Zombie Academy

There were quite a few zombies at the college entrance—over twenty of them—but Leon's warriors were already seasoned veterans.

Under the cover of Flesh Camouflage, they crept up behind the zombies, coordinated with each other, and spent five minutes silently taking out the twenty-plus zombies at the college gate.

Leon gripped a short blade in his hand, not joining his subordinates in the killing. He gently pushed open the half-closed college gate and asked Professor Amrin, who was beside him:

"Professor, which direction is the Shelter?"

Professor Amrin poked his head in to look around the college and was startled by the sheer number of zombies scattered throughout. He swallowed hard, pointed toward the southern part of the campus, and recalled:

"It should be over there."

"I've never actually been there, but according to the safety manual, the Shelter is located beneath the Indoor Gymnasium."

"As long as you follow the gym's stairs down to the second basement level, you'll find the Shelter's entrance."

Leon nodded, signaled for everyone to follow him, and led the way into the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The Georgia Institute of Technology truly lived up to its reputation as a renowned American university. The campus had a unique, beautiful, and charming landscape—stone-brick paths winding elegantly between uniquely designed academic buildings, lined with lush vegetation and various species of flowers, trees, and shrubs. Occasionally, the pleasant chirping of birds could be heard from the treetops.

A picturesque environment with spring-like weather year-round—that was the description for this place. Leon thought that studying and living here must be a truly enjoyable experience.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the diligent students who had worked tirelessly to gain admission to their dream university had turned into mindless living corpses.

They wandered tirelessly through the campus they once called home, desperately searching for any fresh flesh.

There were a lot of zombies here—over 20,000—but the campus was also enormous, covering 400 acres. Most zombies were trapped inside various buildings, spread out. On the roads within the campus, there weren't actually as many zombies as one might imagine.

Under Professor Amrin's guidance, the rescue squad moved forward, avoiding large groups of zombies and swiftly cooperating to take down isolated ones.

They advanced in fits and starts, encountering no major obstacles. After 15 minutes, they finally made it from the college gate to the southern Indoor Gymnasium.

This was a large modern building covering over a thousand square meters. It not only housed various indoor sports facilities but also featured a massive outdoor football field, basketball courts, and a rugby field at the back. The equipment was luxurious and eye-catching.

Unfortunately, Leon and his team couldn't enter just yet, because the gym's entrance was densely packed with nearly a thousand zombies.

Leon frowned, guessing that most of these zombies had been lured there by students trying to reach the Shelter, or had transformed after dying.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have gathered outside a gym that held no appeal in this apocalypse.

With nearly a thousand zombies, given his current manpower and equipment, a direct fight was out of the question. He'd have to use sound to lure them away.

Leon scanned the surroundings, thinking about what he could use to create enough noise to draw the zombies away just right.

After a few dozen seconds, he noticed a small parking lot about seven or eight hundred meters from the gym, with roughly twenty to thirty cars scattered sparsely inside.

In an instant, a plan formed in his mind.

"Stay hidden here and don't move around. I'll create noise to lure the zombies away."

Everyone nodded and said, "Yes, sir." Leon quickly reached the small parking lot.

Without wasting words, he pulled out his sharp short blade, used stealth, and swiftly took down six zombies still dazed in the lot.

After clearing the zombies, Leon circled the parking lot and picked a school bus with a decent fuel load. He centered his plan around it, then pushed a few lighter Luxury Sports Cars nearby until they were right next to it, packed together.

Then, Leon moved behind a Pickup Truck about 30 meters away, using it as cover. He pulled a Grenade from his back waist pocket.

He pulled the pin, estimated the force, aimed, and threw.

The Grenade arced through the air and landed precisely under the bus, near the fuel tank side.

Tick! Tick! Tick! Tick!

Five seconds later, a loud explosion erupted, followed by a chain of massive blasts.

The roaring flames engulfed the vehicles, crackling and popping as they burned.

Admiring his handiwork and thinking about those Luxury Sports Cars, Leon chuckled inwardly. A multi-million-dollar Fireworks display—not many people could afford to be that extravagant.

After savoring the billowing smoke and flames for a few more seconds, he chose a dense, overgrown path, circled around the zombies, and spent a few minutes making his way back to Merle and the group's rendezvous point.

Seeing their Boss return safely, the hired hands all breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Merle pointed at the gym entrance, where about a dozen zombies remained for some reason.

"Great, Boss. Most of those zombies were lured away by the noise."

"Only a dozen small fry left."

"But we need to hurry. Zombies from other parts of the campus might be drawn here by the sound too."

Leon nodded without extra words and said:

"Kill our way in!"

The dozen or so zombies at the entrance couldn't stand up to Leon and his warriors. In the blink of an eye, they were cleared out.

Once inside the gym, everyone relaxed a little. Inside a building, even with a large number of zombies, it was hard for them to use their numerical advantage to surround a group of experienced Warriors.

After a few more minutes clearing out some zombies near the entrance, the rescue squad finally got a brief rest.

Leon took off his helmet, locked the gym door from the inside, pulled a box of cigars from Glenn's backpack, and handed it to Professor Amrin. He gestured for the professor, who hadn't fought at all, to light one for each of them.

Now that they were inside, Leon felt the mission was half done. In this kind of space, his elite fighters could form up so that each person faced only two or three zombies at most. With him as a strong asset, ordinary zombies couldn't cause any trouble.

And it played out just as he expected. The group killed zombies as they moved, occasionally hiding in closed rooms to rest. After about 20 minutes, they fought their way from the main hall all the way to the basement.

Under Professor Amrin's guidance, Leon and the others found the Shelter's entrance in a room on the second basement level.

This was a steel door that looked like a bank vault, highly technological in design. In the center of the door was a manual rotary air valve, and above the valve sat a notebook-sized liquid crystal display that was currently running.

Leon observed for a moment, then raised a hand toward Professor Amrin, signaling him to step forward and negotiate.

Amrin nodded, removed his helmet, and peeled off his blood-soaked armor, revealing a neat black suit underneath. He adjusted his tie, walked up to the door, studied it for a few seconds, and pressed a button on the screen.

Beep!

A soft sound came from the display.

Amrin swallowed hard and spoke in a clear voice:

"I am Professor Amrin from the Department of Electronic Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I'm here to rescue you."

"If anyone is still here, please answer me."