Intruders
They escaped successfully.
The Horde gave up after the vehicles were gone from their views and no sounds were heard.
Feera could hear his parents sniveling at the back seat.
'Well, at least they're crying in a Rolls Reece.'
He made a little joke to soothe his own heart after knowing about his uncle and aunt's deaths.
Two gold chains were tightly gripped by Mr. Zayf.
He wiped his tears and called Erza through his phone.
"Son, do we have time to go rescue the others? I know it's selfish of me, but-"
If anyone wants to talk to Erza privately, he asked them to use phone calls instead.
"It's still early. We could bring our next rescue mission in advance. Are you okay though, Dad?"
The car's display showed 10.45 am.
Erza went along with his father's suggestion.
He wants to placate his heart and emotions.
"The more locations we go, the more relatives we could save! Don't worry about your old father! I can take it!"
He is physically and emotionally stronger now.
The training, experience, and consumption of Evolution Nectars played a big part.
Erza smiled at his father's recovery.
…
Back at the hotel, a commotion happened.
"Old guy, are you sure there's food there? If I found out that you were f*cking with me…"
A tall, brawny man warned a familiar middle-aged man.
"I swear by my name, Han Jing, famous producer, philanthropist, multi-millionaire-"
Smack!
"This old b*stard, boss only asked a question! Running off your b*stard mouth!"
A tanned scrawny man slapped the old man.
The man who raised his hand towards him was the brawny man's, right-hand man.
The old man was one of the survivor groups that came together with Big Mark and Kara, Director Jing!
"Darling, I can vouch for Director Jing. There's an arrogant but strong guy inside, and he gave us plenty of food before he kicked us out!"
An alluring and sultry voice spoke.
"Hmph! Strong? Let's see if he can fight with ten people at once! Wait a little while, Baby Rose, your husband will pay him back tenfold for what he did to you!"
The brawny man haughtily exclaimed while caressing a black gun on his waist.
…
Smaaash!
A loud bang rang in a medium-sized apartment.
"Cousin Hong! Are you there?!"
A charismatic voice called out.
Debris flew everywhere, shone by sunlight.
"Little Hong! It's Third Uncle!"
Another voice called out.
It belonged to Mr. Zayf.
"Dad, look."
In the empty house, a good-looking youth showed his father a note.
"Thank god, they were saved!"
Mr. Zayf exhaled a breath of relief.
'Saved by the army. Heading to Air Force base near K-City.
Hong, Yuen & Ting Ting'
Erza immediately announced through the walkie talkie.
"What now, big bro?"
Feera asked Erza.
He is one of the three persons sent to spearhead the rescue mission.
"Fancy some 'harvesting' session, gentleman?"
Erza gave them a smirk.
The apartment that his Cousin Hong lives in was only a few kilometers away from S-Town.
Cousin Hong is his recently deceased Uncle Kuff and Aunt Ning's second son.
It was a multi-building apartment complex, in the middle of the suburbs of S-Town.
There wasn't a lot of Infected as there were fewer residents compared to S-Town.
They did, however, saw hundreds of bodies littered on the road here.
It was proof the military passed through here.
"What's the plan, son?"
Asked Mr. Zayf.
Ever since his brother's passing, he became more determined to get stronger.
"The usual Peek-A-Boo tactics for every unit. The ones on the ground however, we'll use 'Waterfall'."
'Peek-A-Boo' is where one knocks the door of a room or a house with Infected inside, trip them with a wire or a rope, and stab their skulls from behind.
They cleared the hotel rooms with Infected inside with this tactic.
"Let me explain how 'Waterfall' works."
When the team first arrived, they drove up a hill overlooking the apartment.
Upon scouting, they discovered a few hundreds of Infected in the apartment complex.
And the Infected were trapped inside four walls of the complex, rendering the baiting method unusable.
"Zephyr, Zeus. I have a way to enter. But I'll need your Talents."
Both Feera and Mr. Zayf listened to his instructions.
"Whoa, Zeta. Can this work?"
"Seems...a bit risky, no?"
After hearing his plan, they were a little dumbfounded.
Erza planned to strapped them both tightly to him, and he'll start running down the steep hill.
Reaching enough momentum, he'll use his Super Strength to jump from the hill to Cousin Hong's apartment building which was 600 meters away!
That's where Feera's power kicks in.
He needs to use his Psychokinesis to set them on the proper trajectory path, which was the rooftop of the apartment.
Mr. Zayf's responsibility is to zap the Infected on the roof for a safe landing.
He could send electric bolts from a distance since entering Class-9.
Feera's psychic force also went up tremendously as a Class-9 Awakened.
…
Dash!
"Hey, idiots! Lunch is here!"
Roooar!
Erza provoked the hundreds of Infected while dashing around the building.
With his base strength of five human adults and physical boosts from his 'Super Strength' Talent, there was no way a mere Strain-1 Infected could catch him.
He was rallying the surrounding Infected.
As the operation involves a lot of movements, he switched the communication devices from walkie-talkies to Military Radio Earbuds.
Swarm!
The ground trembled around the apartment complexes.
The Infected's instinct overcomes every logic and reasoning.
'Go to where the food is.'
Erza could easily outrun them, but he purposely took it 'slow' for the Infected to 'almost' catch up.
There were fifteen stories in every apartment buildings.
The Horde chasing Erza nastily stepped over each other to taste his sweet meat.
Blam!
After a few minutes of running up tens of flights of stairs, Erza burst open the rooftop's door.
Without even breaking a sweat, he ran backward.
"Toodeloo, motherf*****!"
He was nearing the rooftop's ledge, and his speed didn't slow down!
Jump!
Erza jumped off the roof!
Roarrrrrr!
And so did the Horde of Infected chasing him.
Splat! Splat!
Bodies upon bodies flew down the roof.
It was raining Infected!
Brains, bones, and biles littered the ground.
One by one, the Infected's head broke open as a watermelon smashed against a concrete floor.
However, Erza wasn't seen anywhere on the floor.
Instead, he was floating in the air!
'Wind feels good.'
Fresh air blew from the hills.
It still smells like death, but at the very least it's chilly.
Feera was excited seeing all the Evolution Nectars he could reap without even breaking a sweat!
All he needed to do was make Erza float when he jumped off the roof.
Strain-1 Infected has no intelligence, hence their instincts overwhelm everything.
That backfired them as they were unaware of the risk and danger of jumping off from a high place.
Zap!
As bodies stacked on the ground, it became shock absorbers to the Infected who jumped later.
Zap!
That was why Mr. Zayf was tasked to finish off the Infected that didn't die from the fall.
Zap!
Charred skulls of then 'still alive' Infected appeared.
He could discharge a maximum of 10,000 volts. Enough to char an elephant!
However, to conserve Cell Energy, he only discharges anywhere from 250 ~ 500 volts when he kills Infected.
Operation 'Waterfall' was a success.
They repeated the method on the remaining apartment building in the complex.
In an hour, there were no more Infected roaming around.
They recalled the rest of the team to the complex.
"Let's harvest."
With simple instruction, everyone got to work.
Once the Evolution Nectars harvesting was done, they divided into teams of three.
Feera, Big Mark, and Mrs. Numee were in a team.
Zoltan, Mr. Zayf, and Kara in another.
"Team, it is now 3.46 pm. I want everyone to clear out your building in two hours!"
There were three apartment buildings in the complex.
Their strategy was to use the 'Peek-A-Boo' method and sweep all the Infected inside the building.
"Zeta, are you sure you can do this alone?"
Mr. Zayf was slightly concerned.
Erza nodded.
"Haha! Zeta, we should have a bet! Whoever finished the fastest and reached back here the soonest wins a wager of 10 Evolution Nectars! Any takers?"
Feera grinned.
Erza shook his head.
'Nectar Betting' was a popular sport among Awakened.
'Didn't know my brother was possibly the one who started it.'
They casually put a bet of 10 beads each for each team.
Winner takes all!
…
The sweeping mission also doubled as a looting mission.
Residential areas would usually have resources they might need.
In two hours, they finished their tasks.
"Any survivors?"
Erza looked at his team members.
Everyone shook their heads.
As the army has saved the people, only the Infected were left.
They then proceeded to transport the goods.
'If the army had more time, they would've swept clean the whole apartment.'
But instead, it was theirs for the taking.
Boxes upon boxes of items filled the car.
Filled to the brim, their cars' suspensions lowered a little.
"What do we do with the rest?"
Bucky felt that it was wasteful.
"Gather it at a convenient location."
He instructed them to put them in temporary storage.
He marked down the location for future supply runs.
"Zeta, what if other survivors found this place and take our loot?"
Big Mark felt a little possessive.
"Then it'll be their luck. This would be our way of helping other people in need."
Although resources are scarce, one must not be irrational.
Overloading a vehicle or risking to re-visit a supply center would be detrimental to one's survival.
'A smart person never puts themselves in a risky situation, but a wise person always take calculated risks!'
Before leaving, Bucky took over the apartment complexes' Master Control.
'Motion-sensor alerts are also placed.'
That way, they would be notified if there were 'visitors'.
Vroom!
The convoy took off.
They went back to the location where they saw hundreds of Infected were laid waste.
'The army should have began running experiments on Evolution Nectars.'
The pink bead was a crystal that would never break.
Although once it came in contact with a human's digestive juices, it would be dissolved and turned into energy.
They yielded a handsome haul today.
The Infected killed by the army were riddled with bullet holes, but their spinal cords untouched.
"Zeta! Zeta!"
Bucky came running to him.
"Intruders! There are intruders heading to our hotel!"