The city of Yuzhou (Chongqing), a half-day's journey from Luzhou, can be considered a hub in the southwestern region. At this very moment, a battle is underway. The terrain here is quite peculiar, unlike most other cities. This place is known as the "Mountain City." While the distant urban areas are manageable, built on flat ground, the central part of the city is constructed along the mountainside. You might think you are on the first floor, only to find yourself at the edge looking down into a bottomless abyss!
The unique topography makes it impossible to reclaim the city quickly. For ordinary cities, it suffices to lure most of the zombies and then engage in an annihilation battle. However, in the Mountain City, this is clearly unfeasible. Due to the layered nature of the zombie hordes, luring them and getting them to concentrate is a significant challenge.
On the outskirts of the city, smoke billows everywhere. Tens of thousands of zombies are charging down a wide street. However, soldiers have set up barricades with sandbags along the street, and they are all firing from behind cover. These soldiers are in uniform, clearly not newly conscripted recruits but well-trained veterans. The veterans are firing in semi-automatic mode. Although their ammunition supply is currently sufficient, they still need to conserve it.
Behind the street where the soldiers are stationed, the eyes of many survivors are filled with anticipation. Both the elderly and children are standing by the windows, watching the distant battle. Tens of thousands of zombies are directly charging towards the street. Soldiers behind the barricades immediately open fire. "Da da da..." The dark gun barrels spew out fiery tongues, and the charging zombies immediately fall in rows. Under the organized and dense firepower, the human wave tactic has lost its effectiveness. It is completely impossible for the zombies to charge across this street!
However, a multitude of zombies continue to charge towards the street with the prepared barricades. Thus, the soldiers can only continue to fire! In the open space on the other side of the street, many zombies have already fallen. Piles of corpses form a small mountain on the opposite side.
Meanwhile, in a square behind the street, countless soldiers in uniform are lying on the ground, sleeping, covered with army-green blankets. Their guns are used as pillows. After a long period of fighting, they are all exhausted. Now that they have a chance to rest, everyone cherishes the sleeping time. Even with the roar of cannons not far away, they can still sleep soundly, as their mental fatigue is beyond the point where such sounds can wake them.
At this time, in a nearby tent, many high-ranking officers are discussing plans. In the center of the tent is a large sand table, a topographical sand table of the entire Yuzhou. Yuzhou is laid out before everyone, and they are discussing how to quickly eliminate the zombies in the city.
The leader here is General Wang, who is in charge of commanding the reclamation of Yuzhou. He has dark circles under his eyes; in fact, he hasn't slept for two days. If he weren't an evolved human, he would likely have collapsed by now.
General Wang speaks to everyone in a deep voice, "Everyone, our mission is very important. Many other major cities have been successively reclaimed! And Yuzhou, such an important city, has now been assigned to us for reclamation. We must be quick and complete the mission given to us by our superiors! It is estimated that there are at least 300,000 survivors in Yuzhou, and they are all waiting for our rescue. Every minute we delay in reclaiming the city, their chances of survival will be significantly reduced!"
"General, I know our mission is heavy, but we only have seven thousand soldiers right now, and we have been fighting continuously. Even if we want to be quick, we can't be!" someone stands up and says helplessly. Of course, he wants to save the people from dire straits, but unfortunately, his subordinate numbers are too few!
"Don't cry poverty to me now!" General Wang says with dissatisfaction, "The whole country is short of troops, and having seven thousand people here is not a small number! Can't seven thousand people reclaim a city? I tell you, in Luzhou upstream, people with just over a thousand soldiers used cold weapons to reclaim a city. Listen carefully, these are civilian organizations! They are not professional soldiers, and they can reclaim cities with hundreds of thousands of zombies. We are using modern equipment, and our numbers are several times that of the people in Luzhou. Are we still inferior to civilian organizations?"
As soon as General Wang finishes speaking, someone else replies, "Isn't that because there was a third-tier esper among them? He completed a decapitation strike, which led to the successful reclamation of Luzhou. We only have evolved humans here, all of them first-tier evolved humans. Even if we want to imitate their tactics, it's impossible!"
"Can't we decapitate without a third-tier esper? As long as we locate the Zombie King, we can still use missile attacks!" the staff officer quickly says. The most troublesome thing now is not knowing the Zombie King's location. Otherwise, a direct missile bombardment would kill the Zombie King.
General Wang shakes his head helplessly and says, "We haven't even penetrated the city yet, and we're already entangled with tens of thousands of zombies all day! We must find a way, we must adopt more decisive measures, otherwise, it will take us over a month to reclaim Yuzhou!"
"General, we suggest that we rapidly expand our manpower! Apply to headquarters. Since we lack troops, we should expand our forces locally! As long as we recruit ten thousand people and equip them, our combat effectiveness will be strengthened!" a colonel suggests.
General Wang frowns and says, "Expanding the army is a very good idea, but we don't have enough time right now, and the efficiency of annihilating zombies is too low. This way, it will still take a long time. Are there no means to speed things up?"
General Wang is also helpless. Every day, tens of thousands of zombies attack the camp. His side has only seven thousand soldiers, facing a large city with millions of zombies. Although the army has modern firepower, their progress is still slow when facing such a large number of zombies.
Just then, a young major general steps forward. He is in his thirties and has reached this position through a combination of opportunities provided by the era and his own hard work. His name is Cheng Ke. He is brave in battles against zombies and has independently led troops to reclaim a small city, earning him the rank of major general.
"General, the reason we cannot achieve massive lethality at present is that the zombies cannot gather, so we can only kill tens of thousands per day. However, we have ample firearms and artillery, and we control the air superiority. Therefore, I believe we can use a 'center bloom' tactic!" Cheng Ke says quickly.
General Wang looks at Cheng Ke and says, "Then explain your plan in detail. I want to see what your 'center bloom' implementation plan looks like."
Cheng Ke, without any stage fright, stands by the sand table and points to the stadium in the city center. "This place can accommodate over a hundred thousand people, and the surrounding area is open. Most importantly, there are roads in all directions, meaning zombies will converge here. If the Zombie King discovers our location, you can imagine he will definitely command the zombies to attack us! This way, our large-scale killing weapons can be put to use, whether it's artillery or other weapons!"
"What about supplies?" General Wang raises this question.
"Ask the people at the Three Gorges to airdrop supplies to us. Aren't there people stationed there? They can directly airdrop supplies to us. This way, we can operate deep behind enemy lines. Although we will be attacked from all sides, as long as we defend properly, it will present a 'center bloom' situation." Cheng Ke has clearly thought it through. Although they will be surrounded after entering the city center, as long as they hold the stadium, they can continuously deplete the zombies' strength.
"What about the rescued survivors?" General Wang continues to ask after deep thought.
"Evacuate them! Let them seek refuge in surrounding cities, such as Luzhou, or Yiling, and then to Rongcheng in the north. To quickly reclaim Yuzhou, we cannot divert troops to protect them!" Cheng Ke says decisively.
General Wang falls into thought, while others propose dissenting opinions: "Why take such a risk?" "Using a stadium as a battlefield seems too childish. What if the Zombie King doesn't attack us?" "Don't forget, the city center is a mountain. At that time, we will be at the foot of the mountain, and if the Zombie King is on the mountain, he will see all our arrangements."
Cheng Ke answers these questions one by one: "If we want a quick victory now, we can only take risks. The Zombie King will definitely attack us because the stadium is located in the center. Once the Zombie King's trace is found, we can kill him within a day. Therefore, to eliminate this threat, he will definitely mobilize zombies to attack! As for the possibility of being observed by firepower, there is no need to worry. Although the Zombie King is intelligent, he is certainly not exceptionally so. He may not be able to figure out our firepower even if he sees it."
Inside the tent, a dispute begins. Cheng Ke firmly believes his plan is not wrong. If the plan goes smoothly, it will only take half a month to annihilate most of Yuzhou's zombie forces with this tactic, and the remaining action will be to divide and conquer.
Finally, General Wang makes a decision, claps his hands to silence everyone, and then says loudly, "As the commander, I naturally want to fight steadily. However, this is an extraordinary time, and the whole world is facing the threat of zombies. If not handled properly, the final outcome could be a severe blow to human civilization or even its extinction! Therefore, although this plan is risky, I have decided to proceed with it! I will write a separate report to headquarters regarding this plan, and I will bear all the responsibility!"
"The people of Yuzhou are living in dire straits. As soldiers, we must rescue them and kill all these zombies that harm humanity!" General Wang says earnestly, "If anyone is unwilling to participate, I will not punish you. I will arrange for you to escort the civilians to the surrounding cities. This way, you will be temporarily away from the battlefield. Anyone who does not wish to participate in this plan, please step forward immediately!"
As soon as he finishes speaking, no one steps forward. Everyone knows this plan is risky and dangerous because fighting in the stadium means zombies are all around. If the aerial supply line cannot be replenished, everyone will run out of water and food. If such a situation arises, the army reclaiming Yuzhou will suffer heavy losses!
However, even in such a dangerous situation, no one is willing to leave out of fear of death. Even if they die here, they will not leave so casually. Because leaving would mean losing their honor as soldiers, so even for the sake of honor, they cannot leave. They must complete this plan.
"Since everyone supports and trusts me so much, I will not disappoint you. Yuzhou will surely be reclaimed!" General Wang says loudly.
After that, the meeting is adjourned. General Wang prepares to write a report to inform headquarters of his decision, while subordinates need to arrange the next steps. Everyone will advance to the stadium, transforming into a grinding mill to crush the zombies that come to attack them!
This decision is quickly learned by General Chen of the Three Gorges. He looks at the order in his hand, which requires his cooperation for an operation. This operation is extremely risky, but for a quick victory, it seems there is no other choice!
"It's too risky, but it seems to be the only option given the shortage of troops!" General Chen says with some emotion. To reclaim a large city with hundreds of thousands of people with only seven thousand soldiers is a testament to its difficulty. Zombies know no fear, especially with the presence of a Zombie King, which gives zombies the ability to act in unison. If millions of zombies form a encirclement, the seven thousand people in the city center could truly be annihilated.