Chapter 74: Chapter 74: A Life-or-Death Leap
Tang Xiaoquan’s heart leapt into his throat in an instant. He had already deduced from Hu Xiaodong’s clumsy movements that the latter lacked climbing skills, and his so-called abseiling was merely brute force-based, so...
Lowering his gaze, Hu Xiaodong estimated that the ground was at least 4 meters below his ankles.
If he were to jump down just like that, the result could easily be a femur piercing into his abdomen, followed by a crushing vertebral fracture.
In the apocalypse, a survivor facing such a condition is practically equivalent to a death sentence.
Hu Xiaodong naturally did not want to end up in such dire straits, and since he dared to come down so rashly, he must have thought of a contingency plan.
Although this plan was something he had only heard of, it was better than having nothing at all.
Moreover, the current situation left him no room for choice.
Quickly recalling a gathering two years ago with friends from the archery club, where a coach from a climbing center had taught them a high-altitude fall method that could be used in emergencies.
At the time, Hu Xiaodong hadn’t really paid attention, thinking he would never get the chance to use this seemingly crazy technique in his lifetime.
However... fate plays games, and things don’t always go as you might imagine.
The method the coach discussed essentially involved utilizing some maneuvering of the human body to reduce the impact force during landing. Scientifically speaking, it aimed to increase the buffering time and decrease the pressure.
However, while it sounded simple, executing it was much...
Hu Xiaodong had no prior experience; he had never performed such a jump before.
This was his first time — not only concerning his life and death but also that of all the team members on the rooftop.
There was only one chance; he had to succeed, failure was not an option!
Once again adjusting his dangling posture, the continuous effort of hanging was causing Hu Xiaodong’s arms to burn with pain as if on fire.
He knew he couldn’t continue to waste time; he had to jump down with one decisive effort before his arm strength ran out.
Taking a deep breath, the scorching air flowed through his nostrils into his lungs, the heat unbearable.
Hu Xiaodong finally completed his last adjustments, his eyes suddenly sparkled, and he decisively let go of the rope.
Instantly, he was falling, the swooshing hot air brushing past his ears, producing a "whoosh" sound.
He quickly brought his legs together, raising his arms above his head, maintaining a surrender position.
So far, everything seemed to be proceeding quite smoothly.
However, Hu Xiaodong knew this was just the simplest step in the entire jump; the landing was the crucial part that concerned life and death.
The descent was faster than Hu Xiaodong anticipated, but fortunately, his athletic reflexes played a critical role at this crucial moment.
Almost as his toes touched the ground, Hu Xiaodong’s knees bent slightly; don’t underestimate this slight bend. If the timing is off, you might face the tragedy of broken bones as mentioned before.
Feeling a gigantic impact force spreading rapidly from his feet upwards, Hu Xiaodong instinctively rolled forward with the momentum.
With the end of this roll, the recoil from the ground was subtly dissipated, allowing Hu Xiaodong to complete the entire high-altitude drop without incident.
There was no joyful thrill or even a ripple of emotion on his face; he remained as calm as wood, as if nothing had happened.
If not for the trails of sweat dripping down, it would be hard to imagine that this was the man who had just completed such a harrowing leap.
A chilling growl sounded to the side, and Hu Xiaodong instinctively lifted his leg in a spinning kick, his right leg striking the sneaking zombie like a cannonball.
"Clang," the zombie fell in response, and before it could react, Hu Xiaodong drew his cleaver, riding on top of it.
The sharp blade, glimmering in sunlight, drew a cold arc before accurately plunging into the zombie’s skull.
Black, viscous liquid slowly flowed from the shattered skull, splattering bits of bone and flesh on the ground.
Hu Xiaodong stood up expressionlessly, then walked indifferently to a wooden ladder, set it up at the edge of the wall.
Another deep growl sounded.
Two black shadows appeared at the alley’s mouth, and commotions were seen even at the alley’s end.
With no time to greet those on the roof, Hu Xiaodong, after setting the ladder straight, promptly held his knife in a defensive stance.
Using the ladder as a center point, the area within a 50 cm radius was the territory Hu Xiaodong had to defend next.
No way could these beasts be allowed to harm his comrades; where the ladder stood, Hu Xiaodong was prepared to fight to the death, and Tiger’s death had surged an endless killing intent in him.
"Quickly, everyone descend!" snapped Tang Xiaoquan, climbing over the ladder first as he realized that relying solely on Hu Xiaodong’s strength couldn’t fend off zombies attacking from two sides.
If Hu Xiaodong fell into peril, the others’ escape would become futile.
Hu Xiaodong handled his cleaver left and right, seemingly casual strikes always accompanied by a "thud" of bodies hitting the ground.
However, as more zombies filled the alley, the ease with which Hu Xiaodong had been cutting down became increasingly frenetic.
Thankfully, with his comrades landing in time to assist, they managed to stabilize their shrinking defense line.
"What’s our next move?" Wu Chao yelled urgently as he heaved down a zombie in front of him.
Indeed! What was next? Seeing more corpses squeezing into the passage from both ends, Tang Xiaoquan felt a chill run down his spine.
Surely, attempting to eliminate these brutes by chopping seemed unrealistic.
Leaving aside their endless numbers, the exhaustion of their current physical state wasn’t enough to handle such intense combat.
They must break through, but here’s the dilemma:
The survivors were trapped in almost a 9-meter alley, with concrete stone walls on both sides, flanked by zombies at both ends.
Every direction seemed like a dead end; were the survivors truly to meet their end here?