The monkey charged so fiercely that its body couldn’t make any directional moves in midair. It was as if it wasn’t William Carter who killed the mutant monkey with his axe, but rather the mutant monkey itself that crashed into the fire axe.

　　Splat...

　　The golden mutant monkey’s body was now mostly red. Without hesitation, William Carter raised his axe and chopped off the monkey’s two claws. Those claws could easily pierce a human skull—if he could find a way to make a pair of gloves out of them, they’d be perfect for self-defense.

　　Just as William Carter chopped off the monkey’s claws, a furious roar suddenly came from outside the wall. Before anyone could cheer for William Carter’s bravery, the huge wooden gate blocking the entrance to the settlement crashed to the ground, kicking up a choking cloud of dust.

　　The people inside the settlement instantly turned ashen as they looked toward the entrance. Brian Bolton shouted hoarsely, “Quick! Hurry! Even if you have to use your bodies, block the gate! Otherwise, we’re all finished!”

　　But Brian Bolton’s shouting couldn’t outpace the zombies breaking through the gate. In an instant, more than twenty zombies squeezed through the entrance. The women’s slingshots could only take down three or five zombies in a volley—nowhere near enough to stop the zombies’ advance.

　　Lauren Harris let out a long, hopeless sigh and said weakly, “It’s over... it’s all over...”

　　“Follow me!” Brian Bolton personally led a team charging toward the gate, but before they could get there, a large number of zombies had already entered the settlement.

　　These zombies moved just like normal people, without any sluggishness or stiffness. The most terrifying thing was that they didn’t seem to know what exhaustion or fear was.

　　A few hundred meters wasn’t far, but by the time Brian Bolton and his group reached the gate, they found themselves unable to recover their strength to its peak. By then, the zombies were already upon them.

　　Brian Bolton swung his blade and cut down a zombie, when suddenly a young man beside him let out a shrill, miserable scream. No one had time to see what kind of attack the young man had suffered; everyone just swung their weapons at the enemies in front of them. In this situation, if you got distracted trying to save a comrade, you might be the next to die.

　　With Brian Bolton no longer guarding the wall, more zombies began to trample over each other, climbing the more than three-meter-high wall and attacking those defending it. Several more young people fell to the ground, and the surrounding zombies immediately swarmed over, fighting to devour the corpses of the newly dead.

　　The deaths of the young people drew the zombies’ attention, but also gave those still alive a precious opportunity.

　　These low-intelligence zombies all lowered their heads to fight over the corpses, completely unaware that the human defenders were raising their blades and chopping off the heads of the zombies scrambling for the bodies—this was the tactic humans most often used against zombies.

　　The zombies around the wall were temporarily under control, but those near the gate were not. With the gate wide open, zombies were pouring into the settlement every second.

　　These zombies knew no fear, no pain, no fatigue. Their fierce assault left the warriors defending the settlement physically and mentally exhausted in a very short time.

　　Another young man fell to zombie teeth, and William Carter, who had rushed over, chopped off the zombie’s head with his axe. Even though he was reluctant to help these selfish people of the settlement, the image of that old man before his death made William Carter unable to suppress his anger at the zombies. Every time his bloodstained fire axe swung, another zombie fell to the ground.

　　Having recovered from her shock, Lauren Harris also swung her knife, standing beside William Carter and killing zombies.

　　The massive influx of zombies couldn’t be stopped just because William Carter joined the fight. In no time, the zombies entering the settlement had already half-surrounded those guarding the gate.

　　Brian Bolton hacked down a zombie with all his might, then looked up at the horde outside the gate and shouted, “We can’t hold them! Execute the escape plan!”

　　Lauren Harris’s face turned ugly when she heard this. William Carter kicked a zombie away and hurriedly asked, “What escape plan?”

　　Lauren Harris’s face was ashen and she hadn’t answered yet when the elders of the settlement had already gathered together and were walking toward the gate.

　　“What’s this?”

　　“That’s right! The escape plan is to use the elders’ bodies to attract the zombies’ attention, giving the young people a better chance to escape. This is the tactic humans use most often when dealing with zombies.” Lauren Harris said expressionlessly, her body retreating along with the other young people.

　　“What kind of fucking tactic is this?” A surge of anger erupted from deep inside as he roared, “Aren’t soldiers supposed to exist to protect those who can’t defend themselves? Now we’re letting those who can’t defend themselves protect us—how is that even human?”

　　At this moment, Brian Bolton retreated to William Carter’s side and said coldly, “This is for the continuation of the human race, the common will of all humanity! Didn’t you see that the elders are all volunteering? Only if we survive can we protect more people!”