“I didn’t expect people to come,” Sun Jiao said in disbelief.
“Expected,” Jiang Chen said in a sluggish tone, but it did surprise him that so many people showed up.
Sun Jiao rolled her eyes at Jiang Chen and didn’t respond.
There was a total of 59 people following them after the incident occurred. They were all worried about their homes. So, most of the survivor groups decided to let half of the people take the crystals with them home, while the others took their rifles and ammo to help.
The plan was for the Fishbone force to be the primary force as the power armor has a huge advantage against light weapons.
Ma Zhongchen led 8 people as the second unit to attack the corners where power armors would not be able to hit. Also, they would act as the defense against the anti-armor weapons.
The remaining 50 people were split into two groups, surrounding the experimental school from the west and east. There was no need to attack as they only needed to take cover behind the building. If the primary force received too much resistance, then they only needed to pretend to attack to distract the enemy. If they escape, they can then cut off their escape route.
Jiang Chen led the primary force along the street. They were getting closer to the Huizhong Mercenaries’ base. The sky turned into a dim orange as dusk approached, and the zombies started to become unsettled. The group, familiar with the situation, smashed the zombies onto the ground with their dagger to avoid any trouble during the crossfire.
Songjiang area was not disturbed by the x2 virus. The zombies were still weak during the day, and there were no crystals in the back of their heads.
The crooked experimental school sign was thrown into the corner of the street as the corrosion left its words barely visible. From afar, the metal frames were still visible, along with the barbed wall.
It did not resemble a school at all. It looked like a dirt fortress more than Jiang Chen’s mansion.
“Is there any more high energy vacuum bombs?” Ma Zhongchen asked Jiang Chen in an undertone.
Those bombs were most effective against humans.
“No, it’s hard to get those,” Jiang Chen replied.
Zhao Chenwu probably didn’t even have a lot of those lethal weapons to begin with. While the bomb and the launch pad was not hard to make, the concentrated fuel probably was hard to come by. The ones he sold to Jiang Chen were probably the few remaining batches.
Usually, survival camps would not start conflicts among themselves since the geographic distance was a hindrance, and also no one was interested in the land itself. The high lethal to human high energy vacuum bombs were raided from a military factory now in shambles. Its uses were limited to deterrence in the early stage. Now, it was no longer necessary as their force and reputation have already been established.
Zhao Gang stood silently on the side, his eyes locked on to the gate. The other seven survivors were also spread out behind the cover.
“Prepare to attack,” Sun Jiao ordered. She opened the armored truck, lifted the angry looking Lin Lin out, and threw her onto the ground.
Jiang Chen was quite intrigued in the bad-tempered digitalized human and ripped off the tape from her mouth.
“Pei, pei, pei! You dare to …” Just as she was about to go on a rampage, Sun Jiao glanced at her, and the once “aggressive” voice suddenly turned into a faint mutter.
Seeing that Lin Lin was quiet, Sun Jiao didn’t bother with her anymore. She then took out the 72mm anti-tank cannon. This thing was a destructive beast, anyone hiding behind the cover would get blown apart.
Lin Lin trembled as she saw the vicious looking long barrel in the “devil’s hands”. Her teeth were clearly chattering.
“Don’t worry, that thing is too long for you. We won’t use it on you.” Her frightened look made Jiang Chen tease her more.
Sun Jiao rolled her eyes, and then threateningly aimed the barrel in Lin Lin’s direction before aiming the barrel forward.
Lin Lin was scared to death by her action, but because she was tied down, she could only shake her body, unable to run.
“Don’t be nervous, we just want you to see what the world is really like,” Jiang Chen said casually as he stood beside Lin Lin.
He took out a dagger to cut the ropes around her body. He then said, with a smirk in his voice, into Lin Lin’s ear, “You better not bother Sun Jiao. When she is angry, she even ties me up.”
Sun Jiao gave Jiang Chen a dirty look, as she rebutted in the private channel.
“Am I that violent!”
[Yes. Normal people would not tie up someone they’ve just met.]
But Jiang Chen only said that in his mind, or else it would have been an endless argument again.
“Prepare for battle. Oh, even if we untied you, it is safer for you to stay in the armored vehicle. You can look outside through the camera.
He estimated that the two teams surrounding the experimental school should be in place. So, he ordered the power armored soldiers to quickly engage in battle stance and prepare to attack.
“I feel something is off,” Ma Zhongchen, who had kept his silence, spoke out abruptly and then stared at the direction of the door with a frown on his face. “No one is guarding. We are already this close, and they don’t have any reaction at all.”
“That’s how I feel too. It is a ritual to leave a guard at the bandits’ base.” Sun Jiao peaked out of the cover with her feet locked to the ground and aimed the barrel at the thick metal gate. She then turned around and looked at Jiang Chen. “Engage?”
Just as she finished her sentence, there was a massive explosion from afar.
“What’s happening?” Jiang Chen was at a loss.
Did the surrounding team expose themselves?
“Fire! Attack!” [Can’t wait anymore!]
Jiang Chen immediately ordered an attack.
“Roger, attack commences!” Sun Jiao calmly pulled the trigger.
Boom!
The orange flame fired out as the bomb smashed into the metal gate 400 meters out, leaving a violent explosion.
The shell of the bomb dropped onto the ground.
Sun Jiao didn’t stop as she stabilized the cannon and fired another round.
Boom!
The metal gate was blown out, and Jiang Chen immediately led the power armor soldiers to charge. Ma Zhongchen also commanded the light infantry to join in the fray. The armored vehicle followed as the vicious 20mm machine gun pointed directly at the gate.
Attack commences!
Sun Jiao unlocked her feet to the ground and moved along with the anti-tank cannon.
But unlike their expectation, resistance didn’t arrive. The gun shots in the distance still continued with an occasional explosion, but it did not seem to come from the west or the east. The power armored soldiers led the charge, followed by the light infantry.
“Quick! Get in there.”
“No enemy unit.”
“Requesting order.”
Jiang Chen stood outside of the gate as he began to frown at the reports from the public channel.
No defense at the gate, battle in the distance, did the Huizhong Mercenaries encounter strong enemies that they must focus all their firepower there and could not defend their gate anymore?
Who could it be?
“Enter the main building, fire at will.” Sun Jiao ordered the forces and then signaled the light infantry.
“Roger.”
–
There was no resistance at all, everyone entered the main building without firing a single shot.
The armored vehicle slowly drove in, the gate was closed to prevent the zombies from entering.
It was starting to turn dark, the gun shots in the distance still made Jiang Chen uncertain. But he thought that regardless of who the victor was, they still must come here. So it would be a good idea to build a defense line and wait for their attack.
Shredded papers and rock debris scattered on the ground. The cracks on the walls and stairs were telltale signs that the place was impacted by the nuclear blast. No one cleaned this place as everything was kept the exact as before the war. If it weren’t for the two piles of poop, along with the dried blood in the corner, Jiang Chen would have questioned if anyone lived here at all.
“01, 02, head to the roof to patrol. 03-06 search each building. Don’t miss any corners. Light infantry and 07, 08, establish a defensive line on the first floor. Fire at will at sight of the enemy.” Sun Jiao calmly gave out orders.
“Yes!” Everyone rapidly mobilized.
The gunshots seemed to be from the back of the experimental building, as a few explosions were mixed between the sounds, the firing was beginning to intensify.
“Sun Jiao, are you familiar with the forces in Songjiang area?” After thinking for a moment, Jiang Chen abruptly asked.
Sun Jiao shook her head.
“Not sure, I did pass Songjiang when I was going to the mansion, but I would avoid the places where there were obvious signs of humans. Large, safe survival camps like Sixth Street are rare, and I marked them all on the map I downloaded from Liuding town. Other than that, any other places with humans have the possibility of being a bandit gathering.”
[Oh? Hopefully the force fighting against the Huizhong Mercenaries are on good term with us.]
Jiang Chen pondered in his mind.
[The first thing is to control the building and establish a line of defense. After a victor is decided, one party would approach this place. If it is the Huizhong Mercenaries, then fire immediately, if its the other force, then decide based on their intention.]
“This is 03, there is a situation in the basement. The situation is unique.” The voice transmitted from the public channel.
“Roger, we’ll head right down.” Sun Jiao looked at Jiang Chen.
“Mhmm.” Jiang Chen nodded, took out the tactile rifle ideal for compact enclosures, and followed her towards the basement.
The wall in the hallway was drawn with weird graffiti, the bright colors and dark wall formed an odd contrast.
When he passed a classroom, Jiang Chen saw the chairs and tables thrown in the corner through the window, along with the cracked screens at the front of the classroom. There were two messy sleeping bags and a polyethylene digital table on its side. Blood marks were on the ground, but it looked like it was from a long time ago.
If it was not so messy, the classroom looked similar to what he saw in the virtual reality training chamber.
“I heard that before the war, they liked to group the kids together to teach? I really don’t understand the purpose of it,” Sun Jiao glanced at the classroom and mumbled.
[Group the kids together?]
Jiang Chen paused for a minute when he heard the voice from the private channel. He couldn’t help but smile.
“I am not going to say I don’t understand.”
Sun Jiao did receive virtual reality lessons when she was in the survival base.
“Oh? The virtual reality training system allows necessary knowledge to be understood in a short period of time. If something can be learned in 1200 hours, what’s the point of taking 12 years?” Sun Jiao curled her upper lip contemptuously.
“Are you jealous right now?” Jiang Chen laughed.
“Shut up.” Sun Jiao pouted as she kicked the debris up, and turned around to give him a dirty look.
Although they were wearing helmets, Jiang Chen could still imagine her expression.
“Maybe it was to enjoy the process.”
She wouldn’t understand because she spent her childhood in a survival base.
Now to think about it, although he always complained about graduate school, when that moment finally came, Jiang Chen admitted that he did look forward to graduation. But after stepping into the real world, he still felt a longing for the times in the past.
Maybe that was the happiest time? No office politics, even if there was a fight, the next day everything will be back to usual. Even if the teacher was mad, the only consequence was a lecture and not losing the bonus, though he didn’t need to worry about that now.
“Enjoy the process? What’s the use of that?” Jiang Chen couldn’t tell if the voice was full of longing or contempt.
“Not a lot of use, just like how someone turned the world into this mess. Not a lot of use.” Jiang Chen glanced at the teacher’s office along with the way, it was also a mess inside.
“I don’t understand,” Sun Jiao murmured.
“To put it in simple words, if you can meet some interesting friends in school, you learn to deal with people. Mhmm. If you received that type of education, you wouldn’t tie me up during our first encounter.”
“Do you want to die! Stop remembering that.” Sun Jiao’s face turned slightly red as she complained cutely.
Jiang Chen smiled, he only wanted to tease her.
At the end of the hallway was a metal door, the lock was cut by the welding device on the power armor. There were a few words written.
<Fallout Facility>
Was it because of the escalated tension back then? Jiang Chen remembered that the school in the modern world didn’t have those.
“If possible, could you take me there? From your side.” Before they entered the door, Sun Jiao quite abruptly opened her mouth.
He blanked for a moment before a genuine smile appeared on his face.
“Mhmm, of course.”