nycdaug Chapter 142 Unexpected Reinforcements
Chapter 142 Unexpected Reinforcements
At four in the morning, after more than four hours of rest, Li Chenglong felt his tired body and mind had recovered considerably, though he still felt sore all over. As a level 7 Awakened, it was manageable, but the condition of ordinary soldiers was unimaginable. In August, dawn breaks early, and although it was only a little past four, the sky was already beginning to lighten. The increasing brightness meant the zombies were about to continue moving. He stretched a few times and then went to Wu Gang's place. Wu Gang and the others were already awake. Li Chenglong told them, "We need to wake the soldiers up quickly, and while it's still relatively safe, let's get them to eat breakfast as soon as possible."
Yang Liu walked over happily and said, "Captain Li, we've boiled a lot of water in several large pots, so the soldiers can have some to drink later. We also have some warmed milk and boiled eggs." Li Chenglong nodded, "Good, thank you for your hard work. Now let the soldiers go and collect the food, milk, and eggs. I also put a lot of bags of chicken legs there yesterday, so everyone should be able to get one. Distribute them to the soldiers as well."
Looking at the soldiers orderly receiving food, Li Chenglong asked Wu Gang, "How many men do we have left?" Wu Gang replied solemnly, "1645 men. That's the latest report. The current casualties are 456, and there are 186 seriously wounded. Yesterday, two more companies, a total of 200 men, were dispatched to escort the seriously wounded. There were also about twenty men who were there last night, but they're missing this morning; they probably deserted." Li Chenglong said sadly, "We came with 2521 men. I never imagined we'd lose so many brothers. Sigh." As they were talking, a scout's call suddenly came through the walkie-talkie. It turned out the zombie army had begun to move, and they were only 10 kilometers away.
Li Chenglong said, "Ten kilometers would take 40 minutes at the speed of the zombies. Immediately pass down the order to have the soldiers finish their meals quickly, then get on the troop transport vehicles and we will begin to retreat. However, we should not retreat too quickly, because if the zombies smell the scent of the other two routes, they will turn towards them, and our plan to lure the zombies into the encirclement will be wasted."
They fought their way out, gradually drawing the attention of the zombie army. After more than two hours of effort, they finally reached the encirclement. Li Chenglong said to Yang Liu, "Immediately contact Wei Lanxin and Fu Sanshan. We have successfully lured the main force of the zombies into the encirclement. They need to tighten their grip, and then we will launch an attack together." Yang Liu nodded and immediately began calling out. A moment later, Yang Liu rushed over and said, "Captain Li, something's wrong! Wei Lanxin's nearly 4000-strong force has been deployed according to plan, but Fu Sanshan has disappeared. No matter how many times we call him, there's no response."
Wu Gang was furious: "What? Did they escape? Damn it!" Wei Lanxin also sent a message at this time: "Lord Li, according to the information from our garrison troops at the Lanli base, Fu Sanshan has already led his troops away after seeing the zombie army. What should we do?" Just as Li Chenglong was at a loss, Yang Liu ran over happily and said: "Captain Li, good news! Just now, Commander Xu Qingming of the Feiyun base sent a message. He and Commander Xu Fumin are leading the Xu and Wei allied forces, a total of 6000 people, and are rushing here. They are expected to arrive in an hour and a half."
After the Xu and Wei families, with Li Chenglong's help, subdued the other families, they changed their leadership structure, reorganized their army, and renamed it Feiyun Base, which was jointly managed by the two families. "What?" Li Chenglong said in surprise. He really didn't expect Xu Qingming to come to the rescue at this time, because Feiyun Base was quite far from Lanli Base, and it wasn't peacetime, so large-scale troop movement was relatively convenient. The straight-line distance between the two places was at least six or seven hundred kilometers, yet they arrived only a few hours later than the fleeing Fu Sanshan.
Li Chenglong immediately informed Wei Lanxin of the news. Upon learning that a large army was coming to their aid, Wei Lanxin, who had previously been in despair, felt her confidence greatly boosted. Meanwhile, news of reinforcements arriving just over an hour later also reached all parts of the Dawn Army, significantly alleviating the soldiers' anxiety.
Gunfire erupted from the northwest and north, indicating that Wei Lanxin's troops had begun fighting the zombie horde from the north. Li Chenglong drew his Dragon Emperor Sword: "Soldiers, begin the engagement!" The zombie horde was moving from west to east, so Li Chenglong didn't need to launch a charge this time. He only needed to fight a defensive battle first, and then, once Xu Qingming's men arrived, they could launch the final battle. There was also good news: the supply troops from the Langley base had arrived in time, bringing a large amount of ammunition and grenades, as well as many Molotov cocktails and dozens of flamethrowers.
Li Chenglong ordered Wu Gang and Hao Dahai to quickly distribute the supplies. The zombies had begun to approach, and although some had been drawn away by Wei Lanxin's troops, a large horde was still pressing towards Li Chenglong's position. The soldiers were busy repairing fortifications, checking weapons, and preparing ammunition, looking ready for battle. Li Chenglong, Wu Gang, Hao Dahai, and Wan Dahai were discussing their strategy for the next hour when a scout reported that the zombie army would arrive in five minutes.
Li Chenglong could already sense powerful energy fluctuations in the distance, at least dozens of level 6 beings, and even a few level 7 beings. There were zombie birds in the sky, and enormous zombie beasts among the zombie hordes. Not only that, Li Chenglong vaguely felt that the ability to gather such a large-scale zombie horde, as well as so many high-level ability users and zombie beasts, meant that there must be even higher-level zombies behind them.
"We see them!" Zhao Liying shouted. The soldiers looked into the distance and saw a massive horde of zombies and zombie beasts surging in, the sheer number of zombie birds in the sky seemingly turning the sky black. "Long-range ability users, prepare! Fire!" Li Chenglong yelled. At Li Chenglong's command, all the long-range ability users unleashed their skills simultaneously, turning the ordinary zombies in front into ashes and chunks of flesh. The remaining ordinary soldiers opened fire from their respective defensive positions, holding back the surging zombie tide.
As the zombies closed in, Li Chenglong gave Wu Gang a signal. Wu Gang unleashed his fire-based ability, igniting the large amount of gasoline and diesel fuel dumped several hundred meters ahead, instantly turning it into a sea of fire. Countless zombies were burned to charcoal and trampled into mincemeat by the horde behind. Just as the soldiers were rejoicing at the sight of the inferno, dozens of streams of water mixed with mud suddenly sprayed out from behind, gradually covering the burning area. Wu Gang was shocked. Upon closer inspection, he realized that some zombie beasts were coordinating their attack, attempting to extinguish the flames, and with considerable success. He immediately ordered his squad's ability users to focus their efforts on attacking the zombie beasts. He himself had already aimed his Demon-Slaying Bow at the strongest of the zombie beasts and fired an arrow. The zombie beast collapsed and exploded, killing a swarm of zombies around it.
The traps ahead included not only a sea of fire fueled by gasoline and diesel, but also a large crater created by earth-elemental ability users. This crater contained numerous crystal bombs assembled in Dawn City, possessing immense power; even level four zombies couldn't withstand their destructive force. However, Li Chenglong knew that although he had designed several traps, the number of zombies they could kill was still very limited compared to the zombie horde. With reinforcements not yet arriving, he absolutely could not launch a preemptive attack; he could only hold out. Li Chenglong planned to lead his troops to retreat to their second line of defense when the situation became unbearable. This piecemeal resistance would surely buy them considerable time.
At 8:40 AM, Li Chenglong and his troops had retreated to the second line of defense, only 20 kilometers from Langley Base. If they couldn't hold this position, Langley Base would be annihilated by zombies. During this time, the Dawn Army repelled wave after wave of zombie attacks. Li Chenglong also led several melee-type ability users, including those specializing in strength, in several counter-attacks, eliminating many high-level zombies. He even killed a level seven zombie beast. By this time, the Dawn Army had run out of ammunition, and the ability users had no more abilities to unleash. The soldiers fitted bayonets to their rifles, preparing to follow Li Chenglong in the final battle.
Just as Li Chenglong was preparing to charge, intense gunfire and explosions of supernatural powers suddenly erupted from the south of the zombie horde. Li Chenglong was overjoyed: "Sound the charge! Dawn Army soldiers, follow me and annihilate these zombies!" Immediately, more than a dozen buglers sounded the charge, and the 2000 defenders of Langley Base, following Wei Lanxin's orders, all rushed to Li Chenglong's aid. At this moment, Langley Base was almost completely depleted of soldiers; everyone was engaged in the battle.
Li Chenglong wielded the Dragon Emperor Sword, flanked by Wu Gang with his super-alloy battle sword to his left, and Yang Liu wielding the Giant Serpent Fang and Zhao Liying with her Shadow Twin Blades to his right. Behind them were Qian Guangming, Wang Yousheng, Wan Dahai, and other regimental and deputy regimental commanders, followed by battalion commanders, deputy battalion commanders, platoon leaders, and deputy platoon leaders. All those in command were at the forefront of the charge, greatly boosting the morale of the Dawn Army. Wei Lanxin, having received news of the arrival of reinforcements, shouted, "Brothers and sisters, the moment of decisive battle has arrived! Charge!" She immediately led the remaining two thousand soldiers in an attack to the south. By this time, the troops from the three bases in the north, east, and south had encircled the zombie horde; victory was only a matter of time.