Apocalyptic Crazy Kitty

Chapter 37: A Thousand Suns Competing for Glory

Fire, smoke, light, and death—that was all the group could sense within that mushroom cloud! “It’s a nuclear bomb… it’s actually a nuclear bomb… that’s at least a 100,000-metric-ton yield!” Bai Biao shouted from the side, his eyes wide. “And it was a ground-burst!” The ruins of Qingcheng! Just then, a piercing whistling sound cut through the sky once more. A stubby missile, trailing a blue trail of flame, streaked across the night sky and swiftly plunged toward the ruins of Qingcheng in the distance. In the next instant, a blinding flash illuminated the night sky. The nuclear flash instantly lit up the wilderness within a radius of hundreds of kilometers—including the small town where Zuo Chen and his companions were located—as if day and night had reversed and the sky had turned upside down! A second nuclear bomb! “The sky is ablaze with wondrous lights, as if the Holy Spirit were displaying its might; only a thousand Suns could rival its brilliance,” Zuo Chen murmured. These lines, taken from the Indian epic *The Bhagavad Gita*, are among the most widely cited descriptions of a nuclear explosion. “Emotional state detected: Awe. Play background music: ‘Nuclear.’ ” The system’s voice echoed in Zuo Chen’s mind. The air-shock speakers activated once more, and a desolate, tragic melody filled the air, silencing everyone “I’m nuclear (I am a nuclear bomb) i'nbsp;hispers in the air tell the tales (whispers in the wind) of a life that’s gone (telling of a life that has vanished) Desolation, devastation (Desolation, devastation) When it all went wrong (What did we do to make everything irreversible? ) Jiang Hailong, tears streaming down his face, choked out, “Why? Why did it have to come to this…” He was a native of Qingcheng City himself, having grown up by the sea since childhood, and held a deep attachment to his hometown. Yet now he realized that this time, Qingcheng was truly finished. Originally, even if Qingcheng had become a ruin overrun by zombies, as long as human forces gradually grew stronger, there would still be a day when they could fight back and reclaim it. But now, those two nuclear bombs had completely destroyed that possibility. Ten-kiloton nuclear bombs, detonated on impact—it was easy to imagine that after the explosion, the area had become a radioactive hell! Even if they were able to retake this area one day, it would take decades, or even centuries, just for the radiation to dissipate. The entire Qingcheng region has been utterly destroyed… Several of the humans now had reddened eyes, while others were openly weeping. This was a scene no one wanted to witness. Zuo Chen furrowed his brow slightly, staring intently at the massive mushroom cloud that was still billowing upward, his mind filled with confusion. It didn’t make sense. The Qingcheng Ruins had been under their control for so many years. Although that “Qing Abyss” was powerful, it had always remained within its own territory, never leaving, and had never actively attacked humans. So why had humans suddenly launched two nuclear bombs at the Qingcheng Ruins? After all, the Qingcheng Ruins are located in the southeastern corner of the peninsula, extremely far from current human territories—there’s simply no reason for this. Clearly, there must be something going on here that he wasn’t aware of. Mo Xiaoqing hesitated for a moment, then said cautiously, “Before we set out this time… I saw some people in hazmat suits passing by at the base. I think I heard them mention something about… ‘Beifeng’…” “The Beifeng-3 medium-range strategic missile?” Bai Biao whipped his head around, his face a picture of shock. “Judging by the exhaust plumes from earlier, the launch vehicles for those two nuclear bombs must have been Beifeng medium-range strategic missiles!” He didn’t voice the rest of his thoughts, but everyone else had already figured it out. Could all this be the work of the Divine Presence Organization? Was this mysterious organization so powerful that it had actually gained control of nuclear warheads? Just how deeply had they infiltrated the entire surviving human society!? “Where is your base, meow?” Zuo Chen asked. The base where Mo Xiaoqing was located—even if it wasn’t the headquarters—was undoubtedly a branch of the Divine Presence Organization that held an extremely high status within the group. Mo Xiaoqing froze for a moment, then said with an awkward expression, “All I know is that it’s in the mountains south of Jicheng Fortress… I always travel to and from the base with my squad on a flying vehicle or by car, so I have no idea how to get there on foot… I… I’ve always been terrible with directions…” Her voice trailed off as she spoke the last few words, glancing warily at Zuo Chen, unsure if the Great King would scold her. Zuo Chen ignored her and suddenly fixed his gaze on a clearing in the distant forest. “What’s that?” Erzi and the others also noticed something unusual there. Although it was nighttime, the fireball from the nuclear explosion, combined with the moonlight, allowed them to see far into the distance. It seemed as though something was moving constantly over there. Bai Biao pulled a pair of military binoculars from his backpack and looked toward the clearing several kilometers away, then suddenly turned pale with shock. “Zombies… lots of zombies!” He immediately held the binoculars up to Zuo Chen’s eyes. There, deep within the dense forest, hordes of zombies were marching toward them. They weren’t moving fast, but their numbers were staggering—a veritable tidal wave. As far as the eye could see, there were nearly tens of thousands of them, and more kept pouring in from behind! A zombie horde—what lay before them was a terrifying zombie horde! The group exchanged glances, terror evident in their eyes. It wouldn’t be long before this tide of zombies swept through their town. With so many zombies appearing all at once, they would be in grave danger—even with Zuo Chen by their side. “These zombies must all be from the ruins of Qingcheng. Judging by their appearance, they were all driven here by the nuclear explosion…” Erzi said, swallowing hard. There were simply too many of them. Zuo Chen licked his claw and said, “Let’s get out of here immediately and take shelter in Weicheng.” Ordinary zombies wouldn’t be a problem, but in a zombie horde this large—comprising tens of thousands—there were bound to be mutated zombies. Moreover, these tens of thousands of zombies were merely the vanguard. The entire Qingcheng region was home to nearly several million zombies. After the nuclear blast, the survivors would inevitably form a surging tide of the undead, sweeping up every zombie in their path along the way. By then, it would be far beyond their ability to withstand. On the other hand, once they entered the ruins of Weicheng, the deterrent of the Weizhi Abyss might slow the tide of the undead for a while. The group quickly gathered their belongings and began sprinting toward Weicheng. Behind them, they could already hear the collective howls of countless zombies and the pounding of their frantic footsteps—combined, it sounded like a ceaseless series of muffled thunderclaps rolling in from the distant horizon. Immediately afterward, a gale surged from behind them, howling past like a tidal wave and blowing off into the distance, sweeping up a cloud of broken stones and rubble in its wake and leaving the ground covered in sand and debris. Everyone knew this was the shockwave from a nuclear explosion. Because they were so far away, by the time the shockwave reached them, its intensity had diminished to that of a fierce wind. One could only imagine just how terrifying the destructive power at the epicenter must have been; they could even picture in their minds the scene of countless zombies being torn to pieces and reduced to ashes by the shockwave. Once again, more than a dozen fighter jets flew across the sky, heading toward Qingcheng—the site of the nuclear explosion—causing the group to glance back as they ran. Just as the formation of fighter jets passed over their small town, dark shadows shot up into the sky at high speed from the dense forest in the distance. Unidentified flying objects also appeared in the night sky; astonishingly, two fighter jets were blown up into fireballs mid-air, and the remaining jets immediately turned around and fled. The cat and the eight people paid no further attention to anything else and began sprinting toward the ruins of Weicheng. Half an hour after they left, a zombie burst out of the dense forest beside the small town, sprinting at full speed. A few seconds later, hordes of zombies surged out of the forest like a raging flood, racing toward the ruins of Weicheng!