Chapter 065: Upgrading the War Chariot, Racking Up Points Like Crazy!

Because the little beast-eared girl belonged to a support class with terribly weak individual combat ability, and she had no team to help her fight, the fact that she had survived in such a perilous scenario was already a miracle. Up to now, her ranking on the points leaderboard was beyond eightieth place. Once the instance concluded and points were tallied, she would undoubtedly be wiped out for insufficient points.

Only by clinging to a true powerhouse could she hope to escape this instance alive.

“Leave you here?” Su Cheng hesitated for a moment. He was not so easily swayed by her adorable appearance.

A glint flashed through Aishi’s eyes as she noticed Su Cheng had not refused outright. Hope stirred within her, and she hurried to say, “Boss, I have something to show you.”

“What are you plotting?” he asked warily.

“Please, follow me, Boss. Once you see it, you’ll understand my sincerity.”

With that, the little beast-eared girl crept ahead, leading the way furtively out of the underground shelter to a nearby auto repair shop.

The iron gate outside the repair shop was locked, and a patch of blackened blood stained the ground—left, no doubt, by the zombies.

“When the bio-plague broke out, all the mechanics here were infected and turned into zombies. That group led by Masao Kitao wiped out the zombies and took over this repair shop,” Aishi explained, pulling a key from her person and unlocking the gate. She stepped into the pitch-dark garage.

Click, click.

The lights flickered on, and Su Cheng saw an armored vehicle sitting in the middle of the shop—a heavily modified school bus.

The vehicle’s frame was reinforced with bulletproof steel plates, and the front bumper had been reworked, now bristling with spikes specifically designed to deal with zombies.

What shocked him most was the heavy Gatling gun mounted on the roof.

Though this armored school bus was nothing compared to military-grade tanks, it was impressive in its own right—certainly more than enough to carve a bloody path through a horde of zombies.

“You modified this yourself?” Su Cheng asked.

Aishi nodded with pride. “The weapons came from the Kurotaki syndicate. I only did the modifications.”

Kitao and his men had intended to use the armored bus to farm zombies for points, but before they could, Su Cheng had wiped out their whole team. Now, Aishi offered the bus as a token of fealty, presenting it to Su Cheng.

“And you’re not afraid I’ll just take the bus and kick you out?” Su Cheng challenged her deliberately.

Aishi hesitated, then replied honestly, “Even with the armored bus, I wouldn’t be able to kill many zombies alone. When the instance ends, I’d still be erased. Rather than let it go to waste, offering it to you might give me a chance to survive.”

“Besides, you’ll need a driver. Don’t let my size fool you—I’m an experienced hand behind the wheel,” she added, patting her flat little chest in self-recommendation.

Su Cheng glanced at her tiny arms and legs, doubting she could even reach the pedals. “I don’t need a driver, but I do need a gunner. Can you handle the turret?”

A wide grin blossomed on the beast-eared girl’s face. She nodded vigorously, like a woodpecker. “I’ll do my best, Boss!”

“Player Aishi requests to form a temporary team with you. Do you accept?”

“Special reminders: 1. After forming a temporary team, team members cannot harm each other. 2. In ranked mode, points earned are distributed according to team contribution.”

When Su Cheng accepted the team request, Aishi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After wiping out Kitao’s team, Su Cheng loaded all the firearms, equipment, food, and water they had gathered onto the armored bus.

At dawn the next day, Su Cheng drove the armored bus out of the shelter, heading toward Hachioji City.

Since Kitao’s group had already cleared out most of the zombies in the area, the first stretch of road was peaceful and uneventful.

But after several kilometers, a massive tide of zombies—hundreds, perhaps thousands—appeared, blocking the road ahead.

“This road is the only way to Hachioji,” Ayane Sawa said, holding a map, her willow-leaf brows slightly raised. “If we turn back, it’ll add at least ten kilometers to our journey.”

With only twenty-four hours left before the instance ended, there was no time for detours.

“No need to turn back. We’ll break through,” Su Cheng said coldly, slamming the accelerator to the floor. The armored bus roared like a wild beast, charging straight toward the horde.

The engine, heavily modified, delivered power beyond that of a sports car. Once it got going, it was an unstoppable juggernaut.

With a thunderous crash, several zombies blocking their path were sent flying, splattering the windshield with blood.

The impact drew the attention of all nearby zombies, who began to swarm toward the bus.

“They’re coming!” Ayane’s heart sank. She squeezed her upper body out the window, firing several shots at the zombies lunging for them.

Ordinary zombies were slow-moving, and Ayane had no trouble shooting them in the head. The few zombies trying to climb onto the bus were all dispatched with clean headshots.

But, to her despair, for every zombie they killed, countless more pressed in, threatening to engulf them if they faltered.

The armored bus thundered on, mowing down zombies like a meat grinder.

Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat.

As the undead pressed in, Ayane switched to a submachine gun, unleashing a storm of bullets on the horde, riddling the nearest zombies with holes.

“Aishi, fire!”

“On it!” the little beast-eared girl shouted, donning goggles and popping out of the roof. Gripping the Gatling’s handles, she yelled, “Taste my machine gun!”

The black muzzle flashed as a torrent of bullets rained down on the advancing zombies, instantly shredding dozens into pulp.

“You killed a level 1 infected—gained 10 points.”

“You killed a level 1 infected—gained 10 points.”

“You killed a level 2 infected—gained 50 points.”

…

The team channel filled with battle notifications, and the little girl’s ranking shot up several places in an instant.

“Left rooftop!” Su Cheng warned, spotting a dozen zombies leaping from a nearby roof toward the bus.

Aishi’s eyes sharpened; she swung the gun and cut them down mid-flight.

After several rounds of intense gunfire, they had cleared out over a hundred zombies, and the little girl’s ranking soared like a rocket.

But just then, Su Cheng glimpsed, through the rearview mirror, several enormous zombie dogs—each as big as a mastiff—racing after the bus.

These mutant hounds moved much faster than regular zombies, with terrifying leaping power and steel-like fangs that could bite through three-centimeter-thick steel plates.

They bounded after the bus, leaping onto the roof and snapping at Aishi with ferocious barks.

“We’re all dogs here—don’t bite me!” she shrieked, scrambling back through the sunroof in terror.

These zombie dogs were too large to fit through the narrow opening, but they jammed their heads in, snapping viciously.

“Ayane, take the wheel. I’ll handle the dogs,” Su Cheng ordered, his aura turning lethal as he opened the right window and climbed onto the roof, blade in hand.

The zombie dogs growled, their eyes fixed on the human who dared confront them.

Su Cheng launched himself forward, leaving a clear footprint on the roof and slicing his black blade in a perfect arc.

Blood sprayed; a monstrous dog head soared through the air.

As he struck, the remaining zombie dogs lunged at him, fangs bared, but they were no match for Su Cheng’s swift blade. With cold, sharp slashes, he reduced them to chunks of flesh.

No sooner had he dispatched the hounds than a shout came from the cab.

“Look ahead!”

Su Cheng turned to see a wall of flesh and blood rising before the armored bus.

“A mutant zombie…”

Before them, the wall was a grotesque barrier, formed from the remains of countless zombies, at least a dozen centimeters thick, its surface crawling and pulsing like a mass of writhing corpse-maggots.

Distorted human faces twisted on its surface, and countless bloody arms reached out, grabbing anything living and dragging it into the fleshy wall.

“What do we do now?” Panic spread across Ayane’s pale face. With the endless horde still pursuing them, turning back was not an option. If they stopped, the tide would swallow them.

“Don’t stop—floor it!” Su Cheng’s eyes flashed with ruthless resolve. He aimed the Gatling at the flesh wall and unleashed a barrage of fire.

Dada-da-da!

Flames spat from the barrel, spent casings flying. The Gatling’s roar echoed through the zombie-infested street, sending chunks of flesh flying and riddling the wall with holes.

But the wall was too thick—over a dozen centimeters—and wouldn’t be easily shredded by gunfire.

“Boss, let me help!” Aishi called, hefting a grenade launcher and firing at the wall.

Boom!

A searing blast tore through the air, filling it with the stench of scorched flesh as a gaping hole was blown through the wall.

But just as they hoped to break through, Su Cheng watched in horror as countless pink tendrils sprouted from the wall, weaving together before their eyes to form a massive net.