Chapter 51: The Slow Freighter

Using a helicopter against the zombie bats proved to be far easier than imagined. The fragile bodies of the zombie bats were completely defenseless against the high-speed spinning metal rotor blades. Countless zombie bat carcasses plummeted like rain. The river surface, the deck, and even the windshield of the WZ-10 cockpit were covered with slimy, clinging chunks of zombie bat flesh.

This did not hinder Yang Zining's performance in the slightest. All flight and combat-related data were being projected in real-time onto his helmet visor via the helicopter's sensors, allowing him to manage the entire engagement simply by focusing on his display.

"Saber, secure the steering room! I'll cover you!" The appearance of the helicopter had drastically reduced the pressure on Zhao Qiang and Saber. The zombie bats were either dead or in full flight, though the lucky survivors hovered over the river without dispersing entirely.

The situation had not completely reversed, however. The zombies along the riverbank refused to give up their assault despite the helicopter's arrival. The horde of zombies lingered on the docks, shoving each other until they tumbled into the turbulent river currents, vanishing almost instantly beneath the churning waves.

The path to the steering room was far from easy. The Mastermind seemed to perceive Saber's objective, and under its control, the remaining zombie bats redirected their target toward Saber as he advanced alone, repeatedly crashing their tiny bodies against him.

A single zombie bat could do nothing to shake a human weighing over a thousand times more, but the combined kinetic force of hundreds or thousands of bats launching simultaneous impacts was certainly more than an ordinary person could withstand. Although a shotgun could clear a wide swath with a single blast, it offered little lasting relief, and Saber had to virtually force his way through the swarm of zombie bats to reach the steering room.

"Electrical systems nominal, fuel tanks nominal..." Saber systematically checked the vessel's navigational equipment. To his surprise, the cargo ship was remarkably intact, every single gauge on the dashboard resting comfortably in the green zone.

"Fat Wolf, watch the flanks. We're getting under way." Saber warned. Zhao Qiang had already noticed new activity on the cargo ship; iron chains as thick as a man's arm were rising slowly from beneath the water, and the massive anchor began to break the surface.

"A-a-h!" The ship's horn sounded, loud and prolonged. As if struck by some magic spell, the zombie bats hovering near the whistle dropped out of the air in a heap for no apparent reason.

"Saber, what are you doing?" Yang Zining asked in surprise as he stared at a large chunk of radar reflection signals that had suddenly vanished.

"Sounding the horn. We're getting under way." Saber had already removed his helmet. At his feet, the floor was littered with zombie bats crushed into a paste.

"Sounding the horn?" A sudden flash of insight struck Yang Zining. Bats relied on ultrasonic echolocation to determine target positions; they could receive sound frequencies up to 300 kilohertz per second. Perhaps the blast of the ship's horn had disrupted their navigation system, causing the swarm of zombie bats to crash? "Saber, keep sounding the horn! The zombie bats seem afraid of it."

Yang Zining's judgment was correct. Saber pulled the cord for the horn once more, this time for a longer duration and with an even louder blast. The few remaining zombie bats finally vanished entirely, and the irritating, high-pitched screeching vanished from the skies above.

"Tiger, the zombie bat swarm has been completely eliminated. We're pulling back now. Have fun." With the zombie bat crisis resolved and no related radar signals remaining, the WZ-10 also required a thorough overhaul. Although using the rotor blades to slaughter zombie bats was highly efficient, the damage inflicted on the helicopter itself was severe; bits of flesh and blood coated the entire aircraft, and the rotor blades had sustained heavy damage.

"Tiger received. Thanks, brothers." Zhao Qiang fired a shotgun blast directly at a leaping Crusher, the tremendous kinetic force sending the creature flying straight back onto the shore.

The WZ-10 flew off on a crooked trajectory, a faint trail of black smoke still visible trailing from its tail rotor. Carried by the river current, the cargo ship, with all its anchors hoisted, finally began to move slowly forward.

"Saber, can you hurry the fuck up?" Zhao Qiang cursed. The zombies on the shore had begun adopting a brand-new strategy: Crushers were grabbing ordinary zombies nearby and hurling them directly onto the cargo ship, while several others had raised their massive arms, pointing threateningly toward the ship's wheelhouse.

"Damn it!" Saber shot back over the comms, "I want to move fast too, the problem is this piece of junk won't budge!" Saber had already set the throttles to full speed, though he faintly heard a few grinding revolutions of the propeller before the engine fell dead silent again.

"Do something, then!" Zhao Qiang shouted, leaping aside just as a Crusher's massive arm hurled through the air, smashing the deck railing into splinters before hurtling off into the night sky.

"Do what?" Saber replied. "I need someone to go down to the engine room and check." On the instrument panel, the propeller RPM stubbornly read zero. No matter how hard Saber tried, the screws remained completely motionless, as if the cargo ship had no fuel at all.

"I don't have time right now!" Zhao Qiang truly could not break away. More and more zombies were being lobbed onto the deck by the Crushers acting as high-efficiency catapults. These mindless creatures swarmed frantically toward the inner cabins the moment they boarded, forcing Zhao Qiang to dedicate all his energy to keeping them at bay.

"All equipment in the engine room is intact and undamaged, power output is normal!" Chen Ergou's voice interrupted the bickering between Zhao Qiang and Saber. Under the middle-aged man's instructions, he had located the engine room and conducted a thorough inspection. "The problem is with the propeller! Something must be jamming it!"

"Then find a way to fix it!" Zhao Qiang kicked a zombie over the rail and into the water. Although the number of zombies landing on the deck was not overwhelming, the headache lay in the Crushers' blind hurling strategy—one here, a group there. Forced back toward the cabin door inch by inch, Zhao Qiang had to rely on this conservative method to ensure no zombies penetrated the interior.

"I can't fix it from here!" Chen Ergou shouted back. "The propeller is underwater! We have to go overboard to clear it, and I can't get down there from here!"

"Hell! What about the deck?" A zombie came flying straight toward Zhao Qiang—this was the Crushers' most accurate toss yet. Until the cargo ship cleared the range of the throwing Crushers, someone had to remain on deck at all times to eliminate those obnoxious pests.

"Leave the deck to us. You go to the stern and deal with the propeller," Ergou said. There were only two sets of diving equipment on board: one was worn by Saber, who had to drive the ship and couldn't leave his post, and the second was currently worn by Zhao Qiang.

"What if the zombie bats come back?" Although the immediate threat of the zombie bats had temporarily passed, the horde had not retreated, and more bats might well be on their way.

"We can't worry about that now! If we don't get out of here, we're all dead!" Ergou screamed at the top of his lungs.