Chapter 229: Breach of Gates, Town on Fire!
Bang! Bang! 2 of the soldiers who had retreated the fastest were instantly shot to death.
Yue Zhong was holding a gun in his left hand and the Dark Magic Sword in his right, as he stared at them and shouted out fiercely,
"I will kill whoever dares to flee without my orders!"
Yue Zhong pointed to Zhuo Yatong, who was already drenched in pigs' blood yet still constantly slaughtering the Mutant Pigs. He roared at the soldiers,
"Even this lady is still fighting, yet you damn wusses still want to run?! Are you guys not even comparable to a woman?!"
Hearing Yue Zhong's rebuke, the soldiers of the First Company all glanced at Zhuo Yatong, who was bravely fighting a battle full of bloodshed, and a hint of shame flashed past their eyes. At the same time, under the death threats from Yue Zhong, they already had no other choice: rather than being killed like dogs at the hands of Yue Zhong, they would much prefer to go down with a fight. Those 10 remaining soldiers of the First Company immediately turned towards the Mutant Pigs one by one, their eyes all crimson, before rushing towards the pigs with their blades in hand.
"Iron Bones, go provide assistance!" Yue Zhong called out a order to White Bones.
Upon receiving those orders, White Bones stopped helping Tong Xiaoyun and the other soldiers of the First Company rise in level- instead, it held its great big axe and took the lead to rush towards the 4th channel (corpse road 'constructed' by the pigs).
White Bones' battle ability was extremely shocking. As it waved its huge axe around, it became like a horrifying meat cleaver as it ground and chopped up those Mutant Pigs that stood in its way. Under its lead, the warriors of the First Company also rushed out with valor; despite paying the price of 3 injured men and 1 fallen comrade, under the support of the firing squad behind them, the group managed to wrestle back the channel using force.
As the heavily injured warriors were carried away, the other 1st Company warriors who had undergone enhancements would step up and take over, maintaining the frontline defense against the Mutant Pigs. At every moment, there would be several warriors who were slammed onto the ground, resulting in severe wounds and perhaps even death. Nevertheless, there was still no sign of Yue Zhong's side receiving a heavy blow yet.
Not long after winning back the 4th channel, Yue Zhong saw that the Mutant Pigs were now using their dead comrades' carcasses to 'construct' a 5th and 6th channel against the fence. He knew that they wouldn't be able to protect the city gates for much longer.
Clear Wind Camp was different from Yue Zhong's Qing Yuan County. Here, there was no steel industry, and so not even a blade could be manufactured. The sharpest weapons currently in use were the 16 Replica Tang Swords, which Yue Zhong had pulled out from his own storage ring. The other people used all sorts of 'weapons', but for them to hope for a swift victory over a single Mutant Pig was incredibly difficult.
As soon as the 5th and 6th channels were set up, the podium would become a very perilous place for the soldiers to fight on.
Yue Zhong swiftly ordered,
"The reserve squadrons, immediately evacuate from here and retreat to the east of the department store."
Hearing the order to retreat, all the men in the reserve squadrons heaved a sigh of relief as they withdrew. Under Yue Zhong's strict guidance, these reserve soldiers had all learnt how to comply with orders, resulting in no chaos. Of course, they were only able to retreat orderly because they had not met with any enemies yet- otherwise, if they were being pursued by the enemy, they would definitely fall apart into disorder.
"Second Company, fall back to the east of the department store and defend there!"
Receiving Yue Zhong's orders, those soldiers also heaved a sigh of relief.
Xiong Zheng glanced at Yue Zhong before summoning his vice-captain; after passing on some orders, he let his second-in-command lead the Second Company away to retreat. He himself then walked up to Yue Zhong's side.
Yue Zhong furrowed his brows as he asked with some surprise, "Why haven't you retreated yet?"
Xiong Zheng grinned at Yue Zhong as he drew his own Replica Tang Sword, decapitating an incoming Mutant Pig in one strike:
"Heihei! Boss Yue, you haven't retreated yet, so I will not retreat either! I also want to use these Mutant Pigs to test if my swordsmanship has become rusty or not!"
Xiong Zheng was, after all, an ex-Green Wolves Mount elite member. He was also a Level 13 Enhancer and like most people, his chosen enhancement path had been in strength and stamina. Although his level was not low, he did not have any particularly strong skills, therefore his fighting strength couldn't be compared to that of enhancers like Scarface and Wei Ji at all. However, he could kill normal Mutant Beasts like the pigs in front of him with ease.
Although Xiong Zheng belonged to such a bandit troupe and had a boorish aura, he was still extremely hot-blooded and placed great importance on brotherhood. Back then, when he had submitted easily to Yue Zhong, other than Yue Zhong's death threat, it was also due to the fact that he did not agree with Lie Tianyang's actions.
Yue Zhong rapidly called out another order,
"First Company, retreat! Iron Bones and Zhuo Yatong, come towards me!"
In an orderly manner, the First Company quickly retreated backwards under the lead of Vice-Captain Zhang Sunzhuan. White Bones and Zhuo Yatong also swiftly retreated to Yue Zhong's side and formed a small circle of defense, constantly killing the Mutant Pigs one by one.
After the First and Second Companies had retreated, there were no squadrons left to suppress and defend against the herd from a distance. A huge number of Mutant Pigs made use of all 5 channels to leap into the camp.
The moment they leapt into the camp, the pigs immediately surrounded Yue Zhong and his subordinates on all sides. The pressure on Yue Zhong's team instantly increased by over 10 times. If it wasn't for the fact that the core fighters consisting of Yue Zhong, White Bones and Zhuo Yatong had all remained incredibly calm, this small team would long have been swallowed up by the herd.
Even so, at every moment, Yue Zhong and the others (White Bones, Zhuo Yatong, Tong Xiaoyun and Xiong Zheng) still had to deal with a dozen Mutant Pigs pouncing over from the surroundings at the same time. It was truly difficult to the extreme.
As the pigs' blood continued to splatter everywhere, Tong Xiaoyun was beginning to feel very afraid, knowing that she could die at any moment. However, with her strong thirst for strength and no room for retreat, she released her latent potential in a frenzy as she used her Tang Replica Sword to slash at the Mutant Pigs without pause. Even though she did not have much strength, it was still enough for her to kill 2 Mutant Pigs by herself, and a huge experience orb of 'divine light' flew into her body, instantly making her rise up to Level 7.
Yue Zhong brought his subordinates as he slowly retreated from the podium, continuing to fight along the way; only then did the pressure on them greatly lessen.
The moment they descended from the podium, other than the main transport channel, the rest of the channels had all been blocked by various bits of debris and the Mutant Pigs' corpses. The huge number of Mutant Pigs simply could not break past the blockades, therefore at any one time, Yue Zhong's detail only had to deal with about 5 of the pigs, which simply wasn't even enough for them to kill.
However, even after they had descended, quite a few people had expended an enormous amount of stamina: Tong Xiaoyun and Xiong Zheng were currently gasping for breath, their bodies covered in sweat. This applied especially to Tong Xiaoyun, who was barely even able to hold on to the Replica Tang Sword; she had reached her limit and she practically had no fighting strength remaining.
The Mutant Pigs that had died at Yue Zhong's hands already numbered above 150, yet his stamina had only been depleted by 28 points so far, with over 50 points left. His battle ability was still very strong. Zhuo Yatong had also enhanced her stamina by quite a lot and being an Evolver, she had immense strength to. She had already consumed over half of her stamina, although she still had considerable fighting strength.
With Yue Zhong, White Bones and Zhuo Yatong as the main force, the 5 people slowly made their way to the east side of the department store.
Even with the debris blockade, the Mutant Pigs continued to rush into the camp from all directions, with the blockades only able to slow down their advance. Most of the Mutant Pigs had already entered the camp and had spread out in all directions.
Yue Zhong had relied on the huge pits to take down over 1000 Mutant Pigs and in front of the camp gates, he and his team had managed to slaughter another 1000+ of them; however, the total number of pigs reached 11,000 and even after losing over 2,000 of their comrades, the herd still had over 8,000 pigs remaining. When charging across flat ground, such a number of pigs could easily decimate Yue Zhong's army, which lacked in both training and ammunition.
Yue Zhong's team of 5 retreated to the east side of the department store and at the same time, the turbulent tide of Mutant Pigs had also caught up.
Right at this moment, the warriors of the First Company started opening fire, raining countless bullets down onto the herd of Mutant Pigs. Flowers of blood blossomed everywhere. Although they had not undergone any rigorous shooting practice or live fire training, at such a close range, they barely had any chance of missing the densely-packed Mutant Pig herd from a safe location. It was just that they were unable to fire any fatal shots that could kill the Mutant Pigs in one attack.
After the warriors of the First Company had joined the battle, the herd of Mutant Pigs that had charged over now seemed to be more organized. The Enhancers of the First Company also leapt into action with their Replica Tang Swords, replacing Tong Xiaoyun and Xiong Zheng.
(TN: not too sure about this: 那蜂拥冲过来的变异猪群的冲锋之势组织.)
"Those three really are monsters!!"
After he had retreated, Xiong Zheng thought in his heart as he watched Yue Zhong, Zhuo Yatong and White Bones constantly killing the Mutant Pigs. Although that brief but intense battle just now had let him rise up to Level 15, as a consequence, it had depleted almost all of his stamina. The pressure on Yue Zhong, Zhuo Yatong and White Bones was the greatest, and they had also killed the most pigs, yet they still continued to defend on the frontline without any intention of retreating.
Once the Enhancers of the First Company had joined the fray, the Mutant Pigs rushing over from the main transport channel were firmly suppressed, and so the pressure on Yue Zhong and the other two was abruptly alleviated by a considerable amount.
Yue Zhong only left White Bones as the main force defending on the frontlines, whilst he and Zhuo Yatong both retreated.
Once Yue Zhong had retreated, he commanded the warriors of the First Company to take turns in battling the Mutant Pigs, while at the same time, he also lent a hand to save the warriors who were in great danger.Those who gained experience through this ordeal were the most valuable warriors to Yue Zhong: as long as they did not die, they would bring courage to the entire First Company.
After an intense fight that lasted 20 minutes, the Mutant Pigs were still unable to advance and were stuck outside of the department store.
However, very quickly, the Mutant Pigs began to appear from the other corners of the camp and they began to charge in a frenzy towards the humans.
Yue Zhong looked at the Mutant Pigs burrowing out from the other corners and his face turned very pale. He called Xiong Zheng over and said loudly,
"Xiong Zheng, take over! Everyone will be at your command! Whatever happens, you must hold on for 5 more minutes!"
Xiong Zheng did not ask too much and responded loudly, "Yes! Boss Yue!!"
Yue Zhong activated his Encompassing Body Armor Skill in a flash and walked up to Zhuo Yatong's side, saying heavily,
"5 minutes!! Help back me up for another 5 minutes, I'm relying completely on you now!"
Right now, the only expert at Yue Zhong's side who could act as a pillar of strength was Zhuo Yatong. If there wasn't a powerful Evolver like her to help defend on the frontline, this new camp established by Yue Zhong would already have many casualties and losses due to the horde of Mutant Pigs, so much that it might even have directly crumbled apart.
Zhuo Yatong picked up her Replica Tang Sword and stood up, smiling sweetly at Yue Zhong as she said,
"Don't worry! I'll wait here for your return!"
At this moment, Zhuo Yatong was covered from head to toe in vile-smelling pigs' blood, yet the smile on her face was still extremely enchanting in Yue Zhong's eyes.
"Wait for my return!!"
Yue Zhong lowered his head to kiss Zhuo Yatong lightly on her pretty cheek, before rushing ahead like lightning into the town center, which had already been overrun by the Mutant Pigs.
Yue Zhong constantly moved around in the town center, taking out the molotovs from inside his storage ring and throwing them down onto the piles full of flammable substances.
As he continued to burn all sorts of combustible materials at the corners of the town, the greater part of Clear Wind Camp quickly became a sea of fire.
At this moment, most of the Mutant Pigs had already rushed into the camp. Within the tumultuous flames, countless pigs were squealing out miserably in pain and rampaging around, before being completely engulfed by the blazing flames.
The whole town was filled with the Mutant Pigs scurrying around. Some escaped frenzily outside of the camp, whilst others continued to rush crazily in Zhuo Yatong's direction. The seemingly unstoppable tide of Mutant Pigs was finally thrown into chaos.
After setting fire to all the combustible items, Yue Zhong did not choose to search for the Mutant Pig King's whereabouts: instead, he swiftly sped along in the direction of Zhuo Yatong's current position.
The entire town was engulfed in towering flames that seemed to reach the heavens. Most of the Mutant Pigs were burned to death, or they were currently fleeing out of the town in disarray; however, over 200 of them had leapt over the wall of flames and were currently charging towards Zhuo Yatong in a frenzy from all directions.
6 heavy machine guns were spewing violent flames non-stop at the Mutant Pigs, tearing many of them apart into pieces. Yet quite a lot of them still managed to break past the deadlock and began to engage in fierce battle with Zhuo Yatong and the warriors of the First Company behind her.
Zhuo Yatong was instantly decapitating the Mutant Pigs one by one, while the remaining pigs were also caught up in battle with the First Company. To lighten Zhuo Yatong's load, many fighters even took up things like watermelon knives, hacksaws, makeshift spears, baseball bats and various other 'weapons', rushing up to entangle with the Mutant Pigs.
Zhuo Yatong had been fighting constantly on the frontline without retreating, and this gave rise to a huge boost in morale. The warriors were not willing to hear about how they could not even compare to a lady, and they somehow all released an unbelievable amount of bloodlust and courage. Nevertheless, the substandard weaponry resulted in many losses for the First Company- a lot of people were not able to immediately kill the fierce Mutant Pigs and were rammed into the ground by the pigs instead, before having their throats ripped apart. At the same time though, a huge number of the Mutant Pigs were rapidly being slaughtered by the fighters.
In fact, when compared to facing zombies, these normal warriors fought much more bravely against the Mutant Pigs, because as soon as they received a wound from a zombie, they would become infected and eventually turn into one as well. However, even after receiving heavy injuries from the Mutant Pigs' assault, there was still a chance to live on.
It was just that in the heat of the battle, those 6 heavy machine guns had been firing non-stop, whilst the warriors who were hiding behind covers also began to fire their rifles one by one. In Clear Wind Camp, ammunition was a very scarce resource to begin with and simply wasn't enough to fight a huge battle. Right now, Clear Wind Camp had finally run out of ammunition.