Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 122 The Trolley and the Car

In the command center of the Taimon base, a map showing the situation around Haizhou has been put up.

"Report to the commander-in-chief, the first batch of screening results has been returned."

"Mark it on the map."

"Yes!"

Su Xun, Qin Chang, and several senior commanders of the army corps stood in front of the map, looking up at it carefully, discussing the situation.

Several staff officers climbed ladders and marked the responses on the large map. Looking at the occupied areas that had been circled, Qin Chang sighed: "The commander-in-chief's estimate was indeed correct."

Su Xun was silent for a moment before speaking, "Then we can start delineating the target areas now."

He picked up a long pole and pointed on the map, saying, "The occupied areas are marked in red; they are areas completely under the control of the Zombie King."

“Outside the occupied zone, there are still some shelters that have not fallen, but they cannot be evacuated. The surrounding environment is dangerous, and they are surrounded by zombies.”

"We mark this area as the orange zone, or the danger zone."

"The surrounding environment is relatively safe and is within our control, marked as a green zone, or a zone under actual control."

Thus, the map formed a three-layered structure in everyone's eyes, with the occupied Haizhou area in the center resembling a festering sore on the earth.

Qin Chang said, "The first priority now is to get the various shelters in the controlled area to find ways to provide support to the danger zone. These shelters have now distanced themselves from the Zombie King and are in danger at any time when surrounded by zombies."

"Food and water are not a problem, but their firepower may be lacking. Under such encirclement, the production capacity in the shelter is not high, and the stored ammunition will be used up quickly."

"Then let us use long-range artillery to provide fire support to the areas around these shelters in the regions under our control, and let them report their coordinates in real time."

"Communication is much smoother now than before, and we can use over-the-horizon artillery more flexibly. Those shelters in the danger zone are our observation posts."

"Agreed. At the same time, we can conduct long-term artillery bombardment of the occupied areas to reduce the number of zombies in the city."

The group started offering their opinions, and someone asked, "Should we flatten Vault 32 first?"

Su Xun shook his head: "It's no use. That zombie king is definitely not there anymore."

"Bombing these shelters now would just be pointless destruction of supplies, and the enemy might even have deliberately left some uncontrolled people inside to wait for us to bomb them."

Su Xun stared at the map in front of him, his brows furrowed.

Now that the situation is clear, the zombie king will definitely hide itself to avoid being found. Having parasitized so many people, it is naturally no stranger to human weapons.

In reality, zombie kings of this level will retain some of their pre-apocalyptic memories, so they can no longer be dealt with simply based on the experience of facing regular zombie lords.

From a certain perspective, they have indeed become a new species.

Looking at the occupied area on the map, Qin Chang pondered for a long time before suddenly asking, "Is it possible to use nuclear weapons?"

After defeating the alien species, Qin Chang couldn't stop thinking about the several powerful weapons he had accumulated, and he wanted to give one to anyone he saw.

Su Xun pondered for a moment, then finally shook his head.

“The situation in Haiqu was different from the environment we are facing now. Back then, the area outside the secret realm was safe, and the target location was fixed. We could set up firing positions and adjust firing angles with peace of mind in places close to the secret realm.” “Now it’s different. Even if we are just carrying out indiscriminate attacks on the occupied areas, we would probably have to go into the occupied areas to set up positions. There are too many dangers and accidents to face, and it would be a losing proposition.”

"Another problem is that the few shelters still holding out in the danger zone are not far from the occupied area. If nuclear weapons are used, the people there will inevitably be affected."

At this point, Su Xun said coldly, "I even suspect that this is one of its plans. It must have experienced the explosion in Haiqu. These shelters are hostages it has tied to its side."

"Faced with this situation, we can make some preparations in advance and prepare corresponding contingency plans, but whether to use them in the end depends on whether there is a suitable opportunity... We must be prepared to fight a tough battle directly."

Everyone frowned and nodded.

Placing all hopes of solving all problems on a high-yield nuclear weapon is perhaps a passive response, but reality will not always develop in the direction they expect.

The commanders present were all able to recognize the situation, but they still couldn't help but feel regretful. If this method had been implemented, it might not have been a permanent solution, but it could have at least reduced a lot of losses.

Seeing them deep in thought, Su Xun thought for a moment and then said, "Actually, this is also a kind of deterrent. As long as we still have this killer move, the other side will not dare to make any big moves."

"Moreover, nuclear weapons are inconvenient to use, but there are some things we can let it have a good taste of."

"We can use any of our more powerful conventional weapons from before the apocalypse to test it. Also, those new things designed in the research area have been asking for testing, so now's our chance."

"Send the order to all regions, and let the surrounding troops fight freely. The cities and counties in the rear will guarantee their ammunition supply at any time. How much they can fight depends on their ability!"

"understand!"

An advisor transcribed the order, creating a document on which Su Xun and Qin Chang both signed.

Looking at the long battle lines on the map, Qin Chang frowned and said, "In that case, logistics will become a problem... Under the current circumstances, logistical support will be very difficult."

What he said makes sense.

The so-called controlled area is not a safe zone; it is simply outside the influence limit of the fourth-tier zombie king. Although most of the zombies in the area have been cleared out, dangers still arise one after another.

While everyone was exchanging ideas and discussing, Su Xun was pacing back and forth.

Although the superhumans are powerful, they cannot directly solve the problem of transporting supplies needed for the operation of 200,000 troops.

This will be a massive operation, not something that can be undertaken on a whim. Many of their past operations were planned in advance before the apocalypse, and much of the necessary ammunition and supplies were placed along the roadside. Now, such convenience is almost nonexistent.

Walking to the table, Su Xun subconsciously flipped through the documents he had recently processed, and suddenly looked at a file thoughtfully.

Where is Han Zhong now?

"At the hospital, they're keeping watch over the little girl who came with him."

"I want to see him."

Su Xun took out the file, which contained a statistical overview of civilian survivor groups. After several policies were implemented for these groups, the first batch of cooperative groups quickly submitted their data.

Looking at these documents, Su Xun smiled and said, "The great battle that took place on this land more than eighty years ago was a victory won by pushing wheelbarrows. Now I think these cars belonging to civilian groups can also help us pull out a victory!"

(End of this chapter)