Chapter 261: Chapter 261: Total mobilization
As the explosion hit the empty field in front of them, it gave much more hope to the soldiers who still had to stay behind.
"Everyone, keep firing! No need to save any ammo!" Han Bang yelled as the zombies were getting closer and closer to the inner walls.
Fortunately, the traps in front of the wall immediately start getting set off with landmines and booby trap holes, delaying the zombies for almost an entire wave.
But as wave after wave went by, the zombies only got more and more close as they finally touched the wall.
More alarmingly, hundreds of hunter mutants suddenly appeared from the zombie horde and managed to jump all the way up the walls.
"Watch out!"
Kate instantly opened fire at one of the hunters, who almost jumped onto Xiaoyun as he was focusing on a hunter from the other direction.
"Thanks."
As the ammo began to decrease rapidly, all the vehicles transporting the other regiments finally came back.
"Everyone off the wall now!" Han Bang issued as he noticed the cars coming from behind them.
All the soldiers immediately began heading towards the ten main staircases down as they formed a defensive circle around it.
When the vehicles finally got near the wall, the soldiers started retreating towards it as they moved back and continued to fire at the zombies who had already climbed up the inner wall.
Xiaoyun, along with Kate and Tianci, began retreating along with the soldiers as well, and his walkie-talkie suddenly got a message.
"Commander Xiaoyun, the artillery unit has been transported out," Wuli reported.
"Good, we're all heading out right now."
Xiaoyun closed the transmission as they finally got to the vehicles.
Everyone immediately hopped into their nearest cars, buses, or APCs as they scrambled to get inside.
But as all the vehicles became full, there was still almost an entire regiment that couldn't fit inside.
With the zombies getting closer and closer, all the soldiers were finally able to get inside the vehicle after severely overloading them to the point the vehicles could barely start up.
Still, it was fast enough to move away from the zombies as their vehicles began to gain speed.
"Whew, that was close..." Xiaoyun murmured as he was the last one to enter one of the buses.
"We definitely need way more vehicles. Like at least within the thousands."
Han Bang was stacked on top of two soldiers as he replied.
"Yeah, but we don't have the gas for that." Xiaoyun pointed out.
"Speaking of gas... Commander Xiaoyun, how do we get all the gases for the town?" Han Bang curiously asked.
Xiaoyun thought for a second, then decided to kick the can to avoid needing to explain how.
"You should ask Yezi. He's the one that sends out troops occasionally for gas stations."
Han Bang didn't ask again as the buses continued to drive toward the base.
---
When they got back to the base, it was already the afternoon.
As Xiaoyun got off the buses, he was immediately greeted by Yezi.
"You okay? You all rushed back so fast."
"Yeah, I'm okay. Where is Lingang's brigade and the ten regiments?" Xiaoyun asked as he couldn't see them on the field.
"I sent the injured one to the hospital and the rest back home to rest. What happened out there?"
"All of the zombie horde are heading toward the wall at the same time."
"All of them? Really?"
Yezi looked a little surprised as he knew Xiaoyun's plan was originally luring out one route at a time.
"Yes, why do you think we have to head back this early like this... Have you sent out scouts to make sure the zombies haven't chased us?" Xiaoyun asked urgently as he just realized it.
"I already sent them out when the ten regiments came back... And I sent them to join with the other regiment at the wall since they didn't face any combat."
As the two walked toward the outer wall, Xiaoyun could see those soldiers already standing alongside the regiments that stayed behind in the base.
"Yezi, do you think someone is leading the zombies?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked.
"At this point, I'm pretty sure yes. There is no way zombies can be this coordinated."
Xiaoyun and Yezi silently walked up to the wall as they realized the problem they were facing now was bigger than they had ever faced.
"Yezi, how many soldiers got back?" Xiaoyun finally spoke up as they stood on the outer wall.
"Around a thousand soldiers haven't made it back yet... And that's not including Han Bang's regiment, who came back with you."
Although Yezi said they hadn't made it back yet, both knew the chance of them surviving out there was almost zero in the face of the zombie horde.
"Think about the positive sides. You guys most likely killed millions of zombies in that single battle."
Yezi tried to cheer him up a little, but Xiaoyun stood in silence.
"I'm fine... You don't have to comfort me. I know the losses are unavoidable... but I just felt like perhaps I should have never gone through with that plan in the first place."
Xiaoyun finally spoke up again as he looked into the distance.
"If someone tells me they can kill over fifteen million zombies in Guangzhou with less than one hundred thousand losses, I wouldn't believe them."
Yezi paused for a second, then continued.
"Just for you to know... The town has lost less than three thousand. You should be proud of what you have done."
Xiaoyun looked much more cheered up as Yezi compared the drastic number they had faced.
Suddenly, Yezi's walkie-talkie started transmitting.
"Commander Yezi, the zombie horde is still approaching us... They are about three hours away from the pace they are going at." A scout reported.
"Keep tracking them," Yezi replied as he looked over to Xiaoyun.
"What should we do?" Yezi asked.
"I... I'm not sure if we can handle that many zombies... They are in the millions."
Xiaoyun thought back to the number of zombies he had seen on the outer and inner walls.
"Then you are suggesting we should abandon the town?" Yezi asked.
Xiaoyun seriously considered it for a second but shook his head in the end as he didn't want to abandon the people who trusted him as the town leader.
"There is simply no way to transport over eighty thousand people out to somewhere else... We have to stay put and fight this if we want to live."
"Then we should mobilize all able bodies to the wall... Almost everyone in the town had gone through mandatory training." Yezi immediately suggested.
"You're right. Let me go call Yuqi to issue that right now."
Two hours later...
As the scout reported the zombies to be within ten minutes of arrival, there were tens of thousands of civilians alongside the soldiers standing at both outer and inner walls.
On the ground, thousands of civilians were transporting as much ammo as possible and helping with the logistics.
"I never knew there were so many people willing to fight..." Yuqi murmured as she and Yueyue stood next to Xiaoyun at the outer wall.
"It's do or die. Nobody is going to get out of this alive if we can't hold this."
"It sure is odd seeing an old lady holding up a gun in her hand, though." Yueyue pointed out.
"She was willing to sign up for the wall defense rather than working behind at the logistics, so that's why she's there," Yuqi replied.
"Speaking signing up for wall defense, why are you two up here?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"I'm heading down later," Yuqi replied first.
"I know how to fire a gun. So I'd rather be up here with you than stay down there. You better not ask me to stay down——"
"Of course, I'm not going to ask you to stay down there. I know how good of a shot you are."
Xiaoyun quickly interrupted Yueyue before she could finish.
"Anyway, where are the others at?" Xiaoyun asked curiously.
"Mom and Shuli went to join in helping with the logistics. Nami and Lily went to school to take care of babies and young children at the daycare." Yuqi replied.
As Yuqi replied, everyone at the wall could see a large dust cloud forming in the distance as if there was a massive zombie horde incoming.
"Yuqi, you should head back down now."
Yuqi immediately headed back down as Xiaoyun took out his binoculars.
In the distance, he could see the first waves of zombies running toward the wall.
Xiaoyun took out his walkie-talkie and set the frequency to Wuli's, who is assigned to the artillery pieces that didn't get brought to battle earlier in the morning.
"Wuli, you can start firing the artillery when you are ready," Xiaoyun ordered and ended the transmission right after.
Within a minute, artillery shots began firing from behind. And explosions began appearing in the distance as they landed on the zombie hordes.