Chapter 74: Exercise

"Ha!"

"Duck!"

"Watch your back!"

The clearing was abuzz with voices as Gao Yuan, wielding a long sword, and the main Shield-bearer Zhang Zhe, put their strength together to prop up the long Shield.

Zombies began to swarm, and the once-dominant volunteers were now clearly on the verge of being completely wiped out.

Of course, the zombies were actors, people pretending to be the living dead, soldiers attacking the volunteers in the style of zombies.

So this was an exercise.

Facing a single zombie posed no suspense or danger, and a small team could take it down with extreme ease.

Two zombies were also not a problem.

Three zombies weren't a problem either.

But when four or five zombies rushed at them at once, a five-person team found it very difficult to manage, and casualties occurred from time to time.

If there were more than five zombies attacking together, unless there was a terrain advantage, casualties were certain, and in most cases, it would be a total wipeout, because once one person was knocked down, it triggered a chain reaction that doomed everyone.

So after several exercises, everyone now knew what their companions meant to them.

Don't even think about escaping alone if your companion dies; that's not a possibility. Either survive together or die together. In front of the zombies, true life and death solidarity was realized.

But this was the first large-scale exercise, and while casual injuries occurred in previous exercises, this time was different; it looked like a total annihilation.

Gao Yuan felt like he had returned to ancient times, facing an overwhelming tide of enemies, he felt completely helpless.

Ten squads, one company, against five hundred soldiers disguised as zombies, resulted in a total one-sided defeat.

But Gao Yuan had not been bitten or scratched yet; he always managed to swing his knife and strike one zombie after another, so miraculously, they had not yet fallen.

The defensive circle formed by a hundred people was breached, and the few dozen remaining formed a desperate formation that held for ten seconds before breaking again.

Now five Shield-bearers were protecting the four people inside who were still struggling desperately.

This was supposed to be just an exercise, but somehow, Gao Yuan and his group of volunteers were fighting fiercely.

Perhaps the memory was too painful?

"Ah!"

A Shield-bearer was grabbed which meant his certain death, and in panic, he threw away his Shield and lunged at the soldier in front of him, then the two of them tumbled to the ground together.

With one Shield gone, the last desperate formation immediately crumbled.

Zhang Zhe was dragged to the ground, and Gao Yuan swept his sword sideways.

Another tried to pin Zhang Zhe down, and Gao Yuan swept his blade again, then he ducked and turned, bringing his sword down overhead.

Taking a step forward, Gao Yuan wanted to protect Zhang Zhe.

"Ah..."

Gao Yuan's sword was fast, but eventually, someone bumped into him from behind, and then three people rushed at him, pinning him to the ground.

This was an exercise, but Gao Yuan forgot.

"Damn, you guys are really chopping!"

"It hurts! Killed!"

"This is a drill, damn it! Wake the fuck up, this is a drill!"

Countless people were yelling, and then Gao Yuan finally realized that this was just an exercise.

No one would die, but being hit with a stick wrapped in clothes still hurt.

People lying on the ground started to get up one after another, many of the soldiers who were hit were shaking their arms and rubbing their heads.

"Sorry, sorry, I got confused..."

"Ouch, really sorry."

Apologies were heard everywhere, and one volunteer completely broke down, sitting on the ground and crying out loud, as if he had really been eaten by the zombies.

He wasn't broken by the exercise; he was reminded of something.

Gao Yuan was let go, he sat on the ground, blankly being pulled up, someone yelled in his ear, "You did good!"

Gao Yuan looked bewildered at the person speaking. Liu Siming said with admiration, "I was counting for you, you chopped down sixteen zombies, you were the last one to fall among everyone, your movement is good, and so is your blade work."

Gao Yuan took a deep breath; of course, he was good, that was all thanks to Wei Guo's teaching.

Zhang Zhe also stood up, he looked around blankly for a while, unable to say anything, then simply picked up his Shield quietly.

Luo Xingyu was watching by the side, she ran to Gao Yuan and said with a crying voice, "Brother, it's fake, don't be afraid."

Gao Yuan forced a smile and said, "I'm fine, it's just acting, nothing to be scared of."

Luo Xingyu whispered, "You looked really scary just now, are you okay?"

Seeing people swarming over was indeed a psychological pressure not everyone could bear.

Gao Yuan nodded and then whispered to Luo Xingyu, "Go back quickly, we're acting, if Uncle Xiang sees this, we will both get scolded, hurry back."

Wang Weiguo indeed saw them, he and Wang Hu watched the exercise from a high position, but he didn't have the heart to deal with Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu right now.

Wang Hu sighed and said to Xiang Weiguo next to him, "This kind of exercise is enough for once, cancel the remaining squadrons' exercises, we can't continue, it will affect morale if we do."

This was the first large-scale exercise, originally all five squadrons were supposed to go through it, but the remaining exercises must be canceled.

Xiang Weiguo nodded and said softly, "The psychological trauma is too severe, I'm afraid they won't even have the courage to fight zombies if we do it a few more times, but it shouldn't be like this, a hundred volunteers against five hundred zombies, even if they are to lose, they shouldn't lose this quickly, they still didn't use the most reasonable way to respond."

Wang Hu asked, "So continue the exercises?"

Xiang Weiguo sighed and said, "We can't continue, we must take it slow, I have been a bit too hasty because I overestimated their psychological endurance, the following exercises must still be conducted, but we should reduce the scale."

Wang Hu exhaled and said, "We can't put them in places with too many zombies."

Xiang Weiguo said firmly, "Of course not, sending them into the city would be sending them to their deaths, but, how do you think this battalion would do in clearing a village?"

Wang Hu thought for a long time and said, "I think it would be enough, they should be able to clear a village without any problems, even with zero casualties."

Xiang Weiguo nodded and said, "Then we have achieved our goal, and the soldiers can be freed from these scattered tasks. If so, I think our attempt has been very successful."

Wang Hu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Let's wait for the actual combat, after the actual combat, if the results are really good, I will report to the higher-ups, suggest a wider rollout, when do you think we can go into actual combat?"

Xiang Weiguo thought for a while, then said, "In three days, find a place for a real battle, but we must choose the location carefully, the first battle must be flawless."