**Chapter 71: Brainstorm**

A senior zombie in tai chi attire lunged at the bus, its clawed hands smearing fresh bloodstains on the windows. Zhang Xiaowen leaned out, pistol barking. *Bang!* The corpse collapsed.

The "ghost city" hosted sparse undead, but their grotesque feasting unsettled the guards. One jittery recruit misfired, shattering a window and granting a miniskirt-clad zombie girl access. Mofang observed dryly: *Human-romance taboos clearly don't apply post-apocalypse.*

*Rat-a-tat!*

Bullets cleared a path as Mofang's helicopter form swooped low, rotors decapitating four zombies blocking the windshield. Zhang Xiaowen gave a thumbs-up to the blood-misted blur.

By the time the bus halted 200 meters from the school, its sides resembled abstract art – beverage ads overlaid with gore, flanked by corpse berms. Zhang Xiaowen crouched at a bank corner, goggles scanning the horde below the teaching building.

"Any bright ideas?"

"Working on it. My expertise lies in battling Zerg swarms, not reanimated primates." Mofang's rotors stuttered mid-brainstorm. "Wait! Flesh bait! Fresh meat could divert them!"

"Human flesh?!"

"Rat meat. *Evolved* rats."

The helicopter veered toward a restaurant's rear alley. Rotors folded, Mofang transformed into its robotic form at a gaping sewer grate. Pungent decay wafted upward. "If word gets out I'm spelunking in human waste…"

*Splash!*

Mofang landed in ankle-deep sludge, headlights illuminating a bone-littered tunnel. Scans revealed viral residue – zombie remains gnawed clean. "Dining upgrade: from garbage to gourmet undead. Bravo, rodents."

*Crack!* It snapped a femur, the echo reverberating through pipes. Somewhere ahead, skittering multiplied.

***

Back at the school, survivors tossed a plastic bottle filled with urine out a window. It burst below, drenching zombies who redoubled their frenzy.

"Brilliant. Keep feeding their bloodlust," Mofang muttered via comms, excavating a rat nest. "Bait acquired. Prep fireworks."

Inside the sewer, its electrified claw crackled. Shadows shifted. Eight pairs of glowing eyes emerged – dog-sized rodents, fur matted with congealed blood.

"Ladies and gentlemen… dinner is served."