Chapter 171 - 163: A Thrilling Moment
The perimeter wall seemed as if it had been marinated in zombie innards, reeking to the extreme, which led to Li Yu and the others often wearing masks each time they arrived at the wall.
Li Yu glanced again at the woods 80 meters away, the dense forest shrouded in darkness, incredibly sinister.
Rubbing his sore and swollen arms, Li Yu and those beside him, including Dapao and Li Hang, were all preparing to descend.
Dapao still looked the same, and Li Hang's face held some happiness. Through the recent test, his accuracy had improved to a whole new level.
The continuous killing of zombies felt like clocking into work, monotonous, wearying, and numbing.
In this repeated action of killing zombies, everyone started to look for some fun, sometimes competing to see who could shoot the most zombies, and then setting up some prizes like some more precious supplies. Food, for instance.
Under this system, everyone also stirred up some passion, shooting zombies relentlessly. But it couldn't last long, and everyone began to feel fatigued anew.
This life of zombie-killing was as if working on an assembly line at a factory, snipping thread ends, or assembling electronics.
But it also had its benefits, as mechanical actions were bound to increase proficiency.
It's said that when you do something over ten thousand times, you develop muscle memory, and when you do it again, you are very familiar with it and become extremely skilled.
A simple thing done ten thousand times would start to look impressive.
Just like Li Hang today, his original accuracy in shooting zombies was average, making a hit 7 out of 10 times thrown, but today he had integrated what Li Yu said, and could now hit 9 out of 10 times thrown.
You must know, such hits were not just about hitting the head—hitting the head was something most could do with precision.
But to hit the eyes, the difficulty increased considerably.
Li Yu and the others saw that Fourth Uncle and company had already arrived below the wall, so they prepared to loosen the rope and switch out.
Suddenly!
Just at the moment they started loosening the rope, they saw the zombies in front suddenly go mad, erupting into chaos.
They crazily clawed at the wall beneath the fence.
As the zombies went berserk, the night's rain fell harder and the wind blew with even greater speed.
In this stormy weather, Li Yu and the others on top of the wall nearly lost their footing. Thankfully, when the fence was built, the shielding guardrail had been made high enough, nearly 1 meter tall and 20 centimeters thick.
Everyone grabbed onto the guardrail in time to prevent being blown over by the sudden gust of wind.
But the wild wind came so abruptly that it gave everyone a scare, especially Li Zhengping, who was just then in the opposite direction to Dapao.
He was about to undo the rope tied around him, and as he had just loosened it, he was preparing to descend when a fierce wind, particularly strong due to his slight build, blew him towards the direction of the guardrail where he was positioned upwind.
His body tilted, and Li Zhengping nearly fell off the wall!
Under the combination of elements: the abrupt gale, the slippery ground, the untied rope, facing upwind, and a slender body.
That's when a heart-wrenching moment unfolded.
Li Zhengping ultimately clung desperately to the guardrail on top of the wall, which had become especially slippery in the downpour.
Li Yu was about to go help him.
But in that slow moment and swift action, Dapao quickly ran over, grabbed him with one hand, and held onto the rope with the other, stabilizing his body before pulling him in tightly.
In this maddening wind, the force was incredibly strong. Dapao used all his might, his veins bulging, as he finally secured Li Zhengping tightly.
As quickly as it came, the tempestuous storm passed.
Just a few minutes later, the bizarrely fierce storm, as if heralding the end of the world, suddenly ceased.
The zombies below also returned to their previous state.
But that moment just then had everyone breaking out in a cold sweat.
After this incident, everyone became even more cautious.
Because the weather of the apocalypse, gives no signs of its coming.
Just now Dapao went after and rescued Li Zhengping, for which Li Yu and the others were very grateful.
You should know, in such extreme circumstances, it's very difficult for a person to move their body. But even then, Dapao ran to help.
Even though Dapao was closest to Li Zhengping, his hesitation-free rescue moved everyone.
After this incident, Li Yu also admonished everyone that if the ropes are loosened during a downpour, one must descend from the walls quickly.
This time, some issues with the wall were also revealed, such as the low guardrails, an issue that must be addressed after this wave of zombies is dealt with.
Li Yu and the others had been fighting on the wall for nearly 11 hours, and after being relieved, they warned everyone to be careful before descending from the wall.
By then, the raincoats were soaked through, and their bodies drenched, but when they opened their raincoats, a strong stench of sweat hit them.
There was no helping it, everyone was in the same boat, being so heavily wrapped up and under such strenuous labor, it was normal to sweat profusely.
Especially, that recent burst of a freak storm! It had everyone breaking out in an icy, cold sweat!
Moreover, sometimes the hands and feet would become swollen from being soaked in the rain.
Li Yu descended from the wall, but instead of heading straight into the villa, he made his way to the Observation Tower.
After erecting Weng City, they connected the Observation Tower and the surrounding wall.
High up in the ten-meter-tall Observation Tower, Li Yu rummaged through the wall and found a pack of cigarettes.
Then he saw Dapao coming over too. Their eyes met, but no words were exchanged.
Li Yu's palms were somewhat pale; he poured out the water from his shoes and dried his hands.
On the other side, Dapao was drenched in sweat, his hands outstretched, fingers trembling. He had just pulled Li Zhengping, and his palms were raw from the rope, rough from exerting too much force
and feeling somewhat powerless, now probably even struggling to light a cigarette.
Seeing this, Li Yu took two cigarettes from the pack, lit one, took a puff, then handed it to Dapao, who shakily received it with his right hand and put it directly in his mouth.
Hiss~
Dapao took a harsh drag, then exhaled it.
Cough cough cough cough.
He took such a fierce pull that he accidentally choked on the smoke. Li Yu quickly went forward and patted his back to ease his discomfort.
Dapao shifted, finally smoothing out his breath.
"Thanks for what you did just now," Li Yu said.
Dapao shook his head, then placed the cigarette back in his mouth, took a gentle puff, leaned against the wall, and gazed at the storm outside the Observation Tower.
No words were spoken.
In that atmosphere, Li Yu wanted to say something more, but it felt superfluous, so he stepped forward and patted Dapao's shoulder.
Few could adapt to the atmosphere of sudden tension and then sudden relaxation.
Dapao stood in the Observation Tower watching the storm outside, his gaze somewhat vacant, while Li Yu also watched the rain.
The silence was eventually broken by Dapao.
"Some day, you owe me a drink," Dapao said, followed by a cough.
Hearing this, Li Yu smiled and replied, "Sure."
....