Chapter 64: Propaganda
On the third floor of the mall, and the others still hadn't snapped out of that entrance fit for a god descending to the mortal world.
But the monsters below had already turned around.
After a brief silence, whether it was the shambling zombies or those slick "water ghosts," all of them, as if provoked, howled and surged toward the arrogant figure atop the ruins.
But the very next second, they understood precisely where that arrogance drew its confidence from.
At the feet of the silver-gray "iron man," six even more solid steel figures silently emerged from the shadows of the ruins.
They resembled a kind of mechanical spider, four articulated legs gripping the ground firmly. On their flat, diamond-shaped main bodies, shoulder-mounted micro-missile launch pods opened simultaneously, revealing dense honeycomb launch ports within.
The shoulder-mounted micro-missile pods opened.
"Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh—"
Piercing sounds of tearing air merged into a single sustained scream. Dozens of micro-missiles, trailing white exhaust, instantly blanketed the street ahead.
A chain of explosions swallowed the entire street in fire. Dark-red flesh cocoons, gray-black zombies, everything was blasted into fragments scattering across the sky.
The street, dozens of meters wide, along with the hundreds of monsters crowding it, was cleared in an instant, leaving behind only a still-burning dead zone covered in shredded flesh and craters.
At the third-floor window, 's jaw nearly hit the floor.
"Holy..." his voice came out dry. "What are those things? Robots with missiles?"
instinctively glanced at the 40mm rocket launcher he'd been cradling like a treasure, then looked at the spectacular rain of missiles in the distance.
A nameless sense of defeat rose in his chest. When it came down to it, his caliber just wasn't big enough!
And it wasn't over yet.
Before the smoke and dust of the explosions had even settled, the dull roar of engines sounded, growing from far to near.
Five ZBL-08 wheeled infantry fighting vehicles lined up in a row, rolling over the flesh and debris scattered across the ground. Their 30mm autocannons plowed wide lanes of death through the remnants of the horde.
An operation that had originally been intended as a search-and-rescue smoothly turned into a cleanup operation on the spot. After all, if the reservoir was to be brought under the 's control, was destined to be reclaimed anyway.
This was just happening a bit earlier than planned. Now that they had firepower, and the others were perfectly at ease.
When you've got no equipment, calling me a "survivor" is fine—I won't hold it against you. But now that I'm packing serious gear, what exactly should you be calling me?
Inside the armored vehicle, looked at the street that had been thoroughly plowed by firepower and asked calmly over the comm channel: " , how are the people in the mall?"
[Third floor of the mall: sixteen adults, plus a child of around ten or so. Body temperatures normal, heart rates a little elevated.]
's voice sounded right on cue. [Preliminary assessment: all are normal human survivors.]
"Understood."
had originally planned to take a squad to check on the reservoir early this morning, but on the way, he'd discovered traces of a firefight and monster carcasses he'd never seen before, so he adjusted his plan on the fly.
He sent Team One and Team Two, along with the , to continue investigating the reservoir, while he led Team Three to personally track the trail all the way here. Seeing the abnormally concentrated horde, he confirmed that survivors might exist.
***
On the third floor, and his people were completely dumbfounded.
"I... h-holy..." 's tongue was tying itself in knots. "Where did they get this much heavy hardware? And that ammunition—they're dumping it out like it's free!"
stared fixedly at those strange machines of terrifying power, his gaze heavier than it had ever been.
"Brother Chuan, do you think... could they be official troops?" leaned in and asked in a low voice.
"Hard to say." took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "But making this much noise—aren't they afraid of drawing something even bigger and more dangerous from nearby?"
As if answering his words, a deafening roar came from deep within the county town.
A giant canine , its body the size of a truck and covered in filthy rotting flesh, smashed through obstacles along the way and charged onto the battlefield on a wave of stench.
Its crimson eyes locked onto the lead infantry fighting vehicle. Muscles flexed across all four limbs as it surged forward at an astonishing speed.
"Here it comes!" 's face turned white.
But the convoy below seemed to have been prepared all along.
30mm autocannons, 105mm rifled guns, 120mm mortars—every barrel opened fire at the same moment.
High-explosive shells screamed out, armor-piercing rounds tore through the air. After one volley, the missiles on the Robots' shoulders were already preparing to launch again...
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Terrifying shockwaves strangled its forward momentum. Shells blasted one bloody hole after another into its body. The tough rotting flesh was torn away in great sheets and flung into the air, exposing the raw, churning tissue beneath.
[Careful. This is probably a ' ' as well. Watch out for any possible ranged attacks.]
's voice sounded in 's ear.
"Understood. All vehicles, fall back and spread out, but keep the fire coming." gave the order in a low voice.
Sure enough, protected and cushioned by that layer of rotting flesh, it bought itself a brief moment to catch its breath.
Then, it seemed to try gathering some kind of energy for a counterattack, a faint green flame flickering in its mouth.
But unfortunately for it, in the face of modern coordinated firepower, an overlong wind-up is the original sin.
Before the flame could even take shape, a micro-missile from a drilled straight into its mouth.
The next second—boom!
The monster's entire head, along with a good half of its body, dissolved into a spray of flying chunks in an even more violent internal explosion.
The massive headless corpse slid forward a few meters, then crashed to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.
Up on the third floor, dead silence.
's mouth hung open. It took him ages to squeeze out a single word: "Holy shit!"
took a deep breath and slowly released it.
A monster like that could have chased their entire convoy, running them ragged like dogs.
Even pooling all their firepower, they'd have taken it down only at the cost of terrible casualties.
But now, before these people, the monster hadn't even gotten a chance to get close.
This was no longer a matter of who was stronger. It was a gap in the sheer tier of firepower.
"Hah..." let out a long breath, shrugged helplessly, and looked at the steel force methodically mopping up the battlefield below. He smiled wryly:
"No matter who they are... at least... they came here to save people. That should make them the good guys, right?"
Even if his whole convoy attacked together, they'd be hard-pressed to win against that kind of firepower! For now, all he could do was hope these people weren't a bunch of bad apples.
***
Just a few minutes later, the battlefield had been cleaned up completely.
The remaining zombies on the perimeter were also driven off by sound waves broadcast from the loudspeakers, receding like a tide into the depths of the streets and alleys.
By the time led his people down from the third floor, the person in the silver-gray armor had already removed his helmet, revealing a young but composed face.
"Hello. I'm , , ."
stepped forward and extended his hand: " . Thank you for being willing to lend a hand—otherwise, we would have been in serious trouble."
"It's our duty. Clearing the surrounding area and receiving survivors is exactly what our department does." shook his hand, his gaze sweeping over the dozen-plus people behind him. "Where are you all from?"
"The southwest. We drove all the way here. The main group is camped outside ."
"That must not have been easy!" nodded.
At that moment, the little girl suddenly burst out from behind , crying: "The reservoir! There are still children at the reservoir! and the others are still there!"
"Please, save them!"
" , right?" asked gently.
The girl nodded hard.
"Don't panic." 's voice carried a reassuring strength. "The ones you're talking about— , , , , , , and a child named —seven in total, right?"
froze. Then she nodded even faster, her head bobbing so rapidly it looked like it might snap off her neck.
"Don't worry, they're fine." smiled slightly. "Another one of our teams, on the way to the reservoir, already rescued them halfway there."
"R-really?" The girl's voice trembled. Those eyes, dull and parched from exhaustion and fear, finally kindled with light.
raised his wrist and opened the communication channel on his , switching it to Team One's frequency.
A chaotic mix of crying and laughter immediately poured out of the card.
"Sis! Is that you, Yiyi-jie?!" A boy's voice burst through the noise, choked with tears. "Are you okay?! You're really okay?!"
" ! I'm fine! Are you guys okay?!" 's lips trembled violently.
"We're all fine! Soldier uncles came to rescue us! They have so many yummy snacks." Another young girl's voice cut in.
"Mm..." nodded with all her might, tears streaming down her face, her voice growing softer and softer. "That's good. As long as you're all okay..."
Her voice trailed off. The moment her taut nerves relaxed, an overwhelming tide of exhaustion crashed over her.
The girl's body went limp, and she pitched forward.
, quick of eye and hand, reached out and caught her steadily.
Only after confirming that the girl had merely fainted from exhaustion did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
After was settled, the two sides continued their exchange.
"This convoy of yours... how large is it?" asked.
"Forty-something vehicles, just over three hundred people." answered truthfully. "We came all the way from . We figured there might still be government people up north, so we just kept driving."
explained his group's situation: they had fled all the way here from the southwest, the main force was still camped outside , and they'd originally planned to continue north in search of a way forward.
"Don't worry. Once you're here, you don't need to go any further." said offhandedly.
Those words made and the others' expressions shift.
immediately realized the ambiguity and hastily added: "What I mean is, warmly welcomes every law-abiding survivor to join us."
"You've come all this way. From now on, no more drifting."
He could tell that this group—able to organize such a large convoy in the apocalypse and willing to risk themselves to save an unrelated little girl—had both character and capability.
These were the kind of high-quality survivors they should be doing their utmost to recruit.
"Join?" pondered for a moment.
Seeing him still hesitating, didn't push. He switched to a more relaxed tone: "Even if you don't want to join right away, no problem."
"You can come check out our place first. Think of it as being allies."
"I guarantee we've got plenty of supplies. Even just trading with us for provisions beats gambling on your own luck out there."
"Besides," added, "the supplies in this area have basically been cleaned out by us already. With three hundred-plus people, you won't find much to eat in ."
looked at the young soldier before him—behind him were infantry fighting vehicles, robots, and black-tech weapons he'd never laid eyes on.
If the man had hostile intentions, he wouldn't have bothered with an invitation at all.
"Alright." smiled. "We'll go with you."
***
The convoy turned around and headed back toward along the road they'd come from.
Halfway there, a modified pickup truck approached head-on from the front. The young man with the started honking from far away.
"Brother Chuan!" leaned half his body out the window. "You're finally back! This county town is cursed—the supermarket's been completely emptied by someone. Not even a crumb of instant noodles left!"
"I also found some kind of ' ' sticker label. Come take a look—"
His words came to an abrupt halt.
Because he saw what was behind 's vehicle.
Five infantry fighting vehicles painted in digital camouflage, three assault vehicles, and several robots that looked straight out of science fiction.
And a figure covered entirely in silver-gray... armor?
's mouth hung open, and it stayed that way for a long time.
"Stop staring." reached a hand out the window and patted his door. "These are the people from that you were talking about. We're going back with them."
"Huh? Oh! A-alright!"
And so the group rendezvoused with " " and the others had sent out to scavenge supplies. After a brief explanation, they joined the formation too.
After that, went back and rallied the massive convoy of forty-plus vehicles, over three hundred people in total, and they set off in great force, following 's unit toward .
***
When the convoy entered , everyone was stunned by what they saw.
Clean. Too clean.
There wasn't a single wandering on the streets! How long had it been since they'd seen city streets this quiet?
...Alright, not exactly quiet.
Because on the lampposts lining both sides of the street, loudspeakers hung at intervals, broadcasting some rather bizarre slogans on a loop in a passionate, rousing tone.
"—Welcome, survivors, to Anlan, ! You are now entering the radiation-safe zone of the national 5A-rated , ! Keep your eyes on the cooling towers in the distance—that is the direction of hope!"
"Still worried about zombies? Still stressing over food? Come to ! Nationally certified 5A safety—a five-star home, just for you!"
"Special bulletin! Special bulletin! Latest from this station: multiple second-stage mutants, including 'Rot-Beasts' and ' ,' have been successfully slain by our forces! Dawn Technology—miles ahead! Choose Dawn, and you're choosing a future of victory!"
"Choosing a ? Choose Dawn! Around-the-clock nuclear power—stronger than hydro, cleaner than coal! The choice of 867 survivors—a name you can trust!"
" is equipped with the world's most advanced AI security system, guarding your safety 24 hours a day, from every direction! From first-stage to tenth-stage mutants (okay, we're bragging), all a piece of cake!"
Listening to these slogans, the corner of 's mouth twitched.
leaned over from the back seat, his expression complicated: "Brother Chuan, is this an apocalypse ? It sounds like some property development launch."
At that moment, almost everyone in the convoy had gone blank.
They even briefly forgot their vigilance, forgot their tension. Only one thought remained in their minds: this ... is it actually legitimate?
Under his helmet, listened to the slogans and " " had cooked up between them, and the corner of his mouth gave a faint twitch as well.
Seriously, couldn't they just act normal? Huh?
To keep his composure, he decisively changed the subject: "Brother Gu, with this many people, it couldn't have been easy coming all the way from the southwest, could it?"
"Ah? Oh... yeah, it was pretty hard." pulled his gaze away from the loudspeakers, nodded, and said with lingering fear: "Especially around City. We ran into a strange, eerie fog."
"We lost dozens of people just to break out of it. The things inside that fog... too terrifying!"
nodded with deep feeling: "Right. That kind of fog is very dangerous. We've had it on our side too."
"It's appeared in District, , and around the ."
"The monsters inside start at third-stage at minimum. It makes everything a pain. Truly dangerous and troublesome. If only we could take one of those down someday."
's expression froze.
On their entire journey, they had only encountered that fog once, and it had already cost them nearly forty people—the most devastating loss of the whole trip.
But from what you're saying, there was more than one place with fog here? And what did "third-stage" even mean? Some kind of monster ranking?
"What's wrong?" noticed his expression and asked, puzzled.
"N-nothing!" forcibly suppressed the storm in his heart and casually changed the topic: "Besides the fog, we also ran into a monster with white wings, like a bird-man. Its speed was insane, and it was extremely dangerous."
"Oh, a ' ,'" said with deep agreement. "That thing really is broken—fast, tough, and high damage output."
"Our boss paid a considerable price to kill three of them."
"Right, that thing basically can't be kil—killed?" 's voice jumped half an octave. "You've actually killed them?!"
asked back matter-of-factly: "Yeah. Why?"