A zombie's greatest weakness was its pants.
After all, they didn't know how to pull them up, so their mobility dropped in direct proportion to how far their pants slipped.
Su Jin had noticed this phenomenon while hunting down numerous zombies; it was an obvious flaw.
Exploiting this trait was immensely useful for someone like him, whose night operations and overall speed were amplified by his special ability.
Back then, Sun Ya had suggested he make a move while the weather was still cold.
He had rejected the idea outright. Aside from ensuring Fu Hu and Cheng Du's safety, this factor had also played into his calculations:
When the ice on the zombies hadn't thawed, their pants weren't prone to slipping down...
Now that the horde behind them was composed of students, this weakness was magnified significantly.
School uniforms were baggy to begin with... A few strides, and they would slide right down to the crotch.
At the extreme sprinting speed of these zombies, run long enough and they might even fling their shoes off.
His earlier discovery had now found perfect validation.
The car was still moving, but the chassis was noticeably unstable, and they didn't dare drive too fast.
Right now, getting out to inspect the issue was out of the question.
Severed limbs or shredded clothing from zombies might be jammed in the wheel hubs, or other debris on the sidewalk might have caused damage.
No matter how one looked at it, their current situation was dire.
The vehicle could stall at any moment.
Fu Hu drove with his heart in his throat and asked, "Director, what do we do if the car breaks down?"
"Abandon it and proceed on foot. We'll cut through buildings. For now, let's cover as much ground as we can to shorten the distance home... If it's severed zombie limbs affecting the car, driving further might grind the flesh away."
The moment Su Jin's words fell,
a thunderous explosion boomed behind them!
Su Jin and Cheng Du looked back at the same time. The timed bomb set earlier had detonated.
The horde was blown off their feet, and the zombies that had been chasing the car were immediately drawn toward the massive source of noise.
"Nice!" Cheng Du pumped his fist in excitement.
A smile appeared on Su Jin's face as well.
Carrying an acoustic lure in advance to divert the zombies had indeed been the right call.
"Director! We've got a problem!" Fu Hu shouted in panic, instantly flooring the accelerator.
"What are you do—"
Su Jin and Cheng Du turned to look back at the same time, and the sight before them felt like descending straight into hell.
Perhaps due to the tremendous blast of the gas cylinder bomb,
zombies were crashing through windows in the residential and commercial buildings on both sides, raining down in a torrential clatter!
It quickly triggered a chain reaction. Glass shattered in every direction, and zombies fell like rain.
Unattracted by the sound source behind them, the zombies leaping from the upper floors instantly locked onto the speeding car as their primary target.
Su Jin's mind buzzed, only three words flashing in his head.
"Cheng Du, hurry and set the timer on the second bomb! Set it for ten minutes!"
His hands trembling violently and his face deathly pale, Cheng Du leaned out to set the timer.
Zombies continued leaping from the buildings on both flanks, the cacophony as dense as an exploding glass factory.
The commotion rippled outward, and zombies began plunging from the buildings ahead as well.
Most broke bones and severed tendons upon hitting the ground, yet they still dragged themselves forward in a frenzy, crawling in pursuit of the car.
A few appeared distinctively mutated, leaping directly from the buildings and landing squarely in the middle of the street!
The hordes converged... A massive zombie wave was gathering momentum!
Seen from above, zombies were pouring out from the crisscrossing side streets as well.
The solitary car seemed to be fleeing from an encroaching storm cloud.
A scattered dozen abnormally fast zombies trailed closely behind.
Su Jin gripped the grab handle tightly. Pushed past its limits by the excessive acceleration, the vehicle was vibrating violently, and its speed began to forcibly drop.
If this continued, given the debris clogging the street, breaking down was inevitable.
Even if it didn't stall, they wouldn't outrun some of the extraordinarily swift zombies for much longer—and that was the greatest danger.
Once pinned down by the special variants, the encroaching horde would swallow them whole, leaving all three of them dead without a doubt!
"Fu Hu!" Su Jin scanned their surroundings until his gaze locked onto a shopping mall. He barked decisively, "Full speed ahead! Stop at the mall. The two of you take the supplies, get out, and head back to the residential complex on foot! If you can't make it back, act according to the situation!"
With that, he pulled the sodium fluorescein and portable UV light from his chest and handed them to Cheng Du in the back seat.
"Then what about you, Director?" Cheng Du asked anxiously.
"Before the car gives out completely, I'll drive to lure the zombies away. As long as I get indoors, I'll be safe!" Su Jin said urgently. "Don't worry. In the dark, these zombies aren't agile enough to touch me. As long as I lay low until nightfall, I can get home safely. Stop asking questions and follow the plan!"
Fu Hu said no more, gunning the engine straight toward the mall!
Within half a minute, the car pulled up in front of the shopping mall entrance.
Without wasting a single word, Cheng Du and Fu Hu bolted inside while Su Jin slid into the driver's seat.
Casting a backward glance at the approaching horde, Su Jin spun the steering wheel and cut back onto the main thoroughfare!
The blare of the car horn echoed continuously through the streets.
Dividing his attention, Su Jin kept one eye on the road and the other on the rearview mirror.
The zombie horde surged in his wake, with special mutant variants bounding and leaping after him in relentless succession.
He just needed to find a suitable side street, turn in, and slip inside a building to hide.
Su Jin looked up and swept his gaze across both sides of the street.
Suddenly, he gave a start and blinked hard!
On the rooftop of a commercial building ahead, four figures seemed to have appeared—three adults and one child—yet in the blink of an eye, they were gone.
He couldn't tell if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
There was no time to ponder it now. Spotting a side street with decent road conditions, Su Jin yanked the wheel and swung hard into the turn.
Flanked by residential complexes on both sides, the car traveled less than a hundred meters down the alley before shuddering violently to a halt!
Narrowing his eyes at the rearview mirror, he saw three zombies bounding forward in pursuit, barely a hundred meters away!
With only a glance, Su Jin swiftly pulled a steel pipe from inside his coat and wedged it against the horn.
He pushed the door open, slipped out, and dashed toward the residential building on the left.
Inside Yingbin Restaurant, dead silence reigned.
The horde surged past the front doors, leaving everyone inside petrified.
Everyone clamped their hands tightly over their mouths, terrified of making the slightest noise.
Beside a dining table, Ding Jia was gagged and bound tightly to a chair, squirming and struggling incessantly.
After a long time, the tattooed man was the first to stand up. He crept cautiously to the window and poked his head out.
One look at the street, and he squeezed his eyes shut in anguish.
The shambling forms of zombies were everywhere.
Before, just three or five roaming the street had frightened people into staying indoors; now, the entire street resembled hell on earth!
From any angle, there was zero chance of escape!
How did it come to this?! Just who the hell was speeding down the street and blaring the horn?! That bastard!
A sudden thump gave everyone in the room a fright. Their hearts jumped as they turned toward the sound.
It was Ding Jia, who had toppled to the floor and was squirming toward her mother.
After several strained scuffs, she finally reached her mother and pressed her cheek against hers.
An icy chill met Ding Jia's face.
Tears immediately streamed down her cheeks...
Furious, the tattooed man stomped over, clamped a hand around Ding Jia's throat, and growled, "If you make another fucking sound, I'll kill you first! Got it?!"
"Mm... mm..." Ding Jia wept, shaking her head vigorously and glancing toward her mother.
The tattooed man followed her gaze. His eyelids twitched, and a pang of grief struck his heart.
"Hah... I'll untie you, but keep quiet, all right?!"
Chapter 54