Chapter 55: The Great Battle at Suyuanchao Bridge and Sude Park (3)

Page 1 of 3

Before five in the morning, when the sky was just beginning to lighten, Li Fengyi was roused by a sentinel’s urgent voice. “Com—Commander!” The soldier was so nervous he could barely get the words out.

Li Fengyi shook his head forcefully to clear it, then asked in a firm tone, “What is it?”

“Zombies, sir. We’re surrounded by zombies.”

The area around Side Park was dense with high-rises. While these buildings were being marketed, Side Park had been heavily advertised, touted as a kind of estate. Last night, after the troops cleared the buildings, they rescued more than six thousand survivors. The Civil Affairs Office organized teams to escort both survivors and supplies back through the night. Each task was handled by its respective department, so Li Fengyi hadn’t needed to intervene.

During the encampment, every unit posted sentinels on the rooftops. At dawn, sunlight first touched the high-rises, and the sentinels atop the buildings spotted, in the distance, massive clusters of zombies converging on Side Park.

When the Staff Office received the report, their first order was for Li Fengyi to immediately issue orders to control all sentinels and prevent any news from leaking. Their explanation to Li Fengyi was simple: “We can’t allow panic to spread among the troops. Once morale collapses, the unit becomes unmanageable.”

“Experience...” Li Fengyi thought to himself. “Everything draws on experience. Even if everyone reads military manuals, it doesn’t mean they can apply them instantly.”

He nodded, and the Staff Office immediately set about their tasks, then accompanied Li Fengyi up to the easternmost building.

The sun, a fiery red half-orb, rose over the horizon. Spring had returned to the land, and outside the city, plants were lush and vibrant—a green spring carpet. Yet, scattered across the verdant earth, clustered around Side Park, were dark patches like scabs. Li Fengyi raised his binoculars and saw that each patch was a throng of zombies, marching inexorably closer.

Page 2 of 3

The Staff Office gathered data from the rooftops around Side Park. “There must be over a million zombies,” a young staff officer reported, his teeth chattering. “They’re divided into five or so large and small groups, slowly moving toward Side Park. The closest are about eight kilometers away, the farthest no more than fifteen.”

Minister Ou had never provided any data on the movement speed of zombie hordes in the wild, so it was still unclear how long it would take for the encirclement to solidify. The reason for the gathering of these hordes was also unknown. Survivor camps that were willing to communicate couldn’t offer any clarity either. The general advice was: if faced with such a situation, and lacking massive firepower or advantageous terrain, escape as quickly as possible.

Li Fengyi reluctantly lifted his binoculars to survey the area around Siyuan Bridge and beyond the Fourth Ring Road. Outside the city, apart from a few residential clusters, it was almost entirely open wilderness. The highways, except at junctions, were rarely blocked by abandoned cars, and not every intersection was obstructed. There was no geographical advantage to speak of.

Barely out of the city, and they were about to be forced back again? Worse still, a million zombies besieging the city was not something the Special Committee could withstand. Retreating into the city would only delay the inevitable.

Even though, when they first cleared the way out of the city, the troops had set up vehicle barricades at intervals—easy enough to block off—against these numbers, such measures were nothing.

The only advantage was that, overnight, the Civil Affairs Office had already evacuated the survivors and supplies, fresh provisions had arrived, and a newly formed regiment had been sent to reinforce them. They now had 150,000 arrows, hastily produced by the Ministry of Industry within the city, and over 3,000 Molotov cocktails. But compared to the zombie horde, this was a drop in the bucket.

Li Fengyi immediately grabbed the radio to report the situation to Special Committee Headquarters, requesting a halt to all personnel movements and the strengthening of city exits to prevent disaster from spilling inward. He quickly estimated the range: their radios were 5-watt models, with an effective range of 5,000 meters. Any further, and they’d lose contact. Communication relays hadn’t been set up, nor had any base stations been found, so it seemed they’d be out of touch for some time.

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” Commander Liu reassured him, taking full responsibility. “We’re just making a round outside, checking on the situation. I’ll handle things at home.”

There was no going back to headquarters, and defending the park was impossible. There was nothing for it but to keep moving.

“Order all units to prepare to depart,” Li Fengyi commanded, gritting his teeth. “We’ll fight a guerrilla war.”

Page 3 of 3

Guerrilla warfare has always been the most grueling form of combat. Many a powerful army has been worn down by it, whether fighting as guerrillas or against them. Yet, at least there was a glimmer of hope, and so, reluctantly, Li Fengyi chose this last resort.

The army had no logistical support, no place to rest, and the wounded and sick had to be carried with the troops—hardships abounded.

There was a sort of blind optimism about guerrilla warfare among the soldiers. The Republic itself was forged through guerrilla tactics; if their predecessors could endure, surely they would not falter either. But Li Fengyi and the staff, who saw the daily consumption of supplies, weren’t so optimistic. With the ever-increasing number of survivors under the Special Committee’s protection, food supplies were already tight. The Civil Affairs Office had already proposed stricter rationing plans. Fortunately, water sources had not been contaminated. In fact, with the apocalypse and the reduction of human industrial and domestic waste, water quality had improved greatly. Boiled, it was still potable—otherwise, they’d have collapsed long ago.

Morale held firm, which made everything else much easier. Li Fengyi was relieved. Sun Xiaoshan hadn’t returned to the city the previous day; his industrial team had also stayed at the camp, which was a great help.

The army, busy but orderly, gathered all necessary supplies and hastily broke camp, setting their sights on Dongba once more. The last to withdraw, the reconnaissance battalion, was busy setting traps. On the rooftops of the eastern high-rises, they planned to hang fresh meat, hoping to entice zombies into a deadly leap from above.

The industrial team had constructed steel pipe tripods, fastened to the outer edges of the rooftops, suspending fresh meat about two meters from the walls. Sun Xiaoshan had devised a simple timer switch using a modified alarm clock. At nine o’clock, a pin would automatically pop out, releasing a plastic bag of fresh meat. An electric fan, powered by a lithium battery, would then blow the scent toward the building. The battery would last about sixteen hours.

The reconnaissance battalion had found a few swallow nests, quietly capturing and slaughtering the birds. They planned to advance to positions 3,500 meters from the zombie hordes and plant the meat at various high-rises, hoping to lure the zombies toward the buildings as much as possible.

A new estimate had been made: in the wild, zombies moved at about six kilometers per hour when not charging, but in a charge, they could sprint at human hundred-meter dash speeds within forty meters. The sight and sound of a zombie horde charging was terrifying. They felt no pain or fear; the momentum of dozens of zombies would transfer to those in front, creating a compounding effect. Even if the first zombie was crushed to a pulp by the impact, the rest would not hesitate. They’d witnessed this at the park the day before—had the soldiers not held their ground, the barriers would have been overturned.