Long-term salvation

"People from the Ibris organization went to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. They have all three nuclear warheads! All three!"

Zakhaev quickly sold out the ally he'd been working with just hours before. He gasped, feeling the cold gradually sapping the life force from his facial muscles. Even if he survived, he'd still have half his face gone... Suppressing his resentment deep within, Zakhaev continued:

"There's no point in being hostile between us, just let me get out of here—Aaaaah!"

"What does the leader of the Ibris organization look like?"

Rhodes instinctively sensed that Zakhaev was hiding something, but he had no time to verify it. He calmly raised his gun and shot through Zakhaev's left arm, exposing the yellow-white bone stump at the break to the cold wind and causing blood to flow down.

"With this level of injury, you can only survive for a minute."

"Mask!!!! Silver mask!!!! I'm not hiding anything!!!"

Zakhaev let out the loudest scream of his life. He opened his eyes in pain, but only saw a face covered by a camouflage mask.

Reaching out to wipe off the snow that had fallen on his eye mask, Rhodes raised his gun, ready to end the life of the terrorist in front of him.

But at this moment—the earth shook!

The ground beneath Rhodes' feet cracked, and the rock layers flipped upward strangely, as if something was about to break out of the ground!

Everyone was shaking violently, and Rhodes heard Zakhaev's scream... His face was torn apart by the shaking, leaving only half of his ugly face on the armored vehicle.

Without any hesitation, Rhodes raised his gun and fired three shots at Zakhaev, but they only hit the frame of the jeep that suddenly rushed over and the heavy shoulder armor of the co-pilot soldier inside - it was Makarov, who drove a jeep with two heavily armored soldiers to rescue his leader!

The heavily armored soldier opened the car door, raised his machine gun and started firing at Rhodes. Coupled with the continued vibration and cracking of the rock formations, Rhodes had to throw a grenade and retreat temporarily.

Amid the explosion of the grenade, Rhodes rolled over several times and shouted loudly on the communication channel:

"Everyone, retreat from Pripyat! Retreat, retreat now!"

But at that moment, a louder buzzing sound permeated the entire world, causing Rhode to subconsciously look back. Both sides of the battle turned their heads, looking towards the direction of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

The sky was torn apart, and dark clouds flashing with arcs fell like a vortex, connecting with the cooling towers of the Chernobyl sarcophagus.

Snow is falling and a demonic tide is descending from the sky.

Chapter 317: The Call of Pripyat (16/20)

When the shock wave hit, a dull roar like cast iron breaking came from deep in the permafrost, as if it was a faint call from Pripyat.

Even now, after the earthquake has stopped, the breathing of concrete still rises and falls in the snow, low, slow but unstoppable - those constructivist-style buildings have slowly grown out of the cracks in the frozen soil, revealing angular outlines - the Soviet Palace-style spires pierce the leaden clouds, and the steel skeletons that appear from nowhere make a crisp sound like a harp string breaking.

Plants then began to grow out of the buildings, breaking through concrete walls and knocking out already shattered windows.

The plants of Pripyat had gained an unparalleled vitality, emerging from the cold winter with lush green leaves and blooming brilliant flowers. Life roamed freely in this place, enjoying the energy brought by the nuclear radiation and the chaos escaping from the opened rift.

Now, the inner world overflows, turning the disaster projection into the most real existence.

Now, the monsters that existed only in human imagination and nightmares have become the most real existence.

The humans who survived the mutation were now engaged in a firefight with the tidal wave of monsters. They shouted and screamed, firing their rifles non-stop at the supernatural beasts that resembled hairless wild dogs, and at the corpses that crawled out of the ground.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union, Ukraine... the corpses of humans once buried in this land crawled out one after another, holding the weapons they used in their lifetime, and attacked their descendants.

The desire for the flesh and blood of the living has long surpassed the connection of blood, and the hostility towards the fiery soul has long surpassed the span of time.

Listening to the faint sounds of gunfire and tank fire in the heavy snow, Rhodes stood on the top floor of a collapsed building with a gloomy face, looking at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant not far away.

"They performed the ritual too quickly. Apparently, all the soldiers who attempted to control the nuclear power plant are dead... or even worse," Rhodes muttered. Nikki took off her hood beside him, observing the worry and anger on his calm face. "I shouldn't have let the soldiers from the reconnaissance company through. The enemy's strength exceeded my expectations. I should have handled it personally. This is my mistake."

"The reconnaissance company has nearly 120 people, and they have the three BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles you donated as assistance, plus the armored vehicles they already have... If they can't even buy enough time, it's obviously not your fault. In fact—"

"It's easy for me to fall down if I go, right?" Rhodes said lightly.

Nikki said nothing.

"Get ready, D. We're going to hell," Rhodes exhaled slowly. He checked his weapons, ammunition, and remaining contamination points in the other world. "I'll contact Lieutenant Colonel Yaroslav Sichev first—Lieutenant Colonel?"

"...I'm here, Mr. Rhodes."

"Let your soldiers retreat. I will now try to reach the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and put an end to this crazy battle there."

Rhodes spoke quickly, but then he heard the lieutenant colonel's question in the communication channel:

"Will this phenomenon, this otherworldly disaster... spread like the nuclear power plant accident? Will those... monsters and reanimated corpses spread outward?"

"If I don't succeed, yes; if I succeed in preventing but not eradicating the disaster, yes."

"Understood. Then the 24th Independent Mechanized Infantry Regiment will gather the remaining troops and hold the position."

"The war for ordinary people is over, Lieutenant Colonel."

"After the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, the residents of Pripyat were evacuated to Slavutchi, less than fifty kilometers away, arguably the nearest large settlement. So, I repeat, the 24th Independent Mechanized Infantry Regiment will hold its position in the east to protect the human cities in that direction and to buy you time. Commander Yaroslav Sichev, over."

Since you are the savior, then save the world for me to see!

Putting down the speaker, Lieutenant Colonel Sichev turned his head to look at the staff officers of the regimental headquarters who were looking back at him. His chest rose and fell a few times, and he spoke slowly:

"After you gather the soldiers, you can leave with those who don't want to stay."

The staff looked at each other, shrugged, and then sat back in their seats and continued to work - of course they had to work! They had to convey the commander's words to the soldiers who had withdrawn, let the volunteers dig trenches and set up crossfire points, count the armored vehicles that could be put into battle, and treat and transfer wounded of different levels. All these things needed to be done by the staff and officers at all levels - look, so much work!

Agent Perseus next to him also fiddled with his rifle for a while, then carried it out of the regimental headquarters and joined the ranks of soldiers digging trenches and setting up machine guns.

In silence, the lieutenant colonel reached out and took out his PM (Makarov) pistol from its holster and placed it on top of the simple map. He calmly measured a distance with the barrel of the pistol and then drew a line with a pencil.

"Ask if the mortar position is still alive?!" The lieutenant colonel threw his pencil away and pounded his fist on the table, shaking off the fallen dirt and dirty snow. "Contact our tanks, armored vehicles and other vehicles to pick up all the soldiers in the city!"

The battle continued in the city. Even though communications were disrupted, officers and non-commissioned officers reacted instinctively. They gathered their men, formed resistance teams on the spot, and used fierce firepower to kill the monsters that were pouring in like a tide - until the order to retreat arrived.

The T-80BV main battle tank numbered 1945 crashed through a broken brick wall and knocked down trees that were still growing slowly. The crew members were lucky not to be injured in the battle, but what happened before their eyes was obviously beyond their expectations.

In other words, before they set out for the base, they had already encountered something surprising enough.

"But this is a bit too weird!" the driver said in a daze. He reached out and scratched the strap of the microphone at his throat. "Luckily, this street is still passable, otherwise we would be stuck in the gap like before."

"Thank goodness you're driving a T80 instead of a T72, comrade driver... Stop the car!"

The commander saw four soldiers from the same unit running across the street in the observation mirror. When they saw the tank, they showed surprise on their faces.

Petrenko, the third platoon leader of the third company of the first battalion, gasped for breath. He quickly ran to the side of the tank, knocked hard on the commander's hatch with the butt of his rifle, looked at the commander who came out and said:

"Retreat! The regimental headquarters' order—there's no damn original text! The company's signalman detonated a grenade while surrounded by dozens of corpses... If we don't leave now, we'll be next."

The commander looked at the bloodied platoon leader, nodded, and said:

"Have your men get in the vehicles and hold on tight. The tanks still have plenty of gas left. You're lucky."

But just as the tanks and several infantrymen were heading out of the city, more and more zombies and strange monsters were attracted by the sound of the gas turbines. There were so many of them that they almost blocked the streets!

The tanks opened fire, and the tremors and explosions almost made the exhausted soldiers behind them faint - when the high-explosive shells penetrated the wall formed by the zombies, the shock wave turned the snow in a radius of 20 meters into a circular snow wave, and the stinking flesh and blood fragments wrapped in ice crystals splashed out radially, and the broken bodies were thrown into the air by the air waves - but more corpses began to appear from other directions, they came fast or slow, like a rising tide.

The tank's commander's hatch was opened again, and the commander leaned out and said slowly:

"We have one high-explosive grenade left."

"...Go ahead, Comrade Tank Commander, and let the youngest soldier here get into the tank," Platoon Leader Petrenko made a quick decision, ignoring the sickly soldier's resistance. "Besides, he's been seriously injured—he was bitten several times by those damn corpses and walked through the filthy radioactive swamp, so now he has a fever!"

"I see. Come in, boy, throw away all those bits and pieces you have on you and don't waste time!"

After stuffing the youngest soldier in, the commander did not retreat again - the space inside was still a bit narrow, not to mention that he had to fire another shot - because of this, when he supported the machine gun that had run out of bullets and pressed his throat transmitter, his face was full of solemnity.

The tank moves forward, accelerates, accelerates again, and then fires!

Blast open a passage, blast open a smooth road!

On the speeding tank, Platoon Leader Petrenko clutched the scattered objects on the turret tightly. He could hear the creaking of bolts and metal parts, and the longing murmurs of the corpses around him. But after just a few breaths, a scream crawled into his ears -

A soldier was dragged off the tank by zombies and disappeared in the surging tide.

Then came the second one. This soldier was knocked down by an unknown beast that pounced from the collapsed building next to him, but he immediately pulled open the pull ring of the grenade in the severe pain of his shoulder being torn apart, and rolled out of the tank holding the abominable thing!

Two seconds, three seconds, the explosion sounded, but Platoon Leader Petrenko found that his eyes no longer shed tears, and he felt endless fatigue.

Thinking this, when Petrenko was also pulled off the tank, he did not resist, but calmly pulled the ring of the last grenade.

Amid the crisp sound of the grip snapping open, the platoon leader lay on his back on the ground, gazing at the gray sky where several flashes of lightning flashed through the clouds.

Snowflakes fluttered down, covering his eyes that no longer blinked.

A few minutes later, the T-80BV main battle tank burst out of the city swamped by the zombies. Its tracks were nearly clogged with bone spurs and flesh, and the driver, leaning out, had a bloody face. After a little more distance, the tank stalled completely, but that was enough—the vast majority of the zombies had no intention of leaving the city, at least not yet.

Behind us are the ruins of the city, and in front of us is a flat field.

Seeing the scenery before him, the driver let out a low cry of surprise. He shrank back a little and said excitedly to the others:

"We survived!"

"But he's dead," the gunner said, his eyes fixed on the young soldier. "He didn't make it."

"Everyone will die, but we still have to live... But this soup can't be wasted, there's still salt in it. Let's go, let's get out of here and meet up with the others."

The commander sighed sadly, then reached out and dragged the young man's body out of the tank, closing his eyes. But the next second, those eyes opened again, and as the commander screamed, they pounced on him like a demon!

Warm blood spilled onto the black soil covered with snow, slowly seeping in. The DNA chains within the cells were then interrupted by nuclear radiation, turning into meaningless echoes.

Then, under the dark clouds, several gunshots and screams flashed.

"The beasts are coming in!"

"Fire!"

"Damn it! The fallen soldiers have all been turned into living corpses!"

"Fire...Ammo, I'm out of ammo!"

"..."

"..."

There was a crackling sound of electricity, but no one responded on the communication channel.

Holding his rifle, the officer frowned and looked at the radio operator, but the latter just shook his head. They were dozens of soldiers who had rushed over from the base of the 24th Independent Mechanized Infantry Regiment - wavering between hesitation and determination, they made a choice.

A brave and fearless choice, just not a wise one… maybe they’ll regret it, maybe not.

"Has Lieutenant Colonel Yaroslav Sichev and regimental headquarters still not responded?" the officer asked. He looked up at the swirling clouds not far away and continued worriedly, "We're too late. The direction of the battle has exceeded our imagination."

"So...what should we do now?"

"What to do? Let's go find the survivors—wait, what is that? What are those things?!"

Chapter 318 Major accident (17/20)

In the dark clouds, snowflakes carried by the strong wind spiraled down in a nearly vertical trajectory, covering the sarcophagus of the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant - this polyhedron made of concrete and lead plates exuded a terrifying coldness, and at this moment it looked like a deformed organ wrapped in a plaster mold.

The Soviet buildings that grew out of the ground surrounded the nuclear power plant like hills, like solemn tombstones. In these tombs, the living dead were wandering peacefully, allowing the radiation to slowly seep into their flesh and blood.

He raised his hand and shot the zombie's head that was blocking his way. Rhodes' eyes swept over the chain mail it was wearing, and the tattered robe outside was emblazoned with the red and white eagle flag of the Kingdom of Poland.

"The radiation dose is increasing, Commander," Nikki quietly appeared from behind Rhodes. She didn't use her own weapon, but instead held a VSS rifle to avoid causing any more noise. "Even if the damage to your body can be 'repaired,' you should be careful. A sudden overdose of radiation will prevent you from being healed in time."

"How are you doing?"

"This little bit of radiation isn't enough to penetrate Nikki's body. You don't need to worry about me," D said calmly. She exhaled slowly and reached out to flick the radioactive snow off Rhodes' shoulder. "So where do we enter?"

"Go straight to the sarcophagus. I have a feeling they're waiting for us there...D, you might die this time," Rhodes chuckled. He stepped into the shadow cast by the building and said as he walked, "Although saying 'death' to someone like us is a bit ridiculous."

Hearing Rhode's words, Nikki's steps faltered. A vague hope of living and dying together grew in her heart, but she quickly followed, a look of worry on her face.

"Those blasphemous people might detonate their nuclear warheads as soon as they discover us."

"If the Iblis Organization really wanted to detonate, they would have sent us flying the moment we were spotted in Pripyat... These scumbags want more than that, otherwise why would they work so hard to trade nuclear warheads? There's only one chance in recent years, and that's right now."

Walking in the shadows, Rhodes bent down and looked at the zombie standing on the top of a building in front of him - it was wearing the uniform of the 24th Independent Mechanized Infantry Regiment and holding an SVD in its hand - those blasphemers of the Ibris organization obviously had no respect for their enemies.

Behind the zombies are dark clouds descending like a vortex, which is where the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is located.

"Can your golden flames burn these things?"

"Monsters are fine, but forget about these buildings. The cost is more than you gain. Although these buildings were summoned by the ritual, they are definitely not created by the energy of the Otherworld. At most, I can let them suffer a serious fire. You can't expect me to chop through them and wade my way through them, right? There's not that much pollution points from the Otherworld."

As Rhodes spoke, he patted the building wall beside him, letting the dust and a little dirty snow rub against his palms. He then took out an AK74M rifle equipped with a PSO-1 optical sight, aimed forward, slowed his breathing, and slightly squeezed the trigger... At the moment the whistling wind reached its peak, he pulled the trigger!

The zombie fell down, and the soul that was forced to stay there happily broke free from the restraints, merged into the eternal lonely nothingness, and disappeared without a trace.

"If we were in an open area, it would be fine. I could just burn to death those monsters that dared to block my way," Rhode sighed, and then continued the tedious task of shooting down those enemies that might cause obstacles one by one. "But in this complex terrain, let's forget it."

Feeling a little irritated, Rhodes expressionlessly raised the threat level of the Ibris organization by one level and decided to go back and have the agents in the New Antioch area move more frequently.

Just as he was thinking about it, Rhode heard Nikki whisper behind him:

"The sound of stepping on the snow. Something is approaching."