Absolute Gate

Chapter 18 Speed ​​of Life and Death

Can an ordinary person pass through a horde of zombies that is as large as a human?

There are at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, zombies!

We just had a brief exchange. The zombies are very powerful; they're not the goofy, sloth-like zombies from the movies.

Instead, they are abnormally flexible, with movement abilities not much different from those of a living person.

Unafraid of pain, fearless of death, possessing both sight and hearing.

Wu Zhong swallowed hard, gripped the gun, and checked the magazine; there were only fifteen rounds left…

What good is this?!

Even if he were to kill one zombie per shot, he would only kill a maximum of fifteen.

He took out his military knife again, brandished it a couple of times, and thought to himself, "I have to rely on this thing to kill a thousand crazy zombies who want to kill me?"

Wu Zhong knew this was impossible. He pondered that Endless Summer had originally planned to have Ghost Chicken Gizzard take him there.

With the chicken gizzards around, the threat from the zombies was no problem at all, and they were enough to protect him.

But no one expected that Gu Yue would catch up and use the strange object to exchange one chicken gizzard for another.

Now, he can only rely on himself.

"What should I do? What should I do?"

Wu paced back and forth in the observation room, pondering a solution.

But there are no usable tools here, so after thinking it over, I still have to ask Gu Yue for help.

Right now, a human and a ghost are still arguing about this mess at the gate.

The air around Gu Yue solidified, causing zombies to shun her, and she would occasionally unleash green sword energy, which would cause the zombies to fly in blood and gore.

This in itself is a powerful weapon.

"I'll throw the mess across the way, and he'll definitely fight his way through the zombie horde to find it."

"Why don't I just follow them?"

Wu Zhong murmured, knowing that this was somewhat risky, but still very feasible, mainly because Gu Yue's energy had a huge effect on zombies.

"Clear the zombies at the door first."

He pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and hurriedly slipped it through the crack in the door.

Then he hurriedly rushed to the corner of the observation room, lay down on the ground, and covered his ears.

"Boom!" An explosion rang out.

Wu stood up blankly, thinking that the commotion was a bit too quiet.

Then, his mouth involuntarily curled into a smile: "Hehe...hehehe? Hahaha? Hahahahaha!"

He laughed, he laughed wildly, he laughed hysterically!
But his eyes were glazed over, and he seemed confused.

"Huh? Hahaha, why am I laughing?"

"Oh ho ho ho... I can't hold it in! I really can't hold it in!"

Wu laughed so hard he was doubled over, tears streaming down his face. He just couldn't stop laughing.

He was in great pain; it was so painful.

But he just kept laughing, no matter how hard he tried to control himself, he couldn't, it was like he had some kind of mental disorder.

Laugh until he cries, laugh until he's breathless!

"Uh hehe, I can't breathe... Oh ho ho ho... cough cough... Oh ho ho ho..."

He was on the verge of a breakdown, laughing so hard his stomach hurt while leaning against the wall.

What's even more terrifying is that the zombies outside are laughing too!

A row of dead heads emitted a strange sound: "Gah gah gah..."

"Jie Jie Jie!"

The zombies outside the door that were blown up by the grenade were not dead. The grenade was very weak, about the same as a stun grenade.

But the effect of this forced laughter is far more terrifying than a stun grenade.

Even zombies can't be avoided!

What's it like to have a group of zombies crowding outside a door, their heads stuck in the crack, laughing maniacally at people? It's a truly terrifying scene.

Wu Zhong laughed so hard he almost vomited, tears streaming down his face.

It's over, it's over!

Wu Zhong was plunged into despair: "How could this be... this grenade is also a catastrophic object?"

"Damn it, it looks just like a regular hand grenade."

"Are you crazy?! You carry something like this around as a weapon?"

Wu Zhong cursed inwardly, he really didn't expect that the grenade on Gu Yue's body would be such a weird thing!

No wonder, it was just a feint; they didn't actually throw the grenade. The impact area would have been huge. In that confined terrain, and fighting the Ghost, using that grenade could have easily backfired.

"It's over... I'm corrupted... Forced laughter? I'm going to laugh myself to death... Trapped in endless laughter, suffering endless torment?"

He thought of the eternally thirsty plum, and of the unsolvable tangled mess.

He knew how terrible these things were, and the more he knew, the more terrified he became.

The absolute characteristics of eternity, unsolvability, and despair.

Now he's caught it too, he'll laugh himself to death!

"No...no...I'm infected, so should I commit suicide?"

Wu Zhong felt suffocated and began to have wild thoughts. He laughed until tears streamed down his face, coughed and convulsed, but he still kept laughing, unable to stop.

He picked up the gun, trembling, and pointed it at himself... If he had to laugh himself to death like this, he'd rather end it all quickly.

Just like those who are perpetually thirsty, they eventually chose suicide.

"Hahaha...hahaha! I really brought this on myself. One shot should have been easy, right..."

Wu finally decided to shoot himself, but hesitated to pull the trigger.

He was unwilling and reluctant to give up.

After I died, my grandfather lay in his hospital bed, and from then on, there was no one in the world who remembered him.

Suddenly, it felt like his head was about to explode.

"I can't die... I can't die... Living is more important than anything else."

Wu forced himself to calm down. He was also someone who had experienced life and death, and since his narrow escape yesterday, he had cherished his life very much.

"This effect is not necessarily unsolvable."

“The 985 unit used them as weapons. Gu Yue had four on him. How could it be unsolvable? They must have a way to crack them! The antidote might even be on him.”

"Yes, that must be it."

Wu finally calmed down, stood up laughing, and after a moment of thought, a flash of inspiration struck him.

Suddenly, another grenade was detonated!
This time, he threw it at his feet: "Bang!"

The grenade was indeed very weak; he just waved it around and then stopped laughing.

"Alright? I'm alright!"

"Really... one more explosion will do?"

Wu Zhong gasped for breath, touched his mouth, and then was overjoyed.

"As expected, I was right. This kind of grenade has an area-of-effect effect and can easily hurt yourself."

"Since the members of Unit 985 are equipped with it, they must also carry the antidote with them at all times."

"Gu Yue had nothing on him except a gun, a knife, and four grenades... so I decided to give it a try..."

"Anyway, I got bombed once and infected, so I didn't mind getting infected again. I didn't expect it to actually happen."

Wu Zhong licked his lips, never expecting that he would personally break the strange effects of the calamity object.

One explosion forces laughter; another explosion cancels it, reversing the effect.

It sounds simple, but this bizarre line of thinking defies common sense! It's utterly inexplicable.

To even think of such a thing, and to have the courage to put it into action...

Afterwards, Wu still felt it was unbelievable: How could I have dared to do that?

Of course, this grenade is a weapon that has already been equipped by Unit 985, and cannot be compared with hidden dangerous items such as the "Eternal Thirst Plum" and "Unsolvable Troubles".

But he was, after all, an ordinary person who had never been exposed to such things before.

The first time I was infected, I almost committed suicide because of the torment and panic.

Fortunately, I eventually overcame my fear, calmed down, and even found a solution with a clear mind.

At the critical moment of life and death, his mind was exceptionally clear and calm, and he suddenly had a breakthrough.

This feeling was unparalleled, like he had discovered a secret; he even felt a little secretly pleased...

"Bang bang bang bang!"

After a brief rest, Wu raised his gun and aimed it at the heads of the zombies wedged in the door crack, blowing them up one by one!
After killing the zombie at the door, he pushed the door open and went out, knife in hand.

The oncoming zombies roared, and he growled, mercilessly cleaving their heads open with a single, vertical strike, splattering dirty blood everywhere.

The knife is light, sharp, and made of a unique material.

This was the best knife he had ever touched in his life; chopping off a head was as easy as splitting a watermelon!
"What a fine knife! It's truly a fine knife!"

Wu Zhong gripped the knife with both hands and calmly slashed. Thanks to the sharpness of the military knife, he kicked and slashed, killing more than a dozen zombies!
Even so, his arms began to ache and swell.

No matter how sharp the saber is, he has to chop with all his might and with a high degree of concentration.

This is completely different from the 'nuclear-powered protagonist' in the games he's played; it consumes a lot of physical strength.

"Hiss!" "Hohohoho!"

More zombies started running, like cats smelling blood, and pounced on Wu Zhong.

They were incredibly fast, like adults running at full speed, and their combined charge was terrifying!
Wu Zhong looked back at the already torn gate, knowing that turning back was useless, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and run forward.

As for his thoughts, he was thinking about the past three years of working like crazy.

What's the most agonizing thing for him? For him, it's going to work. There are just too many trivial matters and too much pressure; he's almost driven himself crazy.

I don't have time to sleep every day, and my head is always buzzing when I wake up in the morning.

Those unbearable days, he still feels resentful when he recalls them now.

"Pfft!"

He gritted his teeth and charged forward, passing Ghost and Gu Yue, when he suddenly pulled out the tangled hemp and threw it forcefully to the other side.

"Pfft, pfft!"

"Ugh!"

With a swift swipe of its claws, the chicken gizzard left a deep, bloody gash on Wu Zhong's arm, causing him to scream in agony.

"You ghost..."

Wu Zhong had been careful enough, but with the human and the ghost violently unraveling the mess, he still got caught in the crossfire when he tried to snatch food from the tiger's mouth.

My entire right arm suddenly became impossible to lift; it hurt so much!

The injury is deep and penetrates to the bone!

On the contrary, Gu Yue's influence was strange. The green sword energy that overflowed onto him did not harm him. Instead, it stopped the bleeding and healed his wounds.

"That was easy, Brother Gu Yue!" Wu Zhong exclaimed in delight.

The green energy of the ancient moon is lethal to ghosts and zombies, but it has a healing effect on living flesh and blood.

This gave Wu Zhong even more confidence.

After the tangled mess was thrown away, the ghost took to the air and flew over the horde of zombies.

Gu Yue, meanwhile, ran across the ground, carving a bloody path through the chaos with his blades.

Wu Zhong also had his military knife in hand, and followed along eagerly, only needing to deal with a few big and small cats.

However, the good times didn't last long!

Gu Yue is running too fast. Her running speed is probably close to the 7-second barrier for 100 meters.

He moved with incredible speed, and even Wu Zhong, at full speed, couldn't keep up.

As a result, the battle line was stretched out, and the number of zombies surrounding him increased, becoming more and more crowded.

"Depend on!"

Wu Zhong wished he had two more legs; his eyes were bloodshot, and he was in a life-or-death situation.

Unfortunately, these zombies are just as agile as living people!

With so many people crowding in, even with Gu Yue clearing a path, he still managed to get caught despite his valiant charge!

"Uh! What?!"

Caught off guard, blood streamed down his back, a fresh scratch left by a zombie.

Wu Zhong's face turned pale instantly: I was scratched by a zombie! I was scratched by a zombie! I was scratched by a zombie!

"No! I haven't been infected with the corpse virus, have I?"

Wu Zhong was sweating profusely. He charged out of the zombie horde with his saber whirling around, still not daring to stop.

Because there were swarms of zombies chasing after us!

Gu Yue and You Ling stopped to continue their struggle over the tangled mess, while Wu Zhong, disregarding everything else, ran alone to the entrance of the food pipe and crawled inside.

"Boom boom boom!"

He crawled quickly through the pipes, his hands and feet scraped raw, but he dared not waste any time, because there were still zombies crawling in and chasing after him!
"Roar! Roar! Roar! Caw caw caw..."

“There’s no road ahead!”

Not far along, Wu Zhong finished climbing the horizontal passage and looked up to find a path above.

The pipe's inner wall was smooth, and it converged at an acute angle upwards. He tried to climb it, but there was no foothold, and he slid down immediately.

"Grass!"

Wu finally realized that the pipe wall was not designed for people to climb, but also to prevent zombies from climbing up, so it narrowed upwards and was exceptionally smooth.

Endless Summer specifically sent Ghosts to assist him in dealing with this situation, as she instructed him to take this route.

The original plan was for the ghost gizzard to grab him and fly up!
"Oh no! What do we do now?"

Wu Zhong leaned against the pipe wall, looking back at the path he had come from, where zombies swarmed in and filled the pipes... He had no way back!

Even though my arm was healed, it still hurts because of the injury.

His hand, which was wielding the knife, was so heavy that he could no longer cut.

"Bang bang bang!"

His mind raced as he crouched down and fired a burst of shots.

In such a confined space, every shot resulted in a headshot.

After all, the zombies were crawling over, their heads facing him, and they were piled on top of each other, so at a glance they were almost all heads and arms.

However, precisely because the pipes are narrow, the zombies crowd in, and even if he kills a zombie, the subsequent zombies will push the body forward.

The distance between him and the zombies was getting smaller and smaller.

If this continues, he will eventually be completely squeezed into the pipe, surrounded by zombies...

Unable to move, and being devoured by zombies crawling all over him, he was certain to die.

"How to do how to do?"

He watched helplessly as the zombies advanced like a wall of flesh, closing in step by step, making the space smaller and smaller.

Death was imminent, and he could rely on no one.

The only way forward is to rely on ourselves, but what can we do? We can only weld doors.

"Door...door...right, door, is there a door here?"

"There should be a gate in the pipe, right?"

He looked around, but there was nothing there! Not a door! Not even a door!
"Ugh, there's no way!"

"Qiang Qiang Qiang!"

He was breathing heavily, covered in sweat, and frantically stabbing the pipe wall with his military knife.

Sure enough, the military knife was exceptionally sharp, and it actually pierced deeply into the steel pipe wall.

He exerted force again, and the tip of the knife suddenly felt lighter, and it actually pierced through!
"what?"

Its hardness and sharpness make it a truly exceptional sword.

Wu Zhong's eyes flickered, he calmed down, and as if thinking of something, he suddenly used his military knife to stab and chop at the iron wall with all his might.

He moved with lightning speed, racing against time. The tunnel clattered as zombies swarmed in from the other end, pushing forward like a wall of flesh.

"Quick! Quick! Quick!"

Wu Zhong's muscles ached and his wounds were bleeding, but he dared not stop. Instead, he frantically forced himself to speed up his movements.

The military knife was hard and sharp, cutting through steel as easily as chopping meat, and he quickly chiseled a C-shaped notch in it.

He pried hard, and the torn iron wall bent, prying up an irregularly shaped round iron plate.

The pipe was torn open, but there was a wall on the outside; this passage was sealed inside reinforced concrete.

"Hold on! Hold on!"

Wu finally realized he couldn't get out, so he slammed his shoulder against the metal sheet and pushed with all his might.

"Hohohoho... crunch crunch!"

The zombies had already advanced, with more than a dozen arms grabbing Wu Zhong and several mouths biting his shoulders, hands, and feet.

"Aaaaah!" Wu Zhong's eyes were bloodshot, and he refused to let go.

He hardened his heart and, despite being bitten and scratched by the zombies, he still pushed the metal plate.

The iron plate was very thick, being the inner wall of the pipe, but with all his might, he managed to bend it like sheet metal and block it inside the pipe.

It's like a gate blocking the pipe.

It didn't completely block out the zombies, only about 70-80%, but that was enough. The gaps at the edges weren't big enough for the zombies to crawl over; they could only reach out and grab them.

Wu Zhong drew his gun and shot the zombie that was biting him in the head.

He then retreated, his body mangled and bloodied, leaning against the pipe wall, watching the countless zombies two meters away blocked by a small piece of bent sheet metal.

He succeeded, cutting a piece of iron from the passage and bending it into a fence-like shape.

It instantly became an unshakeable barrier, blocking the zombies' advance.

From the gaps at the edges, countless zombie hands and feet squeezed out, their flesh trampled and crushed.

The small, dimly lit space was filled with an unbearable odor.

Wu Zhong curled up in the corner, groaning in pain as his muscles relaxed.

However, he smiled.

"Hey hey hey hey..."

His brain was in a state of extreme excitement, and the feeling of having to live no matter what was addictive.

……

　P.S.: Sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)