Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 133 'Cognitive Anchors'

Even in the dead of night, the command post was bustling with activity, and the battle reports from the front lines continued non-stop.

Even though we were still quite a distance from the front lines, we could hear the constant roar of artillery fire. Large-caliber artillery was continuously firing at the occupied areas and the front lines. The battle against the zombies knew no day or night; in fact, the night was more dangerous for humans.

Fortunately, the superhumans are now fully adapted to this level of combat and work, which gives ordinary people a chance to take over.

Once the new instructions are communicated, there is a multitude of issues to consider.

Firepower needs to be allocated, intelligence needs to be analyzed, routes need to be formulated, and all departments and branches of the armed forces need to coordinate and cooperate.

These matters are handled by the many operational staff officers. Su Xun looked at the map and asked about the current situation.

“Further east of Hailing County, Baita Town is the real front line.”

“There is a freight railway station in Baita Town. We established a supply center there and, relying on this supply center, transformed the entire Baita Town into a cluster of fortified positions.”

"This is our largest bridgehead currently built on the front line, and it is currently being repeatedly attacked by hordes of zombies. The railway line leading deep into Haizhou has been completely destroyed."

"At present, our operation to break into Haizhou has been blocked at this line."

Liu Zhen gave Su Xun a brief introduction. Of course, this summary included not only information about Hailing County, but also intelligence on other surrounding nodes. However, Hailing was indeed the closest, largest, and most crucial location to the city, and it was also the planned decisive battlefield. The role of the remaining areas was more about containment and blockade.

After briefly mentioning the situation in these places, Liu Zhen continued, "Once the number of zombies exceeds a certain limit, the threat level doesn't actually increase much, since an area can only accommodate so many zombies."

"What we are more worried about now is that the Zombie King of Haizhou will break up its massive zombie horde of over four million and disperse through the weak points between our various defense nodes, thus causing the encirclement plan to fail."

Su Xun shook his head and said, "No, a zombie horde is a collective with a collective consciousness. It will only keep gathering and will not actively split up. Who would actively cut themselves into pieces? Splitting up this horde is no less than dismembering it."

"The Zombie King is merely a representative of the will of this group, a core node within it. It can command the zombie horde, but it cannot defy the underlying will of the entire group."

"What is the underlying will of zombies? Chaos, bloodlust, cannibalism. They will constantly try to attack us and the safe zone. The limit is that they can leave some shelters in the danger zone that have not fallen, making us hesitant to attack them."

Su Xun's assessment put Liu Zhen'an at ease, and the two then turned their conversation to more specific issues.

"What are the troop losses?"

"Overall, it's okay."

Liu Zhen handed a statistics sheet to Su Xun and said, "We have a lot of experience in dealing with regular zombie hordes. The Haizhou zombie horde is relatively easier to deal with. We have suffered fewer losses in terms of personnel and equipment."

"But the zombie king on the other side always tries to parasitize or interfere with us. Direct parasitism is rare, but it is common for soldiers with twisted minds to mistake their teammates for zombies during combat."

"The losses in this area are greater than the direct combat casualties."

"The real battle hasn't even begun yet, and the casualties from these two sides combined aren't that many. However, this sudden mental distortion might cause our frontline soldiers to waver, mainly due to a loss of trust in their comrades." "In addition, we are still quite worried about the corruption of senior commanders. Although we have screening methods, we can't cover everything at all times. The Zombie King's methods are all-pervasive. If someone in a key position has a problem when the final battle begins, the losses could be incalculable."

"Currently, we have issued most commanders with portable alien crystals, but many people who have not yet reached the transcendent level are unable to actively absorb spiritual energy, so the effect is not good."

"In addition, the alien crystals themselves can also cause cognitive confusion. Many commanders have reported experiencing mental confusion after prolonged exposure."

Su Xun nodded, glanced through the form in his hand, and then put it down.

"I came here to solve this problem. Third-tier superhumans and mental ability users are more reliable. As long as they don't come into direct contact with the zombie king, it's difficult for them to be parasitized. I've already taught them some techniques for identifying and intervening with parasites. They can be sent to the front lines to oversee this issue."

"Uh...including that bear?"

"Yes, it's also tier three, so there's no problem."

"In addition, I brought a lot of equipment department personnel with me this time. They will be here to debug some new equipment. If the calculations are correct, it can make up for the shortcomings of the original methods and resist the zombie king's abilities."

"When these devices are completed, that will be the day we launch our final battle."

Using heteromorphic crystals to combat mental parasites is, after all, a matter of fighting poison with poison, which has many problems and is not suitable for offensive purposes.

The reason for choosing it is simply that it is fast and convenient. The equipment and materials are readily available, and it can be used with just a little modification.

Now that the war has entered a stalemate, the offensive plan has put forward new requirements for equipment. The Equipment Department has sent a lot of people here and is working hard to meet them. This is also the reason why Tao Yue came here with them. Otherwise, the Taimeng Research Zone would not have been willing to let her out.

Although Su Xun had no memory of how he dealt with the zombie king in his previous life, he could still find some effective techniques.

In a previous life, due to the cognitive illusion of the secret realm, someone created something called a 'cognitive anchor', which acts much like a lighthouse and allows people to stabilize their cognition in the secret realm.

With a few adjustments, it can be applied to the battlefield today.

Overcoming this technological challenge will lay a solid foundation for further exploration of the hidden realm and even the eventual establishment of transportation routes within it.

In this respect, the technological development in his previous life actually took many detours, but now that Su Xun has been reborn, he can naturally make plans for it.

In fact, Su Xun has many ideas in mind, but many of them are difficult to implement due to limitations in current materials, environment, or technology.

Of course, thanks to the efforts of many engineers in this life, a number of technologies that did not exist in Su Xun's previous life were developed and played an important role.

"Come on, let's study this together." Su Xun said to Liu Zhen, "The research zone has prepared a lot of good stuff this time. Let's see how to apply it to the battlefield."

(End of this chapter)