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墨書 Inktalez
"Smack!" Lin Yi tossed the communicator he had been holding to Charlie, saying, "Return it when you're done. Remember, this communicator only covers Italy."
With that, Lin Yi slipped into a cave alongside Witerson II. In truth, Lin Yi had a global communicator, but he was unsure about the young man, so he decided to be dismissive.
Nicolas's residence, although carved out of the mountain into stone chambers, was surprisingly similar to human living spaces. The interior had a typical medieval style; the hall was vast and likely used by the entire vampire clan for meetings and meals. However, due to its construction on a mountain peak, there was only one large hall in the ten-meter-thick upper section. In one corner of the hall was a dark corridor lit by faint oil lamps on either side. Vampires were repelled by overly bright light, so their living spaces were naturally dim.
Descending one level, there was another hall in the center, but it was much larger and comprised various rooms. The doors to these rooms were stone-carved sliding doors marked with Roman numerals. Strangely, each doorway was flanked by a skull-shaped lamp that emitted a weak glow barely sufficient for navigation.
Lin Yi casually pushed open a stone door, and the heavy scraping sound felt like a black cat's claws scratching at his heart, causing him discomfort.
"Whoosh—" As soon as he opened the door, a gust of night wind rushed in, awakening Lin Yi from his earlier fatigue. With the beam of his powerful flashlight, he discovered that there was even a balcony inside the stone chamber, facing the cliff. Lin Yi walked over; the balcony was small, no more than three or four square meters. He leaned over to look down but saw nothing but darkness. However, the mountain wind told him they were still quite far from the ground.
Suddenly, the world became quiet; aside from the occasional breeze brushing against his face, everything felt peaceful. There were no zombies, no fighting—everything was beautiful.
"Boss, you chose well; this house was previously occupied by Ice Sister for quite some time," Nicolas said as he entered without Lin Yi noticing.
"Nicolas, why are you all living here?" This place was far removed from chaos but felt too oppressive for young people.
"Who wants to live here? We were pushed out of our living space by humans. At its peak, this mountain housed no fewer than ten thousand members of the Holy Clan. But eventually, everyone couldn't stand the loneliness and many migrated elsewhere. I wonder how they are doing now; when I last recorded it, there were hardly any people left here. Most of my friends preferred living among you humans. But once you discover we need to drink blood, you treat us like devils. Ice Sister has many admirers in the human world, but when someone found out she drank blood, they were terrified; Ice Sister had to become increasingly cautious." Although Nicolas looked somewhat fierce by human standards, he had a kind heart and expressed no resentment towards humans during his recounting.
"You drink blood... How long did your Holy Clan take to build this Stone Fortress?" Lin Yi almost misspoke; he instinctively thought of Renesmee's dislike for being called a vampire.
"It’s been about fifteen hundred years since we started building it—probably since humans began to find it hard to tolerate us!" Nicolas walked over to Lin Yi and leaned against the balcony railing. These stone railings must have been reinforced; otherwise, after a millennium of wear and tear, even steel would have corroded significantly.
"Is everyone settled in?" Lin Yi changed the subject; he was worried about accommodating thousands of people. Among them were not just mercenaries but many ordinary folks as well.
"Don't worry; this mountain is nearly a thousand meters high. We've built sixty floors on the upper four hundred meters of it—each floor has about a hundred rooms. If we squeeze in a bit, we can accommodate twenty thousand people." Nicolas grew up here and likely knew more about the mountain's structure than anyone else.
Lin Yi fell silent; even if this place could house so many people, what would happen when they were surrounded by zombies with no food? He couldn't fathom how these thousands would escape; even if someone came to rescue them, there wouldn't be enough transmitters.
Though the night was quiet, he knew it was merely the calm before an impending storm. After some thought, Lin Yi pressed on his communicator by his ear—the one thing he relied on.
A few seconds later, a weary voice came through: "Lin Yi, is something wrong?"
"Wu Hao, whether we can make it out alive this time might depend on you guys!" Lin Yi wasn't someone who liked to place hope in others. But this time—even for him—escaping from this vast Zombie Sea seemed nearly impossible.
The communicator paused for a moment, but quickly regained composure and said, "It seems to be true. I ran into Will and the others tonight; we were preparing to take on a mission. The training with the Brothers has shown some results. However, Will's expression was off; he only warned us not to leave the city to hunt zombies. I used my mind-reading ability and found that the words 'Mire Defense Zone' kept flashing in his mind. We haven't been able to reach you, and I didn't expect things to have escalated this much." Wu Hao was well aware of Lin Yi's strength; ordinary Zombie Seas posed no threat to him. But no matter how powerful one was, two fists could hardly contend with four hands.
"The Milan Defense Zone is finished. We're trapped on a solitary peak in a wasteland, surrounded by too many zombies. I don't have any confidence in breaking out," Lin Yi's tone held a hint of despair for the first time; it was the first moment he felt so helpless since encountering zombies. Although he was strong, there were likely very few who could match him in this situation. Yet facing those zombies, Lin Yi felt no urge to resist.
"I'm going to request a Twenty-Seater Supersonic Aircraft; if all goes well, it should reach your Milan Defense Zone in no more than two hours." Wu Hao was wide awake now; he hadn't expected that after finally training the remaining Mercenaries, problems would arise on Lin Yi's side.
"Yes, let me know once you've arranged it!" Lin Yi didn't mention to Wu Hao that his group actually numbered in the thousands; if he did, it might be difficult for the entire Greater Paris Defense Zone to mobilize such powerful air transport forces quickly.
Nicolas's face lit up upon hearing Lin Yi's words. "Boss, does that mean someone can come rescue us?"
"How is your defensive strength over there?" Lin Yi didn't answer Nicolas's question; he knew that undermining morale in such situations was a serious mistake.
"Actually, it's always been Ice Sister in charge. Over the years, most of our people have been living hidden among human society, so I haven't really seen the defensive facilities here."
Lin Yi's eyelids twitched; he decided to find Renesmee immediately for a discussion—there wasn't much time to waste.
"Go consult Sister Renesmee; in less than two hours, zombies will gather enough strength to threaten us!" Although Lin Yi hadn't specifically checked the number of zombies, he knew that compared to his previous encounter at the Tiber River, there were at least ten times more zombies here.
Nicolas looked troubled, but Lin Yi pretended not to notice and turned to walk outside. Just as he reached the hall, he spotted a familiar figure pacing back and forth in the flickering oil lamp light.
"Beatrice!" Lin Yi called out, thinking that as the top Mercenary group, the Golden Mercenary Corps surely wouldn't be completely unprepared.
"Lin Steward!" Beatrice stopped when she saw Lin Yi.
"I wonder what Beatrice plans to do next?" Lin Yi could sense the threat of zombies; surely Beatrice could too.
"I just contacted the headquarters of the Golden Mercenary Corps. Those old guys are going to hold a meeting to discuss it! Are they waiting for us to be eaten by zombies before making a decision?" Beatrice's face was grim; she knew she had essentially been abandoned, and that feeling was unbearable.
In the dim hall, an oppressive atmosphere began to rise. These individuals were not merely brawny savages; they had their own thoughts and were conscious of this crisis.
"Captain, we could ask the commanders of the Berlin Defense Zone and Eastern European Defense Zone to send transmitters over. At worst, we can pay them extra Contribution Points," Old Black appeared beside Beatrice without anyone noticing—even Lin Yi hadn't sensed his presence.
"But they'd need to send a transport squad over! Just thinking about it makes it seem impossible! They must already know about the situation in Milan Defense Zone; would they be foolish enough to come here and get themselves killed?" Beatrice's voice was low; as an excellent commander, she couldn't let her subordinates see her despair.
Lin Yi forced a smile; although they hadn't reached a dead end yet, with everyone harboring their own thoughts, it would likely be difficult for them to effectively resist the Zombie Army's attack.
Nicolas followed Lin Yi as they made their way to Renesmee's room. Since Renesmee also lived on the second floor, they quickly arrived at her door.
Tina opened the door, her freckled face streaked with tears, her eyes red from crying.
Lin Yi looked at her, feeling a pang of sympathy, but still asked, "How is Sister Renesmee?"
Tina's eyes widened, ready to scold Lin Yi when a calm yet weak voice came from inside the room, "Is that Captain Lin? Come in. Cough cough... cough cough."
Without hesitation, Lin Yi stepped past Tina and entered the room. What greeted him was an ordinary girl's room, decorated in pink and white. In the center was a large bed draped with curtains, where Renesmee lay, her figure partially obscured, adding an air of mystery.
"Renesmee, I..."
"Just call me Renee... cough cough..." Renesmee covered her mouth as she coughed again, clearly still recovering from her earlier exertion.
"Alright, Renee. I was wondering if you have any temporary solutions to hold off the Zombies," Lin Yi said, knowing he needed to buy as much time as possible.
"Cough cough..." Just as Renesmee was about to respond, another fit of coughing overtook her. Lin Yi noticed a deeper flush on her cheeks.
"Of course there are methods; it's just that... cough cough..."
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