After five days of resistance, the command center ordered camp 027 to retreat strategically.
It was a prudent decision.
The core of camp 27 was the scientists. Even if the buildings on the surface were abandoned, there wasn’t much lost since the mutants didn’t tend to destroy buildings. They simply could re-capture the base later.
But if they remained stationed there, once the mutant flood escalated, the supply line between camp 27 and Fishbone would be cut off. Without an ammo supply, camp 27, which was closer to the city center, would be the first to collide with the mutants. Even with the protection of the wall, it wasn’t the most reliable during a mutant flood.
The zombies packed together could create a zombie ladder. The throwers’ infant zombies could pass over the wall, and the Roshan, which had a bad habit of throwing things, could even push down the wall.
The most horrifying thing was the mutant mosquitos. They were the knights soaring in the sky, their mouths as sharp as spears. One charge could quickly take a person’s life away.
To deal with the annoying creatures, the fallout shelter designed a simplified flamethrower. Soldiers in power armor could wield one and fire at these mosquitos on the front line, which had surprisingly effective results.
But regarding the intensifying mutant flood, the situation was less and less optimistic.
The mutant flood was going on its fifth day and the soldiers stationed at the camp already lost 15 people. If they continued to be stationed here, it was difficult to determine the outcome of the situation.
With Wang Zhaowu’s organization, Xu Lu led the non-combat personnel and some security forces down into the fallout shelter with the doors shut tight. They would return to the surface once the situation stabilized. The fuel rods and supplies stored in the fallout shelter were more than enough to sustain them for two years of consumption, and the mutant flood would only last a few months…
If nothing unexpected happened.
A total of 500 combat units loaded the firearms and stationary weapons onto the trucks then welded the top of the trucks with machine guns.
With the Tiger II leading the way, trucks began to trickle out of camp 27 and smash into the zombies wandering on the street.
The machine guns unleashed their fury onto the street, leaving a trail of copper shells behind.
The flood of zombies swarmed to the fleet, but most were shredded to pieces by the bullets. The occasional zombies that managed to survive would die from the bullets of the Reaper Assault Rifle.
In the distance, Roshan tossed the lamppost in its hands and moved toward the fleet with heavy footsteps. Tiger II, which spotted the target, slowly moved its cannon as the Type-50 electromagnetic cannon unloaded its bomb and pierced through the lard.
Blood and bullet shells paved the way.
…
Fishbone base.
The engineering soldiers were installing four anti-air machine guns onto the wall in addition to the Type-50 electromagnetic cannon used against large-sized mutants. Soldiers patrolled the walls and fired continuously at the areas with a high concentration of zombies.
Under the waving NAC flag, zombies with dangling heads wandered below the wall. Their crimson pupils displayed a thirst for blood.
Typically speaking, zombies weren’t hostile during the daytime. But because of the mutant flood, the situation changed a little. The zombies seemed to be influenced by some form of power and naturally gathered around areas with humans.
The situation was similar to the x2 bacteria incident; the only difference was that air indicators remained normal during the mutant flood.
The Fishbone base was quite some distance away from the city center, so they hadn’t encountered any powerful mutants, but Jiang Chen had a feeling that the good days were coming to an end.
On the patrol tower on the wall, Jiang Chen observed the streets in the distance with a pair of binoculars.
Suddenly, a Tiger II appeared in his field of vision. Meat chunks solidified on its armor, and the belt was colored black by the fat and blood of the zombies. Immediately following it were the outlines of trucks which became more and more clear. The machine guns fired continuously, piercing any zombies approaching the trucks.
Jiang Chen put down the binoculars and spoke concisely into the radio:
“Clear an area in front of the gate.”
“Roger!”
The soldiers stationed underneath the wall all headed up with their rifles. Some rushed to the machine guns while some set up the rifles in the firing spots. Following the commands of a knight in a kinetic skeleton, everyone entered their battle positions quickly.
“Fire!” The soldiers on the wall pressed their triggers simultaneously.
A glorious scene unfolded.
The orange bullet trails were unleashed onto the zombies like pouring rain and instantly tore down the zombies approaching the wall. Grenade soldiers threw grenades and Molotov cocktails at the swarms of zombies.
Explosions were everywhere. Broken limbs flew across the battlefield. The zombies made of flesh were no threat at the hands of the survivors’ firearms.
“The success against normal zombies would make people blow up in confidence,” Sun Jiao exclaimed while she worked beside Jiang Chen and stared at the zombies being shredded.
Sun Jiao was wearing a bulletproof vest with the SK10. She hadn’t used it in a long time.
Jiang Chen smiled but didn’t respond. He took out a cigarette and lit it up.
During the amount of time it took to finish a cigarette, the zombies outside the wall were mostly wiped out.
At the same time, the fleet arrived in front of the main door before the zombies could regroup. The soldiers at the door immediately pressed the button to open the gate as the metal gate slowly opened and allowed the red-stained fleet to enter.
A few medics ran up and carried the wounded on stretchers to the hospital. Then a few soldiers in protective gear with circular bottles sprayed the entire fleet to disinfect it.
The weary soldiers jumped down from the trucks and hugged each other with their families waiting by the side. As for the people stained with blood, they all chose to take a shower first.
When they arrived at the base, their tense nerves could finally be relieved.
“Let me go make a visit.”
Jiang Chen extinguished the cigarette on the wall as he headed downstairs.
Right now, it was a busy scene in front of the base.
“Quick! Quick! Vomiter’s acid hit him.”
“Poor guy, treat it first before sending him to the medical chamber. Help me out here…”
Stretchers continuously passed by him. Due to the limited number of medical chambers, soldiers with less severe injuries had to be transferred to the ward first. Soldiers with serious injuries were treated by doctors on the spot before being sent to the medical chambers for recovery.
Jiang Chen examined the soldier with the bones on his face exposed by the acid. His stomach started doing flips.
[To be able to live like this is definitely his luck…]
He paused for a few seconds before he continued to walk forward.
In the front of the fleet, aside from the Tiger II, he saw Wang Zhaowu.
Because he sat in the tank, Wang Zhaowu’s condition was somewhat positive; at least he hadn’t sustained any injuries. But from his dark circles, it was clear he hadn’t closed his eyes for a long time.
He passed the rifle in his hand to the soldier beside him and saluted Jiang Chen sharply.
Without engaging in small talk, Jiang Chen passed a cigarette to him. Finely made cigarettes had always been the luxury good in short supply on the wasteland. Although he could purchase them with his salary, not everyone could have the honor of their leader passing them a cigarette.
Wang Zhaowu took the cigarette in astonishment. Jiang Chen smiled and used a casual tone to ask him.
“What’s the situation at camp 27?”
“Extremely terrible.” With gloom on his face, Wang Zhaowu slowly blew out a smoke ring. “Throwers already appeared there, as well as mutant mosquitos. Along the way, we also saw vomiters moving in this direction. Fortunately, a Tiger II was in front of the fleet…”
Throwers were most active in the outskirts of the city, and they rarely entered the rural areas. If Throwers already appeared at camp 27, the mutant flood was beginning to intensify.
After a momentary pause, Jiang Chen asked:
“Did you bring the thing?”
“I did. Do you want me to take you there now?”
“Now,” Jiang Chen said.
Wang Zhaowu nodded and took Jiang Chen to the center of the fleet.
When they arrived at the location, a few workers were already operating a crane to unload the equipment.
“This is it. The construction robots and deepwater mining equipment. They won’t be useful now by the looks of it.” Wang Zhaowu stared at the eight massive containers with a wry smile.
With the current situation, it would be hard to reach the sea in the first place.
Wang Zhaowu might be wrong. Jiang Chen smiled mysteriously without answering.
It wasn’t an easy task to transport the deepwater mining equipment from camp 27. All of the equipment weighed 400 tons with each container weighing 50 tons. To transport these containers, Wang Zhaowu arranged four heavy-duty trucks to be positioned in the middle of the fleet. With the risk of slowing down the retreat, he managed to drag the equipment back,
Jiang Chen looked at the eight containers and nodded, pleased.
Deepwater mining could finally be initiated. The production of virtual reality helmets would require a massive amount of molybdenum, and with the current price of molybdenum, importing would significantly increase the cost of the helmet. If Jiang Chen mined the molybdenum himself, he calculated cost savings of at least 50%.
“Thank you.” Jiang Chen patted him on the shoulder.
“No problem. Compared to defending camp 27, this is much easier.” Wang Zhaowu smiled.
“Go rest for a bit. Remember to come to my office for a meeting in two hours.”
“Yes!”
Wang Zhaowu saluted and headed to the living area.
After a long journey, he was indeed tired. He just wanted to take a shower and take a nap before the meeting.
After Wang Zhaowu left, Jiang Chen looked at the soldiers by the side and ordered them to transport the containers to the backyard of the mansion. Then he headed to the community center.