Tang Haotian gritted his teeth and turned back towards Ning'an City.
His steps suddenly paused as he passed the pickup truck An Qian and the others were driving. An arrow immediately whizzed past him and embedded itself in the ground, leaving half its shaft exposed.
He turned his head to see Qin Shilei nocking another arrow not far away, while the soldiers also leveled their guns at him.
"Thank you for saving me, officer," Qin Shilei said to the officer in front.
"If it weren't for the need to clear a path for escape as soon as possible, I would never have stopped you from killing him," the officer replied with a wry smile.
A full-blown fight between Qin Shilei and the members of Tianqi Zhi Jia would not only result in the loss of powerful individuals from both sides but also potentially injure bystanders, thus slowing down their escape.
Engaging in infighting at this moment might affect the morale of those trying to escape, leading to a chaotic rush to flee and potentially hindering their breakthrough.
Qin Shilei smiled and returned to the top of the loader.
An hour later, the tanks finally crossed the Beibuwan Bridge over the Gan River.
The zombies on this side of the bridge had become sparse, and the soldiers behind immediately moved forward to clear them.
Soon, all the scattered zombies were killed.
This also meant that the escape route had been cleared.
As long as Qin Shilei and his group wished, they could immediately leave the city heavily surrounded by zombies, and Zhang Xiaoli could continue her journey home.
They were now completely safe.
"Mr. Qin, please lend us a hand and help us defend the passage."
The same officer who had spoken before approached Qin Shilei again, saluting and pleading.
Qin Shilei frowned, about to refuse.
Several evolved individuals had already done so and driven away.
"It will take at least two to three hours for all the civilians to pass through the escape route. If a mutated zombie appears again, the casualties could be heavy. We hope Mr. Qin can demonstrate some spirit of sacrifice."
The officer's eyes were filled with deep hope.
Looking at the officer before him, Qin Shilei's mind flashed with images of countless soldiers who had sacrificed themselves to hold the defense line and were overwhelmed by zombies during their escape. He thought of soldiers who had detonated their explosive belts along with zombies even in death.
Although this was not his world, they shared the same skin color, similar cultural customs, and a group of equally respectable soldiers.
"Alright, I promise you. Not for the civilians, but for you honorable soldiers."
Meeting the officer's expectant gaze, Qin Shilei nodded and replied.
"Qin Shilei," An Qian and the others called out his name with concern.
"It's fine, I'll be alright."
Qin Shilei turned to them and said, "You leave first and wait for me in the next town. Let Xiao Qiang follow you, so he can guide me later."
After speaking, he released Xiao Qiang.
"Whoosh!"
As soon as Xiao Qiang emerged, it spread its wings and soared into the sky, circling several times.
It had been extremely bored confined to the pet space.
Its injuries had healed considerably after Zhang Xiaoli's treatment, and it could barely be ridden.
However, Xiao Qiang was not only injured but also pregnant.
To avoid harming Xiao Qiang's unborn fetus, Qin Shilei had not immediately chosen to have Xiao Qiang carry them away when the zombies first surrounded the city.
An Qian looked at Xiao Qiang, who had landed beside her again, and suggested, "Then let Xiao Qiang stay by your side. If anything unexpected happens, you can still ride it to escape."
Qin Shilei nodded and replied, "Let it fly in both directions. Its endurance is quite good anyway."
After An Qian and the others left with the rocket launchers, Qin Shilei returned to the center of the three-kilometer escape passage.
Standing on top of the tallest truck, he held his short bow, his eyes scanning back and forth along the passage.
The short bow in his hand was continuously drawn and released.
Zombies that entered the passage in various ways were accurately shot down by Qin Shilei's arrows.
He didn't know how many arrows he had fired since the escape began; the ten thousand arrows in his spatial ring were nearly halved.
Fortunately, when he advanced to the Black Iron realm, he gained an additional "Energetic" attribute. Otherwise, he might not have had the strength to keep drawing the bowstring.
Vehicles, some laden with people and others with supplies, were continuously passing through the passage at speeds of fifty to sixty kilometers per hour.
"Beep!" A sharp horn sounded about five to six hundred meters behind.
Qin Shilei stomped on the roof of the truck and sprinted rapidly towards the direction of the horn.
As he approached, he found the area had descended into chaos.
Countless zombies had formed a ramp about ten meters wide outside the trucks by piling themselves up, and an endless stream of zombies were climbing the ramp and then jumping into the passage.
Two fast-moving zombies, upon entering the passage, leaped into the trucks.
They not only killed the humans inside but also caused the trucks to lose control, crashing into the vehicle walls. A chain of trucks behind them was forced to stop.
The surrounding soldiers immediately turned their guns towards the two mutated zombies, firing at them.
But the two zombies were too fast and deliberately burrowed into the stopped trucks. The soldiers, unable to concentrate their fire, could not kill them.
In less than two minutes since the mutated zombies appeared, they had killed three to four hundred people.
Even soldiers armed with firearms had been killed by them, twenty to thirty.
"Swoosh, swoosh!"
As soon as they were within range, Qin Shilei drew his bow and fired.
In less than five seconds, the two mutated zombies, which had been slaughtering indiscriminately, had their heads filled with arrows and fell to the ground without even a chance to scream.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
At this moment, soldiers with shoulder-mounted rocket launchers fired three rockets at the ramp of zombies stacked outside the trucks, blowing up the ramp.
Qin Shilei killed the zombies entering the passage while running towards the two mutated zombies.
Just then, the members of Tianqi Zhi Jia, led by Tang Haotian, also arrived nearby.
"Damn it, he beat us to it again," the buzz-cut man cursed as he stopped.
"Let's go," Tang Haotian said, his face grim as he saw Qin Shilei had already taken the crystal cores, and turned to leave.
He paid no attention to the zombies still in the passage.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
As Qin Shilei was slaughtering zombies in the passage, several more cannon roars were heard in the distance.
Qin Shilei abandoned the ordinary zombies and rapidly sped towards that location.
He saw another zombie wall, built by zombies, being blown apart by soldiers.
The force of the artillery shells had almost overturned the nearby trucks.
"These zombies stacking up corpse walls must be commanded by an intelligent mutated zombie. I have to find and kill it," Qin Shilei thought to himself.
Looking out beyond the defense line.
In the pitch-black environment, it was impossible to distinguish which zombie was mutated.
Qin Shilei slowed his pace and walked on the roofs of the trucks, moving towards the distance.
Suddenly, he noticed that not far ahead, zombies were again stacking up a corpse wall.
He strained his ears to listen.
"Roar!"
A peculiar zombie roar could be heard from the horde from time to time.
"Found you."
Qin Shilei took out a powerful flashlight, held it in his mouth, turned it on, and shone it in that direction.
Under the light, a zombie in that area turned and fled into the distance.