Chapter 298 – Hot Blooded Heroes!
Translated by: Kun
Edited by: Ulamog, Dedition
[Book 2: The Sea of Zombies]
Under Xu Yang’s fierce threat, all the survivors became obedient, following the orders and moving in an orderly fashion towards the other side. The speed soon picked up.
However, as the rain was cold and relentless, many of the survivors who had not eaten the Type 2 Meat, continent to fall amidst the downpour and never stood up again.
At this time, no one could afford to pay attention to those fallen survivors. Xu Yang could only continue distributing the Type 2 Meat with the aide of his subordinates, hoping for the meat to help the miserable survivors.
Guo Quan looked at the proceedings anxiously, the time was too short. 2 hours were simply not enough to move everybody across. He would check his watch from time to time, while racking his brain for a solution.
Guo Quan suddenly beckoned a Company Officer called Xu Mo and asked: “Xu Mo!! Did you guys find any boats around here?”
Xu Mo reported back: “Battalion Commander, I’ve brought men to search. There aren’t any.”
Prior to the apocalypse, the riverbank had plenty of tugboats and fishing boats. Post-apocalypse, they had all been used to catch fishes. In the end, as they came across the Type 2 Mutant Beasts in the waters, the boats were all destroyed or capsized. Hence there were no more boats around the area.
Guo Quan looked at the bridge with a steely expression, and continued to check his watch frequently. Nearby, there was still the bustling activity of moving, the group of children had crossed over fully, while the women were still making their journey on the bridge. They could hear the sounds of gunfire in the distance, and were aware of the intense battle happening.
Not long after, the preliminary group of soldiers had dispersed from the frontlines and came to the bridge. They had continued construction and fortification without a wink of sleep and were thoroughly exhausted. Even though they did not participate in the battle directly, because of their efforts, their constructed defences and traps helped delay and caused the deaths of over ten thousand zombies.
“Battalion Commander Guo! Yun Fei leading the preliminary troops and reporting!” The young master of Black Tiger Gang had shaved his head long ago, and was decked in a military uniform, and had saluted in proper bearing.
An environment can change a person, good companions exert good influence while bad ones causes bad influence. After joining Yue Zhong’s troops, and undergoing Chen Shitou’s strict training and regimentation, he had shrugged off his hooligan image, and was starting to become a lot more disciplined and upright, developing and growing as a young man should.
“Xu Mo, go arrange for the preliminary troops to cross the bridge immediately!!” Guo Quan responded to Yun Fei with a military salute as well, before conveying some orders to Xu Mo beside him.
Xu Mo nodded his head, and he brought Yun Fei and the rest of the preliminary troops towards the crowd, and started to cross the bridge.
“They’re jumping the line!!”
“Why are they allowed to cut the queue? They’re playing with privileges here!!”
“How can they be allowed to jump the queue, while we’re supposed to wait for death? That’s not fair!!”
“Since they came last, they should queue behind!! We should be first!!”
“…..”
Seeing Yun Fei and the preliminary troops cutting the queue, the survivors got riled up, as they called out loudly.
The survivors had been obedient as they were not treated too shabbily, even though Xu Yang was fierce, he was indeed fair. No one had the special privilege to cut queue, nor could they try to bribe their way through, hence they were all accepting of the situation. Now there were people allowed to cut, they felt agitated.
“Fuck all of you bastards!!” Xu Yang raised his loudhailer and jumped on to the roof of a jeep: “Damn it! All you assholes! Earlier we asked you to gather, what the hell were you doing? Dragging your feet and not willing to leave. When all of you were holed up in your homes, these guys were on the frontlines! To delay the advance of the zombies, they didn’t sleep a wink and have been working for 12 full hours!! Some have even clashed with the zombies and died already!”
Xu Yang’s expression was extremely steely: “They are all heroes!! Because of their efforts and the other soldiers who are staying on the frontlines, you guys are still alive now!! Even if you don’t want to thank them that’s fine. You assholes who still want to scold them, are you guys even human? Where’s your damned conscience?!”
Hearing those words from Xu Yang, warmth flowed in the hearts of Yun Fei and those preliminary troopers. They were heroes. They had used their own sweat and blood to protect so many people, Yue Zhong would not mistreat them. At this time, their hearts were filled with gratitude and acceptance towards Yue Zhong as a leader.
Many of the preliminary troops were so touched that they broke down in tears. During the post-apocalypse, many of them were the lowest rung of society, and were living as though they were ants. For a single bread, or 1 jin of rice, they had disregarded all sense of self-worth and pride, and done anything possible, no matter how shameless. The government officials had treated them like trash when they were overlooking and governing. Under Yue Zhong, they had finally obtained the respect and pride, and were being labelled as heroes. At this moment, even though their bodies were drenched in that cold rain, their hearts were filled with an infinite warmth.
The survivors were reprimanded and did not dare make another sound. When Yue Zhong had deployed people to gather them, indeed they were not willing to leave. Now they had nothing to say against Xu Yang.
“You bunch of assholes, if any of you are a man, and still have your balls with you, then come over here, grab a weapon and go to the frontlines and fight!! As long as that person can kill 10 zombies, I will allow him to cross the bridge first and welcome that person into our ranks!!” Xu Yang swept his gaze over the 20,000 males and shouted.
At this time, a huge truck dumped a huge load of steel blades and shields onto the ground, forming a small mountain of weapons.
These items were initially used by Yue Zhong to equip the preliminary troops for both training and real combat, and there were enough to arm about 4,000 men. On top of that, he managed to obtain 6,000 blades that were recently completed from the army’s storehouse.
The army had also known about the issue of ammunition, and to boost up the fighting capabilities while they had low ammo, they had decided to manufacture a huge number of steel blades. Compared to just random knives, these huge blades were more efficient against zombies.
The 20,000 men looked towards the 10,000 blades and shields, their eyes flashed with a complicated gaze, and they sunk into deep thought. They knew that the horde was definitely fearsome, seeing the retreating army as well as forceful defence of the place by Yue Zhong’s troops. Fighting against these terrifying monsters, if one wasn’t careful, they would lose their lives. They were unwilling to die after all.
Xu Yang swept his gaze with scorn at the 20,000 men, and spat: “Pei! Bunch of cowards with no balls!! You aren’t men! Since you aren’t men, stay still and be obedient, await your turn! Don’t act or speak out of line, otherwise my guns will fire blindly!”
“I’m a man! I will go kill the zombies!!” A 1.8m tall man stepped out from the crowd and took up a blade and shield as he hollered: “I am Tian Hu!! I am a man!! Whoever still has the guts, take up arms and follow me!!”
“I am Hai Mingfeng!! I am a man!! I’m not a coward!!”
“I am Shen Xiong!! I am also a man, not a coward!!”
Tian Hu’s shout seemed to ignite a fire amidst the 20,000 men’s hearts, and they started to step forward in droves, grabbing a weapon and shield, while shouting their names, announcing their existence.
Xu Yang looked at Tian Hu and the rest of them, his eyes gleamed, and he saluted them, as he shouted: “Good!! You are all men!! You will be my good brothers!! Pi Dafu! Go distribute a can of Type 2 Meat to each of these brothers, and bring them to assist Commander Yue at the frontlines!!”
Xu Yang’s company officer Pi Dafu stepped out, and saluted the group of heroic males, and immediately brought them towards the sounds of gunfire.
There were many good men, at the same time, cowards were aplenty as well. Amongst those 20,000 men, only 6,000 had stepped forward. The rest had lowered their heads, not daring to look into Xu Yang’s eyes, as though they were quails. Not everyone had the courage to face death.
“Trash!” Xu Yang coldly glared at the remaining 13,000 men and spat out the words, before moving on.
Under the lead of Pi Dafu, the 6,000 hot-blooded heroes quickly arrived at the battlefield and joined in the fray.
The soldiers who were struggling to maintain their defence managed to stabilize their position with the help of the unexpected 6,000 additional warriors.
The ordinary zombies were weak after all, they only had strength in numbers. Tian Hu wielded his steel blade and shield, and hacked about with force, those zombies were either chopped in two or beheaded. He was like a deranged tiger, and continuously slashed at the zombies.
With Tian Hu’s example, the rest of the warriors following him seemed to gain a boost in fighting spirit, as they slashed fervently, chasing the zombies out of the street.
Under the support of Tian Hu and the newly joined warriors, Yue Zhong’s 2nd Battalion that had been involved in the fighting since the first moment managed to catch a breath. At the same time, the Special Combat Forces as well as the experts under Shen Hongyang targeted the evolved zombies, as those evolved zombies posed the most threat to Tian Hu and the rest who were normal survivors.
Tian Hu hacked and slashed in his battle-lust, after killing 14 zombies, he was starting be out of breath, and the steel blade in his hands felt heavy. He ate 2 cans of Type 2 meat, and regained a huge amount of his energy back, however, his fighting speed could not match his initial power. After awhile, he would feel his stamina depleting quickly. He was after all not an Enhancer, and did not have the stamina to fight 100 zombies at once.
Right in front of him, 20 ordinary zombies had surrounded him and were making their way towards him. He rushed forward and like a possessed tiger, managed to kill another 2 more zombies. However, 3 of them stretched their claws out at him.
“Am I going to die?” Tian Hu looked at the incoming claws, and his face changed, as he lost all strength to retaliate.
Right at this time, 5 bone spears shot out, decimating the zombies in the entire area, and the surrounding zombies were instantly chopped up into many pieces.
“So strong!!! Is this the might of an Enhancer?” Tian Hu looked at the ease of which the zombies were disposed of, and a huge number behind them were also chopped up easily, and his mind was rattled. It was the first time he had seen the prowess of an Enhancer.
At this moment, Yue Zhong and White Bones came in front of Tian Hu and looked at him: “You must be Tian Hu! Well done!! You’re a needed hero, care to join my troops?”
“Yue Zhong!!” Tian Hu’s heart was shaken, as he stared fixedly at Yue Zhong. Yue Zhong had gained quite the notoriety in SY City, and in many versions, he was depicted as a 2m-tall, fierce looking hero that seemed to reek of blood. However, the person in front of him now was just an ordinary youth.
[TN: At the rate Yue Zhong is going, he seems to be a wizened old general trapped in a youth’s body.]
However, when he observed carefully, he could detect the faint pressure and bearing of a leader. He immediately responded: “I’m willing!! Extremely willing!!”
During the post-apocalypse, if one was lucky enough to join a power, especially that had an army of such size, it was a blessing to most survivors. Becoming a soldier ensured that they would not go hungry, at the same time, they were backed by the army, and could live uprightly in this new world.
Tian Hu had wanted to join the SY Military previously, however, he lacked the connections, and had even offended some people, hence he did not have the chance.
“Bring the rest of them and retreat!!” Yue Zhong looked at White Bones that was slaughtering the zombies, before he told Tian Hu.
“Yes!” Tian Hu responded without thinking, as he looked at the whirlwind of destruction that was White Bones, and brought the rest of the 6,000 men and withdrew.
The scene of White Bones slaughtering the zombies like chickens had embedded deeply in Tian Hu’s mind, and he was filled with fervent admiration and blazing motivation: “One day, I will become an Enhancer like that!”
Tian Hu and the 6,000 other men had attacked the zombies, and managed to decimate over 13,000 of them. It helped impede the advance greatly, and at the same time, they bought Yue Zhong’s troops another precious hour.
However, as they had poor defences, without the necessary armor, in this battle, over 900 had been injured and infected, they had no choice but to execute them on the spot.
During this precious and hard won hour, Yue Zhong led the 8th Battalion and Ning Guang’s 3rd Battalion towards the bridge.