Chapter 51: Igniting the Zombie Horde
The next morning, after everyone had washed up, Luna Dawson brought out a special breakfast lovingly prepared by their mother.
Pork bone congee, tea eggs, and milk were laid out one by one on the table.
The group happily ate the steaming hot pork bone congee. The silvery-white rice porridge was filled with shreds of pork of all sizes.
Luna Dawson peeled two tea eggs and dropped them into her congee. She took a big bite of an egg followed by a spoonful of congee, feeling utterly satisfied as she finished two large bowls.
The warmth of the piping hot meat congee spread from the bowl throughout their bodies. The soft, sticky rice grains, infused with the savory aroma of the pork, satisfied their taste buds and drove away the biting cold.
"Haha, my mom is the best, right? I used to have to fight Miles for her attention, but now Mom shares her love equally with every one of you," Luna Dawson murmured happily, content after her meal.
Kevin Keane’s eyes twinkled. "Careful, Boss. Say any more and I’ll have to officially join the family."
Luna Dawson took a bite of her egg and said, "I’d have you on as a lifelong laborer."
Hearing this, Kevin Keane looked at her with a half-smile. "Alright."
Evan Olson poked her on the head. "Luna, be careful they don’t team up on you."
Miles Dawson sighed. "Why do I feel like my sister... is like the big bad wolf, trying to trick people into her pack? She gets weird when she eats a lot. It’s a total carb high!"
Rhonda Dawson giggled. "Looks like we were all lured in by Luna."
Blake Blue raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Not at all. I’d say the feeling was mutual, wouldn’t you?"
Luna Dawson spread her hands, looking smug. "What? I’m giving you all a chance to have a sugar mama. Don’t take it for granted."
"We’ll treasure it!"
"That’s more like it."
"Hahahahaha!"
After finishing breakfast in a cheerful atmosphere, the group grabbed their submachine guns and leisurely headed downstairs.
They had already agreed: if they saw any zombies on the road moving strangely, as if they had superpowers, they would shoot them on sight and come back to dig out the Crystal Cores later.
Luna Dawson led them toward the civic plaza a few streets away. Along the way, whenever she came across wrecked cars on the roadside or in parking lots, she casually collected them into her space.
She collected countless junk cars along the route, clearing the roads in the area completely.
Before long, they arrived at the civic plaza.
With a thought, Luna Dawson released the wrecked cars, arranging them into a circular barrier three to four hundred meters in diameter, leaving only an opening facing the commercial pedestrian street.
In the middle of the barrier, she pulled out a pile of lumber, spread it out, doused it with gasoline, and finally tied a dozen or so live chickens and ducks she had collected earlier in the center.
The startled chickens and ducks began to flap and thrash about, squawking and clucking nonstop.
With the trap set, Luna Dawson then pulled a Bell 407 helicopter from her space, which landed steadily on the ground.
This series of maneuvers left everyone wide-eyed. Luna Dawson’s space was a veritable treasure chest, always capable of producing something unexpected and incredible.
"Get in! Do I need to send you a formal invitation?" Luna Dawson waved them over.
Kevin Keane needed no prompting and climbed into the pilot’s seat.
Luna Dawson sat in the co-pilot’s seat. As soon as Kevin Keane flipped a switch, the propellers began to spin with a WHOOSH, and the roar of the engine immediately filled the entire plaza.
The zombies wandering nearby stopped in their tracks. They turned their heads stiffly and began to stumble toward the source of the sound.
"Fly toward the crowded part of the commercial street!"
Luna Dawson, sitting in the co-pilot’s seat, scanned the ground below and gave commands in a cheerful tone.
Kevin Keane piloted the helicopter in a circle near the shopping mall next to the commercial street.
The powerful noise of the propellers instantly drew out the thousands of zombies hidden in the commercial street. They roared and chased after the helicopter, running toward the civic plaza.
Kevin Keane deliberately hovered the helicopter over the opening in the car barrier, slowly moving it inside the circle. The zombies obediently followed it into the enclosure.
The zombies outside the circle heard the squawking of the chickens and ducks and scrambled over each other, climbing over the bodies of their comrades and the wrecked cars to rush inside. The commercial street, which had been packed shoulder-to-shoulder, was suddenly looking much clearer.
Seeing that there were enough zombies in the circle, Luna Dawson signaled for Kevin Keane to ascend.
By now, at least two to three thousand zombies had gathered in the circle. Beyond the enclosure, an endless stream of zombies was still rushing toward them like a tide.
More interestingly, a hundred or two of the zombies were actually forming a pyramid, climbing on their companions’ shoulders to reach upward, stretching their withered claws toward the helicopter.
Colorful superpowers like Wind Blades and Fireballs floated through the air. It seemed they had caught the sweet scent of the Superpower Users in the helicopter and were going wild with excitement!
The group in the helicopter looked down at the dark, dense mass of roaring zombies below, squirming and shoving against each other in an unnerving display.
Their hearts were pounding, not from fear, but mostly from excitement!
Luna Dawson opened the cabin door, first pouring several buckets of gasoline down, then took out grenades and tossed more than a dozen of them down one after another.
"Pull back!"
Luna shouted the moment she threw the last grenade.
Kevin Keane was ready. He immediately turned the helicopter around and flew toward the helipad on the roof of the bank tower next to the plaza.
Immediately, the sound of explosions followed from behind. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM-BOOM!!
The grenades detonated, instantly igniting the gasoline below and setting off the surrounding wrecked cars in a chain reaction of explosions.
Splashing gasoline coated the zombies, which immediately burst into a raging inferno. The entire civic plaza was engulfed in a sea of fire, and the roars of the zombies rose and fell within the flames—it was a spectacular sight!
The plaza was littered with bodies. Charred pieces of flesh covered the ground in a sight too gruesome to behold. The flames burning the already-rotted corpses gave off a nauseating stench.
Luna Dawson had already handed out masks, but no one cared about the smell now. They were all overcome with immense joy!
This was especially true for Miles Dawson. He never imagined they could kill zombies like this!
It was so badass!
Everyone’s blood was pumping with excitement, and they were eager to do it all over again.
"Sis! I’ll be your servant for life! Let’s do it again! That was so thrilling!" Miles Dawson was ecstatic, grabbing Luna Dawson’s shoulders and shaking her nonstop.
Luna Dawson was about to be shaken until she puked by her own brother. ’Doesn’t he know his own strength now?’
"Alright, alright, alright."
’The zombies right now are completely brainless,’ she thought. ’They only care about flesh and sound. It’s the perfect time to harvest them.’
This whole operation was like dynamiting fish in a pond—every explosion was a guaranteed hit.
Luna Dawson’s lips curled into a smile. "All fear stems from a lack of firepower."
As she spoke, she pulled two RPG launchers from her space and handed them to Blake Blue and Evan Olson.
Both of their eyes instantly lit up. They rubbed their hands together as they took the weapons. This stuff was way more satisfying than submachine guns. Killing zombies with these would be an absolute blast!
Kevin Keane piloted the helicopter, leading the group through two more large-scale roundups.
The swarms of zombies in the plaza that hadn’t been completely burned were all finished off with precise shots from the rocket launchers. Not a single one escaped.
In that civic plaza, the group had managed to kill a staggering seven to eight thousand zombies.
The helicopter landed on the roof of the bank tower. After getting out, they leaned against the railing and looked down. The zombies were piled up like a small mountain, crackling in the fire. CRACKLE! POP!
A wave of scorching heat washed over them, and even the masks couldn’t block the pungent stench.
Luna Dawson quickly pulled gas masks from her space and handed them out. "Quick, put these on. Don’t pass out from the smell. We still have to collect Crystal Cores later."
Seeing that the fire would burn for a while longer, Luna Dawson checked the time. It was already past one in the afternoon.
She released a Nomadison Navigator RV—the very same one she had slept in at the Lockport Warehouse.
"Come on, let’s get in and eat," she called to the others.
Even the men, who were usually calm and collected, couldn’t contain their excitement now.
Their love for heavy-duty RVs was completely rekindled. They crowded around the vehicle, unable to keep their hands off it, and started arguing over who would get to drive first.
Miles Dawson was so excited he started jumping up and down, shouting at the top of his lungs, "My dear sister! My one and only dear sister!"
The words had barely left his mouth when he got a sharp flick on the forehead from Rhonda Dawson.
Rhonda Dawson smiled, her eyes curving into crescents that held a hint of chill. "Am I not your dear sister?"
Miles Dawson immediately surrendered. "Sis! My dearest, most beloved older sister!"
"Hahaha!"
Luna Dawson laughed without restraint as she lowered the steps and boarded the RV.
Evan Olson and Blake Blue were already in the driver’s cabin, studying the RV’s features with great interest.
"You guys take your time arguing." Kevin Keane glanced at the boisterous group with a smile in his eyes, then quickly followed Luna Dawson, becoming the second one to board. "I have to provide close protection for the Boss."