The wailers drifted down from the rooftop.
Like fallen leaves.
Their loose garments billowed around their emaciated frames.
Then, just as they were about to hit the ground.
They forcefully kicked off the building's exterior wall.
Their bodies instantly shifted direction by ninety degrees.
Then, as if treading on waves.
They leaped off the burning zombies, covering ten meters at a bound, and rapidly disappeared into the obscuring horde.
Where did they go?
Zhang Chen dared not delay.
If these creatures were suddenly on the move, it definitely wasn't to flee, nor was it for any good reason.
Caution was paramount.
Zhang Chen simultaneously pulled the pins on five grenades.
1...
2...
3...
*Swish!*
The five grenades were tossed out, falling freely downwards.
The moment they were about to land among the zombie horde.
*Boom!*
They shattered into countless sharp metal fragments, unleashing indiscriminate fire upon the surrounding zombies.
*Hiss...*
Like rain.
Patches of zombies dissolved into white mist.
The gasoline on their bodies dripped onto the ground.
Still, no sign of the wailers.
Another wave!
Zhang Chen moved to the other side of the building and pulled the pins on more grenades.
1...
2...
3...
Just as he counted to three.
Seven or eight gaunt figures suddenly flew up before his eyes!
It was the wailers!
Zhang Chen knew, of course, that they couldn't fly.
But the speed of their climb, and the height of their jumps, were indistinguishable from flying!
Going for a sneak attack!
Zhang Chen casually threw the grenade.
At the same time, the armored mecha retreated several steps and activated its rocket thrusters.
The entire mecha flew backward into the air.
However, these wailers did not fall behind!
As soon as their feet touched the rooftop, they exerted force.
Their entire bodies were propelled forward as if by a catapult.
They actually caught up to the armored mecha!
*Bang... bang... thud...*
Then, Zhang Chen heard dull impacts.
All seven wailers, without exception, were clinging to the armored mecha.
Their long claws dug deep into the mecha's metal shell.
Alert! Alert! Multiple damages to the armored mecha!
Rocket launchers unable to eject, connections to lower left, upper left, and upper right mechanical arms severed!
Rocket thruster fuel tanks leaking, fuel rapidly depleting, low fuel will directly disengage flight mode!
A string of system prompts signaled that the wailers were getting serious.
This time, they weren't just clinging; they were intent on tearing the armored mecha apart.
Zhang Chen could clearly see metal fragments detaching from his body and falling below from his cockpit.
Once the armored mecha was dismembered.
Zhang Chen would be forced to face these seven wailers with his own body, along with the dense, endless sea of zombies struggling in the flames below.
These creatures were far more troublesome than he had imagined!
Zhang Chen checked his upgrade progress.
Current upgrade progress 15321/8000*2!
The numbers were still growing slowly.
Indicating that more zombies were being burned to death in the sea of flames.
The only drawback of automatic collection was that it vaporized and made the killed targets disappear.
If the zombie corpses had remained, they could have served as new fuel.
This would have sustained an endless inferno.
But now...
The gasoline was burning away, and no new fuel was being added.
The flames were gradually subsiding.
At this rate, it would take at least seven hundred more zombie kills to level up!
If that was the case...
Zhang Chen suddenly unleashed the full power of the rocket thrusters.
The armored mecha tilted and flew towards the direction where the zombie horde was surging.
Where it passed, the leaking fuel left a long trail of fire on the ground.
He charged in this direction because, from his vantage point, he saw two clumsy toxic bug carriers blocking the entrance.
Behind them, dense ranks of zombies were piled up.
Occasionally, zombies slipped over their slimy skin.
*Thump!*
The armored mecha smashed directly through the two poison bombs.
Viscous green corrosive liquid splattered everywhere.
In an instant, it vaporized over two hundred surrounding zombies.
After crashing to the ground, the armored mecha's momentum did not diminish.
It forcefully blasted a path through the zombie horde.
However, this path was quickly filled in by the surrounding zombies.
Countless zombies surged towards the armored mecha.
Their teeth and claws, of course, could not inflict any damage on the armored mecha.
But they piled up one on top of another, one layered over another.
Soon, they formed a small mountain range on the wreckage of the armored mecha.
The metal shell, already weakened by corrosion, groaned under the weight of the zombies.
It felt like it could break at any moment!
Zhang Chen's cockpit position was also precarious.
Two wailers were directly in front of the cockpit.
If he opened the hatch now.
The wailers would immediately attack him in the confined space.
Sitting in his chair, Zhang Chen had no way to evade; this kind of combat was extremely passive.
But if he didn't eject from the mecha...
More and more zombies were accumulating outside, and the oxygen content in the cockpit was gradually decreasing.
Zhang Chen could feel himself getting stuffy.
He glanced at his upgrade progress: 15932/8000*2!
He was close to leveling up; he just had to endure a bit longer!
Unless absolutely necessary, he couldn't just charge out like this.
Those ordinary zombies were not a threat.
But facing seven wailers...
Even if they were on par with the strength of a Behemoth, Zhang Chen wasn't confident he could defeat seven Behemoths without taking damage.
Moreover, these wailers were swift in their movements.
He might not be able to escape easily even if he tried.
He would wait a bit longer; if he could level up, that would be best. If not, he would deal with it then.
*Creak!*
A piece of steel plate on the mecha's back had thinned from corrosion and collapsed under the strain.
Meanwhile, the zombies on his body continued to pile higher and higher...
*Awooo!~~*
Faintly, Zhang Chen heard a wolf howl.
This was Er Pang's skill to summon companions.
It indicated that zombies had crossed the Yongyu Bridge and were advancing towards the Jiangnan region.
A good opportunity!
Although the zombies killed by Er Pang would not be automatically collected by Zhang Chen.
The guard towers on both sides of the bridge could be.
Their attacks were automatically considered Zhang Chen's own attacks and were collected automatically!
Indeed, the upgrade numbers, which had stagnated, suddenly began to increase rapidly!
*Ding! Upgrade conditions met, upgrade immediately!*
Wasn't that obvious!
Upgrade immediately!
*Ding! Congratulations, you have successfully upgraded to Intermediate Awakener Stage 2!*
Next upgrade to Intermediate Awakener Stage 3, 156/12000*2!