Besides the King Hunter Squad, there's another force gathering here.
It's the Red-faced Zombie Overlord from the park area.
He's rolling with 'Violet,' planning to get revenge on the mutant rat king and, while he's at it, take out Zane and gobble up his territory.
The Red-faced Zombie Overlord isn't rolling solo; he's got a massive crew, a whole zombie horde of twenty thousand strong, a dark, roaring sea of them.
They're howling and sprinting like a flood, with over a hundred elite agile Zombies leading the charge, hopping and jumping like monkeys.
Mixed in with the zombie horde are loads of mutant big rats, their red eyes flickering fiercely.
The sight of the massive zombie horde cramming the streets is pretty epic.
The Red-faced Zombie Overlord and a few of his cronies are trailing at the back.
He figures he won't even need to lift a finger to squash Zane, with his twenty thousand zombie horde against Zane's two thousand—no contest.
"Boss, the fight's probably gonna be over quick. You can just swoop in and collect the Core crystals," one of his cronies mentioned from behind.
"Mmm..."
The Red-faced Zombie Overlord nodded, liking the sound of that.
By now, the King Hunter Squad had hit their target spot, and the armed crew began picking off the scattered Zombies on the outskirts.
As the gunfire kicked off, Zombies kept dropping like flies.
Silas and three other awakened ones stepped out of the vehicle, scoping out the scene. Random Zombies were popping out from every nook and cranny, but they got taken down before they could even get close—no sweat.
Their eyes were fixed towards the building up ahead.
From a distance, in the middle of the road, stood a towering figure—Jake, in all his raging glory.
"Roar—"
Jake, catching a whiff of human scent, roared towards that direction.
His roar shook the heavens, wild and unbridled.
If it weren't for Zane not giving the go-ahead, he'd have charged forward in a heartbeat.
"That's definitely a brute force Zombie Overlord. Look at him, all brawn and no brains, probably no special powers," analyzed Xiao Wen.
"Mmm."
Silas nodded, "Still, better stay sharp. There might be other Zombie Overlords around. Check out that group of Zombies behind; they seem pretty evolved."
"Yikes...that's freaky!"
The only female awakener gasped, a bit spooked since it was her first mission.
Harper, ever the gentleman, chimed in to comfort her.
"Don't worry, it's just a one-star zombie nest. Barely over two thousand Zombies, and they're not even that tightly packed. We'll clear them out in no time."
"Yeah, let's wrap this up quick and go get our reward. I've been starving for days," said the last big guy.
Despite Quantum Leap Innovations' advanced tech, food was still scarce.
As the King Hunter Squad moved slowly forward, the two forces drew closer, the tension thickening, like a battle was about to explode any second.
Jake stood at the forefront, a one-man blockade, his fists clenched, muscles bulging, eyes fierce.
Just waiting for Zane's command to tear those humans apart!
Zoe also dropped her smile, tilting her head, staring straight at the humans ahead, itching for action.
Why isn't the boss giving the order yet?
They were all itching for a fight!
The Zombies were anxiously waiting, howling continuously, but Zane was oddly silent.
Watching as the humans approached, now less than 500 meters away—almost within shooting range.
"What's the boss doing? Didn't go off looking for snacks and forget about us, did he?" Jake looked around, eager.
Nathan glanced at him.
"Idiot, you think the boss is like you? No orders, we just wait!"
"Wait? In a minute, their car wheels will be rolling over my face."
Zoe was scratching her head with her claws, nearly going mad.
However, after moving forward a few more meters, the King Hunter Squad also stopped in their tracks.
Captain Silas was eyeing the scene with a sharp gaze.
"These Zombies... something's off about them."
"What's up, Captain Silas?"
Harper stepped up and asked.
Silas looked ahead and said,
"If these were regular Zombies, they'd have charged at us with all that noise, but they... they haven't moved an inch!"
"True that."
The female awakener nodded, realizing these Zombies were different from what she knew.
The big guy agreed,
"When you see something like this, it's usually some smarty-pants Zombie calling the shots."
"Or maybe... they're just dumb and don't wanna step out of their turf," Harper speculated with a chuckle.
The four of them kept their distance, discussing tactics, hesitant to move forward, and the standoff lasted for several minutes.
The big guy then said,
"Could this be some kind of trick?"
"Pfft! What kind of trick, man? You think Zombies are that clever to use tactics?" Harper couldn't help but laugh.
Silas thought about it and figured, they were here now, regardless of what's up with these Zombies, they had to take them down.
"It's just two thousand Zombies anyway. Even if something goes sideways, we can handle it. Let's get ready to rumble!"
"Alrighty!"
Harper responded eagerly, already itching to start.
The rest took a deep breath, their eyes hardened, ready to face the fierce zombie horde.
But just at that tense moment, the ground suddenly started rumbling.
Messy footsteps, roars, and weird squeals came from all directions.
"Something's not right!"
Silas immediately furrowed his brows, his expression darkening.
The armed crew exchanged looks, seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes—they had all been through this before.
Only a massive zombie horde could cause such an effect!
Sure enough.
First, a few agile Zombies leaped onto nearby rooftops, landing on all fours, their fierce eyes scanning them.
Then, from every street corner and alley, countless Zombies and vicious mutant rats emerged!
"Where did all these Zombies come from?"
Silas and his team were shocked, seeing the numbers far exceeding two thousand.
They couldn't figure out what was happening, assuming it was an ambush.
"Boss, what do we do now?" asked the female awakener.
The others looked solemn, at a loss for ideas.
Silas looked around,"No time to think, get ready to fight!"
Those Zombies were sprinting like crazy, super fast, and in a blink, they were right up in their faces.
"Fire!"
At Silas's command, the area erupted with gunfire.
Five hundred armed folks got into a specific formation, laying down a thick blanket of fire, mowing them down like cutting wheat, wiping out a huge swath in an instant.
But the zombie horde was insanely fierce, charging forward relentlessly, even if they tripped over bodies, they'd roll forward, not caring at all.
And the deadliest were those elite agile Zombies.
They'd leap down from tall buildings, super fast, catching everyone off guard, often knocking down armed folks and then pinning them to the ground to bite.
These Zombies could only be handled by Silas and other awakeners.
But then.
The concrete underfoot suddenly started cracking, and with eerie squeaks, giant rats began to emerge.
The rats scurried onto the armed folks, biting directly at their ankles.
Causing them to howl in pain.
Both sides were fighting fiercely, the battle was intense.
At that moment.
Nearby, Jake and Zoe, among others, weren't in a rush anymore, watching the scene unfold, they were totally baffled.
"What's the deal here, huh?"