Low murmurs of the dead

The Jackal's warning cut through the horde's roars-"Watch out! There are living people playing dead in the horde!"

-it struck Zhao Jinghong's ears like a sledgehammer and instantly answered all her questions.

Living people pretending to be corpses!

Lynn had mentioned that name: The Whisperers.

They wore walker skins, mingled with walkers, imitated them, and could even herd them.

They turned walkers into weapons and disguises.

The impostor she had pinned through with her spear, this horde that ignored the living and moved with a clear objective... everything fit.

An icy fury exploded in Zhao Jinghong's chest.

This was no accident. People had caused this.

An enemy more insidious and more deadly than Vulture's Claw.

"Understood!"

Zhao Jinghong shouted toward The Jackal.

Nothing more needed to be said. They both understood.

The situation had gotten worse.

The horde was still there, but the Whisperers hidden inside it were the deadliest barbs, and there might be more than one.

Zhao Jinghong's gaze turned cold, and she immediately changed tactics.

She stopped trying to hold back the horde by killing ordinary walkers (there was no stopping it anyway) and focused on just two things:

Stay alive, eliminate threats: use her spear's reach to prioritize nearby walkers trying to break through her defenses (especially the fast ones), keep a close eye on every "corpse" underfoot and around her, and guard against ambushes from impostors.

Find them, kill them: she strained her senses to their limits, not just looking and listening but trying even harder to catch any signs of living people within the horde-unusual heartbeats, breathing, tensing muscles, even the sound of commands.

Awakening of Insects whirled in her hands.

The spearhead thrust out with precision, punching through the forehead of a lunging fast walker.

The shaft swept savagely across, smashing two walkers that had come too close in two.

The butt parried, knocking aside a rotten hand reaching from the flank.

Her movements were fast and vicious, but she paid more attention to maintaining space around herself, keeping her movements contained and leaving no opening for an impostor's surprise attack.

Every swing of her spear carried the utmost vigilance, her eyes sweeping over every fallen or swaying "corpse" around her.

In the shadows on the office building's top floor, The Jackal's DMR gave another low, muffled report.

Bang! Splat!

The head of a "fast walker" creeping up through Zhao Jinghong's rear-side blind spot with unnaturally quick movements burst apart.

Bang!

Another shot. The bullet precisely shattered the knee of a walker trying to circle around a dead tree to flank her, temporarily blocking that direction.

The Jackal moved his muzzle calmly.

He was not only clearing nearby threats for Zhao Jinghong but also shutting down possible avenues of ambush for the impostors.

Within the green view of his night vision, he carefully examined every suspicious target in the horde-those moving stiffly but purposefully, those playing "dead" too naturally, or those always staying in a particular spot.

He had yet to find another impostor, but danger lurked everywhere in this chaotic tide of corpses.

Even suppressed, the gunshots remained clearly audible in the deathly still wilderness night, especially to the highly vigilant base.

At the zoo base, on the southeastern corner of the wall.

At the first muffled report, the sentry in the watchtower abruptly straightened, staring nervously into the darkness south-southeast.

"Gunfire? Suppressed? Over there... that's Zhao Jinghong's position!"

The sentry's voice came over the internal comms, laced with alarm and uncertainty.

Then came a second shot, and a third.

Faint, but rhythmic. Clearly an exchange of fire.

The atmosphere atop the wall instantly tightened.

No alarm sounded (for fear of attracting more walkers), but word spread rapidly.

"Southeast! Contact! Suppressed gunfire!"

Davis's voice rang out over the command channel, his orders crisp. "All sentries, eyes southeast! Watchtower, step up observation! Defense teams, get into position! Noncombatants, fall back!"

Lynn appeared on the wall almost immediately, his sharp gaze fixed on the darkness where the shots had come from.

Old Joey and Davis followed, their expressions grave.

"That's The Jackal's gun!"

The experienced Davis recognized it immediately. "The direction's right! That newcomer, Zhao Jinghong, is right there! They've run into trouble! A horde? Or something else?"

Lynn's expression darkened.

He had only just finished dealing with the prisoners, and before the hidden danger at the southeastern corner had been investigated, fresh trouble had erupted in the most critical direction.

Zhao Jinghong was a top-tier fighter he had only just recruited. He absolutely could not lose her!

"The shots are intermittent, rhythmic... doesn't sound like the chaotic fighting of someone surrounded. More like aimed shots... mixed with melee combat?"

A veteran gunman tilted his head to listen and offered his analysis.

He was keenly attuned to the sounds of battle.

Below the wall, the survivors had been disturbed and gathered uneasily.

Lori held Carl close, Carol cradled Sophia, Maggie supported Hershel, and Glenn and T-Dog gripped their weapons.

Shane scanned the darkness with a grim expression, then glanced at Lynn on the wall.

"Lynn!"

Shane shouted from below, his tone demanding. "What's going on? Where's the shooting? Is it that woman with the spear? What did she bring down on us?"

Lynn ignored Shane, his mind racing.

The Jackal firing on the perimeter meant they had encountered a threat that required ranged support.

Zhao Jinghong was there too, the sounds of her spear... southeast...

An exceptionally grim thought suddenly surfaced-the intruders!

He snapped his gaze toward the southeastern stretch of wall Old Joey had reinforced, then toward the darkness where the shots were coming from.

A horde? Disguises? Herding?

Could their target have been this place all along?

Using the horde as cover and a battering ram, combined with the weaknesses Probe had discovered inside?

"Davis!"

Lynn's voice was decisive. "You and Old Joey, stay here! Hold the wall!

"Raise defenses to maximum. Aim every searchlight outside the southeastern wall. If you spot an approaching horde or a suspicious target, no warning. Open fire."

"Yes, Boss!" Davis and Old Joey answered.

Lynn swept his gaze over those below the wall. "Glenn, T-Dog, Daryl, Merle! You're coming with me! Grab your weapons! We're going to back them up!"

"Anvil!" Lynn growled into his communicator. "Ash's break is over. Assemble at the east gate immediately. We've got a tough fight!"

"Copy! Boss! Be right there!"

Anvil's voice held no hesitation, only a chill.

Lynn wasted no more words. He turned and rushed down the wall's stairs.

Glenn and T-Dog followed.

Daryl started his motorcycle, its engine growling. Merle spat and picked up his machete.

Watching Lynn choose people while ignoring him completely, Shane looked even uglier, his fingers whitening around his shotgun.

Lynn jumped into a modified pickup, and Glenn and T-Dog leaped into the bed.

Daryl's motorcycle surged ahead to lead the way, while Merle climbed onto the roof of another vehicle.

Engines roared!

The two vehicles smashed through the barricade at the east gate and charged into the darkness beyond the wall, their headlights cleaving the night as they raced straight toward the gunfire and the howls of the dead.

Atop the base's wall, searchlight beams swept anxiously across the southeastern wilderness.

In the distance, scattered gunshots still rang out.

Everyone knew that a stranger, more dangerous battle had begun.

The spear-wielding figure who had drawn the horde away alone and was now fighting amid the corpses weighed like a stone on every heart.