Mercenaries vs. Zombies

Time rewinds slightly, to a few minutes ago.

When Captain Ruan and Feng Ge's group arrived outside the cabin where Chu Xiaoxiao and the others were being held, two mercenaries were in the process of removing their cutting tools, while four fierce-looking mercenaries stood guard on either side, holding their guns with extreme vigilance.

"Boss!" Seeing their leader approach, the mercenaries cleared a path.

Captain Ruan nodded, glanced at the locked door and the cutting marks, then turned his head and said to one of his underlings, "Do it!"

The man took the order, pulled two tear gas grenades from his waist, and prepared to step forward and kick open the large hole that had been cut down to just a sliver of metal.

However, just at that moment, "Boom!" After a deafening roar, the ship's hull shook violently as if hit by an earthquake.

All the mercenaries were sent stumbling by this sudden turn of events; Feng Ge even slammed his face against the wall, resulting in a nosebleed and a miserable howl of pain.

Once the shaking subsided slightly, Captain Ruan climbed up from the floor in a disheveled state and barked, "What's going on? What happened?!"

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to answer the question.

"A Ping, take two men and go out to see what's happening!" Captain Ruan realized the situation and ordered with a dark face.

With a disturbance like this, something must have gone wrong outside!

"Yes, Boss!" The underling named A Ping replied and hurried out with two others.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

However, before they had gone very far, a massive roar of artillery fire erupted from outside, followed by the constant shaking of the ship and the sounds of intense gunfire.

Captain Ruan, who had extensive battlefield experience, saw his expression change. This is... artillery fire?!

How could there be such a density of artillery fire in this sea environment? A conservative estimate would be no less than twenty cannons firing simultaneously at the yacht! But how could this be possible?

The continuous bombardment lasted for a full minute or so before gradually subsiding. Fortunately, the area they were in did not seem to have been hit, but everyone remained shaken.

"Buzz!" The overhead lights flickered and then went out completely. The emergency lights were activated, as the yacht's electrical system had finally suffered irreparable damage under such a barrage.

Only dim light remained in the corridor. The sudden darkness caused another stir among the mercenaries, as no one knew what had happened outside.

However, these men were elite veterans, and they quickly recovered from the brief chaos. Each began to secure advantageous positions, focusing their full attention on the passage they had come from while waiting for their leader's instructions.

Feng Ge clutched his nose and looked at Captain Ruan in a panic: "Cap-tain Ruan?"

"Quiet!" Captain Ruan glared viciously at Feng Ge.

The artillery fire outside had stopped, but strangely, sporadic explosions could still be heard from time to time. Could it be grenades?

"Captain! Captain! Help!" At this moment, a mercenary came stumbling over from the outer passage. He was covered in smoke and clearly suffering from serious injuries, but his face held a look of terror—the expression of someone on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"Lao Liu?!" When Captain Ruan saw who it was, he rushed forward and grabbed him by the collar.

"What the hell happened outside?! How are the brothers?"

"Ghost... ghost ship! There's a ghost ship! Ah! Help, don't come over! Don't come over!" The mercenary named Lao Liu was clearly traumatized, his mouth rambling incoherently.

"Slap!" Captain Ruan gave Lao Liu a ruthless slap.

"Calm down and tell me! What exactly happened outside?" Captain Ruan roared with a ferocious expression.

Seeming to regain some sanity from the slap, Lao Liu stammered, "It... it's a ghost ship! It... it rammed into us! It... it's a wooden sailing ship, but its body is as hard as iron; our rocket launchers had no effect on it.

And... and it has so many cannons! So many cannons!

Finally, there was a huge group of little ghosts! The little ghosts explode! They chased us while crying, crying and chasing, and when they caught up, they self-destructed. It was too terrifying! It was just too terrifying! The brothers... the brothers are all dead!"

The corridor fell into a deathly silence.

Captain Ruan slowly released Lao Liu, who had gone limp and was still muttering about the "ghost ship." He looked around, and everyone's eyes revealed a look of fear.

Feng Ge was even worse off, his legs trembling. He regretted his actions deeply; why on earth did he have to come and join in on this? I'm such a fool, really!

Captain Ruan's face was as dark as water. He had thought this would be a simple kidnapping mission, but now it appeared that his men outside had likely been wiped out. His mercenary group was left with fewer than ten people; such a loss was unprecedented.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glare fiercely at the shivering Feng Ge.

"Hmph! A ghost ship? Playing god! I don't believe there are really ghost ships in this world! Even if there are, I'll send it back to hell!

Assign two men to stay behind and watch the target. Everyone else, search outward slowly. If you encounter anything wrong, don't bother with warnings—open fire immediately!"

The leader's steady voice put the mercenaries at ease. They looked at each other, and six or seven mercenaries began to move in alternating cover as ordered. They turned on their tactical flashlights and began to search outward slowly, led by the underling named A Ping.

By this time, the sporadic explosions and screams outside had completely vanished, and the entire yacht was terrifyingly quiet.

The only sounds in the corridor were the heavy breathing of the mercenaries and their light footsteps.

"Click!" A Ping's foot stepped on something soft, and he instantly froze.

Cold sweat dripping, he slowly aimed his flashlight at his feet, only to find that he had stepped on a silver ribbon. He let out a heavy sigh of relief, cursed himself for being paranoid, and refocused his attention on the front.

However, he had no idea that after he passed, that silver ribbon instantly turned into a liquid metal-like fluid and silently flowed along the dark corner of the wall, moving slowly toward the depths of the corridor.

"A Ping, how's the situation?" After walking for a while, Captain Ruan's voice came through the radio on his shoulder.

With the speedboat outside destroyed by Nie Yun, the communication jamming device was also damaged, and communication equipment could now be used normally.

"Report, Captain, everything is normal so far!" A Ping replied.

"Good, don't let your guard down, keep searching!"

"Yes!"

A Ping ended the call and continued moving forward.

They cautiously rounded a corner, their tactical flashlights immediately sweeping the new corridor, wary of any enemies that might suddenly appear.

However, all the mercenaries suddenly froze in their tracks.

It wasn't because an enemy had appeared, but because a row of three tiny figures stood abruptly in the corridor about ten meters ahead.

Under the beam of the flashlights, they could see clearly that these three small figures were toy robots, though their designs were extremely bizarre; they were entirely green, and their faces were modeled after zombies, with protruding eyeballs and large buckteeth that were particularly conspicuous, making them feel exceptionally eerie in this environment.

One of the three zombie robots held a small door panel in its hand, another had an old-fashioned pot lid on its head, and the third was wrapped up like a mummy, with all the robots carrying a round, bulky object on their backs.

"W-what is this thing!?" A Ping gripped his submachine gun tightly, aiming it at them, and stammered.

"Mercenaries vs. Zombies, game start!"

Just then, the three little robot figures spoke in unison with an eerie, metallic voice, then began to march forward in perfect unison, using a limping, shuffling zombie gait!

Mercenaries vs. Zombies?!

A Ping understood Chinese, and unfortunately, he had played a game called Plants vs. Zombies! His eyes widened, and a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart...