The efficiency of the retreat at the back of the cockroach base suddenly increased, all the mobilized militias put down their weapons and shields, and carried the supplies across the mountain paths to retreat. Accidents were inevitable when tens of thousands of people were retreating, and the search party that was responsible for protecting the survivors did not have much of a solution. They could only try their best to clear the path, and the corpses of the survivors that died due to accidents or accidents became dangerous landmarks.
The retreat at the rear was carried out in a strange and hopeful atmosphere, but the battle at the front had reached its climax on this day. The waves of zombies could no longer advance as smoothly as before. Every minute and every second, there were hundreds of zombies killed by crossbow bolts. Furthermore, there were heavy machine guns blocking the way. Most of the zombies became materials to fill the gullies.
The real threat to the base was not the ordinary zombies, no matter how many there were, they were still targets in the narrow mountain paths. The biggest reason why Huang Quan did not have the confidence to defend against the zombies was that there were tens of thousands of Type 2 zombies in the horde. The number of corpses killed by the zombies was too many, and the base was not prepared to face the zombies. A large number of the corpses were eaten by the zombies, allowing the ordinary zombies to evolve, and the evolved zombies to become Type 2 zombies.
That was why the evolved zombies that were once the elite soldiers became cannon fodder, while the Type 2 zombies became the main force of the zombies. Regardless of whether it was the D2 or S2 zombies, they were extremely destructive to the troops and fortifications. Most of the casualties were caused by these zombies, and the troops had limited ability to retaliate, causing them to constantly give up their positions.
Today, the unstoppable Type 2 zombies were unable to advance under the heavy firepower. Under the cover of the heavy firepower, the soldiers tried their best to kill the evolved zombies and normal zombies, causing the corpses of the zombies to pile up higher and higher, blocking the mountain road for a while.
The mountain path was blocked, but it could not stop the S2 zombies. They were more agile and good at climbing. As long as they were not squeezed by other zombies, they would not be easily hit by bullets. At this time, if they did not have a good plan, they would be able to break through the blockage at the entrance, causing the resistance in front to disappear. Without the resistance in front, no matter how hard the soldiers tried, they would not be able to stop the zombies from advancing. At most, they could only make a last ditch effort before the zombies blocked the path.
More than 10 mountain paths were broken through in this manner. The only thing the soldiers could do was to delay the zombies as much as possible, but this delay would only get shorter as more and more S2 zombies appeared.
The original plan was to defend the last pass, and at that time, all the bullets from the heavy machine guns would be concentrated, causing the zombies to pile up into a mountain of corpses. After that, they would burn the mountain of corpses, and when the fire was extinguished, they would continue to fire. This way, they would be able to delay the zombies as much as possible. Once they ran out of ammunition, it would be the end of the entire base. Of course, there was no need to do that now. After the Yangtze River Fleet was recalled, and Zhao Deyi was released, Huang Quan regained his confidence, and became more flexible in his tactics.
Tens of thousands of crossbow bolts rained down on the zombies' heads like torrential rain. As long as a zombie's head was hit, none of the zombies would be spared, and all of them would fall to the ground without a sound. Every time the heavy machine gun fired, 10 to 20 zombies would be torn to shreds, and the zombies would not be able to advance any further. Even if the S2 zombies and D2 zombies appeared, they would not be of much use. Crossbow bolts were not bullets, and the long shafts were the most annoying obstacle for the S2 zombies. Once they were tripped by the shafts, they would be pierced by more than 10 crossbow bolts. Not to mention the D2 zombies, they were useless in the rain of 12.7mm bullets.
Today's attack was the first time that the zombies were truly stopped. On the five mountain paths, five huge piles of corpses slowly piled up, gradually forming a 10 meter tall corpse mound. At this time, most of the zombies behind the mound were evolved zombies, and only these zombies could nimbly climb up the 10 meter tall corpse mound.
Suddenly, more than 10 glass bottles filled with defective Source Corrosion were thrown everywhere on the corpse mound. In the next moment, these bottles were all smashed, and the broken bottles emitted a light green smoke that slowly enveloped the corpse mound. Not long after, the entire corpse mound quietly shrunk, and then the thick smoke sank to the ground as the height of the corpse mound decreased, enveloping the zombies behind. An astonishing scene occurred, after the zombies were enveloped, they would emit a light green smoke, as though these zombies were like the Scattered Poison Zombies from the Dark Diablo, but this green smoke was only harmful to the zombies themselves.
Every zombie that was infected by the Source Corrosion was like it was being melted by strong acid, violently convulsing as it continued to shrink and collapse, and finally disappeared. The seemingly harmless green smoke seemed to be contagious, the zombies were crowded together, and the thick green smoke spread along the crowded zombies. No matter how many zombies were crowded together, and no matter how long the path was, the thick green smoke would always spread along the zombies' bodies.
Wherever the spreading green smoke passed, not a single zombie was left. The corpse mound that was previously shrouded had completely disappeared, and where it disappeared was a huge pit. In the pit, there was still half a pit filled with the Source Corrosion. This Source Corrosion was constantly shrinking, and after another half an hour, there was only a small amount of Source Corrosion left in the one meter deep pit, and it looked like it had been refined.
The soldiers used various postures to raise their crossbows or rifles, and all stretched out their bodies, tilting their heads to look at the depths of the Source Corrosion, and at the same time, a word flashed through their minds: "Plague".
It was a plague, as long as the zombies were touched by the Source Corrosion, they would immediately become the new source of the virus, and in the shortest time possible, the visible virus would spread to other zombies, and as long as they were touched, the zombies would quickly melt, just like the Corpse Decomposition Pool that formed in the gathering place.
"Don't just stand there, can't you see that the color of that thing is getting lighter and lighter … Prepare, prepare for the follow-up attack, two people go down and get me the thing in the pit, whether or not we can stop the zombies will depend on this thing …"
The one who shouted was Huang Quan, he stood at the top of the mountain and watched from start to finish. Other than the 25 pure Source Corrosion that Zhao Deyi had handed over, there was also a large box of substandard Source Corrosion. Originally, he had only intended to use it as the Corpse Decomposition Liquid, but he did not expect it to have a weapon effect, and this made Huang Quan very happy.
The collapse of the zombies suddenly happened on the five fronts, and at the same time, a large number of zombies and corpses were cleared, and all the soldiers immediately relaxed. They pointed at the empty mountain path below and whispered to each other, proud that they had such powerful weapons on their side. Everyone was happy with this unexpected harvest, and the only one who was not happy was Lu Xiaobu. He had already mobilized 10 armored vehicles and was prepared to launch a fierce counterattack, but who knew that when they were all ready, they would suddenly be attacked like this?
The sudden change in the rear caused the sea of zombies to panic, and the attacks that had been going on for the past few days suddenly came to a halt. Countless zombies were wiped out in a short hour, and this caused the Z-Types in the sea of zombies to feel confused and threatened. At this time, the rear of the sea of zombies suddenly received a new attack.
Zhao Deyi did not give his soldiers too much time to rest, and after retreating from the battlefield, he kept telling his soldiers how dangerous the base was, and how much the survivors were waiting for them to rescue them. This caused all the soldiers to be in a state of panic, and Zhao Deyi's actions made Gao Feng confused.
He felt that Zhao Deyi's troops had persevered for over 20 days, and after retreating, from top to bottom, everyone had lost at least 20kg of meat. They should not continue fighting, and what they needed most was rest. Similarly, Huang Quan had the same thoughts, and the cockroach base had also considered the situation of Zhao Deyi's troops. That was why Gao Feng's troops were the main attackers, and Zhao Deyi's troops were the support.
When Gao Feng asked Zhao Deyi, Zhao Deyi said, "Leading troops to war has to be done in one go. They have persevered for so long, and once they relax, they will need at least three months to recover. In the past, whenever there was a bloody battle, it was always like this after the troops retreated. Three months was to give them a period of mental recovery, so we cannot let them relax. We have to keep them in a battle-ready state at all times, and instill the concept of the final battle, and let them know that they are irreplaceable in the final battle. This way, their fighting strength and morale can be maximized …"
Gao Feng did not really understand Zhao Deyi's concept, but he did not oppose it. He was willing to hand over the command to Zhao Deyi, not because he was noble, but because the performance of the Marines on the battlefield made him feel uneasy.
A five hour drive allowed them to gather outside the cockroach base in the shortest time possible. When they reached the perimeter of the first wall, the vast plains and roads outside the wall were scattered with scattered zombies. The cockroach base was deep, but it could not accommodate millions of zombies. Moreover, at least one-third of the base was still in the hands of Huang Quan.
The assembled troops did not pay too much attention to the scattered zombies. The area of the zombies was not small, but the actual number was not as large as expected. There were less than twenty thousand zombies scattered over a dozen square kilometers. What really attracted everyone's attention was the towering wall.
The wall was originally the main defense of the base. It consumed a lot of materials and countless people to build it. It was wider and more majestic than the outer wall of the hot spring base. On top of the wall, one could vaguely see anti-aircraft cannons casually tilting. The huge corpse mound was a few meters above the wall. Along the corpse mound, one could see layers upon layers of zombies forming a huge slope. Each slope was piled up by tens of thousands of zombie corpses, and each slope was surrounded by several times the number of corpses.
The entire outer wall was like hell. Countless layers of corpses were piled up together, spreading out for thousands of meters. Among the corpses, there were scorch marks left by flames everywhere. Other than the corpses that had been eaten or rotted, most of the corpses were burned into a ball.
In addition, there were many large and small traps and trenches filled with zombies. The omnipresent corpse stench spread along the road. The corpse stench was something that Zhao Deyi's troops were already used to, but for the Marines, it was simply hell on earth. Many people squatted on the ground and vomited. The soldiers of the Third Brigade all stared at the wall that was surrounded by countless corpses.
The cloth bag in Ai Qingshan's hand quietly slipped and rolled on the ground, shaking out countless bullets. He still let the bullets fall at his feet, but his eyes were fixed on the countless corpses within a kilometer. At his feet, the thick black and grey dust had sunk half of his heels into the ground. He felt uncomfortable standing on these things.
"This is the bone dust that fell after the zombies' corpses were burned. In the past, it was because of the zombies' bone dust that blocked our line of sight that we lost the top of the wall. I didn't expect it to be the same here. Calculating, there should be at least 300,000 zombies that died outside the wall..."
Unknowingly, Zhao Deyi stepped on the soft bone dust and walked to Ai Qingshan's side. He stared at the countless corpses outside the wall and said in a deep voice. Ai Qingshan withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Zhao Deyi, who had a serious face, and asked doubtfully, "300,000?
So little?
Didn't you guys kill 300,000 zombies yesterday?
They can't be so useless, right? "
Ai Qingshan used the battle results of Zhao Deyi's troops yesterday to speak. With such a high wall and so many anti-aircraft cannons, how could it be so easy to occupy the wall with less than 300,000 zombies?
"Hehe, it's not strange. If it was my troops defending, they could only achieve this result. It's already good that they could take the initiative to defend to this extent. Yesterday was a coincidence. We had enough space to evade, and we were more mobile than the zombies. Also, 300,000 zombies would die one less, so there wouldn't be an endless tide of zombies..."
"What do you mean?"
Ai Qingshan didn't understand. Why was there such a big difference between defending and taking the initiative?
If defending was not easy, why was there a need to defend?
Why not take the initiative to attack and slowly eliminate the zombies like yesterday?
"You haven't seen the power of a million zombies tide. It's endless. Even if you have many comrades around you, you won't feel any sense of security. If you have been to the sea, you will know that a million zombies tide is like a raging sea. The endless sea will form a tsunami, sweeping everything towards you. It's impossible to shoot at the tsunami calmly, because before you can raise your gun, your heart will be filled with despair.
There was also the strategic space. In front of a million zombies, no amount of space was enough. The sea of zombies was not static, they would chase after you, causing you to tremble in fear. Without enough space to maneuver, without enough bullets, without enough transport vehicles, with only two legs, even a hundred thousand people would not be able to defeat a million zombies in the wilderness.
Fighting against zombies, in addition to planning and logistics, the most important thing is luck. Yesterday, we were lucky, we had enough bullets, enough vehicles, enough fuel, and space. There were only so many zombies, so we were able to kill them in a few hours. If it was another time, another place, or another opponent, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to do it... "
After saying that, Zhao Deyi didn't say anything more. He turned around and walked towards the peak, leaving Ai Qingshan in deep thought. Behind him, thousands of men and women from the 3rd Marine Brigade looked at the tragic wall with pale faces. The girls, led by his sister, kept retreating. At the back, a burly D2 zombie stood proudly, and beside it, a girl stood quietly.