53: Intercepting the zombie horde

"Immediately locate the last point where Chen Feng's signal disappeared! Precise coordinates! Hurry!" The Chief of Staff's voice boomed like a thunderclap. He had rushed into the communication room at some point, his face ashen, veins throbbing on his forehead. He stared fixedly at the red cross on the screen representing the lost signal, as if he wanted to stare right through it.

"Yes! Chief of Staff!" The technician's fingers flew across the keyboard. "Last valid signal disappearance point... Locked! Luocheng TV Tower area! Error radius less than 500 meters!"

"TV Tower..." The Chief of Staff's eyes narrowed. He immediately grabbed the encrypted phone. "Connect me to Commander Wang! Hurry!"

Wang Yao sat in his office, the phone ringing like a death knell. He picked up the receiver, and the Chief of Staff's urgent voice came through immediately: "Commander! Confirmed! A suspected Corpse King has been discovered near the Luocheng TV Tower! It is the one commanding the Zombie Tide! The reconnaissance plane sent out... has lost contact, and the pilot, Chen Feng... reported 'Corpse King' before he sacrificed his life!"

Wang Yao's hand gripping the receiver tightened abruptly, his knuckles turning white from the force. His resolute face was taut, and his eyes burned with anger and cold determination. "I understand. At all costs, keep the Zombie Horde's movements under constant surveillance! Regarding the Corpse King's location... do we have the capability to carry out a long-range, precision strike to kill the Corpse King?"

"Reporting, Commander!" The Chief of Staff's voice was full of bitterness. "The base's current missiles lack the range! And the firepower is... insufficient to ensure the destruction of a target of this level! We need... we need beyond-visual-range, high-yield support!"

"Understood." Wang Yao's voice dropped, carrying a heavy sense of resolve. "I will contact the Capital! See if they can spare some resources! You... must hold the line for me! Use every possible method to delay the Zombie Horde! Buy time for the Capital's support! Do you understand?!"

"Yes! Commander!" the Chief of Staff answered firmly.

However, the rhythm of war never shifts according to human will. On the radar screen, tens of thousands of crimson dots representing the vanguard of the Zombie Horde were devouring the distance on the map at a desperate speed. Like a pack of hyenas that had caught the scent of blood, they were running wildly, and the distance to the Xingyang Base had already shrunk to less than 60 kilometers! That hideous red tide seemed as if it would shatter the base's fragile walls in the next second!

"It's too late!" The Chief of Staff slammed his fist onto the command console, the loud noise making everyone around him shudder. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was like tempered steel as he issued a desperate, burn-the-bridges order: "Messenger! Order the artillery positions immediately! Pull out all those dozen or so 155mm howitzers from the warehouse! Move them to the pre-designated firing positions! Calibrate the coordinates, target—the Zombie Tide's vanguard cluster! Wait for my command to fire!"

"Chief of Staff!" an officer nearby exclaimed, his face full of anxiety. "Our high-explosive shell inventory... has already bottomed out! Once this is fired..."

"Shut up!" The Chief of Staff turned his head abruptly, his gaze as sharp as a knife, his voice unquestionable. "Execute the order! Now is not the time to save ammunition! If we don't fire, by the time they rush to the walls, we won't even have the chance to save it! Go now!"

Artillery Position. On the edge of the base, in the temporarily constructed artillery position, there was a scene of extreme tension and activity. The heavy 155mm howitzer tractors let out dull roars, dragging the steel behemoths to the pre-designated firing positions. The gunners were like clockwork machines, their movements swift and precise: removing the gun covers, turning handles to adjust the barrel elevation, and loaders hauling heavy brass shell casings from the remaining ammunition crates to load them into the chambers, their actions carrying a near-tragic sense of resolve. The air was filled with the thick smell of engine oil, gunpowder, and the suppressed panting of the soldiers.

"Azimuth xxxx, elevation angle xxx, target area locked! Loading complete!"

"Loading complete!"

"Loading complete!"

...Reports from the various gun positions rose one after another.

The Chief of Staff stood on the high platform of the observation post, his hand holding the binoculars as steady as a rock. In the lens, on the distant horizon, that rolling, surging line of a black tide composed of countless twisted figures was approaching at a speed visible to the naked eye. He could even vaguely see the dust kicked up by those rotting limbs as they ran.

"Target! Zombie Tide vanguard cluster! Distance 47 kilometers!" the observer reported hoarsely.

The Chief of Staff took a deep breath, his voice spreading through the communicators across the entire position: "Attention all! One rapid-fire volley! Fire!"

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

"Fire—!" The command was like igniting the fuse of a powder keg!

In an instant, a dozen giant guns roared simultaneously with an earth-shattering sound! The scorching flames spewing from the muzzles were like red lotus flowers blooming from hell, illuminating the twilight sky in a bloody red! The immense recoil caused the heavy gun mounts to sink deep into the mud. A dozen heavy shells tore through the air, emitting a heart-stopping screech, slicing through the sky, dragging trails of death, and slamming fiercely into the Zombie Horde in the distance!

Boom! Boom! Boom—!!! It was like thunder exploding in the heart of the Zombie Horde! At the impact points, dozens of "flowers of death" instantly rose, mixed with mud, severed limbs, and thick smoke! The terrifying shockwave, like an invisible giant hammer, spread violently in a ring! At the center of the explosion, hundreds of zombies were instantly torn into fragments of meat and filthy blood flying across the sky; where the shockwave reached, thousands of zombies were like wheat stalks blown down by a gale, their bodies easily torn apart and tossed into the air! Severed arms and limbs, broken torsos, and filthy black internal organs fell like raindrops, painting a breathtaking and horrific picture of death on the ground.

The power of the god of modern warfare was fully revealed at this moment. In the face of the torrent of steel and gunpowder, ordinary zombies without ranks, no matter how vast in number, had fragile bodies that were nothing more than a pile of decaying flesh waiting to be pulverized.

However, this glorious yet cruel moment came at the cost of a sharp, instantaneous reduction in the precious ammunition stockpile. The echoes of the artillery fire were still reverberating across the wilderness, and the smoke of gunpowder had not yet dissipated when the Chief of Staff's cold and suppressed command rang out once again: "Cease fire! Cease fire! All gun positions, maintain vigilance and wait for further orders!"

The position instantly fell silent, leaving only the hissing sound of the gun barrels cooling and the soldiers' heavy panting. Every gunner understood the weight behind this order—ammunition, every shot fired was one less remaining.

The Chief of Staff quickly turned to the operational map, his fingers moving across it rapidly like a precise scalpel: "Orders!"

"One: The Engineer Battalion's mine-laying unit, deploy immediately! Target: The pre-designated minefield ten kilometers outside the base perimeter! Bury all anti-personnel mines and Claymore mines for me! Be fast! Complete it before the Zombie Horde's vanguard arrives!"

"Two: The armed helicopter squadron, take off immediately! Target: The center of the Zombie Tide! Fire with full force, use rockets and autocannons, hit them hard! You must cut off their follow-up echelons for me! Lure this wave of zombies charging in the front into the minefield! Do you understand?!"

"Yes! Chief of Staff!" The messenger saluted, turned, and sprinted away, swiftly relaying this order, which concerned life and death, to every combat unit. The base, like a giant pushed to the edge of a cliff, began to mobilize its final strength, preparing to meet the surging tide of death.