Chapter 32—It’s raining zombies, hallelujah!

by Bocchan13

The sound of zombies echoed even louder after the hole had been made. Yu Ci easily went through, trying to see if the coast was clear. The only problem was that the wall they hit through was directly in front of a cliff. There were several overhangs, but getting out was going to be tricky.

“Lu Jingxiu, we need your help! Can you make an ice bridge or ladder? We have to climb.” Lu Jingxiu had been the one hardest at work, but his tiredness was nothing in the face of danger. He ran to the back and surveyed the overhang as well before deciding to make a ladder.

Touching the rocks, the ice created frost on the surface as it traveled upwards and made a somewhat wonky ladder, embedding itself on the rocks every so often. It reached the top of the cliff after 10 meters.

“Yu Ci, you’re the heaviest. Pave the way.” Yu Ci didn’t hesitate as he got out from the hole and started climbing. Lan Zhou was still in the front, blazing away, the ice wall melting at a fast speed.

“Next is Wang Cheng!” Wang Cheng ran and also didn’t hesitate to climb out. Song Yu observed their teamwork and had to applaud how much they all trusted each other.

“Come on, Xiao Zi. You’re next.” Xiao Zi scurried out, going slower than the others. As a passive ability user, they had no ways to protect themselves, especially for someone like Xiao Zi who was a healer. Lu Jingxiu watched carefully as he gingerly climbed up.

Turning towards Song Yu, Lu Jingxiu motioned to the hole.

“Next is you. Don’t worry; Lan Zhou will be right behind you.”

Did I say I was worried?

Song Yu was quick to get out of the hole, his cloak floating in the breeze. The ice ladder was extremely cold. If someone was holding it bare handed, it might tear the skin. Fortunately, everyone in the zombie apocalypse wore gloves. The cold still penetrated his palms as he climbed up.

He heard a roar. Looking up, his eyes widened when he saw a zombie in the trees. Unlike normal zombies…the milky white eyes held a tinge of orange and red. Level…7?

“In the trees!”

The zombie looked extremely deformed. As if infused with a toad, its skin had warts covering its patchy green skin, the teeth razor sharp. Long hair of a woman was clumped like seaweed on its head, while its body looked spindly and thin.

The level 7 zombie roared, the ladder shaking from the aftershock. Song Yu’s body shook as well and saw that the ice ladder wasn’t stable anymore. Xiao Zi was only a few meters above him. Yu Ci and Wang Cheng had already made it to the top and saw the zombie.

Yu Ci barreled towards the tree the zombie was in, but it was no use. It was faster than him. It jumped; its skinny body landing directly on the surface of the ladder top. Crystallized ice broke on impact, its shattering noise a cacophony of sound. Song Yu could only watch in horror as Xiao Zi fell, his body coming towards him.

An instinct he thought he never had, his hand outstretched, the body hitting him hard. He hissed in pain as his arms exerted extreme strength, the body’s backpack and weapons hurting every part of his body. He couldn’t let go, but hold on for dear life.

His foothold loosened, his hand stretched to his thighs, taking out the dagger. The ice ladder disintegrated into light. Song Yu and Xiao Zi was falling. He could not see the mountain face as his cloak flew up in his face. He could only try to cut his dagger into the rock. Blood oozed from his struggling, and finally, the metal met rock.

“Xiao Zi! Song Yu!”

Song Yu had one arm holding the dagger while the other one was holding Xiao Zi. Xiao Zi was otherwise unharmed, so he grabbed onto Song Yu’s hand tighter, using his upper body strength to put more pressure off Song Yu’s arm.

“Thank you!” Song Yu gritted his teeth as his dagger slipped a little bit lower. They had fallen only 10 meters from the hole. Lu Jingxiu was looking ashen, his breath heaving seeing Xiao Zi dangling. Lan Zhou was on the side of the hole, his hands embedded in a crack.

“Look out!”

The zombie was crawling on the surface of the rock. Like it knew who was the most vulnerable and potential snack, it looked like a spider as it scurried towards them. Xiao Zi seeing this hooked his leg on a random rock, feeling for a crack. Seeing it, he abruptly let go of Song Yu. Song Yu watched in amazement as Xiao Zi used his knees to anchor himself between two rock sides, creating a knee bar, and shaking his hands to let more blood flow through.

“Free harness rock climbing and bouldering champ, under 20 division. I still got it!”

How convenient.

With the weight off him, Song Yu pulled himself until he was eye level to his dagger. Using his upper body strength, he used his free hand to get another dagger from his space. A shorter but sharper dagger was now in his hand. He stretched and dug the dagger deep into a rock crack.

Great. He could climb.

The zombie was coming closer and closer to them, the hair swaying chaotically. Song Yu really wanted to shoot it in the face. Lan Zhou was also climbing in their direction, his speed much faster than Song Yu’s. Song Yu could see that Lan Zhou had experience as well. When the zombie was less than 5 meters away, Song Yu emitted a blue light on his palm. Letting go of one dagger, his spatial blade flew in the direction.

Sensing the wind pressure, the zombie sidestepped until they were parallel on the rock face, the gruesome rattles of its bones emitting an eerie sound…The zombie gazed at him, before going past him and climbing towards Xiao Zi.

 “Xiao Zi!”

Lu Jingxiu created a large ice block between the zombie and Xiao Zi. Song Yu understood that Xiao Zi was injured somewhere and had the most bloody scent. But he too had scraped his palms on the rocks…was Xiao Zi just a more desirable food?

Song Yu continued to slice at the zombie, while Lan Zhou climbed down next to him.

“You okay? You’re bleeding.”

Lan Zhou tightly anchored a harness around him, letting his hands rest for a bit. Song Yu nodded,

“No big deal. It’s Xiao Zi, I think he’s injured.”

Just to be sure, Lan Zhou did a quick sweep over Song Yu’s injuries. Other than scrapes on his arms from the fall, there wasn’t anything else wrong with him. Taking advantage of the situation, Lan Zhou stooped down and kissed his forehead.

“Plf! What the hell?” Song Yu’s was flabbergasted that he had his tofu eaten! Lan Zhou chuckled lightly and swept the hood off his head, letting the wind carry his black curls.

“Just testing your reflexes. Don’t worry, you passed.”

Lan Zhou didn’t say anymore and continued to climb down to Xiao Zi’s location; the zombie was trying to dodge from the barrage of ice attacks. It screamed louder, trying to find zombies to go under its control.

All too soon, there was a cacophony of moans and roars. The hoard that had penetrated the cave had now bypassed the final barrier and spilled out of the hole. Zombies seemed to be raining as they fell. Some hit the rocks and plummeted around Song Yu, whilst some of their inertia flew down past everyone into the trees.

The cliff was more than 50 meters tall; it would instantly squish the body on impact. A zombie was hitting all of the bumps on the rock, its trajectory reaching Song Yu.

Song Yu used his spatial blade and immediately sliced the zombie directly in half, its blood splashing on the rocks.

He saw that the level 7 zombie was almost swept in the fall and could only retreat. His eyes looked straight at the zombies, its piercing intelligence more than Song Yu had ever seen. The zombie retreated, its body climbing away into the sides where there were tree branches and vines.

Lan Zhou and Xiao Zi were lower, but the cliff was more diagonal in that area. All of the zombie bodies congregated there, their bodies ripping apart on the rocks, cannon balls of flesh barreling through everything.

Song Yu could only watch in horror as Lan Zhou and Xiao Zi lose their grip and tumble with the zombies, down the cliff.

“Lan Zhou!!”