Chapter 421

Wangjiang Military Region temporary Meeting Room.

Nearly a thousand Awakened Ones stared intently at the fierce confrontation on the screen, no one speaking.

Even though separated by the screen, they could feel the pressure brought by the second zombie tide attack.

Gunfire, artillery fire, skill sounds.

As if immersed in an exploding world, the Long'an Base on the screen desperately resisted the zombie tide attack.

"They have too few heavy weapons."

"Awakened Ones are also pitifully few."

The staff officer sitting next to Wang Meng kept a calm expression and quickly gave his opinion:

"In just a few minutes, the mutants can charge up the city wall."

"At this rate, I really doubt how they'll handle the impact of second‑level mutants."

Watching the mutants rush into the soldier squads on the screen, everyone's eyes flickered with a hint of reluctance.

In close‑quarters combat, the mutants charging into the crowd are a nightmare.

"With so few Awakened Ones, just dealing with these few mutants will drain their spiritual energy; what will they do next?"

Seeing the Awakened Ones jointly killing the mutants on the screen, a few Awakened Ones who often went out to fight couldn't help but voice their doubts.

An Awakened One watching from the side casually picked up the thread:

"What can we do? I don't think we even need second‑level mutants to act."

"If Long'an Base only has this much strength, when the next batch of first‑level mutants rushes onto the wall, they'll lose it."

Many people nodded after hearing that.

That's right.

Long'an Base used almost all its heavy weapons to delay the rotting giant corpses; they didn't even bother with tanks.

If it weren't for the tanks being relatively slow, they would have already attacked the wall.

Right now, just the mutants mixed among the hundred thousand zombies are enough to give Long'an Base a hard time.

"They probably still have a trump card; they haven't used the defense towers yet."

"That special building, the attack it unleashes is still decent."

The Awakened One who had earliest seen the spiritual energy defense tower in action stared at the still‑operating tower's top, where clearly many Awakened Ones were stationed.

As expected.

When the second batch of first‑level mutants charged into the city below, the defense tower that had been accumulating spiritual energy instantly launched an attack.

"Swish!"

"Swish!"

"Swish!"

Bluish‑green wind blades kept shooting out, slicing the leaping, airborne lickers in half.

As the defense tower directly ahead of the guard, it suddenly burst forth damage covering the entire front of the wall, momentarily turning into a biting storm that annihilated the three mutants trapped within.

"Not bad..."

Seeing the defense tower finally act, everyone couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

The wind blades fired from the defense tower are extremely fast, like a slender sickle, impossible to dodge.

One slash and the mutants are cut as easily as tofu, splitting into two halves in mid‑air.

A few core Awakened Ones sitting behind Wang Meng flashed a strange look in their eyes.

"At least equivalent to thirty Awakened Ones acting simultaneously, and the attack interval is very short!"

The defense tower's power is much stronger than yesterday's.

They remember it very clearly.

Yesterday the defense tower mainly used molten‑rock rays, whose power equaled that of an enhanced armor‑piercing round.

Looking at the cleared space in front of the wall, they couldn't help feeling a bit envious.

It's a group attack, and the damage is still high.

There are probably only four Awakened Ones stationed in the defense tower, right?

This thing is really useful.

Looks like the Safe Zone earns its name not just from auxiliary upgrades; perhaps the key lies in these special structures.

Wang Meng, seated in the chief position, watched the now‑idle defense tower with interest and casually reminded the staff officer beside him:

"Record the attack frequency."

"I don't know how much this thing consumes."

"But looking at it, it probably ran out of energy."

On the screen, the top of the slowly spinning defense tower looked somewhat dim.

The light representing the spiritual energy reserve had dimmed considerably.

After a brief silence, the staff officer gave the data he had been observing:

"Commander."

"The defense tower attacks once per second, with damage equivalent to at least four peak first‑level Awakened Ones acting together."

"The wind blades are area damage; with four Awakened Ones stationed, it can unleash about five attacks."

"The molten‑rock rays are single‑target damage; we haven't seen the enhanced version's power yet."

"However, it should be somewhat higher than the wind blades."

"Overall assessment: a single defense tower equals boosting Awakened Ones' strength by at least sixfold!"

"This doesn't even count the special nature of the defense tower's skill release. Whether in power or range, it is obviously far stronger than an Awakened One acting alone."

After Wang Meng listened, the interest in his eyes grew stronger.

If we calculate that way, the four defense towers of Long'an Base are equivalent to nearly a hundred peak first‑level Awakened Ones, right?

Moreover, with the defense towers protecting them, they need not fear mutant attacks.

That indeed counts as a rather formidable trump card.

No wonder they had the confidence at the start to face the zombie tide.

But Long'an Base probably didn't anticipate that this zombie tide would actually contain so many second‑level mutants, did they?

Last night, he hastily contacted one of the Military Regions in the Huanjiang Three Provinces.

That Military Region enjoys a favorable location and forcibly fulfilled its Safe Zone mission.

Their city‑defense mission involves many zombies, far more than at Long'an Base.

According to the mission brief, the more members in the Safe Zone, the more zombies appear.

But there are only four second‑level mutants.

So, by ordinary logic, Long'an Base should be confident about coping with a normal mission.

After all, the defense towers and Awakened Ones alone can handle the mutants.

The remaining zombies, sheltered by the high walls, can simply be ground down over time.

I just don't know how they managed to attract so many mutants.

Is it mere misfortune, or a peculiarity of the first Safe Zone?

For a moment, everyone's thoughts diverged.

Although the defense towers' power surpassed his expectations, the situation visible in the footage was still just about that.

The second wave of attack is about to arrive.

The zombie corpses piled up at the city's base are rapidly increasing, with many weak spots already stacked six or seven meters high.

They are simply using the corpses to build a ladder.

They can even see that the soldiers on the wall are already getting a bit panicky.

Once hand‑to‑hand fighting breaks out, defeat is inevitable.

After not waiting too long, the mutants of the second wave have already stepped on the corpse heap, ready to jump onto the wall.

In the fierce firefight, many soldiers can no longer bother with aimed shots, instead roaring as they desperately pull the trigger to spray bullets.

Can they hold out?

The defense towers seem to have run out of energy, and to make matters worse, a second‑level tank has already come charging in.

"They probably can't hold on."

"In under twenty minutes, will the line be broken through?"

The Awakened Ones on the scene noticed the earth‑shaking tank.

The dense machine‑gun fire impotently struck the arms it had raised to shield its head.

The bullets struck like hitting alloy steel plates, emitting a dense clinking sound.

Sparks flew everywhere.

Even an occasional small grenade could only blast a patch of blackened soot onto its hide.

A second‑level mutant tank! It is truly a nightmare for modern weaponry.

"The tank's defense... is too strong."

Watching the unstoppable tank roar as it charges at the wall, bulldozing through the bullets with a punch that blasts outward, everyone couldn't help but let out a sigh.

To deal with such a monster, one must either bombard it with heavy weapons at high intensity, finally relying on tungsten carbide armor‑piercing rounds to kill it, or else...

Otherwise, the only recourse is to fill it with the lives of Awakened Ones.