Chu Chaoyan waited with two thousand people outside the mist, on a small, open hillside. They were out of supplies, but Chu Chaoyan insisted on waiting. Yang Chang led over a hundred men to search nearby and finally found a village. After clearing it of zombies, they brought bedding and food back to the hillside.
At noon, ten people escaped from the mist, bringing news of Shen Feng.
"The City Lord said to wait outside. He's going to blow up the enemy's nest before coming out," one of them said.
Chu Chaoyan looked at their dirty, sticky appearance, covered in a somewhat foul-smelling clear slime. She instructed, "Go wash up at the nearby stream quickly. I'll set up camp here."
In reality, Chu Chaoyan's "camp" was just chopping down nearby trees and hastily constructing some shelters. She didn't care about such things; in wartime, cleanliness was a luxury. Having a place to stay was good enough.
However, at dusk, Chu Chaoyan heard a loud explosion from within the mist, followed by the ground shaking. Those unaware thought it might be an earthquake, but Chu Chaoyan received important news: Shen Feng was acting. The intense vibration must mean success.
"But why hasn't Shen Feng brought his people out yet?" Chu Chaoyan worried. The plan should have succeeded, so why wasn't Shen Feng out by now? Could he be in danger?
As Chu Chaoyan was speculating about the situation in the mist, her satellite phone suddenly rang. She answered it without delay, stating, "This is the Luzhou Army. Do you have instructions?"
The call was from headquarters. Eight days had passed without contact with Shen Feng's three thousand men or the Rongcheng artillery battalion. Headquarters was anxious and had been trying to reach Shen Feng. Now that the call was connected, headquarters immediately inquired.
"This is Headquarters. Why are you only contacting us now? What did you encounter? Why haven't you contacted superiors for over a week?" Headquarters asked.
Chu Chaoyan explained with a sigh, "After entering the white mist, we were attacked by treants, a type of mutated plant. We only just escaped today. City Lord Shen Feng is organizing an attack and will contact superiors after it concludes."
After a moment of silence, headquarters issued an order: "Headquarters received. You are now ordered to proceed to Rongcheng immediately to provide support. Rongcheng is in grave danger; even militia are on the battlefield. You must go and support them at once."
Chu Chaoyan refused the order, stating directly, "No, we only follow the instructions of City Lord Shen Feng. He told us to wait here, so we will wait here!"
Headquarters was angered by this response and accused, "Are you refusing to obey orders? Between the five million people in Rongcheng and the mutated plants within a ten-kilometer radius, which is more important? Tell me. If Rongcheng falls, it will lead to an irreversible crisis. Five million people are in Rongcheng! Don't you understand the priorities?"
"Why are you yelling at me?" Chu Chaoyan retorted. "I only have two thousand men. Even if I go to support, it won't make much difference. Rongcheng has five million people, doesn't it? Let them conscript soldiers! With so many people, surely you can't be short of combat personnel?"
Chu Chaoyan's words infuriated headquarters. After a long pause, they replied, "Conscription is already difficult. The young men of Rongcheng are already fighting in other provinces. All that remains are the elderly, weak, women, and children. The men are all on the battlefield. Even with your two thousand men, you can still be of significant use."
Chu Chaoyan found herself in a dilemma. On one hand, Shen Feng had ordered her to wait outside the mist with her men. On the other, headquarters was urging her to go to Rongcheng for rescue. Both decisions were difficult, and agreeing to one would offend the other.
At this moment, Yang Chang reached out, signaling Chu Chaoyan to hand him the satellite phone. Helplessly, Chu Chaoyan gave it to Yang Chang.
Yang Chang took a deep breath and said, "Currently, our unit has suffered heavy casualties and lacks weapons and ammunition. Without them, our unit's effectiveness will be greatly diminished. Much of the artillery equipment is still in the mist. Once we defeat the mutated plants within, we will obtain sufficient equipment, and then our chances of rescuing Rongcheng will be greater."
Headquarters remained silent for a long time before saying, "Please hurry. You must reach Rongcheng within three days, or Rongcheng will not hold!"
"Understood!" Yang Chang hung up the phone and leaned against the hillside, sighing with relief. "Three days! Rongcheng's situation is too critical!"
Chu Chaoyan took back the satellite phone and looked at the soldiers around her. Half of them had discarded their firearms. It was unrealistic to expect these men to follow her to fight zombies.
As the saying goes, alcohol emboldens the timid. Firearms have a similar effect; with a gun, one's voice is much louder. But now, ordinary people without guns, having dropped them during their escape, dared not face the endless tide of zombies.
...
Meanwhile, three of Rongcheng's seven outer defense lines had been breached. The fighting had been ongoing for three days, with one defense line falling each day. It wasn't that the soldiers were afraid of death, but the sheer number of zombies was overwhelming. More importantly, the zombies had developed peculiar methods of attack.
Headquarters had initially estimated that the Yuzhou Corpse King would lead three million zombies to Rongcheng. However, the current zombie count was approaching four million. Plans couldn't keep up with changes, as two more Corpse Kings had appeared, leading more zombies to join the Yuzhou Corpse King's ranks.
Rongcheng had previously sent a request for reinforcements. At a critical moment, headquarters mobilized five thousand soldiers to fly to Rongcheng from other provinces. The soldiers had barely landed when they faced a siege. Four million zombies surrounded Rongcheng and launched a fierce assault. Rongcheng's army, numbering only fifteen thousand, was immediately pushed back against such a powerful zombie horde.
Logically, with machine guns and sufficient ammunition, the zombies' human wave tactics should not be effective. However, variables always exist, as new mutated zombies had appeared in the horde! Two types, in fact!
One type of mutated zombie had an incredibly large upper body and dark, thick palms, while its lower body was disproportionately small, making one doubt if it could walk normally. Of course, this type of zombie didn't need to walk, as walking wasn't their forte; they had learned to dig!
After learning to dig, these mutated zombies immediately burrowed from all directions into the defense lines, emerging from underground to attack soldiers behind cover. Caught between attacks from two sides, the soldiers were forced to retreat. All three defense lines were breached in this manner. No one had expected zombies to learn the tactics of tunnel warfare.
The commanders were furious, unable to believe that zombies had developed such tricky mutations in such a short time, burrowing rapidly from all directions, their speed comparable to excavators.
At this point, the commanders wished Rongcheng had a moat. With city walls and a moat, these zombies' digging would not have been so easy. But Rongcheng lacked even city walls, let alone a moat.
The second type of mutated zombie was a round, plump creature with a massive torso but abnormally small limbs, making walking impossible. However, when thrown by the strong-type zombies, they would explode upon landing. Their bodies would then ignite, their round bodies filled with oil, which would flow everywhere after the explosion. Soldiers hiding in trenches, if attacked by these self-destructing zombies, would immediately catch fire. If they rolled on the ground to extinguish the flames, the frontline firepower would be weakened.
Self-destructing zombies required no combat; they were like barrels filled with fuel, their mission being to explode.
During the defense of the city, the artillery battalion, consisting of only two hundred men, shone brightly. They unleashed a barrage of fire on the zombies outside the city. A rain of artillery shells successfully eliminated a large number of the vanguard zombies. It was also under the cover of the artillery that the remaining four defense lines held.
At this point, soldiers began using instruments to measure the land. Upon confirming the presence of digging mutated zombies, they immediately implemented countermeasures, pouring steel bars and concrete into the tunnels to prevent the zombies from successfully digging. For the self-destructing zombies, they were to be shot decisively upon appearance. Once detonated, only the zombies themselves would be burned, not the soldiers.
As night fell, the zombies continued their assault on Rongcheng, as if tireless. As the ones in front fell, the ones behind followed, only to be felled by bullets or shells. The area around Rongcheng became pockmarked, littered with zombie corpses. Human casualties were also significant, but the bodies of fallen soldiers were taken back for cremation. After cremation, their boxes were labeled with photos and names.
"Da da da..." Machine guns spat blue flames. An old soldier gripped a machine gun, continuously sweeping the zombies in front of him. His eyes were bloodshot as he watched the ceaseless charge of zombies. He was going mad. For three consecutive days, the zombie attacks had not stopped, but the soldiers had been fighting for just as long. Everyone's mental state was precarious. They were still fighting, sustained only by their conviction.
Shen Xin was also firing at zombies with his rifle. Although he had become an evolved human with superior physical condition to ordinary people, after continuous combat, he too felt utterly exhausted. During continuous fighting, there were times when he didn't even have time to eat, forced to kill zombies like a machine. He wondered when this life would end.
"I must hold on, I must hold on!" Shen Xin gritted his teeth. He knew his family was behind him, and he could not retreat further.
However, at this moment, over thirty tank-like zombies appeared. These zombies held stone slabs in front of them as shields. Thus, the tank-like zombies relentlessly approached the defense line. Soldiers frantically fired, but bullets struggled to penetrate the stone slabs. Even if a bullet was lucky enough to hit a tank-like zombie's body, the wounds would quickly heal. These zombies' regenerative abilities were that monstrous.
Just then, numerous missiles appeared in the sky, trailing long fiery tails. Soldiers stared blankly at the missiles streaking across the sky. The missiles descended like meteors, creating bursts of light, followed by immense explosions. Over fifty missiles struck densely populated zombie areas. Each shell eliminated hundreds or thousands of zombies. The missile strike killed tens of thousands of zombies.
At this point, the zombies ceased their attack and began a slow withdrawal, dragging the corpses of the dead zombies with them, presumably for sustenance.
"We won, we won!" The soldiers cheered incessantly. Many cheered and then collapsed on the ground. The previous battles had been fought on sheer willpower. Now that the fighting had temporarily ended, they immediately fell asleep, no longer caring about anything.
Seeing this, Shen Xin finally lowered his aching arm, fumbled for a cigarette, and lit it, sighing, "It's finally over. I'm exhausted!"
An old soldier leaned next to Shen Xin and held out a cigarette, saying, "Can I borrow a light? My lighter is gone."
Shen Xin lit the old soldier's cigarette and then sighed, "My son is still out there. I both hope he comes to save me and hope he doesn't!"
The old soldier took a deep drag of his cigarette and shook his head. "All my family are dead. I have no hopes. I just want to find a quiet place to live after the war ends. I don't know if that will be possible."
Shen Xin looked around and saw many young people sitting on the ground with bloodshot eyes, not having slept. He couldn't help but shake his head. "These young people have killed until they're seeing red. If they don't receive psychological counseling, they might suffer mental problems later."
The old soldier sighed. "Don't talk about these children. I'm almost having psychological trauma. The mountains and plains are covered with zombies, endlessly surging forward like a tide, impossible to kill!"
Shen Xin nodded. "Let's get some sleep while we can. If the zombies attack again later, we won't even have time to sleep!"
The old soldier nodded. With the missile support, the internal chaos among the zombies had been a threat, temporarily repelling the zombie attack. Once the internal chaos subsided, the attack would resume. They had killed four hundred to five hundred thousand zombies, but it had barely affected the horde. They had already lost three defense lines.