The moment he spotted the wolves, Wang Zhi's first reaction was that the animals had also been infected!
"Not good! They are Zombie Wolves! Liuli, prioritize protecting yourself first." After speaking, Wang Zhi pulled Liuli back toward the group.
"Alert, a group of Zombie Wolves is approaching! Sister Ying, Old He, I'll rely on you two to cover Dr. Yang for a moment; the others don't need to worry too much." Wang Zhi transmitted through the wireless headset; naturally, these words could not be heard by those people from the Research Institute.
Seeing the four of them move, the people from the Research Institute immediately panicked.
"Don't run around; stay by the campfire," Old He said, standing up to address them.
"Before they fully charge, let's open fire first," Wang Zhi said into his headset.
*Bang!* Wang Zhi fired the first shot, and the tense wolf pack suddenly erupted, charging toward Wang Zhi's position.
Wang Zhi was startled by the speed of the pack's movement. He clearly still underestimated the explosive power of these Zombie Wolves; they were 1.5 times faster than normal wolves. Bullets couldn't reach them; continuing to shoot would just be a waste.
"Too fast, can't hit them!" Wang Zhi shouted as the Zombie Wolves got closer.
One of them had already reached Wang Zhi and lunged at him.
*Shing!* A flash of blade light appeared before Wang Zhi's eyes—it was Liuli. She had drawn the Ye Linglong and severed the Zombie Wolf that was about to pounce on Wang Zhi. He watched the severed head on the ground continue to snap its jaws.
Seeing that bullets couldn't hit, Wang Zhi immediately drew his Dagger and began engaging the Zombie Wolves in close-quarters combat.
Meanwhile, Old He and Su Muying on the side were also struggling with their Daggers, all while having to divert their attention to protect Dr. Yang.
"Ah! No!"
One woman was unfortunately pinned down and let out a scream. Wang Zhi and the others had no time to see who it was, nor could they go save her, as they were continuously fighting these incredibly fast Zombie Wolves themselves.
Liuli's weapon held the most advantage; the blade was sharp and long, allowing her to instantly cleave them in two. Wang Zhi and the others' Daggers seemed slightly inadequate; they had to strike the wolf's head to kill it. If a strike landed on its body, the Zombie Wolf would still rise up and attack.
At this point, one man couldn't stand the sight and started to flee.
Seeing the man about to run, Wang Zhi anxiously called out, "Don't move wildly, come back quickly!"
But the man couldn't hear anything anymore. After running less than ten meters, he was pounced on by a wolf, followed by another scream.
The scent of blood over there attracted other Zombie Wolves, which also changed direction to feast on the man who had just run out. Seeing this opportunity, Wang Zhi directly threw a grenade toward the man's corpse.
Boom! The sound of the explosion shattered the silence of the darkness. Just as those Zombie Wolves were about to pounce and tear off a piece of flesh, they were blown to pieces.
Wang Zhi and his team lost three men in this incident, but Wang Zhi secretly congratulated himself that the man running out had served as bait; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to gather so many wolves together for a swift kill.
"Are you all alright?" Wang Zhi looked at the others.
"What kind of pack of mad dogs were those? They were fierce enough, almost biting me. They tore through my Hazmat Suit, lucky I was wearing a Bulletproof Vest," Old He said, patting his waist in lingering fear.
Hearing Old He's words, Wang Zhi was startled and quickly went to Old He's side to check the wound. He saw that the Hazmat Suit had been torn open, revealing the Bulletproof Vest underneath, and a deep piece had been bitten out of the vest as well. Old He took off the Bulletproof Vest, revealing a red mark on his waist.
"Phew! Good thing it didn't bite through; otherwise, Old He, you would have been finished," Wang Zhi said with relief.
"Uncle He, being compassionate, insisted on protecting those people, and ended up getting ambushed by a wolf," Su Muying said sarcastically as she approached.
"It's good that the man is fine," Wang Zhi said, patting Old He's arm.
"We need to change locations; we can't stay here any longer." Wang Zhi frowned as he looked at the pile of corpses on the ground.
After Wang Zhi and his team loaded the supplies, they moved some distance forward. Following the ambush they just experienced, the people from the Research Institute and Hao Chenggong's family were extremely jumpy the entire way. Even the slightest rustle would startle them into huddling close to Wang Zhi and his group.
Wang Zhi completely understood their feelings and behavior.
After walking for a while, Wang Zhi found a suitable place to set up camp, and everyone relit the bonfire.
"The road ahead is fraught with danger. I hope everyone follows instructions. We will do our utmost to ensure everyone's safety while protecting ourselves. If there is any recurrence of insubordination like before, you will bear the consequences yourself," Wang Zhi warned the crowd sternly.
Everyone quickly agreed. This time, no one would be foolish enough to disobey Wang Zhi; otherwise, the consequence would be a pack of Zombie Wolves pouncing on them, followed by detonating a hand grenade.
Throughout the night, no one felt sleepy, nor dared they feel sleepy, fearing that a horde of Zombies might suddenly appear again.
Wang Zhi spent the night in this dark, desolate wilderness. Aside from a few stray Zombies that wandered by occasionally, there were no other dangers. As daylight began to break, Wang Zhi and the others resumed their journey back.
Along the way, Wang Zhi occasionally used the binoculars to check the situation of the Zombie hordes on the road. However, the situation was not ideal. After traveling for some time, he noticed that there were still many Zombies on the road. Wang Zhi suspected that the area around the Extraction Point was also completely swarming with Zombies.
After walking on and off for eight hours across twenty kilometers, the group finally arrived opposite the entrance. In the distant woods, Wang Zhi used his binoculars and spotted the entrance, but as expected, there were Zombies around—a large number of them. The closer they got to the tunnel they had previously used, the more Zombies there were!
"We've arrived, but we need to cross that road," Wang Zhi turned to tell the people behind him.
"This is remote wilderness; where would a shelter be?"
"Right, are you sure you remembered correctly?"
The group hadn't seen any shelter, but hearing Wang Zhi say they had arrived made them a bit nervous.
"The shelter is down below; we need to enter the tunnel, and the tunnel entrance is on the other side of the road," Wang Zhi explained.
"Then what should we do? There are so many Zombies on the road; should we rush across?" Old He asked after putting down his binoculars.
Wang Zhi looked at Old He, then turned to look at the group from the Research Institute and Hao Chenggong's family behind him. "We can probably force our way through, but they might not be able to."
"Let's lure them away first, then we can take the chance to cross," Su Muying suggested.
"Then who will be the bait? Them?" Old He asked, then turned to look at the crowd behind them.
"Don't we have a Signal Flare? We can use the Signal Flare to distract them first, then we charge through; that would be safer," Wang Zhi said, taking out his Signal Flare from his bag.
"Even if the Signal Flare is useful, once we get close, they will still prioritize attacking us," Old He remarked.
Wang Zhi shrugged helplessly, "Then there's no other way. It's better than charging straight in, and we don't have 300 rounds of ammunition left either. A direct confrontation is definitely out of the question."