207: Battle of Lingnan (6)

Three days later.

Relying on their formidable firepower and the bloody sacrifices of their officers and soldiers, the Southern Military Region's 6th Heavy Armored Brigade had finally cleared most of the main urban area of County Town No. 5.

The troops didn't have time to rest and reorganize; according to the predetermined plan, they immediately split into multiple routes and began advancing toward the vast townships surrounding the county town to carry out rescue and clearing operations.

However, the price of victory was heavy.

Inside the brigade headquarters, the atmosphere was oppressive and deathly silent.

The casualty and loss reports that had just been tallied weighed on everyone's heart like a cold, giant boulder.

"Brigade Commander! The casualties... are too high!" The Chief of Staff could no longer maintain his usual composure. He slammed his fist onto the map-covered table with a muffled thud. His knuckles turned white from the force, but his heart was bleeding. Behind those cold numbers were vibrant lives—soldiers he had personally trained.

The Deputy Brigade Commander's eyes were bloodshot. This man, who had dedicated half his life to the military, spoke with an irrepressible sob and tremor in his voice: "Brigade Commander... three days! It's only been three days! We've lost 12 main battle tanks! 25 infantry fighting vehicles and armored cars! 107 boys... dead! And another 260 wounded! What's most fucking frustrating... is that of those 260 people, eighty percent didn't get serum injections in time! We just watched them... that pittance of serum the military headquarters issued is just a drop in the bucket!" By the end, he was almost roaring, tears welling in his red eyes as familiar faces flashed before him, making his heart ache so much he could hardly breathe.

Brigade Commander Wang stood with his back to them in front of the electronic sand table, his figure appearing somewhat hunched. He didn't turn around, but simply closed his eyes heavily, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty. As the Commander of a brigade, how could he not feel the pain? Those were the elites he had personally raised, the backbone of the military region!

"I know... I know..." Brigade Commander Wang's voice was hoarse and low, filled with a sense of helplessness. "But... the military headquarters only has so much serum. They've already prioritized our 6th Heavy Armored Brigade, but the quantity... I... there's nothing I can do." He slowly turned around, his face etched with exhaustion and deep frustration. "We are the ace of the military region, and if we've been hit this hard... one can only imagine the situation of the other regular units."

He walked to the window and looked out at the city skyline, which was still shrouded in smoke, murmuring, "It seems now... that in the early stages of the apocalypse, concentrating all forces to fight steadily and take down county towns one by one might have been the right approach. This high-density urban street fighting has too many complex environments where heavy firepower can't be deployed. Dealing with elusive high-tier zombies relies too much on Evolvers to pin them down and carry out decapitation strikes. Our modern units are better suited for frontal decisive battles in open plains... we simply cannot blossom on multiple fronts like the Red Alert Legion while maintaining such horrifyingly low casualties and consumption." His tone carried a hint of indescribable envy and helplessness.

"Brigade Commander! Can we... can we ask for help from Xijiang Province again? Ask for more serum?" The Deputy Brigade Commander suddenly looked up, a final glimmer of hope in his eyes. "I... I really can't bring myself to do it, to face those brothers who were fighting side-by-side just a moment ago, only to turn into zombies..." He couldn't finish his sentence, but everyone felt that heart-wrenching pain.

Brigade Commander Wang was silent for a moment before nodding heavily, as if he had made a certain decision. "This matter... I will personally report it to the military headquarters and request that they coordinate with the Red Alert Legion. We cannot... we cannot keep losing our brothers like this."

The only bit of solace was that in these three days of urban combat, a total of over nine thousand surviving civilians had been rescued. Seeing the smiles of those compatriots pulled back from hell to the world of the living, all the effort and sacrifice seemed to have some heavy value.

It wasn't just the 6th Brigade; battle reports from all participating units in the entire Lingnan Campaign flew like snowflakes onto the desk of the frontline Commander-in-Chief, Yang Zhen.

The casualty figures on every report were like a blunt knife repeatedly cutting into his heart. Both of the ace heavy armored brigades under his command had paid a significant price, and the casualties of the other participating combined arms brigades were even more shocking. The losses in just a few days had actually exceeded the total from the five months since the apocalypse began!

However, the results were equally significant—six county towns had been preliminarily cleared, and over eighty thousand people had been rescued. This was only the result from the urban areas and some suburbs; the vast, remote townships had not yet seen large-scale rescue operations.

But looking at that long list of the fallen, even this battle-hardened old General felt waves of heart-wrenching pain that made it hard to breathe.

He tremblingly picked up the red dedicated phone line, took several deep breaths to barely steady his emotions, and dialed the number of Commander Commander Zhou Keming.

"Hello... Old Zhou..." Yang Zhen's voice carried an unmistakable hoarseness and fatigue, even a faint, imperceptible sob. "I... on my end... the casualties are too high. The soldiers... they're all good men, but... the serum... there isn't enough serum! Watching those wounded soldiers slowly turn into zombies right in front of me... I... I..." His words choked up. This old General, known for his iron blood, had red-rimmed eyes, and his suppressed tears almost burst forth.

On the other end of the line, Commander Zhou Keming was silent for several seconds, his heavy breathing clearly audible. "Old Yang..." His voice was equally low and pained. "Don't worry, don't be anxious... I've already thought of that. I just finished a call with Jiang Xin... he... he agreed to provide another two thousand doses of serum for free! Moreover, the Kyoto authorities sent a group of biological experts to Longxing City in Xijiang Province some time ago to learn serum development technology. They've been there for several days now. I will immediately arrange for our military region's top biological experts to go there as well. We must build our own serum production line as quickly as possible!"

Hearing this news, Yang Zhen felt like a drowning man catching a life-saving straw. He suddenly straightened his previously hunched back and said into the receiver with all his might and great solemnity: "Good! Good! Old Zhou... I... on behalf of all the officers and soldiers on the front line... thank you! Thank you!"

"Old Yang, don't say such things! We're not strangers!" Commander Zhou Keming interrupted him, his tone resolute. "You're out there risking your lives with the brothers at the front; I have to ensure the rear is supported no matter what! You stabilize the battle line and lead the troops well—that is the greatest comfort for me and the military headquarters!"

...While the Southern Military Region was advancing with difficulty through blood and fire, the seven county town battlefields managed by the Red Alert Legion presented a completely different scene.

In one week, the core areas of the seven county towns had basically been cleared and had entered the mop-up phase. Under the precise strikes of ten apollo aerospace fighters, any detected Third-Tier Corpse King could not escape the fate of being instantly purified.

On the ground, hundreds of various high-tier mechs formed a forest of steel. Working in coordination with the armored flood, they cleared the zombie swarms with extreme efficiency.

The staggering number of Third-Tier Masters in the Red Alert Legion, along with War Bears, Hero-level Military Dogs, and other support, made the battles almost a one-sided crushing affair. The Zombie Tide simply couldn't stir up any significant trouble in front of the Red Alert Legion.

Over these few days, a large number of survivors were rescued. In the seven county towns, nearly one hundred thousand people were safely transferred to the rear at Qianzhou Base. At this point, the total population under Jiang Xin's rule finally broke the two-million mark!

The moment the population figure jumped, the long-absent voice of System Assistant No. 1 sounded in Jiang Xin's mind again:

"Ding—Detected that the population under the host's rule has exceeded 2 million! Population stage achievement reached!"

"To ensure the continuous, stable survival and development of the population within the host's sphere of influence, rewards are now being issued: Small Standardized Survivor Base Construction Module, Super-Temporal High-Efficiency Agricultural Production Base Module."

【Small Survivor Base Module】

· A standardized survivor settlement capable of accommodating 100,000 - 200,000 people.

· Land Area: 12 square kilometers.

· Defense System: 10-meter-high, 2-meter-thick reinforced walls, equipped with basic city defense fortifications, including several Machine Gun Bunkers and sentry guns, capable of resisting small to medium-scale Zombie Tides.

· Internal Facilities: The military zone includes 2 standard Barracks, 1 War Factory, and 1 Air Command Center, providing various basic military buildings. The residential area has matching residential buildings, water and power supply systems, small hospitals, schools, and other public facilities.

· Note: No built-in production zone; external supply or self-construction required.

· Construction Cost: 100,000 Gold per base.

【Agricultural Production Base Module】

· Can perform beyond-the-era upgrades and modifications to farmland in selected areas.

· Effect: After use, the crop yield on that piece of land is increased to 8 times the original yield! And the crop growth rate is significantly accelerated!

· Consumption: 10,000 Gold per square kilometer of farmland modification.

· Capacity: Each modified square kilometer of farmland can theoretically provide a stable supply of basic rations for 100,000 people (Main crops: rice, wheat, corn, potatoes, soybeans, cotton, etc.).

"Great! System, you always bring surprises right when I need them most!" A surge of wild joy rose in Jiang Xin's heart, and he immediately began to study these two rewards carefully.

With the explosive population growth, relying solely on the previously rewarded bases and their limited high-tech production zones would eventually lead to food pressure. These two rewards came just in time!

Although the small bases didn't have the super-temporal folding technology production zones like the large bases, they were cheap to build and fully functional, enough to solve the housing problem for a large number of people while also forming effective defense nodes. And the Agricultural Production Base Module solved the most fundamental issue of food security!

An 8-fold increase in land output! What did that mean? Taking potatoes as an example, under normal circumstances, the potatoes produced on one square kilometer of land could feed about twenty thousand people. Multiplied by eight, that's one hundred and sixty thousand people! And that's just one square kilometer! Xijiang Province has over forty million mu of fertile land, which is about 27,000 square kilometers. If it were all modified... theoretically, the potato output alone could feed over 4 billion people!

Of course, actual planting would consider crop rotation and the need for cash crops, but even so, feeding several hundred million people would absolutely be no problem! This was simply "god-tier" technology that subverted the existing agricultural system!

Jiang Xin did not immediately modify farmland on a large scale; for now, food was sufficient. He prioritized building 4 small survivor bases, located in Chuping City, Yushui City, Jiancheng County, and southern Qianzhou, which greatly relieved the housing pressure brought by the sudden population increase.

Subsequently, he invested his remaining funds to produce the personnel and equipment for 2 more main force regiments to be deployed in the Lingnan Campaign to further expand their gains.

During this week, the Southern Military Region and the Kyoto authorities also sent large quantities of rare metals, precious metals, and various other materials in batches to exchange for advanced equipment like tesla tanks and apocalypse tanks. Jiang Xin also sent out a significant amount of anti-virus serum to relieve the urgent needs of Kyoto and the Southern Military Region.

The expert group sent by Kyoto to Longxing City to learn serum production technology had already preliminarily mastered the process, and the learning team sent by the Southern Military Region was about to arrive.

Longxing City, the place where the Red Alert Legion rose, was now becoming increasingly prosperous and important. It was gradually becoming the true military, political, and scientific research core of the Legion, and its influence was radiating throughout the entire Huaguo with every transaction and technology output.