Chapter 76: Retaking the City of Beijing (Part 2)

The square is the heart of Beijing, the largest urban central square in the world, covering 44 hectares. It stretches 500 meters from east to west and 880 meters from north to south, its surface paved entirely with light-colored granite slabs crafted through special techniques.

A dense horde of zombies spread across the square, and upon spotting the cleansing troops, surged forward in waves like a relentless tide. More zombies poured out continuously from the Forbidden City.

A young field division commander stood atop a towering barricade of cars, surveying the vast square. The garrison had emphasized the importance of the Forbidden City. He called his adjutant over and issued a few calm orders.

The adjutant departed to make preparations.

The field division commander was the first to step into the broad expanse of the square. Alone, facing a hundred thousand zombies, he showed no trace of fear, advancing step by step and swinging his guandao as though he were striding through his own vegetable garden.

The soldiers behind him were well acquainted with their commander's style of warfare.

They brandished their guandaos and swung steel pipe spears, surging down from the barricades like a torrent of steel, clashing head-on with the oncoming frenzy of zombies.

From the outset, the battle to cleanse the square of the zombie horde was fierce and incandescent.

The adjutant led the guards battalion, following closely behind the main force as they crossed the barricades. They formed a circular battle formation at the rear of the line, then advanced while fighting toward the gate of the Forbidden City.

Another brigade followed behind the guards battalion's circle, stretching a long battle line from the departure point, tightly guarding their rear.

When the soldiers at the front of the circle were blocked by the zombie tide, those behind leapt forward without hesitation, overtaking them. This repeated again and again, leaving the square littered with spinning zombie heads.

The zombie horde's formation was disrupted, split down the middle into two roughly equal halves. The rear brigade formed a long column connecting the starting point to the guards battalion at the gate of the Forbidden City, then divided into two lines, turning left and right, advancing east and west in straight lines to slaughter their way onward.

The guards battalion reached the Forbidden City gate, slammed shut the heavy doors, sealing the tourist zombies inside, then turned and fought their way back to the commander's side.

This commander's style was to use the guards battalion as a spearhead, leading the charge himself, his troops following close behind. He was always at the front when advancing and the last when retreating, earning his soldiers' deep trust and loyalty.

Whenever a soldier found himself surrounded by zombies and unable to advance, those behind would overtake him and continue forward until blocked, then overtaken in turn—a cycle repeated endlessly.

Not until the entire field division of ten thousand men was spread across the square did the battle line stabilize, with each soldier surrounded by zombies.

The zombies gnawed at their chainmail, but when the soldiers shook themselves, zombie teeth shattered. The zombies clawed in vain; their hands could not break through. Where the chainmail was pressed, it simply dented softly, the pressure absorbed by the flexible weave. Tearing was useless.

The soldiers only needed to swing their guandaos down upon zombie skulls or thrust their steel spears into their heads, felling them one by one.

Throughout, not a single soldier uttered a sound. They fought in grim silence. If any were injured so badly by zombies that they could no longer fight, they would drop their weapons, crouch with heads covered, and remain motionless, allowing the zombies to claw and snap at them. So long as they endured until another soldier finished off the zombies and rescued them, they would survive.

Across the square, atop the high barricades, several field division commanders sat on chairs, watching the battle and commenting on which soldier was the bravest, or laughing at those whose slow movements got them bowled over by zombies and piled beneath others, forming grotesque heaps.

From time to time, they hurled playful insults at the unlucky ones.

The garrison commanders watched anxiously from the side.

They had never seen such a spectacle. Only recently equipped with chainmail, they still felt some fear at the thought of facing such a vast zombie horde directly.

Until now, their tactics had always been to divide and encircle the zombies, wearing them down slowly.

Confronting the horde head-on like this for the first time, they realized that the field troops had fought their way in and out of million-strong zombie swarms outside Beijing without blinking.

It took over an hour to clear the zombie horde from the square. The field division formed a pocket formation facing the tightly closed gate of the Forbidden City.

With a creak, the gates of the Forbidden City swung open, and zombies burst forth like tigers unleashed. But the pocket was tight, and blades and spears struck from three sides, leaving corpses strewn everywhere.

To prevent the zombies from piling up and blocking the gate, the field division would periodically retreat a distance on command, giving the zombies room to flood out, then commence a new round of slaughter.

Only when no more zombies emerged from within did the troops surge into the Forbidden City to complete a thorough sweep.

Three hours passed. With the last zombie corpse flung from the city wall, the square and the Forbidden City were finally cleared.

The young field division commander, Du Shoufeng, stood atop the city wall, raised his guandao, his entire body drenched in zombie gore. Facing the sun, he let out the first triumphant shout of the entire operation, "Awooo!"

All across the square and within the Forbidden City, the bloodstained, unrecognizable soldiers raised their weapons to the sky, faces upturned to the sun, and responded in unison, "Awooo! Awooo!"

Their morale soared, the voices of heroes echoing deeply across the vast square and the shadowed Forbidden City.

For reclaiming the square, symbol of China, the young field division commander Du Shoufeng was named to the current issue's Apocalypse Hero List. The other division commanders, somewhat envious, joked with him, "Had we known fame was so easy to come by, we wouldn't have let you take the lead!"

Within the city, the garrison forces had never encountered more than a hundred thousand zombies at once; most parks held only twenty or thirty thousand at most. Before acquiring the ultimate protection of chainmail, casualties had been severe, and even now, newly equipped, their confidence was shaky.

Unfamiliar with their new gear, they had not truly listened to the field troops' explanations, their urban pride clouding their judgment.

After the embarrassment of today's battle, they could no longer show that unfounded sense of superiority before the field troops and became humbler.

This, at least, was a relief to the Special Committee; they no longer had to rack their brains trying to foster unity among the forces.

The garrison took the initiative to invite the field troops to plan the zoo-clearing operation together. If the zoo could be reclaimed, then aside from the million-strong horde on the northeastern Fourth Ring Road, Beijing's defensive circle would be secure and no large zombie horde would remain. The city would once more belong to humanity.

This time, the field troops were cautious, well aware that fighting the giant mutant animals of the apocalypse would be no easy feat.