Despair

The ultraviolet rays contained in the ultra-high-powered searchlights really did work against the living dead!

Wherever the lights shone, black smoke quickly rose from the rotting bodies of the living dead, accompanied by a sizzling sound.

Soon, the illuminated area would clear, as the living dead desperately crowded away from the light. None of them wanted even a sliver of ultraviolet light to touch them!

"So these monsters, who don't feel pain or fear death, are even scared of the little bit of ultraviolet light from a searchlight? Hahaha! This mission just got a whole lot easier!"

Philip was like a giant child, carrying the enormous searchlight and constantly swinging its beam around. He thoroughly enjoyed watching the living dead ahead of them writhe and leap about as the powerful light burned them...

"All right, quit playing around. Mount these searchlights on top of every armored vehicle. Have the tank lead the way with its light facing backward, and make sure every vehicle stays within the illuminated area. We're moving out."

Gilbert, who was much more mature and levelheaded, immediately issued orders. Once his men had everything ready, he ordered the whole convoy to continue forward.

At first, they'd thought that with armored vehicles, a few scattered living dead wouldn't pose any threat at all.

But they'd never imagined there would be such an absurd number of them, or that they'd even gather into massive hordes!

If they drove the armored vehicles straight through, the living dead might not be able to penetrate the tough armor, but piles of bodies would still block their way, trapping them forever in the endless tide...

The roar of the vehicles and tank started up again, but it still couldn't drown out the howling storm of the horde ahead.

However, with the searchlights clearing the way, a five-meter-wide "avenue of light" appeared on the road in front of them!

The ferocious living dead desperately avoided the searchlight beams, crowding together on either side. Any stragglers forcibly pushed into the light were crushed into a heap of flesh by the tank leading the way.

The scene was like a fire suddenly breaking out in a dense colony of ants. It brought them no light—instead, it spelled their doom.

"Whew, thank goodness you noticed that detail. Otherwise, we wouldn't even have made it onto the street. Now I finally understand why Parick sent our two teams. This mission really is beyond anything we imagined..."

Inside the vehicle, Gilbert breathed a small sigh of relief. Felt still wore a haughty expression, turning his head away rather than praise Xia Leng. His face seemed to say that he would have noticed the detail sooner or later—Xia Leng had just beaten him to it...

Xia Leng, however, remained on guard. He couldn't shake the feeling that things wouldn't be this easy. He had no idea whether the Living Corpse King had evolved enough to withstand ultraviolet light.

The five armored vehicles and one tank had all entered the Street of the Living Dead.

Awooo!!!

The surrounding horde let out shrill howls like a rising tide, easily drowning out the roar of the vehicles. Even inside the heavily armored vehicles, the howling filled everyone's ears.

If anyone stuck their head out of the vehicle right then, they would have seen the entire district transformed into a deep-red ocean. It was the living dead's crimson pupils; so many of them had gathered that their eyes formed a dim red glow, blanketing every corner.

Even when a few living dead occasionally broke through the deadly light and entered the narrow shadows behind the vehicles, where the beams couldn't reach, they still couldn't bite through the armored vehicles' thick steel. At most, they left a faint mark before the vehicles behind crushed them to pieces.

Just as everyone thought they would all make it to their destination in the center of the commercial district,

a driver in one of the armored vehicles at the rear of the convoy suddenly noticed something strange.

He saw some of the living dead attacking one another. Their bloodthirsty brutality was enough to make anyone watching tremble with fear!

For example, several of them would suddenly grab one of their companions and violently tear at it, quickly ripping it into pieces!

"What are they doing? Are they getting so worked up because they can't attack us...?"

Bang!

Suddenly, everyone inside the armored vehicle heard a muffled thud, as if something had struck its exterior. They all jolted in fright, wondering whether something had gone wrong with the vehicle.

Thankfully, it was still moving forward at the same speed. Maybe they'd crushed another living dead's head.

Bang! Bang!

Several more muffled thuds followed in quick succession. This time, no one could stay calm.

The driver immediately used the radio to contact the armored vehicle ahead, asking its occupants to look back through the observation window and see what was happening to them.

When the people inside the vehicle ahead looked back, their eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets!

Trembling, one of them grabbed the radio and shouted, "The living dead are hurling chunks of corpses at the searchlight, trying to cover the light with blood!!!"

The living dead that had killed their companions were tearing the bodies into pieces and hurling them at the searchlight mounted at the rear of the vehicle's roof!

The searchlights had been fitted with metal protective grilles to keep them from being damaged by impacts. There were also hundreds of bulbs inside each lamp, so even if an enemy shot some of them out, the lights would still work.

But no one had imagined that the living dead would brutally kill their own kind and hurl the corpses at the searchlights. Thick, dark-green blood, mixed with shattered organs, splattered across the glass of the lamps, layer after layer blocking the light!

The impacts continued one after another, until at last the powerful beam on the last armored vehicle was covered and no longer harmed the living dead.

Finally, the horde, which had been holding back for a long time, surged toward the last armored vehicle like it had discovered a pool of water in the desert!!

Boom!!!

Almost in the blink of an eye, the heavy armored vehicle was struck by hundreds of living dead and knocked onto its side with a crash!

Its wheels roared helplessly in the air as heavy blows hammered against the outside. The eight mercenaries inside felt as if their hearts were being pounded too. Every one of them stared in shock...

"D-don't...don't be afraid. These living dead can only attack with their bodies. They can't break through the armored vehicle's defenses. We'll wait for our comrades to rescue—"

The driver fought down his fear and tried to comfort everyone inside. But then he suddenly saw something that made him swallow the rest of his words.

Some of the living dead were holding road signs or metal pipes they'd pried loose from somewhere. With twisted faces, they climbed up to the bulletproof windshield and began smashing it wildly!

Their seemingly endless stamina and ferocious strength gradually cracked even the bulletproof glass.

On top of that, some of the mercenaries inside were already on the verge of breaking down in the terrifying situation. They grabbed machine guns and other firearms, aimed them at the windows, screamed, and pulled the triggers...

"Ahhhhh!!!!"

The screams and gunfire immediately mingled with the howls of the living dead outside. Then came the sound of the bulletproof glass shattering...

The first wave of living dead at the front of the vehicle was cut down by the bullets pouring out in a violent storm. But the next wave immediately climbed up and began forcing its way inside...

Finally, when several living dead shoved their way into the vehicle over the bodies of their companions, a brief scream rang out, then all the gunfire stopped. Only the wheels continued to whine helplessly in the air...