Chapter 51: Destination

1 hour later.

The Armored Car burst through the encirclement, carrying the researchers inside and the four women on the roof to the outskirts of City B, right near their destination, the Research Institute.

After leaving the blast radius, the number of Zombies decreased significantly, allowing the Armored Car to speed up and lose the Players trailing behind.

The driver, Scarface, had tacitly agreed to cooperate with the four on the roof.

If not for the suppressive fire from Mu Bai’s group, the Armored Car never would have broken through the sea of Zombies.

The bullets for the two Assault Rifles were nearly exhausted.

As for the sniper rifle ammo, Ye Yuan’s primary task was to pick off Variants in advance.

Since Variants made up only a small fraction of the Zombies, less than one-third of the 500-round crate had been used.

This was even after Ye Yuan spent considerable effort sniping ordinary Zombies during the breakthrough to relieve the pressure on Tang Shifu and Mo Cha’s firepower.

“Yuan, when we get closer to the Research Institute, use your scope to check for ambushes ahead of time. If there aren’t many people, take them out directly,” Mu Bai reminded her.

“The Military has things like those drones from before, so they definitely aren’t lacking in communication. We might run into enemies.”

This Research Institute wasn’t some top-secret base; the Survivor Camp actually had a map proving its existence.

It was likely converted into an Underground Research Institute only after the apocalypse began.

Otherwise, the dozen or so Level 2 Players wouldn’t have set out so confidently.

But now that they knew the Military wanted to use them as bait to lure out the Zombie King, the two sides were in an irreconcilable state.

If there were soldiers stationed at the Research Institute, they would undoubtedly attack any approaching Players.

Ye Yuan nodded to show she understood.

There weren’t many buildings in this area, so they finally didn’t have to keep their nerves frayed watching for Zombies jumping out.

Mo Cha finally found the energy to ask curiously, “Mu Bai, how did you get that sniper rifle and all those bullets?”

She guessed that Mu Bai likely had some kind of storage item.

Since The Train existed, having such mystical items was perfectly reasonable, so she could understand things appearing out of thin air.

However, the rifle was clearly from the Military District.

Weapon management in the Military District was extremely strict; they had considered trying to sneak a couple of extra guns out themselves but never found the opportunity.

The fact that Mu Bai could secretly bring out an extra gun was truly miraculous.

“This…”

Mu Bai fell into thought.

Having fought side by side and survived a life-or-death crisis together, it felt too cold to show zero trust.

But they weren’t true teammates yet, so she couldn’t tell them everything without reservation.

After thinking it through, Mu Bai said, “Yuan and I participated in another Trial Station. This was a fortuitous encounter I obtained there…”

She proceeded to slightly modify the story of the statue, attributing it to a “Storage Space” ability.

She didn’t mention having multiple Talents.

That was her deepest secret, one she would only share with her teammates.

If they all survived until the end and got the chance to form a party, Mu Bai felt she would be quite happy to have the two of them as teammates.

Four people always felt safer than two.

“So… since it relies on your thoughts to store things and the state of the items remains unchanged, can it block bullets? Or could you store bullets in advance and release them unexpectedly during battle?”

Tang Shifu suggested, clapping her hands as she spotted a potential loophole.

“Eh?”

Mu Bai thought about it.

‘That’s right. I can definitely try that.’

She pulled out the Colt.

The gun was useless now anyway, so she didn’t mind experimenting.

Concentrating her will on the muzzle, she fired a shot into the sky.

The gunshot rang out…

Storage failed.

Mu Bai sighed in disappointment.

“It doesn’t seem to work. My reaction speed isn’t high enough; my mind can’t catch a bullet traveling at such high speeds.”

She had thought she might be able to transition into a combat role.

How unfortunate.

“What a pity.”

Seeing this, Mo Cha thought the dejected Little White-Haired One was adorable and reached out to pat her head.

Mu Bai: ?

‘I’ll just assume you’re comforting me.’

Ye Yuan was fully focused on the scope’s image, completely unaware of what was happening beside her.

However, she did see something.

“I see fortifications. There’s a concrete wall, very high. It should be the location of the research base… There are watchtowers and patrolling soldiers on the wall,” Ye Yuan said in a low voice.

“How many people?”

Mu Bai asked quickly.

“There are two watchtowers, each with two soldiers on guard. The main gate is tightly shut, and there’s no one around it, but there are four more soldiers patrolling the top of the wall… they all have Assault Rifles,” Ye Yuan described.

Only six on the surface… that was good news!

It seemed the Research Institute’s defenses weren’t that strong.

They could probably fight their way in directly.

“Can you take them all out from beyond 300 meters?”

Mu Bai had looked into it before; the effective range of an Assault Rifle was only about 300 meters.

Beyond that, it was difficult to aim accurately.

From this distance, she could only faintly see the outline of the fortifications.

The enemy definitely hadn’t spotted them yet.

“No problem,” Ye Yuan said without hesitation.

Hearing this, Mu Bai already had a fresh magazine ready, waiting for Ye Yuan’s move.

Ye Yuan stared at her targets, silently calculating the distance.

1,500 meters… 1,200 meters…

1,000 meters.

Bang!!

Hearing the crack of the sniper rifle again, Mu Bai’s heart still skipped a beat.

The shots rang out continuously.

Finding new targets didn’t seem to take much time at all; there was only a pause of three or four seconds between each shot.

800 meters…

700 meters…

In less than half a minute from the first shot, Ye Yuan stopped firing.

Mu Bai handed her a full magazine, which Ye Yuan swapped in as she continued to aim, but she didn’t take any more shots.

“Two of them went prone.”

Before the magazine was even empty, most of the enemies had been dealt with.

As for the remaining two… they were no longer a threat.

The gunshots had already signaled their presence.

There was bound to be a reaction inside the Research Institute, so they needed to infiltrate as quickly as possible.

Less than 1 minute later, the Armored Car slowed down and stopped in front of a heavy steel door.

Mu Bai retracted the sniper rifle into her Portable Space.

Ye Yuan hopped off the vehicle early to observe the top of the concrete wall, aiming her Beretta at the spots where the soldiers had gone prone to prevent any sneak attacks.

“Hela… and you guys, get out quickly.”

Mu Bai was lifted down from the car by Tang Shifu.

She spoke to the people inside through a hole in the side of the Armored Car.

Scarface got out, glanced at the four women, said nothing, and quickly moved to the back to open the doors of the Armored Car.

“We’ve reached the Research Institute. Everyone out!”

The researchers emerged timidly.

The sound of explosions and sniper fire throughout the bumpy ride had terrified them.

“If you don’t come out, I’ll give you a taste of some lead!”

Scarface unslung the Assault Rifle from his back and spoke menacingly.

Hela was the first to move.

With Hela leading the way, the remaining researchers yielded to Scarface’s intimidation and stepped out of the vehicle one after another.

The massive metal gate couldn’t be opened from the outside.

Scarface ordering the people out was partially intended as a way to negotiate with the Research Institute.

Although the chances were slim, if he didn’t do this, he didn’t know how else to get these people into the underground levels.

But…

Mu Bai’s group didn’t feel that kind of pressure.

If the door was stronger than the wall, wasn’t the wall just a door in disguise?

“Tang Shifu!”

Mu Bai looked at Tang Shifu.

It was known that Tang Shifu could kick through a blue brick wall with just over 10 points of Strength.

So, what about 22 points of Strength?