Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 68 A Hundred Martial Arts Skills, This is...

At this time, some zombie beasts from the mountains had approached the fortress on the surface of the base, but were quickly dealt with by the sentry machine guns.

The various ground forts are connected to the main base by passageways. These sentry machine guns are distributed along the various transportation routes of the base and have specially designed ammunition supply systems. The entire ground fort complex is now a giant meat grinder.

Of course, the so-called sentry machine guns installed here are not the traditional photoelectric sensors used before the apocalypse, nor are they equipped with radar. In fact, it would be more appropriate to call them remote-controlled machine guns, which are operated by soldiers at the observation post via pre-buried cables.

To reiterate, this kind of thing is utterly useless in human-to-human warfare, and might even be used by people to track down observation posts by following the cables. But zombies don't have that kind of brain, at least not for now.

More and more zombie beasts began to gather, but there was no sign of mutated beasts—these were actually the superhumans among the surviving animals. They were not only more intelligent, but also had irreconcilable conflicts with the zombies.

They will stay away from places with many zombies.

The distant forest swayed. These trees had not been completely cut down. After all, even if the apocalypse had not come, the ecosystem itself would still exist and be even more important. A destroyed ecosystem is more likely to breed terrible dangers.

Qin Chang was somewhat worried: "The commotion seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Will we attract all the zombie beasts on the mountain?"

He even saw human zombies appearing outside the fortress, possibly attracted by zombies from several nearby villages.

"If only we could attract them all." A ruthless glint flashed across Su Xun's face. "I don't recommend ordinary soldiers use firearms outside because they don't have sturdy fortifications to rely on, and the enemies they face may be endless, but here..."

Su Xun looked at the two Land Shield 3000s that hadn't fired yet; their cannons were already pointed towards the valley where the zombies were most concentrated, ready to be deployed at any moment.

With these two guardians around, Su Xun wanted to see if he could wipe out all the zombies in the Taimeng Mountains.

The hilltop that was cleared out in advance has now become an excellent firing position.

Seeing soldiers pushing out heavy artillery in the distance, Su Xun smiled.

All kinds of martial arts, this is the high-explosive bomb!
Steel can save lives; that would be a wonderful thing.

There seemed to be some mutated plants stirring in the swaying woods, but after a few shells were fired into them from afar, they fell silent instantly.

The thunderous artillery fire caused the earth to tremble, and patches of fire and smoke rose one after another and slowly advanced in the direction from which the zombies were rushing. The ruthlessness and ferocity of the god of war were fully displayed at this moment.

Most of the coordinates around the base had been calculated in advance. Before the apocalypse, Qin Chang's engineering troops had set up many targets on the outer perimeter. As long as the firing parameters were slightly adjusted according to these targets, the mutated plants that appeared nearby would be picked off one by one.

"Prepare the base vehicle, we should set off."

Qin Chang was somewhat surprised by Su Xun's order: "Now? It seems that the zombies outside are still gathering."

Su Xun shook his head: "It's almost over."

Qin Chang didn't say much. He unconditionally trusted Su Xun's judgment. And just as Su Xun had said, when the third round of shells was fired, the area outside the fortress was littered with severed limbs. The few blood clots twitching and writhing on the ground were also picked off one by one by the heavy machine guns.

No more new zombies rushed up; it seemed that all the mutated beasts in the entire mountain range had been completely wiped out.

But how could that be? The Taimeng Mountains stretch across several cities, covering central Shandong, with countless hills and mountains. Even if the ecology was terrible before the apocalypse, it shouldn't have been just this much.

The truth is, zombies don't keep crashing into an unfillable abyss. If it were that simple, Su Xun and the others in their previous lives would have driven all those large zombie hordes into the sea to fight the sea monsters. This thing should be considered a whole from the moment it is born. Like Ma Xihai, it is a tenth-level collective consciousness, but it was not a consciousness that was born when it entered the tenth level.

It can be said that from the moment spiritual energy appeared, these large zombie hordes already possessed a vague and indistinct instinct. No matter how fearless a single zombie may be, it would still be influenced by it to seek advantage and avoid harm.

That's why Su Xun didn't try to control the particularly representative zombie kings beforehand. He knew that the zombie kings were the embodiment of the group, a collective choice. If he killed one, the zombie horde would choose another.

This situation does not easily occur between mutated beast hordes and humans. Su Xun and others have carefully studied the underlying reasons for this, and their conclusion is somewhat counterintuitive—it may be because zombies do not have brains.

The emergence of collective consciousness depends on the transmission of information between individuals within the collective, and this transmission has a deeper impact on the spiritual level.

At this level, zombies, swarms of insects, undead, and even plants, etc., are composed of individuals who are more 'selfless', and the boundaries of consciousness of each unit are more blurred.

They are completely loyal to the larger collective, willing to die for it at any time, and of course, willing to contribute all their information to it without reservation.

This trend also occurred in Kukulkan, North America. Someone risked their life to observe the natural disaster, which was based on flocks of birds, from afar. According to the records left by that person, the intelligence level of those individual birds was similar to that before the apocalypse.

Based on this, it can be inferred that it is more difficult for humans, and other mutant beast races with strong individual intelligence, to develop collective consciousness.

The higher the intelligence, the more selfish and independent one becomes. The more easily information is distorted in the transmission between individuals, the more difficult it is for a powerful collective will like that of Ma Xihai to emerge.

But this is not inevitable or absolute.

Since his rebirth, Su Xun has had a guess: perhaps the collective consciousness of humanity was born long before the apocalypse, and civilization is the name of this consciousness.

A civilization, too, has its own will and its own goals.

Individuals within this group can also sacrifice their lives for the collective, generously dying to maintain its existence.

Isn't this also a manifestation of vitality?
In the previous life, far too many of the first generation of survivors died. Even though some bases managed to survive with the help of a few extraordinary individuals, it was clear that Su Xun and a few others were powerless to reverse the situation.

In that dark and turbulent time, the survivors, after several generations, no longer had a concept of a large community. They were isolated on an island, only able to see what was in front of them. They had no plans for the future because they could not see it at all.

On that timeline, humanity as a whole had died.

But now, the situation will be very different.

The fortress gates opened, and two base vehicles weighing over seventy tons slowly drove out, with resolute-faced soldiers boarding various armored vehicles to escort them.

Unlike when fighting against others, there is no need to go to great lengths to hide oneself; the bright red flags flutter and rustle in the wind on every tank.

Looking at the striking human silhouettes on the massive military green vehicle, Su Xun felt secretly excited.

Collective, only collective.

What kind of brilliance will this collective, tempered once again by blood and fire, unleash in this great world?
(End of this chapter)