The expedition moved like a slow, wounded animal.
Lin Feng watched them through the eyes of Z-001. He had sent the zombie to a high vantage point, the roof of a parking garage two blocks from the Golden Phoenix Plaza. It gave a clear, if grainy, view of the main approach.
The system's remote viewing was not perfect. It was like watching a silent movie through thick glass. But he could see.
He saw the twenty survivors form a tight column. Lao Chen and Zhang Wei were at the front, behind a large cart reinforced with his planks, like a moving shield. Mei and other agile fighters flanked the sides.
They crossed the bridge over the polluted river. The water below was sluggish and dark.
On the other side, the city changed. The buildings were more damaged. Fewer human signs. More signs of other things. Strange fungal growths on walls. Bones picked clean.
Lin Feng sat on his blanket in the warehouse, eyes closed, perfectly still. To the other non-combatants, he looked asleep or catatonic with fear. An old woman patted his shoulder in pity.
He was not afraid. He was focused.
The column reached the plaza's vast open courtyard. Fountains were dry. Sculptures were toppled. The grand glass doors of the mall were shattered.
They paused. He saw Lao Chen gesturing, pointing toward the right side of the building. A loading dock. A smaller, more defensible entrance.
They began moving again, skirting the edge of the courtyard.
Then, movement.
From the broken doors, shadows detached. They flowed out into the light. Gray-skinned, long-limbed. Ghouls.
Five. Ten. Fifteen.
A low sound, like dry sticks rubbing together, filtered through the system's audio link. Their chattering.
The expedition froze. The front cart stopped.
Lin Feng held his breath.
The ghouls did not charge immediately. They spread out. A semi-circle. They were herding the survivors, cutting off the retreat back to the bridge.
Zhang Wei shouted an order Lin Feng couldn't hear. The formation tightened. People with shields moved to the flanks.
The first ghoul lunged. It was a blur of gray. It targeted the left flank.
A man with a sheet-metal shield braced. The ghoul hit it with a clawed hand. A screech of metal. The man staggered but held.
Mei darted in from the side. Her hatchet flashed down. It bit deep into the ghoul's shoulder. Black fluid sprayed. The creature shrieked and reeled back.
The battle was joined.
Lin Feng watched, a helpless spectator. He saw the chaos. The flashes of weapons. The bursts of black blood. A survivor went down, pulled from the line by two ghouls. The line closed the gap, grim and shrinking.
They were holding. Just.
But more shadows stirred in the mall's dark interior. Reinforcements.
Lao Chen was pointing desperately toward the loading dock. They had to move. Now.
The whole group began shuffling sideways, fighting for every meter, dragging their cart-shield. They were an island of noise and struggle in the silent plaza.
Lin Feng opened his eyes. The warehouse swam into view. The old woman was praying. A child was crying.
He couldn't just watch. He had to do something. Anything.
He looked at his resources. He had three zombies. One on the roof. Two idle.
An idea formed. A dangerous, stupid idea.
He called Z-002 from its patrol in the factory. He commanded it to move. Its destination: the riverbank near the bridge.
Then, he deployed Z-003 from the construction site. He sent it to the same rally point.
He was pulling his assets from across the city and concentrating them.
His plan was not to fight. Two basic zombies were useless against a ghoul pack.
He planned to be a distraction.
He positioned Z-002 and Z-003 in the open, on the bridge approach. He set their command.
[Task: Patrol. Aggressive Mode.]
[Objective: Make noise. Attract attention.]
The two zombies began shambling back and forth on the cracked asphalt. They moaned. They knocked against the bridge railing. They were loud, clumsy, and obvious.
Back in the plaza, the ghouls hesitated. Their heads swiveled. The chattering noise changed pitch. Confusion.
A portion of the pack, maybe a third, broke away from the main group. They skittered toward the new sound, toward the bridge.
The pressure on the expedition eased. Just enough.
Lao Chen saw the opening. He bellowed. The survivors pushed. They broke into a ragged run, shields held high, and crashed through the doors of the loading dock into the mall's darkness.
The ghouls at the plaza, distracted and divided, were too slow to stop them.
The entrance was secured.
From his rooftop perch, Z-001 saw the loading dock doors slam shut from the inside. Barricades were shoved against them.
The expedition was in. For now.
Lin Feng let out a shuddering breath. His hands were trembling. He had done it. He had altered the battle without being there.
A system notification chimed.
[Quest Progress: Support the Expedition - Updated.]
[Expedition has secured the initial entry point. Minor tactical assistance provided.]
[Partial Reward: +50 IP]
[Current IP: 101/100 - IP CAPACITY INCREASED]**
He had more points. But he felt no joy. Only a hollow, nervous energy.
He recalled Z-002 and Z-003. He sent them back to their farming and patrol duties, deep into the shadows. The distraction was over.
Now, the real struggle began. Inside the mall. In the dark.
And back in the warehouse, another struggle was beginning.
He opened his eyes. Mei was not with the expedition.
She was standing five feet away from him, arms crossed. She must have stayed back as a rear guard. Her eyes were fixed on his face.
"You were somewhere else," she stated. It wasn't a question.
"I was praying," Lin Feng mumbled, looking away.
"No," Mei said, taking a step closer. Her voice was a blade. "Your eyes were moving under the lids. Like you were watching something. And ten minutes ago, you gasped. When Lao Chen's group almost got flanked. How did you know?"
Lin Feng's heart stopped. He had been careless. The emotional reaction had betrayed him.
"I... I didn't know. I was just afraid for them," he stammered.
Mei leaned down. Her voice dropped to a whisper only he could hear. "There is a mystery here. A mystery that leaves no tracks. That provides nails. That seems to know what's happening far away. I will find the source."
She straightened up. "Rest, Lin Feng. You look tired from all your... praying."
She walked away to patrol the perimeter.
Lin Feng sat on his blanket, cold terror seeping into his bones. He had saved the expedition. He had also convinced his most observant enemy that he was at the center of the mystery.
The distant battle in the mall was a thunderstorm on the horizon.
The storm in the warehouse, with Mei at its eye, was about to break directly over his head.