sbdcsierra Chapter 1354 The Battle of Gucheng Lake (Part 5)
Chapter 1354 The Battle of Gucheng Lake (Part 5)
"Damn it, these artillerymen are really treating us like we're not human, firing at such close range?! Fuck!!"
On the city wall, Gao Cheng, the reconnaissance battalion commander, shook his still dizzy head, spat out a mouthful of dusty saliva, wiped the dust off his gas mask, looked at the scene outside the wall, and cursed hoarsely.
He immediately grabbed the communicator, his voice still hoarse, but carrying a fierce edge forged by gunfire:
"Don't just stand there! Take advantage of the lulls in the shelling! Check the weapons! Replenish ammunition! Rescue the wounded! Fortify the fortifications! Quickly—!!!"
"The bombardment won't last long! The next wave of sons of bitches will be here soon!!"
The order brought the soldiers back to reality from their shock.
Yes, the artillery fire was only a temporary clearing operation.
Those endless, glowing monsters will soon surge up again.
Gu Cheng shook his head vigorously, trying to dispel the annoying tinnitus and dizziness.
He glanced at the carnage outside the wall, then at the soldiers beside him, their faces covered in soot but their eyes burning with renewed ferocity. Finally, his gaze fell on the communicator.
The tremor of brushing with death and the shock of witnessing the extreme violence of human firepower collided violently in his heart like two raging torrents.
Fear still lingered, but the desire to survive and the sense of responsibility towards the fellow sufferers around him gradually overwhelmed other conflicting thoughts.
He took a deep breath of the filtered air, still carrying the smell of gunpowder, and pressed the communicator:
"Battalion Commander! Passage No. 3 has been preliminarily cleared! It's passable! I request permission to lead the reserves to reinforce the second platoon's position on the left flank! They suffered heavy losses just now!"
There was a pause on Gao Cheng's end, followed by a brief and forceful reply: "Accurate! Be careful! Conserve ammunition!"
"understand!"
Gu Chengyun no longer hesitated. He raised his gun and growled at the soldiers of the first and second squads who had just fought the fire and were now watching him:
"Grab your weapons! Follow me! To the left wing!"
He was the first to hunch over and rush along the newly cleared passage, still tinged with heat and the stench of burning flesh, towards the left flank where gunfire had resumed.
Behind them lay the death zone outside the city walls, a place repeatedly ravaged by artillery fire and temporarily silent.
Above, the smoke of gunpowder had not yet dissipated, and the muffled metallic clanging of artillery reloading could still be faintly heard from the rear artillery positions.
The next clash between steel and flesh could come at any moment.
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Squeak—!!
At that moment, beneath the city wall, accompanied by the screech of brakes, a Mengshi 3 armored command vehicle with digital jungle camouflage and numerous antennas on its roof made a sharp turn and came to a sudden stop in a relatively open area with a makeshift command tent on the inner side of the west wall.
The car was covered in mud, and the hood was still steaming.
A major staff officer from the brigade's operations section, who had been waiting there for some time and was in charge of coordinating the defense of this section of the city wall, immediately jogged over to meet him, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the car door.
The heavy car door was pushed open, and Brigade Commander Zhao Jie stepped out.
He was wearing a full-body heavy-duty hazmat suit, the bulky clothing concealing his originally lean physique.
His face was completely covered by a rubber gas mask, the dark eye windows and protruding filter canisters making his features indistinct, with only the occasional cold glint of light reflected from behind the goggles.
"Greetings, Commander!" The major stood at attention and saluted, his voice hoarse and tense through his mask.
Zhao Jie didn't stop, casually returned the greeting, and then strode towards the steps leading to the city wall, his heavy chemical-resistant boots making a dull "thump-thump" sound on the gravel ground.
"Report on the current situation: casualties on the city wall? Were there any friendly fire incidents during the shelling? Latest figures on ammunition consumption and casualties for each battalion and company!"
At this moment, every word Zhao Jie uttered seemed to be squeezed out from behind a mask, crashing into the cold air.
According to the original plan, he was supposed to arrive at the front line of the city wall and take command as soon as the battle began.
However, before departure, the military sub-district commander, Du Yuming, urgently summoned him for a final assessment of the battle situation and a handover of command responsibilities:
According to the latest orders from the war zone, Du Yuming will lead the core of the military sub-district headquarters and some non-essential personnel to immediately move to "Eagle's Nest" to establish a rear command center.
The heavy responsibility of covering the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of civilians, as well as the last line of defense at the west wall of Gucheng Lake, now rested entirely on the shoulders of Zhao Jie, the 23-year-old commander of the First Infantry Brigade of Yezhou.
On his way there, he inspected several key survivor relocation points and the second and third lines of defense that were being built.
Thanks to the military's iron-fisted approach, the evacuation proceeded relatively smoothly.
Therefore, Zhao Jie has now become the highest military commander in the entire Gucheng Lake settlement!
However, Zhao Jie showed no excitement whatsoever.
There was only a mountain-like weight of responsibility that almost crushed his spine, and an unfathomable gloom.
Staying put for four hours...
How much time has passed since the shelling began? An hour? Or perhaps less?
The brutality of the battle and the rapid attrition of the troops had forced him to issue the command to advance the barrage of bullets at the furthest possible distance!
With each passing second, the casualties on the city walls increased, and ammunition was depleted, while the attacks from those monstrous things outside the city... seemed to show no signs of abating.
What chilled him to the bone was that, according to the intermittent information transmitted back from the rear observation station and the remaining drones in the air, the spore cloud that had been spreading across the sky and drifting slowly... had mysteriously stopped several kilometers away from the core area of the gathering place, and even began to hover and condense!
This is definitely not a good sign!
Given the cunning and tactical capabilities displayed by the "Jinling Ancient Brain," it would never be so kind as to give Gucheng Lake a chance to breathe.
This is more like a period of building up strength, making adjustments, or... waiting for something!
Perhaps they are waiting for the city wall defenses to be exhausted to their limit, perhaps they are waiting for the spore concentration to reach a certain critical point, or perhaps... they are preparing for some kind of more terrifying attack method that they have never seen before!
The unknown is the sharpest blade.
Thinking of all this, Zhao Jie felt as if a huge rock soaked in ice water was pressing on his chest. Every breath he took, passing through the filter, produced a heavy and clear "hiss-ha" sound that echoed inside the mask.
Seeing his brigade commander's somber expression, the major staff officer dared not delay for a moment. He followed closely beside Zhao Jie as they quickly ascended the city wall, reporting rapidly in his own words: