"Grr!" The dark zombie bared its sharp teeth and assumed a defensive pose as if ready to stop the fast-moving vehicle with both hands.
"Keep advancing and try to avoid that high-rank zombie. Don't shoot now!" Zayn immediately gave his instructions via walkie-talkie.
He then opened the window and fired a large smoke bomb using the rocket launcher at the high-rank zombies that were blocking the way ahead.
*Bam*
The explosion was insignificant, and the high-rank zombie laughed derisively as the explosive didn't even hit anyone.
However, a thick, greenish-white puff of smoke soon spread out rapidly and expanded to a forty-yard radius.
"Hold your breath and close all the car vents!" Zayn yelled at everyone and got into the toxic smoke.
*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh*
All the vehicles accelerated into the smoke without reducing their speed in the slightest. The giant eagle in the air was just about to dive sharply for the human with the rocket launcher, but it canceled its intention due to the poisonous smoke.
*Screech!*
The giant eagle flapped its wings and flew along the road, chasing the vehicles that had just come out of the poisonous smoke.
"Roars!" The dark high-rank zombie groaned in pain. Its eyes felt like they were burning, and breathing became very difficult. Not to mention the electrocuted sensation that almost paralyzed its limbs.
"..." The giant lizard stopped halfway because a massive puff of poisonous smoke blocked the way and the anguished roar of a powerful zombie.
The giant lizard had no brain cells to process the reason, but it could tell that smoke was capable of bringing agony if it continued further than this point. Therefore, going away was the only choice.
"Woohoo! The black devil can't withstand the chemical torture of the second generation of potent toxic smoke bomb! That one must be a high-rank zombie, but it's not even a match for human science!" Rico cheered in his vehicle when he saw the terrifying black devil roaring in agony and thrashing around on the road.
"You utter fool, human science is the world's finest!"
"We may not be able to evolve like monsters, but we have advanced weapons and technology!"
"Wahaha! Die in agony!"
The soldiers, on the other hand, voiced their joy to see the monsters had fallen without them getting involved in any clash. Their admiration for Zayn goes up a level.
They finally understood why Zayn gave an answer like that at lunch earlier.
"Don't get too excited just yet. We didn't intend to engage in battle with them, but we only managed to repel the land monsters' pursuit. We are still being chased by the giant mutated eagle from the sky." Zayn smiled in amusement and spoiled everyone's joy with the truth.
"Holy moly! That eagle bypassed that massive smoke blockade? Shoot that fcking bird down now! Aim for its wings!" Steven was irritated and immediately ordered his subordinates to shoot.
*Screech!*
The giant eagle dived as sharp as a missile and grabbed onto one of the vehicles.
"Die you, monsters!" A soldier just opened the car window to shoot the eagle with his advanced rifle, but the monster in question landed on his car.
"Eh?" That was what that poor soldier could say when he found the monster he was going to kill was right in front of his eyes.
*crunch*
The giant mutated eagle pecked the poor soldier's head and pulled him out.
"Argh!" The dying soldier could only scream until his voice disappeared, along with his lost head being crushed by the monster.
"Fire!" Steven opened fire using his advanced anti-tank rifle.
The giant eagle dived as sharp as a missile and grabbed onto one of the vehicles.
"Die you, monsters!" A soldier just opened the car window to shoot the eagle with his advanced rifle, but the monster in question landed on his car.
"Eh?" That was what that poor soldier could say when he found the monster he was going to kill was right in front of his eyes.
*Crunch*
The giant mutated eagle pecked the poor soldier's head and pulled him out.
"Argh!" The dying soldier could only scream for a second before his voice died down.
"Fire!" Steven opened fire using his advanced anti-tank rifle.
*Bang* *Rattle* *Rattle*
A rapid succession of short, sharp, hard sounds from ten rifle shots broke out. Hundreds of bullets rained down on the giant eagle's body every second.
*Screech!*
The giant eagle screeched in agony. Its steel-like feather couldn't protect its body from the many hot bullets released.
The monster let go of its grip on the car, dropping two barrels of wine onto the road.
The fifteenth squad didn't just let go of the fallen monster. They still opened fire and made the street stained with greenish-red blood, accompanying the red color of the spilled wine and the dead soldier.
"Juna died, sir." Someone reported the situation.
"Keep going. We can't stop here. He is a great man." Steven lowered his military beret. He gave his last farewell to his subordinate's dead body.
"..." Zayn just sighed when he found out that a victim had fallen. It was unavoidable, but he hoped he could lead his squad without loss of life as usual.
"Does Juna have a family at base?" Zayn asked.
"No, he is single and doesn't even have a girlfriend. The only one close to him is a prostitute named Joana from Splendor of Cloud in the red light district." Steven answered with a sigh.
"Do what you need to do as his leader. We're going straight back to base." Zayn nodded in understanding and delegated responsibility to Steven.
"The leader is you, Zayn." Steven laughed dryly.
"I am the boss, and you are the leader of the fifteenth squad. Juna left before us, but our struggle isn't over yet. It's a shame we can't bury him with honors..." Zayn shook his head.
"Affirmatives." Steven responded briefly.
Their journey suddenly became quiet and a bit gloomy. Even so, their return path was smooth until they entered the safe zone.
"..." Angie had nothing to do and just watched Zayn's face from the side with lots of imagination in mind.
However, Grisella felt a bit awkward and pretty sad. A comrade had just been killed by a monster, but these soldiers were forced to stay strong. She had nothing related to the fallen soldier, so she felt no sentiment. Even so, death would still bring sorrow.
"Rick, we're going to put some of our loot in your truck." Zayn informs the car ahead.
"Roger. We can't just bring these goodies to base or we'll be questioned. Hehe, I hate loot taxes." Rick gave a positive response.
They went to a secret underground garage of a building materials warehouse. Rick had moved his truck to a safe place, and there was where the fifteenth squad would hide their precious loot out of base control.
The soldiers rushed to move Zayn's barrels into the truck's trailer box and put the barrels of wine on the other side just to differentiate. They only brought one barrel of wine with them to the base.
"Wait, why is this route blocked by concrete barriers?" Rico was surprised when he found their usual alternative path blocked by a line of concrete barriers.
"Did the base order to close this path, or someone pulled this thing? Has our little treasure been discovered by those old timers?" Steven felt suspicious.
However, all his suspicions were immediately swept away when dozens of fully armed masked soldiers came out of the buildings around the street, aiming those weapons at his squad.
"We've been surrounded by our own people? What's the meaning of this!?" Steven frowned and immediately got out of the car. He could tell these soldiers were people from a combination of several anti-zombie squads, but his squad wasn't zombies!
"Stop talking! You are surrounded. Raise your hands and follow us. Don't fight or this will not end well for you all." A masked soldier aimed his rifle at Steven's head from behind.
"Heh, is this an order from higher-ups? They want to get rid of us, the fifteenth squad and the young genius scientist Zayn?" Steven glanced at his current situation. He reached his hand to his pistol at his waist, but the situation was unfavorable because his squad was outnumbered.
"Hmm..." Zayn tapped his hand on the steering wheel. He could smell the rotten intentions of those bad people.
"You are scientist Zayn? Get out of your car now and don't fight or we will have no choice but to shoot you on the spot." A masked soldier knocked on Zayn's car window and made a threat.
"Looks like, we have no other choice, huh. Let's go down." Zayn sighed and gave some hand gestures to Angie.
"..." Grisella paled with fear. Those masked soldiers at odd with Zayn's soldiers?