Chapter 126: Silent Land of the Living Dead (15)
After successfully killing a Living Dead on her own for the first time, Ji Ning's anxious heart finally steadied, and a surge of courage welled up inside her.
Like reinforcement training, she no longer hid within the protective encirclement of the three men. Instead, while keeping an eye on positioning, she began attempting joint kills of the Living Dead with Sheng Churan or Song Weiyang.
After last night's power outage, electricity still hadn't returned during the day, and the network had completely collapsed.
Although a phone without internet could still display saved maps besides being unable to navigate, pulling up the location manually every single time was a bit inconvenient.
Thankfully, the men had foresight and had drawn a navigation map of the mission blocks on paper.
Following the guidance, the four-person team fought monsters all the way and finally reached the vicinity of the first large intersection leading to the Kaimao Building.
Climbing a tall building to look across, everyone's expression turned grim.
The essential main road was densely packed with Living Dead everywhere. With no target, they simply wandered about aimlessly.
One could imagine that the moment anyone drew near, they would be swarmed and overwhelmed until submerged.
Such an immense formation, especially of the enhanced Living Dead, was something even the most skilled fighters could not hope to break through.
Ji Ning spread out the map, pulled out a pen, and circled this spot. She pondered carefully how to change routes to bypass this area.
After studying it for a long time, every detour was exceedingly distant. This location seemed to be a mandatory checkpoint deliberately placed by the rules.
To arrive quickly, they had to pass through here. Otherwise, they would risk complications by taking a distant detour.
Frowning, Ji Ning shifted her gaze leftward to the meandering riverbank line Xing Ye had drawn. Although it curved far away before long, within the close range, swimming along the riverbank could still reach a street parallel to the second intersection.
If they used this method, they would have to backtrack toward the riverside street, which carried some risk. And there was no telling what situation awaited after the bypass.
But what was certain was that it could avert the current major problem.
Also, the section they had to return through had already been swept by them, making it far safer than the unknown road ahead.
Ji Ning shared her idea with her teammates and used the pen to trace the altered route.
"Swimming the river to detour? Interesting." Sheng Churan stared at the map and said quietly, "Once in the water, the Living Dead can't swim. Thrashing around would sink them for sure. We only need to swim just over four hundred meters along the riverbank to shift to the direction of the second intersection."
"I can do it!" Song Weiyang raised a hand in approval. "I'm a strong swimmer too, and I can even carry the team leader while swimming."
Xing Ye and Ji Ning exchanged a tender, lingering glance, his eyes holding a smile. "A very bold idea. Both feasible and safe—the optimal solution."
Ji Ning's plan was affirmed by everyone, and the slight frown born of worry finally relaxed. She counted on her fingers. "For swimming, we first need to figure out how to protect the things that don't do well with water—phones, food, candles, and the like. And how to carry these heavy weapons that would affect our swimming."
Song Weiyang was brimming with enthusiasm. "That's simple. Find a few plastic bags to wrap the water-sensitive items, then get some rope and a plank or something. Even a tire—anything that floats can be a water 'suitcase.' Just lay the weapons on top and tow it along!"
"Good idea!" Ji Ning clapped her hands.
They set to work immediately. The group gathered all necessary materials along the way, first tightly wrapping up the supplies. Unable to find a suitable plank, they happened upon an auto repair shop and grabbed a smaller tire, bundling it with rope to bring along.
Preparing as they went like this, the four-person team didn't reach the riverside road until high noon.
This road connected several horizontal main roads, and there were no fewer Living Dead here than near the intersection. Fortunately, they only needed to find a slightly sparse point as a breakthrough and charge to the riverbank.
The breakout progress needed to be fast, not slow. After coordinating for so long, the four had long since formed a tacit understanding. Xing Ye spearheaded tearing open a gap, Sheng Churan harvested, Ji Ning provided support, and Song Weiyang dealt with the pursuing threats. Soon, the group crossed the riverside road horizontally, vaulted over the greenbelt lawn, clambered over the embankment railing, and plunged with splashes into the blue-green river water.
The Living Dead that had pursued them threw themselves over the edge without a care as well. But unable to swim, they gradually sank after a few futile struggles, unable to approach the four who were already swimming far away.
Seeing the imagined scenario successfully realized, Ji Ning was delighted. She and the three men exchanged smiles with one another.
They were another step closer to successfully clearing the instance.
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