95th Chapter: Artillery Fire

The zombies were increasing in number.

Brainless zombies should be easy to deal with. As long as one put their mind to it, humans with organization and weapons should be able to clear them out in due time.

Luring the zombies into a trap and using fire to deal with them, of course, that's possible. Lure them into a canyon, bury explosives to detonate, set fires, sweep both sides with machine guns, and if that doesn't work, bombard them with cannons or crush them with tanks.

All of these methods are feasible, but there's just one problem.

How to control the number of zombies lured out?

If there were only a hundred zombies, a thousand, or even ten or a hundred thousand, it would be easy to deal with—too easy, in fact.

But what if there were at least five million zombies in a city? How could one deal with that?

What would be the point of luring zombies out of the city one by one? And if a large number were lured out, then what to do when there were too many?

If a thousand zombies come out and you can deal with that, what about ten thousand? What about a hundred thousand? Could you simply bury landmines and count any zombies killed after the evacuation as a win?

That would be far too irresponsible. Zombies were mainly concentrated in cities. Rural and suburban areas had fewer zombies, so humanity still had a chance for survival. But if a massive horde of zombies were to be lured out and then couldn't be dealt with, the consequences would be unpredictable.

If the people didn't evacuate and were determined to eliminate all the lured zombies, then one must brace for a certain prospect.

Not a single person sent out would return. Humanity would be pitted in a war of attrition against the zombies because the zombies wouldn't stop chasing after people. So those sent out would have to wipe out all the zombies or be wiped out themselves. Moreover, they would have to accept the consequence of every zombie in the city being drawn out by the explosion noises.

Just like what was happening now.

Whether the aliens could control the zombies or were using noise to draw them out, the fact remained that the zombies were multiplying.

There were more than the machine guns could handle.

Even if the bullets were unlimited, the machine guns had their limits, such as when the barrels overheated.

"Water! Cool it with water!"

Zhang Zhe's machine gun hadn't stopped firing since it started, as there simply was no opportunity to stop shooting. The barrel of his gun was already showing a dark red hue, and this was after firing less than five belts of ammunition.

Firing five belts of ammunition in half an hour is very different from firing five sixty-round belts in one go.

Each machine gun position was equipped with water for the inevitable red-hot barrels caused by continuous firing.

When changing the ammunition belts, the gun case was already too hot to handle.

Gao Yuan loaded the sixth belt of ammunition, while Li Xiaodong picked up the water can and poured water down the barrel.

With a sizzling noise, steam rose above the machine gun, and Zhang Zhe, meanwhile, raised the barrel and opened fire again on the zombies that had reached halfway up the wire fence.

The fact that the wire fence hadn't collapsed yet was a miracle.

Many sections of the wire had been severed by bullets, and the steel pipes that supported the weight every three meters had been hit multiple times. In some places, the wire couldn't hold the weight of the zombies and began to bend backwards.

A zombie clambered over the bodies to mid-air, and then, miraculously, it leapt from above the wire fence.

Upon landing, the zombie immediately sprinted toward the nearest machine gun position, even though it was quickly torn to shreds by machine gun fire; this was an extremely dangerous sign.

The wire fence was about to fail in holding back the zombies.

"Change the belt!"

Zhang Zhe's voice had become hoarse, and although he hadn't shouted much, he had nearly lost his voice.

With one hand, Gao Yuan opened the feed cover, pressed the ammunition down, closed the cover, while Li Xiaodong poured the remaining half bucket of water over the machine gun.

One sixty-round belt was finished in less than ten seconds.

The rule against firing in rapid succession had long been thrown out the window, because firing in bursts now wouldn't waste bullets.

Gao Yuan felt increasingly cold inside, but he thought of nothing.

Because he simply couldn't afford to think too much anymore.

If the zombies broke through the wire fence, there was no chance to even consider meeting up with Luo Xingyu—Gao Yuan couldn't afford to think about that at all.

"We can't hold them back…"

Li Changfeng cried out, he couldn't help but look back once and understood his fate. Then he slumped to the ground and said, "It's over, all over."

Gao Yuan couldn't help but roar, "Fuck your mother, where is the artillery?!"

Zhang Zhe raised his gun's muzzle once more—the wire fence was already leaning inward as a whole, about to completely collapse.

Just as Gao Yuan finished cursing, a flash of light suddenly appeared outside the wire fence before his eyes.

Then came a thunderous explosion.

With a boom, Gao Yuan could even see countless limbs flying up into the air.

That huge noise was just the beginning.

Starting with one explosion, they began to go off one after another.

The strength of the explosions varied, but they were so dense that it was impossible to tell them apart.

After a series of booming noises, the zombies climbing the wire fence suddenly thinned out a lot—to the extent that Zhang Zhe could continue with controlled shots.

"Finally…"

Gao Yuan shouted this phrase, tears streaming down his face, because he was immersed in the relief of being saved. But he couldn't hear his own words.

Everyone was screaming, venting their emotions. Li Xiaodong was holding a bucket, jumping and pointing at the zombies, but it was completely inaudible what he was shouting.

Everyone seemed to be performing a mime.

It wasn't until Zhang Zhe slapped Gao Yuan hard on the arm, and then he quickly woke up like from a dream to change the ammo belt. Then he slapped Ma Zihang, snatching the spare ammo belt from his hands.

The artillery fire had finally arrived, but the fight wasn't over yet, there were still zombies climbing the wire fence despite the onslaught of shells.

The initial burst of artillery fire was the fiercest, but it soon thinned out.

The explosion was so close that everyone's ears were buzzing, but after a brief pause in the artillery fire, only a few zombies were left climbing the wire fence.

Zhang Zhe let go of the machine gun; he tapped his ears with both hands, then shouted, "Don't let down your guard, there are more behind! The shots are now interrupting the zombies' approach, but they will soon be climbing again. Cool down the guns, prepare for the next round of fighting!"

Li Xiaodong dropped the empty bucket and picked up another one, pouring water slowly onto the machine gun, but this time there was much less steam as the barrel wasn't as hot.

A rare moment of respite.

Zhang Zhe dug in his ears, pulling out a cigarette and asked Gao Yuan, "Got a light?"

"You're smoking now?"

"Smoke one, one less left."

Gao Yuan took out his lighter and handed it to Zhang Zhe, saying, "Here, it's yours. And, I've got some cigarettes left. After this battle, they're yours too."

Zhang Zhe smiled and replied, "Knew you had a stash, thanks in advance."

Gao Yuan glanced at the wire fence and said, "After this battle, everything I have is yours!"