Chapter 22: Gunshots in Wugang Town

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

An Sheng and his group’s destination was Wugang Town, located about a dozen kilometers south of Yushan. This was the nearest town to Yushan. The surrounding villages had never been large to begin with, and after Pighead Three had been using them as his personal cafeteria for the past few months, usable supplies had been exhausted. They had no choice but to risk venturing into zombie-infested towns to search for resources.

Wugang Town was a large settlement, relatively close to the urban district, even larger than typical county towns. Not daring to rashly enter the town center, An Sheng’s team first chose a small supermarket on the outskirts.

The few zombies wandering around the supermarket became Pighead Three’s meal. With this big guy’s help, An Sheng was saved a lot of trouble. The supermarket wasn’t large, and supplies weren’t abundant, but it was enough to keep everyone busy for a while.

Just as everyone was loading the vehicle, several explosions echoed from the town center, accompanied by faint “pop-pop” sounds. A veteran in the search team immediately identified the source – it was the sound of Type 95 automatic rifles. There were people in the town armed with firearms, and they were engaged in combat with something.

The sudden gunfire brought an inexplicable joy to the search team members. Everyone understood what this meant.

The people in the town were likely the long-awaited national rescue forces everyone had been hoping for. Of course, this was just speculation – the actual situation would need to be confirmed with their own eyes.

For safety’s sake, An Sheng had everyone continue loading supplies from the supermarket while he alone went to investigate the situation in the town. After all, with Pighead Three’s powerful presence, An Sheng wasn’t too worried about the search team’s safety.

After his mutation, even in his normal human form, An Sheng still possessed abilities beyond human limits. To avoid the surrounding zombies, An Sheng chose to travel across building rooftops.

His powerful physical attributes allowed An Sheng to easily climb and leap between buildings like an expert parkour athlete. The intense gunfire grew closer, and An Sheng could even smell the faint scent of gunpowder permeating the air.

Another violent explosion erupted, its black smoke darkening the air above the streets. The blast wave and shrapnel turned several zombies into charred flesh. The tremendous explosion attracted more zombies’ attention, dragging their stiff bodies as they shambled closer.

On the exploded street, a Warrior Armored Assault Vehicle lay overturned in the road. Not far from the vehicle was the corpse of a mutated creature covered entirely in scales. Several fully armed soldiers in urban combat camouflage were using surrounding buildings as cover while engaging the corpse horde surrounding them.

More and more zombies were being drawn by the gunfire. These soldiers would eventually run out of ammunition, and their fate was predictable. An Sheng witnessed all this, desperately wanting to immediately transform and charge into the zombie horde to rescue these most admirable people.However, after second thought, An Sheng abandoned the idea. He feared that the soldiers, upon seeing his transformed self, would treat him like a Mutated Monster. He didn’t have the nerve to test whether his defensive capabilities could withstand bullets!

With a few leaps, An Sheng climbed onto the roof of the building where the soldiers were stationed. Carefully, he made his way down through the rooftop passage.

“Captain, I’m out of ammo!” a thin soldier shouted, turning to a burly young man behind him.

The young man referred to as the captain casually tossed a magazine to the soldier and yelled, “Conserve your ammunition, aim for the heads of the Living Corpses!”

“Captain, we need to find a way to break out. This can’t go on!” A nearly two-meter-tall man beside the captain was unleashing a Fire Snake from a new light machine gun with a chain-fed system, pouring fire into the Zombies storming the room. Thanks to the suppressive fire of this Spear, their squad was temporarily holding their ground.

Every combat member of the squad knew they were trapped in a desperate situation, and all had mentally prepared for sacrifice. That said, while they had the courage to face death, if there was a chance to survive, who wouldn’t want to live?

The squad’s highest commander, the burly young officer, was acutely aware that their carried ammunition was running low. To survive, they had to take a gamble! The Armored Assault Vehicle overturned by Mutated Creatures at the entrance still held a large stock of ammunition. If they could retrieve it, there was hope of breaking through the Zombie encirclement. Just as the captain was strategizing, an unusual sound came from the stairwell behind him.

“Who’s there?!” the captain shouted, turning and aiming his Spear at the stairs.

“Don’t shoot, I’m human!”

It was An Sheng, who had just descended from the roof. He raised his hands high to identify himself and slowly walked down the stairs, careful not to make any sudden movements that might be misunderstood and get him riddled with bullets.

“Were you up there the whole time?” Seeing it was a survivor, the captain relaxed slightly, but he didn’t lower his Spear. The experiences of the past few months had taught him that sometimes humans could be more terrifying than Zombies or Mutated Creatures.

“Lower your Spear first—be careful of accidental discharge.” Being aimed at like this made An Sheng very uncomfortable. Despite his discomfort, he felt a surge of excitement looking at these fully armed soldiers. They were the nation’s army, the people’s hope.

“Are you the rescue troops sent by the state?”

Hearing An Sheng’s question, the young captain fell silent. He didn’t know how to answer this survivor. They could hardly protect themselves—how could they claim to be a rescue force? But seeing the hope in the other’s eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to crush it.

An Sheng was no fool. As a taxi driver with just a year of experience, he had honed his ability to read people. The young officer’s expression told him that this small squad was likely isolated and in dire straits.With a soft sigh, An Sheng felt somewhat disappointed. But upon second thought, although they were a small isolated unit, they might still have a way to contact their superiors. If so, the people of Yushan Fortress wouldn’t have to remain holed up in the dark, damp cave anymore.

Considering this, An Sheng decided to help these soldiers. Truth be told, An Sheng’s thinking was rather simplistic. His actions would foreshadow a major upheaval in the future, though he was completely unaware of it at this moment. But that’s a story for another time.

“I can lead you out of here,” An Sheng shouted to the young officer. The intense gunfire severely hampered their communication.

“You know how to escape?” The young squad leader’s face lit up with hope. When they had retreated to this building, their original plan was to escape from the rooftop. Unfortunately, the distance to adjacent buildings was too great, and their squad’s launcher had been left behind in the overturned armored assault vehicle outside.

“Just kill all these zombies,” An Sheng replied matter-of-factly. Over the past few months, An Sheng was no longer the timid, down-and-out youth he once was. Since his fierce battle with Pighead Three, he had gained full confidence in his abilities. These ordinary zombies posed no threat to him whatsoever. Even mutated creatures with greater combat power didn’t concern him, unless they were anomalies like Pighead Three.

Pulling his folding saber from his pocket, An Sheng’s gaze gradually turned fierce. “Don’t panic later. I’ll handle these zombies.”

Before the young officer could respond, An Sheng stabbed his own arm with the saber! What happened next left all the soldiers stunned: crimson steam filled the entire room, and at its center, a figure over two meters tall gradually materialized. Vaguely visible through the haze was a horned demon emerging, its dual pupils glowing with an eerie red light!