As Han Ya and the others had guessed, after the army finished their preparations, eight battalions were selected from the three divisions and divided into eight directions to leave the rescue station and kill the zombies at the forefront. As expected, all the battalions under the command of Captain Yan of the 703rd division were deployed.
However, upon hearing about the upcoming battle, Xiao Wen and the others were not too worried. After all, there was a certain distance between the zombies and the rescue station, and going out to fight was only meant to reduce their numbers. Therefore, the firepower would surely be well-prepared, and as long as they kept a certain distance from the zombies and used firepower attacks instead of using supernatural powers to fight them, these eight battalions could almost guarantee a complete return.
The real danger would arise if the zombies reached the city walls and there was insufficient firepower support.
Han Ya forced everyone to rest. It was very likely that they would face the zombie horde head-on after nightfall, and there was no time to adjust or rest, unless the horde retreated or they broke through the horde and escaped.
“Is there no way to stop the zombie horde from advancing?” Lin Yan sat on the rooftop, listening to the constant sound of gunfire around him.
It had already been three hours since the battle began, and in another three hours, it would be dark. The dark, overwhelming zombie horde in the distance was already visible to the naked eye, without the need for binoculars.
Wen Le remained silent.
Stop the zombie horde?
In theory, it is possible to stop the zombie horde by finding and eliminating the level-two psychic zombie that is gathering and attacking the rescue station. However, how to find that zombie in the sea of darkness and corpses? The level-two psychic zombie has already evolved intelligence, so it must be hiding at the rear of the horde, watching people struggle until the rescue station is destroyed, before appearing like an emperor to enjoy the feast of flesh and blood.
Everyone remained silent, standing or sitting quietly, watching the sun setting in the west and the approaching horde of zombies.
Even though this was a military district with strong firepower, it could not withstand continuous attacks that had not ceased for such a long time.
“They’re replenishing again.” Han Ya looked at the vehicles rumbling out of the entrance of the rescue station, unable to remember how many times they had received ammunition support. They watched as the vehicles went from mostly heavy firepower ammunition to now only sporadic amounts of it, and with the majority of gun ammunition, it was clear that the military’s ammunition depot was also running low.
“Now broadcasting a station-wide announcement, please listen carefully, everyone.”
“Now broadcasting a station-wide announcement, please listen carefully, everyone.”
Suddenly, the broadcast echoed throughout the entire rescue station, and Wen Le and the others looked at each other in confusion.
“It seems that relying solely on the military is no longer enough,” Han Ya whispered.
As soon as he finished speaking, the broadcast sounded again, this time with a different voice, a deep male voice.
“Hello everyone, I am Zhang Quanliang, the former highest commander of the X city military district. By now, everyone is aware of the situation – the zombie army is gradually advancing towards our station. The military forces engaged the zombie army at the front line five hours ago and have eliminated nearly two million zombies. However, the zombie horde continues to pour towards us, and our military firepower is insufficient. The eight corps at the front line will withdraw before the firepower is depleted. We will use the outer wall of the station as the D-level defense line, the inner wall as the C-level defense line, the outermost warehouse as the B-level defense line, and the military dormitory building as the final A-level defense line.
Now is the moment when the survival of the entire station is at stake. On behalf of the military and the government, we call upon all people with awakened abilities to gather in front of the command building. We will arrange personnel to temporarily form a team of military personnel with awakened abilities to defend the D-level defense line. At the same time, our firepower will launch a strong counter-attack at the D-level defense line. Survivors without awakened abilities, all healthy males aged between 16 and 55, please take up your weapons and defend the C-level defense line in an orderly manner. All other personnel, please retreat to the A-level defense line. The survival of the station is closely related to the lives of all of us. All soldiers of the X city military district will fight for survival at the cost of their lives, and we ask everyone to unite for their own lives and the lives of our loved ones.”
As the supreme commander of the entire rescue station, Zhang Quanliang’s words were not filled with flowery language, nor did he give a passionate speech or appeal.
He simply spoke with his deep voice, recounting a fact, one that was already looming before them.
He did not seek to stir up the emotions of the people or ignite the hot-bloodedness in every man’s heart.
His words, like his voice, were heavy, yet it made everyone who heard them subconsciously search for their weapons.
Wen Le silently watched the survivors gathering in front of the command building, the proportion of people with abilities among them was not high, and there were barely a thousand people gathered in front of the building, including the military personnel with abilities. The entire rescue station had at most 1,500 people with abilities.
Not far away, the people who had retreated into the warehouse because of the news of the zombie tide were slowly emerging, with most of them heading towards the inner wall of the rescue station.
Although Zhang Quanliang had called on all males aged 16 to 55, looking at the people flowing towards the inner wall, there were elderly men with white hair and young or not-so-young women.
Wen Le looked at everything below and couldn’t help but feel a little shaken.
Before he was reborn, he was lucky enough to avoid large-scale zombie attacks during his year-long escape, even when he eventually reached the B base.
Without this all-for-one battle, he never experienced the heavy yet unwavering solidarity of people.
This is the descendants of Yan and Huang, the offspring of the dragon.
Perhaps they calculate, perhaps they are selfish, perhaps they are filled with the darkness of human nature.
But when they face a common enemy, they always unite tightly together.
In the face of zombies, even people who usually resent each other can become close comrades-in-arms, fighting side by side.
“Let’s set off too!” Lin Yan jumped up, patted his butt, and said with a smile.
Wen Le and Xiao Wen looked at each other and smiled.
“Let’s go.”
With a relaxed tone, it was as if they were going on a trip instead of facing life and death.
Han Ya silently watched them leave the top floor, then turned back to continue watching downstairs.
The impending war did not require him, and the departure of Xiao Wen and the others meant that someone had to stay behind to watch over the building.
He would be sincerely happy if the shelter survived, and sad if it perished, but they would not live or die together with the shelter. Even though he was shaken by the scene below, and even though he wanted to raise his gun to destroy the zombies that took away their home.
He knew that this was just a stop on their journey. They still had a long way to go. They had to survive, and they had to create a strong fortress in the end times. For the sake of more people who are still alive.
Back in the dormitory, Lin Yan called out to the people who followed him.
To go or not to go, the choice was in their own hands, but not a single person hesitated.
“Yi Ran, you stay.”
The girl looked stubbornly at Lin Yan.
Lin Yan still shook his head. “You stay here and take care of my parents. If… everyone here needs a safe evacuation.”
Xiao Tao, who was also unwilling to be left behind, was about to argue, but was stopped by Wen Le.
Although Xiao Tao admired Lin Yan and called him “big brother”, he dared to argue with him when their opinions differed. But he couldn’t speak in front of Wen Le’s calm and almost emotionless eyes.
Compared to Yan Er and Xiao Tao, Qi Rui and the others who were directly named by Wen Le to stay behind nodded obediently.
Who doesn’t have the blood of a man?! But who dares to challenge Wen Le?
Bai Yun sat quietly beside Li Yunsheng. Although she had good skills and was confident in defending herself against zombies, this time she learned to be wise and would rather hide and stay low-key, than to be caught as a typical example by Wen Le.
Apart from Yan Er and Xiao Tao who were left behind with Lin Yan, the only ones left behind with Lin Yan were his elderly parents. As for Xiao Wen and Wen Le’s team, they only brought along Chen Ye and Yin Chengyang, the awakened ones. Huang Yao was left behind to take care of the remaining elderly and young people. If the situation wasn’t right, there had to be someone who could ensure the safe evacuation of the remaining people to the car downstairs. Similar to before, they needed a certain level of combat power here.
After a group of people went downstairs, they headed straight towards the east, where Bai Yang and his 108 regiment were located. In case they couldn’t hold on, they would also retreat from the east.
The non-powered people were arranged by Lin Yan at the C defense line, and the rest followed Xiao Wen and Lin Yan to the outside of the wall.
Every twenty meters along the wall, there were many ropes available for people to climb up the wall.
“You guys…” The soldiers who were originally arranged here saw Xiao Wen and his group climbing up and couldn’t help but look back, not seeing the leading soldiers.
“We are also ability users, and we are used to cooperating with each other, so we’ll stay here.” Lin Yan explained to the soldiers with a smile.
“You guys go to the unified gathering point, and the situation will be allocated accordingly. This is a military order.” The young soldier frowned and tried to stop them.
Wen Le laughter, “Military orders? All I know is that we’re going to fight for our lives later!”
Other people who followed Lin Yan up the wall sneered at the word “military orders,” and Yin Chengyang even walked up and patted the young soldier’s shoulder.
“Hey, brother, we’re all tough guys. We can’t understand military orders when we’re fighting for our lives!”
Facing this group of people who still exuded a rebellious air at this critical moment, the young soldier helplessly turned to an older military man beside him.
This military man had been focused on watching the front where the army and zombies were fighting, until the young soldier could not help but ask.
“Captain Song…”
Only then did Song Shiran turn around and glance at the more than twenty men who suddenly appeared on the city wall.
“Since we’re all going to fight to the death, it doesn’t matter who they are. Since these friends have come to us, the people assigned to us by the higher-ups can go somewhere else,” said Song Shiran, grinning at Xiao Wen and the others, before turning his attention back to the front.
Soon, the survivors who had gathered together were brought over, including the awakened ones.
“Xiao Song, who are they?” someone asked Song Shiran.
Song Shiran impatiently looked down at the bottom of the wall.
“These are my friends, the mutants. You can assign the people you brought to other places.” After speaking, Song Shiran didn’t care about the reaction of the people below, and no longer paid attention to them.
“Thanks,” Lin Yan thanked Song Shiran. Although it was not a big deal, he still took the initiative to help them.
Song Shiran smiled and looked at Xiao Wen and Wen Le, “I have seen you before, you are friends of Boss Bai. I belong to the 173rd Division, just like Boss Bai’s 108, we are both under the command of General Yan.”
Xiao Wen smiled back and then looked into the distance.
“The situation is very bad.”
Upon hearing Xiao Wen’s words, Song Shiran shrugged, “It’s been over half an hour since the last ammunition resupply, it’s probably running out soon. I don’t know about the other directions, but I’ve been keeping an eye on this one. Boss Bai’s squad alone has killed at least two to three hundred thousand zombies, but look, there are still densely packed zombies ahead. This is probably the entire zombie horde from X City pouring out. Before the apocalypse, there were nearly ten million people in X City, including migrants. How many survived, a hundred thousand at most? Subtract the two million zombies we killed before, there are still over seven million left. We’re going to have to fight hard later.”
Although he had been watching the dense horde of zombies all along, hearing such a huge number made Wen Le feel a little creeped out.
How many people were there in the entire rescue station? To think that they would be facing seven million zombies…
“Let’s retreat,” Mo Yan suddenly spoke up.
The frontline confronting the zombies has been pushed to a distance of less than two kilometers from the rescue station due to the zombies relentless advance, allowing them to observe the situation ahead with the naked eye.
Upon hearing Mo Yan’s words, everyone present involuntarily looked towards the front. The previously deployed army was slowly contracting.
At this moment, the gate of the eastern outer wall of the rescue station slowly opened, and another batch of trucks equipped with countless ammunition drove towards the front line. This time, there were clearly more heavy firepower ammunition on the trucks.
It was evident that the military had no intention of retreating directly. Instead, they planned to launch another strong attack before the final retreat.
As darkness fell, the rescue station activated all of its lighting equipment before the sun set, concentrating the lights on the outer perimeter of the city wall.
The deafening sound of gunfire eventually began to subside as the sky turned completely dark. At this point, the two sides frontlines were less than three hundred meters from the rescue station.
All of the station’s large doors were opened, and the area inside was completely cleared to prepare for the military’s retreat to the rescue station.
The military’s formation had already been completely retracted, and the space that had been cleared was now being pushed into by the advancing zombies.
The infantry was gathered in the innermost layer, while heavy machine guns and armored vehicles were stationed in the outer perimeter, relying on the last of their ammunition to stubbornly prevent the zombie horde from encircling the troops.
It wasn’t until Wen Le saw the entire 108th Battalion retreat back to the relief station that the approaching horde was within arm’s reach.
“Brothers, start fighting for our lives!” Song Shiran spat outside the wall, got up, picked up his rifle, and began to aim and shoot.
Although machine guns have greater killing power and are more effective at stopping the zombies advance, their ammunition supply is limited and cannot be wasted indiscriminately. Single-shot firing is more accurate and more economical than spraying.
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the update!!