49: Night tears apart! A torrent of death versus a torrent of steel!

The night sky was completely torn apart by the piercing alarm!

"All personnel, enter Level 1 combat readiness! Repeat! All personnel, enter Level 1 combat readiness!"

Captain Li Zhen roared into the intercom, his resolute face etched with gravity.

On the vanguard destroyer, all weapon systems were unlocked. The cold hum of machinery rumbled beneath the deck, and the barrels of the close-in weapon system spun at high speed, emitting a low 'buzz,' like famished beasts roaring.

Zhou Hai, Zhao Ze, and Su Li stood at the bow, their expressions more serious than ever before.

At the end of hundreds of searchlight beams, the previously calm horizon now showed a writhing, pitch-black line.

That line was expanding and thickening at a horrifying speed!

In just over ten seconds, it transformed from a line into an boundless, sky-obscuring black ocean!

It was a death wave formed by millions of Floating Corpsess!

They were packed together, dense and layered, stretching endlessly, like black water surging from the depths of hell, threatening to swallow the entire world!

"Gulp."

Zhou Hai swallowed hard. Even with his daring courage, looking at this apocalyptic scene, cold sweat uncontrollably broke out on his palms.

"Damn it... this number is just too outrageous..."

Zhao Ze gripped his Massive Hammer tightly, his burly body trembling slightly from the extreme shock.

This was no longer a battle; this was mortals fighting against all of hell!

"Roar—!"

"Hoo hoo—!"

The roars of a million Floating Corpsess, even kilometers away, still swept over like rolling thunder, making eardrums ache and minds waver!

In that black ocean, one could even see some massive, bizarrely shaped mutated sea beasts, swept along by the Corpse Tide, jointly forming this world-destroying death legion!

They have arrived!

Carrying endless hatred and hunger for all living beings, they launched a fearless charge towards humanity's last steel defense line!

vanguard, Command Center.

Chen Yan stood before the massive holographic map, his face ashen.

"All units, attention. Wait for target to enter firing range."

"Distance, 15 kilometers."

"10 kilometers!"

"5 kilometers!"

The moment the vanguard of the Corpse Tide entered the five-kilometer firing range, a terrifying glint erupted in Chen Yan's eyes!

He picked up the communicator and, with a voice that was utterly cold and devoid of emotion, issued the first command since the start of the war.

"Open fire!"

Boom—!!!!

At that command, led by the vanguard, the main cannons of the warships in defense zones 1-5 roared simultaneously, shaking the heavens!

The night sky was instantly illuminated!

Hundreds of large-caliber armor-piercing high-explosive shells, trailing long fiery tails, whistled like a meteor shower tearing through the apocalyptic night sky, ripping through the air and slamming into that boundless black ocean!

Boom! Boom! Boom! RUMBLE—!!!

In an instant, the vanguard position of the Corpse Tide was engulfed in a sea of fire!

Giant orange-red fireballs shot into the sky, illuminating the night as if it were day!

The terrifying shockwaves instantly tore tens of thousands of Floating Corpsess to shreds. Black flesh and severed limbs were thrown hundreds of meters into the air, raining down a putrid, bloody deluge!

Each shell cleared a massive vacuum zone, over fifty meters in diameter, within the Corpse Tide!

This was the ultimate violent aesthetic of human civilization!

It was the roar of technology and order!

However, on the deck, Zhou Hai and the others showed no joy on their faces.

Because, in the area cleansed by the artillery fire, those cleared vacuum zones existed for less than three seconds before being refilled by the endless, surging tide of Floating Corpsess from behind!

It was as if the world-destroying artillery barrage had merely stirred an insignificant ripple in this black ocean!

The roar of artillery was incessant, and the dense close-in weapon system also began to bellow, plowing paths of flesh and blood through the Corpse Tide.

But that terrifying Corpse Tide felt no pain, no fear, and had no end!

They withstood artillery fire capable of melting steel, trampled over the bodies of their comrades, and continued to surge towards the defense line with unwavering madness!

Three kilometers!

Two kilometers!

One kilometer!

Five hundred meters!

One could now clearly see the rotting, twisted faces of infinite malice on the Floating Corpsess at the very front!

Everyone was horrified by the hellish scene before them.

Only Lu Sheng's expression was unprecedentedly solemn.

His face held no fear, no shock, only an extreme calmness.

His Dragon Eyes were already opened to their maximum!

Lu Sheng's gaze penetrated the endless layers of ordinary Floating Corpsess, like ants, in front of him, clearly seeing!

In the middle-to-rear section of the Corpse Tide, there were over a dozen Elite-level Floating Corpses, each over five meters tall, with dark green skin and claw-like blades!

They did not charge forward madly like the ordinary Floating Corpsess, but rather, like cold sheepdogs, they used roars and sharp claws to drive and restrain the surrounding Corpse Tide, maintaining the entire Corpse Tide's formation in its most efficient assault configuration!

They were commanding!

And as Lu Sheng's gaze continued to probe deeper into the more profound, darker core of the Corpse Tide.

His heart suddenly constricted!

A faint, yet terrifying aura that made his soul shiver with cold, like an invisible hand from the abyss, pierced through tens of thousands of meters, penetrated the obstruction of the Corpse Tide... and precisely, firmly locked onto his position!

vanguard!

"Attention, everyone on deck! The 1130 close-in weapon system is about to enter a ten-minute cool-down and ammunition reload! During this period, absolutely no Floating Corpses must be allowed to enter the ship's interior!"

Inside the vanguard's command room, Captain Li Zhen's voice echoed across the deck via broadcast, carrying an undeniable resolve.

Time passed minute by minute. The barrel of the 1130 close-in weapon system on the vanguard, resembling the Grim Reaper's scythe, had turned scorching red. Its rotation speed gradually slowed, eventually coming to a complete halt.

Without this crucial steel fire-wall, the Corpse Tide, which had been firmly suppressed five hundred meters away, surged forward with a sudden burst of speed, like devils freed from their shackles!

"Roar—!"

The Corpse Tide instantly closed in to three hundred meters!

An officer on deck roared furiously: "Everyone! Aim for the head! Open fire!"

Tat-tat-tat-tat—!

Deafening gunshots instantly erupted! Hundreds of tongues of flame spat from the soldiers' rifles, interweaving with the roar of heavy machine guns, exploding into blossoms of flesh and blood within the Floating Corpses horde.

The explosions of grenades and shells rose and fell, their fire illuminating the entire sea area like purgatory.

However, the Floating Corpsess were fearless of death, trampling over the shattered bodies of their comrades, enduring the dense hail of bullets. Finally, scattered Floating Corpsess reached the warship, brandishing their claws and beginning to climb up the hull.

In the Command Center, Chen Yan's authoritative voice resonated across the entire battlefield through the all-channel communication: "To all Spirit Source Users! The time when the nation and the people need you most has arrived! For the tens of thousands of old and young on Purple Gold Mountain, for humanity's last remaining home, this battle—we must win!"

PS: Defending our homeland is our inescapable duty!