Days in the Infinite

Given the dire circumstances, no one had any expectations for lunch. This was especially true for Tsunade—though Li Ke still prepared food for her, she had been nibbling on a single piece of bread for an entire hour without finishing it.

As for why they avoided making a fire to cook, the reason was simple: all three of them feared attracting the zombies' attention. If the undead discovered them before the blood moon, they would have no choice but to start the battle ahead of schedule.

Cold canned meat and water did nothing to lift their spirits. Instead, they only made Li Ke feel drowsy. But with his nerves stretched taut, he didn't dare to sleep—not when the blood moon had clearly arrived earlier than expected. The last thing he wanted was to be caught in deep slumber when it began. That would be far too dangerous.

Lady Kiri was handling the situation much better than Li Ke. Though she had never encountered anything quite like this before, she was a battle-hardened gunslinger with a strong heart. She was able to relax a little, eating while observing the movement patterns of the distant zombies.

Unlike Li Ke, she was genuinely curious about where all these zombies were heading. The direction they were traveling in was the same path she and her group had taken earlier, yet they hadn't encountered nearly this many before. It was baffling.

What puzzled her even more was how the zombies deliberately avoided the cliffs that blocked their way.

Something about that felt off.

If the zombies were capable of seeing the obstacles ahead, then surely their group would have been spotted already.

But if they couldn't see, how did they know they couldn't cross the cliffs?

"This world really is full of mysteries…"

Absentmindedly fiddling with the revolver in her hands, Lady Kiri continued watching the rugged, uneven canyon they had carved out, along with the crude explosive traps Li Ke had set up.

These zombies had no weapons, no special abilities. Even if there were thousands of them, their combat power wasn't much stronger than that of a standard Kallete soldier unit.

And Lady Kiri had faced down thousands of Kallete soldiers before.

The zombies had no siege capabilities and no ranged attacks. There was nothing about them that scared her.

Yet, as she chewed on her canned meat and took in the sheer number of zombies, she couldn't help but ask,

"How did you survive last time?"

Li Ke shook his head. He honestly had no idea. The fact that he had managed to climb onto the gas station's roof at all had already felt like a miracle. Surviving the swarm of zombies afterward? That was beyond his understanding.

But this time, things were different. He could tell just by looking—this wasn't the same as before.

Last time, it hadn't started this early. It hadn't progressed this fast.

"I don't know. I was barely conscious when I climbed onto the roof of the gas station. The next thing I knew, I woke up the following morning. I guess the fire must have burned all the zombies to ashes, but… I have no proof."

Lady Kiri nodded. She remembered it clearly—when they had arrived, the ground was littered with charred corpses. If that was the case, it made sense.

She still didn't know why the bodies had vanished afterward, but at least she now had an explanation for how they had been taken out in the first place.

"So that's why you've gathered so much wood and fuel down there?"

Glancing at the piles of wood and the crude gunpowder traps below, she nodded to herself. She had only asked to make conversation, hoping to ease Li Ke's nerves.

"Yeah… I just don't know if it'll be enough. Maybe I should add more fuel."

Li Ke hesitated, his eyes flickering between the passage of time and the moon above. Slowly, the crimson hue crept further across the lunar surface, staining it red.

He didn't dare to bet on whether something even more terrifying would appear tonight. But if this world followed the game's progression, then it was all but guaranteed.

Gripping his firearm tightly, he hoped it would bring him some measure of security.

But soon, he found another way to keep himself occupied.

Taking out some empty cans, Li Ke began filling them with gunpowder, one after another. Without grenades, this was the best substitute he could come up with.

As for how he would ignite them when the time came…

He wasn't counting on them being reliable explosives. At the very least, they could help set fire to some of the wood.

Lady Kiri approached, taking out some scraps of paper and helping him craft fuses.

The makeshift fuses weren't stable enough to allow for a timed detonation, but they could be thrown into burning areas to ignite and explode. And if there wasn't already fire, Lady Kiri could always use her revolver to detonate them midair.

And so, the two of them continued making powder-filled cans while keeping an eye on the surrounding zombies.

As the blood-red glow intensified, the zombies grew stronger. Their movements became more agile, their senses sharper. More than once, Li Ke and Lady Kiri had to pull back quickly after realizing they had been spotted. If they had reacted a second later, the zombies might have already been alerted to their presence.

Time passed, minute by minute. Eventually, as their hunger returned and they took a break to eat a little, Li Ke watched as the red moon in the sky…

Bit by bit…

Turned completely crimson.

In that very instant, every zombie within sight—and countless others beyond—let out an ear-piercing howl.

Under the blood moon's glow and the swirling sands, they all snapped their heads around at once, locking onto Li Ke and Lady Kiri's position.

Their grotesque faces twisted into horrifying expressions, their half-rotted bodies illuminated by the eerie moonlight, making them look as if they had crawled straight out of hell itself.

All at once, they turned.

And then they charged.

Like a tide of death, the swarm of zombies surged forward with a speed that would put even Usain Bolt to shame.

Moments ago, they had been cautious of obstacles, but now, they cared for nothing. The towering cliffs in their path no longer deterred them.

They hurled themselves forward without hesitation.

The first wave of zombies plunged over the edge, their legs snapping on impact, bodies crushed beneath the feet of those that followed.

But they didn't stop.

They just kept coming.

Endlessly, relentlessly, they stormed toward Li Ke and Lady Kiri's position, an unstoppable flood of death.

As the horde charged forward, green light flickered across their bodies. Li Ke could see it clearly—every movement caused their eyes, mouths, and even their arms to glow with an eerie green hue.

The yellow earth was instantly swallowed by the black tide. Lady Kiri instinctively pulled the trigger and shouted,

"Open fire!"

Li Ke also reflexively squeezed the trigger. With the system's assistance, his machine gun spat out deadly flashes of fire, sending bullets crashing into the approaching zombies. Some were knocked to the ground, while others had their limbs shattered by the relentless barrage.

But it was useless.

In just a moment, he and Lady Kiri had taken down more than twenty zombies, yet that number was insignificant against the relentless tide surging toward them. As they reloaded, Li Ke saw that some zombies had already made it halfway through their man-made canyon.

The wooden traps he had set were completely trampled. Though the sharp stakes impaled some of them, they didn't even flinch. Some got pinned in place, but the swarm behind them simply crushed them underfoot or squeezed past their bodies, surging forward without stopping.

Li Ke instinctively reached for a Molotov, but Lady Kiri stopped him.

"Don't panic! Wait until they're directly below us before throwing. Don't light it—I'll ignite it with a bullet!"

As she spoke, she continued firing, each shot precisely exploding a zombie's skull.

She wasn't panicked, but she also didn't trust Li Ke's lack of formal training. The last thing she needed was for him to fumble and set himself on fire.

"Got it."

Li Ke took a deep breath, put the Molotov back, and resumed firing. Zombies kept falling under their assault, but it wasn't enough.

They couldn't form an effective firepower net. The limitation of only fifteen rounds per magazine was fatal—after just two or three seconds of shooting, they had to spend just as much time reloading. There was no way to sustain continuous suppression fire.

This was why the zombies kept charging unhindered. If they had modern machine guns, even just two, he and Lady Kiri could have formed an impenetrable line of fire, mowing down anything that came their way.

Gunshots echoed endlessly, but no matter how hard they tried, it was useless. The chasm below was already piled with disabled zombies, but fresh ones kept coming. The newest wave had reached the base of their position and had begun attacking the remaining soil beneath them.

It was clear—they were trying to dig or climb their way up to reach them.

It was impossible for them to actually succeed, but Li Ke and Lady Kiri exchanged a glance and immediately realized the same thing.

Crap!

That was their emergency escape route. Their backup base was directly below. If the soil was breached, they would lose their last chance to retreat!

"Damn it! These things just won't stop!"

Lady Kiri cursed, her frustration mounting as she looked at the endless sea of zombies still charging toward them. It was absurd!

No matter how many they killed, the ranks never thinned. If anything, their numbers seemed to be increasing.

It was as if every zombie in the world had simultaneously become aware of their location and was now converging on them.

"Throw the Molotovs!"

Clenching her teeth, Lady Kiri made the call. Li Ke didn't hesitate. He hurled two bottles out the window. The moment they were about to hit the ground, Lady Kiri drew her revolver.

Six shots rang out.

Li Ke watched in astonishment as the Molotovs shifted slightly midair—each bullet precisely striking them, igniting them before they even touched the ground. A blazing wall of fire roared to life, engulfing the oncoming zombies.

At the same time, six more zombie heads exploded.

In the next instant, Lady Kiri's revolver was fully reloaded, and she barked at him,

"Throw more! We need more fire!"

Without hesitation, Li Ke hurled twelve more Molotovs, two at a time. Lady Kiri's revolver blurred as she fired, striking each one, igniting a continuous inferno that lit up the battlefield.

The once-dark surroundings were now bathed in flickering firelight.

Li Ke could now see the zombies below with horrifying clarity. Their already grotesque faces looked even more nightmarish in the dancing flames.

His peripheral vision caught flashes of numbers—experience points rapidly increasing—but he had no time to care. He focused on using the firelight to aim better, landing precise shots on the advancing zombies.

Shoot. Fire. Reload. Shoot. Fire…

The motions became mechanical. He lost track of how many shots he had fired or how many times he had repaired his battered pipe rifle.

But he knew one thing.

It wasn't enough.

He watched helplessly as the pit below filled with more and more zombies. Meanwhile, the distant ones kept coming, packed as densely as before.

The endless repetition dulled his mind. His ears registered nothing but gunfire and the relentless wailing of the undead.

His brain was fogging up, the pressure and exhaustion weighing him down.

But—

At that moment, the entire canyon trembled.

Li Ke, whose mind had grown somewhat sluggish, was suddenly jolted awake. The next instant, he saw countless zombies being flung high into the air. A barrage of metal spikes whizzed through the air, some even ricocheting off their steel barricade.

A massive clearing instantly formed in the canyon. The flaming zombies were catapulted into the heap of corpses piled near the cliff, their burning bodies igniting the others.

The explosion reignited his fighting spirit. Li Ke quickly turned his body and, with renewed fervor, pulled the trigger once more, relentlessly firing at the zombies closing in on their steel wall.

But just as he took down over a hundred zombies in a frenzy of gunfire, something unexpected happened.

Whether it was due to reaching a critical point or simply bad luck, a zombie's hand managed to grip one of the steel plates deeply embedded in the dirt. At the exact moment the zombie took a bullet to the head and collapsed, it yanked the steel plate down with it.

Li Ke froze for a second. He and Lady Kiri had long anticipated this—those zombies had been digging persistently, and it was only a matter of time before the barricades were torn down. But witnessing their escape route being cut off in real-time still sent a surge of frustration through him.

With gritted teeth, he grabbed the makeshift explosive bottles beside him and hurled them one after another at the burning zombies below.

The explosions weren't particularly powerful. At best, the most successful blasts sent three or four zombies flying. Most simply burst into a brief, intense flare, setting a few nearby zombies on fire before fizzling out.

Lady Kiri, seeing this, no longer tried to stop him. Instead, she remained silent, methodically pulling the trigger as Li Ke continued his desperate bombardment with the crude explosives they had made.

But it was useless.

No matter how many zombies Li Ke killed, their bodies only formed stepping stones for the others, providing cover and footholds.

Half an hour passed. Amid the relentless gunfire, Li Ke could clearly see another steel plate being pulled away—then a third, a fourth…

Each one was torn off faster than the last.

And then, as the sixth steel plate was wrenched away, the real disaster struck—zombies had broken through the dirt walls and were now infiltrating the fortress from within.

Li Ke kept throwing whatever he had left, but it was nothing more than the final struggle of a desperate man. When the last of their makeshift bombs was used up, the tunnel leading to their shelter collapsed.

With a thunderous crash, the steel plates and dirt caved in. The zombies that had been on the verge of reaching their steel fortress suddenly dropped three to four meters in height.

But despite this temporary reprieve, both Li Ke and Lady Kiri felt an unmistakable chill in their hearts.

They looked at the slope of corpses leading directly to their steel refuge. Li Ke glanced at the clock—it wasn't even ten o'clock yet. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out the remaining Molotov cocktails.

Lady Kiri, staring at the dense horde in the distance, took a deep breath and grabbed one as well.

There was no stopping them anymore.

Thankfully, when Tsunade built this shelter, she had meticulously followed Li Ke's request—not a single structural block from the system was left exposed. This meant that, at the very least, they could still hold out a little longer.

Without hesitation, they began hurling Molotovs onto the zombie-infested slope. Li Ke even tossed out an entire bag of black powder.

Lady Kiri couldn't help but twitch her lips at the sight of the bag spilling gunpowder into the air. Even in such dire circumstances, she found it absurdly amusing.

"What a ridiculous world…"

Muttering to herself, she calmly pulled the trigger of her revolver.

The bullet pierced through the cloth bag midair, causing a sudden explosion of black powder. The loose gunpowder ignited instantly, setting off a dazzling rain of fire.

The fiery downpour struck the Molotov cocktails they had just thrown, triggering a chain reaction of explosions. Against the pitch-black night, the inferno painted everything in an eerie, hellish glow.

The flames burned hotter than ever, illuminating the entire canyon.

Seeing this, Li Ke continued throwing whatever he could—wooden planks, even more black powder. He didn't care anymore.

But even this blazing hellscape couldn't stop the zombies.

They pressed forward relentlessly, unfazed by the flames consuming them. They trampled over burning corpses, their charred bodies still advancing.

Then, finally—it happened.

The first zombie reached their steel fortress.

It slammed its arm against the reinforced steel plating with a loud thud. The impact was so forceful that its arm snapped, but it didn't stop. Instead, it raised its other arm and struck again.

Another sickening crack.

Then, without hesitation, it slammed its head against the wall.

Even now, Li Ke and Lady Kiri refused to give up. They kept firing, determined not to let any of the zombies reach the shooting windows.

But within ten minutes, they had no choice but to stop.

It was meaningless now.

The dead zombies had piled up, completely blocking their firing slits. With no way to shoot outside, they were forced to seal the windows shut.

And so, they could do nothing but listen.

The dull, rhythmic pounding of rotting fists against steel. The sound spread, growing louder, creeping upward.

Until—

Even the ceiling echoed with the sound of zombies pounding on it.

"…This is truly despairing."

Lady Kiri finally broke the silence.

Li Ke didn't respond. He simply lowered his gun and silently handed her a grenade. If the fortress was breached, this would be far more useful than any firearm.

"Use it when the time comes."

"…Thanks."

Lady Kiri accepted the grenade with a small smile, flashing him a playful expression. Unfortunately, in the darkness, no one could see it.

Then, silence fell once more.

But just then, in the suffocating darkness, Li Ke suddenly heard something—

The sound of sobbing.

Soft, heart-wrenching cries, mingled with pained, almost delirious murmurs.

Frowning, he instinctively turned toward Lady Kiri—only to realize, with a jolt, that the voice wasn't hers.

It was Tsunade's.