"No matter what, he chose to cooperate with our version of the world from the very beginning. So, we’ll repay him with our trust. This isn’t about what might happen in the next life. What we need is all the information and experience he’s gathered from every world he’s lived through, to guide our actions and the nation’s actions!"
"Neither Lv Sheng nor Lin Mo are to be contacted privately, under any circumstances! We’re leaving both of them entirely in his hands! If he needs more people, we’ll assign him a few more!"
"You need to have strategic resolve, Qiao!"
Advisor Shao’s hand firmly patted Qiao Yunliang’s. Looking at his 54-year-old friend, his eyes were filled with nothing but earnest admonition.
Qiao Yunliang mulled it over for a long, long time...
In the end, he put down the satellite phone.
"Shao... I can’t live without you, just like a manure hauler can’t live without his buckets."
"Get outta here! *You’re* the manure bucket!"
"Hahahahaha~"
"Hahahahaha~"
The two old friends burst into laughter.
Everyone in the Yanhai City military district knew that whenever they faced a major issue, Commander Qiao would always listen to Advisor Shao’s suggestions. When it came to ideological guidance, Advisor Shao was the true soul of the entire Yanhai City military district.
「Seven days earlier, on the morning of the second day after Yu Dong’s reincarnation.」
Advisor Shao gave his instructions to Lv Sheng before he departed:
"Lv Sheng, you’re the toughest and most resilient soldier in all of Yanhai City. This is a long-term mission, and you’re the only one who can do it."
"Protect Yu Dong’s safety with everything you’ve got. He’s a Reincarnator. The information he possesses... is of the utmost importance to our country!"
"If the apocalypse truly is here... then don’t worry about military law. Help Yu Dong eliminate all threats. Some of his orders might seem unreasonable, but if he tells you to do something, you do it. His orders are equivalent to my own and Commander Qiao’s."
"Even if it costs you your life, you must protect him. This is the mission I am giving you on behalf of the nation. Do you understand?"
Lv Sheng saluted. "I guarantee I will complete the mission! I will protect Commander Yu Dong’s safety!"
At that moment, Lv Sheng was hugging his rifle, seemingly dozing off. In reality, his ears were constantly listening for the faintest stirrings nearby.
He had set up tripwire bells in the stairwell, the elevator, and the hallway.
...
a.m. on the third day of the apocalypse. Training began.
After an hour of intensive training, Yu Dong set out with the unit from the previous day.
The others remained at the base to complete their training. After today’s firearms drills, those who qualified would be able to join the team in the field.
Thanks to yesterday’s targeted rescue missions, Yu Dong’s team had gained 13 retired soldiers. Because they had received directives from the military district in advance, they were already prepared for battle.
Following Yu Dong, they picked up their guns and got straight to work.
’These damn zombies... If we don’t wipe them all out, humanity has no chance of living in peace.’
Yu Dong and his group drove to the shipyard, where they boarded a boat with Song Jinchuan and the others, heading west.
Zhao Youcai asked, "Dongzi, why aren’t we taking a plane? Didn’t Yin Shuangyang set up an airfield?"
Huang Zhiqiang added, "Yeah, Huangyang Port is huge. A helicopter would have no problem landing there."
"The pilots are all dead... There’s no one left alive at the airfield. All those preparations were for nothing... *Sigh*, in this apocalypse, I don’t know if we’ll ever find more pilots. Hopefully, Qiao has some on his side."
The airfield had only five pilots in total, and as bad luck would have it, all of them had turned into zombies.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Along the way, following Yu Dong’s commands, they eliminated all the zombies floating and struggling on the surface of the sea.
’If zombies don’t gather in the sea, then Bloated Zombies won’t appear... That makes the sea routes safe.’
In his past life, not only did no one pay attention to the sea, but many people actively lured zombies into it. Hordes of zombies fell into the ocean, where they just floated and gathered. Eventually, they mutated, gaining the ability to float and swim on the surface. They then infected each other, causing all the zombies in the sea to become bloated.
This life, they were clearing them out ahead of time to secure the shipping lanes.
Yu Dong and his team arrived at D Port in Huangyang Port at 8:30 a.m.
There, standing in neat and mighty formation, was a massive contingent of soldiers armed with guns!
Yu Dong took one look—over a thousand people!
’Damn, that’s a lot of people!’
Qiao Yunliang’s forces were much larger than in his previous life.
The sheer scale of it dwarfed his own group of a few dozen people!
"Unload... unload... unload, okay, stop!"
An olive-drab, eight-wheeled assault vehicle was unloaded from a train. A heavy machine gun was mounted stiffly on top, its large caliber radiating power.
The firepower of this thing was absolutely incomparable to the small arms they had on hand.
Yu Dong also had a heavy machine gun, mounted on the modified 5,000-ton ship they were currently using. When fired... it could turn the zombies on a beach into Swiss cheese.
But the heavy machine gun on this assault vehicle looked newer and more powerful. It was in excellent condition.
Yu Dong walked over and ran his hand over the cold, black metal, feeling the unique beauty of a firearm.
’As expected of active-duty equipment... It’s so much better than the knockoffs from Southeast Asia.’
"Heh heh~ Yu Dong, you’re here. What do you think of our armored assault vehicle? It’s only light armor, but it’s not like zombies can scratch through it. It can hit 120 km/h fully loaded. It can fight, it can run, and it can carry a lot. One vehicle can hold a nine-man infantry squad and all their gear, and it’s all-terrain."
Once this behemoth was on the ground, it was several sizes larger than an Ideal L9. Its massive wheels looked like they could just drive right over the top of other cars...
"Comrade Yu Dong, we meet again."
Advisor Shao shook Yu Dong’s hand, and Yu Dong shook Qiao’s hand as well.
The three of them stood at the front, watching as the soldiers unloaded the assault vehicles one by one.
With each vehicle that came off the transport, Qiao Yunliang gave Yu Dong a brief introduction.
"This assault vehicle carries a 120mm heavy mortar. This thing is the core indirect-fire weapon for a mobile Wilderness Battle Corps. It’s pretty good of Deng to give us four of them... I guess too many people in his artillery regiment died, so he can’t operate them anymore. Luckily, I have some old artillerymen on my side. I can’t give you this one; you don’t have the gunners to use it. Besides, a four-vehicle salvo can lay down a suppressing barrage. I have to keep these..."
"This assault vehicle has a vehicle-mounted 40mm automatic grenade launcher. I can give you two of these. Direct frontal firepower, they’ll blow apart huge swathes of zombies."
"This is a ’Bobcat’ vehicle. No armor, but it’s very versatile. This thing can navigate through rubble to transport ammo and the wounded. It’s highly mobile."
"The rest are the same... These vehicles don’t rely on other information command systems for combat. They can be aimed very accurately with manual controls. Deng really put some thought into this."
The support from Deng Changqing consisted of these four vehicle models; the rest was ammunition and weapons.
In the end, Yu Dong did a quick count.
There were 30 assault vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns, the most numerous type.
Next were 25 of the "Bobcat" vehicles.
There were 10 assault vehicles equipped with grenade launchers.
And 4 heavy mortar assault vehicles.
Plus a matching supply of ammunition, case after case after case. It looked like a lot.
"Commander Deng still has a lot of ammo..."
"This is about it. Deng’s standing armed forces equip each platoon with three basic loads of ammunition. He’s got ammo packed in every one of these vehicles. You’d better be conservative with your shots. Once it’s gone... it’s gone for now."
"Can’t Commander Deng produce ammunition? What about the munitions factories?"
"Deng can’t produce it, but his people have a large armory in the mountains where they can restock. He left in a hurry, though, so he didn’t go to the armory. This is enough for now. When he gets back from Kyoto... he’ll go open it up. If we’re not done by then, he can bring the resupply and rendezvous with us."
’Commander Deng really has some pull...’
Deng Changqing was probably the highest-ranking active-duty commander Yu Dong had encountered.
The firepower he commanded was far beyond that of a regional military district commander.
Yu Dong and Qiao haggled back and forth for a while. Finally, after Advisor Shao chimed in with, "We should give Comrade Yu Dong a bit more support," a reluctant Qiao allocated one-third of the assault vehicles to Yu Dong.
This gave Yu Dong a good impression of Advisor Shao, a man he had never met in his previous life. He seemed very generous.
standard assault vehicles equipped with 12.7mm heavy machine guns, 3 assault vehicles with 40mm automatic grenade launchers, and 8 of the all-terrain "Bobcat" vehicles.
As for small arms, Yu Dong already had plenty, and Officer Wang and his people on this side also needed some guns, so Yu Dong didn’t ask for any.
However, Yu Dong did ask for 10 sniper grenade launchers and 10 small, ground-mounted mortars.
This would supplement their medium-range firepower.
After the "loot" was divided, Yu Dong followed Qiao and the others to the Olympic Sports Center Base.
He needed to go to Zhang Yihuai’s ’talent market’ to recruit some manpower.
This base had the largest population.