Chapter 58: The New Battle Plan
At the temporary camp on the outskirts of the garrison training base, this was already the third day since their arrival.
crouched behind an overturned armored personnel carrier, sweeping the northern side of the camp with his binoculars.
The field of view was completely clean—not even a single shambling figure.
"North side is clear." He lowered the binoculars and reported through his .
[Copy that. clearance rate across the entire area has reached 54%. Remaining targets are concentrated within a five-kilometer radius around .]
Three days had been enough for the led by to thoroughly clear out the vast majority of roaming zombies around the perimeters of the camps.
Even the more troublesome first-stage mutants were eliminated one by one through the tacit coordination between team members and the Robots.
Come to think of it, it was strange. There were clearly thousands of zombies here, yet not a single second-stage had appeared. Even the first-stage zombies were only sparsely scattered toward the outer areas.
, , and the others unanimously believed this most likely had something to do with the monster beneath . , meanwhile, speculated that it was probably a competitive relationship—only one could exist within a given area.
Ever since that roar had sounded from deep underground, had immediately called off all the reckless plans.
The team switched to a steadier strategy of attrition. Using the temporary camp as the center, they advanced step by step toward the interior of the base, consolidating each position along the way.
But unexpectedly, the high-risk target underground seemed quite "well-behaved."
Apart from letting out a muffled roar at a few fixed times each day, it showed almost no sign of actively attacking.
Every time it roared, the zombies in the camp that were relatively close would immediately, as if receiving a call to assemble, numbly move toward .
[It's "feeding."] 's electronic voice sounded on the command channel.
The footage shot by the drones was projected onto the screen of the temporary command vehicle.
In the center of the research building's first-floor lobby, the ground had collapsed into a pitch-black hole nearly three meters in diameter.
And the zombies that had been lured over, like dumplings being dropped into a pot, numbly jumped one after another into the abyss.
After that, sent a to sneak down inside.
It went down through the fire-exit passage on the side, all the way to the third basement level—the secret experimental base of days past.
In the footage, the thing was curled up in the space that had once been the main laboratory.
It was a monster with the tail of a serpent and the body of a human.
Its humanoid upper half was about three meters tall, its muscles knotted and covered in a web of dark-red blood vessels. It had no skin.
Its exposed, bright-red flesh was covered in countless rice-grain-sized, faintly quivering granulated growths, like some bizarre cluster of spores—dense enough to drive any trypophobe mad on the spot.
Below the humanoid form stretched a thick, powerful serpentine tail four to five meters long, covered in grayish-white scales, at this moment coiled in the center of the wrecked laboratory.
It had no distinct facial features, only a colossal mouth that could split open vertically. When gaped wide, it could easily swallow the torso of an adult.
The inner walls of the mouth were lined with hundreds of slender, barbed teeth stacked layer upon layer, like an enlarged version of some deep-sea fish.
And on either side of that enormous mouth ran a row of vertically aligned slits.
suspected they were a kind of sensory organ, because every time a drew near, those slits would open and close slightly, as if "sniffing" for something.
Its feeding motions were efficient and savage, and the speed at which it tore through zombies was astonishing.
And every time it devoured a corpse, the growths on its body seemed to plump up a little more, as if it were still growing.
Only when all the lured zombies had been completely consumed would it roar again.
[Preliminary assessment: this possesses a certain degree of -horde guidance ability. Its sensory range is limited, and its habits lean toward passive predation. It may currently still be in some stage of development or evolution.] gave his analysis.
Based on this analysis, a new battle plan was drawn up.
Once they had figured out the monster's activity patterns, and the others' operations became bold and efficient.
Centering on the research institute, they marked out a safe distance, then, like experienced scavengers, patiently shuttled back and forth across every sector of the camp, clearing out zombies and recovering every piece of valuable equipment.
By the time the underground tunneling team led by burst out of the ground from a dry drainage ditch on the west side of the camp in their " " tactical vehicles, the above-ground portion of the entire camp had been almost completely cleared.
The two teams linked up smoothly.
Looking at the brand-new firearms that had fallen into their hands, the ammunition crates piled up like mountains, and the portable individual rocket launchers, portable anti-aircraft missiles, and other fine goods, everyone wore expressions of joy they could barely contain.
stood on the open ground, his hands trembling.
" , am I dreaming?"
The corners of 's mouth lifted slightly. "What dream? This stuff was always ours."
He turned to look at a few of the veterans in the team and said in a low voice, "Take inventory and record everything. Crate up and label all the portable weapons, sort them by category, and load them on vehicles. Send them back through the underground passage first."
Meanwhile, out on the open ground, there were the more than fifty still-intact ZBL-08 wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, ZTL-11 wheeled assault vehicles, and dozens of "Warrior" light protected assault vehicles that had been found.
These captured everyone's gaze even more. Even 's control wand trembled without pause when he saw them. So many vehicles without any damage at all—this was simply fantastic.
He had already braced himself: if the damage was severe, he would use his repair tools to salvage one vehicle at a time, since he had no ability to produce new ones now.
But now, dozens of intact vehicles fully satisfied the 's current needs, with some to spare.
Although the lack of tanks was a bit of a pity, the harvest from this operation could still be called abundant.
"These... drive them straight back," 's voice carried excitement as well. "Don't leave a single one behind. Anything else would be too wasteful."
After all the portable equipment had been transferred out in batches and properly secured, and the heavy vehicles had been inspected and were ready to start at any moment, the earlier caution was replaced by decisiveness.
With serious hardware in hand, their backbones naturally stiffened.
"Thoroughly clear the entire garrison. Kill the underground target." The new operational objective was passed unanimously at the impromptu meeting.
Step one of the plan: data recovery.
[Its perception isn't strong. As long as we don't make too much noise and don't actively go down to the third basement level, it most likely won't be disturbed.]
's voice sounded over the comms. [ , your operation can still be completed.]
[But... are you really sure you want to do this?]
Early morning, outside .
stood in front of a set of " " exoskeleton armor, visibly a little nervous as she flexed her wrists.
Beside her were and , already fully equipped and moving their bodies to get used to the armor.
They were silently doing warm-up movements, feeling the strength amplification the armor provided—far beyond their own physical limits.
"Yeah, I still want to try." 's voice was calm, but her tone was exceptionally resolute.
"Everything here is my work—no, not just mine. It's the painstaking effort of many people. Countless brilliant minds relied on the most complete equipment to get the research this far."
"If we started over from scratch, who knows how long it would take. So I have to go try."
[Understood.]
walked over and checked the armor's locking clasps for her.
He didn't say any words of encouragement, just patted her shoulder plate.
"Stay close to me. Don't run off."
rolled her eyes. "Don't worry! I'm not a kid."
The research building's electronic access control had long since failed. stepped forward, grabbed the edge of the heavy metal door with both hands, and his arm muscles swelled faintly beneath the armor.
"Hiss—" The hydraulic assist system let out a faint release of pressure as the thick alloy door was wrenched open by sheer force, creating a gap.
slipped through immediately, raising his weapon in alert.
Behind him, watched his back, a flicker of relief passing through his eyes.
With —Director of the and of Team One—taking part in this operation, felt considerably more at ease.
Ever since joining the , , relying on his physique and fighting talent that far surpassed ordinary people, had beaten nearly every field operative.
Except for one person: .
He still remembered their last sparring session. His strength and speed clearly held the advantage, yet in front of , he still felt enormous pressure.
If he was even slightly careless, he could end up completely suppressed instead. This had left him with a deep impression of 's combat power.
"Clear." 's voice pulled him back from his memories.
and entered right after.
"Let's first see if we can activate the backup power. The main control room is on the second basement level." pointed toward the fire exit.
Three people and one machine quickly headed down.
In the stairwell, apart from the zombies' roars and the monster's chewing sounds, there were only the occasional faint noises from the armor's joints.
On the second basement level, and the others skillfully pried open the control panel and began connecting the wiring.
A few minutes later, along with a low hum of electric current, several screens in the main control room flickered to life.
Then sat down at the main console, pulled off her right glove, and pressed her thumb onto the scanner.
"Done." Her fingers then flew across the keyboard as she began downloading the experimental data. "It'll take twelve minutes."
Just then, a slight tremor came from beneath their feet, accompanied by a muffled, dull roar.
It was the monster.
and instantly tensed, their weapons pointing in unison toward the entrance to the third basement level.
Fortunately, the monster made no further moves. It seemed to just be stretching its body between feedings.
When the download was complete, unplugged the storage device, then took two palm-sized instruments from a cabinet beside her and packed them away with brisk movements.
then looked at . "I need to go to the sample vault. There should be a few last vials of the semi-finished there."
frowned slightly. "That's on the third basement level. The risk is very high."
"I know." stood up. "But the value of that stuff is worth us taking this risk."
***
On the other side, outside the research building.
was leading the other members of the in setting up 120mm mortars at the predetermined positions, muzzles aimed squarely at from afar.
Further away, several ZTL-11 wheeled assault vehicles had also adjusted their turret directions and entered standby status. They would be responsible for the second phase of the plan—eliminating the monster.
After finishing the deployment adjustments, had some free time.
When people are idle, they like to grumble. He looked at the ordinary combat uniform on himself, then thought of the three flashy exoskeletons in the building, and couldn't help complaining to over the comms channel.
"Brother , this isn't fair! We agreed that when there's new equipment, I'd have priority! How come there's no share for me?"
[I know, I know.] 's tone carried a hint of helplessness. [But right now I've only managed to find these three sets in total! Who told you to lose to your old ?]
[Besides, is a researcher. This is a special case handled specially. When the mission is over, the extra set goes to you. That works now, right?]
Only then did settle down a bit. "That's more like it."
In truth, didn't want to be stingy either, but this stuff was simply too expensive.
The materialization cost of a single set of " " armor was a full one thousand —three sets meant three thousand.
That was more absurd than outright robbery. The markup was simply too high. After all, one of his drone swarms only cost 8,000 points!
The cost-performance ratio was shockingly low, so he had already opened up the blueprint parameters to the few professionals at the with mechanical engineering backgrounds.
He hoped they could, based on the existing industrial capacity, simplify it into a downgraded version suitable for mass production.
For the black-tech parts, they could first try to find passable substitutes and make a "youth version." Once the industrial level caught up in the future, they could consider fully reproducing it.
Otherwise, this would be a complete waste of .
Just as was lamenting the waste, a violent tremor struck the ground with no warning at all!
Boom—!
and the others, caught completely off guard, were shaken so hard they almost lost their footing.
"What's going on? An earthquake?" steadied himself and hurriedly shouted into the comms channel. " ! How are and the others?"
Amid the chaos, 's calm voice sounded.
[The good news is, they found the last undamaged samples.]
[But the bad news is, they've been discovered.]