Rotting Land: Survive-Chapter 422 - 420: Purgatory on Earth (10)

One step, two steps, three steps. As Luo Yi moved, the surrounding zombies gradually closed in.

Especially the feeder that was less than a meter away from Luo Yi, its appearance undoubtedly stirred its "interest."

Holding an unidentified organ in its hands, it crept up to Luo Yi, then, like the zombie that was shot inside the house, sniffed incessantly at Luo Yi’s body.

Cold sweat streamed down his spine, Luo Yi held his breath tightly, striving to appear calm.

But saying is easy, actually doing it is an almost impossible task.

The sound of "crunching" from the beast’s mouth, constantly chewing on bits of flesh, was terrifying just to hear.

After sniffing for a long time and perhaps not detecting anything unusual, the curious zombie returned disinterestedly to its position, then squatted down to continue enjoying its human flesh feast.

Exhaling lightly, Luo Yi, who narrowly escaped a crisis, felt slightly relieved. No matter what, through this experience, at least his thinking was proven correct; the corpse residue covering him indeed had the effect of confusing the beasts’ sense of smell.

Tightening the Steel Blade in his hand, Luo Yi continued to step forward, constantly greeted by curious beasts along the way.

However, they were ultimately avoided one by one due to Luo Yi’s excellent "disguise."

Moreover, through such close contact, Luo Yi also gained further understanding of the "communication" between zombies.

Certainly, rather than communication, "recognition" might be more accurate, for whether it’s himself, or zombies among themselves, they would intentionally or unintentionally touch each other during passing, then gaze into each other’s eyes and sniff.

From this, Luo Yi boldly inferred that perhaps smell is the key for zombies to distinguish between friend and foe.

With frequent contact, Luo Yi’s initial tension gradually subsided. In order to impersonate a zombie as plausibly as possible, he began to mimic the beasts’ posture.

Twisted neck, dragging steps, hands naturally turned backward, this was Luo Yi’s summary of the zombies’ gait, although the most essential part was that the steps while walking should be slow, preferably stopping after each step.

And in reality, that was exactly what he was doing. Frankly, if a human were to pass by at this time, they might not be able to detect Luo Yi hidden among the zombie crowd.

Thanks to the nearly perfect disguise, Luo Yi slowly approached the end of the corridor.

The bright spot at the entrance, like an angel from heaven, kept waving its white wings, beckoning him to quickly embrace it.

But even with the goal right in front of him, Luo Yi still suppressed his inner excitement, continued maintaining his pace, and steadily moved forward.

After another grueling five minutes, when the warm north wind caressed Luo Yi’s face, the refreshing feeling made him almost want to shout out loud.

However, once the impulse subsided, as his eyes gradually adapted to the outdoor brightness, the scene that greeted him choked him with a sense of plunging into an ice cave.

Swallowing hard, Luo Yi couldn’t believe what was happening before his eyes. Even though he was mentally prepared for the base to be breached, the reality far exceeded his expectations.

Shocking! Astonished! Luo Yi felt a sense of surrealism! He briefly doubted if this was really the Yuhuan Gymnasium from his memory.

Rivers of blood, scattered flesh, beasts everywhere vying for meat from the fallen.

He must be hallucinating! This certainly isn’t a gymnasium! This is simply... simply a purgatory in hell!

Unable to fully accept the reality, Luo Yi stood in a daze at the corridor entrance, occasionally jostled by the passing beasts.

At this moment, Luo Yi was like a true "walking corpse," being pushed around unconsciously by the beasts.

After standing in a stupor for a minute, Luo Yi gradually recovered his reason, and suddenly remembered the mission he was on.

He dared not delay further, hurriedly turned his body and retraced his steps, retreating from whence he came.

Inside the small room, two soldiers remained steadfast at the door, one continuously keeping an ear against it, listening to the disturbance outside the corridor.

It had been twenty minutes since Luo Yi left the room, a span of time that was undoubtedly torturous for the two soldiers.

"How is it? Still no movement?" It was not certain how many times this question had been thrown by Fugue, but upon hearing it, Ling Dong, as usual, waved his hand. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

During the twenty minutes, apart from hearing some sounds of body friction when Luo Yi first exited, Ling Dong heard no further movement from him.

This extended disruption in contact inevitably stirred some worry in the two soldiers’ hearts.

Yet, they dared not act rashly. After all, from then until now, although they hadn’t heard from Luo Yi, they also hadn’t received any screams or call orders from him.

So if they were to take rescue action abruptly at this moment, it might not only fail to help Luo Yi but could instead place him in a predicament.

In this dilemma, the soldiers were quite on edge.

As time ticked away, while maintaining a listening posture, Ling Dong suddenly leaned closer to the door panel, an action that immediately caught Fugue’s attention: "What’s up? Does Little Luo have any movement?"

Raising a finger to make a silence gesture, although it was only for a moment, Ling Dong did hear something.

After carefully listening for several seconds, he gave a thumbs-up to Fugue: "Luo Yi is back!"

According to the agreed-upon procedure, Luo Yi would deliberately scrape the wall upon return, simply to create some abnormal noise as a signal to alert his companions.

Receiving Luo Yi’s signal, the duo of Fugue and Ling Dong immediately went into combat readiness, each holding a bat, prepared to open the door and welcome the hero home at a moment’s note.

Five minutes later, the silent corridor echoed with a "knock, knock, knock" at the door, which was also a pre-arranged communication signal between Luo Yi and the others.

To avoid drawing suspicion from the beasts, Luo Yi purposefully adopted their peculiar behavior of using the head to knock.

Believe it or not, though this action looked rather silly, it effectively served its purpose of deception.

Intentionally waiting a dozen seconds, given that the beasts were drawn to sounds, Luo Yi’s noises sure would attract certain curious onlookers.

So, to be safe, the soldiers inside did not rush to open the door immediately.

After all, Luo Yi’s survival on an external outing suggested his method was successful. Even waiting an extra ten seconds wouldn’t threaten his life.

The final moment finally arrived. Matching the rhythm of Luo Yi’s "knock, knock," Ling Dong decisively unlocked the door, then opened a small gap to let the long-waiting "hero" inside. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)