Chapter 47 - 40: The Gate is Breached
Yang City No. 1 High School.
The surface.
At the entrance to the shelter.
Yan Shan, Yan Hao, Hu, and Yuan—four fugitives who had just escaped from prison—stood before the heavy alloy gate.
The full-bearded Hu was half-kneeling at the entrance, skillfully placing homemade explosives at several key points.
As he worked, he couldn’t help but click his tongue in admiration.
"Heh, this school really spared no expense! The alloy they used for this shelter door is at least Tier One material! It’s so damn hard!"
Standing to the side, a flash of appreciation appeared in Yan Shan’s eyes as he watched Hu’s skilled movements.
"Hu, who knew you were so professional? The explosives you cobbled together from this pile of junk are actually this powerful?"
Hu chuckled, a smug look on his face.
"You bet! Boss Yan, don’t forget, I used to be a professional mechanic! Rigging up something that can crack a turtle’s shell is my specialty! Just you watch. A few more blasts, and I guarantee I’ll pop this tin can open!"
He dusted off his hands, brimming with confidence.
Yan Shan nodded, a flash of cruel satisfaction in his eyes.
"Good! Once we blow open the Yang City No. 1 High School shelter and lure all the nearby monsters over, the chaos will be the perfect cover for us brothers to make our getaway!"
...
BOOM!!!
The deafening explosion sent a destructive shockwave crashing into the heavy alloy gate of the Yang City No. 1 High School shelter once again.
CRACK! CLANG!
The horrifying sound of tearing metal rang out.
Amidst the continuous explosions, the shelter’s massive alloy door was brutally blasted open, leaving a gaping hole!
WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO!!!
Instantly, a soul-piercing alarm began to shriek throughout the shelter’s interior, echoing in every single room!
The stable ceiling lights all went out, replaced by the frantic flashing of crimson emergency lights that bathed the entire underground space in an eerie, blood-red glow!
"Attention all faculty and students! Attention all faculty and students!"
A teacher’s frantic, distorted voice blasted through the shelter’s PA system.
"Unidentified, extremely dangerous individuals have forcibly breached the gate! I repeat, there are extremely dangerous individuals! All shelter rooms, lock down your gates immediately! Do not, under any circumstances, go outside without authorization!"
The moment the voice faded, panic flooded every shelter room like a cold tide.
"Oh my God! Are they insane? It’s full of monsters out there! They actually blew up the shelter?!"
A female student screamed, her voice thick with tears.
"They’re maniacs! Completely inhuman! Are they trying to get us all killed?!"
Someone furiously pounded on the wall.
"What do we do? The gate is broken! The monsters... The monsters will smell us and swarm in! We’re finished... It’s all over..."
Despairing sobs spread through every room in the shelter.
Inside the shelter room for Class 1 of the third year.
The atmosphere was just as frozen.
The fear was nearly suffocating.
In a corner of the room, Lin Yi’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest the moment the alarm blared, a chill shooting straight up his spine.
But he bit his tongue hard, the sharp pain forcing him to suppress the churning panic.
’Calm down! I have to stay calm!’
He roared internally as his powerful will to survive instantly took over.
He immediately checked the current location of his Mosquito Avatar.
’Damn it!’
’The Mosquito Avatar is too far from the shelter right now.’
’There’s no way it can get back in time to help!’
’That means the only one I can rely on right now is myself!’
’And the classmates around me!’
"Everyone, shut up!"
Lin Yi shot to his feet, his explosive voice carrying an undeniable power that instantly silenced the noisy room.
"What are you panicking for?! The sky hasn’t fallen! The enemy isn’t at our doorstep yet! Everybody on your feet, grab a weapon! If you don’t want to die, form a battle formation now! Prepare to fight for your lives!"
He shouted, quickly organizing the panicked students and ordering them to use the obstacles in the room to form a simple but practical defensive perimeter.
After doing all this, he moved silently to the side of the thick metal door like a panther ready to pounce. He pressed his back tightly against the bone-chilling wall, his body tensed to the extreme.
The spot he chose was extremely cunning, putting him in a blind spot from the doorway. Anyone outside wouldn’t be able to see him.
If the enemy dared to break through the door, that brief moment of entry would be his one and only chance for a sneak attack!
Life or death—it all came down to this moment!
The underground shelter of Yang City No. 1 High School was divided into three floors, structured like an inverted tower.
The first-years were on the bottom floor, the second-years in the middle, and the third-years on the top floor.
And Class 1 of the third year was located in the area of the top floor closest to the main exterior gate.
This was an ironclad rule in Yang City—
The strong hold the front line!
Without a doubt, once those thugs stormed the shelter, the room Lin Yi and his classmates were in would be the first to be hit!
...
「Meanwhile.」
Inside the shelter’s central monitoring area.
The Director for the third year, Director Liu; the Director for the second year; the Director for the first year; the homeroom teacher for Class 6 of the third year; the homeroom teacher for Class 9 of the first year...
These five teachers, who had been ordered by Chen Zhenguo to stay behind and hold the fort, all stared with ashen faces at the blasted-open alloy gate on the monitor screen.
The Director for the first year’s eyes burned with fury.
"The gate has been completely breached! The dense aura of life here will definitely attract those damn monsters. In less than half an hour, this place will become a living Purgatory! We have to take out those lunatics outside immediately and repair the gate as fast as possible, even if it’s just a temporary seal!"
"On me!" A cold light flashed in Director Liu’s eyes as he gave the order without the slightest hesitation.
The five figures shot out of the monitoring area like arrows loosed from a bow, filled with resolute killing intent as they raced along the passage to the surface!
...
On the surface, rain poured down in sheets.
"Hahahahaha! We did it! The gate’s broken!"
Hu stared at the blasted-open gap and roared with laughter, the rain washing over his savagely excited face.
The leader, Yan Shan, also had a cold, smug smirk on his face.
"Step one of the plan is complete! With the Yang City No. 1 High School shelter breached, the students inside are bound to attract a massive number of monsters! The authorities will be too busy trying to rescue them to deal with anything else. Who’ll have time to worry about the four of us? Let’s go!"
With a wave of his hand, he motioned for Yan Hao, Hu, and their other accomplice, Yuan, to turn and flee into the vast, rainy night under the cover of chaos.
"Trying to leave? Not with your lives!"
A thunderous roar of fury suddenly erupted!
It was Director Liu, who was charging at the very front!
Behind him, the other four teachers who had stayed behind had also reached the surface.
Before his voice had even faded, the five teachers charged like tigers descending a mountain, pouncing on Yan Shan’s group with lightning speed!
Blowing up the school shelter and leaving the lives of thousands of students and teachers at the mercy of monsters’ claws?
A blood feud like this was irreconcilable!
How could they possibly let them escape?!