as well as that monstrous, gruesome creature. But with the physical capabilities of these soldiers—only one to five times that of a normal human—their nervous reaction times couldn't keep up with the monsters' speed. Most bullets missed, and even those that landed did little damage to these dark beings, unless they scored a headshot!
"No good, they’re catching up!"
The hideous monster was closing the distance rapidly, its fangs almost scraping the rear of the truck. If it managed to latch on, the vehicle's balance would be compromised, leading to a rollover.
Just then—
Whoosh!
The truck lunged forward, instantly increasing the distance. Before the passengers could steady themselves—everyone except Bai Long and the team leader, Mu Baifeng—the other soldiers swayed violently, nearly falling. They desperately grabbed hold of the truck's railings, terrified of being tossed off, which would surely be a death sentence.
Approaching the turn...
Ye Chen's expression was grim. His foot rapidly shifted between the brake and the accelerator, downshifting before wrenching the steering wheel, swinging the truck’s rear out in a massive arc—a full drift!
Yes, a drift!
Ye Chen was drifting a massive truck!
A Long, sitting in the passenger seat, nearly popped his eyeballs out. Good heavens, this was a heavy truck, not a race car! The taller and narrower a vehicle, the less effective centrifugal force is, which is why race cars are low and wide. Large cargo haulers must reduce speed to a crawl when cornering, or they will flip.
While this truck wasn't as tall as a semi, attempting a drift with it was guaranteed to end in disaster!
Just as A Long predicted, during the turn, the inner curve where Ye Chen was situated experienced insufficient outward centrifugal force. The tires momentarily lost traction, and the entire chassis leaned outward, looking seconds away from flipping over.
Ye Chen remained calm, completely unfazed, as if he had anticipated this exact scenario. He slapped the driver's seat, eliciting a loud thwack of springs. The heavy truck, which was nearly toppling sideways, suddenly jolted as he slammed it down with that single palm strike. The tires gripped the pavement, and it resumed speed.
Ye Chen executed this maneuver with extreme stealth. A Long, still reeling from the shock of the near-rollover, hadn't noticed a thing. When he finally snapped back to reality, he saw the truck level itself smoothly on the ground, having avoided the crash. He stared, utterly bewildered.
Midway through the drift, Ye Chen released the brake and stomped hard on the accelerator, snapping the gear selector upward. With a roar, the truck surged forward, shaking violently. The men standing in the open bed were thrown about haphazardly; they couldn't even manage to shoot properly, instead clinging to the rails, bouncing around like weeds in a storm.
"Holy hell, it’s going that fast!"
"Is this even a truck?"
Many soldiers were left slack-jawed.
Ye Chen glanced ahead. It was a straight avenue, teeming with zombies and various zombie monsters milling about in the streets. However, there were no evolved creatures—if any showed up, they would be met with the same 'welcome' from the horde as humans.
The roar of the exhaust pipe immediately drew the attention of the zombies. They snarled ferociously and flooded in from all directions. Some zombie humans actually charged directly in front of the truck, utterly oblivious to the concept of 'death.'
"Slow down! If we keep going like this, we’ll attract even more monsters!" A Long urgently called out.
Ye Chen ignored him, his expression detached. He glanced at the hundreds of zombie humans and the massive swarm of zombie cockroaches, ants, rats, mosquitoes, and crawling insects pouring in from all sides, looking at them as if they were mere planks of wood, his eyes showing no change whatsoever. Gripping the steering wheel with one hand, he kept his foot pressed to the gas and rammed straight ahead!
Crash! Crash! Crash!
The few zombie humans rushing toward them were blasted away like cannonballs. The truck’s windshield cracked, smeared with splatters of blackish blood that partially obscured the view.
A Long in the passenger seat felt like he was suffocating. He didn't dare ask Ye Chen to slow down again. Now that the monsters were alerted, decelerating meant being instantly swamped—a certain dead end. There was only one path: charge straight through!
He gripped the dashboard and his seatbelt with both hands, knuckles white, covered in a cold sweat. In a moment of frantic assessment, he managed to glance at Ye Chen. What he saw nearly made him spit blood: Ye Chen held the steering wheel with one hand, while his other hand was casually extended outward, adjusting the rearview mirror. He looked completely unhurried, as if utterly unaware of the deadly predicament they were in.
Around the truck, numerous zombies rushed forward. But as soon as they grabbed the railings, they were flung off by the truck’s high-speed momentum, tumbling over. The unluckier ones were dragged under the massive tires and crushed flat.
However, the resistance from these zombies caused the truck to shake more violently, and its speed began to drop significantly. Ye Chen suddenly stated calmly, "Tell the people in the back to get ready. I’m going to stop the truck under a specific building. Have Bai Long lead the charge into the building. Anything that attacks him, he handles. Everyone else follows and reacts as necessary!"
A Long, whose soul had nearly fled his body, felt an urge to vomit upon hearing Ye Chen’s cool tone. He shot Ye Chen a speechless look, then immediately cupped his hands around his mouth and roared the instructions so everyone in the truck bed could hear.
"That should be enough," Ye Chen narrowed his eyes.
There was a curve ahead. Ye Chen accelerated sharply, pulling a 'cutting turn' to slide through. Right at the bend stood a tall building. The truck finally stopped smoothly beneath it, the sliding motion sweeping away the surrounding zombies. It stopped perfectly aligned with the building’s entrance.
The people on the truck bed quickly jumped off. Some with weaker constitutions looked pale, almost gagging; they had been severely shaken by the high-speed chase.
After dismounting, Bai Long and the others led the way into the building. Kicking open the main door, several zombies lunged out, but Bai Long and Yue Heng promptly took them down with headshots before charging straight inside.
Ye Chen pushed the door open and leaped out. He glanced back; the zombies that had fallen behind were rapidly closing in. He then scanned the truck bed and noticed that everyone had cleared out except for one person who was frantically pulling at something.
"Help me! My uniform got snagged, I can't pull it free!" It was a young man, looking extremely distressed, yanking desperately at his clothing. But his military uniform was tightly caught on a splintered edge, and the camouflage fabric was high quality; a normal person wouldn't be able to rip it free quickly.
Ye Chen frowned slightly. The monsters were almost upon them. The others, terrified by the sight of the horrifying horde, had all jumped off and rushed into the building without noticing the young man. Even if someone had seen him, no one would stop to help at a moment like this.
Ye Chen moved in a flash, vaulting back onto the truck, grabbing the fabric, and tearing it free with a gentle pull. "Hurry into the building."
The young man paused, giving Ye Chen a grateful look. Then he heard the horrific, savage roars and turned to see the monstrously grimacing zombies swarming in like a tidal wave. He gasped in terror and frantically jumped off the truck, scrambling toward the building.
Ye Chen glanced at the first few zombie dogs and fired several rounds from his pistol. Then, he flipped himself off the truck and retreated toward the building. He couldn't possibly kill this many monsters alone unless he used the Rune Energy Pistol.
However...
The moment he reached the base of the building, Ye Chen saw the thick wooden door, a few inches thick, shut tight. He pushed it, but it was locked!
The very youth he had just saved had locked him—and the approaching monsters—outside to keep the horde from flooding into the building!