Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 70 Comrades-in-Arms Everywhere

Watching the convoy, centered around vehicle number two, depart, Su Xun also entered the command room of vehicle number one.

Besides Xu Huan, the team also brought Xiao Zhenru. Her telekinetic abilities were indeed recorded in the archives. Although she was still a bit clumsy in using them, she could already keep zombies at bay.

Nearly a thousand armed personnel survived the cataclysmic disaster at the Taimon base, a number that is tragically low compared to the number of people who had settled there.

These core forces are the foundation and cornerstone for developing larger-scale forces in the future.

Now heading to Xinfu, Su Xun brought about two hundred soldiers with him. The rest, except for those heading towards Licheng, were working with the workers at the base under Qin Chang's command to repair some damaged fortifications and carry out the task of guarding the base.

Two hundred soldiers from other countries can do very little, but in the East, it is far more than that. For ASEAN, modern warfare is no longer about large-scale battles. Even with damaged communication equipment, many tactics honed day and night can still exert tremendous power.

Within a month, a highway of a high standard has been built between the Taimeng base and Xintai City. Alongside the highway, there is also a freight railway that leads directly to the chemical industrial park. This will facilitate the transportation of industrial products between the base and the park in the future, and it also makes it easier for Su Xun and his men to march now.

On the track, an old-fashioned locomotive was pulling several flatbed carts, which were carrying the famous ZTZ-99A main battle tanks.

Following the tanks were two armed helicopters.

The original powerful electronic warfare units of these devices are now unusable, but thanks to the efforts of ASEAN engineers, they can still exert basic combat capabilities for the time being.

Although it doesn't seem far from Xinfu City, it's actually quite a long journey. The tank's motorcycle hours—that is, its trouble-free operating time—are very precious and cannot be wasted on the road.

On the other side of the road, the base vehicle and the freight train moved forward in tandem, accompanied by eight troop carriers, eight military trucks, and four combat platforms equipped with vehicle-mounted mortars.

In addition, several Mengshi armored vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns were also stationed in front and behind.

This formation would be a moving target on a human battlefield, but zombies don't yet have anti-tank missiles. The current priority is to efficiently move people to the right positions, without worrying too much about combat formations.

Standing in the command room—which is actually a room at a high altitude, with thick bulletproof glass windows all around, the field of vision is second only to the lookout post on the roof of the vehicle.

Since many devices were unusable, many situations required visual judgment. The only saving grace was that although long-distance communication was blocked, short-distance communication could still barely connect the area within the convoy. The vehicles in the base were equipped with old-fashioned radio equipment that had been hastily made.

As for the interior of this 20-meter-long vehicle, there is naturally wired communication available between the various units.

After half a day of relentless bombardment, the woods on both sides of the road are now quiet. Whenever there is any unusual movement, Su Xun orders a shell to be fired.

Soon, even the unusual activity in the forest ceased, but as Su Xun stood on high ground looking at the quiet forest, he felt as if he were staring at a colossal beast.

The appearance of a phenomenon that can suppress the zombie's instincts generally means that this zombie horde has selected a zombie leader. Although it is far from being as powerful as the future high-level zombie kings, it must have developed some basic intelligence.

Perhaps it is not intelligent, but it has already developed instincts, knowing to wait for the right opportunity and avoid harm. Now, it hides in the shadows, coldly watching this convoy that it cannot bite or eat. If it relaxes its guard even slightly, the convoy will surely be met with a fierce attack.

But since it didn't show itself, Su Xun decided to ignore it for the time being. It wouldn't be worthwhile to find this thing in this environment.

He then began to think about the operation.

This convoy, though seemingly large, is actually a pitifully small number compared to the city's overall population. Their goal isn't to single-handedly confront the million zombies lurking within the city—that's clearly unrealistic. Their objective is to quickly unite the forces fighting in various locations.

This was a massive positional war. On this battlefield, there were enemies everywhere, but also comrades everywhere.

The most important thing is to provide support and boost the confidence of your comrades who are active on the front lines as soon as possible.

If necessary, become their leader and bring them back to the safe zone.

The advantage is that there is no need to worry about supplies for this operation, because supplies are everywhere on the battlefield. Those resource boxes contain not only food, but also a lot of weapons and ammunition.

Moreover, the necessary supplies for this operation, such as fuel, shells, and replacement parts, had already been arranged along the marching route in advance.

More importantly, neither zombies nor mutated beasts will destroy these supplies like human adversaries in war, nor will they take bites of the asphalt on the road for the time being.

This time difference is now being exploited by those who haven't even grown a brain yet.

As they approached the town, Su Xun ordered a halt to fire, and the entire convoy began to accelerate.

He could clearly sense that some of the zombies were starting to forcefully attack the convoy. This area was now outside the influence range of the previous zombie lord. With the heavy firepower the convoy was equipped with, there was no need to waste it on these mindless ordinary zombies. They could simply run over any they encountered on the road.

Before even approaching Xinfu city, as they passed through a village, Su Xun saw a distress flare rising from the village.

There were also militiamen in the area. Presumably, they saw the sizable convoy on the road and, without much hesitation, Su Xun transmitted instructions to the convoy via radio.

"One team will implement Plan No. 3, enter the village to assess the situation, and rescue the disaster victims."

Because it wasn't a battle against humans, Su Xun didn't set up any overly complicated radio call signs or command codes; he simply divided the convoy into groups.

A truck and an troop carrier separated from the convoy; they would help or shelter disaster victims in dangerous situations and return to the main road to catch up with the convoy as quickly as possible.

The two vehicles were equipped with various heavy weapons. If the twenty-odd people had enough time, it might be difficult to plow through the entire small village, but clearing out the roaming zombies would be a piece of cake.

Su Xun did see a few zombies that had not been quarantined according to regulations and had wandered onto the road and been run over by the convoy, but he knew that these zombies had been attracted to the vicinity by the previous gunfire and cannon fire, and such people were ultimately a minority.

It must be acknowledged that there will always be people who, for various reasons and with various ideas, do not comply with the quarantine requirements, and the total number of these people is quite large.

However, if these people are distributed among a wider range of people, they would actually seem very few.

The reason why many outrageous people and things were disliked and felt like a lot during the pandemic more than a decade ago is actually a kind of survivorship bias. Only outrageous people are remembered, and only more outrageous things are reported.

Behind this are actually the vast majority of people who work silently and quietly to support national policies.

Now, another ten years have passed, and those who experienced that incident are now the mainstream of society.

(End of this chapter)