Chapter 105: The Zombies Are Coming

After a thorough discussion, everyone was assigned clear responsibilities. Suna was tasked with searching the house, Dave’s nearby home, and the surrounding area for the keys to the car trunk. Yamada, Hassan, and Blue Moon were dispatched to hunt zombies in hopes of finding new plant seeds.

Casro and Cai Qing, the two Strength-type Dreamers, stayed behind to work with Wang Ling’s summoned characters—Wang Long, Chen Heng, and Tao Xian—to construct defensive fortifications around the house.

These "fortifications" primarily involved tearing down nearby houses and using materials like stones and furniture to encircle the base. They also blocked the stream leading to the backyard by dumping refrigerators, televisions, and cars into it, leaving only a single path open in front of the main entrance for the zombies to follow.

This was no small feat. Without machinery or power tools, and relying only on crude implements like hammers and axes, completing the work within eleven hours was grueling. Fortunately, Casro, Wang Long, and the others possessed significant strength, so they simply threw themselves into the manual labor.

The defense strategy was proposed by Wang Ling. He believed that with only six Dreamers, even with all their combat plants, defending the entire town was unrealistic. It was better to focus solely on fortifying the house.

The existing wooden fences, the backyard, and the river were all major liabilities. By sealing these areas and leaving only the front path, the mindless zombies would instinctively head toward the main entrance, allowing the group to concentrate their power and eliminate the invaders.

In the game, the lawn in front of the house is where combat plants are placed. After setting up simple obstacles on the paved road to slow the zombies down, Wang Ling began deploying his defenses on the lawn.

Although plant cards could be taken out of the world, everyone knew that this was not the time to be stingy with their survival at stake. Wang Ling, who was familiar with the game, collected all basic plant cards—Peashooters, Puff-shrooms, Sea-shrooms, Kernel-pults, Cabbage-pults, and Potato Mines—from everyone.

Since the backyard was a primary attack point in the game, but was now blocked off, Wang Ling planted eleven Sea-shrooms in the section of the river within the yard as an underwater defense line. He then buried five Potato Mines in front of the back door as a secondary measure.

Five more Potato Mines were buried in front of the front door. All these plants possessed a degree of intelligence; they could distinguish friend from foe, ensuring no unfortunate accidents would occur.

Unlike the game, overlapping plants in reality would cause the front ones to block the ones behind, so a layered approach was necessary. In front of the Potato Mines at the main gate, he placed rows of Kernel-pults and Cabbage-pults. These projectile plants could fire over others, so they were positioned behind the frontline combat plants, with five of each.

The Peashooters were the main force, totaling fifty-three plants. Wang Ling dug parts of the lawn lower and used the excavated soil to elevate other sections, creating a tiered formation similar to a musketeer volley line. This ensured the front rows wouldn't block the shots of the rear rows, resulting in three distinct ranks.

At the very front, beneath the elevated Peashooters, he planted over thirty small Puff-shrooms. These would remain dormant during the day but would be effective at night.

After setting everything up, Wang Ling couldn't help but smile bitterly at the remaining empty space on the lawn. While the plants were powerful—a base damage of 20 was not insignificant against zombies—relying on them to hold out for five days was clearly unrealistic.

After all, they lacked stronger plants like Melon-pults, Repeaters, Snow Peas, and top-tier plants like Winter Melons, Gatling Peas, or Cob Cannons. If they encountered high-level zombies like Gargantuars, the Dreamers would definitely need to step in.

Soon, all the basic cards were transformed into plants. The group was left with only a few rare and precious plant cards, along with Sunflowers, Sun-shrooms, Lily Pads, and Wall-nuts.

With the rear paths blocked, Lily Pads weren't needed yet. Wall-nuts, with their massive 4,000 health points, were formidable barriers, but placing them in front of the Peashooters would block their fire, rendering them useless for now.

Wang Ling sighed and muttered to himself, "Well, this is the best we can do..."

At that moment, Yamada, Hassan, and Blue Moon returned with bad news: "The drop rate for seeds in Plant Town has become extremely low! Even killing Conehead and Buckethead zombies rarely yields anything."

Another setback was that Suna had searched the area thoroughly but failed to find Dave’s car keys, meaning the hidden shop would remain inaccessible for now.

The group decided it would be a waste not to use the Wall-nut balls meant for rolling. With Dave's permission, over a hundred of these stone-like spheres were moved into the yard, serving as a vital resource for critical moments.

No one slept except for Dave. By 8:00 AM the next day, the fortifications were finally complete. The house was now surrounded by a chaotic barrier of stones, furniture, concrete, and debris, making it incredibly difficult for zombies to attack from the sides. The backyard was sealed, the river was diverted, and the front yard was a gauntlet of Peashooters, Puff-shrooms, and catapult plants, with a stockpile of Wall-nut balls in the corner.

This was the defense Wang Ling and the others would stake their lives on for the next five days.

"We can't all stay in the front yard. Even though the rear is blocked, the enemy has Dreamers who might break through from the back. Someone must guard it. And someone should be on the roof to monitor both sides," Casro suggested.

Hassan, his weathered face expressionless, patted the AK in his arms and said, "I’ll take the roof. With this rifle, I can cover both the front and the back."

Casro nodded and turned to the Japanese man. "As for the backyard... how about you, Yamada? We Strength-types will hold the front. You’re an Agility-type; your attacks aren't as heavy, but your speed makes you the best choice for the back."

Yamada sneered, "Being alone in the back makes me an easy target for enemy Dreamers, and I’d miss out on hunting high-level zombies. I get nothing out of that. I refuse!"

Even with Hassan on the roof, being alone in the backyard was extremely dangerous. If too many people were stationed there, the main front line would be weakened. Wang Ling thought for a moment and said, "The first two days of the five should be easier. You guys hold the front; I’ll take the backyard. I’ll act as bait to lure their Dreamers into an ambush. If I can take out one or two, the pressure on the defense will decrease significantly."

He retracted his four Kung Fu Masters and removed his Golden Red Mask. Armed with a white iron flintlock, Wang Ling disguised himself as a long-range attacker. With his slightly slender frame and the fair complexion granted by spiritual energy refinement, he looked deceptively fragile.

Suna suggested going outside the town to snipe zombies, but the group rejected this. Fighting in the open risked being swamped by the zombie horde, and after noon, enemy Dreamers would arrive, leaving them vulnerable to being hunted down.

Holding the house was the best strategy. With over a hundred combat plants at their disposal, they were confident in their ability to handle the standard waves.

At 8:00 AM, without any warning or "Large Wave" announcement, the zombie army finally entered the town with hoarse groans. These monsters, with their grey-green skin, vacant eyes, rotting flesh, and decayed teeth, shuffled along the road.

It was only the first day, and the approaching enemies were primarily low-level zombies mixed with a few Coneheads and Bucketheads. Even so, the sight was terrifying—hundreds, perhaps thousands, of zombies advancing like a tide, creating an suffocating sense of dread.

"Should we take the initiative and wipe them out?" Cai Qing asked, rolling up her sleeves to reveal muscular, dark-toned arms as she hoisted her Orcish club onto her shoulder.

"Stay put. Let's see what these combat plants can do. We shouldn't need to intervene against this level of zombie," Wang Ling stopped her.

Under their watchful eyes, the zombies on the road gradually approached the yard. As they reached the perimeter of the lawn, the prepared combat plants began their assault.