Chapter 173: Starved to Death

Gao Yuan's first reaction was to worry about the sealed container that stored the nuclear materials, wondering whether it would survive the impact or not, but the zombie immediately interrupted his thoughts.

A zombie pounced towards Gao Yuan, who was on the ground.

Gao Yuan instinctively lifted the Shield, placing it between himself and the zombie above. His legs began to thrash about desperately, reminiscent of a child lying on the ground kicking in protest, because if he didn't, the zombie would start gnawing at his feet.

"Ah!"

Gao Yuan let out a roar, heaving the Shield with all his might, sending the zombie that had been pressing down on it flying away. But as one zombie was pushed away, immediately two more pounced on him.

The Shield was directly crushing down on Gao Yuan's chest and face.

Was he really about to be cornered into a desperate situation by such an unlucky incident?

Gao Yuan wasn't so much afraid as he was filled with a sense of stunned disbelief. If he were to die like this, wouldn't it be just too unfair?

Because he hadn't made it onto the rooftop and had fallen, was he now going to be devoured by zombies?

Zombies dove onto him one after another, and in just a brief moment, five or six of them had piled on top of Gao Yuan.

In the blink of an eye, Gao Yuan's mind was suddenly overwhelmed with a loud banging noise, and then he couldn't hear anything at all.

"Ah!"

Usually, a cry would be prolonged, but when forced to burst out, it turned into a sharp, short shout.

Gao Yuan bellowed, lifting the Shield above him once again, pushing several zombies that had been on top of him to the side. Then with a powerful kick from his legs, he knocked away the zombies pressing down on them. Planting his right hand on the ground, where he found the strength he didn't know, he sprung up to his feet as if on a coil.

With his left arm holding the Shield, he swung it out, then Gao Yuan threw a punch with his right fist.

"Ah..."

Creating a bit of space with his punch, Gao Yuan's body lunged forward as he dashed out.

The world seemed to go dark, he hadn't even noticed that his night-vision device had fallen off.

Gao Yuan seemed to have lost consciousness, yet he was still aware of what to do.

Perhaps his body's reactions were faster than his mind's, or maybe his brain had made an accurate judgement in the split second of a lightning strike.

This must have been an instinctual reaction. By the time your brain catches up to what has happened, it's all over.

Having created a little space, Gao Yuan leapt up in one bound, landing on the rooftop like a jack-in-the-box.

On the rooftop, Gao Yuan pulled out a sound grenade and tossed it out. It was his last one. Then he yanked a hand grenade from his chest.

He placed the pin in his mouth and pulled it hard with a tug that pained his teeth, but the pin was pulled loose, and Gao Yuan then hurled the hand grenade down at the zombies below.

The hand grenade hit a zombie square in the forehead, and with a smack, the zombie's head burst like a smashed watermelon, scattering about.

But the grenade hadn't exploded yet. The zombie had been killed outright by the force of the thrown grenade.

It was probably the first person, or zombie, to be killed by a grenade being thrown at them rather than exploding, same difference either way.

A moment later, the hand grenade exploded on the ground.

With a thunderous boom, zombies within a few kilometers would surely be drawn to the sound.

But then Gao Yuan grabbed a second hand grenade, pulling the pin and throwing the grenade with all his might. With a three-second impact fuse, if the grenade didn't encounter sufficient impact, it would still explode after three seconds.

So, after three seconds, the grenade exploded in the air, a few hundred meters away.

Gao Yuan turned and ran, sprinting along the rooftop once more.

Without the night vision goggles, it was pitch black before his eyes, but finding his way was not a problem, Gao Yuan no longer felt his legs were as heavy as if they were filled with lead.

It's true that people can't burst forth with all their potential unless they experience a life-threatening crisis.

Gao Yuan sprinted as if his life depended on it and, even as he ran at high speed, he didn't forget to grab another hand grenade, pulled the pin with his left hand, and hurled it to the left.

Three seconds later, another loud explosion rang out.

Gao Yuan didn't care about anything else anymore, he just kept plunging forward, running as fast and as far as he could.

The zombies thinned out again, and then formed a long queue behind Gao Yuan, but this time fewer zombies were lured in because most of them were attracted to the explosion behind.

There was an overpass ahead.

Gao Yuan felt as if he'd been granted amnesty; he ran up the ramp onto the overpass and then the situation improved again, because on the overpass, he only needed to worry about zombies ahead and behind, not having to fear sudden zombie appearances from either side.

This time, Gao Yuan managed to run a great distance on the overpass without encountering a large number of zombies, and then he kept running onto the highway.

Gao Yuan's speed decreased, but the zombies behind him slowed down even more.

At last, Gao Yuan saw a river, which served as a borderline; crossing the river would mean entering the suburbs.

Gao Yuan jumped off the highway, directly leaping down from the overpass, then he charged into the green belt.

Now he had to think about how to shake off the zombies; he couldn't lead them all to the rendezvous point.

As his speed diminished, Gao Yuan's pace was barely faster than a normal person running, but the slower pace gave him more time to observe and carefully avoid zombies. Though without night vision goggles, running became easier for Gao Yuan.

Finally, he left the near suburbs behind and reached the distant outskirts. There were hardly any buildings here, and even if there were zombies, they were sparse and scattered.

Gao Yuan stopped running; he couldn't go on anymore. Pulling out a knife, he walked forward slowly and, at last, pressed the walkie-talkie, saying weakly, "This is Gao Yuan, Captain, I could use some assistance."

"Received, we've located you. What's the matter?"

"I'm about to collapse from exhaustion..."

"Hang in there, there are no zombies behind you. We are coming to you, over."

Gao Yuan simply stopped moving, leaned on his legs, and then sat down on the ground with a thump.

"Don't stop, over!"

"I can't take another step..."

Gao Yuan wanted to lie down but, thinking of the "Energy Bar," he eventually didn't, and instead slumped to the side, lying on the ground.

This sudden movement almost scared Shi Lei to death.

"No good! Medic! We need an emergency rescue!"

Gao Yuan had indeed laid down, but he wasn't confused, so he quickly said into the walkie-talkie, "Don't call it in, I'm fine, you don't need to panic."

While everyone was approaching Gao Yuan cautiously, seeing him lie down, they couldn't approach slowly.

A group of people ran over in a rush, and then Shi Lei squatted down, his first action was to check for any injuries on Gao Yuan's body.

"Stop checking, I should be fine. Help me take this stuff off, water, I need water."

Gao Yuan felt dizzy and light-headed, not particularly hungry, but his sensations were much like the ones he had when he was starved after waking from days of dizziness.

Gao Yuan struggled to sit up, but getting up was easy, now even trying to sit up was hard; lying on his side, the hand he raised couldn't even hold onto the water bottle, which fell to the ground as soon as it reached his hands.

"Give me water, 'Energy Bar,' quickly, put it near my mouth..."