Chapter 0283 – Conditions for Deployment

Translated by: Kun

Edited by: Ulamog, Dedition, Johnyxn

[Book 2: The Sea of Zombies]

Yue Zhong asked somewhat curiously, “What are the military’s plans?”

A horde of over a million zombies, this was on a different scale compared to 100,000. The sheer number made Yue Zhong’s scalp go numb.

The zombies had an advantage over Mutant Beasts, and that was that they did not know death. Add in the disease and infection they carried with them, this could cause resisting humans to feel desolate.

Many of the survivors dared to take up arms against the Mutant Crabs and Mutant Crayfishes, yet they would not have the same courage to face the zombies.

Shen Xue spoke with extreme confidence: “We will initiate a frontal a.s.sault, annihilating them completely.”

At the initial phase of the onset of the apocalypse, the army had defeated the 700,000 zombies in SY County easily. To them, the million-zombie horde was just an issue that required a matter of time.

Offence was the best defence, and since the army had a huge amount of modern weaponry. These included the Infantry Fighting Vehicles, a.s.sault Helicopters and even tanks. They naturally would not fear the million-strong horde.

Yue Zhong pondered awhile, before asking the crucial question: “Do you have enough ammunition?”

A modern army that was adequately equipped with logistics and supply would naturally not be afraid of a million-strong horde. However, the logistics issue was currently pressing on SY County. After the SY army had regained control over SY County, and killed off the 700,000 strong horde, its ammunition usage was pretty high.

Normally speaking, for an expert like Yue Zhong, it would take a bullet to kill a zombie. However, not everyone were sharpshooters like him.

For the inexperienced soldiers, even a few rounds might not be enough to kill a zombie. As for the veterans, they would require a few shots to take out zombies at a distance as well.

After wiping out the zombies in SY County, Yue Zhong estimated that the ammunition left should number around 2 million rounds.

In fact, when the SY Military were clearing SY County, they had expended over 2 million rounds, at the same time, they even used heavy rounds on the horde then, which allowed them to regain control over SY County.

However, this led to the huge expenditure of ammunition, and was precisely the reason why Shen Hongyang and the other military heads were not in favour of fighting against Yue Zhong.

If the 2 sides really fought it out, the ammunition would really be depleted quickly. Without ammunition, in a world where danger was everywhere, they would lose their stronghold.

Shen Xue gazed at Yue Zhong icily: “Our ammunition is sufficient, there’s no need for your concern.”

“That’s good to hear then!” Yue Zhong smiled lightly, and did not press further.

After a few minutes of silence, Shen Xue stared at Yue Zhong and said, “Yue Zhong, this battle is extremely important to us. My father Shen Hongyang hopes that you can lead your troops and join us in battle, killing the horde as they come.”

Yue Zhong coldly asked: “If I provide reinforcement, what good is in it for me?”

Bringing his own troops to a.s.sist SY County in facing the zombies? Not only will it consume a huge amount of ammunition, there would be casualties on Yue Zhong’s side. If there were no benefits, he would definitely not lend a hand.

Yue Zhong’s aim was the huge military plants in Long Hai County. Even if he brought people to wipe out the horde of million zombies, he wouldn’t gain any territory, it would just be a waste of his military strength.

Shen Xue frowned, and coldly lectured: “Yue Zhong, how can you always only think about your self-interest? Can’t you just see the bigger picture? This is an issue concerning the lives and deaths of over a few hundred thousand people here in SY County, you should forsake any personal interest, and send your troops as reinforcement, only then can you be considered a hero. If you are willing to send people to help save the county, over a few hundred thousand people would be thankful.”

Yue Zhong eyed the slightly agitated Shen Xue and icily replied: “I’m sorry! I’m not some hero, nor am I looking to become one that your county is looking for. I am just a normal commander. I need to think for my people and subordinates. Without enough benefits, I would definitely not send my troops to their certain death.”

Yue Zhong continued on with a hint of contempt towards Shen Xue: “Furthermore! Miss Shen Xue, if your father was such a big hero, why isn’t he doing anything about Su Tianyang or Peng Ji those criminals of SY County?”

Su Tianyang and Peng Ji were not good things. However, due to the fact they had powerful fathers, even after all the mistakes and catastrophes they caused, they were only grounded. Yue Zhong was not willing to stick his neck out for this type of SY County.

Shen Xue grew red in the face upon hearing Yue Zhong’s tone and retorted in a loud voice: “What do you understand?! My dad has to think of the bigger picture, that was why he chose not to fall out with them. He himself does not condone the actions of Su Tianyang nor Peng Ji.”

Yue Zhong looked at Shen Xue’s flushed face as a result of his provocation and laughed: “Forget it! There’s no point in arguing with you! I just want to know, if I send my troops out, what is in it for me! Otherwise, please head back! Otherwise, I am not interested in partaking in this war alongside you guys.”

Shen Xue gritted her teeth, as she glared at this man in front of her who had managed to become the most hated person in her life. He made her feel that she just wanted to tear him apart. However, she calmed herself down and asked, “Don’t you like beautiful women? We will gift to you 20 beautiful women. This should be enough no?”

Yue Zhong was speechless for a moment, because of that judgement from Da Gouzi, his own reputation had become like this. He quickly shook his head and said: “No! It’s not enough!”

Shen Xue’s tone became incredibly cold as she replied: “We’ll add the 10,000 people you have hired under Tai Yiyan, they will be free to leave SY County. This should be enough.”

The workers that Tai Yiyan had recruited were all working for Yue Zhong, and their hearts had long since favoured him, SY County thus decided to let them join him to get him to deploy his troops. This way, Yue Zhong had in fact gained over 20,000 people from SY County.

Yue Zhong’s eyes flashed, and he pushed his luck: “Add on another 5,000 men, I will deploy my soldiers!!”

Shen Xue immediately rejected flatly: “Impossible! Letting you take those 10,000 survivors from Tai Yiyan is our bottom line. If you still aren’t willing to, then forget it.”

Yue Zhong pondered for a while longer, before he replied: “Fine!! I promise you! When the time comes, I will send 3 battalions to take part in the action. However, let me make this clear, my troops will only listen to my commands, our co-operation will not have any mutual interference.”

Shen Xue did not press for the issue of command and immediately answered, “Good!”

After concluding her negotiations with Yue Zhong, Shen Xue immediately left the place, she wasn’t willing to stay a moment longer by his side.

Shen Xue had just left, when Yue Zhong also set off towards his villa, and beckoned Greenie over. He then proceed to get on top of its back and they flew off towards SY County. He wanted to confirm the intel that Shen Xue had brought.

Flying through the skies was not that romantic as people thought, after Greenie had evolved into a Type 2 Beasts, its flight speed was as fast as the wind speed during a hurricane. Yue Zhong was sitting on its back, and could feel the piercing winds, as they brushed past him, causing all sorts of discomfort. If it was any other normal person, they would definitely not be able to take the journey.

In mid-air, there were a number of Mutant Birds that were circling the skies, but they could feel the oppressive aura from the Type 2 Mutant Bird Greenie, and they all avoided it, not daring to be within a 100m radius of Greenie.

Under Greenie’s lead, Yue Zhong came to the skies above SY County. As his eyesight was better in the night than the day, he could clearly see the surrounding horde of zombies surrounding SY County, like a sea that had no end. Every direction he looked, there were zombies.

Yue Zhong continued his exploration atop Greenie, and discovered that the horde stretched for 10 miles, furthermore, there were large groups of zombies that came from elsewhere and we’re joining the horde!

Yue Zhong observed the sea of zombies, and he furrowed his eyebrows while thinking nervously: “This time, SY County will be hard to defend!!”

Based on a rough estimation, Yue Zhong found that the situation was more serious than Shen Xue had estimated, the number was actually way above 1,200,000.

The entire population of SY county prior to the apocalypse numbered 7,000,000, and within the downtown area, the 700,000 that had turned into zombies were decimated by the military. Throughout the region, there were still a total of over 6million zombies roaming. The current 1.2 million encroaching the surroundings of the downtown was but only one-fifth of the entire number.

[TN: Yes it’s a little confusing. Basically think of SY County like a continent, with over 7 million people. The army had cleared the downtown area and claimed it for their own after defeating 700,000 zombies, 10% of the entire population. They started calling themselves SY County, even though it’s a small part. There are still over 6m zombies around the entire County not yet explored, and currently 1.2m of them has gathered near the downtown area.]

However, to deal with just these 1.2 million zombies would be tricky. It must be clear that within SY County, there was only a regiment of 6,000 soldiers, and that regiment’s firepower had been greatly reduced, while the new recruits were aplenty. Under these conditions, wanting to face off an enemy with over a 100 times their numbers, it was going to be incredibly difficult.

After he finished his investigations and confirmed the seriousness of the situation, Yue Zhong swiftly made his way back to his villa and called for a meeting to delegate duties amongst his commanders.

The next day, Yue Zhong arranged for the 8,000 survivors under him to be moved to Ning Guang County.

Post-apocalypse, fuel was extremely valuable. The journey for the 8,000 survivors was not aided by any vehicles, therefore every single one of them had to make the journey on their own feet to Ning Guang County over a 100 li (50km) away. Only the warriors of the 8th Battalion and the Special Forces were escorting them on armored vehicles, within the survivor group, they were mostly women and children. Originally, without the nourishment of the Mutant Beast meat, just relying on their weak const.i.tution and health, the journey would definitely take toll on at least over a hundred people. However, with the supplementary properties of the Mutant Beast meat, their health and vitality were recovered, and no one showed signs of dropping out of the journey.

Almost all the survivors harbored high hopes, and looked forward to a new life in a new place. Yue Zhong had given them a life that had steady meals, a decent living and these led them to antic.i.p.ate a better future.

As for the 10,000 survivors that had been transferred from Tai Yiyan to his hands, he arranged for them to all work in the canned meat processing factory, pus.h.i.+ng for the Type 2 Mutant Beast meat to be packed. At the same time, those meats from the Mutant Black Fish, Crayfish and Crabs were all processed into dry meat.

To bolster the strength of these 10,000 survivors for the migration journey to come, Yue Zhong specially distributed Type 2 Mutant Beast meat through Tai Yiyan to these survivors. Only the Type 2 Mutant Beast meat could quickly replenish and nourish their health, while the ordinary Mutant Beast meat might be delicacies hard to come by, compared to the more precious Type 2 Mutant Beast meat, the effects were not as beneficial.

When those 10,000 survivors ate the distributed Type 2 Mutant Beast meat, every single one of them regained their vitality swiftly, and became extremely energized, and their work became even faster.

Out of the 10,000 survivors, Yue Zhong then selected another 2,000 robust males, and formed a new preliminary group.

Chen s.h.i.+tou was transfered to act as the chief instructor over this preliminary group, and started to train and instruct them. They were preparations made by Yue Zhong to replenish the ranks of the various teams as new recruits.

The preliminary team got to eat meat and rice everyday, and the food consisted of the meat from Mutant Black Fish as well as the Type 2 variant, causing the rest who were not selected to be envious. They wished to be selected as well, but Yue Zhong had closed off the selection after 2,000.

Furthermore, the back end factories all required manpower, to manufacture all sorts of weapons against the zombies, turning the hide and skin from the Mutant Beasts into protective garments, as well as repacking ammo. All these support jobs required manpower. Without sufficient people, the fighting forces would not have the equipment and supplies.

On the other side, as per Yue Zhong’s commands, Liu Erhei, Xiong Zheng, Zhang Niujiang and Guo Quan brought 4 battalions to SY County. Guo Quan had become the first in command in Ning Guang County’s First Battalion after Yue Zhong, and was in charge of Ning Guang County’s First Battalion when Yue Zhong was not around.

These 4 battalions consisted of numerous elite veterans from Qing Yuan County that served as the backbone, and after countless battles against zombies, they had all grown together. They were no longer some motley crew that would fall apart at the first sign of trouble.

Yue Zhong’s elite soldiers from Qing Yuan County within the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalion remained at Qing Yuan County, maintaining their defence and constant a.s.sault towards Long Hai County, wiping out the zombies towards the direction of Long Hai County. They searched for resources, and rescued any survivors, expanding their power slowly.

The moment all 4 battalions of Yue Zhong arrived, the entire SY County was shocked. This time when Yue Zhong entered the city with grandeur, everyone could see the amount of preparation and equipment on each and every soldier of the battalions. On top of that, there were various advanced weaponry and machinery escorting the troops, including the 14.5mm Double Mounted machine guns, Red Arrows, Type 95 Anti-Air Missile vehicles, 40 self-propelled rocket launchers. They were not lacking in any sense. SY County’s own army could not even compare with it.

When SY County had re-established themselves after the onset of the apocalypse, they only had 2 regiments left. These were the 2nd line of attack, and weren’t the elite soldiers, they didn’t even have tanks prior. The tanks and a.s.sault helicopters they obtained were borrowed for the purpose of the exercise. As for Yue Zhong, he had opened up a real Mechanized Infantry Brigade, and thus his equipment and weaponry was much more advanced.