Chapter 99: The Strange Misty Forest
Su Ling immediately opened her eyes. "Old Jin."
She called out softly, and Old Jin had already reached the door.
Luo Xiaobing immediately shouted, "Sister Su Ling, Old Jin says there are zombies, and there are a lot of them."
Su Ling lifted the quilt and put on her clothes before approaching the window. Through the moonlight, she indeed saw a large number of zombies in the yard, dense and numbering in the hundreds, it sent shivers down one's spine.
"Han Qiang, wake up quickly."
Geng Hao's voice also came from outside.
Su Ling went outside, and Sheng Hongye was standing at the door, looking outside.
"Why are there so many?"
"They should be villagers from the village."
Chen Yu rubbed his eyes and got up, unable to hold back his anger. "Damn it, why didn't these zombies come out during the day?"
Han Qiang also looked puzzled. "Why aren't they attacking?"
Sheng Hongye's face turned serious. "There should be a leader among these zombies. They are waiting for orders from the leader."
Su Ling immediately looked at the zombies. They were swaying at the door as if waiting for something.
Professor Bai couldn't help but ask, "What do we do now? Are we just going to wait like this?"
Sheng Hongye pondered for a moment and said, "With so many zombies, even if the house's defense is high, it will be destroyed. I will go out and lead some away, and you guys focus on defense."
Su Ling immediately stopped him. "No, there are too many zombies, and they are too densely packed. We can't lure them away. There's no need to take such a risk."
Sheng Hongye frowned. "If we wait for them to attack, we will be even more in danger. This place is not like our base; it's difficult to defend."
Su Ling really wanted to suggest trying the system's defense, but she also knew that Sheng Hongye was telling the truth. In the previous encounters with the zombie waves at the base, they had occupied favorable terrain and could close the door to keep the zombies at bay.
But this time was different. The house was surrounded by glass, and there were simply too many zombies. Even with Sheng Hongye around, she couldn't be completely sure.
If the house was breached, they would all be trapped by the zombies.
Seeing the car parked outside, an idea suddenly came to her.
"I have a way to lure the zombies out. If you want to leave, wait until there are fewer zombies before you go."
Su Ling took out the electric car key and pressed the horn button.
The honking sound resounded outside, and indeed, the zombies were attracted by it. Slowly, they turned around and walked towards the yard.
Seeing the trick worked, Geng Hao also took out the car keys and pressed them hard.
In an instant, a space was cleared in the middle of the yard.
Sheng Hongye couldn't help but give Su Ling a thumbs up before pushing the door and stepping outside.
With a leap, he landed gracefully on top of the wall.
The zombies heard the noise and immediately turned their heads. Sheng Hongye whistled and jumped towards the adjacent courtyard.
At that moment, a loud howl came from outside, and the zombies all turned around and chased after Sheng Hongye.
Even these sluggish zombies defied their normal behavior and leaped over the high wall, moving as agile as wild rabbits.
Chen Yu couldn't help but exclaim, "Holy shit, why are they all chasing after Brother Sheng?"
Seeing all the zombies chasing Sheng Hongye, Su Ling couldn't help but feel anxious.
She took the shotgun without bullets to the door, then climbed onto the courtyard wall, trying to locate the commanding zombie, but found that there was no one left in the courtyard. Cold sweat broke out on her back.
There were more than a hundred zombies. Even if Sheng Hongye was formidable, he couldn't beat so many creatures that had no sense of pain.
Geng Hao rushed out too and said urgently, "Sister Su Ling, let's go save Brother Sheng."
Su Ling was also worried. Sheng Hongye meant not only a captain to them but also a symbol of their morale. If anything happened to him, the team would likely fall apart.
However, with the situation unclear, she didn't dare to make rash decisions.
Chen Yu also urged, "Sister Su Ling, even though Brother Sheng is powerful, he can't defeat over a hundred zombies on his own. We are teammates; we can't just stand by and do nothing!"
"I didn't say we won't save him. Both of you, don't rush. Let me think it over," Su Ling replied.
Su Ling was the first person to get to know Sheng Hongye, and she had the most interactions with him. How could she not be worried?
But anxiousness didn't allow for recklessness. After all, this wasn't a game; everyone only had one life, and once it was gone, there would be no second chances.
She walked around the courtyard a few times, trying to calm herself down.
If they were just helping Sheng Hongye divert the zombies' attention, they could still manage it. They only needed to create some noise from behind and then split up and focus on evading the zombies to reduce the pressure on Sheng Hongye.
Having thought it through, she turned back to Luo Xiaobing and said, "Xiaobing, can you communicate with Old Jin? It has a keen nose, so let it lead us to find people."
Luo Xiaobing nodded and immediately crouched down to say a few words to Old Jin.
Old Jin shook its fur, and stood up with a bark.
Han Qiang immediately said, "I'll go too."
"No, you and Geng Hao must stay behind. Otherwise, the remaining people won't have any fighting capability," Su Ling replied.
Geng Hao promptly said, "I'll go with Sister Su Ling."
Chen Yu also chimed in, "I'll go too. Although I don't have any supernatural abilities, I can run fast and might be able to help in some way."
"Okay, but let's agree beforehand. If we encounter zombies, we can't get too close. Just attract their attention and nothing more. After all, we don't have Sheng Hongye's skills. If we get surrounded, it'll be a dead end."
Both of them immediately agreed.
Su Ling quickly opened the car door, only to find that the fuel tank was nearly empty, and the other two cars weren't in a much better state. The remaining fuel wouldn't last even a kilometer, so they had to give up.
"We can only go on foot."
After patting Old Jin's head, Su Ling said, "Lead the way."
With a bark, Old Jin ran towards the west side of the village.
Su Ling hurriedly followed. She then noticed a small river to the west of the village. The water wasn't deep, probably only waist-deep. Old Jin had already swum across.
As Su Ling couldn't swim, she could only wade through the water step by step. The three of them struggled to reach the other side and entered the forest. However, they found Old Jin was nowhere to be seen, and the surrounding area was covered in dense fog.
"Wait."
Su Ling stretched out her hand to stop the two of them.
"Something doesn't seem right."
Geng Hao nodded and said, "Why did such thick fog suddenly appear?"
Chen Yu couldn't help but shout, "Brother Sheng, Old Jin!"
The voice echoed, sending a chilling shiver down their spines.
Chen Yu couldn't help trembling. "Damn, why is it so eerie?"
Su Ling also had goosebumps. At this moment, the fog became even thicker.
She quickly made a decision. "We can't go any further. Quickly, hold hands."
Su Ling reached out to pull Chen Yu, but her hand felt ice-cold. When she turned around, she saw a zombie with a green-black face grinning at her.
Startled, Su Ling kicked the zombie away but heard Chen Yu yelp in pain.
"Sister Su Ling, why did you kick me?"
Su Ling heard Chen Yu's voice, but she still saw the zombie's face. Without thinking, she turned around and ran back.
"There's something strange about this fog. Let's get out quickly."
Feeling scared, the two of them ran towards the riverbank but lost their way in the dense fog.
"Sister Su Ling? Geng Hao?"
Chen Yu couldn't help shouting, but there was no response.
Among the three of them, he was the weakest, and he couldn't help but shudder with fear.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his neck, and then he lost consciousness.