Chapter 316: Chapter 316: Fighting in the Training Field
"You all get on the ground now! Row one burst fire! Row two, get ready!"
One of the civilian guards, a man who looked to be in his forties, yelled as everyone quickly followed his direction and began firing at the three mutants.
All of the survivors also fell onto the ground, avoiding being shot directly as they began crawling closer and closer to the guards.
"Sir, it's not working! The bullets aren't penetrating!" One of the guards pointed out as his heat detector showed the mutant was still standing.
"Keep firing! We need to buy as much time as possible! As long as they are being stalled here, we did our jobs." The old man yelled.
As row one began to run out of bullets, the old man quickly directed row two to burst fire to allow the first row to begin reloading.
"How the hell did the mutant get inside the training field? How did they not show any sign while inside those trucks?"
The old man murmured to himself as he watched his heat detector, showing the mutants standing still.
But soon enough, both rows were starting to run out of ammo.
"Sir! What should we do?" One of the guards asked.
"I don't fucking know. Shit, shit, shit! Does anyone have grenades or anything?" The old man urgently asked.
"I got a smoke grenade." One of the civilian guards wearing a SWAT uniform replied.
"Fuck it, just throw it at them." The old man directed.
"But what if they can see through——"
"Then you come up with a plan! Maybe they can't see through the smoke and buy enough time for people to get out."
The SWAT officer hesitated for a second but threw the smoke grenade in the end as soon as everyone began to stop firing.
As the smoke began to appear out of the can, all the civilian guards took out their tactical shovels and started praying.
To their surprise, not a single one of the mutants ran out of the smoke, almost as if they were fully dependent on their vision and hearing to confirm where to go at all.
"Everyone, start retreating out——"
Before the old man could finish talking, suddenly, the sound of an air-raid alert could be heard from every direction.
"Go, go, go! Don't just stand here! Let the survivors go out first! Don't rush! Everyone has time to leave!"
Despite the order, all the survivors were rushed as fast as they could. Fortunately, the entrance was wide enough to prevent people from stomping one over another.
However, the smoke grenade started to dissipate as a gist of strong wind suddenly blew the smoke to the side.
With a third of the survivors still heading out, all of the guards made their last stand as they held their shovels like a spear, forming a human wall as if they didn't leave any gap between them.
"Remember! Your family and your friends are all behind this fence! Anyone who runs away will be a coward all their life!"
The old man yelled as the smoke was now completely gone, with the three mutant turning their head towards them.
Not a single guard dared move, but some of them were tumbling. They only had mandatory training and had only fought normal zombies on the walls in the past.
As the three mutants began running faster and faster, some of the soldiers closed their eyes as they prepared for the inevitable.
But to their surprise, a sudden wave of gunshots started appearing from behind.
Hundreds of soldiers were standing by the fence shooting their rifles, with some hoping over the fences as they began forming temporary units.
"You all! Good job for holding! We'll take it over from here!"
One of the soldiers with Major rank yelled as he began waving at the civilian guards to exit the training field.
As all the civilian guards quickly started heading out of the training field, the old man headed towards the major.
"They don't have good eyesight, but they are bulletproof." The old man warned.
"Thank you for the heads-up. Can I ask what your name is?" the major asked curiously, noting that all the guards seemed to respect the old man.
"Me? I'm just a retired soldier. Good luck to you all."
The old man left the area as he joined the civilian guards, surprising the major, who expected the old man to say his name for credit.
But the situation didn't let him ask why, as his attention was quickly shifted back to directing the soldiers.
"Everyone! RPG is coming soon! Just hold on for a few more seconds! Conserve your ammo!"
---
"S-Sir, I think we should just leave."
A civilian guard following behind Man Ge nervously asked as they began stumbling onto piles of mutilated bodies all over the ground.
"Shut up. I'm not backing out like some pussy. If you are scared, you can leave... Just remember that leaving your duty is punishable by exile."
Three of the civilian guards hesitated for a second but continued as the group finally made it all the way to the center.
To their surprise, the entire area was dead silent, with gunshots coming from the exit direction.
"Where is everyone?" Man Ge wondered as the group began to separate a little to search for survivors.
But the only thing they found were dead bodies on top of dead bodies, with some even wearing the unique civilian guard uniforms.
However, the only thing missing was the mutant's dead bodies.
"Everyone stop searching. Maybe they all headed to the main exit. Let's just go back——"
Just as Man Ge was about to call it a day, a sudden scream could be heard in the distance.
"Let's go!" Man Ge yelled.
The group immediately gathered and started heading towards where the scream was coming from.
As they moved closer and closer to the sound, they noticed many people inside tents, as if they were all hiding inside.
But not a single one made any noises or even dared to open their tents, despite a few of the civilian guards demanding it.
"What the fuck is happening?"
Man Ge awkwardly scratches his head as the only response he gets back from the people in the tent is to either go away or hide in a different tent.
But eventually, they finally see something ahead of them.
Two mutants stood in the middle of a ruined tent next to a blanket with a big bump inside.
Without any hesitation, Man Ge and the guards lured the mutant out first, then opened fire at the two mutants.
And just as expected, there was not a single dent on the two mutants besides the rifle round that Man Ge fired from his gun.
Soon, they were running into the ammo issue as the mutant didn't show any sign of being dead at all.
"Fire in the hole! Get down!"
Man Ge pulled the pin and threw the grenade right at the two mutants, who were still stunned by the gunshots.
With a loud explosion, the two mutants were covered in dust from the dirt, unable to confirm whether they were dead or alive as none of them had a heat detector in hand.
"It has to be dead, right?" One of the civilian guards nervously asked.
But nobody answered as everyone waited silently for the dust to settle, all praying for the two mutants to be dead.
However, against all odds, the two mutants were still alive. Fortunately, their legs were completely blown off, rendering them incapable.
Their only movement was crawling toward the guards at a snail's pace, which made the two easy targets for the guards.
Man Ge himself joined in, and they finished the two mutants off after breaking several tactical shovels and trying to cut their heads off.
---
When everything was finally over, Xiaoyun, along with the entire army, finally arrived at the training field.
The grass field that was once neatly organized was now an uneven dirt patch as hundreds of footsteps were recorded there, with several visible explosion marks.
But more importantly, the two mutants were fully dead, as half of their body was blown into pieces, with the head being the only remaining part.
"Good job everyone. You all can go back to rest now... Except for the late soldiers who just arrived here."
As soon as Xiaoyun finished announcing the news, most of the soldiers immediately began leaving and heading back to their dorm as the moon was still high up in the sky.
"Why are you all so late?" Xiaoyun calmly asked, not flinching a single bit despite being late himself.
All of the soldiers looked at each other for a second, but all of them remained silent as each of them had their own excuses that would simply land them into more trouble.
"Imagine if all the other soldiers are like you all. Most of the survivors over there would have been all dead."
Xiaoyun's tone started to get more serious as he pointed over the other corner, where hundreds of thousands of people were standing still.
"I hope I never get to tell you all this again... Everyone you are dismissed except the last one thousand people. You are staying here to clean up."