Chapter 496 An Empty City?

Shouts and gunshots echoed through the deserted city.

The explosion of the car and the billowing black smoke had not yet dissipated the fear in people's hearts. The gunshots that rang out again were undoubtedly the last straw that broke the camel's back for their sensitive nerves.

Panic set in, and they quickened their pace, no longer in the mood to search for mutated animals here.

However, the same situation kept happening to the small teams that had entered the city.

Every so often, the sound of gunfire would come from one direction.

This made the remaining ability users even more flustered.

They all started running towards where the cars were parked.

But they had ventured too far in, and it was impossible to reach the parking spots in a short time.

However, some people were lucky. The group that had come here yesterday had discovered unusual circumstances early on and were the first to turn back.

But when they arrived, the burnt-out car frames turned into scrap metal filled them with anger.

They hadn't encountered zombies, so they assumed that the ability user team members were responsible.

"Damn it, who did this? If you have the guts, come out, damn it!!!"

The only response was the occasional crackling sound of flames burning. Other than that, the silence was deathly.

"Shut the hell up and get out of here quickly."

Sensing a danger unlike any before, a man in the team hissed.

All the vehicles parked in the entire area were scrapped, with only their frames left burning.

Without their cars, they could only choose to leave here quickly.

They had also heard the chaotic gunfire coming from several directions within the city, which further proved that this place was not peaceful.

The dozen or so people quickened their pace, running rapidly towards the direction they had entered, and with all their might, they were out of the city in no time.

But even after leaving the city, they dared not relax. It was as if dogs were chasing them, and they madly fled towards the direction of Jing City.

Behind them, gunshots could be heard from time to time. They had no time to think about it now, with only one thought in their minds.

Run!!!

Those who were still in the city and had not managed to escape were not so lucky.

People in their teams continuously mutated into zombies, and then the mutated ones began to attack them.

This scene was just like the early days of the apocalypse, reminding them of those terrible past experiences.

Even though they had survived in the apocalypse for so long, encountering such bizarre events again still made the survivors' hearts tremble.

Some teams, with more members, were relatively fortunate because their numbers gave some people a chance to recover.

They opened fire or used their abilities to attack their teammates who had turned into zombies.

With their experience fighting zombies, their attacks were all fatal blows.

After consecutively taking down several teammates who had mutated into zombies, some survivors found abandoned cover and hid.

Heavy panting could not be suppressed no matter how hard they tried.

Even though it was summer, they were all covered in a cold sweat.

No one spoke. They vigilantly scanned their surroundings, their ears keenly listening for any movement.

Fortunately, the teammates who had just mutated into zombies were not fast enough. They had only been caught off guard during the ambush.

Now that everyone was aware of the danger, their vigilance was heightened.

Within the team, someone made several gestures, which they had practiced during their daily zombie kills.

Seeing the gestures, several people hiding in the shadows nodded.

Then, one person walked out first, and after confirming that there were no abnormalities nearby, made a few more gestures to the others.

Following that, several people began to retreat cautiously towards the outside of the city, back to back.

...

Jing City.

In Elder Fei's office.

Several management personnel sat around the table with heavy expressions.

"Only one team returned?"

"Yes, they didn't report anything after they returned yesterday. It was our city gate personnel who discovered the abnormality and questioned them to find out."

The morning of the previous day saw ability user teams from more than half of Jing City go out.

But by the time the city gates closed at night, very few had returned, especially those who had gone in the largest numbers in one direction, with only one team returning.

"When they returned, they were all walking, exhausted. The soldiers on the city wall asked them a question, but they didn't explain anything."

"Have you questioned them all now?"

With so many people missing, they needed to find out the reason and organize a rescue.

"No, those people are not clear about what happened. They just said that J City was strange, and the cars they parked at the city entrance seemed to have been violently smashed and burned."

"And they ran back?"

"Yes, they ran all the way back, saying that they only felt safe when they saw the outer wall of Jing City."

"Send a plane to reconnoiter from high altitude."

With hundreds of people missing, it was prudent to send a plane to scout from above.

"The combat strength within the city has been significantly reduced. Notify everyone to stop all outdoor activities. Once we understand what's going on, inform Wuming City as well."

Now, the bases that were in contact with each other also shared information. Once an abnormality occurred in a certain place, the information would be relayed to other bases.

This was also to prevent similar incidents from happening. In several battles against zombies, they had encountered situations where the zombies seemed to have coordinated their actions, with similar organized zombie movements occurring everywhere.

At noon that day, a helicopter took off from Jing City and headed towards J City.

They carried professional camera equipment, intending to film the situation there.

J City had been cleared once before, and it was confirmed that there were no zombies in the city at that time.

Moreover, in subsequent observations, they had discovered signs of mutated animal activity there, which was why they had leaked the information to the ability user teams in the city during this collection of live mutated animals.

If the failure to clear J City completely resulted in losses for these ability users, Jing City would also bear some responsibility.

The helicopter soon returned to Jing City, and the footage was sent to a specialized department for analysis.

The soldiers on board were also interrogated by the management personnel.

However, the soldiers all said they hadn't found any zombies, only a pile of burnt-out car wrecks not far from the city entrance.

"We circled J City twice. Not only did we not see any zombies in the city, but we also found no mutated animals."

So, was J City now an empty city?