Chapter 96
Chapter 96
Perhaps realizing that an ally with terrifyingly accurate marksmanship was supporting them from above, the trapped group below seemed to receive a massive shot of adrenaline. Their flagging morale instantly surged, their despair transforming into the frenzy of a last-ditch counterattack.
The tide of battle turned before their very eyes.
The two women standing back-to-back stopped focusing on evasion and went on the offensive instead. They covered each other, their shots becoming more disciplined and deliberate.
Amid the crack of gunfire, the Madmen charging at the front fell one after another. Occasionally, a bullet only grazed one of the Madmen or struck a non-vital area, failing to kill it immediately. But before it could let out another peal of crazed laughter–
“Hrrgh!”
Big Guy charged in from the flank like a berserk rhinoceros, swinging the pointed shovel smeared with red and white gore.
The blade came down with deadly precision upon the Madmen’s heads.
Squelch! Crack!
A series of sickening, muffled impacts rang out.
Half the head of one of the Madmen went flying. The shovel blade buried itself deep in the shoulder and neck of another of the Madmen, nearly cleaving it in two.
Big Guy stood there in his gas mask, drenched in blood from head to toe.
The team on the ground unleashed astonishing combat power. Taking advantage of this brief respite, they tore a bloody opening through the encirclement.
The battle did not last much longer. When Big Guy kicked down the last of the Madmen as it tried to laugh and drove the pointed shovel straight through the back of its skull, the clamor of gunfire and manic laughter abruptly ceased.
Only the suffocating stench of blood and gunpowder remained in the air.
The road was almost completely covered in dark-red, viscous liquid and mangled remains.
A brief, deathly silence followed. The handful of survivors leaned against the wreckage, panting heavily, their faces showing nothing but exhaustion and lingering frenzy.
As one, they looked beyond the highway guardrail toward the towering tree.
Big Guy flicked the sticky gore from his shovel and trudged over to the edge of the guardrail.
Tilting his head back toward the canopy, he shouted hoarsely, “Thanks, friend up there!”
Qingshui gently shook the branches above her in response.
At that moment, a mature short-haired woman with sharply defined features and a formidable presence strode forward. She looked up as well and called, “Do you need help getting down so we can regroup?”
“Yes,” Qingshui replied.
The short-haired woman seemed to breathe a sigh of relief before glancing back.
The ponytailed woman, whose low ponytail complemented her crisp, capable demeanor, immediately understood. She quickly pulled a coil of sturdy climbing rope from the side pocket of her backpack.
After checking the end of the rope and its fastener, she held it up. “Thirty meters. Is that enough?”
“Enough.”
Qingshui answered once more.
The ponytailed woman swiftly wound one end around the guardrail several times and tied an intricate knot.
She gave it a hard tug to make sure it was secure, then hurled the other end over the guardrail toward the base of the tree.
Qingshui looked down at Song Yunqing. “Let’s go.”
Song Yunqing nodded and began the difficult climb down. Her face was as pale as paper and her movements were stiff. She nearly lost her grip several times during the descent, holding desperately to the tree through sheer survival instinct.
Qingshui fared little better. Her earlier actions had consumed too much of her strength, leaving her arms weak and aching. Halfway down, her foot suddenly slipped on the slick bark, and she plunged a short distance.
By the time her unsteady feet finally touched the embankment, she was so exhausted that she nearly collapsed to her knees. Song Yunqing reacted quickly and caught her.
“Go,” Qingshui said quietly.
She expertly secured the rope around Song Yunqing’s waist and upper thighs, then gave it a shake to signal the people above.
A moment later, Song Yunqing began to rise. Her figure slowly disappeared from Qingshui’s sight.
The rope dropped back down. Qingshui took a deep breath and fastened it around herself in the same manner. A tremendous pull came from above, drawing the rope taut in an instant. Little by little, her feet lifted off the ground.
Big Guy’s pull was powerful and steady, practically hauling her up by brute force. She grabbed the edge of the railing and heaved herself over.
The short-haired woman and the ponytailed woman exchanged a glance. These two, especially the one who had fired the gun, looked weak, but what they had just demonstrated was far beyond the capabilities of ordinary survivors.
The intimidating woman spoke again, her tone more serious this time. “Team up?”
Qingshui took a few breaths to steady herself. Her gaze passed over the short-haired woman, who appeared to be the leader, then the ponytailed woman and Big Guy, who was wiping down his shovel. Finally, she cast a quick glance behind the barricade of wreckage nearby.
Then she nodded and gave an equally terse reply. “All right.”
For now, they had an understanding.
Qingshui needed the protection of this temporary group, while they clearly valued her combat ability.
“We need to move. We’re too exposed here, and the smell of blood will draw more of those things soon,” the mature woman said gravely.
She turned and headed toward the wreckage behind her.
Qingshui and Song Yunqing followed the short-haired woman and the ponytailed woman around the wreck of the overturned bus.
Behind it, a young woman lay on the ground, her entire left arm severed at the shoulder.
Strips of torn cloth had been wrapped tightly around the wound, but blood had already soaked through the thick layers and spread into a wide, dark red pool beneath her. Her face was white as paper, her forehead slick with cold sweat, and her breathing faint. She had clearly lost far too much blood and was barely conscious.
Two people knelt beside her, administering emergency treatment.
One was a man in his thirties with a weary, weathered face, though his eyes remained exceptionally focused and calm. He was using a relatively clean piece of cloth to press hard against the blood vessels above the severed arm, trying to slow the bleeding.
His movements were steady and practiced. Despite his blood-soaked hands, there was no trace of panic in him.
Assisting him was a middle-aged woman in her forties.
The moment Qingshui and the others approached, the woman’s gaze snapped toward them. She quickly assessed Qingshui and Song Yunqing, lingering for a moment on Qingshui’s unsteady steps before looking away.
The man glanced up at Qingshui and the others. Without any change in expression, he gave them a quick nod in greeting, then lowered his head again and said quietly to Big Guy, “Press down here. I’ll see if we have any bandages left…”
Big Guy immediately stepped forward and took over applying pressure.
The man turned to the short-haired woman and spoke rapidly. “We’ve barely managed to stop the bleeding… but infection is going to be a serious problem.”
They had no antibiotics, and there was no telling whether the injured woman could survive until the day they found some.
Just then, the one-armed woman on the ground seemed to stir. Her long eyelashes fluttered several times before she opened her eyes with tremendous difficulty.
Her pupils were unfocused, but a trace of clarity seemed to return to her mind. Her gaze moved slowly past the ponytailed woman and Big Guy before finally settling on the short-haired woman.
Then the corner of her mouth twitched into the faintest smile, and she whispered in a voice barely stronger than a breath,
“Sister Wen… don’t bother… Just… make it quick…”
Everyone fell silent.
The stench of blood in the air seemed to grow even heavier.
In a world where no one knew if they would live to see tomorrow, an open wound this severe was almost certain to end in infection.
The short-haired woman, whom she had called Sister Wen, showed no emotion and did not hesitate. She merely nodded and drew the handgun from the holster at her waist.
Then she placed her finger on the trigger.