Hope Breaks in Despair Chapter 1

In the year 2020, the virus "Comet" ravaged the world, causing the vast majority of humans to be infected and turned into zombies. The antibodies successfully developed in emergency research could not cure the virus, but could only protect the remaining one-tenth of the population from infection. Governments of various countries united to build a huge underground city "Shire" in a short period of time, with a closed biological circulation system. Humans began a new era underground, with rapid development in three major fields: information technology, brain science, and virology.

In the 124th year of the Shire calendar, in a forest.

My head hurts terribly and my ears are ringing.

Ethan Xiao frowned and put his hand on his forehead. Something moist and warm flowed on his fingertips. He opened his eyes and looked carefully. It was actually blood.

Suddenly, a frightened voice came to my ears.

Ethan Xiao looked in the direction of the voice and found that it was his classmate. His eyeballs seemed to be about to burst from their sockets, and his mouth was wide open, unable to utter a complete sentence.

Ethan Xiao then remembered that their aircraft had crashed during an expedition to a primeval forest. Because the Matt's brain had been invaded, he completely lost his judgment and was even unable to switch the control to manual mode.

The huge impact force at the moment of impact caused Ethan Xiao's head to hit the window nearby, causing him to faint briefly.

When he woke up, it was obvious that everyone was in a state of extreme fear, including the two senior students beside him who were always calm.

Ethan Xiao's side completely hit the ground. He couldn't see anything and could only tilt his head to look to the other side. At that moment, he was stunned.

An unknown number of zombies were lying grimly on the aircraft, banging on the windows frantically, as if they were ready to tear open everything and rush in at any time, tearing everything they saw into their stomachs.

"Ah... It's zombies! Zombies! What should we do?"

"Where's the driver? See if you can restart it..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the zombies who were constantly dividing up the fresh flesh and blood threw a head on the glass. The muscles on half of its face were gone, revealing the white bones, and its eyeballs had fallen out, leaving red Aaron on the window. It was then grabbed by another zombie and stuffed into its mouth. It chewed while pressing its face against the glass. Between its teeth was a mixture of yellow saliva and blood, which was nauseating.

"Ah---" the young student sitting by the window became hysterical.

"Don't yell! The noise will make them more excited!"

The captain in charge of the investigation in the front row glared at me. He was the only one who remained sane.

Pushing hard against the safety device pressing against his body, the captain gestured for silence.

"As everyone knows, our aircraft crashed, and worse still, the cockpit was damaged. Not only did we lose two Matts, we also lost the possibility of restarting the aircraft and getting off the ground. But fortunately, the cockpit and the cabin are separated by this door. Although these zombies look scary, they are not strong enough to penetrate the cabin and enter."

Because they are just level zero, the most widespread zombies in the world. They look scary and desperate to kill, but their ability to move is closest to that of humans, except for the high-speed regeneration ability that humans do not have.

Daniel Captain's words slowly calmed the panicked cadets.

"There are twelve of us in total. According to this calculation, the oxygen reaction device in the cabin can last for another six hours. During these six hours, everyone should talk less and stay calm, otherwise the oxygen will be consumed faster. If we are lucky, our aircraft will lose contact with the research base, and they should send a special task force to conduct an investigation, and we will have a chance to be rescued. Do you understand?"

Everyone nodded and stopped talking.

Most of them are students of the Central Academy of Sciences. After graduation, they will do scientific research for the military. This time they left Shire City just for an internship.

Ethan Xiao sighed calmly. Considering the size of the cabin and the time it takes for the oxygen reaction device to start working, it can only last for another three hours at most. Daniel Captain had deceived everyone and prolonged everyone's hope of waiting.

Damn it -- today might be his last day. If he had known this, he shouldn't have always peeked at his classmate Emily from a distance, but pushed her firmly onto the bed! Life is short, so enjoy it while you can!

The trainees sitting by the window could only close their eyes. The cabin was well soundproofed, and they could not hear the zombies knocking on the walls or their hideous roars. But if they looked out the window, they would not be able to fall asleep tonight.

Or whether they can make it through the night is unknown.

Ethan Xiao counted silently in his heart.

One, two, three... three thousand six hundred...

It's been an hour and the special task force still hasn't arrived.

If an hour is not enough from the time the research base discovers that their aircraft has lost contact to the time they determine their location, then perhaps there is no intention of sending anyone to rescue them.

Ethan Xiao smiled bitterly, and suddenly felt a little regretful that he only got a B--- grade in the academy's level test. If all the people in this aircraft were Class A students, the special mission force would have arrived long ago. After all, talent is the most valuable resource.

The temperature in the cabin was rising, and the trainees unbuttoned their collars impatiently.

This means that there is insufficient oxygen supply and they may not be able to last even two hours.

"Let's open the hatch... and escape..."

"What a joke! I'd rather die here than go out and be skinned and torn apart!"

"But..."

"There is no but. Waiting for rescue is the right choice. If you open the hatch a crack, the hatch will be pushed open by zombies before you can even take a breath of fresh air."

After Daniel Captain finished speaking, the cabin fell into silence again.

The air became thinner and thinner, and everyone felt visibly having difficulty breathing.

Death is approaching.

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of an aircraft engine could be faintly heard overhead. The students, who were in a daze, woke up vaguely and looked out the window in a daze.

The sharp blade flashed by, and the zombie's body was instantly torn into pieces, with yellow-brown mucus splashing everywhere. A zombie's head fell on the glass, causing the student leaning against the window to let out a ridiculous scream.

Daniel Captain let out a long breath.

"It's... Special Task Force..."

This was exciting news, although they had lost the energy to be excited.

His scattered nerves instantly became clear. Ethan Xiao looked through the window and saw a figure in black combat uniform flash by. A touch of gold cut through Ethan Xiao's vision. Before he could figure out what he was seeing, two or three zombies were cut in half and slid down the glass like garbage, leaving behind several disgusting Aaron.

Special Task Forces - Specialized armed combat forces. The establishment of each base is inseparable from the cleaning of zombies by this force. They are cruel executioners, cold killing tools, and the only reliable backing when disaster strikes.

When the "Comet" virus first broke out, humans tried to use atomic bombs to control the infected area, but the virus absorbed the heat and nuclear radiation from the atomic bombs and broke out more violently. Similarly, when dealing with zombies, weapons that generate heat, such as bullets and missiles, will only increase the healing ability of zombies, so the era of cold weapons has arrived again. Everyone in the special task force is a master of using cold weapons.

Ethan Xiao leaned on the glass and looked out. He saw a big man with clenched fists and some kind of weapon on his fingers. When his fist hit the zombie's head, the yellow brain burst. His muscles were tense, and he kicked the zombie's remains out. They fell on the gravel ground and cracked on the tree trunk. Although he couldn't hear anything through the glass, Ethan Xiao could imagine the sound of collapse and shattering in his mind.

Another agile and flexible body shuttled through the zombies. It was a female special forces soldier. She released some kind of high-speed rotating weapon at a speed that was difficult to discern with the naked eye, slicing the zombies' bodies and making their limbs completely separated from their bodies. The zombies' high-speed healing ability did not mean regeneration. Just when their attack power weakened due to the loss of arms or legs, she quickly pulled out the double blades on her back and just rotated her body. These zombies either lost their heads or were cut in half.

In less than thirty seconds, there were no more zombies occupying the plane windows.

Daniel Captain slowly crawled to the hatch and pressed the button.

The hatch opened and humid air rushed in, carrying with it a mixture of decay and stench.

Several students vomited violently before they could even lift their safety gear.

"I'll give you one minute. Move immediately."

A cold voice came from outside the cabin, like a blade moving along the nerves, cold and merciless.

Ethan Xiao's brain seemed to be cut open by the other party's voice, and his closed thoughts instantly entered a wider space.

"Hey! Hey! Hurry up! Don't tell me any of you broke your legs! Those who can't walk will stay here and feed the zombies!"

The tall man with a ferocious expression stepped into the cabin. The weapon between his fingers that he used to smash the zombies was shining coldly. He lifted the safety device roughly, grabbed a trainee and threw him out of the cabin.

The other party screamed.

"Keep yelling, keep yelling! The sound will attract the attention of the zombies! You stay here to attract the zombies, and we will return to our aircraft and come back to pick you up when only bones are left of you. How about that? You should be quiet by then, right?"

His expression was extremely arrogant, with a gloating smile on his face. Ethan Xiao saw a kind of excitement in his bloodthirsty eyes. This guy was not joking.

The screams stopped, and everyone quickly activated the safety devices and fled from the cabin as if to escape.

When they saw the outside world for the first time, they were stunned.

All around the aircraft... zombies were piled up like mountains.

Ethan Xiao then realized that there were only three special forces coming to rescue them.

A slender figure stood quietly between the two aircraft, his golden brown hair was blown up in waves by the breeze, an unusual omen, and the refinement and indifference in his ice-blue eyes swept over a chilling sense of oppression that penetrated deep into Ethan Xiao's brain along his vision, creating an illusion of pain.

He held a blade in both hands, the tip of the blade pierced into the soil, and it was about to shatter the world in an instant.

For the first time, Ethan Xiao found that he couldn't take his eyes off this man. He then realized that the golden color he saw was his hair.

Until someone pushed Ethan Xiao's back and said to him in a low voice: "Stop staring at him, he is Lucas Hein."

"Is he...Lucas Hein?"

Ethan Xiao was stunned.

He never thought that Lucas Hein, a prominent figure in the special mission force, would be such an elegant and handsome man in front of him.

Hain's profile is resolute, like a cliff that has stood for thousands of years, carved into deep and undulating lines by the wind and rain.

Ethan Xiao had always thought that he was a monster, but not the existence that made it difficult to look away at this moment.

Zombies must be beheaded to completely lose their ability to move, which is called "severing neuronal connections" in biology.

A zombie that was cut in half, dragging its internal organs flowing out of its waist and abdomen, made a low humming sound and crawled towards the students who were walking into another aircraft.

The big guy enjoyed watching the group of people's terrified expressions, then raised his foot and stepped on the zombie's face. It made a squeaking sound, its teeth and tongue trembled, and everyone tightened their shoulders.

Haiyin, who had been indifferent all along, finally looked over and frowned, "Aaron, it's dirty."

Aaron shrugged his shoulders. "We can't let it eat those delicate students, right?"

After saying that, he stepped down with his foot, and the sound of the skull breaking was extremely loud.

The trainees were so frightened that they rushed to the cabin door. Two or three of them were crowded at the door, looking extremely embarrassed.

Aaron laughed with satisfaction, "Boss, these cowardly guys will be second lieutenants as soon as they graduate, while we have to fight through blood and gore, and we won't even get a rank until we die. It's really unfair!"

"Don't get in the cab until you've cleaned your shoes."

Hain turned around and put the sharp blade in his hand back into the scabbard on his back.

"Kid, if you keep staring at Colonel Burton, I'll dig out your eyes and feed them to the zombies."

The female special forces soldier with neat short hair showed hostility towards Ethan Xiao. She looked to be in her early twenties, and her black combat uniform outlined her slender figure and her hidden explosive power. If she punched Ethan Xiao in the head, he had no doubt that his brains would burst out.

"Oh, sorry."

Ethan Xiao quickly lowered his head and followed the others into the aircraft.

The female special forces soldier was the first to enter the cabin. Aaron stood outside the cabin and cleaned his shoes with the spare disinfectant of the crashed aircraft. It was not until Hain nodded that Aaron stepped into the cockpit.

The aircraft took off and they gradually moved away from the dangerous ground, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as Aaron said, countless zombies gradually rushed to the crash site. They stretched out their arms, jumped, and tried to pull down the out-of-reach aircraft, which was creepy.