The last leader of the world starts with an elite infantry squad!

The 128th minute of the Battle of Gucheng Lake.

Time, amidst the flashes of explosions, the roar of guns, the screams of the dying, and the ceaseless, viscous writhing sounds, is stretched and compressed, becoming a sticky and cruel unit of measurement.

The brief respite brought by the initial fierce shelling has long since passed.

The artillery positions in the rear, those once roaring war gods, are now trapped in the predicament of high temperature and metal fatigue.

Continuous high-intensity firing causes the gun barrel to overheat and glow red-hot. Cooling cannot keep up with the consumption of heat. Replacing the spare gun barrel takes time. More fatally, some critical components of the artillery begin to show metal wear and even micro-cracks under extreme pressure, which drastically increases the risk of barrel explosion if forced to fire.

The intervals of artillery support have been forced to become longer and longer, from the initial dense coverage to the later gradual barrage, and now, only sporadic "firefighting" bombardments can be carried out on the most critical areas at intervals of several minutes or even longer.

The flashes of light and roars that once tore through the darkness, bringing fleeting hope and fear, have become rare and precious.

However, the swarms of fungi on the ground seemed to truly possess the characteristics of a "tide"—endless and relentless.

The weakening of the shelling was immediately sensed by them, and they did not hesitate to increase the force and density of the impact!

The pressure on the city walls is increasing exponentially!

"Change the barrel! Change the barrel now—!!!"

"It's stuck! Wrench! Give me a wrench!!"

"Get out of the way! Use a crowbar!"

...

The failure rate of firearms began to soar.

The heavy machine gun barrel, which was continuously spitting fire, overheated and deformed. The assistant gunner rushed forward with a spare barrel, only to find that the scorching gun body was welded to the support. In the futile attempt, the precious suppressive fire was interrupted.

Even more frightening are the anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns that fire horizontally. These weapons were not originally designed for continuous horizontal firing, and under extreme use, their mechanical structures are subjected to enormous pressure.

"Bang——!!!"

A muffled thud, mixed with the sound of metal tearing and a short, agonizing scream from a human!

At a twin-mounted 14.5mm anti-aircraft machine gun position, the right barrel suddenly exploded after continuous firing! Hot metal fragments and flying bolt parts swept around like the Grim Reaper's scythe!

The gunner, who was operating the equipment, had half of his body torn off, and his hazmat suit was instantly soaked with blood and fragments of internal organs. He collapsed without uttering a sound.

The assistant gunner was hit in the mask and neck by shrapnel, making a hissing sound as he staggered backward and slipped on the sandbag.

The ammunition handler next to him had his arm sliced ​​off by a shard the size of a palm. Blood gushed from the severed arm. He stared blankly at his empty sleeve before letting out a scream that sounded inhuman.

The firing point went silent instantly, and thick smoke and the smell of blood filled the air.

And in that instant when the gap in firepower appeared—

"They're coming up—!!!"

"The barricade! The barricade at three o'clock—!!"

...

The piercing, almost shrill warning was drowned out by an even more turbulent, teeth-grinding scraping sound and dripping slime that seemed to be crawling up directly from the base of the wall!

Several multi-segmented climbers, resembling a hybrid of a giant centipede and a spider, relied on their sharp claws and powerful mucus secretions to take advantage of the weakened firepower. They slithered up the city wall through the breaches, the joints between bricks, and even along the pits corroded by the previous volcanic bombs, with incredible speed and agility. Suddenly, their ferocious heads, covered with glowing fungal spots and compound eyes, emerged from the edge of the crenellations!

"Fire! Fire!!!"

The soldiers were terrified and raised their rifles to fire wildly!

The bullet struck the hard chitinous shell, scattering sparks and shell fragments, but it was unlikely to be instantly fatal.

The forequarters of a climber suddenly plunged into the crevice, its thick forelimbs sweeping like scythes!

"Pfft!"

A soldier who was changing the ammunition belt for a light machine gun was unable to dodge in time and was slashed across the chest by the sharp tips of the limbs. The thick chemical protective suit was torn open like a piece of paper, and blood mixed with fluorescent mucus gushed out!

He staggered backward, knocking over an ammunition box, and bullets clattered and rolled all over the ground.

"Grenade—!!"

A veteran nearby reacted quickly, pulled the pin, delayed for two seconds, and shoved the grenade into the monster's open mouth!

boom!

The explosion resounded inside the monster, and dark green slime and shattered internal organs gushed out from cracks all over its body. But its massive body still charged forward due to inertia, knocking sandbags and two soldiers at the top of the barricade backward!

"Block it! Block the breach—!!"

More soldiers rushed forward, firing their rifles at close range. Those who didn't have time to reload drew their skull-crushing hammers and began to smash the target wildly!

However, this is just the beginning.

As more and more firing points fell silent due to overheating, malfunctions, or casualties, the climbing points of the fungal beasts sprang up like anthills breaching a dam, spreading all over the long city wall defense line!

A dull thud came from the outside of the wall. It was the "ramming creature," which was larger and slower but had tremendous strength, striking the weak point of the wall with its heavy, keratinized head!

Although the accuracy of the projectiles decreased due to the vigilance of the defenders, they continued to be launched in an endless stream, drawing disgusting parabolas in the air, hitting the walls and fortifications, corroding everything, and causing chaos and continuous casualties.

Most fatally, as soon as the successfully climbed fungal beasts established a few footholds on the wall, the subsequent fungal beasts seemed to be encouraged or guided, and rushed towards these "breakthrough points" even more frantically!

"Right Wing Area 3 has fallen! Repeat! Right Wing Area 3 has fallen! A fungal beast has climbed the wall—!!" A shrill cry for help rang out in the communication channel.

"The 2nd Mechanized Infantry Company on the left flank requests backup! We've been breached! They're charging back and forth along the wall—ah!!"

The screams stopped abruptly.

Panic, like ink spilled into clear water, quickly spread among the exhausted defenders.

Their physical strength was already exhausted, and their spirits became numb and fragile under the constant pressure and the threat of death.

Watching his comrades fall in various gruesome ways, watching those twisted, glowing monsters actually climb up and wave their deadly limbs right in front of him...

"Hold on! Don't retreat—!!"

Officers and sergeants were shouting at the top of their lungs, blocking the gap with their bodies, and driving away the soldiers on the verge of collapse in the most brutal way.

But the defense line is already in grave danger.

The reconnaissance battalion's defense zone, the junction of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Company and the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Company on the left flank.

This area had just been coordinated by Gu Chengyun, and the range of firepower had been redefined, but at this moment, it had become the bottom of the funnel under the greatest pressure.

One of the heavy machine guns exploded and the other overheated, leaving only the light machine gun and rifle desperately unleashing bullets. However, facing climbers who were creeping up from multiple angles, using the shadows of walls and obstacles, the firepower was already riddled with holes.

"Instructor! To the left! Another one is coming up—!!"

A soldier, his face splattered with slime and his hazmat mask cracked, screamed.

Gu Chengyun had just emptied a magazine with his rifle and shot a skinned fungus beast that was trying to leap in through the side opening, sending it tumbling down.

Hearing the sound, I turned my head sharply and saw that two sharp claws, gleaming with a ghostly green fluorescence, had already latched onto the edge of the crevice, which was corroded and loosened by the blasting material. Then, a head covered with tumor-like protrusions and compound eyes emerged, its mouth opening and closing, dripping corrosive saliva.

"Grenade!"

Gu Chengyun roared, and at the same time, he pulled out a grenade from his waist with lightning speed. Following military academy training, he bit off the pin with his teeth, counted silently in his mind, and threw it out fiercely!

The grenade arced through the air and landed precisely below the monster's head.

boom!

The explosion blew half of its head off, scattering viscous fluorescent fluid and shell fragments everywhere.

But the monster's remaining body continued to writhe violently, its claws gripping the wall tightly, preventing it from falling and instead providing a foothold for its kind to follow!

"Smash it down!!"

At this moment, Gu Chengyun, who was already bloodthirsty, was so excited that his adrenaline was soaring that he had forgotten what fear was. He casually pulled out the skull-crushing hammer from his waist and was about to rush forward.

"Instructor, watch out—!!"

A soldier next to him suddenly tackled him to the ground!

Almost simultaneously, with a soft "whoosh," a ball of dark green bullet flew past the spot where Gu Chengyun had just been standing, hitting a pile of ammunition boxes behind him, instantly sending up pungent white smoke and flames!

"Put out the fire! Put out the fire quickly!!"

In the chaos, Gu Chengyun was pulled up by the soldiers. His ears were ringing. He shook his head and saw more fluorescent figures surging upwards from the gap that had been opened!

On their side, few soldiers remained standing; all were wounded, and their ammunition was running low.

Despair, like an icy tide, instantly overwhelmed his heart.

Is it really going to fall apart?