Chapter 986: Lan City Legion Arrives

Xigu District Second Water Plant

As the battle situation in Lan City changed dramatically, Gao Zhikai had moved the 76th Corps' front-line headquarters here.

The top of the giant sedimentation tank in the center of the water plant has been transformed into a giant steel fortress:

At the edge of a huge circular platform with a diameter of tens of meters, thick sandbag walls and welded corrugated steel plates form the first barrier. The black barrels of heavy machine guns protrude from the gaps, and the cold metal reflects dazzling light under the scorching sun of the Gobi Desert.

In the center of the platform, a command cabin made of several reinforced military containers looks like an armored beast crouching on the back of a giant beast.

Walking into this huge command cabin, what comes into view is a huge sand table of the industrial terrain of Xigu District made of welded steel plates.

The level of detail is astonishing. The main streets of Xigu District, factory outlines, storage tank locations, and even key building structures are roughly but accurately reproduced with discarded metal sheets of different colors, wires, and even solidified cement blocks.

The sand table is filled with densely packed small iron pieces representing the enemy and friendly situations - the red iron pieces (76th Legion) are wedged into the hinterland of the blue iron pieces (zombie tide) and the black iron pieces (high-risk mutation points) with difficulty.

At the edge of the sand table, several areas representing the core area of the Helian Chemical Plant were roughly marked with several glaring bright red "X".

A dozen combat staff officers, exhausted, with sunken eyes and a slightly morbid excitement, gathered around the sand table, arguing fiercely with hoarse voices. The metal push rods in their hands trembled slightly from the force as they kept adjusting the positions of the 'red iron sheets' representing the troops.

Every tiny movement means the change of hands of another position on the front line or the sacrifice of another group of soldiers.

...

Near the inner communications area, rows of radios, like heartbeat monitors for a dying patient, echoed with a cacophony of electrical noises of varying frequencies, intermittent cries for help, screamed commands, and desperate reports...

"Commander-in-Chief! Commander-in-Chief! This is Hammer Three! Requesting artillery fire coverage of the D-sector dormitory area! Repeat! Requesting artillery fire coverage! We're surrounded! There's a big guy in the zombie tide! Ah——!"

"...poison gas...Cyanide leak from the Zhicheng Chemical Plant...wind heading southeast...requesting...chemical defense support...cough cough——"

"Qilihe...Precision Factory...Workshop B...Cleaned...Equipment...Intact...The cost...The second row...Gone..."

...

In this sea of nerve-wrecking 'white noise', the signalmen were like springs stretched to their limit.

They wore headphones, veins bulging on their foreheads, and shouted, repeated, and confirmed into the microphone at the top of their lungs, their fingers tapping frantically on the greasy keys, sweat streaming down their temples and creating wrinkles on their dusty faces.

The air was filled with the smell of sweat, engine oil, and a faint hint of blood.

...

In the deepest corner of the command cabin, a 76-square-meter space barely enclosed by temporary partitions is the current "office" of Gao Zhikai, commander of the th Corps.

For safety reasons, there are no windows here. The only light sources are a few emergency lights that are barely alive due to backup batteries. The light is dim and flickering, making the human figures appear to be twisted and swaying like ghosts.

Listening to the rumbling of gunfire so close by, the air in this enclosed space was as thick as solidified blood, mixed with sweat, engine oil, cheap tobacco, and a faint sweet stench of blood and chemicals wafting from the battlefield below.

However, at this moment, Gao Zhikai only occupied a small space in this already narrow office. He and his desk were huddled in the corner, and most of the space was left to several civilian staff working on-site.

In the small space, six field combat readiness tables were packed full. Several haggard-looking civilian staff officers were hunched over, writing furiously under the dim, flickering light.

Every time I put pen to paper, the scratching sound of the pen tip across the rough paper is like a blunt knife scraping against rusty iron, harsh and heart-wrenching.

"Second Battalion, Third Mechanized Infantry Regiment: 421 men arrived... Currently... 97... Seriously injured... Ammunition base: infantry and machine gun ammunition..."

"96st Armored Regiment: 7 ZB5 tanks damaged (2 track damage, turrets jammed)... Diesel reserves have reached the limit..."

"Yesterday's Dead/Missing Summary: Xigu District: 643... Qilihe District: 217... Officer Losses: 1 at battalion level, 4 at company level..."

...

Next to him, an old staff officer with slightly gray hair and the rank of lieutenant colonel was like a cold-blooded gravedigger.

As the on-site civilian staff reported in a low voice, he had an expressionless face and numb eyes as he scribbled on a huge industrial map of Xigu District with a pen.

The black squares on the map that were originally densely packed and represented company-level units were now covered with large, glaring scarlet "X"s, like a festering wound.

His movements were mechanical and steady. Whenever a company was confirmed to have lost its organization in the battle report, he would without hesitation roughly cross out the black block representing it and paint over it with the scarlet color that symbolized complete demise.

Gao Zhikai of the 76th Regiment was slumped in a chair made of armor plates, his military cap pulled down low, covering half of his face.

The dim light from the emergency lamp slanted across his jaw, casting shadows of varying shades on his bony finger joints - that hand was resting on the edge of the table, his index finger tapping the surface lightly from time to time, the rhythm vaguely matching the speed at which the staff officer was reporting the casualty figures.

He seemed to be dozing off, his eyelids drooping heavily, his eyelashes covered with white frost that might have been smoke or dust. His breathing was as even as that of an old bellows, and each rise and fall was as sluggish as rust.

The enamel pot on the corner of the table had long been empty, and tea stains had formed dark brown circles at the bottom of the pot. Three cigarette butts were piled next to it, and the longest piece of ash had been hanging for a long time and never broke off.

"... 11 platoon-level officers were lost, and the shortage of replenishing troops is 237..." The staff officer's voice became lower and lower, and the last few words were almost swallowed up by the sound of artillery in the distance.

Hearing this, Gao Zhikai didn't open his eyes, but his Adam's apple moved, as if he had swallowed something hot. The emergency light suddenly flashed twice, stretching his shadow on the wall to a very long length, like a dormant snake.

Suddenly, there was a clanging sound from next door, as if someone was jogging in the corridor. The crisp sound of boots hitting steel plates seeped in through the temporary partition, weaving a tight net with the sound of artillery in the distance.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

"report!"

Following a rapid knock on the door, the voice of Gao Zhikai's personal advisor Su Xunyun was heard from outside.

Hearing the noise, Gao Zhikai finally opened his eyelids a little, revealing bloodshot eyes, and glanced towards the door:

"Come in." A word squeezed out from between his teeth, with a low and hoarse voice.

"The vanguard of the Lanshi Corps, led by Deputy Commander Zou Yuan, has reached the outskirts of Lanshi, 30 kilometers from our main position." Su Xunyun's boots tapped the ground at a standard angle, and the encrypted folder in his hand was white with a fist.

"According to the intelligence sent back by the Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, the vanguard is a mixed unit of two border defense regiments, carrying an 82mm mortar group."

Hearing this, Gao Zhikai's knuckles rubbed deeper white marks on the edge of the table, and the old scratch on the table top was almost dug through by his nails.

"It's two days earlier than expected? Are you that impatient?"

A very light sneer escaped from his throat, like a crack of ice: "You can run..."

"Commander?" Su Xunyun saw his eyelids about to droop again, and quickly added, "Deputy Commander Zou requested a meeting via an encrypted channel, saying 'to discuss coordinated recovery deployment.'"

Hearing this, Gao Zhikai stood up suddenly. His gaze from under the brim of his military cap pierced through the dim light, and he spoke in a hoarse voice, a voice stricken by a long illness: "Discuss? Is he qualified?"

He slammed his knuckles on the table, shaking the tea stains in the enamel pot into tiny ripples. "A bunch of border guards who haven't even been through a zombie tidal wave, you think you're qualified to talk about cooperation with our 76th Legion?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Su Xunyun subconsciously tensed his back. This was still the leader he was familiar with. Beneath his seemingly limp skin, every bone was soaked in blood.

"See you then." Gao Zhikai suddenly loosened his clenched fists, and the cold sweat seeping from between his fingers left shallow marks on the table.

"Let him see whose Lan City it is!"