Chapter 409: with translation of chapter title

The heavy machine guns that opened fire first fired in succession, forming dense lines of fire.

The fire dragon's spray was like the grim reaper's scythe.

The zombies at the forefront had their limbs easily broken by the tumbling warheads; the inertia of their frantic charge combined with the explosive impact, making the front line of zombies like water suddenly pressed down, submerged in the ensuing black tide.

「Boom! Boom! 」

The artillery opened fire immediately, aiming at the position of the First-Level Mutants, and in the process the surrounding corpse horde was blasted to pieces.

A hasty jump.

As the shells arced down, the mutants crowded in the corpse horde jumped about chaotically to other positions.

Like flying fish leaping from a school, the First-Level Mutants dodging the shells heedlessly trampled the zombies underfoot as they jumped away.

As the explosions began, the smoke and dust flung into the sky covered the front half.

The shrapnel from the explosions mercilessly reaped the zombies within a thirty-meter radius, and the invisible shockwave hurled the shattered corpses into the air.

If they were merely ordinary zombies, their flesh would be as fragile as a ragdoll before steel and gunpowder.

Without needing to aim, in a situation so dense that any random shot could wipe out a patch, the artillerymen loading the guns did so at breakneck speed.

When the first wave of the corpse horde had passed over the ground littered with bodies, the landmines detonated.

「Ding—Boom! 」

A sixty-five-kilogram pressure device triggered instantly; the shallowly buried anti-personnel mine, under a weak powder explosion, shot into the air and instantly detonated, producing over a thousand fragments that turned the surrounding zombies into a honeycomb.

Half of the skull was sheared off, and the remaining fragments then sliced it into strips.

One after another.

The continuously detonating landmines, like a death trap, blew irregular gaps in the continuous line of the corpse horde.

「Burst fire! Everyone, burst fire! 」

「Don't waste ammunition! 」

The squad leader in an officer's uniform shouted hoarsely, trying to make the panicked soldiers suppress their fear.

「Fire at close range! Don't be afraid! 」

「They can't storm the walls! 」

The battle plan in rehearsal.

The initial firepower barrage was purely to let the defenders vent their fear.

Under extreme tension, having never experienced such an exaggerated battlefield, recruits easily exhaust all their ammunition in a single burst due to stiffness and panic.

No matter how ample the ammunition stores, they cannot withstand indiscriminate spraying.

Rifles fire 400 rounds per minute; heavy machine guns fire 2,400 rounds per minute.

If left unchecked, even the Long'an Base's ammunition reserve of up to 27 million rounds could not sustain this consumption.

After the first wave of firepower subsided, the gunfire on the walls, which had been like a downpour, grew sparse.

The weapons from the arms test facility were nearly all refined experimental models, complete with sights and laser guidance, none lacking.

In the most optimistic estimate, if three thousand rifles could kill a zombie with every three shots, they could clear the corpse horde in at most two hours.

Of course, ideals remain ideals.

On the wall, the squad leader in charge of the ten-man firing team slapped hard at the soldier prone and operating the heavy machine gun:

「Stop firing, damn it! They're dead! That whole bunch of zombies is dead! 」

「Fire at close range! Burst fire! 」

The soldier operating the heavy machine gun had his mouth slightly open, his eyes vacant, his fingers stuck to the trigger, unwilling to let go.

At this distance, he could clearly see the zombies howling as they charged.

As far as the eye could see, the entire black mass of the corpse horde almost filled the field of vision.

Over 370,000 zombies almost filled the front of the battlefield that had been cleared, the hideous, frenzied zombies fearless of life and death.

Within the corpse horde, many zombies with broken limbs still writhed on the ground.

Those blown apart at the waist crawled wildly on the ground with their hands; those missing all limbs rolled about desperately, head held high.

The fearless, unafraid zombie charge imposes an immense psychological pressure.

Seeing that the machine-gunner wouldn't be roused by slaps, the squad leader simply kicked him over.

「Drag him aside and slap him a few times! Wake him up! 」

Rough and brutal, the men feared him, and he too felt fear.

Were it not for the Awakened Ones standing ready behind them, lending confidence, and were it not for Lin An still standing on the wall like a statue.

To be honest, even he felt his legs turning weak.

The soldier in charge of reloading grabbed the withdrawn machine-gunner and shouted angrily, his voice choked with tears:

「Stay calm! Don't you dare fire wildly! 」

Slap after slap rained down.

The slaps caused the dazed soldier's face to swell badly.

On the battlefield, any conciliatory means are out of the question.

The heavy machine gun's dedicated ammunition is limited; aside from boosting morale as the first fire net, it must mostly be used to suppress mutants alongside the Awakened Ones.

Behind the wall, the female medics responsible for the medical team scattered forward, carrying their medical kits.

They held stimulants, and some nervously gave injections to the soldiers reporting their condition.

They had never seen such a large-scale battlefield.

In less than five minutes of one-sided firing, a faint smell of blood had already spread on the wind.

Gun smoke hung thick.

Below the city lay a field of severed limbs, and from time to time one could see zombies hurled into the air by landmines, tumbling as they fell.

After the needle was stuck in, the soldiers whose rationality had frozen finally came to their senses.

He gasped heavily, and upon seeing clearly the medic who had given him the injection, he couldn't help but feel ashamed.

Too embarrassing.

He actually got scared stupid by the corpse tide.

Actually it's not his fault either.

They were merely students who had only trained for a short month; in such a horrifying scene, even soldiers trained by the Military Region would encounter the same problem.