Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 152 Dongfang Bai

The early morning in Haizhou was far from peaceful; before the sun had even risen, the city was illuminated by the flames of war.

A troop carrier was darting around the war zone, its condition difficult to describe; if I had to use a metaphor, it was like a wild boar that had gone mad.

The ground was riddled with bomb craters, but the vehicles did not slow down at all. The military vehicle drivers seemed to have no concept of brakes. When they occasionally encountered a piece of gravel on the road, the whole vehicle practically bounced forward.

"This is shaking me to death!"

Someone shouted this in the carriage, which immediately made all the comrades laugh.

"How did you say it again?"

"Pigs get carsick, vegetables get mushy, but you, my comrades-in-arms, the steel warriors of our motherland—"

Everyone chimed in, "They'll climb back up on their own if they fall!"

"Ha ha ha ha--"

"I was right, I can really climb it. I feel like I could run faster than this car right now."

"Then you go down and run."

"I'm not going!"

The soldiers grinned, as if the countless zombies outside the vehicle didn't exist. Suddenly, a voice interrupted the vehicle's radio broadcast.

"Breaking news! Yesterday afternoon, a 12-person assault team, including Xue Hui and He Wei, crossed the danger zone and confirmed the location of a large number of survivors!"

"The commander-in-chief has given the order: the time for the decisive battle has arrived!"

"All divisions and units of the Corps have arrived at the front lines and completed their preparations for war! With 200,000 soldiers united and 2 million civilians working together, comrades! The dawn of victory is just around the corner!"

Listening to the female announcer's impassioned broadcast, Sun Qi was puzzled: "Why didn't you say where the survivors were? We could have gone directly to meet them!"

An old soldier standing nearby, assuming a horse stance in the carriage, shook his head upon hearing this, saying, "This is an announcement; what if the zombies hear it?"

"Zombies can listen to the radio?"

"Who knows? We'll just fight wherever our superiors tell us to."

"Stop talking, we're almost there!"

The tank sped off, a series of explosions erupting behind it as friendly forces cleared the zombies behind them, while the weapon station atop their own vehicle also fired.

The battle had lasted for a full day and night, and the advantage of having all superhumans was evident here: just as zombies never sleep, so too can humans—or rather, fight until they die.

Both sides fought fiercely, clashing violently.

Once they actually plunged into the city, their advance wasn't particularly fast. For a moment, they even felt like all the zombies in the city were right in front of them, but according to their reconnaissance, the number of zombies they were facing was around one million.

Of course, this is also an extremely alarming number. What does that mean?
Before the cataclysm, the population of many countries did not exceed that of this horde of zombies. Even if they were all crammed together, their numbers would be enough to fill hundreds of thousands of square meters of open space. In the complex environment of a city, they could be said to have blocked all the streets, which made the advance of the legion almost measured in meters.

Of course, the denser the zombies, the more efficient the artillery would be. This is why the legion dared to use 200,000 men to annihilate these 4 million zombies. Although the battle was difficult, the actual losses were not very large.

The battle between humans and zombies is often like this: either few people are killed or all are wiped out, with little in between. Of course, the legion has gained a great deal of experience in dealing with zombies, and in most cases, the situation of total annihilation is extremely rare.

The proportion of superhuman individuals among zombies is roughly the same as that of humans. Mutant zombies with special abilities make up about one percent, while ordinary zombies that gradually advance to the first or second tier are more numerous. It is this group of superhuman individuals that truly poses a threat to the military.

"Screech—!!" The tires left long skid marks on the ground as the soldiers rushed out of the vehicle at lightning speed, quickly killing several zombies that charged at them.

"Quickly, upstairs! Sun Qi, on alert!"

"Yes!!"

Sun Qi carried a heavy machine gun, a weapon weighing dozens of kilograms and with a powerful recoil. He became increasingly adept at using it, even able to wield it with one hand. Such skill had now become the entry-level standard for extraordinary individuals in the military.

As he moved forward while fighting, once his teammates had set up firing positions on the high ground of the building and taken over the suppressive fire, Sun Qi turned around and ran upstairs without hesitation.

The building was not tall, only five stories high. The iron gate to the rooftop, which had been locked, had obviously been kicked open. After Sun Qi came up, he heard someone point to the distance and say to him, "Look, that's the shelter! Shelter 23!"

"Finally, I've met him!"

In the dim light, they could clearly see a long string of lights in the distance, where intense gunfire was constantly erupting. The corps' artillery fire repeatedly bombarded the route between the main force and the shelter, creating craters one after another, almost flattening all the buildings along the way, leaving a straight passage between them.

The soldiers were ecstatic: "Quick, where's the red flag? Raise it! Let them see us!"

Sun Qi turned to grab the flag, and at the same time, the squad leader ordered, "Send a message to the regimental headquarters! My squad has reached the designated coordinates and can begin artillery fire guidance!"

"Yes!"

"Old Meng, hurry up and install the cognitive anchors!"

"Yes!"

The veteran's surname was Meng, and he was the one who had a good relationship with Sun Qi. He was already unpacking the box, and upon hearing this, he moved even faster.

This equipment isn't just available in vehicle-mounted models; it can also be installed anywhere, as long as it's at a certain height off the ground. This small building is a pre-selected location.

The same equipment was being manufactured continuously in the rear as the battle lines advanced. Now, in areas where the main armored forces had not yet reached, they carried one that could be directly installed on the top floor of a building.

The artillery fire continued, and the area around the shelter was teeming with the largest number of zombies. However, with more precise firepower, the earth churned and boiled, and flashes of light exploded one after another in the densest areas of zombies.

"Wow!"

Sun Qi unfurled a huge red flag that they had specially brought and waved it abruptly from the rooftop. The group immediately looked toward the shelter.

"They don't seem to have seen us?"

"Nonsense, it's pitch black, who could see anything!"

"Where's the light? Where's the light!"

With a snap, someone turned on a tactical flashlight and shone it directly onto the red flag. Instantly, the bright red flag, which was waving, suddenly shone with dazzling brilliance in the pre-dawn darkness, and the occasional golden stars that flashed by were even more dazzling and moving.

A moment later, someone pointed to the opposite side and shouted with delight, "Look! They've seen them! They've waited for them!"

On the blood-stained high wall, suddenly, a whole bunch of equally bright flags appeared, chaotic yet soaring, echoing the flags from afar.

At that moment, on the distant horizon beyond the shelter, a faint glimmer of dawn appeared.

The night is over, and the east is turning white.

(End of this chapter)