Chapter 57: Chapter 57: The Price
Ye Fan was currently in a very cheerful mood.
Having finally completed the last virtual building, he could now focus all future funding on the development and upgrade of the base to the rank of Battalion Commander.
The appearance of new vehicles further boosted his confidence about the future.
In the current post-apocalyptic scenario, as long as he had a battalion’s worth of troops and completed vehicle configuration, he wouldn’t fear even two or three thousand zombies, and could easily wipe out a small town like Chengguan Town with its few thousand population.
He found the few survivors causing trouble seemed somewhat cute now.
Because they provided a perfect opportunity to test his new firepower.
Their movements had always been under Ye Fan’s control, thanks to the patrolling soldiers who moved frequently, preventing the survivors from finding a good chance to attack, and they were now still lurking behind dirt mounds.
If not for the mortars, these few might have been a hassle, but mortars had a characteristic: they could strike enemies in a parabolic trajectory.
That applied to those hiding behind dirt mounds as well.
Ye Fan quickly led his troops to the police station, where he found two mortar soldiers waiting inside.
"Chief Gunner of the Mortar, Lin Jingcheng reporting to the officer!"
"Mortar Observer, Qiao Sanyou reporting to the officer!"
The two sturdy young men saluted Ye Fan in unison, each exuding that unique military aura.
Ye Fan returned their salute and said, "Tell me about your situation."
"Reporting, sir, we are using the ZX905 100mm mortar, which weighs 20.2 kilograms, utilizes laser targeting technology, has a maximum range of 6,500 meters, a minimum range of 100 meters, and is equipped with three high-explosive shells, three incendiary shells, and one illuminating shell in No-Star mode. The explosion covers a 20-meter diameter!"
Ye Fan looked at these two tough soldiers; Red Alert Soldiers all had one thing in common: regardless of the branch, their combat ability was not to be underestimated. Though they were artillerymen, they were also armed with guns.
Ye Fan didn’t ask about their exact combat ability, but it was surely much stronger than his own.
Hearing about the mortar’s range, Ye Fan suddenly felt reassured.
The maximum range reaching 6,500 meters was even beyond his current radar scope.
It was lucky that they were his artillerymen; if they were the enemy’s and fired from beyond their range, this post-apocalyptic journey might have ended here.
Ye Fan said to Lin Jingcheng, "Lin Jingcheng, can you hit the enemy behind the dirt mound?"
Lin Jingcheng looked at Qiao Sanyou and said, "Observer, have a look."
Qiao Sanyou immediately said to Ye Fan, "Sir, our No-Star artillery may not be extremely accurate at long distances, but if we can’t hit at this close range, you might as well take my head and use it as a ball!"
"Haha! All right, then, let’s welcome our guests with a shot."
"Understood!"
The artillerymen were about to swing into action when Ye Fan halted them.
Because he saw not only enemies behind the dirt mound, but also a blue light point hidden on a tree about a kilometer away.
This person was deep blue, likely a Superpower User or a Power User.
Ye Fan suspected this person might be a sentry-type, able to observe the situation on his side. He immediately led the artillerymen behind the police station, where it conveniently blocked the line of sight from the tree.
"Prepare to open fire right here."
The two artillerymen immediately mounted the mortar on the ground, quickly adjusting the angle, observing the distance, and loading the shell.
A high-explosive shell was loaded and ready to fire at any moment.
********
Lao San and a dozen others, lying behind the dirt pile, were growing impatient.
Holding a walkie-talkie, he continuously inquired King Huining, nicknamed Baldy, who was up in the tree.
"Baldy, not ready yet?"
"Hang in there, the sentries at the police station have increased their patrol intensity, maybe they’re on war alert."
"Damn, are these people crazy, being so defensive even in the apocalypse?"
"Patience, haste makes waste; if we want results, we need to be patient."
"Patience, my ass, once the main force returns, we won’t have any chance."
Baldy scolded him, "Don’t act rashly if there’s no chance; there are dozens of them and their armed force is strong. Acting recklessly may lead to annihilation. Better to endure a bit longer than to suffer a meaningless loss, at least we’ve gauged their strength on this trip."
Though boisterous, Lao San still listened to Baldy. Baldy was considered a strategist at Daqing Mountain Prison, while his own strength merely made him a commander.
Lao San fell silent, as Wang Huining continued observing.
After a while, Wang Huining saw many people returning to the police station.
A young officer-like figure led a team of over twenty people.
Seeing this, Baldy had already abandoned the ambush plan.
Launching an attack now would be suicidal, and he wasn’t that stupid. He immediately informed Lao San, "Prepare to retreat, their people have returned."
Lao San exhaled heavily, put down the walkie-talkie, and couldn’t help but curse.
"Traveled all this way just to return without achieving anything, it’s maddening."
Someone next to him suggested, "Third Brother, we should retreat; there are too many of them."
"Damn it, we can’t leave without doing anything!"
Lao San scanned around, suddenly his eyes lit up.
He spotted a pack of cigarettes not far from the front of the dirt pile.
These days, cigarettes were as precious as gold; at the prison base, regular folks had to trade food for them, and they were exorbitantly priced.
He had no idea whose cigarettes were left here, but now that he saw them, they were his.
"It’s even Yuxi, mine!"
In a leap, he jumped from behind the dirt pile, grabbed the pack, and swiftly ran back without being detected by patrolling soldiers.
Actually, the cigarettes belonged to Jiang Shilong; he dropped them while escaping along this route, only to be shot by a Sniper at the river ahead.
Stuffing the cigarettes into his pocket, Lao San prepared to retreat.
Bang~~~!
A sudden noise erupted from the police station.
"What the hell?" Lao San was dumbfounded.
Before he could react, a blast of fire violently erupted behind the dirt pile!
Smoke and dust swirled, shrapnel spun, and yells of agony burst out, only to suddenly cease!
The ground was left with a deep crater, and the dozen people gathered behind the dirt pile were wiped out in one stroke.
Only a fleeting scream was heard as they hung on the brink, obviously dead.
Lao San, a Power User, survived due to his resilient body, and because the blast wasn’t head-on, his body hurled seven or eight meters away and slammed heavily into the ground, but remarkably remained alive.
The walkie-talkie, shielded by his chest from the blast, was still usable.
Baldy Wang Huining’s urgent voice came through.
"Lao San, how are you?"
Lao San clenched his teeth hard, the fury and grievance in his eyes fierce enough to melt metal.
"Baldy! I’m afraid I’m done for, run... tell Boss Xing to avenge me..."
"These bastards, all I did was snatch... snatch a pack of cigarettes, was it worth firing a mortar at me?"
After a shot, people from the police station began rushing out.
Soldiers holding guns sprinted quickly, and the barking of dogs was starkly audible in the already darkened fields.
"Run! I’ve got nothing to lose!"
Lao San bravely stood, holding his Sliding Blade, prepared to face his fate.
Baldy Wang Huining dared not linger, unsure how they were discovered, but clearly, they had failed today.
He had to return alive to the prison base to exact revenge for his comrades.
Haphazardly, he leapt down from the tree and sped away on a motorcycle.
Ignoring the bumpy, dangerous path in the dark night, he dashed for four or five kilometers.
Once the commotion had faded behind him, he exhaled deeply.
He was almost five kilometers from the police station now, darkness obscuring his vision, believing he was safe, he stopped his motorcycle.
Faint zombie growls echoed around, and it seemed someone was chasing, but in this pitch-darkness, he wasn’t worried.
Staring at the lights from the police station, he gritted his teeth, "I’ll remember you, officer!"
No sooner had he said those words, than a distant bright light shot into the sky!
Bang!
A blinding light made the area as bright as day!