Zombie Academy

There were quite a few zombies at the academy entrance, more than twenty in all, but the warriors under Leon's command could already be considered seasoned veterans who had seen plenty of battle.

Under the cover of Flesh Camouflage, they snuck behind the zombies and worked together. In five minutes, they silently eliminated the twenty-odd zombies at the academy gates.

Leon held a short blade but did not join his subordinates in the killing. He gently pushed open the academy's half-closed gate and asked Professor Amrin, who was following beside him:

"Professor, which direction is the Shelter in?"

Amrin poked his head inside and glanced around. The sheer number of zombies throughout the academy startled him. He swallowed and pointed south, recalling:

"It should be that way."

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

"As long as we follow the gymnasium stairs down to Basement Level 2, we'll find the Shelter's entrance."

Leon nodded and gestured for everyone to follow him before leading the way into the Polytechnic Institute.

Georgia Institute of Technology truly lived up to its reputation as one of America's famous institutions of higher learning. The scenery inside the academy was unique and beautiful. Ancient, elegant stone-paved paths wound through the grounds, connecting one distinctive academic building after another. The roads were lined with lush vegetation and various flowers, plants, and trees, while the melodious cries of birds could occasionally be heard among the treetops.

A beautiful environment, springlike all year round—this place could only be described that way. Leon thought that studying and living here would surely be a delightful experience.

Unfortunately, most of the countless students who had worked tirelessly to enter this university of their dreams had already become mindless walking corpses.

They wandered tirelessly through the campus where they had once lived, desperately searching for any fresh flesh and blood.

There were a great many zombies here, over twenty thousand, but the academy's grounds were also enormous, spanning a full four hundred acres. Most of the zombies were confined inside various buildings and spread out. There actually weren't as many zombies on the academy's roads as one might have imagined.

Guided by Professor Amrin, the rescue team continued forward. They avoided the large groups of zombies and quickly dealt with the few stragglers they encountered.

They advanced in fits and starts without meeting any major obstacles. Fifteen minutes later, they finally made their way from the academy entrance to the Indoor Gymnasium in the south.

It was a large, modern building occupying more than one thousand square meters. It contained various indoor sports venues, and behind the building were large outdoor soccer, basketball, and football fields. Its luxurious facilities made it exceptionally conspicuous.

Unfortunately, Leon and the others could not enter it at that moment, because nearly a thousand zombies were packed densely around the gymnasium's entrance.

Leon frowned. He guessed that these zombies had most likely been drawn there by the students who had tried to enter the Shelter, or were the students after they had died and transformed.

Otherwise, they would not have gathered outside this gymnasium, which held no attraction whatsoever in the apocalypse.

With over a thousand zombies, Leon's current manpower and equipment were not enough to fight them head-on. They would have to lure them away by creating noise.

As Leon observed the surrounding environment, he pondered what could be used to make just the right amount of noise to draw the zombies away.

Several dozen seconds later, he noticed a small auxiliary parking lot roughly seven or eight hundred meters from the gymnasium. Around twenty or thirty vehicles were scattered sparsely inside it.

In an instant, he came up with a plan.

"You stay hidden here. Don't move around recklessly. I'll make some noise and lure the zombies away."

After everyone nodded and obeyed, Leon quickly reached the small parking lot.

Without wasting words, he drew his sharp short blade and used stealth to swiftly kill the six zombies still standing around in a daze.

After dealing with the zombies, Leon walked around the parking lot and surveyed it. He chose a School Bus with a relatively large fuel capacity. Using it as the center, he pushed several nearby Luxury Sports Cars, which were comparatively light, over beside it and placed them tightly together.

Leon then went to the rear of a Pickup Truck thirty meters away and used it as cover. From the pocket at the back of his waist, he took out a Grenade.

He pulled the safety pin, gauged the force, took aim, and threw it.

The Grenade traced an arc through the air and landed precisely beneath the bus, on the side near the fuel tank.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Five seconds later, a deafening boom erupted. Flames burst forth, followed by a series of enormous explosions.

Towering flames swallowed the several vehicles, filling the air with the crackle and pop of burning metal.

Looking at his handiwork and thinking about those Luxury Sports Cars, Leon chuckled inwardly. A ten-million-dollar firework—there probably weren't many people extravagant enough to put on one like this.

After admiring the billowing flames for several more seconds, he chose a path thick with vegetation, went around the zombies, and spent several minutes circling back to the meeting point where Merle and the others were waiting.

When the laborers saw their boss return safely, they all secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Merle pointed toward the gymnasium entrance, where a dozen or so zombies remained for some unknown reason.

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

"Only a dozen or so small fry remain."

"But we have to hurry. The zombies in other parts of the academy might also be drawn over by the noise."

Leon nodded and said without any unnecessary words:

"Fight our way in!"

The dozen or so zombies in front of the entrance were utterly incapable of resisting Leon and his warriors. In the blink of an eye, they were wiped out.

After entering the gymnasium, everyone relaxed slightly. Inside a building, even if there were many zombies, it was difficult for them to use their numerical advantage to surround and kill a group of experienced warriors.

After spending several more minutes clearing out some zombies inside the entrance, the rescue team finally gained a brief respite.

Leon removed his helmet, locked the gymnasium doors from the inside, then took a box of cigars from Glenn's backpack and handed it to Professor Amrin, signaling for the professor—who had yet to take part in the fighting—to light one for everyone.

Upon entering this place, Leon felt that the mission was already half complete. In an environment like this, his elite warriors could form up, with each person facing at most two or three zombies. With a powerhouse like him as well, ordinary zombies could not cause much trouble.

Things unfolded just as he had expected. The group killed zombies as they advanced, occasionally hiding in sealed rooms to rest for a while. After roughly twenty minutes, they finally fought their way from the lobby to the basement.

Under Amrin's guidance, Leon and the others discovered the Shelter's entrance in a room on Basement Level 2.

It was a highly technological steel door resembling a bank vault. At the center was a manual rotary airlock, and above it was a liquid Display Screen about the size of a notebook, still running.

Leon observed it for a while, then raised a hand toward Professor Amrin, signaling for him to go negotiate.

Amrin nodded, removed the helmet from his face, and took off the armor stained with flesh and blood, revealing a neat black suit underneath. He adjusted his tie, walked to the door, studied it for several seconds, and reached out to press a button on the screen.

Beep!

A soft sound came from the Display Screen.

Amrin swallowed and said in a clear voice:

"I'm Professor Amrin from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I've come to rescue you."

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