Chapter 118: Engage
After warning Shen Rouxi and her men, Li moved to the porch door and positioned himself where he could see the driveway gates without exposing his position.
His men followed without needing direction, spreading to windows on either side with rifles ready but not raised.
The house behind him was quiet, and he couldn’t help but narrow his eyes in annoyance. He was willing to bet that Rouxi would make her way up here and help, but the fact that Meilan was simply upstairs in bed was making him frustrated.
The tree line was visible through the gap between two of the military vehicles that he had brought and left on the front line. They wouldn’t act as any type of barrier, and for just a moment, he wished that he had fixed the gate two days ago along with everything else.
His breathing stayed even and his grip on the rifle remained loose enough to adjust quickly. Corporal Sun Ming shifted position slightly to his left, angling for better coverage of the approach angle. Wang Junjie and Gao Sheng held their posts without comment, their eyes scanning different sections of the street in coordinated sweeps that required no verbal coordination.
The first line of zombies appeared at the tree line exactly where Li had been watching.
They didn’t stumble or wander around in random movements, instead, the moved forward with purpose, crossing from shadow into late afternoon light without hesitation.
The pace was faster than the ones they’d encountered before, more direct, like there was actually some type of life behind their eyes. Or at least intelligence.
Commander Li registered the difference immediately but didn’t speak. A second line of zombies followed within three seconds, then a third, then five more lines that spread across the visible tree line like they were being released from a starting gate.
And they were all rushing toward the house.
"Contact," Captain Zhao Yicheng said quietly. His voice was flat and controlled, delivering information without emotion. "Multiple. Tree line. Advancing faster that seems possible."
Li didn’t respond because Zhao Yucheng wasn’t saying anything he couldn’t see himself. The zombies kept coming, their numbers increasing faster than the initial estimate had suggested.
What had been only a couple of hundred had now become five, then eight as more undead creatures poured out from the trees in a steady flow that showed no sign of stopping.
They moved in loose formation rather than scattered chaos, their paths converging on the driveway that led directly to the house. Li counted silently, tracking clusters and estimating total numbers as they continued to emerge.
The distance between the tree line and the house was roughly two hundred meters. The zombies covered the first fifty meters in less time than one of his men could while lightly jogging.
Li’s jaw tightened slightly but his expression remained controlled.
"Positions," Li called out. His voice carried just enough to reach his men without projecting beyond the porch. Sun Ming shifted left to cover the wider approach angle, while Zhao Rui and Liu Zhenyu adjusted their stances to create overlapping fields of fire.
"Nice upgrade, huh?" murmured Rouxi and Li was forced to admit that he never heard her coming up behind him.
"Upgrade? What do you mean by upgrade?" he demanded, his eyes never leaving the scene in front of him.
"Like a video game. You had a boss that started out at a low level and then ate a berry or something and then upgraded. I mean, we aren’t talking final level boss yet, but yeah. Definitely an upgrade."
Li turned around to stare at the girl behind him, his teeth grinding down so hard he was starting to get a headache.
This was the most that she had ever said to him, and still he didn’t understand. "Explain it like I am stupid," he growled, but Rouxi shook her head.
"Nah. You’ll figure it out, I have confidence in you."
Commander Li was about to respond when Deng Hai, his sniper, cut through the radio.
"Range closing," he reported, his voice tight. "Eighty meters and closing."
"Seventy meters," he said after a moment.
Li didn’t respond. He turned his back on Rouxi, not willing to play whatever game she was playing and took a deep breath.
The porch held steady, but the very air around them seemed to have changed.
It wasn’t just movement anymore, it was everything else that came with the zombies that make them what they were. The stench of rotten meat hit them the moment the wind shifted, causing Li’s eyes to water.
He heard someone gagging, but it was quickly cut off.
Then you had the sound that the zombies made. A sound that followed Commander Li into his dreams at night. The low moans, like the pain was so bad that you could barely let out a sound. The shuffling of feet against the paved roads, the grass, everywhere.
There was a whole level of psychological warfare that most people didn’t associate with zombies.
And that part was the worst.
That was the part that would play on your nerves, on your patience, on your imagination.
The closer the massive horde got, the louder it became, until it was almost overwhelming.
Li adjusted his stance by half a step, planting his feet more firmly without taking his eyes off the lead group. They were closing too fast, and the spacing between them had tightened in a way that made clean shots harder than it should have been.
They weren’t tripping over each other. They weren’t breaking formation.
They were pushing through.
"Sixty meters," Deng Hai reported, his voice controlled but sharper now.
Sun Ming shifted again, this time not for angle, but for stability, his rifle steady as he tracked the same target Li had already selected. Zhao Yicheng didn’t speak, but his position locked in, covering the right flank where the cluster was starting to thicken.
But no one fired.
No one broke.
The first zombie crossed the midpoint of the driveway, its head lifting slightly as if it had finally found what it was looking for.
That was wrong.
Li didn’t look back at Rouxi.
He didn’t need to.
"Fifty meters." More moaning and shuffling before the wind was kind enough to change directions, leaving Li and his men free of the smell of the dead.
"Forty meters," Deng Kai said. His voice was tighter now, controlled but carrying the edge of someone waiting for permission to act.
Li raised his rifle in one smooth motion, settling the stock against his shoulder and sighting down the barrel at the lead zombie’s head.
His men mirrored the movement without needing instruction, their rifles coming up in synchronized precision.
The zombies kept coming, their pace unwavering, their numbers overwhelming.
Li’s finger moved from the trigger guard to rest lightly on the trigger itself.
"Engage," he said.
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