Ambush

"What... how could there be women here?!"

The group stared at the slender backs of several women sitting on the ground with their legs tucked inward, their bodies twitching slightly with the sound of sobbing.

They seemed unaware of the group of men approaching behind them. Under the harsh glare of the searchlights, their skin appeared deathly pale, with silk-like veins faintly visible beneath the surface!

"Are they living corpses or humans?! Why aren't they afraid of the strong light?!"

One mercenary, unable to bear the eerie atmosphere, prepared to step forward to investigate, but was stopped by Captain Gilbert.

"They are zombies. You can see that the skin of these women is ulcerating under the ultraviolet light, just at a much slower rate than other living corpses..."

Hearing the captain's explanation, the group noticed the anomaly as well.

The skin of these women, whose faces remained hidden, began to peel away under the intense light, revealing the scarlet muscle tissue beneath, and their sobbing grew increasingly shrill!

"Damn it! I don't care if they're human or monster! If they show up in a hellhole like this, even if they're drop-dead gorgeous, don't you dare let them go!"

The hot-tempered Philip couldn't be bothered to think so much. He snatched a submachine gun from a subordinate beside him and opened fire wildly at the backs of the women on the stairs...

"Ah!!!!"

In an instant, the alluring backs of those women were riddled with dense bullet holes, spraying viscous green blood while letting out even more piercing screams!

Finally, their heads twisted a grotesque 180 degrees to face behind them, revealing their true forms: eyes glowing with a bloody red light, rotting faces, and long tongues hanging down to their chests.

The urge to show mercy vanished in an instant after one look at them...

The attacked Zombie Fetuses immediately lunged down the stairs to strike, but the mercenaries had already aimed their weapons and pulled the triggers without hesitation!

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

Accompanied by a series of gunshots, the heads of the female zombies were blown into colanders, and they collapsed to the ground, leaving only their bodies twitching in a reflex-like manner.

"Alright, let's move on."

Gilbert issued the order again, though he felt a sense of unease. These female zombies were clearly showing some immunity to the searchlights, unlike other zombies that would hide from the light. Could this be a sign of their evolution?

After this interlude, the group began to step forward even more cautiously, fearing what new type of zombie monster might appear next.

The two mercenaries leading the way, responsible for carrying the searchlight, were just about to step over the headless female zombie corpses when they caught a glimpse of movement from the bodies beneath their feet!

When they widened their eyes to look again, there was no more movement. Could it be that they were just seeing things due to extreme tension?

"Hey! Why are you two dragging your feet? If you're tired, swap with someone else; don't waste the whole team's time!"

Captain Philip's booming voice startled the two mercenaries, prompting them to quickly pick up their pace. Just as they stepped over the corpses of the female living corpses:

Creak, creak~~

Suddenly! A harsh, grinding sound like teeth gnashing reached their ears, and those headless female zombies began to move again!

And this time, everyone saw it clearly!

"Retreat..."

Gilbert noticed the anomaly and prepared to order them to pull back, but it was already too late. A black shadow suddenly burst from beneath a headless corpse and lunged at the legs of one of the mercenaries with such speed that no one could tell exactly what it was!

Creak~~

Accompanied by a hair-raising, high-pitched giggle, the shadow pounced onto the mercenary's leg in the blink of an eye and began to tear into it frantically, drawing a heart-wrenching scream from the man!

At the same time, the group finally saw what the shadow was: a naked fetus, barely larger than a palm!!

The fetus still had an umbilical cord attached to its stomach, its skin as pale as the female living corpses, but its eyes were pitch black, with not a trace of white to be seen!

It let out a grinding sound while opening a massive mouth filled with sharp teeth to gnaw at the mercenary's ankle. In just two or three bites, it had savagely bitten off the man's entire right foot!

Struck by the sudden, excruciating pain of the dismemberment, the mercenary lost his balance and began to fall, and the Zombie Fetus took the opportunity to lunge for his throat, intending to bite through his windpipe!

Bang!!!

However, at that very moment, Captain Philip slammed his heavy, leather-booted right foot forward, kicking the creature away with intense disgust. It slammed into the wall with a dull thud, exploding into a square meter of gore plastered against the surface...

"That damn thing is disgusting! Where the hell did it crawl out from?!"

The burly Philip grabbed the wailing, legless mercenary with one hand, tossed him to the medic behind, and ordered another mercenary to take over carrying the searchlight.

Soon, the answer he sought presented itself once more.

The other female zombie corpses began to writhe!

No! It was their distended bellies dragging their own corpses along!!!

These Zombie Fetuses were indeed birthed by the female zombies!

Mating behavior between zombies was nothing new; many had seen it with their own eyes, though the scene was too repulsive for anyone to describe.

But the fact that female zombies retained their reproductive functions and could "give birth" to zombies was something none of them had ever heard of!

The group watched helplessly as the bellies of the female zombies grew larger and larger, the Zombie Fetuses within about to burst forth.

Bang! Bang! Bang!!!

Captain Gilbert immediately raised his high-powered anti-materiel sniper rifle and pulled the trigger repeatedly at their distended bellies, turning them into piles of mush before the Zombie Fetuses could be born...

"If you encounter this kind of anomaly again, don't just stand there like idiots. Open fire immediately!!"

He coldly tossed the anti-materiel rifle back to his subordinate, exhausted by the constant need to manage these situations.

In a place like this, there was no way anything normal could exist; in any case, firing immediately upon discovering an anomaly was never the wrong choice!

Just as Gilbert prepared to continue leading his men toward the upper floors, Xia Leng suddenly whipped his head around, his brows furrowed as he stared into the depths of the darkness.

"What's wrong? Did you see something?"

Gilbert noticed Xia Leng's unusual behavior and asked immediately; it was the first time he had seen Xia Leng display an expression other than indifference.

"This entire floor is filled with those zombies from just a moment ago!"

No sooner had Xia Leng finished speaking than a hair-raising woman's wail erupted throughout the entire tenth floor!

When they shone their searchlights back, hundreds of female zombies with distended bellies, which had been lurking on the floor, instantly bared their claws and surged madly toward the squad!

From the floor above, shrill cries also drew near, accompanied by the sound of dense, chaotic footsteps approaching their level!

The entire squad was caught in a pincer attack from above and below...