Safe City Ch.26.2

Chapter 26.2: Danger! Retreat!

But moments later, a massive protective barrier rose over the battlefield, blocking the sonic attack.

Standing proudly atop her Safe City’s walls, Meow Meow’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“You think you’re the only ones with trump cards, meow?!”

“We’ve got ours too!”

In front of her, about thirty disc-shaped flying devices roughly five meters wide buzzed into the air.

They slammed directly into the Tier-2 zombie, triggering continuous explosions. In an instant, dozens of holes were blasted through its body.

Although surrounding zombies kept rushing in to patch it up with their own bodies, the four Safe Cities had each taken up a position on one side, completely sealing off the area. Meanwhile, ordinary residents kept slaughtering the regular zombies as well.

Visibly, the zombie’s recovery speed was slowing down.

Seeing victory within reach, all three Safe Cities immediately escalated their efforts.

Blue Leaf deployed large numbers of archer squads, while Meow Meow and Withered Star also reinforced their respective sides with more superpowered combat units.

Once the superhumans entered the battlefield, the speed at which zombies were being cleared increased dramatically. From a bird’s-eye view, most of them were surrounded by empty zones—because they were killing so quickly that other zombies couldn’t even fill the gaps in time.

Cheng Qisheng watched the scene in awe.

“So they really all have hidden trump cards.”

The reason she had proposed a temporary alliance, aside from a vague sense of unease and the idea that more hands meant more strength, was also to observe how the other Safe Cities fought.

The previous battle against Cosmic had been absurdly easy—but that was due to a combination of factors: the enemy’s arrogance and underestimation, and the fact that he had deployed Safe City superhumans in the first wave of invasion, only to be caught off guard by Cheng Qisheng’s heavy weapons.

Only now was she truly witnessing the combat strength of the Safe Cities.

Superhumans—

At the moment, Cheng Qisheng didn’t even have superhuman residents of her own.

It was said that after reaching Tier 2, there was a chance for superhuman citizens to emerge, but it was only after reaching Tier 3 that their numbers would truly increase.

However, superhumans also needed time to grow and strengthen themselves. Blue Leaf’s superhumans clearly already had a mature combat system and were significantly stronger than those of the other Safe Cities.

This suggested that he had likely reached Tier 3 quite some time ago and had been stuck at Tier 4 for a long period.

Meow Meow had only recently advanced to Tier 3, so both her weapon systems and her civilian population were relatively thinly distributed.

At present, it looked like either of the two Tier-3 Safe Cities could handle the Tier-2 zombie alone, but it would take longer and result in greater losses.

Withered Star’s Tier-2 Safe City was clearly somewhat weaker, though it was also possible he still had hidden cards he hadn’t revealed yet.

That said, the same principle applied: even though they were allied and had a fairly complete agreement, none of them dared to commit their full strength.

Even setting aside the risk of betrayal from allies, they still had to consider the fact that they were operating in a dangerous disaster world. After dealing with this Tier-2 zombie, things wouldn’t suddenly become peaceful.

And even if this world didn’t pose any further challenges—what about the next one?

Conserving strength was always the right choice.

—Which was precisely why Cheng Qisheng had only deployed Blue Sea’s relatively weaker, currently manageable rocket artillery battalion.

The siege proceeded far more smoothly than anyone had expected.

About seventy percent of that success came from the fact that all the city lords were unleashing their hidden trump cards and going all-out in a kind of competitive escalation.

By the end, not only were the city lords continuously deploying more weapons, but even the residents seemed infected by this atmosphere of collective “over-competition.” Regardless of which Safe City they belonged to, everyone was fighting harder than usual.

The Tier-2 zombie had already shrunk from dozens of meters tall to just over ten meters, and it continued to be reduced further under relentless bombardment.

It kept emitting piercing screams that were almost unbearable to hear.

But because Meow Meow’s Safe City’s protective barrier was still active, the sound had almost no effect on the residents.

Everyone felt that the chaos was finally about to end.

Next would be claiming the Tier-2 crystal, having the AI systems jointly calculate contribution rates, and distributing the crystal accordingly. At the same time, each Safe City would also be able to collect the scattered crystals from their designated zones.

Meow Meow flicked her tail and issued another order.

“Add another 500 crystals into the system. This barrier needs to hold for at least another half hour.”

She was in a very good mood, because the protective barrier’s coverage had expanded to include all residents of the four Safe Cities. In effect, Meow Meow Safe City had been continuously shielding everyone from the sustained group attacks.

As a result, when contribution rates were calculated at the end, Meow Meow Safe City would almost certainly rank very high and receive a substantial share of crystals.

It hadn’t been a waste at all for her to spend a huge amount of resources on this Tier-3 protective barrier. It had originally been purchased to defend against Cosmic—she hadn’t expected it to come in handy here instead.

The city lords gradually relaxed. Some had already started estimating their contribution rates, how many nucleus crystals they might receive, and how many zombies had been killed within their respective zones.

But Cheng Qisheng still couldn’t fully relax. Her body remained tense, as if instinctively on alert for something.

It was a gut feeling—her subconscious warning her that something was wrong.

But what exactly was wrong?

The area’s ordinary zombies had almost been completely cleared out. The Tier-2 zombie had now been reduced to only about three meters in height, and under the combined assault of superhumans and heavy weapons, it would soon be finished off.

So where was the problem?

Cheng Qisheng scanned the entire battlefield through the perspective of her followers.

The residents were exhausted; with so few zombies left, most of them were resting in place.

The military forces had not rested—some maintained vigilance, while others continued the encirclement of the Tier-2 zombie.

And the Tier-2 zombie was still screaming.

No.

Something was off.

This Tier-2 zombie had previously shown restraint—it had been capable of suppressing its urge to rush toward the Safe Cities. That meant it possessed at least a degree of intelligence.

The protective barrier had completely blocked its sonic attacks. So why was it still continuously emitting those screams?

“Attack its head—its scream is wrong!”

Cheng Qisheng wasn’t sure if her suspicion was correct, but she immediately transmitted the message to the battlefield commanders.

For the Blue Sea officers, it felt as if—while fighting—their Great Creator suddenly bestowed an unseen divine guidance upon them.

As a result, the residents of the other three Safe Cities noticed that Blue Sea began focusing all its firepower on the zombie’s head.

They had thought it would still take some grinding to finish it off—but were they already shifting into a finishing phase so soon?

Not wanting to be outdone, the residents of the other three Safe Cities also began concentrating their attacks on the zombie’s head.

The Tier-2 zombie’s piercing screams were finally interrupted.

Yet Cheng Qisheng still had that faint sense of danger.

Closer and closer.

Something was approaching.

The hairs on her back stood on end.

There was no time left.

Cheng Qisheng opened a group channel to all her followers.

“Retreat! Everyone return to the Safe City immediately!”

“Move at maximum speed!”

Her followers froze for a moment—but immediately obeyed and ceased their attacks.

Even though the Tier-2 zombie was clearly on the verge of death, even though victory was practically within reach.

This was the will of the Great Creator.

The people of Blue Sea didn’t question why such a command had been given. They simply turned and began withdrawing toward their Safe City.

The military retreated quickly and in orderly formation.

The civilians, meanwhile, ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Their sudden retreat left the other Safe Cities’ residents completely bewildered.

What—? It’s almost over. Why are they running?

Cheng Qisheng quickly received inquiries from the other three Safe Cities, and she replied to all of them with the same message:

“I have a bad feeling about this. I suggest you also withdraw your residents. Something is wrong.”

Three Safe Cities: ?

Just a feeling?

Because of a feeling, you’re abandoning a battle that’s about to be won?

And why are your people so obedient?!

Why are they retreating so fast and so smoothly?!

Meow Meow was actually the first to respond to the evacuation.

The Great Elder had just taught Meow Meow that she should treat Blue Sea well. If Blue Sea said retreat, then they should just follow along.

So she immediately ordered the city gates to signal a withdrawal.

The Catfolk warriors fighting on the front lines were extremely unwilling, but they could not disobey orders. They could only retreat reluctantly.

Withered Star’s Safe City was the third to withdraw. His combat strength had never been as strong as the others, and he was more cautious by nature—if you all retreat, then I retreat too.

Blue Leaf stared at the collapsing Tier-2 zombie. Just one more finishing blow—less than ten minutes and it would be over!

Withdrawing now was truly unbearable.

But reason told him that Blue Sea was not someone who acted without cause. If she was willing to give up the final killing blow—the MVP moment—then something must truly be wrong.

But this was the crystal of a Tier-2 zombie!

He struggled for about a minute before finally, reluctantly, issuing the retreat order.

For the city lords, the internal struggle felt extremely long—but in reality, only about three minutes had passed since Cheng Qisheng ordered Blue Sea to withdraw.

Whether it was Blue Sea, the first to announce retreat, or Blue Leaf, the last to pull back, most of the civilians were still on the battlefield, heading toward their respective Safe Cities.

The difference was that the people of Blue Sea were truly sprinting, as if they were fleeing for their lives.

While the other Safe Cities’ residents were noticeably slower and more reluctant. This was understandable—after all, after fighting so hard for so long and being so close to the reward, who would willingly retreat at this moment?

The city lords had made the decision to withdraw by sacrificing short-term gains in favor of long-term safety.

But for these civilians, who went out to hunt zombies with their lives on the line, their motivation was precisely short-term profit and more crystals.

Each Safe City had different systems, but they shared one thing in common: crystals represented currency, resources, and a stable life.

Right now, the ground was littered with crystals. If they just left at this moment, it would be no different from insanity.

So slowing down a bit and picking up crystals while retreating—wasn’t that still a retreat?

But just as most of the civilians were still leisurely looting the battlefield, the ground suddenly began to tremble.

It was like an earthquake—closer and closer, so strong that people could barely stand.

Everyone instinctively looked around, and then they saw it.

A massive silhouette in the distance.

It towered over everything like it was splitting the sky itself, blocking out almost all light. As it moved forward, clusters of dead zombies kept falling off its body.

It was a super-large mutated zombie—far bigger than the Tier-2 one.

All the city lords’ pupils contracted sharply.

“Tier-3 zombie…”

Cheng Qisheng stared tightly at the enormous figure as well. Compared to it, the earlier Tier-2 zombie looked like nothing more than a child.

So that was it.

The screams hadn’t been meant to attract ordinary zombies—it had been calling this Tier-3 zombie.

The Tier-2 zombie had never directly attacked the Safe Cities because it had been waiting for the Tier-3 to arrive so they could strike together.

The worst part was that this Tier-3 zombie wasn’t just enormous—it was fast.

In an instant, it stepped into the battlefield and locked its gaze onto the massive protective barrier, then began hammering it with its fists.

[Meow Meow Safe City: Oh my meow!! My barrier just lost 20% durability in one hit!!]

[Meow Meow Safe City: I’m dropping the barrier, meow, or it’ll be destroyed directly. Everyone, make sure your residents cover their ears, meow!]

[Meow Meow Safe City: I’m running, I’m running, meow! Everyone run together, meow!]

The protective barrier was withdrawn—but Meow Meow Safe City still failed to escape.

The Tier-3 zombie stepped into the battlefield and completely ignored the civilians below. But its strides were so enormous that even just walking forward crushed many people underfoot.

The Blue Sea residents, having run farther ahead, narrowly avoided disaster and were now desperately sprinting back toward their Safe City.

It seemed this Tier-3 zombie could actually distinguish who had deployed the barrier. It identified the Safe City that had produced it as the only threat capable of harming it.

So it leapt—and landed directly on Meow Meow Safe City’s city wall.

Meow Meow could no longer bother sending messages individually to the three city lords. She sent a single message in the group chat:

[It’s not working! It’s attacking me! I can’t get away!!]

[Help help help help!!!!]

—BOOM!!!

Blue Sea Safe City launched its attack.

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