The Hot Springs Base was located in the heart of HB, and after the surrounding zombies were cleared out, it was now heavily guarded. A huge defensive maze, towering walls, and all sorts of heavy firepower and energetic soldiers stood on top of the walls. This military fortress was like an iron bucket. At this moment, the iron bucket was in a state of chaos. Gunshots, explosions, and thick black smoke were everywhere, making people think that the place had been breached.
On top of the wall, the soldiers were running around like headless flies. From time to time, there would be bullets flying towards them from the residential area below. Many of the soldiers braved the rain of bullets to open fire, but in the next moment, they would be blown away by the rifle grenades flying from afar.
No one knew when the attack started. Ever since the tall communication antenna was blown up, everything was in chaos. Huang Quan and the rest of the higher-ups had all lost contact. No one knew where the militants came from, but they had already taken control of the residential area and were currently restraining the soldiers on top of the wall. At this moment, it was the weakest moment for the Hot Springs Base. A few days ago, in order to prepare for the zombie wave in Wuhan City, the Hot Springs Base and Cockroach Base had sent out their main forces to the frontlines. This caused both bases to be empty, and it also created an advantageous situation for the militants to launch a surprise attack.
The soldiers on top of the wall had been defending the wall. There were about a thousand of them, and the number of militants was not small either. Both sides could not do anything to each other. The militants below could not attack up, and the soldiers above could not charge down.
The former residential area had long been turned into ruins by the various firepower. In between the rubble, a number of militants with faces full of smoke were moving quickly to attack the top of the wall. All sorts of firepower crisscrossed in the ruins. Compared to the concentrated firepower on top of the wall, the frequency of the militants below was much lower.
The rain of bullets below was not concentrated. Most of them used single shots, and they were abnormally accurate. If they were not careful, the soldiers above would have their heads blown off. At the same time, they were extremely sensitive to heavy firepower. As long as any heavy firepower was used on them, they would be able to destroy it at the first moment. Even the bulletproof Type-53 HMG would not be able to do so. The rifle grenades they fired seemed to have eyes, and at most three shots would be enough to destroy a firing point.
The soldiers above had long suffered heavy casualties. If it wasn't for the fact that this unit had fought against an even more desperate sea of corpses, they would have long collapsed due to the huge number of casualties. The reason why this unit could still fight was because the soldiers had organized themselves. Their commander and vice commander had been shot dead by the sniper at the first moment.
On top of the wall, countless bullet casings covered the ground. The ground covered with bullet casings looked like it was covered with a layer of brass carpet. Scorch marks were all over the ground, mixed with large patches of dark brown blood stains. The black blood formed a blood trail, drawing a long line on the ground. At the far side of the wall, dozens of corpses were piled up. Next to the corpses, more wounded soldiers were lying on the ground, moaning. From time to time, militiamen in yellow old-fashioned military uniforms would come over and carry these wounded soldiers into the small hospital inside the wall.
The wall itself was a huge comprehensive fortification. Inside, there were all kinds of complete defense systems and wartime reserves. There were barracks, ammunition depots, clean water pools, entertainment rooms, command rooms, and even a small infirmary. However, all the defense systems were facing the outside. Facing an attack from behind, the only thing the defense could do was to defend the wall.
The three days of battle had exhausted both sides, but no one dared to give up. Compared to them, the battlefield inside the canyon was the most intense place.
The canyon was the center of the entire defense base. There were Osmanthus Mountain's Heroic Souls here, as well as a huge supply warehouse. At the same time, it was also the command center of all the bases. There were large amounts of food and supplies stored here, as well as more than 80% of the forces' ammunition and supplies. Once they lost this place, the Hubei base's combat power would be reduced by 80%.
Compared to the few hundred armed personnel outside fighting against a regiment of soldiers, here, there were over a thousand armed personnel fighting against the few hundred soldiers inside the base.
The originally heavily guarded interior of the canyon was now filled with burning flames and black smoke. Corpses were strewn all over the place. Many of the corpses had been torn into pieces. Broken guns, blasted soil, fallen trees, burning houses, and a small lake dyed red with corpses drifting in the air. This place was the most tragic scene of a war.
The corpses were just lying there, with the soldiers in military uniforms and the armed personnel in leather jackets mixed together. Under the sunlight, they emitted a rotting stench. No one cared about them, no one bothered about them. Everyone's focus was on the cave entrance at the deepest part of the canyon.
The cave was originally a machinery factory and a supply warehouse, but after the machinery factory was moved away, it was converted into a warehouse. Old Frank brought the engineering team to dig out the two mountains, and connected them from the inside, forming a space within. At the same time, it was the final defensive structure of the canyon, where a large amount of ammunition and supplies were stored. During the design, they had considered the possibility of an ambush from outsiders, thus the fortifications were rather complete, causing the armed personnel outside to be unable to break in.
At the entrances of the caves on both sides, the officers were issuing all sorts of orders. Beside them, soldiers covered in blood and smoke were carrying sacks of rice and throwing them into the cave entrances to form new fortifications. Machine guns were firing non-stop. One of the officers was especially young. There was still a trace of immaturity on his face, but his eyes were filled with determination and persistence that should not be present at his age.
"Yutou, are you able to defend this place, do you need me to transfer a squad of soldiers over?"
A sturdy looking officer walked over, he was Yutou's old superior, the original captain of the search squadron, Feng Kun. Ever since Huang Quan reorganized the army, the search squadron became the garrison battalion, and he became the commander of the garrison battalion, while Yutou was promoted to a company commander.
The garrison battalion was the elite of the base, and every soldier that was chosen to enter the garrison battalion was the elite of the elite. As the predecessor of the garrison battalion, the search squadron was a special organization, and every member that was able to enter the search squadron was the most elite of soldiers. After the establishment of the garrison battalion, the criteria for choosing soldiers did not decrease, but instead increased, and that was the reason why the 300 odd soldiers of the garrison battalion were able to resist over a thousand enemies for so long.
When Yutou heard that there was a squad of reinforcements, his eyes lit up. His soldiers had long been at their limit, and it would be good to have more reinforcements. Then, he saw the bandage on Feng Kun's left arm and immediately extinguished his desire to ask for reinforcements. Even Feng Kun was injured, it seemed that the situation on the other side was not much better. He could not help but say, "Commander, we can still hold on, but … the reinforcements from the outside can't come in, and we can't hold on for too long …"
Feng Kun did not say anything as he looked at the blocking position at the entrance of the cave. Countless bags of rice had been blown up by the rockets that were fired from outside, and the white rice was scattered everywhere on the ground. The pearl-like rice had been stepped on by the passing warriors and had turned black. Occasionally, large chunks of blood could be seen.
The blocking soldiers were all elite veterans, and at this moment, these veterans were all at the point of exhaustion. The attacks from the outside were like a tide, and if they were not careful, they could be broken through.
"Clang …"
There was a sound of metal colliding, and a soldier carrying a metal ammunition box fell to the ground, motionless. The ammunition box smashed into a rock wall and opened up, and countless bullets splashed out from the box, scattering on the ground full of bullet casings.
"Paramedics …"
The soldier beside him rushed over and flipped him over, shouting loudly. The gunfire outside was intense, and he had to shout to be heard. Because his throat had long been hoarse, after shouting a few times, he actually coughed and spat out blood.
"He's fine, the bullets can't hit him from this angle, he just fainted from exhaustion …"
Feng Kun rushed over and pried the soldier off, unscrewed the canteen, and poured the water into the soldier's mouth, telling him to stop shouting, or his vocal cords would be damaged. At the same time, he shouted to Yutou, "Continue to hold on, and if you can't hold on any longer, retreat into the cave, we'll teach them a lesson inside …"
Putting down the soldier, Feng Kun got up and rushed into the cave. At this moment, his heart felt like it was fried in a pan of oil. The soldiers were already at their limit, but the reinforcements from the outside were still far away. Who knew how long they could hold on?
Suddenly, there was another shout from the soldiers behind him:
"The evolvers are here, they're attacking again, retreat … retreat …"
Feng Kun suddenly stopped, turned around, and rushed over. The evolvers were not easy to deal with, and one mistake could lead to a complete collapse. The soldiers in the front supported each other and ran to the back. The scene was extremely chaotic, and many people threw grenades and concentrated fire outside.
"Boom …"