Chapter Eleven: Trading Zombies for Ammunition

About five kilometers south of Ox-Head Mountain lay a steep gorge, one that would pose a challenge even to ordinary people, let alone mindless zombies. The terrain was narrow, limiting the number of zombies that could gather, and as long as both ends were sealed off, those trapped within would be nothing more than meat on the chopping block.

A group of around a hundred and eighty or ninety people, armed with a variety of weapons, infiltrated the prearranged ambush positions. Their bodies were slathered in corpse-masking grass, reeking so foully they seemed to have just been dredged from a cesspit.

Yang Chunxi, meanwhile, led Yang Xueli and more than twenty other evolved humans onward. Their primary task was to draw the zombies’ attention, so they had not smeared themselves with corpse-masking grass.

As they neared the edge of the zombie horde, they discovered a man clad in powered exoskeleton armor, wielding a laser longsword, charging back and forth through a splinter group of the undead.

This group numbered around two hundred, including seven or eight tier-two zombies—yet they were utterly no match for Lin Lei.

He had, after all, upgraded his gear yet again.

High-energy laser longsword, thirty contribution points, able to cut through any defense as if slicing through butter. High-energy crystals, five contribution points apiece, could fuel at least an hour of intense combat.

Lone Wanderer energy booster pendant, five contribution points—the ideal companion for exoskeleton armor, greatly reducing fatigue and increasing endurance, no more being a five-second wonder.

A single melee weapon, an auxiliary pendant, and a handful of energy crystals had cost Lin Lei sixty contribution points in total.

If he still couldn’t handle a mere two hundred zombies with that, he might as well demand a refund from the system.

“Xiao Xue, is that the man who saved you?” Yang Chunxi asked his sister.

“That’s him. Except before, he used two tactical knives. Now he’s changed equipment again,” Yang Xueli replied.

“His combat skills and reflexes aren’t anything special. If I’m not mistaken, it’s all down to that exoskeleton. What a fine piece of gear,” Yang Chunxi said, his eyes practically watering as he eyed Lin Lei’s equipment.

“So you’re saying he’s just an ordinary person?” Yang Xueli caught his meaning.

“Not exactly. Didn’t you say he has a storage space? He’s probably a spatial-type evolved, but his physical attributes are no better than an average person, maybe even worse,” Yang Chunxi analyzed.

“You’re not thinking of robbing him, are you?” Yang Xueli knew her brother’s temperament.

“Robbing sounds so crude. We’ll just borrow his equipment for a bit, return it once we’ve finished off the zombies,” Yang Chunxi protested.

Of course, he left one thing unsaid: they would return it only after wiping out every last zombie in the world.

“He saved my life. Do you expect me to turn my back on him?” Yang Xueli objected. Her brother was the only tier-three speed-type evolved in Haifeng City, someone who could escape unscathed even from a tier-three zombie—if only his weapons weren’t so poor.

If he had a laser longsword, even a tier-three zombie would fall in a single blow.

Lin Lei’s exoskeleton might look impressive, but it was only for offense, with almost no defensive capability. If Yang Chunxi got close, Lin Lei would stand no chance.

“People always say girls side with outsiders. What, just because he saved you, you’re going to stand against your own brother?” Yang Chunxi joked. “How about this—let me rough him up a bit, then you can swoop in as the beauty in distress. Afterward, I’ll force him to marry you. That way, both he and his gear stay with us at Ox-Head Mountain.”

“Yang Chunxi! Make another joke like that and don’t blame me if you find something in your food to send you running to the latrine!” Clearly, this kind of ‘forced marriage’ joke was nothing new.

In truth, he had no intention of outright robbing the man—after all, the power behind Lin Lei was enough to make Ox-Head Mountain wary.

Yang Xueli had merely brought up the subject, so he’d played along.

While the siblings bickered, Lin Lei had already finished off the zombie group. He switched to flight mode, hovered above them, and called down, “What took you so long? I’ve already cleared out several waves. And why are there so few of you? Don’t tell me the others are planning to break their promise?”

“Hey, buddy! Isn’t it a bit rude to make us crane our necks to talk to you?” Yang Chunxi called up.

“Not at all. We’re not exactly close. Keeping a safe distance is best for everyone,” Lin Lei replied. His system had already warned him: this leader was a tier-three evolved.

Lin Lei didn’t know how strong a tier-three evolved was, but recycling a corpse from one earned ten contribution points—a frightening margin, given that a tier-three zombie was only worth 0.1 contribution point.

Of course, Lin Lei was making the mistake of measuring combat power by contribution points.

“Clever, aren’t you?” Yang Chunxi muttered under his breath, then said aloud, “We’re here to lure the zombies. The main force is ambushed out back. If all goes well, we can wipe out over a thousand in one strike. You’d better prepare plenty of supplies!”

“You have over two hundred people and can only kill a thousand zombies at a time? At that rate, when will you ever clear out this whole horde?” Lin Lei complained.

A thousand zombies, even with a few tier-twos mixed in, would net less than twenty contribution points—far below what he’d hoped for.

“We can’t help it. We’re short on weapons and ammo, and we don’t have gear as good as yours. We can only nibble at the edges,” Yang Chunxi admitted.

“If you need ammo, talk to me. Same deal as with food—kill a tier-one zombie, get five rounds; tier-two, twenty rounds; tier-three, fifty rounds,” Lin Lei proposed again.

If it were his own caseless ammo, he’d never offer such a generous exchange—even bulk caseless rounds cost one contribution point per two hundred rounds.

But the survivors used cheap, bulk copper-jacketed ammo, and one contribution point could buy four thousand rounds. So, on average, a tier-one zombie was worth forty bullets—Lin Lei made a sevenfold profit.

“Weapons and ammo too?” Yang Chunxi’s eyes lit up, quickly crunching the numbers in his head.

They were all veterans by now, at least when it came to fighting zombies. A good marksman could take down a tier-one zombie with a single shot at close range, but against tier-twos or tier-threes, it was pure luck.

Still, if the zombies clustered together, luck favored the survivors—a single bullet could pass through two or even three zombies at once.

“Can we get the ammo in advance? Give me two hundred thousand rounds, and I’ll clear this whole horde for you!” Yang Chunxi declared.

With two hundred thousand rounds and the advantage of terrain, he would dare to go head-to-head with the horde.

“Advance payment’s out of the question. But I can promise: for every thousand tier-one zombies you kill, I’ll provide five thousand rounds. I’ll keep supplying ammo until you say you’ve had enough,” Lin Lei replied.