With everyone in agreement, command naturally fell to Lin Xinghai.

He first sent Jin Tong with two others to lock the doors to the other two fire exits and barricade them with heavy objects.

This was a critical step. If the other two doors weren’t completely sealed and the Zombies swarmed in, the entire plan would go up in smoke.

In addition, he had all the members of Sun Tianbo’s team turn over their ammunition to him.

Lin Xinghai took stock. On average, each person had less than 20 rounds left. With 23 people, that came to a total of about 400 rounds.

Clearly, this wasn’t enough to deal with all the High Level Zombies. According to Lin Xinghai’s assessment, among the more than 3,000 Zombies, a staggering 800 were High Level.

The horde that had been hunting Xie Shanyong’s team had a particularly high proportion of High Level Zombies.

This was because while fleeing, Xie Shanyong and his people had used their ammunition on the Intermediate and Ordinary Zombies, so naturally, only the High Level ones were left.

The 400 rounds they now had were only enough to kill half of the High Level Zombies. Lin Xinghai would have to personally deal with the other half, but this was all within his expectations.

After counting the bullets, Lin Xinghai pulled two members from Sun Tianbo’s team.

"You two, stay by my side. Your only job will be to reload my magazines. Understood?" Lin Xinghai said.

"Understood," the two replied hurriedly.

Sun Tianbo, watching from the side, couldn’t help but speak up. "Uh... Brother Lin, you shouldn’t need two people just to help you reload, right?"

"I’ll be using full-auto. Ten rounds a second. It’ll only take five seconds to empty a magazine. If you can find someone who can keep up with my rate of fire, then one person will be fine," Lin Xinghai said plainly.

Sun Tianbo was instantly speechless. The two members who’d been given the task, their previously relaxed expressions, froze on their faces.

’Without a speedloader, they would have to press each bullet into the magazine one by one. At Lin Xinghai’s rate of fire, forget two people, even twenty might not be enough!’

As if reading their minds, Lin Xinghai offered a word of reassurance. "Don’t worry, I won’t be firing nonstop. If you’re quick about it, you’ll be able to keep up."

Meanwhile, under Lin Xinghai’s direction, Sun Tianbo and Xie Shanyong had their team members adjust their formation.

Since the three teams had never worked together before, certain things had to be made explicitly clear.

Sun Tianbo’s team took the left flank, while Xie Shanyong’s team was on the right. Lin Xinghai, along with Little Fatty and Liu Miaomiao, stood in the center.

Of course, Liu Miaomiao was positioned far to the rear; almost everyone was instinctively protecting her.

Protecting the medic on the battlefield was something anyone with the slightest bit of combat sense knew to do.

Lin Xinghai was positioned slightly forward, but since his role for now was a shooter, he wasn’t at the absolute front.

At the very front of the formation stood Little Fatty, holding his Giant Shield.

He was in high spirits, a look of haughty disdain on his face. He truly gave off the air of one man holding a pass against ten thousand enemies.

"Boss, don’t you worry! As long as I’m still standing, not a single Zombie will get near you!" he declared loudly, an expression on his face as if he were ready to die for the cause. At the same time, he peeked at the people on either side out of the corner of his eye.

When he saw the members of the other two teams looking at him with expressions of admiration, an indescribable smugness welled up inside him.

And this was perfectly normal. After all, to the uninformed, the pressure of holding the absolute front line was unimaginable.

Even someone with a Defensive Superpower might not dare to do so, as it would likely draw the focused attack of a dozen or more High Level Zombies.

...

While Lin Xinghai’s group was making their final preparations, Zuo Wenyao, the director in charge of the examination, was in the command room with Colonel Lü Wei and a group of staff officers, all of them run ragged.

Even though their preparations had been more than thorough, events were still unfolding in ways no one had anticipated.

"What is with this year’s examinees? Finding a safe place to hide for the night... it’s so simple, yet so many of them can’t even get that right," Lü Wei complained endlessly.

If these were his soldiers, he’d put them through a hellish training regimen they wouldn’t forget for the rest of their lives.

"Their talents are quite good, and they only just became the Optimized within the past year. It’s normal they haven’t had time for this sort of training. Next year, we’ll just have to set stricter application requirements to prevent this from happening," Zuo Wenyao said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Just then, an intelligence officer rushed into the command room.

"Director Zuo, the number one seed is in crisis!" the intelligence officer said urgently.

"What happened? Weren’t they well hidden?" Zuo Wenyao demanded.

The number one seed, of course, was Lin Xinghai. They paid extra attention to such exceptionally brilliant talents, and Lin Xinghai was naturally their top priority.

Zuo Wenyao remembered that his hiding spot was decent, and he had handled all the details quite well.

An hour ago, when he had checked the routine report, his hiding spot was still secure; he had successfully avoided five zombie hordes.

’Besides, even if a horde did find him, with Lin Xinghai’s power to dominate all his peers, he should have been more than capable of handling it. How could he suddenly be in crisis?’

"A team being hunted by Zombies fled into the shopping mall. The pursuing horde was massive, and the commotion drew in several other hordes from the surrounding area. By our estimates, the total number of Zombies besieging the mall will exceed 3,000," the intelligence officer answered succinctly.

For a moment, Zuo Wenyao was at a loss for words.

Hearing this, Lü Wei couldn’t help but snark, "The kid’s strong, sure, but his luck is absolutely rotten! 3,000 Zombies... that’s practically a miniature tide."

After his remark, he asked, "By the way, how many people are in that mall altogether right now?"

"There are 47 people in total," the intelligence officer replied.

"Then they’re dead for sure. We should send a team over to prepare for a rescue."

Lü Wei said, then turned to Zuo Wenyao. "If he’s forced to call for aid and withdraws from the exam, with his current Points, he might not even make the top ten. It would be a real shame if a talent like that couldn’t even secure a spot as a Special Class Student. What’s your plan?"

"Who says he’s dead for sure? With that terrifying Speed of his, even if he can’t win, you think he can’t escape?" Zuo Wenyao said, quickly regaining his composure.

He paused, then added, "Besides, even if he’s stubborn enough to stay and die with his comrades, I’ll just take him on as my Direct Disciple afterward."