Chapter 23

Du Tianhao swung the baseball bat with a force no less powerful than a home run, smashing the heads of four zombies in quick succession. Xin Yan, who was standing by, immediately followed up, hacking at the buttocks of the zombies with her axe to collect the silver bone particles.

The car engine soon roared to life. The two did not linger, quickly getting into the car. Su Hao pressed the gas pedal at the right moment, driving the vehicle toward the western part of the city.

In the car, Du Tianhao picked up the metal tube containing the silver bone particles, examining it curiously. He asked, puzzled, "Can this really strengthen bones and make the user stronger?"

Su Hao raised his head, glanced at the rearview mirror, and said calmly, "Old Song is stronger than you, that's a fact."

Upon hearing this, Du Tianhao's bearded face turned slightly red.

He had always found it hard to understand the changes in Old Song and had tried various ways to compete with him. Just yesterday, the two had a hand strength contest—Du Tianhao was completely overpowered even when using both hands against Old Song's one.

He lost badly and thoroughly.

In addition to frustration and shock, he developed two extremely subtle psychological states.

Du Tianhao was taller and stronger than the average person. While he was curious about this strange evolutionary power, he also yearned for it more and more.

He wondered why Su Hao knew about these things. For this mysterious man, he instinctively felt a sense of awe, leading to obedience, and he resolutely and thoroughly followed every command issued by him.

...

About twenty minutes later, the car stopped by the roadside, and the three got out.

On the opposite side was a spacious gate decorated with red flags and torch sculptures. In the center of the gray stone beam, a prominent military emblem in red and yellow was embedded. On the bronze vertical sign next to it were the words "Kunming City Military Command."

The five supply boxes that Su Hao had transported from another timeline had all been recovered. Given the preciousness of the fungal hormones in the future world, most of the space in the supply boxes was used to transport heroin. After all, for him personally, thousands of bullets and the existing firearms were enough to last for a long time. However, the number of survivors in the small building was gradually increasing, including women and children.

Zombies would not remain at the "—1" stage forever. Their strength would continue to increase over time. To survive in the mouths of these terrifying monsters, more weapons were needed.

This was a large courtyard with an irregular "凹" shape, with the exit adjacent to the road. A dozen ragged zombies lay on the sidewalk with their eyes closed, whether dead or alive, it was hard to tell.

Perhaps due to the mutation caused by the virus, the activity frequency of zombies in summer was much lower than in winter. In the scorching heat, they often rested in dark corners. Even when sleeping, their sensory nerves remained sensitive. Once there was a sound or movement nearby, they would immediately open their eyes and search for living things that could be food.

The three walked quietly along the wall into the courtyard. What caught their eyes were six heavy military trucks scattered on the playground. Two of them had collided, with the cargo compartments and cabs completely deformed. There were several human skeletons lying on the tires and under the vehicles, making it impossible to determine whether they were civilians or soldiers.

After passing the office building and entering the barracks area, the open rooms were filled with severed limbs and bloodstains. Many bodies had bullet holes, and some were clearly eaten by zombies. The dead were all in military uniforms, some with "Patrol" arm badges.

Su Hao used his shoe to push aside the scattered bullet casings on the ground, standing in front of a corpse that had died against the wall for a long time. He frowned and said, "Someone has been here."

Xin Yan and Du Tianhao exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

It was clear that a battle had taken place here, but along the way, they found no guns or bullets, only bullet casings.

There must be other survivors in the city. The weapons on the dead soldiers might have been taken by them.

A look of disappointment appeared on Su Hao's face. He shifted his gaze from the dead body and scanned the surroundings, "Keep looking, try to collect useful things."

...

The three did not split up or go upstairs—strange environments always posed unknown dangers, and more people meant more safety. As for the weapons depot, they were usually located on the ground floor or in the basement.

Half an hour later, they had already left the barracks and entered the office area through a side door at the back of the building. Along the way, a few zombies that heard the noise came from the dark, but they were immediately killed by the baseball bat and rebar.

The corridor was well-lit.

"There is an independent power system here. We might find what we need."

Su Hao stood in the middle of the staircase connecting the second floor and the basement, looked up at the quiet upper floor, took out his M500 pistol, and walked down to the basement.

A headless soldier's corpse lay in the corridor. Du Tianhao stepped on the white, fat maggots wriggling around the corpse, walked to the end of the corridor, and grabbed the handle of the steel door with his thick, veined hand, trying to pull it open.

The door did not budge. The password input panel on the side wall glowed blue, with no wires or text labels around it.

Du Tianhao did not give up on the idea of using force to open the door. He inserted the handle of the baseball bat into the handle and tried to pry it open with all his might. His face turned red, his teeth almost ground to pieces, but the heavy steel door did not move an inch, seeming impenetrable.

"Phew... Phew! There must be something we need inside."

The towering giant finally gave up, sat on the ground with his bat, and panted heavily, staring at the door with a look of frustration, "I bet this place, which can only be opened with a password, is a treasure trove."

Su Hao watched quietly for a while, patted Xin Yan on the shoulder, and gestured for her to move aside, making room.

He stared at the steel door, slowly clenched his fists, and a sense of immense power filled his body. Suddenly, he sprang up from the ground with lightning speed, and his hard fist, carrying a force of over two tons, smashed into the door.

A first-stage enhanced person's strength was equivalent to twice that of a peak human. The full-force punch of boxing champion Tyson was about 250 kilograms. Su Hao's third-stage ability had long surpassed this limit. Although the amount of silver bone he had consumed had not yet reached the fourth stage, he could already deliver a punch with a force of two tons or more.

The intense impact speed caused a series of fine, dense explosions around his fist. The energy flowing between the bones and skin of his fist made it invincible. With a loud "bang," Du Tianhao and Xin Yan felt the entire building shake, the white coating on the walls instantly peeled off, and the steel door was immediately dented inward, with cracks appearing at the edges where it connected to the building, making a "creaking" sound.

Su Hao took a step back and continued to punch forward. The angle and force of his attacks did not change. He repeated this destructive action, and the corridor echoed with a grating sound. Du Tianhao was so frightened that he jumped up from the ground, and like Xin Yan, he covered his ears with both hands, staring in amazement as Su Hao, like a tank, repeatedly smashed into the steel door until the walls broke, revealing the metal bolts connecting the door. Finally, the heavy door, which had been repeatedly battered like a toy by a ten-thousand-ton hydraulic press, collapsed with a loud crash.

Looking at the large hole in the wall, Du Tianhao felt his throat dry—this terrifying destructive power was beyond imagination. If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed that a human could do this with bare hands, but rather that it belonged to a machine or a monster.

Thinking of this, he subconsciously touched the metal tube in his pocket containing the silver bone particles, swallowed hard, and his face showed an expression of great anticipation.

Xin Yan's face turned pale. She felt her heart racing and involuntarily took a few steps back, her eyes trembling as she looked at Su Hao.

Su Hao shook the dust off his hands and, through the dust and rubble, saw everything in the room.

This was a large weapons storage room. The wooden racks on the walls were neatly lined with automatic rifles, and the cabinets next to them contained 35mm grenade launchers. Near the inner side of the room were M99 heavy sniper rifles, two Type 95 squad machine guns, and boxes of explosives.

Su Hao kicked aside the abandoned steel door, picked up a stack of guns with his left hand, grabbed a box of 5.8mm bullets with his right hand, and tucked it under his arm. He turned to the two people who were still in shock and said, "Quick! Load these things onto the trucks outside."

...

Thanks to his fearsome strength, the military supplies in the warehouse were moved out in less than half an hour. Su Hao, like a destructive human train, used his fists to break into another ground-level storage room, where he found hundreds of boxes of military canned food and compressed rations.

Looking at these things, Su Hao rubbed his hands excitedly, clenched his fists, and swung them in the air.

He pointed to the two heavy trucks that had just arrived from the playground, parked at the side door of the building, and whose cargo compartments were already full. He said to Du Tianhao and Xin Yan, "You two take the trucks back and call a few more people to come. Try to move all the supplies here before dark."

Xin Yan nodded, a bit worried, and asked, "Will you be in danger staying here alone?"

This made Du Tianhao's eyes twitch. He found it funny but could not laugh. No matter how he looked at it, he could not imagine anyone or any zombie-like monster posing a threat to Su Hao. To put it bluntly—this guy was more like a monster than a monster.

Women, especially those trapped in love, had no rationality at all.

He smiled bitterly, shook his head, and walked to a fully loaded truck, getting into the driver's seat.

...

As the engine roar gradually faded away, the outside world became quiet again.

Su Hao wandered through the rooms in the building. He felt like a cockroach that had just tasted the deliciousness of oil, eager to get more. Greed filled his mind, and he swung his iron fist, using the most violent means to break open all the doors. The loud noise attracted nearby zombies, who approached the command post from different directions, but were killed one by one by Su Hao, who collected about fifty to sixty milligrams of silver bone particles.

Fortunately, he found some military waterproof sleeping bags, hundreds of new combat uniforms, military boots, water bottles, entrenching tools, and folding beds.

These items were sturdy and of higher quality than similar products in stores. There was a lot of space in the underground warehouse outside the city, which could be used for storage.

"Bang—"

Su Hao kicked open the door of an office on the third floor and walked in.

The room had few pieces of furniture, only a desk and chairs, and a bookshelf against the wall. In the corner were two pots of lush green plants. On a high-backed chair near the window sat a corpse in a colonel's uniform, his head tilted to one side, apparently male. The heat and the enclosed environment had caused the body to decompose severely. The swollen head was unrecognizable, with pus and rotten flesh constantly falling from the cheeks. He had no left hand, and the messy tear wounds on his shoulder indicated that the entire arm had been twisted off. There was a bullet hole around the right temple, with some blackening around it, and a "92" pistol lay on the ground next to the chair, reflecting a glaring metallic sheen.

Su Hao slowly examined the corpse—only close-range shots would leave burn marks on the skin. Clearly, the deceased did not want to be infected by the wound on his left arm and become a zombie, so he chose to commit suicide.

Picking up the gun, Su Hao skillfully opened the chamber, removed the magazine, and carefully checked to confirm it was usable. He inserted the pistol into the side pocket of his backpack, moved the high-backed chair with the corpse to one side, opened the drawers, and searched for useful items.

There were two 5.8mm bullets, and the rest were documents and books. In the deepest part of the drawer, Su Hao even found a box of unopened "Durex" condoms, with a prominent red seal— "For Family Planning Use Only."

He casually flipped through the documents, finding nothing particularly noteworthy. Disappointed, he threw the thick documents onto the table, but a black-covered notebook slipped out of the file.

It was a diary.

When he picked it up, a photo fell out—showing a soldier and a plump woman standing together, with a cute little boy in the middle.

Su Hao looked at the photo for a long time, gently placing it on the chest of the decomposed corpse. Then, he opened the diary.

"March 11, 2019: Just received the physical examination reports of the new recruits. This is their second retest, and the results have been reported to the Chengdu Military Region. Old Wang's grandson is among them. Last night at dinner, he repeatedly asked me to help keep this young man as a guard at the command post. I can't make the decision, so I'll have to ask others first. If it doesn't work, I'll write a report and let the higher-ups decide. After all, we are acquaintances, and it's hard to refuse."

"April 3, 2019: Old Hong from the tank regiment came to handle some business, and we had lunch together. This guy can really drink; two bottles of 'Wuliangye' were like water to him. Talking about the new recruits, even he is frustrated. I don't know what the higher-ups are thinking, but they have transferred two-thirds of the regiment to Xi'an and then supplemented a large number of new recruits who have received basic training at the Armored Forces Academy. Last week, three tanks collided during training, fortunately without any casualties."

"April 21, 2019: Spent a whole week dealing with new recruit issues. The higher-ups have taken away nearly half of the people, including many professional non-commissioned officers. The criteria for transferring people are strange; even veterans with only six months left to retirement are being taken. The 31st Division, 40th Division, and 4th Artillery Division... It's said that over 30,000 people from the entire group army have been transferred. I don't understand why the higher-ups don't want the top technical experts from the anti-aircraft regiments or the champions from the special forces competitions, but instead focus on those very ordinary people with average training results?"

"June 30, 2019: The physical examination forms of this year's new recruits have already reached 40,000. Unlike in the past, the results are no longer divided into excellent, qualified, and unqualified. Instead, they are directly stamped with 'A' or 'B.' I checked the previous records, and only 'A' class personnel are transferred to Xi'an or Chengdu. It seems the higher-ups don't value physical strength and ability, but only use physical examinations as a standard... It's very strange, and I can't understand it. What are the higher-ups planning? Some say they are forming a new unit, others say they are executing a secret mission. But it doesn't seem like it, and I am very worried."

"November 27, 2019: Old Wei from the field hospital invited me to dinner yesterday, saying he received orders to go to Shanxi. Not just him, but half of the personnel from the air force and army hospitals are being transferred. They also underwent physical examinations and received 'A' class evaluations. I didn't drink last night, my mind was very confused, and I lashed out at my wife for no reason when I got home, causing a mess in the house... How to put it! My physical examination result is 'B.' I don't know what it means or implies."

"January 3, 2020: Today is the farewell party. The guard company and the office staff, a total of forty-two people, are leaving. Their physical examination results are all 'A.' The canteen prepared a lot of dishes, and the atmosphere was lively. Maybe I'm being paranoid; this is just a normal personnel transfer. After all, it's a time of peace, and there are no signs of armed conflict or war. I must be overthinking it..."

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