Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 141: Fighting Spirit Rises
Indeed, as he said, the pressure on the bridgehead increased sharply over time.

The group lost all interest in communicating, gritting their teeth as they operated their various weapons. Without the periodic support from the tank destroyers, they had to rely on themselves to deal with the relentless hordes of zombies.

"hold onto!"

The squad leader, his voice hoarse from just finishing the communication, shouted, "High-ranking officers will be coordinated from the rear to support us immediately! Hold on for just ten more minutes!"

Ten minutes may sound short, but on such a rapidly changing battlefield, a lot can happen. Many soldiers gritted their teeth and poured firepower into the front lines, only occasionally glancing up at the distance.

On the desolate wasteland littered with shell craters and smoke, the tank continued its journey toward this place, but the distance was vast, and although it kept getting closer, it was unlikely to make much progress anytime soon.

Even with the assistance of new tank destroyers, the rescue forces on their side still face a terrifying challenge in advancing against the massive horde of zombies.

Looking ahead from here, the terrain is generally flat, but there are always smaller hills and gullies, or rather lush groves, as well as many ruins and remains of buildings.

Once one party moves to these places and temporarily disappears, everyone's hearts will be on edge.

"Keep pushing! If we hold on, we're relieving their burden!"

"Yes!"

The soldiers roared, and out of the corner of Sun Qi's eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of an unusual flame rising from the zombie horde and heading straight for the stronghold.

"Watch out! A high-level zombie is coming up!"

"what!!!"

The fire was extremely hot. It struck a machine gun and exploded, rendering the already overburdened machine gun unusable. With a bang, the barrel burst open, and the ammunition belt attached to the machine gun exploded under the intense heat. The bullets bounced wildly, and several tracer rounds flew out like horizontal fireworks. Fortunately, most of them were heading towards the zombie horde, preventing a larger-scale secondary explosion, and no one was hit as a result.

However, not everyone was injured. Where the flames scorched, a group of soldiers quickly rushed to the side, but some were still grazed by the fireballs, causing large patches of flame to suddenly erupt from the recruits' bodies.

The soldier looked younger than Sun Qi. He immediately rolled on the ground in pain. Time was of the essence, and his comrades around him didn't have time to look for anything that could help put out the fire. The old soldier suddenly threw himself on top of the soldier and used his own body to extinguish the flames.

"Medic! Medic!!"

Sun Qi watched in disbelief, his eyes wide with rage. He spun the grenade launcher in his hand rapidly, pointing it in the direction of the zombie.

"You beast, I'll curse your ancestors!"

"Boom bang bang-"

Flames spewed forth, and even though it wasn't new ammunition, the rain of death raised by the dense explosions of 40mm caliber rifle grenades tore it apart in an instant.

However, this brief moment of chaos created an opening in the firepower of the position, which ultimately gave more zombies an opportunity. They rushed forward, and since they didn't have any climbing skills, they simply stepped on each other, like real waves crashing against rocks, and surged up the building.

If you were to ask Sun Qi what he was thinking at that moment, would it be despair? Regret? Longing? Angry? Or just a blank, stunned silence?
Actually, none of that was true. He only had eyes for the zombies and had no time to think about anything else. He held the grenade launcher, which weighed several tens of kilograms, in his arms and fired wildly downstairs. Even when a piece of shrapnel flew back and cut his face because of the close distance, he didn't even notice.

Their teeth were grinding together, but all their efforts seemed to be too late. The reorganized firepower was somewhat disorganized and the rhythm of the battlefield had been out of control. Soon, the first zombie's hand climbed onto the top floor.

At this critical moment, a small, dark shadow suddenly swept over the heads of the group.

Only a few people noticed it, and most of them were startled by the sudden appearance of this strangely shaped object. However, it was clearly a man-made object, so no one took any drastic action.

The thing was about the length of a human arm, with a slender shell, like a spear flying in mid-air, and a round hole at its tail.

Was that an engine nozzle? But no flames came out of it. Although this thing was fast, it was only relatively fast, and it was far from the speed of a jet engine-driven airplane or missile.

After it arrived, it hovered with its tail down above the zombie horde. Before the soldiers could even wonder what was going on, a hazy and surging stream of light burst forth from the round hole at its tail, much like the tank destroyers that had been jokingly called prism tanks.

While not as powerful as the vehicle-mounted version, it was still astonishing. In moments, the zombies piled up like a small mountain in front of the building were melted away by the beams of light. Before anyone could react, several more similar objects flew in from behind, indiscriminately unleashing beams of light across the battlefield. The zombie corpses piled up several meters thick on the ground outside the fire line in the distance, already turned into mush by various calibers of ammunition, were also disintegrated by this beam.

The group of people who hadn't had time to think much before were now genuinely bewildered after suddenly losing their target.

"Holy crap... what's that? A drone??"

"Is it a drone? But it doesn't have wings. How does it fly?"

"I know there are new technologies in the research area, but isn't this a bit too new? Have they brought out the anti-gravity engine?"

Several 'floating cannons' circled the battlefield, clearing out the nearby zombies, before flying off to the rear.

Although there were still some zombies remaining in front of them, the soldiers couldn't help but turn around to look at the thing. The next moment, they saw a figure standing on a rooftop in the distance.

The first thing everyone noticed was the white helmet on the man's head. They were startled, and then they saw that there were three particularly thick blue stripes on the helmet, exactly the same as the one that Squad Leader Xiong had hung around his neck earlier.

"It's the inspector, a third-tier transcendent! Our reinforcements have arrived!"

The soldiers were overjoyed. It seemed that the other side had also noticed their gaze, so they leaped and lightly crossed several houses, their toes barely touching the rooftops before arriving at the firing point set up on the rooftop of the small building.

As they got closer, Sun Qi and the others realized that she was a young and pretty girl. Although she was wearing a military uniform, her skin was fair and she did not look like she came from the military. At this moment, a total of six strange weapons that looked like spears were swirling behind her.

Seeing her figure as light as a feather, with weapons floating behind her like wings, the group of people, filtered through the lens of their recent rescue, felt as if they were seeing an angel.

Of course, the white helmets still seem a bit out of place; may there be no white helmets in heaven.

"Hello!" The person greeted them with a sweet smile.

"Fortunately, we arrived in time."

As soon as she opened her mouth, Sun Qi felt that the voice sounded somewhat familiar, but someone else recognized the voice even earlier than him.

"You...you're Teacher Xiao?"

Xiao Zhenru tilted her head: "You know me?"

"Teacher Xiao!" the soldier exclaimed excitedly, "I often listen to your program; you explain the content about extraordinary knowledge in great detail!"

Upon hearing this, many people, including Sun Qi, remembered it.

Taimon Broadcasting Station frequently invites high-level superhumans to explain supernatural knowledge, and Xiao Zhenru is a regular guest on the program.

It wasn't that the program was particularly popular; it was just that there weren't many channels available to listen to these days, so many people present had heard her voice before.

"Since we're all in the army, there's no need to call me Teacher Xiao. Um... you can call me Squad Leader Xiao?"

Under the slightly scorching gazes of the crowd, Xiao Zhenru felt a little awkward, but still had a smile on her face. She said to everyone, "The battle is not over yet, but I will stay here. Everyone, please clean up the back courtyard and build a firebreak. Burn all the zombie remains around here."

"We'll use this place as our base later. After the tank destroyer and the tank on the other side come out, we'll need to rest here."

"understand!"

Whether it was because of the arrival of reinforcements or something else, Sun Qi felt that the fighting spirit of his comrades-in-arms had suddenly reached a new level.

(End of this chapter)