Chapter 220: Chapter 220: Urban Combat (3)
As a precaution, Xiaoyun ordered the soldiers to restock more RPGs in case of more tank mutants.
Then, the 4th and the 5th regiments repeated the same thing, just like how the 2nd and 3rd regiments did, turning on the loudspeaker as they fired outside the office building before retreating inside.
However, it was where the trouble began.
"Xiaoyun! There are so many mutants in the streets!" Wuli yelled out as she pointed to the right of the office building.
Xiaoyun immediately took out his binoculars and took a look himself.
Ten tank mutants were running toward the office building, almost like a pack of wolves hunting together.
Still, there was still some distance before the mutants got there, as there were so many zombies blocking their way, and they didn't move aside at all.
"Xiaoyun, should we send in reinforcement?" Wuli asked.
"No, reinforcement is not enough. You go to the artillery, and I'll order the other five regiments to get them out...
This can't be the only mutant group going towards there." Xiaoyun replied as he remembered how mutants usually go together with another type of mutants.
Wuli hesitated for a second as she remembered how the soldiers had said it was too close, but seeing Xiaoyun's urgent face, she agreed to it.
As Wuli rushed downstairs, Xiaoyun pulled out his walkie-talkie.
"1st regiment, I need to immediately evacuate the 4th and 5th regiments out of the building, and all other units go towards the office block and assist transportation."
After hearing an affirmative from them, Xiaoyun switched to the two regiments in the building.
"Ten tank mutants are all heading towards the office block. Try to break out if you can... Or retreat to the upper floor. Over."
"Yes, sir." Both Major replied.
Xiaoyun took out his binoculars to check the mutant again.
They were still about an entire block away as the zombies got more and more dense, forcing the mutants to slow down.
"Do they not care about each other at all?" Xiaoyun mumbled as he watched zombies get crushed by the mutant with little regard.
As the mutants approach closer and closer to the building, Xiaoyun suddenly hears a loud sound below him.
Xiaoyun watched a shell fly up into the air, and as it went down, it didn't hit anywhere near the mutant, nor did it explode at all.
"What the hell is going on?" Xiaoyun asked through the walkie-talkie to Wuli.
"It's a test round. They are doing the measuring right now to fix the angles." Wuli responded patiently.
As Xiaoyun waited, the mutants were now half a block away from Xiaoyun's mind. was getting more and more nervous for the soldiers inside the office building
"Lingang, how long until your troops get there?" Xiaoyun asked urgently.
"In twenty minutes, but I can speed it up to ten minutes if we put it on max," Lingang replied.
"Put it on max! Get there as fast as you----"
Another round of artillery shells was shot and landed over at the other side.
It took a large amount of zombies as the explosion went off. But it didn't hit the intended target as the mutant kept running unscratched.
"Fuck! Not fucking way, all those shots that missed?"
Xiaoyun switched the line back to the regiments inside the building as the zombies approached within a hundred steps away from the building.
"Zhen Ren, Li Miao, get ready to retreat to the third floor," Xiaoyun ordered.
"Commander XIaoyun, I think we can fight them. We got more RPG----"
Before one of the majors could be finished talking, Xiaoyun interrupted him.
"Retreat to the third floor now! This is an order! I know how many explosives are inside the building!" Xiaoyun yelled as he suddenly started having a bad feeling.
Hearing the silence from the two majors, Xiaoyun spoke again.
This time, though, it was much calmer.
"Zhen Ren, Li Miao, disobeying military order during combat is treason and punishable by death.
Remember, you are putting soldier's life at risk, not just your own if you don't retreat."
Finally, the two majors accepted the order as they gave back an affirmative through the transmission.
As Xiaoyun was about to contact Lingang again, another round of artillery was fired.
With a beautiful explosion in the distance, Xiaoyun finally had a small relief as the shell perfectly hit the two of the tank mutants in the back.
After the smoke disappears, Xiaoyun can see the two tank mutant bodies on the floor before they are completely covered by a new wave of zombies.
Xiaoyun took out his phone to check the time, and it was still five minutes away.
"Xiaoyun, should we stop the artillery fire?" Wuli asked through the transmission.
"Yes... We can only pray for them now." Xiaoyun murmured as the tank mutant disappeared from his view, but he could see a massive smoke coming out of the building.
---
"Everyone, ten mutants are heading towards us! Commander Xiaoyun had ordered us to retreat to the third floor." Zhen Ren yelled out.
The soldiers were in complete shock as Zhen Ren held onto the information until now.
"But not everyone can go up all at once. I'll stay behind to hold them back."
Seeing Zhen Ren choosing to stay behind to cover them, almost half of the soldiers chose to stay in place to let others retreat first.
"Sir, why don't you retreat first?" One of Zhen Ren's captains asked curiously.
"I'm not going to be called a coward... Besides, I'm going to get revenge today from those damn mutants."
Zhen Ren mounted onto one of the vacant MG-42s and started firing at the mutants as they appeared at the entrance.
"Everyone, throw all your explosives at them!" Zhen Ren yelled.
Immediately, all the remaining soldiers who still had grenades threw them at them, and the ones with RPGs all fired them at once.
The loud explosion sent the entire building shaking, along with the entire entrance covered in smoke, as the entire building inside turned silent for a second.
"They have to die from that, right?" A soldier mumbled as the smoke started to dissipate.
As the smoke dissipated completely, all eight mutants were revealed to be still standing.
The six in the middle were bleeding severely, and their entire upper body looked more like a barebone frame.
Meanwhile, the two that were more relatively back and less focused were almost still perfectly fine.
"Everyone fire at the injured one!"
The soldiers immediately snapped back to the moment as they pulled their triggers and began firing at the target.
Instantly, the six mutants fell onto the floor as the bullet somehow was easily able to penetrate their non-existent skin and muscle and into their head.
But this enrages the other two mutants as they start rushing towards the soldiers at full speed.
On top of it, all the zombies from outside the building began flooding inside the building again.
As the remaining soldiers began retreating back towards the stairs, Zhen Ren was still sitting in the mounted gun at the end.
"Sir, we need to retreat now!" One of the captains tried to pull Zhen Ren back, but he adamantly sat still.
"I am not leaving until all of them are dead." Zhen Ren yelled back.
The captain thought for a millisecond and instantly made up his mind.
"Sorry, sir."
The captain knocked out Zhen Ren and instantly dropped his guns as he carried Zhen Ren upstairs.
As the zombies began trying to rush up the stairs, the 5th regiment upstairs had already set up a defense and immediately opened fire as soon as the last two got upstairs.
"Where is Zhen Ren?" Li Miao asked as he walked up to the captain.
"He's here... I had to use force since he didn't want to retreat for some reason." The captain nervously replied.
"I probably should have told this to Commander Xiaoyun before he assigned him for this... Carry him to the third floor."
After the two went upstairs, Li Miao focused back on the important matter at hand.
"Please tell me they can't use the stairs."
Li Miao watched the zombies fail to go up the stairs, but they were still slowly getting closer and closer up by using each other's bodies as a smoother stairway.
Still, they were nowhere near the biggest threat, as most of them were instantly shot down by the soldiers.
Li Miao was fully focused on the two mutants who finally approached the stairs full of zombie corpses.
The mutants push the corpse to the edge and instantly break the stairwell window, and the zombie bodies go flying down to the 1st floor.
And to everyone's surprise, the mutant began slowly moving up the stairs by using its two massive arms like a pair of crutch.
With every step the mutant took, the soldiers could see the stairs crackling for help as if they were about to break at any moment.
Suddenly, Li Miao had an idea.
"Everyone, give me your grenades!"
Two soldiers walked up and handed their grenades to Li Miao as all the soldiers began retreating.
Li Miao pulled the pin and threw the grenade right at the top of the staircase before it went off.
With a loud explosion, the entire building shook harder than ever as all the soldiers held onto whatever they could to stay still.