Apocalypse - Evil Shelter System

Chapter 51  The Imposing Arrival of the Modified Vehicle Convoy

"This effect is pretty awesome!" Alex couldn't help but feel excited. According to the system's description, aside from becoming more durable and sharper, the most significant feature of the Sinful Blade was its soul intimidation!

The greatest significance of soul intimidation is its ability to deter nearby ordinary zombies. Ordinary zombie corpses had become useless to Alex, and he found the endless, tireless hordes of ordinary zombies quite annoying. When hunting Class C zombies, the real exhaustion came from dealing with these incessant low-level zombies, which brought him little Apocalypse Coins and no attribute enhancement.

But now, with the Sinful Blade's special trait, Alex no longer had to worry about being entangled by ordinary low-level zombies. Additionally, the Sinful Sanction that could be activated in anger, although Alex didn't know how powerful this area-of-effect attack was or how much damage it could cause, just the name itself sounded powerful. Moreover, it was a soul attack, which could completely ignore physical defenses!

He raised the Sinful Blade, its blade emitting a fierce cold light. The ghostly blue flame on the blade flickered unpredictably, reminiscent of the sword of Damocles from hell, full of intimidation.

"Master! Master! Those people with the modified cars are back!!" Myra rushed into Alex's bedroom, anxiously exclaiming.

Alex's mouth curved slightly upward: "They've come at just the right time!"

With that, he eagerly leaped out of the castle window and swiftly climbed onto the city wall. This time, the opponents had indeed brought reinforcements and were well-prepared.

Alex stood on the city wall, watching the imposing convoy approaching with swagger, a cold sneer crossing his face. There were two reinforced dump trucks, two mixer trucks with large wooden spikes attached to their fronts, and two modified super steel off-road vehicles. There was also that modified pickup truck that had appeared before, leading the convoy.

Even from this distance, Alex could clearly see the arrogant smirk on the face of the silver-haired girl in the pickup truck. On top of the two dump trucks, there were about a dozen youths armed with rifles and handguns.

Alex's eyes narrowed slightly. With his current physical condition, even without binoculars, he could see things clearly within a distance of five hundred meters. They were carrying Type 54 police pistols and Type 81 police rifles. These standard-issue firearms were things that the military and police had already phased out.

It was unclear where this group had obtained their gear. They were all dressed in identical black security uniforms, with a few even wearing police bulletproof vests. They all had sunglasses on, displaying an air of arrogance and untouchability, resembling the typical depiction of organized crime groups. Perhaps this was intentional, as those who have watched too many Hong Kong police and gangster movies, and suffer from 'second-year syndrome', often enjoy such theatrics.

Furthermore, these individuals appeared to be in their twenties, clearly a group of young people afflicted with this 'second-year syndrome.' However, to Alex, this style seemed utterly foolish. On a cloudy day like today, why would they need sunglasses?

The convoy slowly stopped about a hundred meters away from City of Darkness, forming a circle to keep the zombies outside. Once everything was in place, two young men in bulletproof vests and sunglasses, holding shields, stood atop a super-luxury modified off-road vehicle. Those who had gone to scout the city had witnessed the power of the giant crossbow, so now they were very cautious about it.

Then, someone emerged from the sunroof of the super-luxury modified off-road vehicle, holding a megaphone and shouted towards Alex:

"People in the city, listen up! I am the founder of the first survivor refuge in Jiangcheng City, the great and glorious leader of human survivors—Ma Chenbin!" announced the youth, well-protected in the convoy, and the people around him erupted into cheers.

Through his three-eyed crow, Alex could see Ma Chenbin's entire appearance. This man, around twenty-three or twenty-four years old, had long hair parted in the middle, a handsome look, but with a skull tattoo on the left side of his face. His demeanor was that of a standard ruffian, a second-generation delinquent. However, his physique was impressive, muscular and towering, suggesting he had martial arts training, not just fitness, as his body proportions were so well-coordinated.

"These people must have lost their minds," commented Shen Tingting disdainfully, showing no fear at the sight of this spectacle.

"Are they seriously this afflicted with 'second-year syndrome'? What are they even trying to do?" Myra pushed her glasses up, laughing as if watching a farce.

"Not courting death won't lead to death," Li Wan-ning concluded. To them, these people putting up such a grand show to provoke Alex was simply courting death.

Whether it was absolute confidence in Alex's strength or a sense of complete security in the City of Darkness, the women seemed unfazed and even mockingly amused. They didn't take the grand display of these people seriously at all.

"People inside the city, hear me out! I give you five minutes to surrender, lay down your weapons, open your gates to welcome our sacred and great liberating army. Only then, perhaps, you may spare your lives. Otherwise, we will level your city to the ground, leaving nothing behind! Women will become slaves, and men will feed the zombies!" Ma Chenbin continued his arrogant and fearless proclamation.

In their view, with their strength, flattening Alex's small refuge was a piece of cake! A six-meter-high cement brick wall stood no chance against their reinforced steel and thick wooden drill mixer trucks charging at full speed. Once the wall and the mysterious giant crossbow on it were breached, with their firearms and overwhelming numerical superiority, they could easily crush anyone in the city. Their power was more than enough to bulldoze this peculiar city. This was a conquest and a slaughter!

Ma Chenbin, in a burst of eloquent fervor, said to his men, "VENI VIDI VICI!" These famous words, written by Gaius Julius Caesar to the Roman Senate after his victory over Pharnaces II of Pontus at the Battle of Zela, meant — I came, I saw, I conquered.

"Idiots!" Alex raised his middle finger at them from a distance.

"Dammit! Ungrateful fools, wait for your death!" Ma Chenbin shouted furiously into the megaphone, "Everyone get ready! Flatten this refuge! Kill all the men inside! The women are for all the brothers to enjoy!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" the youths in the convoy cheered enthusiastically.

Alex didn't bother to waste words with them. He turned and leaped down from the city wall and, standing in an open area, spoke to the system, "System, summon the Strangler Armored Vehicle for me."

[Strangler Armored Vehicle: A powerful armored combat vehicle with strong armor and power, capable of withstanding attacks from Class B zombies and below. It is the best vehicle for the Lord of City of Darkness; Price: 300 Apocalypse Coins.]

[Summoning conditions met, summoning the Strangler Armored Vehicle…]

[Consuming 300 Apocalypse Coins…]

As the synthetic electronic sound finished, a steel garage slowly rose from the ground on the open area.

[Summoning of the Strangler Armored Vehicle complete, host automatically acquires driving skills.]

The steel doors of the garage thunderously fell, revealing a brand-new armored vehicle shimmering with a metallic luster, slowly emerging from inside. It was a real tracked armored vehicle, comparable in size to a large concrete mixer truck. Its body was covered with thick and sturdy armor, and its base was equipped with tank-like caterpillar tracks suitable for all kinds of terrain.

The entire vehicle was securely wrapped in armor, and at its front, a row of rolling iron spikes was installed – this eradication mechanism was probably the origin of the name "Strangler Armored Vehicle."

[Summoning of the Strangler Armored Vehicle complete, host automatically acquires driving skills.] n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

[In a world of many roads, the domineering way leads, drive without rules, and leave your enemies in tears.]

[City of Apocalypse system kindly reminds the host: when driving the Strangler Armored Vehicle, disregard conventional tactics.]

After the synthetic electronic voice finished, Alex felt as if he had been enlightened, instantly acquiring the skills to drive the Strangler Armored Vehicle.

"Master! Their mixer trucks are lining up and heading towards us!" Li Wan-ning shouted to Alex from the tower.

Outside the city, two concrete mixer trucks and two dump trucks lined up, aiming towards City of Darkness. They emitted a huge rumbling noise, slowly starting to accelerate with a powerful momentum intended to intimidate.

Alex climbed onto the Strangler Armored Vehicle, flipped open the top hatch, and climbed in.

The gates of City of Darkness slowly opened...

"Did they surrender?" the silver-haired girl excitedly shouted to Ma Chenbin, "Their gates are opening!"

"Ha ha ha ha! These cowards, daring to fight against Jiangcheng's first refuge?! Even if they surrender after killing our men, they must die!" Ma Chenbin's expression suddenly turned crazed and ferocious, arrogantly shouting to the ready convoy, "Everyone, be prepared! Today we pillage the city, no mercy for the men, and capture the women to bring back for..."

Before Ma Chenbin could finish his grand declaration, he saw a towering and formidable black armored vehicle, shimmering with a heavy metal sheen, slowly driving out from the wide-open city gates!

"I... What... the... hell..." Ma Chenbin struggled to swallow, his eyes wide and mouth agape, muttering, "What the hell is this thing? A super-sized armored vehicle? Isn't this modification way too exaggerated?!"

"Who is this guy, and how does he have an armored vehicle? Could they be military personnel?" The tattooed man also leaned out of the vehicle, looking in horror at the Strangler Armored Vehicle slowly emerging from the city gates.

"Holy crap! What is that thing in front of the armored vehicle!"

"This must be some kind of freakish version of an armored vehicle, right?!"

The group of youths, who had been swaggering atop the dump trucks, instantly erupted into chaos. Their previously arrogant demeanor instantly turned into faces filled with terror.