XG 96 - He does not deserve to be left in this dirty place

Beom Seok squinted his eyes at Wong Xue Guo. It was not in a lewd way so he was saved from being greeted with punches. "Miss Wong, why don't you take the lead in planning?"

"Sorry, but I can't do it," Wong Xue Guo immediately refused.

Thinking she was shy, with a softer tone, Beom Seok added, "None of us will complain if you do. We all remember it's thanks to you that we ended the big guy in time and escaped through walls instead of directly confronting the mob outside. With your planning, we will be more sufficient."

Kang Xunsu laughed. "Beom Seok, our little princess really can't do it."

"Why not?" Not only Beom Seok, everyone was puzzled.

"She is more suited to be a supporter to offer fresh insight to the plan at her own pace. Trust me, she is better at doing that." Kang Xunsu's head shaking filled with pity annoyed Wong Xue Guo.

"Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses," Wong Xue Guo said curtly.

"Ohhhh shit! Captain, they broke down the door!" Lee Son Dong, whose head was inside the hole on the wall, yelled. He was spying the next room from the hole as the banging sound became even more furious. Good thing he did, because they got alerted of the danger in time.

"Good timing. Our backup team is here." Kang Xunsu stood up, checking his gun. "Those that are searching for information, continue. As for the rest, let's go and kill them. Vihaan, you rest and eat more energy bars."

"Except one," Wong Xue Guo helpfully reminded him.

"I! Know!" Kang Xunsu fiercely rubbed her head.

"I can fight even without using my ability," Vihaan said.

Kang Xunsu sighed. "Don't force yourself once you get tired. Before you appear, everyone has to fight their own battles with their own strength."

Vihaan laughed softly. "I know." He liked his current teammates that needed his help but was also concerned about him. It made him feel important and also valued.

Chen Yibo let Jackson and Choi Yerim deal with information gathering and rushed to Wong Xue Guo who had already started stabbing and chopping the dead bodies.

Unlike the normal zombies, these dead bodies were similar to the big guy, conscious to block attacks towards their hearts. Their surviving skills resulted in them having holes all over their body except for their heart. They do not have strong muscles as the big guy but they could still move even with their brain blown off.

"That's so disgusting!" Wong Xue Guo cried out when a dead body with its brain hanging out of its head charged at her.

Hong Yan smacked the dead body and the impact happened to send the brain flying out of its skull. Wong Xue Guo regrets keeping an eye on its brain and following its trajectory.

"Why do they keep on targeting little miss?!" Hong Yan exclaimed.

Chen Yibo stabbed an old lady's corpse that was crawling on the floor and was about to grab onto Wong Xue Guo's ankle.

"I think they are being controlled," Chen Yibo shared his suspicion.

Kang Xunsu's bullets were running out. Pulling out his blade, he chopped the dead bodies and made his way to Wong Xue Guo, helping form a protective circle around her. "The big guy has his own consciousness and occasionally receives command, if his head jerking at Vihaan and the little princess' direction was because of that."

Chen Yibo said, "These bodies are likely to be under full command and it will be wasting our energy to deal with them. We need to find the controller to stop them all."

"The controller is from the enemy camp, right? If they target people according to their death day, it matches with what the pink lady and the ghost did," Wong Xue Guo said.

It took a moment for Kang Xunsu to remember who the pink lady and ghost were.

"Could the controller be hiding among the dead bodies?" Hong Yan asked, breaking a few more bones with one fierce swing of his bat.

"Unlikely," Chen Yibo denied and kicked a dead body's head away. "It would be too obvious to be caught by us. The controller would also need to be at a place where they could see all our actions and within a distance that their ability could work."

"What a fucking headache," Kang Xunsu grumbled and break a kneecap with a merciless stomp of his feet. "What we can do now is destroy all the bodies so that fellas won't have anything but themselves to attack us. At the same time, search for the possible controller and fucking free us from this!"

It was a good idea, but... their stamina was limited!

Not only that, when they manage to stab the corpse's heart, they could still move!

In the end, they could only stop these enthusiastic dead bodies by chopping off their limbs until their family members would have a hard time matching whose was whose. Even without a head or heart, the dead corpses can still move, because they were puppets. The big guy was a zombie, something that can move by itself, so its weakness was still the heart.

"Come on guys! There's only half left!" Beom Seok cheered with a half-lie, half-truth to have his team, especially Changbin, regain their motivation to continue fighting.

But just as he said that Changbin accidentally missed a step and his hand got bitten. Not only that, but a crawling body also took the chance to bite his leg, piercing past his pants.

"Changbin!"

Hyunjin shot continuously at the zombie clinging onto Changbin's leg, completely smashing its head and separating it from its neck. Team B's mentality was greatly affected by Changbin being bitten and their performance dropped so suddenly that Team A had to cover for them.

"Fuck! Retreat!" Kang Xunsu yelled when Team B was worried about Changbin and the zombies at the same time.

"How to fucking retreat! We have no door to block them!" Hong Yan yelled.

"Brother Xunsu! Changbin might not have the gene!" Wong Xue Guo alerted others after seeing Changbin's skin become paler with a purplish tinge. His state looked worse than Kang Hansik's friend, likely because he was bitten by an experimented corpse.

Her words were hard to accept and affected Team B's mentality even more. Changbin's condition became even worse as it was less than ten seconds but the purplish tinge on his skin was spread all over his body.

Vihaan's ears twitched, hearing the sounds of gunshots from outside the room. "The backup team is here!"

It was good news for everyone that was exhausted and affected by Changbin's deteriorating state.

"Get Changbin in!" Kang Xunsu yelled.

Beom Seok took in a deep breath, his eyes were red from anguish. "Kenny, bring Changbin in! Others, continue!"

"No need!" Kang Xunsu interrupted. His eyes held traces of pity. "I think Changbin needs his team now."

Lee Son Dong could not control a tiny sob escaping his mouth from what Kang Xunsu had implied, his hands dutifully shooting at the dead bodies to cover his team's backs.

"Don't... captain... leave me," Changbin struggled to speak. But his broken words could not be understood whether he was begging for them to stay with him or to leave him. Even so, the sight of him had his team members reluctant to leave him. They had known each other for years and had developed a strong bond. Treating each other as real brothers, their leaving will be as painful as a family member dying.

Kenny bit his lips to stop himself from crying and used his uninjured hand to drag Changbin into the other room. The already crying Lee Son Dong helped lift Changbin while Hyunjin guarded their back.

Noticing Beom Seok did not follow, Kang Xunsu said, "This might be your last time seeing him. Right now, the backup team is here and we can handle it. Go and say your goodbyes without regret."

Beom Seok fiercely shoots the incoming zombies with a loud roar before leaving the rest to Team A. But when he finally reached the youngest member in Team B, Changbin was convulsing violently before abruptly ceasing any movement, with no signs of breathing.

In a little more than thirty seconds, Changbin had left the world.

Kenny broke the skin of his lips with how hard he had bitten down, his hand gripping Changbin's cold hands so tightly as if trying to get him to respond to the pain. Lee Son Dong was crying soundlessly, gripping Changbin's other hand. Hyunjin took a deep breath and helped Changbin close his eyes. With a grieving gaze, he went out of the hole and fiercely avenged Changbin's death.

Beom Seok gave Changbin his last respect before following Hyunjin out. Changbin had fought for them, and the last thing they could do for him was to get out of here alive with his body out to give him a proper burial.

He does not deserve to be left in this dirty place.  

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