MERIDIAN OF THE DAMNED

Ch 07. The Trap Behind the Mist

"Open the gate, you bastards! Open it!" Wu Chen screamed at the top of his lungs, slamming his right hand against the cold iron bars of the gate.

Behind the sturdy iron bars, a group of wealthy merchants in luxurious silk robes screamed hysterically from behind a barricade of mounted soldiers. Their faces were twisted with disgusting fear.

"Don't open it! Never open it!" shrieked a fat merchant with a thin mustache. "They're all plague carriers! If even one of those filth gets inside, our businesses in the Merchant District will be ruined! Lieutenant! Fire your arrows at all of them! Quickly!"

"Yeah! Kill anyone who approaches the gate! Our lives are worth more than those plague-ridden rats!" another merchant shouted beside him, further inciting the soldiers.

Wu Chen spat harshly onto the ground. "You fucking cowards! You're only brave enough to scream from behind an iron fence!"

"B-Big Brother... they're... they're pointing their bows at us!" Xiao Yu cried, her voice trembling violently as she pointed toward the top of the gate wall.

Atop the eight-meter-high gate watchtower, dozens of royal archers were already standing in orderly formation, their bowstrings drawn taut.

Among them stood a middle-aged man wearing spotless, gleaming silver armor and a dark blue military cloak fluttering in the wind.

Lieutenant Zhao.

He was a mid-ranking military officer assigned to secure the barrier gate. Unlike the ordinary soldiers who were panicking, Zhao's eyes were unnervingly calm, sharp, and calculating. From atop the tower, he carefully observed every movement below, especially Wu Chen's tactical movements after he had just escaped the zombies with blood soaking his shoulder.

"Interesting," Lieutenant Zhao murmured, the corner of his lips curling into a faint smile.

"Lieutenant Zhao! Should we execute them all?" an officer beside him asked, preparing to give the order to the archers.

"Of course. The imperial order is absolute: eliminate them without leaving a trace to prevent the infection from spreading into the Merchant District," Lieutenant Zhao replied in an eerily calm yet cold voice. "But look at that young man in the torn shirt down there. He's fighting without functioning meridians, yet his movements... are extremely efficient. He isn't panicking. He's using the ruins to restrict the monsters' movements."

"Could he be a cultivator in disguise, Lieutenant?"

"Perhaps. He could be a valuable subject for experimentation... or a dangerous variable that must be eliminated immediately," Lieutenant Zhao muttered, his eyes narrowing viciously. "Soldiers! Don't let him get near the gate. Fire at him now!"

"Yes, Lieutenant! Archers, aim!" the officer shouted.

Whoosh!

The bowstrings were released simultaneously.

Hundreds of arrows streaked down from the night sky like a deadly rain of iron thorns, targeting everyone standing before the dead-end gate.

"Watch out, Xiao Yu! Hide under that cart!" Wu Chen shouted, immediately shoving Xiao Yu's small body beneath an abandoned wooden merchant cart near the gate.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The arrows slammed into the muddy ground and pierced the bodies of dozens of refugees who had failed to escape in time. Cries of pain and mournful screams once again erupted across the gate square.

At the same time, more than a dozen hungry zombies began advancing from the alley, ready to claw at Wu Chen's exposed back.

"Damn it! They're trying to kill me from both sides?!" Wu Chen cursed furiously.

A zombie with glowing red eyes suddenly lunged at him from the side.

Wu Chen did not dodge.

Ignoring the excruciating pain throbbing through his injured left shoulder, he surged forward and seized both of the zombie's wrists.

With a rough jerk combined with an old mafia throwing technique, Wu Chen twisted the zombie's body and hoisted it over his head.

"Come on, you filthy bastard! Be my shield!" Wu Chen roared, his eyes gleaming with ruthless determination.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Three arrows fired from the tower struck the back of the zombie Wu Chen was using as a human shield.

The stench of black blood burst into the air, but Wu Chen did not care in the slightest. He carried out the brutal act without hesitation, driven purely by his determination to survive.

"B-Big Brother... he... he's using it as a shield?" Xiao Yu murmured from beneath the cart, staring in horror at Wu Chen standing firmly in the middle of the arrow storm, gripping the zombie's corpse.

"Shut up! At a time like this, there's no difference between a corpse and a shield!" Wu Chen snapped harshly, breathing heavily. "Do you want to live or die?!"

From atop the watchtower, Lieutenant Zhao frowned as he watched the brutal scene unfold.

"He's using a monster's corpse as a flesh shield without the slightest hesitation," Lieutenant Zhao murmured, his eyes flashing with interest and heightened caution. "That young man truly has no moral empathy. He acts purely on a cold survival instinct. Someone like that... is far too dangerous to be allowed to live."

"Lieutenant! The zombie horde from the main alley is getting larger! They're beginning to pile up in front of the gate!" a soldier reported in panic.

"Enough watching the show." Lieutenant Zhao casually waved his hand. "Clear the area beneath the gate. We don't have time to play around anymore."

"Prepare the kerosene!" the officer ordered.

Several soldiers atop the gate wall immediately began hauling large barrels filled with thick, black liquid that reeked of an overpowering stench. They tilted the barrels, preparing to pour the contents down beneath the gate.

"Oil?" Wu Chen, who was holding a second zombie as a shield, immediately realized the new danger from above.

The pungent smell of kerosene grew stronger as it carried through the night wind.

"Damn it... they're going to burn all of us alive?!"

Lieutenant Zhao stepped toward the edge of the tower, gazing down at Wu Chen with an extremely faint, cold smile. He took a burning torch from the tower wall.

"Burn them all to ash," Lieutenant Zhao ordered coldly, then prepared to throw the flaming torch down onto the ground beneath the gate, already soaked in kerosene.