Chapter 434 Heading to the Cavern
The big shots in charge of the main factions weren't idiots; they knew they were not up against brainless zombies this time.
But even though they got what was going on, they were spread way too thin.
Just dealing with the daily zombie attacks already ate up a ton of their resources.
Sending some of their best troops to check out the zombies' lair, especially with the high risk involved, would be a nightmare if their main base got hit while they were gone.
So, even though Sebastian and Leonard knew this wasn't a long-term fix, they were not about to send troops out on a whim.
But Megan got guts.
She'd always been fiery and fearless in battle.
Back when she was with the Starlight City Police Department, her boldness, plus her dad being a big shot, helped her climb the ranks.
"We can't just sit here and wait to die. If this keeps up, in less than a month, we'll have to ditch the refinery and go underground to dodge the zombie hordes."
Megan sat on a steel pipe, covered in blood.
They'd just fought off a wave of zombies, thanks to her badass Inferno Forge ability and the massive energy reserves at Emberwick Base, letting them handle the zombies faster than the other factions.
But the constant attacks and the increasingly smart zombies had her and Steven on edge.
She was scared the zombies would get even smarter and one day they'd be totally screwed.
By then, even hiding underground might not save them from getting wiped out.
Byron walked over, his white combat suit also soaked in blood.
But he still stood tall and gave Megan a crisp military salute.
"Ms. Grayson, all the zombies are cleared. Once burned, they're completely dead."
"But we lost 67 warriors and slaves," he added, lowering his voice.
Megan looked up at him, her fiery red eyes glowing intensely, a leftover from her power.
"We need to switch up our tactics! We can't keep playing defense."
Byron's eyes widened. "You mean... we should go after the zombies' lair?"
Megan nodded. "The zombies are clearly being controlled by someone. Could be a Psychic or some other smart being."
"Either way, we need to gather enough intel to figure out how to end this crisis for good."
Byron frowned. "But that's way too risky! We have no clue how big the zombie horde is. If we just rush in, we could get wiped out!"
"The other factions aren't doing great either. Maybe we should wait and see if they come up with a solution."
Megan scoffed. "Look at the size of this zombie horde! I doubt they're having an easy time, especially the Snowfall Cult. Those idiots gathered over ten thousand people, basically serving themselves up as zombie snacks!"
"We can't count on anyone else; they'd be happy to see us gone! We have to handle this ourselves."
Byron couldn't argue with Megan's logic.
Relying on rival factions was clearly a bad idea.
Megan stood up. "It's settled! Have Lester take two Psychics and 30 elite warriors to thoroughly scout out the zombies' lair!"
Over at the Snowfall Cult, things were even more chaotic.
They had way too many followers, most of whom were just regular folks.
Sure, surviving this long in the apocalypse meant they had some survival skills, but their combat abilities were no match for the zombies.
They might not fear death, but they sure didn't want to die.
With that mindset, how could they possibly take down the undead monsters?
Even though Neil had everyone organized for defense, every zombie attack led to a bunch of followers getting devoured.
Slowly, dissatisfaction started brewing among the followers.
SG-FO found Neil and filled him in on some recent rumors.
"The number of followers who have died has already passed 1,000! Those infected could also mutate."
"This has seriously shaken the faith of the newcomers. If this keeps up, we're in trouble!"
Neil listened, his face a mask of calm.
With his hands behind his back, he said coolly, "It's fine, they're just grumbling and won't take any real action."
"In the next few days, have some of our people spread messages among the followers."
"Tell them that almost all the survivors outside have been killed by zombies."
"Without the Snowfall Cult's protection, they don't stand a chance to survive."
"Also, tell them that other factions are retreating from the zombie hordes, suffering even more casualties. They're on the brink of collapse!"
"Hmm... say that more than half of the people in other factions have already died!"
SG-FO's eyes lit up at Neil's plan.
"That's genius! If they think the outside world is just a bunch of corpses, they'll figure their life here isn't so bad. No more complaints about our Snowfall Cult!"
Neil glanced at him, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"They're still whining because they're not devoted enough to the Snowfall Cult."
"We need to ramp up their indoctrination, make them true believers."
"Then they'll get that joining the Snowfall Cult right now is something to be thankful for."
SG-FO clapped his hands, excited. "I'll get people on it right away."
Among the new followers, they had planted some old followers specifically to teach them the doctrines and brainwash them.
For a cult, this was a crucial step.
Meanwhile, Steven had gathered the strongest forces from the entire shelter and was ready to dive into the subway tunnels to find the mysterious zombie king.
Four people and a cat, all fully equiped with upgraded gear.
Each combat suit was a modified version by Aubrey.
The defense was top-notch, even able to withstand bullets from a small sniper rifle.
Zombie bites? Not even close to scratching it.
To prep for a long fight, each person also carried a ton of Supernatural ability food.
As for other supplies, no need to lug them around.
They were all stashed in Steven's extradimensional space, ready to grab whenever.
Having a teammate with spatial abilities was always handy.
The four people and one cat arrived at the entrance of Floral Springs Subway Station by vehicle.
Looking at the dark entrance, Steven went over the battle plan one more time before heading in.
"Remember what we're here for—kill the zombie king! As long as we find it, I'm 100% sure I can take it down!"
In the tight space of the underground tunnel, within 1000 feet, Martial Prowess could wreck everything.
"But all of this hinges on our safety. Don't get too caught up fighting the zombie horde; killing them is pointless."
Everyone nodded, showing they got it.
Then Steven grabbed a glow stick from his waist, popped the cap off, and tossed it into the tunnel entrance.
Soon, it hit the ground, lighting up the blood-stained floor.
"Henry, you go down first!" Steven said to Henry.
As the tank with the strongest defense on the team, it was safest for Henry to go down first.
Henry nodded and slid down the tunnel first.
A few seconds later, he landed and carefully checked the area.
Through his tactical goggles, he saw no signs of creatures and informed Steven via the comms, "It's clear down here, you can come down!"
Only then did Steven and the others slide down the tunnel.
After landing, they took a look around.
They hadn't reached the subway yet; this was just the entrance.
Using the night vision function of their tactical goggles, the underground scene was clear to everyone.
Even though they'd been through a lot, the sight still gave them the creeps:
The walls were smeared with dark bloodstains, with some organs stuck to them.
The ground was sticky, with torn organs and dark blood mixed with dirt, giving off a foul stench.
Luckily, their tactical helmets filtered out the nasty smell.
"Let's move!" Steven took a deep breath and said firmly.
Floral Springs was the terminal station; as long as they moved forward from here, they could find traces of the zombie horde.
The zombie king wasn't very smart yet and was still growing, so it wouldn't be hiding too deep and should be findable.
As they moved forward, the dark subway gradually revealed a bunch of broken bones.
Severed limbs, stripped of flesh, covered in dense bite marks—likely gnawed by zombies.
Walking through the bones, Earl said, "I'm curious, if they ate these bodies, why didn't they turn them into zombies too?"
Steven, holding a shotgun, cautiously scanned the surroundings and replied, "The zombies' instinct is just to eat, and infection is a passive ability. I think they were probably too hungry and ate more than usual. You can't expect a gnawed skeleton to mutate, can you?"
Earl said, "It seems they have a big appetite. Given their mode of action, they must need to eat a lot."
He suddenly asked curiously, "If there are more dead than living in Starlight City, say, ten million zombies, wouldn't they run out of things to eat?"
Steven paused, and Lily and Henry exchanged glances.
They hadn't thought about this before, as they were focused on their own territory.
Indeed, if the zombies couldn't get enough food, what would they do?
Would they spread out from Starlight City to other cities?
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