Chapter 99: Recapturing Tianjin (4)

The entire afternoon saw a continuous replacement of machine gun and artillery barrels that had reached the end of their service life. As the density of artillery fire and machine gun shots noticeably declined, the sparse groups of zombies advanced more quickly, soon reaching the banks of the Zi Ya River.

The scattered zombies sprinted rapidly, repeatedly being felled by bullets and shells. Those that reached the riverbank tried to stop; they retained a basic fear of flowing water. However, the larger hordes behind, driven by the lure of fresh flesh, pushed them into the river.

At first, the zombies that fell into the water flailed their arms in protest, showing they were not fully resigned and unwilling to fill the river. But the dense waves of zombies soon forced them beneath the surface, filling in patches and allowing the undead to continuously flood the river channel.

Half an hour later, as the river was nearly filled, Li Qiang ordered the soldiers inside the armored vehicles wielding automatic rifles to join the firing line.

Amidst the rapid gunfire, three zombie walls quickly took shape. The zombies surged onto these walls, only to be knocked down and fall again, repeatedly felled. The height and width of these undead barricades grew swiftly.

The artillery fired once more...

By 5:00 p.m., the personnel had rotated to the third shift. The soldiers pulled back lay strewn across the camp adjacent to the front lines, especially the artillery ammunition handlers. Despite having three handlers per gun to ease the workload, the constant rotation still left most utterly exhausted, with many carried off on stretchers.

They moved nearly two hundred shells per hour, each weighing dozens of kilograms, from the ammunition piles to the loading ports—about 50 meters away. That meant nearly 10 kilometers of weighted back-and-forth movement every hour. Even with the enhanced stamina brought by the apocalypse, it was still insufficient.

After several rounds of clearing the zombies, tracked bulldozers worked along the north bank of the Zi Ya River, shoveling the dense piles of undead bodies onto heavy trucks. Zombies not yet fully dead continued to struggle but were buried beneath the collapsing heaps of corpses. The loads were rapidly transported to the rear to clear the shooting range.

The zombies charged again, this time in a more dispersed formation. Li Qiang ordered a halt to full salvo firing to conserve ammunition. Yet somehow, the zombies soon increased their density again, forcing another order for all-out firing. This cycle repeated.

Along the highway between the frontline logistics base and the artillery positions, a six-lane dual carriageway, the southern lanes were all converted into battle positions. On the northern lanes, one was used as a loading and unloading zone and ammunition depot, with one lane for entry and another for exit.

Despite occasional minor mishaps, a day of intense operations passed without major incidents.

Just as the military police in charge of traffic control sighed in relief, a loading assistant standing atop a heavy truck's cargo platform, having a high vantage point, spotted zombies reaching the tops of armored vehicles. He screamed loudly, "Mom! The zombies are breaking through! They're going to eat me!"

He jumped off the truck and ran wildly. Several vehicles ahead swerved sharply to avoid him, crashing into the nearby loading area. A few artillery shells, freshly fitted with fuses and just taken from the ammunition stacks, exploded with a loud bang!

Chaos erupted instantly. Surrounded by dense munitions, a chain reaction threatened to wipe out everyone in the vicinity.

One explosion after another echoed from the rear, clearing a 200-meter-long, 70-meter-wide artillery position. Some barrels were blasted high into the air and fell back down. Fortunately, due to the layout, no other positions were hit.

The staff had wisely designed the positions with potential explosions in mind, dividing the area into sections separated by sandbag barriers 30 meters thick and 10 meters high, preventing a catastrophic chain blast across the entire front.

In this section, no one survived. No remains of the victims were found; fragments of steel weapons and equipment were no larger than 10 centimeters.

Adjacent sandbagged bunkers were toppled and spilled sand, causing panic in nearby areas and sending people running chaotically.

Li Qiang gritted his teeth, clutching binoculars tightly, and ordered, "Military police, execute on the spot anyone running amok! Execute on the spot the one responsible for this accident!"

Staff members radioed the order. Gunfire erupted, quickly restoring order. The bodies were tossed onto the high sandbag barriers.

The transport units rushed to repair the damaged road sections to restore traffic and deliver fresh artillery ammunition.

A few military police escorted a man forward. Li Qiang glared coldly at them.

"Reporting, commander!" the military police saluted. This group army commander was younger than them. "This man caused the chaos. He fled behind the sandbag wall of the neighboring position and survived the blast. The personnel there identified him as the first to run wildly, triggering the explosion."

"Didn't you hear my orders?" Li Qiang stared fiercely, drawing his pistol from its holster—the QSG92—and chambering a round.

"Commander," the military police swallowed nervously, "this man claims to be your old subordinate..."

Before he could finish, Li Qiang shot the reporting soldier squarely in the head. The soldier collapsed like a heavy sack.

Furious beyond measure, Li Qiang bellowed, "He's my father, but today I must execute him! Take this disgrace back and shoot him on the spot!"

Military orders are absolute. Executing the military police was Li Qiang’s right. To ensure clear command and control, the soldier had to be executed immediately.

"Yes, sir!" The others dared not raise their heads, dragging the instigator away to carry out the execution.

The man causing the chaos screamed hoarsely, crying out, "Captain Li, Major Li, General Li, you are my biological father! I am Jiang Jiangqian—the one who came out of Compound No. 5 with you! One of my brothers was killed by Commander Li, another is missing! If you kill me, the Jiang family line ends! Father, my own father, please spare this dog's life! Ahhh..."

He struggled, trying to break free from the military police’s grip. They hated him fiercely, grasping his arm with such force it dislocated his joint, then dragged him away like a dead dog.

Gunshots rang out faintly over the rumbling artillery—then a series of heavy bangs.

The law enforcement soldiers, fueled by hatred for Jiang Jiangqian who had caused so many deaths and destroyed their brother’s life, did not kill him with a single shot. Instead, they first broke all his limbs, then shot his abdomen repeatedly, emptying several magazines. Only after watching him die in agony did they fire a final shot to the head, ensuring he would not rise again as a zombie to continue the carnage.

The chaos caused by the massive explosion temporarily weakened the firepower, allowing the zombie horde to press closer. Ammunition supplies began to lag, and darkness slowly fell.