Chapter 202: Minefield

It's hard to describe, but it's full of desperation.

The Serpent People could certainly detect the Expeditionary Army on the ground; they were not simply ignoring them. They were just waiting for the right place, the right moment, and then they would launch an attack.

Some memories simply could not be forgotten. Thinking about the tragic fall of Shimen Shelter No.2, thinking about Wang Hu, a regimental commander, who could only lead zombies away with a gun, Gao Yuan couldn't help but feel panicked.

"The Serpent People could have easily wiped out our entire Expeditionary Army on the road, but they didn't. They waited until we arrived at the Guisui Shelter and then suddenly attacked. Why, why is that!"

Xinghe thought for a moment and said, "It's simple. The Serpent People are conducting experiments. They are searching for effective methods to eliminate humanity, methods that are swift and effective."

"Experiments?"

Xinghe calmly explained, "You are seeking a method to completely exterminate a species, and this species is more resilient than you imagined. Now, you see a large-scale migration of this species; so do you exterminate this migratory group entirely, or do you treat them as samples for research? That depends on the choice of the researchers."

In other words, humans are like fish on the chopping board, and the Serpent People stand aloof above all, their every action merely research rather than the complete eradication of every human they see.

There are still many large human settlements on Earth. If the Serpent People intended to personally eliminate them, they could have done so long ago, but they haven't. They still have hundreds of years to research how to exterminate humanity more efficiently.

But Gao Yuan just wanted to know whether the presence of Xinghe attracted the Serpent People's attacks.

"When you were at Shimen Shelter No.2, it was attacked. Now you have arrived here, and immediately the Serpent People are here again. I'm wondering if it's you who have brought the Serpent People. Don't get me wrong, I'm not accusing you; I just want to understand the correlation."

Only Gao Yuan could say such things, and his question was also that of Zhao Qiang and many others.

Xinghe thought for a moment and replied, "No, the first time at Shimen Shelter No.2, it must have been the Serpent People detecting my trail, so they launched an attack on Shimen Shelter No.2. But this time, it's impossible because I haven't done anything that would allow the Serpent People to discover me. So, I believe the only explanation is that the Serpent People detected this migrating troop of the Expeditionary Army, which prompted them to attack. You all must understand something: any species that can still carry out large-scale migration will certainly attract the Serpent People's attention. When we observe an intelligent species, any abnormal behavior will draw our attention and analysis. As a civilization capable of interstellar colonization, the Serpent People would certainly do the same."

Just then, Liu Muyang hurried over with some people. He only glanced at Gao Yuan and Xinghe and immediately said, "Follow me to the command center!"

Gao Yuan and Xinghe got up and walked out. As they left, Gao Yuan saw Yu Shunzhou and the others already assembled.

Gao Yuan waved to Yu Shunzhou and the others and said, "Follow me!"

Yu Shunzhou and the other three left the formation and came up behind Gao Yuan. At this point, no one stopped them, including Zhao Qiang.

Liu Muyang said hurriedly, "Gao Yuan, you've experienced the battle at Shimen Shelter No.2; the command center needs your advice."

Though he talked about needing Gao Yuan's advice, it was Xinghe whom Liu Muyang was really looking at.

After saying this, Liu Muyang grabbed the walkie-talkie and urgently said, "Attention to all units of the Expeditionary Army, all soldiers of the Expeditionary Army are to be the reserve force, ready to join the battle to support the defense of Guisui Institution No.1 at any moment. Officers above the rank of platoon leader are to keep their radios on, while others should place their radio devices in storage boxes for safekeeping to prevent enemy electromagnetic interference, over."

The Expeditionary Army and the defenders of Guisui Institution No.1 were two separate forces. With the battle imminent, naturally, they had to fight together under unified command. There could no longer be distinctions between them.

Liu Muyang finished speaking into the walkie-talkie, then turned to Gao Yuan and said urgently, "If the defense line fails, take her and run! Forget everything else, understand?"

"Yes, I understand!"

Liu Muyang led Gao Yuan and Xinghe into the command center. Zhao Qiang and the others were still reluctant to leave Xinghe, but at this moment, they all stood in a corner to avoid interfering with the battle command.

As soon as Liu Muyang entered the command center, he asked urgently, "What's the situation now?"

"There are twelve kilometers to Guisui Institution No.1, and another 1500 meters to enter the first line of defense."

There were several display screens in the command center, apparently showing the images from surveillance cameras, but the screens showed no zombies, only the thawing desert tundra of early spring.

"They've appeared!"

A staff member shouted, pointing at the monitor screen, "Alien spacecraft, one! The sound equipment has captured ultrasound, 21000 hertz! It can be roughly confirmed that the alien spacecraft uses ultrasound to control and command the zombies!"

The commanding officer yelled, "Has radar detected anything?"

"Radar! Has radar detected anything?"

"There is no radar detection at all!"

Liu Muyang turned to Xinghe and whispered, "How is this possible? Do you know how our radar works? If you do, how could the Serpent People achieve this?"

Xinghe thought briefly and said, "It's simple—there are many ways to do it. They could interfere with radar reflections, or turn themselves into a signal black hole. There are many methods, all quite simple."

Liu Muyang let out a sigh and said, "I see, thank you."

"The zombie horde is about to enter the fire coverage area! To begin firing, please instruct!"

The commanding officer seemed very anxious; he clenched his fist and turned to look back at Liu Muyang.

Guisui Institution No.1 was built in a gully, which was a major advantage compared to Shimen Shelter No.2, surrounded by plains on all sides. The advantage was enormous because the zombies had to come through the narrow valley, rather than coming from every direction like at Shimen Shelter No.2.

Artillery fire would exterminate a massive number of zombies, but it would reveal the gunners' positions too soon, and the Serpent People had absolute control of the skies, allowing them to attack the artillery positions anytime, anywhere, at will.

To kill a large number of zombies now or to save firepower for the most critical moment was a choice that the overall commander had to make.

The artillery positions at Shimen Shelter No.2 gradually fell silent, not because they had run out of shells—running out of shells was impossible for them—therefore, the only explanation was that the Serpent People had attacked the artillery positions.

The overall commander at Guisui Institution No.1 slammed his hand down on the table fiercely, then he raised his hand, but it paused midair.

"Order the artillery, concentrate all firepower on coordinate area three, stand by for the fire command!"

The overall commander at Guisui Institution No.1 made up his mind to abandon the first line of fire interception.

Countless zombies passed over the cameras, and in all five screens, some camera angles were on the ground, some in the trees, but without exception, all five surveillance screens showed only zombies, swarming like a tide.

The image suddenly switched, and the close-ups were all replaced with long shots.

It was daytime now, but the images in the cameras were still oppressively dark.

"Zombies are about to enter the pre-set minefield! The front of the zombie horde is 8,000 meters from our shelter, attention, zombies are about to enter the minefield!"

To deal with brainless zombies, there is no need for concealment when setting up minefields.

On their way to Guisui Institution No.1, Gao Yuan and the others repeatedly encountered what could be described as a minefield museum.

All sorts of mines, but they were not just mines—any explosive device that could not be thrown from a distance and was capable of detonating was densely packed along both sides of a road, and to avoid damage from wind and sun, those mines, or bombs, were protected with sheds, caves, storage boxes, and other long-term storage measures to ensure the bombs wouldn't fail.

"The electronic fuzes in the minefield are working properly."

"The minefield's electronic fuzes are activated."

"Personnel working in the minefield withdraw to the safety points."

"Switch to overhead monitoring."

The images on the five screens switched again, this time all the angles showed long shots, clearly from cameras set up on the nearby mountaintops.

This geographical advantage was too great—Gao Yuan suddenly envied Guisui Institution No.1. If Shimen Shelter No.2 also had this Daqing Mountain, perhaps the outcome might have been different.

Shimen Shelter No.2 could only use bodies as a barrier, but Guisui Institution No.1 was nestled in the embrace of Daqing Mountain; this was the advantage of the terrain, the complete and utter advantage of the terrain.

"Ten seconds to entry... five-second countdown!"

With a boom, a landmine exploded, not a manually controlled blast, but one triggered by a landmine.

"Three, two, one, detonate!"

An exploding landmine could not achieve much, but a manually remotely detonated one-thousand-kilogram aerial bomb allowed Gao Yuan, who was eight kilometers away, to hear the tremendous explosion.

A large crater appeared on the ground, and the aerial bomb, suspended five meters above the ground on a wooden frame, still created a large pit upon exploding, but not very big because it was an airburst.

In the crowded valley, the zombies now formed concentric circles; a hundred meters ahead and a hundred meters behind, zombies within this distance vanished instantly, and extending outward another two hundred meters, all the zombies were downed, barely any were able to move.

"Good!"

Not just Gao Yuan, but the overall commander of Guisui Institution No.1 also shouted loudly.

The defense force of Guisui Institution No.1 was the Army, but they had emptied the Air Force's arsenal, since airplanes couldn't take to the skies and the Air Force had lost its role, it made sense to employ aerial bombs on the ground instead.

But the zombies, like a relentless tide, quickly filled the gap created by the aerial bombs, and no zombie would shrink back.

Landmines were just a trim, serving as an early warning; the truly effective killing devices were those bombshells, ranging from a minimum of two hundred fifty kilograms to the largest three-thousand-kilogram aerial bombs!

Near the aerial bombs, there were no landmines, because the blast wave would destroy them, but the issue could be avoided with a reasonable arrangement of mines and bombs.

As the zombies advanced, one landmine after another began to explode; however, compared to the one-thousand-kilogram aerial bomb just now, the current mines seemed trivial.

"Prepare to detonate, three, two, one! Detonate!"

Another deafening explosion roared, and by the time the sound waves reached the command center, the explosion sounded like distant thunder. Coupled with the sound-gathering effect of the valley and the echo, a single blast had a continuous, thunderous rumble.

Liu Muyang took a deep breath and said, "This battlefield monitoring system is really good!"

The overall commander of Guisui Institution No.1 said solemnly, "Yes, it was just completed and put into operation less than a month ago, and now it has indeed played a significant role!"