Chapter 189: Reporting Upward
Ten kilometers away, He Jie, who was madly gunning down zombies, suddenly stopped.
He yanked off the ammunition belt around his neck and turned around in shock and suspicion toward the direction of the base.
The soldiers beside him saw something was wrong with his condition and immediately asked loudly, “Officer, what happened?”
He Jie shook his head, suspecting he had misheard.
How could there be a mutated beast’s roar from the base? He had clearly cleared all threats within a five-kilometer range.
His two hundred soldiers were forming a crossfire network to sweep away the large number of corpse pupae in the plaza, with gunshots and zombie hisses mixed together—he must have misheard.
He raised the light machine gun in his hand and opened fire again.
Metal firelight and blood-soaked stumps intertwined into his favorite scene.
At this moment, the faint roar came again.
He Jie shuddered violently.
Something was wrong!
He immediately shouted, “Cease fire!”
The soldiers on both sides were stunned—the zombies in front of them were about to rush up, and now he was calling for a cease fire?
Seeing no one immediately carrying out the order, He Jie flew into a rage and roared furiously, “Everyone, cease fire!”
The frenzied voice covered the entire field.
In an instant, two hundred guns went silent.
Only the eerie howls of zombies remained, as a night demon grabbed the wall and charged up.
“Bang!”
A metal shield as large as a door flew over.
It severed its thigh and embedded deeply into the cement wall. The night demon staggered to the ground, followed closely by a burly figure like a raging silverback gorilla. He stomped on the shield with both feet, accompanied by a low roar. The cement cracked, and the shield crashed to the ground.
It directly smashed the night demon on the ground, which hadn’t managed to escape, into a meat patty.
Blood spurted out from under the shield, like the fresh juices squeezed from a medium-rare steak.
Liang Kuan picked up the shield and leaped twice, landing on the armored personnel carrier at He Jie’s feet.
“What happened?”
He Jie pointed toward the base and asked, “Old Liang, can you hear a roar from the base?”
Liang Kuan listened intently for a moment and shook his head. “My sensory organs’ evolutionary degree isn’t as good as yours. I can’t hear anything.”
He Jie glanced at the zombies that were about to be completely wiped out, his nostrils flaring as he growled viciously, “Retreat!”
Hearing the order, the soldiers no longer hesitated and rushed toward the vehicles.
Bangs of closing car doors rang out incessantly.
Engines roared, tires screeched against the ground, and off-road vehicle after off-road vehicle shot out like arrows released from a bowstring.
But the zombies had already taken advantage of the cease-fire gap to rush up, surrounding the convoy from all sides.
“It’s up to you, Old Liang!”
Liang Kuan picked up the shield, turned around, and walked backward. “Got it, I’ll cover the rear!”
……
In city road conditions, how long does ten kilometers take?
He Jie provided the answer: four minutes and twenty seconds.
The accelerator stayed above 120 the whole way—easing off even a little would be disloyalty to the train conductor!
By the time He Jie’s convoy rushed back, they saw a five-meter-tall giant bear clawing at the top edge of the wall with both hands, struggling to climb inside. Its massive buttocks twisted as it roared madly, wanting to devour these humans who had hurt it.
Yu Yue was directing the combat group soldiers to set up multi-layered defenses in the buildings behind the wall.
“Boom—”
The thinner part of the wall’s top edge couldn’t bear the giant bear’s weight and broke open a gap, with gravel rolling down.
The giant bear shed its previous clumsy posture, its eyes flashing with ferocity. One claw pressed against the gap, and the other claw shot toward the soldiers cross-firing at it from the side with lightning speed.
“Pretty sly!”
Su Huan raised an eyebrow. The silky glow in his hand had turned into a jagged extended spear—a lightning spear infused with a tenth of his energy—instantly appeared above the giant bear’s head.
The sky and earth belatedly flashed bright for an instant.
A thunderous roar followed.
Lightning frantically flickered along the giant bear’s fur, and the smell of scorching filled the entire battlefield.
The claw reaching for the soldiers stiffened in place.
Moments later, the giant bear let out a shrill wail that shattered the sky, even overpowering the thunder.
The over-eight-meter-tall giant bear fell straight backward onto the ground.
The gunfire in the field ceased.
That godlike power left everyone stunned beyond words. Looking at the train conductor on the city wall, who wasn’t particularly burly, they found it hard to express their feelings.
Killing such a powerful mutated beast with a single strike?
Was this the train conductor?
Looking at the fallen giant bear, Su Huan was surprised for a moment but quickly realized.
This dumb thing knew how to play dead!
Though he didn’t know bears’ habits, he knew tier 2 mutated beasts.
Unless he compressed all his energy into the electric spear, there was only a certain probability of directly electrocuting this giant bear into shock.
Even if his current energy level exceeded tier 2, it wouldn’t help.
To instantly kill a mutated beast with such tough flesh, the total energy had to reach tier 3 levels at least.
Looking at the convoy that had just rushed back from the distance, Su Huan’s lips curved up. Lying on the city wall, he shouted to He Jie below, “Captain He, your hunting trip is back. Help me drag this bear back while you’re at it.”
“Bang!”
He Jie slammed the car door shut and swallowed hard at the sight of the giant bear like a small mountain.
Even though it was dead, that barbaric and ferocious aura still made his heart race, giving him a strong sense of crisis.
He looked up at the train conductor.
But the other’s expression had already returned to normal, now just a bland appearance.
Braking sounds rose and fell behind him. Liang Kuan also jumped down from the vehicle with his shield, eyeing the giant beast with suspicion.
He Jie still trusted his instincts and said in a low voice, “I feel like this thing isn’t fully dead. Everyone, stay alert!”
Hearing this, the soldiers treated it like a major enemy, hugging their guns and carefully closing in on the giant bear on the ground.
Tian Bei the Licking Rabbit drew the handgun from his gun holster from fifty meters away and raised it to fire precise shots at the giant bear.
Bullets sank into the black fur.
Even after emptying the magazine, there was no blood or any abnormality.
“Really dead?”
Tian Bei muttered.
He Jie frowned. “Doesn’t feel like it.”
He took an assault rifle from a nearby soldier and fired at the giant bear’s limbs and joint vitals. Like Tian Bei’s handgun bullets, they sank into the fur with no reaction.
Suddenly, a burly figure flashed at the corner of his eye.
Liang Kuan had already advanced with his shield.
He Jie opened his mouth, hesitation flashing in his eyes. He swallowed the words to stop him, swapped in a new magazine, and followed with standard advancing gun-holding posture.
The two approached within ten meters.
Lin Jin and the others on the wall held their breath. Yu Yue looked conflicted, glanced at Su Huan, and didn’t dare speak.
The goat in the distance alternated looks between the train conductor and He Jie below, his eyes odd.
Though he didn’t know what the train conductor meant, seeing He Jie get screwed was quite enjoyable.
Who asked this old dog to kick him so hard when grabbing him?
It still ached faintly thinking about it.
Just as He Jie and the other approached within five meters, they already sensed something wrong. Their body hair stood on end, driven by the combat factor.
Amid the wind whistling past his ears came Qu Hang’s warning.
“It moved!”
Both looked up simultaneously. The giant bear playing dead in front of them had raised its claw, blotting out the sky.
Through the gaps in the claws, they could vaguely see the train conductor’s mocking smile at the corners of his mouth.
‘Fuck! Tricked again!’
He Jie roared sadly and angrily in his heart.
Tricked every day, and never the same trick twice!
But a bolt of electric light struck the giant bear before the claw fell.
“Bang!”
Electric light flashed, smoke and dust billowed.
The disheveled He Jie and Liang Kuan flew backward out of the smoke.
“Shoot! Shoot!”
Tian Bei shouted at the top of his lungs upon seeing this.
Qu Hang’s sniper round was aimed at the giant bear’s eye. With no wind resistance, the bullet’s trajectory was almost straight.
At the critical moment, the giant bear tilted its head, and the bullet sank into the fur on the side of its cheek.
Not even breaking the skin.
He Jie, climbing to his feet, emptied his rifle’s bullets. Seeing them all blocked by the giant bear’s fur and thick fat, he cursed angrily.
“Bring me the heavy machine gun!”
Suddenly, Su Huan’s leisurely voice came from beside his ear. “No can do. You two are already KIA. Now play dead properly.”
He Jie froze in place, looking up at Su Huan with an expression twisted into a giant question mark.
What the hell was this?
But Liang Kuan beside him had already picked up his shield, retreated from the battlefield, found a wall spot away from the center, propped the shield against it, and leaned on it playing dead.
Looking at Su Huan’s smiling lips and calm eyes, He Jie’s anger dissipated.
He crossed the battlefield and walked toward Liang Kuan.
Tian Bei watched their actions in confusion and said, “Old Da, what are you doing?”
He Jie irritably replied, “I’m KIA, don’t talk to me!”
Without He Jie and Liang Kuan’s two major combat powers, the situation on the field instantly became precarious. But under Tian Bei and Qu Hang’s command, no soldier casualties occurred for the time being.
Off-road vehicles were tossed around like toys in the giant bear’s hands.
The two hundred people’s firepower network was still very fierce, but it couldn’t inflict effective damage on a tier 2 mutated beast.
Su Huan quietly observed the rampaging giant bear and the flustered recruits below. Moments later, he calmly said, “You’re not going down to support? What are you waiting for?”
Lin Jin, Old San, and the others came to a realization and jumped down to surround and attack the giant bear.
With support from a group of powerful evolvers, the recruits below breathed a sigh of relief.
They began counterattacking under the officers’ command.
But the situation was still not optimistic.
Sitting against the wall, He Jie scratched his head. “So it was training the troops. Just say so! I could’ve cooperated.”
“Be quiet. You’re dead.”
……
Acid Rain Area, Hongyi City.
These two days away from the armored train, Tong Zizhan felt confident again.
Relying on his stealth ability and Gao Yuan’s observation ability, they covered over a hundred kilometers with almost no danger and arrived at Hongyi City.
The only difference was that before, he only needed to record one intelligence report; now he had to record two.
And he had to make subtle adjustments based on the differing research progress and cognition on both sides.
For example, for Deep Blue Data, he could record truthfully, but for the armored train side, some things couldn’t be written too detailed—too much and it would leak.
Finishing today’s record summary, Tong Zizhan threw down his pen and sighed, “Being an undercover agent is fucking too hard.”
Gao Yuan stood on the balcony observing the outside, confirmed that several subordinates hadn’t returned, then turned his ring and said, “The key is doing double the work!”
The two were now holed up in a high-rise residential building on the edge of Hongyi City.
Because this building had a full twenty-eight floors, it was almost the tallest in the entire urban area, naturally becoming the best observation spot.
Just as Tong Zizhan was about to speak, Gao Yuan suddenly turned back urgently and said, “Have you blocked it?”
Tong Zizhan puzzledly replied, “It’s always on anytime, anywhere. That’s basic professionalism.”
Gao Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”
“People coming outside?” Tong Zizhan walked over.
He didn’t step directly onto the balcony but slightly hunched, gradually expanding his field of view.
“What position?”
“Eight o’clock direction, three all-terrain land battle vehicles.”
“Where did all-terrain land battle vehicles come from in this place?!”
“See for yourself!”
Tong Zizhan carefully adjusted the angle and saw three vehicles speeding past the street. Any obstructing zombies were eliminated by the weapons on the vehicles before they could react.
Because they had high-end sound suppression equipment, they made almost no noise.
Like three ghosts gliding past.
“Which force is this?”
Tong Zizhan pulled back, his expression slightly changing.
Gao Yuan shrugged. “How would I know? But they seem to be heading our way.”
Tong Zizhan shook his head. “Not heading our way—they’re heading for the building below our feet. Good thing we didn’t pick the top floor. Hide.”
Soon, the three vehicles parked below the building, and a group of people headed upstairs.
Tong Zizhan felt somewhat fortunate. Liu Ming and the others had been sent to execute a task in the distance. Only he and Gao Yuan had come here for scouting.
The two shrank in the bedroom inside the room without making a sound, quietly listening to the footsteps heading upstairs.
Observing this room from the perspective of General Energy would lead to the same conclusion as Su Huan had back then: this room was empty, with nothing in it.
As for other high-tech scouting methods, both of them could evade them.
After all, our Deep Blue Data is also top-tier data, no weaker than anyone’s!
Half an hour passed.
After the group upstairs left, Tong Zizhan frowned.
“Black Kite isn’t properly developing the Storm Zone, so why come to the Acid Rain Area?”
“Should we report this?”
Gao Yuan asked.
“Of course. Black Kite coming all the way to the Acid Rain Area from afar must have some scheme!”
“Report to whom?”
Hearing this, Tong Zizhan hesitated for a moment and decided, “Report to all of them. After all, they came from the North. Unless we’re blind, it’s impossible they wouldn’t discover it. The company will figure out how to handle it then.”
“Our military rank on the Armored Train will probably need to be promoted further.”
Gao Yuan said.
“Hiss… Let’s talk about it after getting past this hurdle. It’s got me a bit conflicted now.”
“Should we report the situation on the Armored Train side as well?”
“It’s been a while since we reported. We have to say something at least. Remember not to mention our promotion, okay.”
“I’m not stupid!”
……
Armored Train, Shun’an Station Base.
Two hundred soldiers plus a group of Evolvers consumed a hundred thousand bullets, plus various grenades and other heavy firepower, and finally ground down the scarred Tier 2 Heavy Bear to death.
Two unlucky ones died.
And this was still with their backs against the base, having various support, and with Su Huan this pseudo Tier 2 Evolver providing support from time to time.
