Refuge

This was already the fifth day since Lu Bai had arrived in this world.

Everywhere he looked, there were dense, tangled trees, most of them not particularly tall, their branches crooked and askew.

Beneath his feet was a yellow dirt path barely wide enough for one person—truth be told, it could hardly be called a road; it was more like a passage formed by occasional foot traffic.

It was nothing short of a standard desolate wilderness.

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves, spilling onto withered and rotting stumps, a scene that offered no comfort, only stirring a sense of irritation.

As for why Lu Bai had come to this place, that had to start with the location information announced an hour ago.

He had been using that location data to track down Deathmatch Participants all along. Though the efficiency wasn't great, he had no better method.

However, from the last few rounds of location updates, he noticed something rather odd.

Quite a few Deathmatch Participants seemed to be converging toward a certain spot.

If he hadn't been keeping a close eye on the location data, he might have missed it entirely.

That was very strange.

What was drawing the Deathmatch Participants to that place?

Once he reached that conclusion, there was nothing more to say.

Even if there was nothing there, just seeing over thirty red dots already gathered in that area was enough to make Lu Bai want to go check it out.

The only problem was, he was unfamiliar with this city, and he had forgotten to grab a map from the Department Store.

So, following the principle that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, he headed straight for that area.

Who would have thought that after leaving the urban district, the surroundings would grow more and more desolate, without even a glimpse of a suburban town?

"Rough estimate, about five or six kilometers in a straight line—behind this mountain, maybe?"

Lu Bai looked up at the massive mountain before him, licking his somewhat dry lips.

On flat ground, even fifty or sixty kilometers wouldn't be much of a problem for Lu Bai at full speed, let alone five or six.

But mountain paths were a different story.

Anyone who has trekked through mountain forests knows that such a short distance could take an entire day to cover.

Not to mention the risk of slipping and falling along the way—that could be fatal.

Fortunately, Lu Bai's current physical condition was no longer that of an ordinary person. If he picked up the pace, he should be able to make it before dark.

Of course, walking along such sparsely traveled paths wasn't without its benefits—at least he didn't have to worry about zombies suddenly jumping out.

Lu Bai continued deeper into the forest along the narrow trail, the surrounding environment growing colder and quieter.

When he finally reached the mountaintop, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

In fact, once he stood at the summit, he didn't even need to look far. As long as his eyesight was fine, he could tell what was going on at the place that had attracted so many Deathmatch Participants.

Nestled in the gap between two large mountains was a military base of enormous size.

It could even be called a fortress without exaggeration.

A road stretched out from the base's main gate, and a tunnel bored straight through the mountain, connecting the base to the outside world.

On the watchtowers surrounding the base, Fully armed Soldiers stood guard.

Dozens of Soldiers were stationed outside the tightly shut main gate.

And in front of those Soldiers, at least a thousand Civilians were lined up, waiting for inspection—apparently, they would only be allowed into the military base after being confirmed uninfected.

As for the training grounds inside the base, they were covered in a stretch of Military Tents.

Looking down from above, the sight was quite spectacular.

During this time, vehicles could occasionally be seen emerging from the tunnel, presumably Survivors who had fled the city.

Lu Bai was a bit dumbfounded. After seeing this scene, he vaguely recalled hearing something about it on the radio.

[Residents in the surrounding area, please ensure your own safety and head to the suburban shelter as soon as possible...]

But because of his past life's zombie movies, he hadn't taken it seriously.

So you guys really can take shelter here, huh.

"Stereotypes are a bad thing."

If anything, this situation was actually the normal course of events.

Movies and shows need to create an apocalyptic atmosphere to highlight the protagonists' struggle for survival, but reality doesn't need that.

The truth is, as long as the military gets through the initial chaos, even with just a hundred or two hundred men, clearing out a city of several hundred thousand isn't all that difficult.

Ever since the Maxim gun stepped onto the stage of history, traditional mass charges had lost their meaning.

TV and games downplay the lethality of firearms, and flesh and blood is far more fragile than people imagine.

You have to understand that the damage a 7.62mm bullet inflicts on the human body is completely excessive.

It hits the body, leaves a small hole at the entry point, and then blows a wound larger than a fist at the exit.

It's no exaggeration to say that no known carbon-based life form, dinosaurs included, can withstand a 7.62mm round and come out unscathed.

Conventional heavy machine guns fire 12.7mm and 14.5mm caliber rounds—basically torso separators for humans.

Zombies, even the absurdly tough ones Lu Bai had seen, still fell within the category of carbon-based lifeforms.

The military might actually have an easier time facing a zombie horde than an equal number of humans.

After all, zombies wouldn't turn and run.

But this situation wasn't exactly great for Lu Bai.

He observed from the mountaintop for a while, roughly estimating that this military base now held tens of thousands of people.

Tossing a few dozen Deathmatch Participants in there wouldn't even make a splash.

More importantly, even if Lu Bai managed to pick out the Deathmatch Participants mixed in among them, he couldn't exactly make a move openly.

But since he was already here...

He pressed his temple with some frustration, hesitated for a moment, then still headed down the mountain path toward the military base.

"Halt!"

On the wall, a soldier in camouflage raised his rifle, aiming at Lu Bai.

The side wall of the military base stood a full ten meters high, and its reinforced concrete construction left no doubt about its sturdiness.

After a quick glance that spotted no obvious wounds on Lu Bai, the soldier pointed his muzzle toward the gate. "Get in line for inspection."

"Alright."

Lu Bai nodded obediently, though he'd originally planned to just climb over the wall.

He thought to himself: Even this remote spot has guards. Looks like this base has more manpower than I expected. With defenses this strong, probably no Deathmatch Participant would dare kill anyone here. In a way, that makes it a safe zone?

Lu Bai mused as he blended into the crowd.

After all, there were still over a thousand civilians waiting in line outside the gate for inspection, so he wouldn't stand out by joining them.

Two rows of temporary inspection tents split the queue into two lines.

With the occasional need to maintain order, the line's progress was anything but fast.

Lu Bai looked around. The people near him all seemed to be in poor mental state, and many even had bloodstains on their clothes.

It was clear that everyone who'd managed to make it here alive had been through a lot.