Chapter 58: Parking Lot

While lost in thought, Fang Heng rushed back down the stairs to the generator room on the first floor.

Just as he rounded the corner of the hallway, the sight before him sent a jolt of shock through his heart.

A massive swarm of zombies had surged into the corridor.

Hao Zhou and the others were retreating while simultaneously fighting back with their makeshift bows and arrows.

Where did so many zombies come from?

Upon closer inspection, the zombie crowd was even mixed with two Ghost Vine Parasites (Vine Zombies)!

Hao Zhou knew how dangerous Vine Zombies were.

He led his teammates in a fighting retreat along the passage, relying on long-range archery.

In addition to their close-range vine attacks, Vine Zombies possessed extremely formidable defensive capabilities.

Arrows dealt very limited damage to them, but they could still knock them into a staggered state, slowing their movement speed.

The brothers, Kunba and Kunta, occasionally risked charging forward to shatter an ordinary zombie's head with a single punch before quickly retreating.

The team was in a massive crisis.

Had the Vine Zombies climbed up from the basement this quickly?

Fang Heng cursed inwardly.

He quickly pulled the focused flamethrower and fuel canisters from his backpack and rapidly connected them.

Under normal circumstances, the focused flamethrower was so heavy that it required two people to operate it together.

Now, with Fang Heng's strength and constitution attributes roughly twice that of an ordinary person, he could barely manage it alone.

Fang Heng adjusted the flamethrower's fire valve to the maximum, gripped the nozzle, and shouted.

"Everyone, get out of the way!"

Kunta and the others were focused on dealing with the zombies ahead; hearing Fang Heng's shout from behind, they all scrambled to clear a path.

A figure dashed past them, charging toward the zombies in the corridor.

It was only then that they noticed Fang Heng, striding forward with the focused flamethrower in hand.

The... the focused flamethrower!

This...

Kunba recognized the massive weapon in Fang Heng's hands at a single glance.

He actually possessed such a top-tier weapon?

Kunba knew instinctively that fire damage would be most effective against these highly flammable Vine Zombies!

Fang Heng reached the front of the group, aimed at the zombies, and pulled the trigger.

The flamethrower let out a roar.

A long stream of pale blue, high-temperature flame erupted from the nozzle.

The corridor ahead was instantly engulfed in a sea of fire!

The Vine Zombies were instantly ignited by the high-temperature flames, burning violently.

Standing behind Fang Heng, the group watched as the burning zombies slowly collapsed to the ground.

The Vine Zombies continued to burn until they were reduced to charred lumps of coal.

Kunta snapped out of his daze and looked at Fang Heng.

The others did the same.

They were beginning to understand what Fang Heng meant when he said his equipment was "not bad."

It turned out the machete and shotgun were just appetizers; the focused flamethrower was the main course!

Good grief!

All this time, this guy had actually been flaunting his wealth!

[Prompt: You have killed 2 Ghost Vine Parasites using the focused flamethrower. You have gained 76 Survival Points. You have gained Weapon Proficiency EXP +61.]

[Prompt: Your Weapon Proficiency skill level has increased to LV: 2.]

[Prompt: You have collected 2 Ghost Vine Parasite samples. Your Side Quest 2 (Find Ghost Vine Parasite Samples) completion: 4%.]

[Prompt: You have obtained 2 complete Evolution Crystals.]

He had been too hasty.

It turned out that "collecting samples" in the side quest was actually achieved through killing them.

A thought struck Fang Heng.

He looked up to see the complex looks being cast upon him by Hao Zhou and the others.

They looked relieved, yet somewhat envious, and a little speechless.

The crisis was not yet over.

A continuous stream of ordinary zombies continued to emerge from the underground passage.

Fang Heng put away the flamethrower and drew his machete.

"Charge!"

Hearing this, the brothers Kunba and Kunta followed Fang Heng, fighting their way back through the passage.

After a long struggle, Fang Heng and the others worked together to clear a wave of zombies in the corridor and reached the stairs leading to the first basement level.

More zombies were still pouring out from the lower passage.

The group blocked the intersection, clearing wave after wave of attacking zombies.

Vine Zombies were still occasionally mixed into the crowd.

Whenever they appeared, Fang Heng would use the focused flamethrower to incinerate them.

After three or four waves, the number of zombies emerging from the passage had not decreased; instead, it was increasing.

The group's stamina was dropping rapidly, and Kunba couldn't help but shout.

"How is this zombie swarm endless!"

"The power outage caused the electronic locks at the underground parking entrance to fail. The zombies likely entered the community hospital through there."

Hao Zhou was checking the community hospital map, trying to find a solution.

"We can force the parking entrance gates to close via manual mode."

Kunta smashed a zombie's head with a punch.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"The manual adjustment valve is at the underground parking entrance. We need to go to the B1 level. In this situation, B1 is definitely crawling with zombies!"

The team members fell silent simultaneously.

Kunba glanced at his rapidly depleting stamina and gritted his teeth. "Let's go for it! We won't last if we keep this up!"

As he spoke, he gulped down some honey to accelerate his stamina recovery.

"Fine! It's decided. Sister Li, prepare to release your Perception Barrier. In any case, we need to find a way to close the entrance gates first, then figure out the rest."

"Wait a minute!"

Just as everyone was about to move, Fang Heng suddenly spoke up to stop them.

He looked at Hao Zhou and said in a heavy voice, "Hao Zhou, wait. You guys go first. I'll stay behind alone to blow up the generator set."

"What? Fang Heng, are you crazy?"

Kunta looked at Fang Heng in shock.

"I don't agree!"

Hao Zhou frowned. His refusal was equally firm.

"We only need to close the underground parking entrance. At worst, we just wait a bit longer until Sister Li's talent skill cooldown is over, then we can all blow up the generator and leave together."

"Exactly, there's no need for you to take such a huge risk staying here alone. It's too dangerous!"

"No, we won't have enough time."

Fang Heng shook his head; he had made this decision after careful consideration.

"Our biggest threat comes from the Vine Zombies in the morgue. I don't have enough spare fuel for my focused flamethrower. Even if we aren't harassed by those ordinary zombies, we won't be able to hold out for more than 30 minutes."

"Secondly, using the flamethrower here for an extended period will inevitably cause the building to catch fire. If that happens, we won't even have time to make a desperate escape."

The group fell silent again. The current situation was even worse than they had imagined.

"Don't delay. I have a plan. I need you all to escape directly through the underground garage entrance. Once you've left, I will immediately detonate the explosives to blow up the generator set."

"The explosion will attract the zombies, which will help ease the pressure on you."

Hao Zhou frowned, quickly running through the logic of Fang Heng's plan.

At first glance, the plan seemed sound. Even if Fang Heng failed to blow up the generator, there was still a high probability they could escape.

Except for one thing: Fang Heng's safety.

"What about you? What do you plan to do after destroying the generator? How do you intend to escape alone?"

"I have my own ways to survive."

Fang Heng shrugged and added, "My equipment is actually quite good."

"Uh..."

That familiar excuse caused Hao Zhou's expression to freeze.

Does he really consider this "good"!

If this were the late game, it would indeed be "good," but this was the very early game. It had only been a few days since the server opened!

But even so, could he really survive in such a dangerous situation?

(End of Chapter)