CHAPTER 1637: CHAPTER 1631: ESCAPE IS SELF-ANNIHILATION

Ghost Head glanced at the soldier with the square face, noticing a trace of disdain already etched on his face. People like Ghost Head, who seemed cowardly and afraid to die, were clearly beneath his contempt.

Ghost Head felt a bit speechless. He hadn’t intended to desert; he just felt that this was meaningless. What they were defending was nothing more than an abandoned city—a completely unwinnable fight!

"I don’t intend to desert."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I didn’t mean anything. I just want to ask something. There’s something I don’t understand."

"Then let me ask you this. If everyone in the Dangerous Sanctuary City chose to abandon it and flee, and every other survivor base and sanctuary city followed suit, what do you think would happen?"

"What would happen?"

"Figure it out yourself."

"Alright, fine."

Ghost Head began to think seriously. Brother Shi, standing nearby, also sank into deep thought. Unlike Ghost Head, he quickly remembered the grim fairy tales his older brother used to tell him years ago—stories where elves had their living space continually squeezed until they were ultimately wiped out.

It was a grim fairy tale, but a fairy tale nonetheless. The story didn’t dwell on the terrifying details; it only briefly mentioned, "In the end, the elves went extinct."

But if such a thing were to happen to human beings, it would be utterly horrifying! After all, human society was already showing signs of this very phenomenon!

The Chinese Continent was simply too small, crammed with over ten billion zombies and more than seven hundred million living humans. Zombies weren’t dwindling in number; on the contrary, in both known and undiscovered places across the continent, there were countless zombie mother nests continuously spawning more of them.

As humans’ living space kept shrinking, they wouldn’t go extinct in a tragic and poetic way like the elves. No, people would fight over limited resources first. Wars would erupt one after another. Food shortages would become unimaginably severe. People, driven mad with hunger, would eventually turn on each other!

The first to suffer would be ordinary people. They would be eliminated at the fastest rate! Then it would be the Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 evolved humans, and so on, until only the strongest who sat at the top of the pyramid remained!

By then, it wouldn’t be zombies exterminating humans—it would be humans exterminating themselves!

At that point, humanity would truly reach the end of the line, with no possibility of turning back!

But for now, humanity hadn’t sunk to that level yet! Civilization still existed; humanity’s foundation was still intact. Millions of years of history still nurtured countless opportunities for the future, but these opportunities had to be fought for, not prayed for!

Countless people striving and sacrificing for this opportunity—they wouldn’t be the first, nor would they be the last!

Every individual effort would be the one final push humanity needed for success!

Perhaps both of them had thought of the same thing, as they both fell silent. Ghost Head looked up at the sky. It wasn’t in the northwest anymore. In the sky, he saw flocks of birds flying past. Feathers drifted down from their bodies, red as gemstones—those were red-feathered birds... Only, the sky today didn’t match the beauty of that scene.

"Are those red-feathered birds?"

"They should be... Right?"

Compared to Brother Shi and Ghost Head, the other soldiers seemed to be seeing these birds for the first time and observed them with curiosity in their eyes.

"Do you think the appearance of these birds means something’s happening?"

"What could possibly happen? The worst case is we either turn into zombies or leave behind nothing but dust."

"Well... you’ve got a point..."

A few soldiers let out an awkward laugh. The squad fell into a brief silence. Soon after, they reached the vicinity of the zombie defense wall. Looking up, they could see numerous soldiers atop the wall’s platform. Dismantled siege cannons were being hoisted up and mounted on the wall by cranes. Countless soldiers passed nearby, holding rifles, their gaze fixed on the northwest, where the sky and building outlines were stained with a purplish hue.

"Ooooooh!"

At that moment, a soldier’s monkey-like howl rang out from the distance. Everyone looked toward the source of the noise. Sure enough, it was a soldier, standing atop the wall, yelling toward the distance. His voice carried a tinge of excitement, but when it reached the ears of others, it somehow seemed faintly oppressive.

Someone nearby raised their arm to wave at him, and the soldier responded in kind, lifting his arm while grinning. That smile seemed to dispel some of the darkness weighing down on people’s hearts. Ghost Head and Brother Shi exchanged a glance and felt slightly more at ease.

"Stand properly, all of you!"

The commander of Squad Seven shouted at them. Ghost Head and the others quickly fell back into formation. The commander then jogged off toward another man in the distance.

"Reporting! All members of Fifth Company, Squad Seven, are present and accounted for!"

He shouted loudly, catching the man’s attention. The man looked up from his tablet and turned his gaze toward the commander. No one knew what he said to him. Hearing it, the commander returned to the formation and said to Ghost Head and the others, "Alright, let’s go up."

He gestured toward the staircase leading to the zombie defense wall before taking the lead. Ghost Head and the rest of the squad followed him up to the wall and into a relatively open area.

"Go move the ammo crates over here!"

Hearing the commander’s instructions, Ghost Head glanced over. Nearby, a pile of wooden crates was stacked to the height of a person. Since it was their first time participating in an operation to resist a zombie horde, neither he nor Brother Shi knew what to do next. Watching their teammates carry the crates down one by one, they imitated them. Teammates then used the "Tianguang" crowbars in their hands to pry open the crates. Inside were military supply boxes with a greenish-blue tint. When opened, they revealed rows of energy clips. There were dozens of such boxes in total, making their ammunition reserves appear abundant!

"Commander, this box contains zombie lures."

"Alright, separate them properly so there’s no mix-up later!"

"Don’t worry about it."

"..."

"Let’s go too."

Brother Shi nodded at Ghost Head. Together with their teammates, they separated the zombie lures from the ammo crates before sitting down to rest. Meanwhile, Ghost Head sidled up again to the soldier with the square face, glanced around, and asked, "Hey."

"What is it?"

"What do we do next? Are we just supposed to sit here and wait?"

The square-faced soldier shot him a sidelong glance and teased, "What, you want to take a few laps around down there?"

"No way I’m doing that!" Ghost Head shook his head frantically.

"You’d better savor this quiet moment while you can. Things won’t be as simple as you think later on. We might not even know how we die when it happens."

"Uh..."

The situation was utterly unfamiliar to Ghost Head, leaving him uneasy. He kept wanting to prove himself, his gaze sweeping over his surroundings. He noticed that soldiers from other companies were doing the same—either sitting on the ground or gathering in small groups. Some were engaged in discussion, while others sat alone, silently staring at their phones.

Finally, he noticed the rooftop of a large building behind the zombie defense wall. A few people stood there, appearing to hold some sort of significant status.

"Hey, look up there."