Less than ten minutes later, Lin Yuan looked at the light machine gun in front of him and the ten boxes of ammunition carried by a shoulder pole. He stroked his chin.
"Brother Wang, what did you bring the light machine gun for?"
Wang Zhihai scratched his head, uncharacteristically earnest, and said, "Captain, we don't fight unprepared battles. There are more than 300 zombies below, and there might be a few Alpha variants that jump out. Bringing a light machine gun will be much better. Besides, we don't know if those people are good or bad. If a fight breaks out later, we'll have some firepower to suppress them."
What he said made sense, and Lin Yuan had to nod. "You've considered everything very thoroughly. I still need to learn from you, Brother Wang."
As expected, he still underestimated the Chinese people's fear of insufficient firepower.
Wang Zhihai smiled and waved his hand, then went to the side to load the ammunition belts. Their combat positions had already been chosen, on a cliff above Yanjiao Village. From this vantage point, they could cover the area with the QBU-191, L115A3, and the QJS-161 light machine gun.
Through the binoculars, the group of people had already approached Yanjiao Village and were moving forward to scout. As they got closer, Lin Yuan could see the details on them more clearly.
They were wearing homemade clothes, made of some unknown fabric. The arms and legs were designed with thickened styles. They wore motorcycle helmets, and the guns they held were likely airdropped.
They looked like ordinary survivors.
However, one detail caught Lin Yuan's attention: one of the members had a tattoo on his neck.
Lin Yuan looked three or four times before confirming that the tattoo was not the same one as on K, whom they had encountered that night.
He couldn't recognize it, so he didn't look at it closely anymore.
Having a tattoo didn't necessarily make someone a bad person. He would know after observing them further.
Soon, the zombies detected their presence and surged towards that direction. Lin Yuan and his team saw clearly that as soon as the group saw so many zombies, they all ran back onto the small path, praying that the zombies would fall into the nearby rice paddies and gullies.
However, their hopes were not fully realized, because the zombies had tracked their movements. There was only one path, and the zombies would follow it correctly. Only the impatient zombies, eager for a quick meal, were pushed down.
There was no other option. The pursuing zombies were getting closer. They could only open fire. The muffled gunshots echoed through the entire canyon. All the zombies in Yanjiao Village were alerted and poured out, chasing in their direction. Lin Yuan even saw one Nightcrawler and three Alpha variants.
Well, this was a pure death platter.
"Can't save them. We'll go down and block them from behind the zombies. Mengyue, you and Qing Tian, stay up here and snipe. Anjing, you assist the two of them. The rest of you, grab your weapons and ammunition and follow me. Be quick!"
"Understood!!"
With that, Lin Yuan led the remaining team members to rush down the cliff.
Yanjiao Village was relatively large, mainly due to the concentrated housing. There were about 26 brick-and-tile houses on both sides of the small central path. They were built during a national poverty alleviation program and were quite well-maintained.
Lin Yuan's village also had them, and electricity had been supplied. However, water and gas had not been connected yet, and they were still under construction when this incident occurred.
Each house had a small stone platform outside, used for drying grains. Now, it was covered with tables for banquets.
But it no longer looked lively with banquets; the tables were covered with dried bloodstains and filth.
The plastic sheets that were spread on the tables to collect leftover food scraps were tattered and fluttered in the wind blowing through the canyon.
If there were still zombies around, this bitter feeling wouldn't be so intense. With zombies, at least they still looked somewhat human, mostly with two arms, two legs, and a head on their neck, even if their appearance might resemble humans.
Now, only the wind remained in the entire village.
"Check every house to see if there are any missed zombies. Jiang Ziqi and I will take the lead with shields. You guys provide covering fire. Move out!"
"Yes!"
Lin Yuan and Jiang Ziqi split into two groups, one responsible for the left side and the other for the right. Both held shields in front, pushing forward.
After clearing all 26 buildings, they dealt with 16 zombies, all of them "old sixes" that hid in corners, preparing to ambush.
Fortunately, Lin Yuan and Jiang Ziqi were in front with shields. Even being an "old six" was useless; they were knocked flying as soon as they rushed out, then speared to death.
Not a single bullet was used.
However, when the two teams converged, Jiang Ziqi reported an emergency situation: "An Alpha variant was hanging from the ceiling, ambushing. I almost didn't react in time, but fortunately, its tentacles killed it."
In a critical situation, the tentacles' instinctive reaction was faster than Jiang Ziqi's.
Lin Yuan frowned. They had practiced methods to deal with such situations before. Every time they entered a room, there had to be firing angles from three directions: above, in front, and behind.
If they had enough personnel, they would add left and right as well.
However, they hadn't encountered zombies hanging from ceilings since then, so they had become a bit negligent.
After a moment of thought, he said, "The combat group's subsequent training must include content on this aspect."
Wang Zhihai and Lin Shouyi nodded. Zombies were not humans; they were diverse in their categories and abilities, requiring specialized responses.
It was a pity that Lin Qingshan was guarding their home, otherwise, he would have added, "Back then, when fighting monkeys, their jungle soldiers could emerge from anywhere, from the sky and the ground. If you weren't careful, you'd be pulled into underground pits, or a poisoned crossbow bolt from a tall tree would blow off your head."
After clearing the remaining zombies in the village, Lin Yuan and his team set up defensive positions in the two houses at the village entrance, forming a crossfire.
They contacted Wu Tian and the others who were observing on the cliff.
"How is it? Have the zombies returned?"
"No, they are still pursuing that convoy. They are almost on top of them."
It seemed they wouldn't rest until they had devoured them all. Thinking about it, Lin Yuan felt it was time to act.
With one Nightcrawler and three Alpha variants, there would be about three neurospheres. Nightcrawlers definitely had them, but Alpha variants were not guaranteed. The Alpha that was an "old six" in the village earlier didn't have one. However, for Lin Yuan and his team, the more of this life-saving item, the better.
"Brother Wang, fire a few shots to lure the zombies back."
"Bang bang bang bang bang!!" Hearing this, Wang Zhihai directly removed the silencer from his pistol and fired five shots diagonally into the sky, successfully luring the zombie horde back.
"Captain, the zombie horde has turned back. Pay attention." Mu Qingtian's voice came from the walkie-talkie.
"Understood. Keep an eye on the locations of the other Alpha variants and be ready to shoot at any time. Also, Anjing, keep track of the position of that group, prevent them from kicking us when we're down, and if there's any movement, shoot directly without hesitation."
"Zhao Anjing received!"
The zombie horde moved back quickly. This time, the signal they received was very clear.
There were more prey here!
If they wanted to eat, they certainly wanted to eat a lot!