Chapter 90: Zombie Mobile City

When the searchlight was turned to its maximum brightness, Li Ye saw one of the Level 1 Cities clearly. There were very few cannons and heavy machine guns on its armor plating, and it had no convoy. In stark contrast, it was equipped with numerous cranes, mechanical arms, and work claws—all fully outfitted. This appeared to be a fully-equipped Level 1 engineer-type city. When the searchlight turned to another city, he was instantly stunned. That wasn’t a mobile city piloted by the living at all—it was a Zombie Mobile City! Standing atop its armor plating were all ferocious-faced zombies. The zombie gunners operated the cannons with their rotting arms and opened fire. The zombie lookouts held binoculars, roaring as they reported the battle situation to their comrades. Nearby was also a zombie convoy belonging to it, with zombies wielding firearms and rocket launchers, roaring as they fired. Li Ye couldn't help but furrow his brows. These zombies actually had intelligence? Not only could they use weapons, they could even operate a mobile city for combat? What made him even more uneasy was that all these zombies wore blood-red uniforms, seemingly belonging to their own faction. The zombies' combat style was similar to that of human mobile cities, but one point was particularly terrifying. They had a kind of cannon with an extremely large muzzle, and what it launched was not shells—but zombies. Zombie gunners stuffed a group of zombies into the cannon muzzle, aimed at the human mobile city, and fired. With a thunderous boom, these zombies were launched onto the enemy’s armor plating. Among them were even Level 2 zombies. Tyrants, Screeching Banshees, Webweavers, Corroders... As soon as the Webweavers landed on the armor plating, they quickly dispersed. The Screeching Banshees let out piercing screams and launched their assault, while the Tyrants crashed into the plating like shells, then slowly stood and began their charge. The Corroders exploded upon impact, releasing corrosive fluids that rapidly ate away everything around them. As the cannons fired in succession, a downpour of zombies rained down upon the mobile city. This method was actually far more effective than conventional cannon bombardment. Once the zombies landed, they invaded the armor plating and spread like a virus, gradually overtaking the mobile city. Naturally, quite a few zombies also perished during the launch process. But to zombies—these mindless and emotionless bloodthirsty creatures—such losses meant nothing. “Ah Li, should we step in?” Old Zhou asked. Li Ye quickly nodded. “Do it. Let’s take down this Zombie Mobile City!” The Level 1 engineer-type city had very weak combat capabilities and stood no chance against this monstrous mobile city. Tomorrow had to take action. As the searchlight shone on the Zombie Mobile City, the cannons on Tomorrow simultaneously opened fire. That Zombie Mobile City was instantly engulfed in violent explosions. The lift platform lowered, and Convoy One, Convoy Two, along with the Storm Infantry Vehicle, deployed. With Tomorrow’s intervention, the battle turned one-sided, and the Zombie Mobile City was ultimately eliminated. The lord of that mobile city soon arrived at the armor plating via the lift platform to thank Li Ye. What surprised Li Ye was that the lord was a young man of around twenty-three or twenty-four years old, named Zhou Xing. According to him, this mobile city was called Engineer, originating from the Basin Region, and had 57 members. Just as Li Ye had expected, Engineer was indeed a fully-equipped Level 1 engineer-type mobile city. Zhou Xing had inherited the lordship from his late father. To develop quickly, he chose a bold path. That was to venture into the Eternal Night Zone and mine a series of Level 2 resources in the wild, then return to the Basin Region to resell them. Considering Engineer's insufficient combat strength, Zhou Xing had teamed up with another lord to travel together. Both were cautious, and their targets were primarily Level 2 resources refreshed in the wild and resource points not occupied by monsters. When they occasionally encountered patrolling monster squads, they would also strike and collect the loot. As for mines and Zombie Towns occupied by large numbers of zombies, they didn’t even spare them a glance—choosing to avoid them whenever possible. Since Level 2 items often sold for high prices in Level 1 zones, both Level 1 Cities developed rapidly. Thus, even after receiving the evacuation notice from the Gospel of Apocalypse, faced with huge profits, the two still chose to risk staying in the Eternal Night Zone. But the day things went south arrived swiftly. While the two mobile cities were mining at a site, two Level 1 Zombie Mobile Cities appeared. Their companion quickly fell, and although Engineer managed to escape by a stroke of luck, it was still pursued by one of the enemies. Li Ye found this somewhat unexpected, because generally speaking, Level 1 Mobile Cities often opted to become assault-type cities, which gave them a higher survival chance in the wild. Support-type or defense-type cities, on the other hand, were more team-oriented. Engineer-type cities were the weakest of all. Looking at the Engineer before him, Li Ye couldn't help but have a thought. He had personally witnessed the value of a fully equipped Level 1 engineer-type city. To better explore zones and gather resources, Tomorrow needed to start forming its own City Alliance. And an engineer-type city like Engineer was naturally a prized target. “We have to find a way to bring it in,” Li Ye thought. In this battle, Engineer suffered over a third of its forces in casualties. If not for Tomorrow’s intervention, it likely would have been annihilated. “Do you know where the Safe Harbor is around here?” Li Ye asked. Zhou Xing shook his head blankly. “There’s actually a Safe Harbor here?” he asked in confusion. “I’m not sure.” Li Ye also had people search the zombies’ corpses and collect the loot. After all, Wasteland monster corpses were also a type of resource. To express his gratitude, Zhou Xing then offered Li Ye a batch of resources. It was a full 152 units of Level 2 Iron Ore, which Engineer had mined from the site. Li Ye gladly accepted it—he was currently in need of that resource. Afterward, Li Ye turned to look at the nearby Zombie Mobile City. It had already turned into a wreck, with many areas still burning with residual flames. Li Ye thought for a moment, then made his decision. He had to board this monster city’s armor plating to see what exactly was going on. Although the zombies had already been cleared out, for safety’s sake, Li Ye still selected 20 Combat Personnel to accompany him. They carried Firearms and Gale Rocket Launchers, wore Bulletproof Vests, and had Bloodletter Military Daggers strapped to their waists—more than enough to guarantee his safety. Tomorrow slowly approached the Zombie Mobile City and lowered the lift platform. All Combat Personnel on the armor plating stood ready in front of the Heavy Machine Guns, with two Bloodtear Ripper Heavy Machine Guns primed to fire. The moment any remaining zombies appeared on the plating, they would be shot on sight. The group stepped onto the armor plating. What caught Li Ye’s eye first were the uniforms on the zombie corpses. The emblem on the uniforms was shockingly a decayed ring. It had a black-green base and was woven from twisted white bones and rusted iron thorns. At the center was a crowned, rotting zombie head. Below the emblem was a line of small text: “We are decay, we are also eternal.” Looking at it, Li Ye couldn’t help but furrow his brows deeply. “Looks like a fully formed zombie dynasty,” Lin Wu, who accompanied him, remarked. “If my guess is right, it might just be the Monstrous Civilization of this Level 2 Zone.” Li Ye also nodded lightly. Next, he looked around at the surrounding armor plating and buildings, and frowned once more. Compared to human Mobile Cities, this Zombie Mobile City and its buildings were constructed entirely from a mixture of flesh and metal. When Li Ye stepped on it, the plating even squirmed slowly like it was alive. This bizarre and eerie sensation made one’s skin crawl. Lin Wu turned his gaze to a spot. “Lord, look at these zombie cannons—they’re also extremely abnormal.”