Unexpected Windfall

"Use your shield to block him! Hurry, don't use brute force. Tilt the shield, get the angle right, and push outward. Yes, now! Knock him down."

"Good, that's it."

"Spearmen, keep up. Pierce their heads."

"Hurry, don't hesitate!"

"See? It's very simple. That's right! Work together and search for the next target."

Atlanta, Maple Leaf Apartments.

The members of the Combat Team worked in groups of three. One person held a shield and a bayonet at the front of the formation, drawing the Zombies' attention and using the shield to control them. The other two held spears and guarded both sides of the shield-bearer, responsible for dealing damage with precise thrusts.

Under Leon's instruction, with the three of them working together in this formation, it was easy to deal with two or three Zombies at once.

At this moment, the nine members of the Combat Team had split into three groups and stood before the gates of the villas, forming a battle line as they began clearing the villas one by one.

Leon carried a crossbow in one hand, a machete at his waist, and a small speaker in the other.

Bang!

Using lockpicks to open the villa's lock, he kicked the gate open without hesitation, deliberately letting the tremendous noise echo through the villa. Then he placed the speaker in the corner beneath the gate, and passionate rock music poured from it.

Ignoring the music, he backed away several steps and watched the villa for movement. Only when several rotting figures staggered toward him from different corners did Leon turn and return to the rear of the battle line, crossbow in hand and ready to provide support at any moment.

During this training mission, he no longer joined the battle directly. Instead, he was responsible for drawing out the Zombies in the villas and honing his subordinates' combat strength.

There was no suspense in the battles. Each villa generally contained only four or five Zombies, with no more than ten at most. Facing nine human warriors clad in armor and wielding sharp weapons, they were completely incapable of making any waves.

Amid the sounds of shields smashing into corpses, spears piercing skulls, and the Zombies' gradually fading snarls, each villa could be cleared in a few minutes.

After clearing each villa, Leon would have his employees enter it to search every corner, eliminate any danger inside, and look for resources. They only stored the more valuable supplies, such as food, medicine, guns, and ammunition, in the pickup truck they had driven there.

The less important resources would later be collected by workers from the Logistics Department.

In this way, clearing each villa took about a dozen minutes. Three hours later, they were about to open the seventeenth villa.

Leon was surprised to discover that this villa had been locked from the inside. Not only that, but many wooden boards had been nailed across the inside of the gate for reinforcement, and curtains covered every window.

Seeing this, he made a guess.

He pounded on the gate and shouted in English as he did so:

"Is anyone there? Is anyone inside?"

"We're rescue workers from Atlanta. Please open the gate."

He shouted for three full minutes, but there was no response. Leon could not be bothered to overthink it and waste his strength. He stepped back several paces, tensed his muscles, and slowly circulated the strange energy within his body. With a low growl, his muscular body, over six feet tall, charged like an enraged Giant Bear and slammed heavily into the wooden gate.

Bang!

With a deafening crash, the villa's gate trembled slightly, and the windows beside it creaked. Leon carefully noticed tiny cracks appearing around the gate's hinges.

Feeling no discomfort, he backed away more than a dozen steps, retreating to the road outside the villa. Under the other subordinates' monster-like gazes, he growled and gathered his strength again. His feet pounded the ground as he charged like a furious rhinoceros and smashed into the villa's gate.

Crack!

Amid the sound of splintering wood, half of the villa's gate was knocked free from its hinges. It fell crookedly to one side, revealing the dim living room beyond.

Leon rubbed his somewhat painful shoulder, grabbed the detached half of the gate, tore it off completely, and tossed it onto the lawn outside the villa.

He waved to his subordinates, signaling them to follow. Then he took the lead, kicked down the wooden boards nailed behind the gate several times, and entered the living room.

As soon as he entered, Leon frowned and covered his nose and mouth. A nauseating stench filled the air. It was not the fishy stink of decay, but rather the foul odor of stale air and excrement that had fermented after going uncleaned for a long time.

Leon's thoughts shifted, and his movements stopped. Covering his nose and mouth, he quickly backed out of the living room.

I'm the boss. This kind of dirty, exhausting work shouldn't be mine. I don't want to spend more than ten minutes in this stench.

After leaving the villa, he waved to his subordinates outside the door.

"There should be living people in here. Go search the place."

After thinking for a moment, he added:

"Remember to open the windows inside and air the place out."

With that, he removed his copper-wire gloves, found a ventilated spot, and sat down. He took a lighter and a cigar from the leather pouch at his lower back, lit one for himself, and tried to suppress the nausea from earlier.

Six or seven minutes later, Leon saw Merle approaching with a pale-faced expression, carrying a thin, middle-aged white man over his shoulder. Ben and Aji also looked grim, each leading a timid, pale-faced child behind him.

Haha, the stench got to you, didn't it? Being a subordinate isn't easy.

Seeing the unconscious middle-aged white man and the two children, both under eight years old, Leon roughly understood why no one had responded no matter how long he had called.

One was a girl of around eight, and the other was a boy of around five. They had round eyes, brown hair, fair skin, and extremely adorable faces.

He turned and took several large pieces of chocolate and some bottled drinks from the pickup truck where they stored their supplies.

He patted their heads, thoughtfully tore open the packaging for them, and stuffed the high-energy food into their hands.

The two children timidly stared at Leon for quite some time. Then they glanced back at their father, who was unconscious on the ground, before slowly reaching out to accept the food Leon offered them.

Then they eagerly began eating and drinking in huge gulps.

Leon pointed at the man lying flat on the lawn and said:

"Wake him up first."

Merle spat disdainfully to the side. He looked down on men like this, who locked themselves inside their houses and would rather starve to death than go outside and fight. Roughly pulling a canteen from his belt, he splashed its contents over the man's face.

"Cough! Cough! Cough!"

After seven or eight seconds, the middle-aged man weakly coughed several times. He opened his eyes groggily and looked around, but even with both hands braced against the ground, he could not lift his body.

He raised his head and first looked at Leon and the others. Then he saw the children beside Leon eating food, and tears of relief welled in his eyes.

Leon took a puff of his cigar as he looked at the man, tossed him a packet of chocolate, and asked flatly:

"Who are you, and why were you hiding in the house?"

The man picked up the chocolate, tore open the wrapper, and stuffed several pieces into his mouth in a few ravenous bites. In a weak voice, he said, "I'm Professor Amrin of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Chief Engineering Consultant for Delta Air Lines, a senior electronics engineer, and a senior software engineer."

"This summer, I originally planned to bring my two children to vacation in my hometown of Atlanta. But I never imagined that we would encounter a disaster like this."

"I locked the three of us in the villa's basement and struggled to survive on the limited supplies inside. I hoped to wait for rescue, but even after holding out for more than thirty days, no one came to save us."

"I don't know how many days ago it was, but I gave the last of the water and food to the children. I could no longer hold on and passed out."

"Until you rescued me."

After hearing the middle-aged man list all his titles, Leon's eyes lit up. Although the man looked weak and incapable of working or fighting, he was indeed a highly educated intellectual with knowledge and skills.

Taking him in would definitely be worth it.

He cleared his throat and said in a deep voice:

"Mr. Amrin, we aren't rescue workers. You've been locked inside the house for too long and don't know what's happening outside."

"The times have changed. There's no army or government left anymore."

"I'm the manager of Umbrella Corporation. Would you like to hear about Umbrella Corporation?"