“That must be it over there.”
After riding the boat across the lake for quite a while, Aiden’s group finally ca into view of Lewisville Lake’s floating base.
Countless boats and yachts were intertwined, creating a landmass of steel and plastic floating on the water – a scenery even more peculiar than they had expected.
“They really built this properly, didn’t they?”
Seeing this, Arian made that remark.
Aiden nodded in agreent.
The way the floating base was constructed seed quite systematic.
The people who made this base didn’t simply tie the boats together haphazardly.
First, the boats located on the outermost periter were all large vessels with tall decks.
By standing on those decks, one could look down as if there were walls surrounding them, while also blocking a considerable portion of the view from the outside towards the inside.
“Hmm...”
Since the boat Aiden’s group was on couldn’t simply cross over those yachts, they slowly circled around the outskirts of the floating base.
Soon, an entrance leading into the base’s interior ca into view.
At the entrance was a wide waterway extending towards the center of the base.
This waterway seed to have served as both a dock for boats coming and going from the base and a loading bay for unloading supplies brought from land.
“But is there anything else here?”
Aiden parked the boat near the entrance and asked.
Arian narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the floating base.
She soon shook her head.
“I don’t sense anything right now.”
“Then let’s head inside first.”
The boat started moving again.
Passing through the tall boats standing like gatekeepers, the interior of the base finally ca into full view.
Most of the hulls inside were tied together with ropes.
Walkways had been installed between them to facilitate movent, and the existing cabins, kitchens, and bathrooms of the yachts had been partially remodeled for continued use.
“Hmm...”
Observing this scenery, Aiden let out a sigh.
He had expected life on this floating base to be far more arduous than on land.
The situation in the cities they had passed by was clearly not favorable, and for safety reasons, there were likely considerable restrictions on entering and exiting the base, making it difficult to procure supplies.
However, upon seeing it directly, that didn’t seem to be the case.
On one deck, soone’s broken guitar lay rolling around.
On another yacht, fishing lines leisurely swayed, dangling outwards.
Although shattered into pieces, even the remnants of a small flower pot were visible.
While not appearing abundantly affluent, the scenery exuded a subtle sense of leisure.
After observing this for a mont, Aiden soon realized the reason for this impression.
“They’ve completely eliminated the threat of zombies.”
For any survivor group, their base was rely a relatively safe space.
If a crisis arose, they would have to abandon and flee at any ti.
But for those who had lived here, that wasn’t the case. They had the belief that zombies couldn’t reach this place.
So even if they struggled to procure supplies, they could fully rest within this base.
That ntal respite was emanating from this scenery.
“...”
Aiden disembarked onto the floating base.
He then helped Arian and Sadie get off as well.
Although it was more like transferring from one boat to another, the feeling of setting foot on an unknown, wondrous island brought a faint smile to Sadie’s face.
“So then...”
Aiden looked around the surroundings.
The base wasn’t particularly large.
At most, it consisted of only 40 or 50 yachts tied together.
The number of gang mbers who had lived here was likely similar to the number of yachts.
However, according to Asher, this place had been attacked by soone, leading to their annihilation.
In other words, combat had occurred here.
And the traces of that were indeed left behind...
Unlike the relatively intact yachts near the entrance, the surrounding area imdiately revealed hulls with shattered glass, walkways, and walls.
And then...
“Look over there.”
Arian pointed to the floor of a nearby yacht.
There, the thin floor was clearly marked with traces of multiple bullets having pierced through.
It seed like gunfire had been directed at soone boarding the base from where Aiden’s group was standing, but upon observing this, Aiden soon felt a sense of disquiet.
“...Strange.”
“What is?”
“Why were they shooting at the floor?”
The bullet marks on the floor couldn’t have been made during an exchange of gunfire between people facing each other.
If that were the case, the marks should have been on the outer walls of the distant yachts, not the floor.
“Maybe they made a panicked mistake?”
Arian suggested, but those marks weren’t just one or two instances.
Most of the bullet marks found throughout the floating base were aid at the floor.
That wasn’t the only strange thing.
“There’s a lot of blood, but no bodies.”
It was clear that a tragedy had occurred here.
So of the yachts were drenched in blood, and in so places, torn flesh was even scattered around.
However, not a single proper corpse could be seen anywhere.
At this, Arian spoke up.
“So they must have disposed of the bodies separately. Maybe threw them into the lake?”
“Well, they could have done that. But...”
Aiden shook his head slightly.
Whether it was a gang or an ordinary survivor group, there was no particular reason for them to dispose of the bodies.
If they were like the cultists Aiden had encountered before, they might have collected the bodies of the humans they had killed.
But such people weren’t common to begin with, and Asher hadn’t ntioned anything about cultists being present.
Of course, considering exceptional circumstances, there could also be maniacs who ate human flesh for survival.
But that didn’t seem to be the case here either.
Aiden picked up a blood-stained can lying on the floor.
Whoever had turned this place into a ss hadn’t touched the supplies on the yachts.
They had only killed the people and disposed of the bodies before disappearing.
Moreover, considering the heavily damaged cabin doors, walls that seed to have been hit by sothing, and the amount of blood splattered as if bodies had been dragged around, there were too many oddities for it to be a battle against humans.
After carefully examining the clues scattered around, Aiden cautiously put forth a conjecture.
“The ones who attacked this place weren’t human.”
“What? You an...”
Arian’s brow furrowed.
One of the basic premises regarding this floating base had been overturned.
“Zombies? But zombies can’t swim, you said.”
“Yeah, they can’t.”
“Even if so accidentally got in... that doesn’t make sense. Then there should be zombies left behind.”
“You’re right.”
As Arian said, if it wasn’t humans, then saying it was zombies also didn’t add up.
How could zombies have entered here in the first place, and if they had, where did they all go?
“...”
Aiden briefly fell into contemplation over this.
But even Aiden couldn’t easily conclude the cause of this incident when Sadie, who had been searching the surroundings, raised her hand.
“There’s a strange mark over here.”
Aiden, who had been deep in thought, turned his gaze towards her.
He didn’t dismiss her discovery as that of a child.
So he broke off his train of thought and approached her.
“Ah...!”
Seeing what Sadie had found, Aiden let out a wry laugh.
There was a crucial clue he hadn’t even considered.
And based on this clue, if Aiden hadn’t seen it, he would never have been able to figure out the answer.
“The answer was alligators.”
What Sadie had discovered were bloody footprints left by alligators.
For Aiden, who had lived in Pittsburgh, it was an unfamiliar creature.
But this was already the southern state of Texas.
Sohow, those massive reptiles had entered this place, which was their habitat.
“Alligators...?”
The mont Arian repeated those words, her head turned, seeming to have sensed sothing.
Coincidentally, just as Aiden had revealed their identities, those creatures were directly revealing themselves.
However, they weren’t ordinary alligators.
Through Arian’s keen senses, three zombies could be clearly felt cutting through the lake and moving.
Then, they were seen leisurely crawling up onto the dock of the floating base.
With peeled, missing skin, severed tails, and even a missing eye, three zombie alligators stomped onto a nearby yacht, moving without issue.
“Were they waiting for us to co?”
Aiden frowned and picked up his rifle.
The weapons he had brought today were regular rifles, not large-caliber ones.
He had co ard expecting combat against humans, with no large-caliber ammunition.
But now that they had to hunt alligators, the firepower felt inwardly lacking.
Of course, even these regular rifles would be enough to take down ordinary alligators.
However, with zombie alligators, there was no way to predict what variables might be involved.
Perhaps sensing this, Arian took out her machete and stepped forward.
“I’ll draw their attention. You just provide support with your gun.”
“Is that possible?”
“It won’t be difficult in this terrain.”
Arian looked around as she spoke.
Due to the yachts being interconnected, the uneven surface of the floating base would be advantageous terrain for Arian to run across the rooftops.
Recognizing this, Aiden nodded.
“Understood. Take this.”
Aiden handed Arian the vial of blood he had received as an advance paynt from Asher.
Arian accepted the old water bottle and poured it out into the air.
The blood flowed along an invisible path, forming a crimson sphere.
“I’m going.”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of Sadie.”
Arian dashed off.
She leaped over the yachts in between, landing on the rooftop of the yacht where the alligators were.
Then...
“Grooooar!”
Letting out roars akin to dinosaurs, the alligators charged.
An over 4-ter-long adult alligator swung its tail, slamming it into the control room wall that Arian was standing on.
Crack!
Such force was exerted that the yacht’s wall imdiately cracked with a splintering sound, as if it would crumble.
Not only the yacht the alligators were on but the entire floating base shook as if an earthquake had occurred.
“Ah!”
Caught in the shaking, Sadie nearly fell over, but Aiden swiftly grabbed her.
Sadie had already taken out her pistol at so point.
However, Aiden made her put it away and instead pointed to a handrail on the yacht.
“Hold onto this tightly. Those 9mm rounds won’t be effective against them. That caliber lacks the penetrating power needed.”
Sadie obediently nodded at Aiden’s words.
Standing beside her, Aiden aid his rifle at the head of one of the three alligators.
Bang! Bang!
anwhile, the alligators continued slamming the yacht Arian was standing on with their tails.
Each ti, the floating base shook violently.
An ordinary person would have been thrown off by such shaking long ago.
Yet Arian was calmly watching for an opportunity to strike, standing steadily on the rooftop in an almost unbelievable manner.
“Tsk...”
At the intense rocking, Aiden clicked his tongue briefly.
Only now did Aiden seem to understand the reason for the bullet marks scattered around this area.
The owners of this floating base had likely intended to climb onto the yacht rooftops and retaliate, but due to this violent motion, they must have all fallen off, unable to aim their guns properly.
And Aiden was no exception to that.
Even for him, it was impossible to shoot perfectly amid such swaying movents, as if dancing on the water’s surface.
So he changed his approach.
Switching his rifle from single-shot to full-auto, he unleashed a hail of bullets towards the most exposed alligator.
“Grooaarr!”
Unable to aim for the head amid the shaking ground and recoil, the steel shower still tore through the massive alligator’s body, shredding it to pieces.
The alligator that had received a barrage of bullets all over its body turned its gaze away.
It had spotted Aiden and Sadie standing on the opposite yacht, identifying new prey.
Shifting its focus from Arian, the alligator charged towards them with ferocious steps.
Thump! Thump!
An astonishingly swift movent for its massive size.
And Aiden also moved towards the charging alligator.
Leaping over the shallow railing of the yacht, Aiden took aim at the alligator’s front.
Click!
Having already reloaded a new magazine, he stood with his back against the wall, facing the alligator just a few ters away, with only a small boat separating them from the rampaging beast.
Bang!
The floating base continued to violently shake due to the other two alligators still rampaging.
Aiden maintained his balance by pressing against the wall, but aiming accurately was still ineffective.
However...
“Grrr-“
When the alligator approached right in front of Aiden’s nose, it was a different story.
No matter how much the ground shook, he could easily hit the alligator’s head from just 2 or 3 ters away.
Moreover, if the beast was charging straight at him with its mouth wide open, and Aiden poured bullets into it without restraint, even a monstrous alligator wouldn’t be able to endure it.
Rata-tat-tat-tat!
With that judgnt, Aiden firmly braced his rifle and opened fire on the alligator lunging towards him.
Even before the beast could reach Aiden, the magazine was emptied, with dozens of bullets tearing into its mouth and shredding its brain – a sight clearly visible to Aiden’s eyes.
However, he couldn’t avoid the alligator’s body that had already been thrown forward.
Crunch!
The massive alligator’s bulk crushed Aiden.
An impact that would have broken multiple bones for a human, but Aiden simply clicked his tongue and barely managed to push off the alligator’s body before standing upright again.
Imdiately reloading a new magazine, Aiden looked towards Arian to provide support.
“Over there!”
At that mont, Arian was slicing off the entire upper jaw of one of the alligators.
Her following strike brutally cleaved the head of the beast, now unable to bite its prey.
Only one zombie alligator remained.
“Grooooar...!”
Indeed, it seed to have a good head on its shoulders.
Instantly recognizing its disadvantage, the alligator tried to retreat.
The sa alligator that had been vigorously shaking the floating base just monts ago swiftly turned to flee the way it had co.
But it would never set foot in the water again.
Arian’s crimson sword strike ca flying towards the back of its head, while Aiden’s gunfire rained down on the path it was trying to escape.
With its front and back blocked off, the alligator was pierced by bullets and had its head shattered before finally falling silent.
“Whew...”
Arian let out a sigh, as if everything had been taken care of, and shook her machete once.
In the anti, Aiden checked on Sadie.
The child was unhard.
However, Sadie seed concerned about Aiden, who had been crushed by the alligator.
Aiden nodded, indicating he was fine.
“But then... does this an the request is completed?”
“Of course.”
Arian asked, and Aiden answered.
The request was to find the base of those who had annihilated this place, and since the alligators’ base was this very lake, the request had been perfectly fulfilled.
“Now we just need to take so evidence back.”
Aiden spoke while looking at the cleanly severed head of a zombie alligator.
At this, Arian’s brow furrowed slightly.
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