Chapter 17 Cornered
In order to get better equipment, we stepped out of the room to search for supplies. At that moment, we encountered a powerful attack by a biotic mother on the road! To survive, we fought against the biotic mother, and after wave after wave of attacks, a large number of biotic ghosts rushed toward us from all directions...
"No, we can't go back! That would put everyone in danger!"
I immediately called everyone to a halt. Black Sniper sneered, "Do you think we can fight against the large groups of monsters behind us?"
"Of course not, but we are not without a way out. We can run upstairs!"
With so many monsters surging this way, if we retreat, we'll definitely draw all the ghosts toward Gaara and the others, and we could face total annihilation! I can't gamble! I can't joke with everyone's lives! But if we run upstairs, retreating while fighting to a safe spot might still give us a chance of survival.
"I also agree with Sophie's approach. We can't be so selfish and endanger everyone!" Lao Wan supported me the most—unexpectedly, he chose to stand by me even in such a dangerous situation.
Black Sniper had no choice. When the four of us returned to the stairwell, a large number of red ghosts were already crowding upstairs with 'thuds'.
"They're coming up!" Lao Wan and I raised our machine guns and opened fire on the monsters.
"Don't waste bullets!"
Black Sniper leaped out, reaching into his pouch with his right hand, and to our shock, pulled out another grenade!
"Everyone, get up!"
At Black Sniper's roar, we ignored the monsters behind us and immediately ran upstairs. Without our firepower, the monsters quickly reached the third floor. At that moment, the corners of Black Sniper's mouth lifted slightly, and a cold gleam flashed in his eyes. "Stop showing off in front of me, all of you go to hell!"
He tossed the grenade upward. Time seemed to slow down at that instant. The ghosts stared with glowing eyes as the grenade traced an arc through the air and slowly, slowly dropped among the gaps between the red ghosts...
'Bang!'
The entire stairwell on the third floor was blown apart by the grenade, with countless cement boulders falling from above, amid a chaotic scene of ghostly wails and screams.The powerful impact shook even me and Lao Wan upstairs, almost making us fall. I brushed the dust off my head, got up, and looked down, only to see a gray haze downstairs, making it impossible to see what was inside.
"Ah! Hei Jushen and Zi Dan are still down there!" Lao Wan and I exchanged a glance, feeling terrible: could it be that the two of them died down there?
"You guys are the ones who are dead!"
Just as Lao Wan and I were worrying, Hei Jushen helped Zi Dan surge up from the rolling black smoke.
"Well done! Are you guys okay?" We rushed up to them. Although they looked quite disheveled, they only had some minor scratches.
"Don't worry, we're fine! But this is only a temporary relief, the monsters below haven't been completely eliminated," Zi Dan said, coughing.
"Stop talking so much. We should quickly find a safe place now!" I couldn't help but smile bitterly. It's already good enough that they made it here. If those biochemical ghosts could really be taken down with just one grenade, that would be way too simple.
"Move quickly!"
Lao Wan led the way, Hei Jushen helped Zi Dan, and I stayed at the rear. In this formation, we quickly ran into a corridor, preparing to move to the opposite floor to find a room to take refuge in.
"~~~Aoo!"
Not far into our run, another terrifying roar came from behind.
"*** are such clingy bullies, no matter how you shake them off, they just won't leave!" I knew they would catch up sooner or later, just didn't expect it to be this fast. "Hurry, they're about to catch up, faster!"
We ran to another floor, which had many rooms. Lao Wan kicked at a door with all his strength... thump!
"Oh my goodness!" Lao Wan cried out, just after forcefully kicking the door. The door didn't move an inch, and instead, he held his foot in pain, shouting, "What kind of material is this door made of? Why is it so hard? It hurts so much!"
I found it strange too. Lao Wan definitely put all his strength into that kick. Even if the door couldn't open, it shouldn't have been so immovable. Confused, I heard the monsters 'thumping' behind us again. Seeing that there was no more time, I raised my Thompson and fired at the door lock, da-da-da!
"Ah!"Now both Old Wan and I were completely stunned! The bullets hitting the door panel not only didn't penetrate, but instead ricocheted everywhere with a crackling sound, almost injuring myself in the process.
"What kind of material is this… huh?" The door panel I had shot at showed no holes at all and even seemed to automatically repair itself. The marks that had appeared were soon gone, leaving the door intact.
"Damn!"
Seeing this, I finally understood: this door simply cannot be opened, no matter what method you use, because the game doesn't consider this a door that can be opened. Even if you destroy it, it quickly restores itself.
Alright! With so many rooms, there must be at least one place we can open!
"No time!" At this time, dozens of ghosts chasing us were less than ten meters away! I didn't expect to waste so much time on a damn door. The edge we had barely gained was quickly caught up by them.
"You and Zidan go look for a room, me and Luoshi (Old Wan) will hold them off! Hurry!" This was probably the wisest decision I've ever seen from the Black Sniper God.
The Black Sniper God spun around, firing his RPK mercilessly at the approaching bio-ghosts: "You ghost thing, stop showing off for me, all of you hit the ground!" Old Wan didn't hold back either, continuously firing his M60: "Come on, come on, if you dare, come on!"
Now it was a matter of life or death! Every extra second counted. Zidan and I certainly could not waste this precious time, running with all the speed we had in our lives, hitting one door after another as soon as we saw them. You might ask why we didn't just use guns to open the doors directly. Of course not: if we swept the door with a machine gun and there was a hideable room behind it, we'd destroy the door and then monsters could easily come in, making hiding useless.
"Heaven, open your eyes! It's life or death now, there has to be at least one useful door!" I slammed hard against the door panel. "Ouch, my gosh!" I yelled in pain, but the door didn't move an inch.
Damn! Next one!
Enduring the pain in my shoulder, I continued searching for the next door I could break.
‘Bang!'I still had no way out, but Bullet had already kicked open a door: "Here! We can get in here, everyone hurry over!"
"You guys, come quickly!" I turned around and, damn! Black Sniper and Lao Wan were in grave danger. The ghosts' claws were just inches from them. If it weren't for the fact that their firepower was exceptionally strong at close range, they would have been grabbed quickly! I was so scared that I immediately lifted my Thompson to help hold them off.
With the combined assault of the three of us, even the formidable bio-ghosts were hit and smoking all over their bodies. Some of them had even started to glow, and a few more shots would have finished them off.
"Stop shooting, come over quickly!" Because there were just too many monsters, we held off for a while, but the others kept pressing toward us like a tidal wave! "Damn, what a bunch of reckless monsters!" We fought while retreating, gradually falling back to the door.
Bullet shouted, "Come in!" We all turned at the same time and leapt into the room with the open door. Bullet, standing behind it, immediately pushed the door back. With a 'bang!' it closed, and he locked it properly.
"~~Aow! Dong dong dong!"
Phew, listening to the roars and clawing at the door behind it, the three of us finally breathed a sigh of relief!
"Good grief! That was really dangerous just now!" I wiped the sweat off my face. If Bullet hadn't found a door in time outside, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Perhaps we could have all died there.
"Ugh!" Bullet slumped to the ground, holding the wound on his left shoulder, with a face full of pain.
"Are you okay?" Black Sniper stepped forward to help bullet up. Blood flowed heavily from the wound where Bullet had been bitten, and with the previous intense battle and repeatedly banging on the door, even I, who was uninjured, felt excruciating pain. And yet, that was nothing compared to Bullet.
Bullet gritted his teeth and said, "Don't worry, I can still hold on. Right now, though, we've been forced into this room. What should we do next?"
What Bullet said was right! We were cornered, and how long could that door hold under the attacks of so many monsters?
(The chapter ends)