thefictionvixens Chapter 100 Ruins
Chapter 100 Ruins
Chapter 100 Ruins
Upon arriving at the core assembly point, Second Lieutenant Wang Lei hurriedly went to the command post to report on the unexpected situation on the periphery the previous night and the personnel's whereabouts. When he returned, his expression was even more serious than before, a deep gloom hanging over his brow. He didn't say much, only gesturing for Xu Mo and the dozen or so survivors who had chosen to stay to follow him.
The group was led into a huge military tent. Xu Mo glanced around and was surprised to find Feng Dayong's familiar figure inside, sitting in a corner, silently checking his own weapons.
Seeing Xu Mo looking at him, Feng Dayong stood up, dusted himself off, and leaned closer, lowering his voice to say, "Brother Xu, you're staying too? I knew you were a smart guy." A knowing look crossed his face as he continued, "At this critical juncture, following the main force seems dangerous, but if we really split up to escort so many people back, who knows what kind of trouble might arise on the way. Staying here, at least with so many iron lumps and Jiangcheng people holding the line, we can do some odd jobs in the back—it's actually safer."
Xu Mo nodded; Feng Dayong's thoughts coincided with his own. In the apocalypse, sometimes seemingly safe choices hide greater risks, while seemingly dangerous environments can offer a glimmer of hope if one finds the right place.
After waiting in the tent for about half an hour, a middle-aged officer with the rank of captain and a sharp expression walked in. His gaze swept sharply over the survivors present. Without any pleasantries, he spoke directly, his voice loud and concise: "My name is He Hai, and I am the person directly in charge of your upcoming mission. Thank you all for choosing to stay and provide support. Without further ado, let's assign tasks."
He was extremely efficient, and quickly divided dozens of people into several groups, assigning them different auxiliary tasks, mostly non-combat positions such as material handling, evacuation of the wounded, and simple repair of the position.
Xu Mo and Feng Dayong were assigned to the same group, an arrangement that Xu Mo was quite satisfied with.
After a brief encounter, he could tell that Feng Dayong was an experienced and shrewd man who knew how to assess situations. Partnering with someone like that would save him a lot of unnecessary trouble and increase his chances of survival.
Captain He explained their mission to their group very clearly: "Your task is ammunition resupply, and you are responsible for position C-07. Every night from 8 PM to 8 AM the next day, ensure that the position has sufficient ammunition, especially heavy machine gun ammunition. In addition, if there are wounded soldiers on the position, you are responsible for transporting them back to the rear medical point. Do you understand?"
"Understood!" Xu Mo and Feng Dayong replied simultaneously.
"Okay, now go to the rest area and get some rest. Report to position C-07 for handover at 8 p.m. sharp."
The so-called rest area was a relatively intact and spacious factory building. It was densely packed with makeshift cots, where many exhausted combatants and a few survivors like them were fast asleep, their snores rising and falling.
Xu Mo noticed that each bed had a sign hanging above it, one side blue and the other white. When choosing an empty bed, one would flip the sign to white to indicate that the bed was occupied.
Xu Mo and Feng Dayong each found an empty bed, flipped the sign over, and lay down fully clothed.
Although physically exhausted, the environment was noisy, and since noon, there had been intermittent explosions and gunshots that were clearer and more intense than those from the surrounding area, sometimes even becoming unusually intense, making it impossible to completely relax.
Xu Mo forced himself to close his eyes and restore his energy by regulating his Qi and blood, which was more effective than simply sleeping.
Around 5 p.m., Xu Mo opened his eyes, feeling much better. He looked at Feng Dayong beside him and was surprised to find that the old man was still fast asleep, even snoring softly, as if the sounds of gunfire outside were just a lullaby.
"His mental fortitude and adaptability are truly impressive," Xu Mo thought to himself.
Xu Mo got up and walked out of the rest area. The rain outside had stopped sometime earlier, but the sky was still gloomy.
The air was thick with dampness, a strong smell of gunpowder, and a faint, unpleasant odor that smelled like something rotting mixed with burnt plastic.
After wandering around the area for a while, Xu Mo saw black smoke still rising from some areas in the distance. The combatants were moving about hurriedly, and support vehicles were shuttling back and forth. The entire assembly point was in a state of high tension and imminent combat readiness. He didn't go far and quickly returned to the rest area.
As soon as Xu Mo entered the rest area, he saw that Feng Dayong was already awake and sitting on the edge of the bed, carefully wiping his hunting rifle with a dirty cloth. His movements were unhurried and his expression was calm.
"Awake? Did you sleep well, Brother Feng?" Xu Mo greeted him.
"It's alright. It's good enough to be able to sleep here." Feng Dayong raised his head and grinned. "We need to be well-rested so we can work tonight. Let's go, Brother Xu, let's get some food first, and then we'll check out our territory."
The two went to the logistics point to pick up their dinner—surprisingly, there was rice and several dishes with meat and vegetables, which broadened Xu Mo's horizons. He just wondered if their braised pork had been caramelized with sugar.
After quickly finishing their dinner, Xu Mo and Feng Dayong headed towards position C-07 as instructed.
As they approached the position, they saw two men pushing a handcart coming from the direction of the position. The handcart had several empty wooden ammunition boxes on it, and judging from their appearance, they were survivors.
When the two met, they looked Xu Mo and Feng Dayong up and down, especially lingering on Xu Mo's AK47.
"Brothers, who are you?" one of the men asked.
"We'll be taking over from you at night, responsible for resupplying ammunition to position C-07," Xu Mo replied.
"Oh, it's you guys." The other person visibly relaxed, a tired smile appearing on their face. "Finally, you've come to relieve us. Come with us, we'll talk as we walk, and show you the route and procedures."
They turned the vehicle around and led Xu Mo and his companion toward the position. The slightly more talkative one explained as they walked, "Our job is simple: we guard the makeshift ammunition depot behind the position." He pointed to an area surrounded by sand about thirty meters behind the position. "When they need any ammunition, they'll notify us via walkie-talkie or simply shout. We then move it from the depot and deliver it to them in a small cart, ensuring they have an uninterrupted ammunition supply."
"And another thing," he paused, lowering his voice, "if any of our brothers are injured on the front lines, we're responsible for carrying them back to the medical tents on stretchers. But let me tell you beforehand, if they've been scratched or bitten by those monsters, we have to tie them up with cable ties before carrying them. That's the rule."
He glanced at Xu Mo and Feng Dayong, then added in an even lower voice, with a hint of slyness: "There's one advantage to this job: on the way there and back, especially near the position, sometimes you can find spent bullet casings, or even intact bullets. You know how it is, little by little, it adds up—"
Upon hearing this, Feng Dayong's eyes lit up, clearly interested in this "extra income." Xu Mo, however, remained noncommittal, more concerned with the situation at the position itself.
As they spoke, they arrived at position C-07.
Upon seeing the scene before him, Xu Mo was momentarily lost in thought.
This was a defensive position built using sections of dilapidated factory walls and sandbag fortifications, garrisoned by about twenty combatants (to avoid unnecessary trouble, we will refer to them as combatants from now on). The position was heavily armed: two heavy machine guns mounted on sandbags, their dark muzzles pointing forward; next to them were two rocket launchers and an anti-materiel rifle equipped with a scope; the remaining combatants were also armed with standard automatic rifles, with grenade launchers hanging from the barrels. They were scattered behind cover, their expressions vigilant.
However, these are not the main points; the main point is the front line.
It was a vast ruin, almost completely reduced to rubble.
As far as the eye could see, there wasn't a single intact building. Everywhere there were collapsed walls, twisted steel bars, broken concrete blocks, and charred remains.
This area looked as if it had been repeatedly kneaded and crushed by an invisible giant hand. The ground was riddled with craters of all sizes, some still filled with murky rainwater. The strange, rotten smell in the air was even stronger here.
Yet, on this seemingly impenetrable, desolate ruin, all the combatants on the position were on high alert, staring intently ahead, as if thousands of troops might rush out of the ruins at any moment.
The survivor who led Xu Mo and the others here seemed to notice their confusion and explained in a low voice, "It's really weird, isn't it? This place looks like just ordinary ruins, but from who knows where, zombies keep popping up and rushing onto the position wave after wave. It's like you can't kill them all. It's really strange."
An endless stream of zombies? From a pile of ruins?
Xu Mo and Feng Dayong exchanged a glance, both seeing solemnity and confusion in each other's eyes. This was completely illogical. Ruins might harbor some zombies, but they could never create a "continuous" onslaught. There must be something wrong here.
After the handover was completed, the two day shift survivors pushed the empty cart away. Xu Mo and Feng Dayong went to the temporary ammunition depot at the rear and, according to the commander's instructions, collected several boxes of grenades and several heavy machine gun ammunition belts, loaded them onto a trolley, and then pushed it together to position C-07 again.
On the way back to their position, the two were somewhat silent.
Xu Mo pondered the bizarre phenomenon repeatedly in his mind: a continuous stream of zombies roaming the ruins. This led him to consider some ominous possibilities, such as underground facilities, hidden passages, or something beyond his comprehension.
Feng Dayong stared intently at the ruins, his brows furrowed, lost in thought. Occasionally, his lips would move slightly, as if he were silently cursing the damned world.
Just as Xu Mo and his team were pushing the cart, less than a hundred meters from the position: "Thump thump thump thump—!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Rat-a-tat-tat—!"
On the front lines, the distinctive, deep roar of heavy machine guns rang out first, followed by the heavy gunfire of anti-materiel rifles, the dense barrage of automatic rifles, and the deafening roar of exploding grenades, all intertwining into a fierce symphony of firefights.
The battle resumed without warning.
"Hurry!" Xu Mo and Feng Dayong roared almost simultaneously. Without thinking, they bent down, exerted all their strength, and pushed the heavy cart along the bumpy road, rushing towards the C-07 position where gunfire was raging.
Pushing the cart to the rear of the position, the sight before them made their hearts tighten. On the vast ruins in front of the position, countless figures were vaguely visible, and at a rough glance, there were nearly a hundred zombies surging towards the position.
These zombies come in various forms, most of them being slow-moving, unsteady ordinary zombies. They trudged along with difficulty through the rubble and steel bars, moving at a very slow pace.
However, mixed in with them were also many zombies that were significantly faster. Some crawled quickly on all fours, while others ran upright like the green zombies we saw last night, trying to use the ruins as cover to quickly approach the position.
Fortunately, the complex terrain somewhat hindered their advance, providing valuable reaction time for the defending fighters.
On the position, the combatants were clearly experienced and handled the situation calmly. Snipers responsible for precision shooting and skilled combatants prioritized eliminating the fast-moving mutants, while heavy machine gunners used short bursts to block their possible attack paths and clear out small groups of ordinary zombies.
These combatants deployed their firepower in a well-organized and highly efficient manner.
Unarmed zombies appeared so vulnerable before a well-organized and heavily armed modern army. Bullets, like the scythe of death, mercilessly reaped them. Zombies fell in rows like felled wheat, their mangled bodies piling up on the ruins.
However, what was chilling was that just as the zombies in front had been cleared out, within minutes, as if appearing out of thin air from the depths of the ruins, another wave of zombies emerged, staggering and moving at varying speeds, and launched another attack on the position! They seemed endless, tireless, and fearless of death.
"This is fucking weird!" Feng Dayong cursed under his breath as he looked at the bizarre scene, his wrinkles creased together.
Xu Mo's gaze was equally solemn; there was definitely a secret hidden beneath these ruins.
"Bullets! Heavy machine gun bullets!" a combatant operating a heavy machine gun shouted without turning his head, as his assistant gunner was quickly changing the last magazine.
"They're here!" Xu Mo and Feng Dayong immediately snapped out of their daze and realized that now was not the time to investigate. They hurriedly carried over the heavy machine gun ammunition.
"Thanks!" the assistant marksman said briefly before continuing to look ahead.
"Boom boom boom boom—" The heavy machine gun roared again, blasting a group of newly emerged zombies to pieces.
The battle lasted for nearly an hour until it got completely dark and the zombies' onslaught gradually ceased. The area in front of the ruins temporarily returned to silence, leaving only burning remains and billowing smoke.
During this time, Xu Mo and Feng Dayong replenished the position with rifle ammunition once more. Overall, their work was not particularly demanding; the combatants on the position were well-trained, and ammunition consumption was well controlled.
However, when the two pushed the empty cart back to the temporary ammunition depot, neither of them showed any sign of relief.
"Brother Xu, you saw it too, right?" Feng Dayong pulled out a half-smoked cigarette from somewhere, took a deep drag, and the smoke swirled in the night. "There must have been at least three or four hundred, right? Coming out of that godforsaken pile of rocks? How the hell is that possible!"
Xu Mo nodded silently, his gaze returning to the ruins shrouded in darkness, and said in a deep voice, "There's definitely something wrong."
Just then, they saw the person in charge of the C-07 position, a dark-skinned sergeant, pick up his walkie-talkie and whisper a few words of report.
About five or six minutes later, a slight buzzing sound came from behind. Xu Mo looked up and saw a medium-sized quadcopter drone with a square plastic box hanging below it flying towards the position.
"They even have this?" Xu Mo was somewhat surprised. The fact that drones could still operate and be used in actual combat in a post-apocalyptic environment showed that Jiangcheng Shelter had indeed invested a lot of effort in the preservation and restoration of technology.
The drone flew precisely to the area in front of the position where zombie corpses were piled up, and began to hover at low altitude. At the same time, the bottom of the box opened, and a transparent liquid sprayed downwards in a mist, evenly covering the incomplete figures.
"It's gasoline or some other flammable fuel." Xu Mo smelled the familiar scent spreading in the air.
After spraying, the drone quickly gained altitude and flew away. Immediately afterwards, a combatant on the position raised his rifle and aimed at the pile of corpses—
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out, and the bullet struck the fuel-covered body parts, instantly sparking.
"boom--!"
A raging fire suddenly erupted and spread rapidly, engulfing the entire pile of corpses! The orange-red flames burned fiercely in the night, crackling and popping, and an indescribable, nauseating stench of burning and fuel filled the air.
The flames not only devoured the corpses but also illuminated the eerie ruins ahead to some extent. However, the flickering flames made the shadows even deeper and more elusive.
"Is this a complete extermination effort to prevent the virus from spreading, or to prevent other living zombies from evolving by consuming these corpses?" Xu Mo looked at the towering flames and understood the official's intentions. This method of handling the situation was efficient and thorough, which also reflected the official's deep fear of zombie mutation and virus spread.