newbobooks Chapter 141 Fight to the Death 2
Chapter 141 Fight to the Death 2
The fierce battle continued until 8:20 PM. By then, Li Chenglong and Wu Gang had been fighting for over an hour. Although their battle had lasted shorter than Hao Dahai's, Hao Dahai had 1500 Dawn Army soldiers plus 2000 soldiers from the Langley base, and the zombies numbered at most 40,000 to 50,000. Therefore, Hao Dahai's situation was much easier. For Li Chenglong and Wu Gang's 1000-plus men to hold off over 100,000 zombies was already extremely difficult. In just over an hour, more than 100 battle-hardened soldiers had sacrificed their lives.
"Dragon and Phoenix Heaven-Shattering Fist!" A golden dragon and a fiery phoenix energy wave shot out from Li Chenglong's left and right hands respectively. The golden dragon and the fiery phoenix tumbled back and forth among the zombie horde, killing five or six hundred zombies. Li Chenglong, panting heavily, asked Yang Liu, "Quickly contact Hao Dahai and ask him how much longer. We're exhausted too much now; every second we delay, another soldier will be sacrificed." Yang Liu wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded. Then he began calling for Hao Dahai.
On the other side, Hao Dahai and Wang Yan finally completed the encirclement of the zombie vanguard at 7 PM. They had been fighting from 5 PM to 8 PM, attacking this wave of enemies with all their might. At this moment, a liaison officer rushed over to Hao Dahai and said, "Commander, the city lord just sent a message asking how much longer we need." Hao Dahai looked ahead and immediately said, "Immediately notify the division commander to retreat. We're nearing the end here. We'll regroup with them as soon as we're done. Wait a minute, go find Deputy Commander Wan Dahai and have his Second Regiment go to meet the division commander." The liaison officer immediately went to carry out the order.
Li Chenglong consumed several yellow crystals to replenish his spiritual energy. At that moment, Yang Liu excitedly rushed over and said, "Captain Li, Regiment Commander Hao Dahai has contacted us, saying they're nearing the end and need us to rendezvous with them immediately." Li Chenglong nodded, "Immediately notify all regiments and battalion commanders to retreat." Soon after, the First Regiment began an orderly retreat, with Li Chenglong and several other advanced ability users, including Wu Gang, staying behind at the rear. Yang Liu originally wanted to stay with Li Chenglong, but there were simply too many wounded. Li Chenglong instructed Yang Liu to lead the ability users with healing skills to treat the wounded.
Li Chenglong now has to hold out for a while longer. If they were to retreat all at once, all those zombies and high-level zombie beasts would surely speed up and engulf the exhausted mass. But leaving a small force to hold them off would be tantamount to abandoning that small force, which is definitely not what Li Chenglong wants. It would be better for him and a few high-level ability users to stay behind and hold them off for a dozen minutes, buying time for the main force and also facilitating their retreat.
Meanwhile, Hao Dahai and Wang Yan's troops merged and annihilated the remaining zombies. Hao Dahai then said, "The first step of our plan has succeeded. According to the original plan, your troops at Langley Base should immediately flank the zombies to the north." Wang Yan nodded, "Our leader just sent a message that the remaining 2000 men have been on their way for over an hour. My troops will set off tonight to join them and encircle the zombies from the north. You should also retreat; it's still over 70 kilometers from here to the decisive battleground." After Wang Yan led her troops away, the liaison officer told Hao Dahai, "Deputy Regiment Commander Wan Dahai just sent a message that he has already joined up with the First Regiment, and the division commander behind him is also retreating."
Hao Dahai took a deep breath: "Let the troops rest for a while immediately, eat something quickly. It's nighttime, the zombies' speed will slow down, we can just wait here." Half an hour later, the more than 1000 Dawn Army soldiers finally gathered together. Li Chenglong asked heavily: "Report the losses of each unit." Wu Gang spoke first: "The First Regiment fought against the zombie army on the front line this time, with a total of 160 soldiers killed and 75 seriously wounded, a loss of nearly one-third." Wan Dahai continued: "The Second Regiment sent half of its soldiers, a total of 500 men, with 98 killed and 50 seriously wounded." Hao Dahai sighed: "The Third Regiment is about the same, with 1,000 men in this operation, 195 soldiers killed and 60 seriously wounded." Yang Liu said last: "The Special Forces had 19 members participating in the battle, with 3 killed and 1 seriously wounded."
"Crack!" Li Chenglong crushed the stainless steel cup in his hand, then paused before saying, "Immediately send men to load the seriously wounded onto the troop transport vehicles. Wan Dahai, have two companies of soldiers escort them back. Be careful along the way, and have several level-four ability users protect them." Upon hearing this, Wan Dahai immediately went to personally take charge of the matter. Currently, the zombie army was advancing at a relatively slow pace, giving Li Chenglong and his team time to rest. Many of the special forces girls were secretly wiping away tears, and many of their hair was already matted together with sweat and the green blood of the zombies.
Wu Gang walked over and said, "Captain, why don't we send these girls back? The battles ahead won't be easy. I heard from Hao Dahai that over 600 people were killed at the Langley base today, which is a terrible loss." Li Chenglong nodded, "Okay, gather all the female soldiers from several battalions and send them back. Tell them we really can't spare anyone to send them off. We need to hurry! We don't have much time."
Soon, all the female soldiers were gathered together. After Wu Gang explained the situation, each of them expressed their determination to stay and participate in the subsequent battles. Wu Gang even gave a death order, but not a single person wanted to leave. Zhao Liying shouted, "We won't leave! We want to avenge our fallen comrades! We want to stay with our comrades forever!" This received a unanimous response from the other female soldiers.
Li Chenglong checked the time; it was already 10 PM. Based on his understanding of zombies, they generally didn't move at night unless led by a high-ranking zombie. Li Chenglong ordered the entire army to retreat 30km and then rest on the spot. Along the way, he and Wei Lanxin made contact with Fu Sanshan. Wei Lanxin's more than 3000 men had also reached the designated position. They would rest there and launch an attack from the north once the zombie army was encircled. Fu Sanshan indicated that his more than 2000 men had reached the outskirts of the Langley base and would arrive at the designated position at 2 AM.
After retreating 30 kilometers, Li Chenglong sent out several groups of scouts and then let the soldiers rest. After such a fierce battle, the soldiers were exhausted. Although the troop carriers helped many soldiers avoid walking, they all fell asleep as soon as they reached their resting place. Yunlan then contacted Li Chenglong via her ring, but Li Chenglong, not wanting her to worry, made up an excuse. He then got out of the vehicle to check on the soldiers.
Li Chenglong saw a bonfire lit not far from him, where Wu Gang, Qian Guangming, and Wang Yousheng from the First Regiment, Wan Dahai from the Second Regiment, Hao Dahai, Zhao Rui, and Zhu Qian from the Third Regiment, along with Yang Liu and Zhao Liying from the Special Forces, were all sitting together. Seeing Li Chenglong arrive, they all got ready, but Li Chenglong quickly asked them to sit down and then sat down with them.
Looking at the burning campfire, Li Chenglong slowly said, "The main reason for such a heavy casualty is me. We've been having too much luck lately, which made me complacent. I rashly thought that we could divide the zombie army apart with just a few people, and then use the strategy of stretching the battle lines to eliminate them by combining the strength of the three bases. I didn't expect that so many people would be sacrificed so soon." Wu Gang quickly said, "This is war. War is always accompanied by bloodshed, sacrifice, and separation, especially when we are facing a massive zombie horde."
Zhao Rui was wiping his machete when he said, "Commander, don't blame yourself. Langley Base doesn't have sturdy walls or fortifications. If we wanted to protect them, your tactics were the most correct. If we hadn't fought that way, I believe that when hundreds of thousands of zombies appeared, even if we had more men to fight them, it would have been difficult to win." Zhao Liying had reached level 6 in today's battle, significantly increasing her combat power, but she didn't show any joy because the special forces had also suffered considerable losses today.
Li Chenglong chatted with them for a while longer, then began inspecting the camp. After such a long battle, the soldiers were exhausted and sleeping soundly. However, they didn't throw their weapons aside; instead, they clung to them tightly. He took out a large amount of food and drinking water from the storage area of his psionic space and placed it at the food distribution point so they could collect it directly after resting. He estimated that the zombies wouldn't launch an attack tonight, but they would definitely accelerate their assault on them early tomorrow morning. By then, the encirclement should be complete, and it would be time for the final battle.
After completing his inspection, Li Chenglong leaned against the tires of the off-road vehicle and drifted off to sleep. He needed to rest as much as possible to allow his body to recover to its best condition.