204: Chapter 204: Ants All Over the Mountains

Southwest Military Region, Hanzhong Province, Jingmen City.

It was summer, and the weather was scorching.

Hanzhong had already reached temperatures above 39 degrees Celsius.

Jingmen is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and is an important transportation hub in central Huaguo.

The crisscrossing rivers and lakes made the climate of this inland city very humid.

Changjing County, located on the south bank of the Yangtze River in eastern Jingmen City, had always been an important distribution center for goods.

After the virus outbreak, the Jingmen City Command HQ also established a Settlement here: Changjing Shelter.

July 16, 2055.

14:35 PM.

The Security Guards of the Settlement were routinely patrolling the city wall.

This was the hottest time of the day.

After patrolling the city wall for a week, the Security Guards gathered in the shade of the corner tower to escape the heat.

"Ugh! This weather is really killing me. At this moment, if I could have a bottle of ice-cold beer, that would be amazing," a Security Guard said, sitting on the ground by the wall.

"And a plate of peanuts and two liang of pig's head meat to go with it!" someone chimed in.

"We wouldn't dare dream of that. It's been a year, and I've long forgotten what meat tastes like..." the Security Guard replied, but he had only said half of his sentence when he suddenly felt something was off.

He saw the other Soldiers next to him giggling, covering their mouths.

The Security Guard quickly stood up and looked back; it turned out the Captain had arrived.

"Captain!" the Security Guard straightened his back and called out awkwardly.

"You're all being lazy during your shift, gathering here like this. What kind of behavior is that? All of you, go patrol!" the Captain said with a stern face.

"Yes!"

The Security Guards quickly tidied their clothes and lined up, preparing to patrol.

"Captain, there's something!" a Security Guard glanced sideways out of the city and noticed something was wrong.

Hearing the shout, the Captain quickly walked to the edge of the city wall and looked out.

Because no one had cleared it, the hillsides and ground outside the city were covered with weeds and tall bushes.

Looking into the distance at this moment, the vegetation was disappearing at a visible rate.

In its place was an endless expanse of dark brown, covering the entire ground.

It was too far to see clearly.

The Captain hastily took out his binoculars to observe.

"Hiss~" Upon seeing it, the Captain gasped sharply.

"Sound the alarm quickly!" the Captain shouted.

A Security Guard, without a word, quickly ran towards the guard post.

Due to the lack of electricity, and to ensure a quick response, the city walls of the Settlement were equipped with security alarms.

The security alarm consisted of a set of large loudspeakers, a control panel, an alarm switch, a storage battery, and a solar panel.

"Woo~"

"Woo~"

As the Security Guard pressed the alarm, a huge siren blared within the Settlement.

People walked out of their houses and looked towards the city wall, but unfortunately, they couldn't see anything.

No one knew what had happened.

Most people thought it was just an alarm malfunction.

Because everyone knew that it was daytime, and it was relatively safe.

However, the siren did not stop; it continued to blare, one after another.

"Move aside, everyone move aside!"

Before long, a Security Guard was running wildly down the main road inside the city, shouting loudly as he ran.

Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but become nervous.

"Did something really happen?"

"It shouldn't be! Zombies don't come out during the day."

The crowd began to discuss privately.

"Report! Abnormal situation discovered outside the city!" the Security Guard ran into the Command HQ and shouted loudly.

"What happened?" Team Leader Fan of the Command HQ strode over and asked.

"Team Leader Fan, outside the city..., outside the city, there are so many bugs!" the Security Guard said, wiping sweat and panting heavily.

"What kind of bugs?" Team Leader Fan was relieved to hear it was bugs.

Just bugs, what's the big deal?

"They look like..., Antss!" the Security Guard repeated the Captain's judgment.

"Get out of here! Just Antss, and you're this scared? You startled me!" Team Leader Fan got angry and slapped the Security Guard's head.

"No, Team Leader Fan, please go take a look. They're all over the mountains and fields, it's terrifying!" the Security Guard said, feeling wronged.

"Let's go! Go take a look!" Team Leader Fan pushed out a bicycle and rode towards the city gate.

Due to the shortage of gasoline, every drop used was one less.

So they hardly ever used vehicles normally.

Fifteen minutes later, Team Leader Fan finally ascended the city wall.

The Captain quickly came to greet him.

Team Leader Fan ignored him and walked straight to the edge of the city wall, looking outside the city.

It was too far to see clearly.

Team Leader Fan reached out and snatched the binoculars from the Captain's hand, looking out.

"Hiss~" Team Leader Fan also gasped sharply.

Indeed! The mountains and fields were all covered in Antss.

They were called Antss because they looked like them.

But they didn't feel like Antss, because some of the larger ones already seemed comparable in size to a car.

The smaller ones were too far away to see clearly.

Only large patches of dark brown could be seen.

"How long have they been discovered?" Team Leader Fan asked.

"Over half an hour.

After we discovered them immediately, we quickly sounded the alarm," the Captain replied.

Team Leader Fan nodded.

He looked at his watch; it was now 16:20, and it had indeed been about half an hour since he heard the alarm.