Chapter 1334 Emergency Response!

When Gu Chengyun rushed into the battalion command room, it was already dimly lit and filled with shadowy figures. The air was thick with the stuffy smell of rubber and activated carbon, mixed with a faint, unsettling sweet and fishy odor.

Everyone, including several battalion clerks and communications soldiers, had donned heavy full-body chemical protective suits.

Battalion Commander Gao Cheng, also dressed in a digital camouflage chemical protective suit, was bent over in front of a huge electronic screen. The bulkiness of the suit could not hide the taut, iron-like lines of his shoulders and back.

Hearing the noise at the door, he turned around abruptly, his hazmat suit rustling as it worked.

Through the eyepiece of the rubber gas mask that resembled a pig's snout, Gu Chengyun could see that in his bloodshot eyes, besides the usual sharpness, there was an almost overflowing anxiety and a kind of forcibly suppressed rage.

"You came!"

Gao Cheng's voice came through the gas mask, muffled, rapid, and with a buzzing echo, crashing down on him:

"The two-level reporting is complete! The brigade command and the military sub-district have both activated the highest level of biological and chemical alert. The 'Furnace' protocol is in effect! We are authorized to transfer to 'Eagle's Nest,' but we must clear the passageways! Damn it, the problem now is that this thing is even more sinister than we thought!"

He strode to the communications station, pointed to several sentry post markers on the screen that were rapidly turning red and then completely gray, and slammed his finger heavily against his mask, making a dull thud.

"The five forward outposts were wiped out within three minutes! The last message relayed back was that the standard filter cartridges were being consumed at an abnormal rate! Any exposed parts that came into contact with that 'dust' would begin to mutate the moment they came into contact with it!"

"This is no ordinary corrosion or infection, instructor. I've compared it, and the current situation is very similar to the spore infection described in the biochemical emergency manual!"

Gao Cheng spoke extremely quickly, conveying an astonishing amount of information. Clearly, in the few minutes before Gu Chengyun arrived, he had already processed a massive amount of bad news and made the worst-case scenario judgment.

Several battalion clerks, wrapped in chemical protective suits, were desperately calling into the microphone, trying to establish stable communication with units that had not yet completely lost contact. However, apart from the piercing static noise, intermittent screams, and a sticky sound that was becoming increasingly clear, as if countless wet tentacles were crawling on a metal surface, they received almost no effective response from the radio.

"The brigade command ordered us to delay the coverage at all costs to buy time for the relocation! The military sub-district required us to preserve our core combat capabilities and technical equipment as much as possible!"

Gao Cheng took a deep breath, his breathing heavy beneath the mask. He pointed to the vaguely visible outline of vehicle cover outside the window, his eyes flashing with a fierce light.

"I'll drag the 'Iron Broom' out! I'll use anti-aircraft guns to shoot down the clouds! I'll use explosions and air currents to blow them away! Every second counts!"

He finished speaking quickly, his gaze fixed intently on Gu Chengyun, a gaze that held a resolute determination to hand over half the burden, but also something else entirely:

"Instructor! You are now in charge of organizing the emergency transfer from the core area to the 'Eagle's Nest'!"

"Prioritize securing the seriously wounded, key technical personnel, and the core modules of those drones! Act quickly!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Chengyun's heart sank.

Gao Cheng's report was extremely concise, yet it painted a picture that was far more terrifying and urgent than anticipated.

"Understood!" Gu Chengyun nodded emphatically without any further words. The hazmat mask restricted his movements, but the determination in his eyes was equally clear:

"Battalion Commander, over here..."

“I’ll keep an eye on the anti-aircraft guns and the overall situation, and we’ll be the last to retreat! That’ll buy you time!” Gao Cheng interrupted him, slamming his fist on the tabletop covered with chemical-resistant coating again.

"Move quickly! Execute orders!"

Faced with Battalion Commander Gao Cheng's resolute order, Gu Chengyun's eyes reddened. Knowing that this was not the time to be sentimental, he immediately turned around and rushed out of the command room, his heavy chemical protective boots making a dull and rapid sound as they stepped on the ground.

But as soon as he stepped outside, he bumped into the medical platoon leader, who was stumbling towards him. The leader's mask was splattered with a few dark red, almost black, sticky fluids, and his voice was filled with sobs and fear.

"Instructor! The isolation ward can't hold on any longer! Those... those infected brothers have started to mutate, and every pore on their bodies is oozing white threads like blackheads. The medical staff who get close are saying they feel dizzy and their skin is itchy. They can feel something is wrong even through their protective suits!"

Upon hearing this news, Gu Chengyun's heart sank. He immediately gave a stern order: "Abandon the existing quarantine area and give the infected brothers a quick death. At the same time, use flamethrowers to disinfect and completely eliminate the hidden dangers!"

"From this moment forward, everyone stay away from the quarantine zone. No one is allowed to approach without my order!"

"Gather all uninfected and lightly wounded personnel who are still mobile on the east side of the garage! Immediately check the airtightness of their protective gear! Prepare to transfer to 'Eagle's Nest'!"

“But instructor… those brothers who haven’t mutated yet…” the medical platoon leader’s voice trembled.

"Execute the order!" Gu Chengyun's voice, cold as iron, came through the mask, cutting off any hesitation.

He knew all too well that the slightest bit of mercy or hesitation at this moment could cause the collapse of the entire transfer chain and the deaths of many more people.

He rushed to the chaotic center of the camp and began to force order amidst alarms, explosions, and screams, using a hoarse but as clear a voice as possible.

At this moment, outside the camp, the roar of the four quadruple 25mm anti-aircraft guns reached its peak, and the flashing firelight illuminated the entire anti-aircraft gun position!

Thump thump thump thump thump—! ! !

Sixteen blazing fire whips lashed wildly at the low-hanging, churning, dark sky. The exploding fireballs formed a brief wall of light, and the violent air currents did temporarily disrupt the spore cloud's descent in certain areas, buying soldiers in some key areas below a few crucial seconds to put on their final protective gear or to load the generators onto the trucks—a matter of life and death.

"Well done! Keep going! Fire towards the perimeter of the camp! Extend the barrage!" The distorted roar of the anti-aircraft artillery company commander echoed from the anti-aircraft artillery position.

However, this fierce resistance seems to have "provoked" or "attracted" even more "attention".

Further away, in the higher sky, the clouds began to churn more violently, like giant sea creatures adjusting their posture.

The spore dust, which was originally scattered relatively evenly, began to show obvious "streams," like gray-black, slowly twisting tentacles that emerged from the clouds and fell and entangled more precisely and densely towards the anti-aircraft artillery positions and the areas in the camp where vehicles were concentrated and personnel were running!

"Battalion Commander! The clouds are changing! Something...something is converging on us!" The lookout's panicked voice came through the radio.

Inside the command center, Gao Cheng stared intently at the screen, at the rapidly deepening purple coverage area spreading towards the core of the camp, representing the changes in spore cloud concentration. His face beneath the hazmat mask was so grim it seemed to drip water.

He forced out the order through gritted teeth into the microphone: "Anti-aircraft artillery positions, maintain fire! All other units, speed up! Political instructor! How much longer over there?!"

"We're organizing the last batch of personnel to board the vehicles! The core equipment in the warehouse has been moved! But the medical point..." Gu Chengyun's voice was mixed with the panting from running and the chaotic noise in the background.

"There's no time!" Gao Cheng interrupted abruptly.

"Three minutes! I can only give you three more minutes at most! After three minutes, once the anti-aircraft guns stop, regardless of the situation, you must begin the relocation! That's an order!"

"Yes!" Gu Chengyun's voice was firm and resolute, filled with acceptance.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder, the acrid stench of burning rubber, the putrid stench of burning flesh, and the pervasive, sweet, rotten spore odor, all mixed together to create a poisonous fog powerful enough to destroy one's will.

The roar of the anti-aircraft guns began to be mixed with ominous metallic hissing from overload and the suppressed coughs and screams of the gunners as they were hit in the face by spore dust.

Every second felt like being tortured on a red-hot iron plate; every second, someone would fall or be transformed into a non-human monster.

The reconnaissance battalion, this sharp "dagger," is struggling to escape from the edge of an invisible yet omnipresent plague, leaving behind a trail of blood and indelible wounds.