Chapter 433: Birthday Gift
Throughout the night, the alarm kept blaring intermittently, and Su Tao’s phone never stopped ringing.
When daylight finally arrived and things quieted down, Su Tao wiped away her damp tears and saw Lin Fangzhi, who returned with dark circles under his eyes.
One had red eyes, the other had black circles.
Sniffling, Su Tao asked, “Didn’t you stop taking orders recently? Why are you still staying up all night working?”
Lin Fangzhi instantly sobered up.
He had spent the entire night blowing up balloons, and now his cheeks hurt so much he could barely open his mouth.
Before he could explain, Su Tao stepped closer and noticed flower petals on his clothes.
“What’s this? Did you go to Wu Zhen’s flower house in the middle of the night?”
Lin Fangzhi, who was terrible at lying, immediately froze.
The petals must have gotten on him while he was laying down the flower carpet.
He quickly shot a pleading glance toward Shi Zijin for help.
Shi Zijin intervened, “Enough talking. You both should go get some rest. Whatever it is, you can deal with it after you sleep.”
Hearing that, Su Tao realized how exhausted she was. Without questioning further, she collapsed into bed and fell asleep immediately.
But barely ten minutes after she drifted off, her phone rang again…
Reluctantly, she picked up the call, and Xiao Wenyu’s excited voice burst through the receiver:
“Tao! Are you okay? I swiped three fighter jets from my dad—I’m flying over with a team right now! Hang in there!”
Su Tao barely managed to say, “I’m fi—”
Click. The call disconnected.
Xiao Wenyu really flew over. And she personally piloted the lead jet, leaving her furious father fuming on the ground.
Those were the latest model fighter jets—brand-new system upgrades! He hadn’t even tested them himself!
Before Su Tao could react, she watched in shock as Xiao Wenyu’s jet dropped a payload directly onto the area where 70 to 80 mutant zombies had gathered—instantly blowing half of them away.
Su Tao: “!!!” She had spent so much effort gathering them!
Thankfully, after two bombing runs, Xiao Wenyu returned to base, or else there wouldn’t have been any mutant zombies left to capture.
Even Xiao Wenyu herself was startled by the power of the new jets.
Her dad’s previous aircraft could barely handle a Blood Scythe zombie—when did they become strong enough to injure even mutant zombies?
While she processed this revelation, Su Tao quickly stopped her from further destruction.
Just as Su Tao settled things with Xiao Wenyu, Luo Yan almost charged in with his massive base vehicle.
Fortunately, Luo Yan was calmer. After receiving Su Tao’s call, he backed off without causing more trouble.
However, Xiao Wenyu’s wild assault had enraged the Siren.
It could no longer tolerate being humiliated by mere humans!
It summoned all the scattered zombies back—whether they were missing limbs or barely functional, it didn’t matter. It also intensified its efforts to gather mutant zombies worldwide.
“Kill! Attack the shield!”
“Break into Taoyang City!”
The ground trembled violently as waves of zombies crashed against the city’s protective shield. The tremors felt like a magnitude-five or six earthquake.
If Taoyang’s buildings weren’t so well-constructed, they would have already collapsed under the relentless assault.
Nearby bases and settlements felt the tremors too. Everyone looked toward Tao Yang City in fear—preparing to send their final wave of reinforcements while desperately praying the shield would hold.
The alarm over Tao Yang grew louder and more urgent. Even the previously calm residents began to feel uneasy.
Su Tao, too, grew anxious as the situation escalated.
But thanks to Xiao Wenyu’s chaotic attack, the zombies gathered faster than expected. Soon, the numbers reached the critical threshold Su Tao needed.
By the following dawn—they were ready to close the net!
At the same time, Shen Wencheng had prepared the first batch of dispersal agents and began loading them onto the helicopters.
However…
“What’s with this pink helicopter? That’s not one of ours, right?”
Cen Tianjiao quickly covered Shen Wencheng’s mouth. “That’s a gift from our boss to Su Tao—don’t make a fuss about it.”
Shen Wencheng fell silent.
He couldn’t understand these lovebirds—who gives a helicopter as a gift?
Meanwhile, Su Tao stood nearby, fully focused on the battlefield. She didn’t even hear their conversation or notice the pink helicopter among the fleet.
Opening her system interface, she spent a fortune in crystal cores to seize absolute control over the zombie horde.
Just as she was about to complete the process, the system alert rang in her ears:
[Warning: The protective shield is showing signs of damage—please repair immediately.]
It wasn’t a major issue—the shield could still withstand another month of intense assault. Repairing it only required some Federation credits.
Su Tao brushed off the warning.
But what she didn’t expect was that the system would broadcast the alert… to the entire world.
The next moment, a deafening super alarm echoed through Tao Yang—three times louder than before. Bright warning lights flashed in the sky, clearly outlining the city’s flickering, transparent dome.
The message was clear to everyone: “Taoyang’s shield is failing!”
In Changjing, panic erupted. The President immediately ordered all available military forces to support Tao Yang.
Xindu’s soldiers mobilized in full force.
Wutai Base declared they would sacrifice themselves to lure away the mutant zombies.
Shou’an Base sent their last 50 armored tanks roaring toward Tao Yang.
Xiao Wenyu screamed and returned with more bombs.
Luo Yan, his eyes bloodshot, led a massive convoy of modified vehicles straight for the city.
While the outside world descended into chaos, Su Tao remained focused. She rapidly transported the captured zombies to the research facility as raw material for the anti-virus agent.
And among them—was the Siren itself.
Even within the restrained horde, Su Tao spotted it immediately.
Its body was immobilized, but the hatred and rage burning in its triangular eyes seemed ready to devour her whole.
Clenching her fist, Su Tao isolated the Siren and poured an entire vial of the latest agent over its head.
As the Siren’s agonized screams filled the air, its body disintegrated into ashes.
With the Siren destroyed, Su Tao raised her voice:
“All pilots—take off!”
The roar of engines filled the sky as one helicopter after another soared into the heavens, carrying the cure.
When the last helicopter lifted off, cheers erupted across the city.
Amid the celebrations, Shen Wencheng handed Su Tao a small syringe containing three milliliters of clear liquid.
With tears in his eyes, he said, “Su Tao—our team did it. The vaccine is ready. From today on, the zombie virus can no longer infect us.”
He added with a smile, “And—Happy Birthday. This is our gift to you.”
