Chapter Thirteen: The Suitcase Nuke

With a grim face, Dr. Essex climbed into the off-road vehicle. Wang Jing retracted his facial armor, walked up to Alice, and asked, “Have you made up your mind? Will you join us?”

Alice looked over at the expeditionary soldiers distributing compressed biscuits and bottled water to the survivors. After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded. “I’ll join you.”

“Excellent. Once we’re finished here, I’ll take you all to my world.” Just then, Claire entered, holding a box of compressed biscuits and a bottle of water. When she saw Wang Jing, she looked a bit embarrassed. “Sorry, please go on.”

As Claire was about to leave, Wang Jing called out to her. “Wait, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Chris turned back, puzzled. “What is it?”

“I can take you all away from here. Ask around and see who’s willing. Before we set off, I’ll send them away,” Wang Jing said to Claire.

Claire nodded. “Anything else?”

“That’s all.”

“Alright, I’ll go let them know!” With that, Claire hurried off to inform everyone.

Wang Jing turned to Alice. “Eat something quickly. We need to head to the Hive base soon.”

An hour later, just as Wang Jing had predicted, every survivor wanted to leave this hellhole, except for Carlos and Claire, who wished to stay and fight alongside Alice.

But Wang Jing refused them. “You’d better go. Leave what comes next to us!”

“We can help you. We’ve lived here for five or six years; we know these zombies far better than you do,” Carlos insisted.

“Thank you for your good intentions, but I think we can handle this little problem ourselves.” With that, Wang Jing sent the two of them away as well.

Then, following Dr. Essex’s directions, the interdimensional expeditionary force arrived at the entrance to the Hive base, which was surrounded by a sea of zombies.

“My god, that’s a lot of zombies. How are we supposed to get in?” Liu Peiqiang stared in shock at the dark, churning mass below.

Wang Jing smiled faintly. “Don’t worry, I’ve come prepared.”

As he spoke, Wang Jing vanished from sight. When he reappeared, he was holding a massive slab of raw beef in his right hand and a strangely shaped briefcase in his left.

“What’s that?” Liu Peiqiang asked, pointing at the briefcase.

Wang Jing grinned. “A Soviet suitcase nuke. The second-to-last one.”

“A nuke?” Liu Peiqiang’s eyes went wide with shock.

“That’s right, a real nuclear bomb. The yield’s just a bit small—ten kilotons of TNT.” Wang Jing gave the briefcase a shake.

“Is it really necessary to use nuclear weapons to kill zombies?” Li Yiyi quipped from the side.

“Of course it is. Without a nuke, do you plan to shoot them down one by one? There are tens of thousands of zombies down there—you’d wear out your gun barrels before you finished them off!”

“Alright, alright, forget I said anything.” Seeing Wang Jing about to continue, Li Yiyi quickly surrendered.

“So what’s the plan? You’re not going to detonate the nuke right by the base entrance, are you?” Liu Peiqiang asked.

“Of course not. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have brought this big piece of meat.” Wang Jing hefted the beef in his right hand.

“The plan is to hang the beef on the off-road vehicle and lure the zombies onto an open plain away from the base. Once they’re all gathered, I’ll activate the nuke’s countdown, and then I’ll bring you all back to our original world.”

“After an hour, when the core temperature drops a bit, I’ll return. But then I’ll need Car 2 to pick me up as quickly as possible and get me out of the blast zone.”

“No problem. I’ll be waiting for you at the center,” Li Xian promised.

“As for radiation, you don’t need to worry. We’ve got protective suits ready. Just one person needs to drive out to pick me up.”

With that, Wang Jing hung the suitcase nuke and the beef on Car 1, then fetched a lead-lined radiation suit for Li Xian.

Wang Jing and Liu Peiqiang then took off in Car 1, charging into the horde below.

On the outskirts of the zombie swarm, Wang Jing manned the Gatling gun mounted on the roof, unleashing a barrage on the dense mass of undead. The heavy 12.7mm rounds shredded the decaying zombies with ease—each bullet could pierce three or four at a time.

A shot to the head would make a zombie’s rotting skull burst like a struck watermelon—a scene as gruesome as it was revolting.

The Gatling’s thunderous roar and the scent of blood from the beef attracted the zombies clustered at the Hive entrance, making them howl and chase after the speeding Car 1.

“Don’t drive too fast, or they’ll fall behind!” Wang Jing shouted as the gap between them and the horde widened.

Soon, the ten-thousand-round ammo box for the Gatling was emptied, but they’d reached the designated spot. Wang Jing immediately activated the suitcase nuke’s countdown and grabbed Liu Peiqiang’s arm, triggering the traversal.

Back in their main world, before they could catch their breath, the surrounding sprinkler system detected their sudden appearance and doused them thoroughly with disinfectant.

The spray lasted a full minute, soaking them completely before shutting off.

On their way out, they had to undergo ultraviolet sterilization before being allowed to leave quarantine.

Once outside, Wang Jing finally removed his helmet and took a deep breath.

“Ah! Finally, some fresh air!” Wang Jing exclaimed.

At that moment, Song Guohua approached. “After you take the Hive, what’s your plan?”

“I’ll find the real Essex, eliminate him, and seize his artificial intelligence technology!” Wang Jing replied.

“Let the expeditionary force from the other world do it. It’s too dangerous,” Song Guohua advised.

“No. If I don’t go, it’ll be even more dangerous for them. The Hive’s AI is no pushover—without my guidance, it would surely unleash zombies and bioweapons,” Wang Jing countered.

“Alright then, but be careful. If things get too risky, come back,” Song Guohua cautioned.

“Understood.”

After their conversation, Wang Jing took Liu Peiqiang to the base cafeteria.

“Since you finally made it out, let’s have a good meal,” Wang Jing said with a smile, picking up the menu.

“We should eat less. There’s still work to do later,” Liu Peiqiang reminded him.

Wang Jing nodded and ordered two plates of egg fried rice. When the fragrant dishes arrived, the caution about eating lightly was forgotten. Liu Peiqiang tucked in with gusto, cleaning his plate in less than two minutes.

“Here, have some water—don’t choke,” Wang Jing said, handing over a bottle.

Liu Peiqiang accepted it with a sheepish grin, burped, and said, “I take back what I said.”