101: Steel Torrent (3)

"Da da da da da—!"

Tracer rounds drew dense red lines in the dim light. But the speed of the Agile was simply too fast! Like black lightning, they dodged, rolled, and leaped at speeds exceeding human reaction limits, and surprisingly, two of them broke through that seemingly insurmountable net of fire!

One of them pounced like a ghost toward a young soldier who was changing magazines, its sharp poisonous claws aimed directly at his body!

"hind, XXX coordinates! Rocket barrage! Hurry!" For the first time, there was a clear sense of urgency in Zhang Long's voice.

The engines of the two hind helicopters responsible for low-altitude cover emitted a violent roar as they suddenly pushed their noses down, diving at a near-vertical angle toward the alleyways from which the zombies were swarming. The rocket pods under their stub wings flashed repeatedly!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—!"

Eight rockets, carrying the shriek of death, slammed into the narrow alley entrance like divine punishment!

"Boom boom boom—!"

The violent explosions merged into one, sending flames shooting into the sky! The narrow alley collapsed instantly under the violent impact! Burning rubble, twisted steel bars, and zombie remains were thrown high into the air, and flames and thick smoke instantly engulfed the area, completely burying the remaining Agile.

Several soldiers who had been knocked down were dragged back to the cover of the armored personnel carrier by their comrades who had reacted in time. The bulletproof plates saved their lives, but their faces had been slashed with deep bloody wounds, and the venom was rapidly turning the wounds black.

Another soldier had a terrifying wound on his arm that was deep enough to see the bone, and blood stained half his body. The intense pain twisted his face, but he gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, and with his uninjured hand, he tremblingly pulled the antiviral serum from his first aid kit and jammed it fiercely into his thigh muscle!

After the injection, he panted heavily, actually using his injured arm to support himself on the ground, while his other hand gripped his blood-stained rifle tightly, the ferocity in his eyes undiminished!

"Maintain formation! Do not get separated! Medical Soldiers, get the injured soldiers onto the vehicle!" Zhang Long's voice sounded through the communicator like a stabilizing anchor, carrying indisputable authority and a strange, soothing power.

His power of the amplification aura was pushed to the limit at this moment, like a warm stream washing over the soldiers' nerves, which were tense from fear and pain, instantly dispelling the panic and making their movements orderly and firm again. After a brief period of chaos, the defensive perimeter was reformed with astonishing speed, becoming even tighter.

The tank cluster continued to advance under pressure. Just as the team was about to pass the supermarket area, heavy, metallic-grinding footsteps suddenly came from inside the ruins of a restaurant on the side that had been half-collapsed by an explosion!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Four even more terrifying zombies crashed through the ruins and rushed out! Ironback Zombie! Their bodies were covered with a layer of thick, grayish-white carapace that shone with a cold, hard, metallic luster, with thorn-like spikes growing on their backs, and their limb joints were also wrapped in the same cuticle, like mobile fortresses clad in natural heavy armor!

Ordinary rifle bullets and even 20mm autocannon rounds hitting their backs could only splash a few weak sparks of Mars, leaving faint white scratches, and were completely unable to penetrate!

"Rhino squad! Target Iron Back! High-explosive armor-piercing rounds! Precision fire! Hit the joints, head, and other weak points!" Zhang Long immediately locked onto the weaknesses of the Ironback Zombie.

The turrets of the four rhino heavy tank units simultaneously emitted a heavy electric hum as the thick 125mm barrels rapidly aimed at the targets.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Four APFSDS rounds, carrying the shriek of tearing air, shot toward the leading Ironback Zombie like four deadly silver lightning bolts! The first shell hit its chest carapace; although it failed to fully penetrate the heavy defense, the terrifying kinetic energy slammed it back like a battering ram, causing it to stumble back a few steps, with spiderweb-like cracks appearing on its hard shell!

The second shell followed closely, the gunner having adjusted the angle in a split second, and the shell shot in, grazing the relatively weak connection of its neck carapace!

"Puchi—!"

Ink-black, viscous blood, like engine oil, erupted from the torn wound! The Ironback Zombie let out a sharp, ear-piercing, unearthly wail, and its massive body, as if drained of strength, collapsed with a crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The three Ironback Zombie units behind were affected by the explosions of the other two shells and scattered, but they were almost uninjured. Moreover, they seemed to possess a certain level of intelligence; seeing the leader killed instantly, they immediately tried to disperse and break through, bypassing the heavily armed rhino tank units in front and pouncing toward the relatively weaker grizzly tank units or infantry on the flanks!

"hind! Lock onto them! Don't let them scatter!" Zhang Long said sternly.

A hind helicopter, like a maggot on a bone, quickly hovered over an Ironback Zombie that was trying to rush toward the grizzly tank squad on the right. The autocannon roared again, and the metal jet formed by the 30mm armor-piercing rounds precisely cut through the cuticle at the relatively weak limb joints and waist-abdomen connection of the Ironback Zombie like a scalpel, tearing open flesh and revealing bare white bone, greatly hindering its movement.

"Beep—!" The lock-on sound rang out. "Fire!"

The pilot pressed the missile launch button. An AT-6 anti-tank missile mounted under the wing whistled out, trailing a long white smoke, like the gaze of the Grim Reaper, heading straight for the hindered Ironback Zombie!

"Boom—!"

The missile hit accurately! A huge fireball of explosion completely engulfed the Ironback Zombie! Its prideful, thick carapace was like paper in front of the shaped high-density charge, and its massive body was blown off the ground, tumbling into a pile of ruins, where it struggled a few times before becoming completely still.

The last two Ironback Zombie units had just rushed to the side of a tank numbered "Grizzly 09," attempting to strike the turret with their carapace-covered steel claws, when the 7.62mm coaxial machine gun on the rhino tank and the 20mm autocannon on the armored personnel carrier opened fire simultaneously! The dense fire, like a metal storm, precisely strafed their relatively fragile leg joints and supporting ankles!

"Snap! Snap!"

A teeth-grinding sound of bone cracking came! The leg joints of the two Ironback Zombie units were snapped, and their massive bodies lost balance, collapsing with a crash like two small hills! Before they could struggle to prop themselves up with their giant claws, the Snipers hidden on the tops of the armored vehicles or at high points in the team had been waiting for a long time.

"Bang! Bang!"

Two dull and highly penetrating gunshots came almost simultaneously! The 12.7mm Barrett anti-materiel Sniper rifle bullets, carrying devastating kinetic energy, precisely penetrated the relatively small heads of the two Ironback Zombie units! Like blowing up two rotten watermelons, dark green pulp and bone fragments splattered everywhere. The massive bodies twitched a few times and went completely limp.

The roar of battle ceased briefly, leaving only the rumble of engines, the sound of tracks grinding, and the sporadic hissing of zombies in the distance. The smell of gunpowder and blood mixed with a burnt odor, thick and inseparable.

Zhang Long stood by the open cabin door of the hind, the strong wind blowing across his face, which was stained with gunpowder smoke and dust. He looked down at the powerful torrent of steel below—this torrent composed of steel, fire, and the unyielding will of humanity, like an unstoppable lava wave, in the broken city ruins, in the endless Zombie Tide, inch by inch, slowly and firmly devouring the darkness ahead, moving slowly toward the final goal—the East Gate of Hongshan University.

The last ray of the setting sun sank completely below the horizon, and the deep night curtain, like a huge screen, quickly shrouded this land of death. The headlights of the tanks below flashed on almost at the same time, two pale and blinding beams of light like sharp swords, defiantly piercing the thick, sticky darkness, illuminating the road ahead filled with obstacles and death traps. Wherever the light beams reached, those blue-gray figures stirring in the shadows were instantly exposed, twisting and wriggling like ghosts, only to be ruthlessly crushed and devoured by steel tracks and scorching artillery fire.