Chapter 196: Raging Tide
Zhang Xiao Qiang understood a few points, all of the weapons laid out in front of him were the Citizen army weapons kept by the various county armory. These weapons were stored and prepared to be destroyed but for some reason, they were left forgotten and kept in the corner to collect dust, until Zhang Xiao Qiang found them.
The guns inside other wooden crates were Type-53 Rifles, some Type-53 rotary machine guns, and equal numbers of new and old Type-56 automatic and sub-AKs. It might have been because they were stored in wooden crates, their preservation was better than the weapons laid outside. Looking at the mass of crates piled together, Zhang Xiao Qiang reckoned that the number of weapons was sufficient to equip a few thousand people.
A few buff men continued to transport the heavy weapons eyed by Zhang Xiao Qiang out while two sets of Type-92 Battalion Guns sat in the middle of the room. Zhang Xiao Qiang used the Beats Horn Spear and poked at the steel door of the ammunition dump. As pieces started to fall, he reached the last lock.
“DADADA….” A series of gunshots sounded out in the distance…..Ignoring the last lock, Zhang Xiao Qiang turned and ran out towards the door with Shangguan Qiao Yun following behind closely. Guo Fei wielded his blade and followed silently with the other members holding onto their rifles and catching up from behind.
They got closer to the gunshots. Upon exiting the steel doors, Zhang Xiao Qiang saw Three and his men running towards him while firing behind them. Those ahead provided cover fire for the ones behind to catch up. Zhang Xiao Qiang sensed that something was wrong, Three had left with 10 men but only 8 came back, whereas the other two had not revealed themselves.
Three and his men ran and fired shots while the Combat Team Members behind Zhang Xiao Qiang inspected their guns and loaded them and provided assistance. Zhang Xiao Qiang took a Type-81AR from Wang Chong, retrieved out a magazine and loaded it, pulled on the gun bolt, opened the safety and went up to help as well.
Zhang Xiao Qiang did not see the other two elite members appear, but things covered entirely in red prowling on the ground gushed towards Three and his team like a raging tide. Their bullets flew into the red tide causing spurts of blood to appear, but the red tide was not affected at all and continued to surge towards Three and his team.
“DADADA….” The Type-81 AR in Zhang Xiao Qiang’s hands unleashed bullets.
“PA PA PA…” Behind him, the rifles started opening fire, countless of bullets all aimed straight at the red thing and caused a lot of blood to fall, but did not even stop the thing for a second.
Three ran over as he gasped for breath, but did not even reveal a bit of joy upon seeing Zhang Xiao Qiang and the rest. “Run, run now…” Three shouted loudly and cut short Zhang Xiao Qiang’s attempt to question him.
Without saying a word, Zhang Xiao Qiang turned and run. This time, all the Combat Team members who were behind him ran in front of him. Zhang Xiao Qiang heard the fear in Three’s caution. Adding his witness to the unstoppable red tide, he made it a priority to return to the armory for protection.
The members of the first combat team were already rushing into the steel doors. Zhang Xiao Qiang lowered his head and ran with his arms moving widely, the Type-81 AR sling moving incessantly along with him. Right as he was about to run through the steel doors….
“AHHHH”
A scream came out from behind him. Zhang Xiao Qiang turned to look.
A few animals that were as big as an average cat had landed on an elite member who was at the rear and bit his cheek. Suddenly, a few more shot forward like arrows unleashed from bows and landed on his body. Upon clinging onto him, they never let go and kept on biting on him.
This member tried to shrug the animals away but no matter how he tried, they were stuck onto him. A few more of these red animals flew up and grabbed onto his shoulders and thighs. Ultimately, he fell. He struggled and rolled on the ground endlessly, managed to pull out the QSZ-92 Pistol from his thigh and shot at one of the animals on his chest.
BANG. BANG.
After two shots, blood spewed out from the animal, but it never let go. After 7 shots, the red tide had drowned him.
The heavy steel doors released an ear-piercing screech from the friction as it was closed. A solid steel bar was inserted into grooves in the two doors as a door bolt which prevented them from opening. Everyone gasped for breath, “Run…..continue running….up to the watchtower…” Zhang Xiao Qiang shouted out loud, he knew that the things would enter one way or another and the perimeter wall was still not safe.
Hearing his command, everyone continued to run towards the watchtower. Everyone kept moving except for Guo Fei, who stood behind the doors with his blade and his head tilted upwards, looking at the sky as he waited. Zhang Xiao Qiang glanced at him but did not say a word, and brought Shangguan Qiao Yun towards the watchtower.
One, two….a pack, more and more completely red animals the size of cats shot over the walls. Two cats dropped behind the door from the left and right. Right when their bodies were coincidentally aligned in midair, a cold blade swept past their bodies.
Their bodies instantly split into four pieces and dropped to the ground. Guo Fei leaped upwards and with a slash down, an animal that was flying to him was cut into half from head to tail. Without pulling back his blade, he extended it straight and beheaded one that was pouncing towards his right waist. When he slashed down, two corpses dropped to the ground.
Another five landed on the ground in front of him and pounced towards him, two at his right thigh, two at his torso and another one at his face. The five completely red creatures seemed to have sealed all of his escape routes, and in the blink of the eye, they were already on him.
Guo Fei jumped and landed on the steel bolt, borrowing the momentum of the jump, he did a flip in midair and dodged the five creatures. Following his turn in mid air, he swung his blade and immediately sliced two of them in half.
As he landed on the ground, his right leg slipped half a step, his blade suddenly extended out while he spun his body to the back. In that moment, two of the creatures that had jumped up the steel door and were following closely behind him were cut into four pieces. The remaining creature dodged his blade and pounced towards his face. He flicked his sleeve which contained a small blade that slide downwards to his palm. He looked as though he was swinging his right arm wildly, but a small blade had penetrated into the creature’s body, causing it to fall backwards.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw two more creatures pouncing straight towards him. These two creatures did not jump into the air but stuck to the ground and ran at him. When one of them was before his feet and was about to jump, a foot trampled onto its small triangular head.
“PA!”
It’s head exploded from Guo Fei’s heavy stomp. The two peanut-sized eyes dropped to the ground and rolled away, but the other one appeared by his side, jumped onto the steel door and pounced at his back.
Guo Fei could feel the animal biting at his clothes. With all of his might, he smashed his back against the steel door.
“SQUEAK SQUEAK….”
The animal on his back shrieked in pain but did not die. He changed the position of his blade and aimed it to his back, then leaned against the steel door. The blade severed the animal and it felt as though a water balloon was broken on his back as a warm liquid slowly pervaded through his clothes. He removed himself from the wall, dropping the animal’s lower half onto the ground while its upper half still remained clinging onto his back.
Zhang Xiao Qiang led some members to block off the watchtower entrance while Three led his men to swap for the Type-81 ARs and stand guard at the top. Zhang Xiao Qiang took out his Jing Wei Blade and the Beast Horn Spear as precaution. When the animals jumped in, Zhang Xiao Qiang finally took a good look at them. They were extremely familiar, no matter how he looked at them, they simply resembled mice. Although they were as big as cats, they were much more similar to rats. One of the rats spun a few times on the ground, upon seeing Zhang Xiao Qiang at the entrance, it jumped up, revealing its large incisors as it aimed at his throat.