novelbin Chapter 102 The Superpowered Squad
Chapter 102 The Superpowered Squad
Chapter 102 The Superpowered Squad
In the afternoon, a massive, earth-shaking explosion shattered the relative tranquility of the temporary base without warning.
boom-!!!
The sound was deep and penetrating, as if it came from the depths of the earth, or like the mournful cry of some giant facility being completely destroyed. Xu Mo, who was lying down to sleep, was forcibly awakened from his semi-cultivation state by this violent tremor and sound wave.
Xu Mo suddenly opened his eyes, his sharp gaze sweeping out the window, but he could see nothing but dust falling in a flurry. He raised his hand to look at his watch; the hour hand had just passed 3:10.
The rest area was instantly thrown into turmoil, like a pond tossed with a boulder. Most of those who were sound asleep and replenishing their energy were jolted awake by the loud bang, their faces filled with bewilderment and fear. Some instinctively reached for their weapons beside their pillows, while others nervously looked around. However, many experienced veterans, or seasoned survivors like Feng Dayong, after a brief awakening and assessing that the explosion was still far away and there would be no follow-up attacks, simply muttered a curse, turned over, pulled the covers over their heads, and went back to sleep. For them, seizing every opportunity to rest on the battlefield was far more important than investigating the occasional explosion.
Xu Mo, however, was wide awake. The explosion was far larger than any ordinary artillery barrage or explosive, carrying an unusual significance. He got up, straightened his clothes and his AK47 rifle, and decided to go out and investigate.
Stepping out of the rest area of the factory, the afternoon sun was somewhat dazzling, but it couldn't dispel the lingering smoke and faint stench of decay in the air. Inside the temporary base, the explosion didn't throw everyone into chaos; everything remained in a state of orderly activity. The combatants went about their tasks, logistics vehicles shuttled back and forth, and the sentries behind the fortifications remained vigilant, as if the loud bang was merely a discordant note in this battlefield, one that had long been accepted.
Xu Mo noticed that buses full of personnel were frequently driving into the base entrance. Guided by a team of combatants, they walked in an orderly manner toward a newly erected tent area.
"They should be reinforcements just transferred from the core area of Jiangcheng, or newly recruited survivors," Xu Mo judged in his mind. It seems that the personnel losses at the front line are indeed quite significant, and they need to be constantly replenished from the rear.
Just as Xu Mo was observing these newcomers, a series of urgent and sharp car horn sounds, accompanied by the violent roar of an engine, came from afar and instantly attracted everyone's attention.
From the base entrance, an infantry fighting vehicle painted in desert camouflage, like a wounded steel behemoth, was speeding towards the base at an extremely high speed, completely disregarding the speed limits. Its horn was blaring. The vehicle was covered in fresh scratches and stains, and one side of its reactive armor showed abnormal twisting and burn marks.
The combatants guarding the entrance seemed to have been notified in advance, and instead of obstructing them, they quickly moved the roadblocks aside, making way for an unobstructed passage.
The infantry fighting vehicle charged into the base with a fierce momentum. In a clearing that had clearly been reserved, it suddenly braked, the tires screeching as they rubbed against the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
After the vehicle came to a stop, the rear hatch was kicked open from the inside with a loud bang. The first person to emerge was a burly man who was nearly 1.9 meters tall. He was wearing a specially made black combat suit, his muscles bulging so much that the suit was stretched taut. However, what attracted Xu Mo's attention the most was not his astonishing physique, but rather the extremely faint yet real gray light that swirled around his body.
The light was not caused by sunlight reflecting off dust; it carried a restrained and profound quality, as if it were an invisible layer of rock armor covering a strong man.
Xu Mo's pupils contracted slightly. The feeling of this light was similar to the faint glow that appeared on his body when he circulated the power of the Thirteen Protectors Horizontal Training, but the attributes seemed to be completely different.
"A superhuman?!" The thought flashed through Xu Mo's mind in an instant.
The burly man looked anxious, his eyes filled with barely concealed grief and indignation. After getting out of the vehicle, he immediately turned around and carefully carried a stretcher out of the compartment, together with another team member.
A woman lay on the stretcher. She had bright red hair that was still as vibrant as flames even in her unconscious state. She looked to be only in her early twenties with a beautiful face, but at this moment she was as pale as paper, with traces of blood still clinging to the corners of her mouth.
She appeared to have been through an extremely fierce battle; her combat uniform was torn in many places, the most shocking being her abdomen. Although it had been simply bandaged, bright red blood was still seeping out, staining the bandages a dark red.
"Xiao Hong, hang in there! We're back!" The burly man looked at the woman, his voice hoarse and heavy. Especially when he saw the woman cough up a small mouthful of blood again unconsciously, his fist clenched instantly, and his knuckles made a cracking sound.
The medical staff who had been waiting rushed over immediately, quickly examined the woman's injuries, and began emergency treatment, establishing an intravenous line. Their movements were skilled and swift.
Only then did Xu Mo see three or four more people jump off the infantry fighting vehicle. These men were also well-equipped, their weapons and gear clearly a level above those of ordinary combatants, obviously an elite squad. However, they were in extremely poor condition, all pale-faced, covered in dirt, their eyes filled with exhaustion and lingering fear. One of them had his arm immobilized in a simple splint. As soon as they got off the vehicle, they warily looked around. One of the members, who seemed to be the squad's communications officer, immediately picked up a walkie-talkie and reported something rapidly and anxiously, glancing up at the sky every now and then, as if eagerly waiting for something.
Xu Mo subconsciously followed his gaze to the sky, where there were only a few thin clouds in the azure sky, and he did not see anything unusual.
Turning their gaze back to the red-haired woman on the stretcher, they saw another young man in the team, whose complexion was no better than the wounded's, rush to the stretcher and, without hesitation, reach out and cover the woman's still-bleeding abdominal wound.
The next moment, a scene unfolded that surprised Xu Mo and many other survivors who had noticed the situation.
A soft, yet unstable, white light suddenly shone from the young man's palm. The light seemed to have a life of its own, trembling slightly, and slowly, bit by bit, seeped into the woman's wound, along with the fine beads of sweat on the young man's forehead and his increasingly pale face.
Miraculously, the gushing blood slowed down at a visible rate and eventually stopped completely!
"A superhuman?!"
This time it wasn't Xu Mo. Exclamations of surprise clearly came from several onlookers not far away, filled with disbelief and a hint of awe.
After completing this seemingly simple yet extremely exhausting treatment, the young superhuman swayed violently, the last trace of color drained from his face, turning it as white as a sheet of paper. He was breathing rapidly and looked on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.
Fortunately, his teammate reacted quickly and caught him.
Just then, Xu Mo finally heard the roar of a helicopter propeller coming from the sky, growing louder as it approached. He looked up again and saw a small black dot flying rapidly toward him, quickly growing larger until it revealed the outline of a helicopter.
The helicopter circled halfway around the temporary base, found its position, and landed steadily on the open ground next to the infantry fighting vehicle. The door opened, and several people in white uniforms, clearly medical professionals, jumped out and quickly handed over the duties to the medical personnel on the ground. They carefully carried the red-haired woman on the stretcher and the exhausted young healing-type ability user onto the helicopter.
The rotors spun faster again, kicking up clouds of dust, and the helicopter quickly gained altitude, speeding towards Jiangcheng before disappearing from sight.
As for the others who got off the infantry fighting vehicle, they were led away to another location by the combatants nearby.
From the rampage of infantry fighting vehicles to the evacuation of personnel by helicopter, the entire process took only a few minutes, an astonishingly efficient operation.
"A standard superhuman combat team—" Xu Mo stood still, his gaze deep. They had clearly been carrying out a high-difficulty mission deep within the Red Star Industrial Zone, suffered heavy losses, and had to evacuate urgently. The burly man was likely a defensive or strength-type superhuman, while the young man was a rare healing type.
"Their injuries..." Xu Mo's mind raced. "Judging from the marks on the armored vehicle and their disheveled state, their opponent was definitely not an ordinary zombie. If they were injured by a mutated zombie, or even something more bizarre, could that have led to their zombification?" He recalled the wound on the red-haired woman's abdomen, which didn't seem like a simple laceration.
"And they, especially the red-haired woman, although seriously injured when they were brought back to the core area, did not show obvious signs of zombification. Is it because the time has not come yet, or does Jiangcheng, or rather the superhuman system, have a method that can suppress or even cure zombification?" This guess made Xu Mo's heart tremble slightly.
If this is true, it means there is another glimmer of hope in the fight against this apocalyptic catastrophe. At the same time, it also means that the value and status of people with superpowers may be even higher than he previously imagined.
"Perhaps at the right time, I can try to get some information about people with superpowers. I don't need to go deep into it, but I should at least understand some of the circumstances," Xu Mo thought to himself.
Suppressing these thoughts for the time being, Xu Mo stopped wandering around and turned back to the rest area. Although the incident outside had provided valuable information, maintaining his own condition was the top priority. He lay back down on his cot, closed his eyes to rest, and waited for night to fall.
At 6 PM, Xu Mo and Feng Dayong woke up on time, went to the logistics point for dinner, and then gathered at the designated location.
Last night, Commander Zhao Ming and his team withdrew to rest. The defense of the C-07 position was taken over by another full-strength combat squad. The commander's surname was Wang, and his name was Wang Nade. He was a veteran who looked equally capable and calm.
After briefly confirming Xu Mo's identity, Captain Wang treated him quite politely, immediately assigning him to a firing position in the middle of the position, mainly responsible for close-to-medium range fire support and precise elimination of specific threats. Feng Dayong, on the other hand, continued to be responsible for ammunition resupply, partnering with another survivor.
Night fell as expected, completely engulfing the ruins ahead in darkness. The lights on the position were already on, and in addition, the huge beams of searchlights swept back and forth across the ruins in the distance, searching for any suspicious movement.
The first wave of zombies arrived around 9 p.m. The horde was small, about thirty in number, and consisted mainly of ordinary zombies.
But behind the horde of zombies, two agile, quadrupedal mutant zombies, moving swiftly, stealthily maneuvered towards the flank of the position, using the shadows of craters and wreckage as cover, attempting to find a weak point in the firepower.
"Watch out at the two o'clock position, two high-speed targets!" the observation post promptly issued a warning.
The firepower on the position immediately shifted in that direction, but it was indeed difficult for ordinary rifle bullets to hit a fast-moving target at night. The two agile zombies, like slippery eels, weaved through the hail of bullets, quickly closing the distance.
Xu Mo's breathing was steady, his gaze fixed firmly on one of the agile zombies leaping out from behind a low wall through the iron sights. He didn't use burst fire, but calmly pulled the trigger.
"Bang! Bang!"
Just like last time, two precise short bursts of fire were fired. The first bullet hit the zombie's chest cavity, causing it to pause in motion. The second bullet followed almost immediately, accurately piercing its eye socket.
Having taken down one, Xu Mo slightly turned his gun to find a second target. The other agile zombie seemed to sense the danger, letting out a sharp screech and increasing its speed, beginning to run in erratic directions.
Xu Mo's gaze remained unchanged, his finger poised to pull the trigger, silently calculating its trajectory and speed. In the instant before it changed direction again, his body momentarily froze—"Bang!"
Another crisp gunshot rang out, and the bullet whistled out, hitting the agile zombie's relatively vulnerable knee joint!
"Crack!" The sickening sound of bones breaking could even be faintly heard. The zombie screamed, its forward momentum abruptly halted, and it tumbled to the ground, unable to move quickly. The heavy machine gunners on the position immediately seized the opportunity, and a dense barrage of bullets instantly engulfed it.
"Well done, Xu Mo." Captain Wang couldn't help but praise him. Xu Mo's marksmanship was calm and efficient, and his ability to eliminate point targets was no less than that of a top-notch marksman.
The second wave of attacks occurred around 2 AM. This time, a new mutant appeared among the horde. An unusually burly zombie, over 2.5 meters tall, with arms mutated into two enormous bone hammers, charged towards the position like a heavy tank. Ordinary bullets struck its thick muscles and bone armor, leaving only shallow white marks, hardly causing any effective damage.
Upon seeing this, Xu Mo's eyes narrowed involuntarily. Given the zombie's defense, even a full-force attack might not be enough to break through its defenses.
"Heavy machine gun, aim at that big guy and load armor-piercing rounds!" Captain Wang calmly gave the order.
The heavy machine gun in the center of the position immediately turned its muzzle, and a muffled roar sounded again. This time, it fired armor-piercing rounds specifically designed to engage lightly armored targets and fortified positions.
"Thump thump thump thump—"
'
The scorching armor-piercing bullet belts, like the fiery whips of death, lashed fiercely at the chest and head of the power-type zombie. Despite its formidable defenses, it was easily torn apart under such concentrated heavy firepower.
In the ensuing battle, although sporadic zombie attacks continued, no more troublesome mutants appeared. Thanks to the tight firepower of the position and Xu Mo's precise pinpoint kills, they were all neutralized.
As dawn broke again, the shift change team arrived. Xu Mo and Feng Dayong, along with Captain Wang's group, withdrew from the front line.
On the way back to the rest area, Captain Wang went to Xu Mo's side and affirmed his performance.
After parting ways with Captain Wang, Feng Dayong approached again, chuckling, "Brother Xu, it seems your reputation as a 'sharpshooter' is well-deserved. Even the new captain looks at you with new respect. With you, I, Old Feng, feel at ease."
Xu Mo shook his head helplessly after hearing this.
The two ate something quick and then returned to the rest area to recuperate. Two consecutive nights of fighting, while not at their most intense, had given Xu Mo a clearer understanding of the eeriness and danger of this battlefield. The severely injured return of the superpowered squad and the increased frequency of mutant appearances were like layers of dark clouds hanging over the Red Star Industrial Zone.
Lying in bed, Xu Mo felt an even stronger urgency to improve his strength as soon as possible.
The mutated zombie he encountered in the second wave last night made him realize his own inadequacy even more. Although he didn't need to stand and fight this kind of mutated zombie to exchange damage, the gap between them couldn't be too big. He even suspected that the superhuman team that retreated yesterday might have encountered a similar mutated zombie, which was why they were defeated.
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