Chapter 321: Humanity’s Counterattack
Steel torrent roared overhead, zombies’ hisses mixed with He Jie’s roar, heavy machine gun’s firepower leaped between zombie tide and ruins, tearing their shadows apart and piecing them back together.
Blood smeared lips red and glossy, gunfire highlighted it, in the flickering light and shadow was something hotter than gunpowder.
Behind them, scavengers’ battle cries grew closer, someone shouted their names, voices wavered amid the gunshots.
“Scavengers seem to be joining the battlefield…”
“Ignore them.”
Su Huan casually flicked away a stray bullet from who knows where, continuing to replenish the lifespan his body had consumed.
“Woo…”
On the train roof, gray-blue eyes gazed intently at the embracing figures, then charged toward the battlefield ahead.
Wen Biao and others stared at the train section directly blasted off by the explosion, eyes nearly popping out, but discovering the pressure from the lord-class Tier 3 zombie was gone, and the train’s firepower remained fierce, they immediately mustered courage.
They climbed onto the wreckage of the broken train, overlooking the brutal battlefield, gunpowder smoke and night wind stirring their hearts.
Though the zombie tide in the gunfire was shadowy, most were shrouded in night.
Over four million reduced to one or two million, even fewer.
Wen Biao roared, “Our turn! Follow the armored train’s footsteps, kill these beasts!”
“Take back our home!”
“Smash them!”
“Kill!”
The ruined city and battlefield before them stimulated many Zhijin people; seeing armed soldiers fighting ahead, they reddened their eyes and let out their first roar since the apocalypse.
Led by Wen Biao, nearly 100,000 survivors crossed the train defense line, shouting chaotic slogans as they charged into the battlefield.
Perhaps they had various thoughts, but at this moment, everyone’s mind was filled with killing back, killing back!
Kill back for their brutally killed loved ones, kill back for themselves, kill back for the grievances suffered since the apocalypse.
Kill back all the fear suppressed by heavenly calamity and zombies, kill back the anger of being driven from the land they’ve survived on for thousands of years!
Their attack power might be weak, their will thin, but everyone’s inferiority and fear were masked by the night, courage and bloodlust infinitely amplified; each was a lone soldier, but standing on this land, each was a lion!
Humanity’s most terrifying weapon has never been guns and cannons, but the greed for survival engraved in their bones over hundreds of thousands of years!
Years later, if there were history textbooks, they would only read:
“On June 25, 2036, led by the armored train, humanity launched a vigorous counterattack on the city occupied by zombies, marking the shift from strategic survival to strategic counterattack… This battle not only verified the feasibility of mobile fortresses but greatly inspired the resistance will of apocalypse survivors, hailed as a key turning point in the apocalypse war… From then on, human civilization sounded the horn of full revival, and history entered a new chapter.”
No one would think it was a blunder.
This was a great and glorious counterstrike war with human brilliance, witnessed by 100,000 people, free of personal grudges!
All who died in this battle, whether from conspiracy or cowardice, were shrouded in glory.
……
The future is the future, but the tough nut now must be cracked now.
Five million zombies are a harsh reality.
The armored train and train conductor’s battle eliminated over 500,000 zombies; the highest killer wasn’t the red-hot heavy machine gun barrel on the train, nor the train conductor’s hand-crafted artillery dumpling, but the cannons and railgun on the train.
Thanks to the zombies’ stacked dense formation, every shot yielded impressive results.
Even so, zombie numbers stubbornly held at over four million; without the lord-class zombie’s command, the massive horde lost its eyes, forgetting their destination over time, blindly dispersing throughout the city.
Only about a million zombies near Zhinnán District were still fighting humans.
The battle raged from dusk to dawn; even if people could hold on, guns couldn’t. Without modern weapons and ammunition, against the “steel-reinforced” horde, forget victories—the horde would only grow.
Out of 100,000, escaping with ten would be fortunate; facing terrifying numbers of Tier 2 zombies, only Su Huan had free advance and retreat.
Armed soldiers who had slaughtered all night wore exhaustion on their faces, trigger fingers stiff.
But they still held the front as the dagger tip, curbing the charging horde.
Occasionally letting a few through created opportunities for rear scavengers to outnumber them.
“Boom—”
A small building collapsed under pressure, zombies from the second-floor hotpot restaurant tumbled down, blocking the street; the leading Tier 2 butcher rolled on the ground like a ball, greedy eyes gleaming under corpse armor, casually uprooting a dead roadside tree and walking toward everyone.
Scavengers cleaning residual zombies with an armed corps NCO squad on the street screamed, dropping cold weapons and fleeing madly.
Even the leading sergeant paled, but calmly said, “Withdraw left to right in sequence, ignore survivors, preserve yourselves, don’t let them within one meter, fire early if needed! Understood?!”
“Yes!”
The rightmost soldier began withdrawing, the remaining four blocking the frontal zombie tide.
Not that they didn’t want to stop the Tier 2 butcher, but with their equipment, they couldn’t breach it.
By the last sergeant, he alone couldn’t hold the tide, rifle spitting red tracer rounds, proving only five bullets left in the magazine.
Butcher’s rumbling footsteps neared, but his subordinates had just run seconds ago; withdrawing now would doom two.
Under death’s pressure, sweat poured down his forehead, but the sergeant’s feet stayed planted.
Skillfully loading the last magazine, he steadily retreated while precisely headshotting charging zombies.
Distance closed; nearly every shot dropped a zombie.
Half a magazine down, he killed over ten ordinary zombies.
Such losses would collapse other species, but these beasts endured worse than the damn Qing dynasty, charging straight into the muzzle.
The closest one nearly bit his boot after falling dead.
Tracer’s red glow flashed again; teammates had withdrawn.
But he knew he couldn’t escape.
Drawing his handgun alongside the rifle, he silently counted bullets.
“Three”
“Two”
“Da da da…”
Before he reached one, a burst of rapid gunfire erupted behind.
No need to look; he recognized the squad’s firepower specialist’s light machine gun—small caliber, high rate of fire, only for ordinary zombies.
“Old Da, above! Above!”
Teammate’s anxious shout came from behind.
Young sergeant suppressed odd palpitation, rolled to wall corner; dead tree whistled down, branches snapping endlessly, ground bricks shattering.
Though he chose building corner, his back still felt knife-slashed.
Forcing up to run.
But Tier 2 butcher, slow as it was, outpaced a non-professional “defender”; he even heard the whoosh behind his head.
Next instant, waist pain, whole body flung sideways.
Before reacting, grabbed and thrown somewhere; sergeant unfastened dislocated helmet, seeing pale golden beast eyes staring down at the Tier 2 butcher below.
“Mongoose sis?”
Sergeant sounded surprised.
“Mm, Liu Zi, find your own way down.”
Mongoose nodded; if not assigned by He Jie to Qu Hang’s squad, Liu Zi should be her adjutant.
Done instructing, Mongoose leaped down.
Liu Zi then realized he’d been carried to the third floor by Mongoose.
“Pa”—a bullet casing hit his head.
Followed by He Jie’s roar, “Still reminiscing? Want me to carry you down?”
“You! You! You’re the one going back to recruit camp this time, even train conductor’s plea won’t help!”
Frenzied machine gun roared, butcher howled in anger.
Though Tier 2 zombie with immense strength and vitality, without Tier 3 promotion, still just a thick target before 12.7mm caliber.
With precise machine gun bursts, Tier 2 butcher’s head exploded into pulp.
Liu Zi climbed down along the wall, rejoining four teammates.
He felt both fortunate escape and sorrow for recruit camp return, but his four teammates were different.
Brother alive, great joy!
Brother in trouble, double joy!
They enthusiastically slapped his shoulders.
“Don’t worry, we’ll visit you then.”
“Eh, you think of us so much?”
“We’re life-and-death brothers!”
“If desperate, run over to see us…”
“Forget salutes, not important—remember to call officer.”
Liu Zi: “o.0”
……
Inside Zhijin City, a makeshift underground laboratory.
Lab had various screens and equipment, only two assistants.
No.1 stood before a huge screen showing Su Huan forehead-to-forehead with Tier 3 matriarch, sides scrolling mad info streams.
Cold eyes intersected info streams, occasionally forming mini black holes swallowing data.
‘Why could he instantly promote to Tier 3?’
‘Where did such massive energy come from?’
‘Why didn’t Tier 3 matriarch kill him, instead pushing him away last?’
‘Why is “energizer” profession so different on him?’
‘Why did he freeze at the end?’
‘Such big differences between gene primordiums?’
‘……’
Due to info gaps, countless questions surged in No.1’s mind; he thought watching the battle would solve many, but more arose.
“Zombie tide unconsciously dispersing, twelve observation points destroyed, temporary lab discovery risk sharply up—evacuate?”
An assistant asked while typing.
Lab only hummed with machines, no reply.
After a while, No.1’s indifferent voice: “No, continue observing, focus collecting following info…”
……
Dawn brightened, He Jie less relaxed.
Cases like Liu Zi’s happened countless times overnight; no matter equipment or training, battlefield made it moot.
Bad luck still meant death.
Initially senior officers fought by squad, but couldn’t cover all, split to firefight everywhere.
Overnight, corps lost fourteen NCO squads.
Including partial squads down one or two, casualties neared Black Kite’s Yan Bei Pass battle.
Several promising recruits gone.
“Boom!”
Intense thud ahead.
Not like explosives, more like waves crashing rocks.
He Jie frowned, “Mongoose, draw horde here away, I’ll check front!”
Removing spent ammunition belt, stuffing in pocket, He Jie shouldered heavy machine gun, sprinted and jumped to adjacent rooftop, ran other way.
While running, simulating on mental map: per orders, Qu Hang, Lin Jin etc. drawing tide outward; that direction should lack Tier 1 evolvers—how such commotion?
Crew acting?
‘Hiss…’
Thinking this, He Jie sped up.
Still far, he saw 2-3m “water giant” on rooftop hurling short spears down; tsunami-like sound was spears piercing Tier 2 zombies then smashing ground.
Miss, second short spear.
Max three, killing a Tier 2 zombie.
Then manipulating water to retrieve spear; after violent impact, unscathed.
Like a turret, coldly standing on platform, killing high-level zombies below.
With his help, scavengers below cleared like a hot knife through butter.
Injured, He Jie hadn’t seen Zhong You, but terrifying energy fluctuation marked no simple man; full ammo belt on anti-aircraft machine gun, silently waiting behind.
He sensed him, so Zhong You knew his arrival.
Two men: one working, one watching, delicate balance.
Until all Tier 2 zombies below hunted, Zhong You stopped; “little giant” dissolved to clear water back to steel bottle behind.
No exoskeleton final permissions, so only three short spears and water-filled steel bottle.
“I want to find Su Huan, make a transaction with him.”
……
“Skip story, say something I care about.”
Su Huan shirtless on train roof, letting Yu Yue slowly wipe bloodstains with cloth.
Zhong You calmly: “No.1 still in Zhijin City, I know rough location.”
Su Huan relaxed brows, kindly smiled, “Feels like a sincere transaction.”
“So what do you want?”
