Chapter Fourteen: The Licker

An hour passed quickly. Wang Jing and Liu Peiqiang, both clad in radiation suits, returned to the world of the Biochemical Crisis. The moment they materialized, the Geiger counters on their exoskeleton armor began to blare loudly.

At that exact moment, Li Xian arrived at ground zero of the nuclear blast in his vehicle. Wang Jing saw a cloud of dust kicked up behind Off-roader No. 2 as it screeched to a halt—the doors flung open before the wheels had even stopped spinning.

"Get in, quickly!" Wang Jing and Liu Peiqiang dove into the off-roader. They had barely found their seats before Li Xian floored the accelerator. The electric motor surged, pinning Wang Jing and Liu Peiqiang firmly against their seats—Wang Jing felt as if he were riding a rocket.

Soon, Wang Jing noticed that Li Xian was not heading toward the distant hillside, but instead toward the entrance of the Hive base.

"Aren't we meeting up with the others?" Wang Jing asked.

"They've all gone into the Hive already. We were just waiting for you," Li Xian replied, glancing in the rearview mirror.

"What happened? Weren't we supposed to enter together after I arrived?" Wang Jing asked with a frown.

"There was no choice. The nuclear blast was stronger than expected. Li Yiyi said it might be because the tritium in the off-roader's battery participated in the fusion reaction during the explosion, increasing the yield," Li Xian explained.

"Is everyone alright?" Wang Jing asked, concerned.

"No one was hurt, but the radiation is far worse than anticipated, so everyone decided to enter the Hive ahead of schedule."

"Good."

By the time they finished speaking, Off-roader No. 2 had reached the entrance above the Hive. The group quickly disembarked and entered the Hive. The hundred-meter-thick earth above provided excellent shielding from the radiation.

As the elevator was about to stop, a fierce burst of gunfire echoed from below.

"Wang Lei, what's going on? What happened? Why is there gunfire?" Liu Peiqiang called out.

"Essex released all the zombies, but we're holding them off for now!" Wang Lei replied.

At that moment, the elevator reached the floor and halted.

"Be careful—there may be bio-weapons!" Wang Jing chambered a round as he spoke.

Li Xian and Liu Peiqiang nodded.

The elevator doors slid open. A zombie in work overalls lunged at them, but Liu Peiqiang shot its head to pieces in an instant.

"Go!" Without another word, Liu Peiqiang charged out, followed closely by Wang Jing and Li Xian. Zombies appeared along their path, but Liu Peiqiang and Li Xian dispatched them with such ease that Wang Jing never even had a chance to fire his weapon.

But just as they were about to rendezvous with Wang Lei and the others, three Lickers suddenly descended from the ceiling.

The trio’s overwhelming firepower quickly forced the Lickers back behind load-bearing columns and walls.

Seeing this, Wang Jing slung aside his QBZ47 assault rifle and hefted the Gatling gun from his back.

As he squeezed the trigger, the six barrels spun with a whir, unleashing a hail of bullets at the wall behind which the Lickers hid. The wall was soon riddled with finger-sized holes. The Lickers, struck repeatedly, howled in pain, but their cries were drowned out by the deafening gunfire.

Driven from their cover by the barrage, the Lickers burst into the open. In the blink of an eye, the red tongues of flame from the gun tore one of them in half. Its upper body crashed to the ground, spilling its innards—but even so, the half-bodied Licker, tongue lolling, shrieked as it crawled toward Wang Jing.

Out of ammunition, Wang Jing holstered his Gatling and drew his QBZ47, firing at the exposed head of the bisected Licker. The creature’s roar was abruptly silenced by his bullets.

Gazing at the ruined head, Wang Jing said coolly, "Hold on, I’m going back to reload." With that, he vanished.

Inside the quarantine chamber, two staff members stood ready to reload his weapon. Appearing instantly, Wang Jing unlatched the empty ammo box and replaced it with a full one. The Gatling’s barrels spun until a sharp click signaled the ammo was in place. The entire process took less than thirty seconds—rivaling the speed of an F1 pit stop.

Fully loaded, Wang Jing returned to the world of the Biochemical Crisis. "Alright, let’s finish this quickly—turn those other two into mincemeat," he said in a low voice.

"No problem!" Liu Peiqiang replied, raising the 50mm grenade launcher from his back and firing at the Lickers hiding behind the load-bearing wall.

The blast, equal to that of a hand grenade, flushed the Lickers from cover. The moment one poked its head out, Wang Jing’s Gatling shredded it into pulp. Seeing its companions fall, the last Licker tried to flee, but Li Xian, ever vigilant, shot it in the right thigh.

But for a Licker, such a wound was nothing—it pressed on toward the passage ahead. The Gatling’s fire followed, but its initial slowness allowed the Licker to escape being riddled with bullets.

"It got away," Wang Jing said regretfully.

"Let’s just meet up with Wang Lei and the others first," Li Xian suggested, heading toward the sound of gunfire.

Meanwhile, Wang Lei’s group had stabilized their position under heavy fire, just outside the central computer’s control room.

"Li Yiyi, is it done yet?" Wang Lei turned to Li Yiyi, who was frantically hacking the laser corridor.

"Almost! This thing is even smarter than Moss—I need a bit more time!" Li Yiyi muttered excitedly, fingers flying over the keyboard.

"You’d better hurry. The zombies are piling up," Wang Lei warned.

Just then, several Lickers appeared at the end of the corridor, crawling along the ceiling as they charged the expedition team.

"Quick, take out the Lickers on the ceiling first!" Alice, standing at the rear, shouted, pointing at the creatures.

In the next instant, dozens of muzzles blazed, cutting down the Lickers before they could breach the line.

But in that brief lull, the zombie horde surged forward, only to be beaten back once more by the expedition’s ferocious firepower. Yet after two intense volleys, their ammunition was nearly spent.

"Li Yiyi, how much longer?" Wang Lei asked, anxiety creeping into his voice.

"Almost there—just hold on a little longer!" Li Yiyi replied, eyes glued to the screen.

"Report: machine gun ammo exhausted!"

"Report: grenade launcher ammo exhausted!"

"Report: rifle ammo exhausted!"

One after another, the reports of depleted ammunition came in, making Wang Lei, the acting commander, grow tense.

"Conserve your ammo! As long as we hold out until the program is cracked, we win!" he rallied his team.