Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 263: Fighting with roommates
At a command, cannons roared, and several bright lines pierced the night, accurately hitting a pitch-black target, with flames rising inside and outside the outpost.

Ouyang put down the binoculars in confusion, his brow furrowing into a fleshy knot.

The rebels have already come to our door, so why is there no movement at the outpost?

He had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Zhu Yiming was equally bewildered: "Where did everyone go? Is this some kind of empty city ruse?"

A thought flashed through Ou Yang's mind: "It might really be an empty city ploy!"

Before he finished speaking, a few fleeting flashes of light suddenly appeared behind the outpost, and several bright lines streaked across the night sky before exploding into the rebel army.

The number of shells wasn't too many, but their power was truly astonishing.

In the instant of the explosion, all the Americans near the blast point were vaporized. Those a little further away fared no better; they were all blown away by the shockwave and none survived the fall. Even if their bodies remained intact, their internal organs were shattered by the explosion. Some who were further away were lucky enough to escape, but most were injured or killed by shrapnel.

In an instant, severed limbs flew everywhere, darkness obscured vision, and only cries of agony could be heard, but no one knew exactly how many people had died or been injured.

The once crowded highway now has several empty spaces.

An unlucky armored vehicle was also penetrated by a shell, the warhead exploding inside the vehicle, leaving no trace of the dozen or so rebels hiding inside.

Nelson was lucky; he was some distance from the blast and was neither dead nor injured. However, the blast still left him with a blank mind, and apart from a buzzing sound in his ears, he could hear nothing else.

Something flew from the darkness and hit him squarely in the face, filling his nostrils with the stench of blood and entrails.

Don't ask him how he knows what internal organs smell like; he just said he smelled them on the battlefield!

His face was covered in a slippery, smeared substance.

Nelson reached out and grabbed it, only to realize with a start that what he had slapped on the face was actually a piece of intestine.

His stomach churned violently, and he vomited.

Only then did Ouyang and Zhu Yiming, who were far away from the battlefield, hear the roar of the counterattack.

The rebels were stunned by the artillery fire from the outpost. A commotion broke out in the crowd, and several veterans who had seen battle shouted, "Scatter! Scatter! Everyone scatter!"

Whether it was the shouts that had an effect or the fear of the cannons that terrified them, the rebels who had been concentrated on the highway turned tail and ran, quickly dispersing into the fields on both sides of the highway.

Nelson was completely stunned. Before he could finish vomiting, he was shoved by some idiot and almost fell on his vomit.

Staggering off the road, he tripped and fell into a pool of blood and mud. Looking up, he could vaguely see half a mangled corpse.

His internal organs were pinned beneath him, and the broken pieces from his ribs poked his face.

Nelson was sticky and wet, and he could guess what had gotten on him, but he didn't dare to think about it too deeply. He forced himself to stop thinking about it and stopped the thoughts that were about to get out of control.

And at this point, he couldn't care less about anything else.

Setting up a checkpoint?
Don't be ridiculous. If the gun sling hadn't been on his shoulder the whole time, he probably wouldn't know where he threw the gun. Right now, his only thought is to get as far away as possible. He doesn't remember what his purpose was in coming here!
The tanks and armored vehicles that escaped the attack started their engines immediately and rushed toward the checkpoint at top speed.

Reverse gear is too slow; only by going full speed forward can we possibly avoid the defenders' artillery fire.

Another flash of fire came from the direction of the outpost, and a second round of shells fell, instantly turning some American soldiers who had not yet escaped the road into flying figures.

As the shockwave spread, Nelson felt as if someone had pushed him on the back, causing him to involuntarily fall forward and into a cold, muddy pit, covering his already filthy body with another layer of mud.

Nelson forcefully spat out the mud from his mouth and wiped his face hard. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a flash of light on the road ahead. It was a tank firing at the defending troops' positions.

Armored vehicles followed closely behind, also firing rapid-fire cannons and machine guns at the defenders.

Some figures followed the tanks and armored vehicles, firing a few shots at the checkpoint every now and then.

That's an old American soldier who's been on the battlefield, working on combined arms operations.

Nelson simply couldn't understand it. Why would someone rush in at a time like this? Did they have a death wish?

Little did he know that it wasn't that those old Americans were willing to charge forward, but rather that they knew there was no way back. If they didn't charge forward, they wouldn't survive for more than three to five days, and they would definitely die in the end; charging forward might give them a chance to survive!
Nelson knew he should follow, but he just didn't have the guts; two voices were arguing fiercely in his mind.

In the end, he chose to lie in the mud pit and pretend to be dead.

There were many other American soldiers like them. Some fled to distant places, while others hid on the spot. Only a very few dared to fire a few shots at the checkpoint at this time.

It was at least a psychological comfort; after all, it was a small contribution to the rebels' actions.

Nelson was speechless. The straight-line distance between this place and the outpost was more than two kilometers, and the effective range of the rifle was only four hundred meters. Did they all think they were holding a Barrett?
The defenders' firepower was exceptionally fierce, and as the rebels continued to advance, more and more Americans were killed in battle.

Behind the outpost, Major Morrie, the commander, had a clear view of the rebels' every move through the drone's camera.

A disdainful sneer appeared on his lips: "Pass on my order: don't conserve ammunition, unleash all the shells!"

Upon receiving the order, the American soldiers did not hesitate and loaded and fired at top speed, raining shells down on the enemy as if they were free.

Without a doubt, the defending troops were well prepared!
After the outpost lost contact, the command immediately launched an investigation through various means and soon discovered that the outpost had fallen. Not only that, but they also discovered that a group of rioters were advancing toward outpost number 62!
Once the information was confirmed to be correct, the command center immediately notified all outposts.

Mori was ordered to hold the checkpoint at all costs and not allow any potential infected person to pass through!

However, he did not intend to hold out to the death. Instead, he calmly arranged for his troops to withdraw from the outpost and hide using the advantageous terrain.

Although the rebels were numerous, they were poorly equipped, had to travel a long distance, and, more importantly, had no intelligence sources, so they could not possibly know about the changes in the outposts.

The defending forces led by Morrie were different. They were well-equipped, had plenty of rest, and were in high spirits. They also received unwavering intelligence support from the command headquarters. All the information about the rebels, such as where they were, how much heavy equipment they had, and how many men they would have, was readily available to them.

For the defending forces, the battlefield was already one-way transparent; even if a dog were to command the battle, victory would still be achieved.

Not only Mori thought so, but the entire garrison, from top to bottom, shared the same idea.

Despite having a clear advantage, Mori did not choose to launch a preemptive strike. Instead, he waited for the rebels to attack before slowly launching a counterattack, which resulted in a successful start.

Needless to say, several rounds of artillery bombardment followed, inflicting heavy casualties on the rebels.

Even the M1A1s at the forefront were concentrated fire by the defending forces. After taking several hits, one of them was hit on the side by an anti-tank missile, causing its ammunition to explode and its turret to be blown off, landing several meters away.

That was a huge iron weight weighing over 20 tons! However, the rebels were not defeated; instead, they became even more ferocious.

One of the rebel groups remained detached from the main force, neither charging ahead nor standing out.

This small group of men took advantage of the chaos to move stealthily to the flank of the defenders, set up mortars and unleashed a barrage of fire, emptying all the shells in the shortest possible time.

In addition, rebels were hiding in the rear, firing at the defenders with recoilless rifles and man-portable missiles.

There were even drone attacks on the defending troops' positions.

After a series of combined attacks, the defending troops not only suffered casualties, but their morale also plummeted.

Mori was furious and repeatedly ordered the garrison to open fire with all their might, using their firepower advantage to suppress the rebels.

The rebels' firepower was indeed lacking, but they outnumbered the defenders. Even if a significant portion of them slacked off, their numbers still far exceeded those of the defenders.

Under the relentless attack, Mori was also under immense pressure. He immediately contacted command: "This is outpost number 62. Requesting air support!"

He had intended to use the troops stationed at the checkpoints to deal with the rebels, but he had no choice but to give up under the rebels' powerful offensive.

Before long, the distinctive roar of a helicopter could be heard in the distance, its dark red navigation lights flashing incessantly in the night.

Moments later, four armed helicopters appeared over the battlefield, flashing with fire as surface-to-air missiles rained down, easily destroying the remaining tanks and armored vehicles of the rebels.

The aircraft's cannons under its belly repeatedly strafed the rebels, causing heavy casualties.

But the rebels were not easy targets either. A dozen or so men who had been lying in ambush on the edge of the battlefield suddenly popped up, raised their shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, locked onto the helicopters, and opened fire immediately.

Several flashes of light suddenly appeared on the ground, and the helicopter immediately emitted a piercing warning sound.

The pilots quickly maneuvered to evade, but it was too late. Under the full force of more than a dozen portable anti-aircraft missiles, two helicopters exploded in mid-air, another crashed, and only one managed to escape.

The clash between the two sides was even more intense than expected, leaving Ou Yang and Zhu Yiming dumbfounded.

They used airplanes and cannons; compared to that, both White Maple Town and New Eden were just small fry.

Then, the two of them perked up again.

Right now, the rebels have the upper hand, so the garrison at the outposts certainly don't have time to deal with the situation here, right?
The two immediately sprang into action, calling on Jiang Yuwei to prepare to break through the blockade.

However, they weren't the only ones thinking this way; the old Mis, who were hiding nearby, also sprang into action, heading south as quickly as possible.

Ou Yang was taken aback to find that Lao Mi's figure was everywhere in the darkness. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly called out to Zhu Yiming and Jiang Yuwei, "Wait a minute!"

Zhu Yiming was astonished: "Such a good opportunity, why aren't you leaving? What are you waiting for?"

"We can't go with Lao Mi, let's go in another direction!" Ou Yang said nervously.

At this time, everyone heading south wants to escape the epidemic area, but are they ordinary people who are not infected, or immune people who will not be infected?
No, most of them were infected with pneumococcus, but the disease was not yet severe and the symptoms were not obvious.

However, not being obvious does not mean not being infected. Who knows if an infected person might suddenly develop symptoms?

No matter what kind of illusion you're in, it's a potential threat to your fellow travelers, so it's best not to hang out with other Americans at this time.

The more people there are, the more dangerous it becomes.

Moreover, the danger comes not only from the infected, but also from other people—maybe some American will take a dislike to the three of them and secretly shoot them.

Zhu and Jiang knew that Ou Yang was right, and the three of them quickly reached an agreement and immediately left the highway to hide.

The fighting at the outpost remains intense; it shouldn't be a big deal to leave a little later.

Just then, a low rumble came from the sky. Ouyang quickly put his night vision goggles on his face and immediately saw two large drones in the sky.

Judging from the flight direction, it was clearly heading this way!

Ou Yang's heart skipped a beat, and he took off running, shouting, "Run! Run!"

Without a second thought, Zhu and Jiang followed Ou Yang and charged forward.

Just seconds later, a drone descended, pointed its nose at the road full of Americans, and dropped the heavy bombs hanging under its belly.

Before it even hit the ground, it disintegrated in mid-air, and moments later, thousands of smaller bombs struck the ground simultaneously.

Amidst the deafening roar, flames erupted instantly along the highway, which stretched for tens of meters.

That wasn't a single explosion, but a massive sound wave generated by hundreds or even thousands of explosions coming together.

All the Americans within the blast radius died instantly.

Even though the trio hid behind a large tree a few hundred meters away, they could still feel the scorching heat coming at them.

Ouyang's face turned deathly pale: "A cluster bomb! It's a cluster bomb!"

Cluster bombs, also known as submunitions, are, as the name suggests, a large munition composed of dozens, or even hundreds or thousands, of small bombs. Their most prominent feature is their large destructive area.

Moreover, not all of the submunitions inside the missile explode upon landing; some are actually landmines, with highly camouflaged designs and colors. In some war zones, children even used these landmines as toys, leading to countless tragedies.

Therefore, more than 100 people on Earth once jointly signed the convention banning cluster bombs.

However, it was all for naught. None of the signatories to the convention had the capability to manufacture cluster bombs, while the signatories with that capability continued to do as they pleased and ignored the convention.

As the old saying goes, having no sword in your hand and having a sword but not using it are two completely different things.

Zhu Yiming was so shocked he couldn't close his mouth: "Old Mi used this thing against his own people?"

Using cluster bombs to seal off the epidemic area? Then will the next step be to use white phosphorus incendiary bombs, thermobaric bombs, or even mushroom bombs?
Jiang Yuwei was also startled, but she didn't know much about cluster bombs, only that they were powerful, but she didn't think much about it: "What do we do?"

Ouyang watched the drone fly away, then looked back at the road littered with dead and wounded: "We can't go on the highway, we have to go through the wilderness!"

Being plowed by bombs is nothing; the real danger is that there might still be unexploded bombs left on the road!

(End of this chapter)