At this moment, ten kilometers east of Huaicheng District, a team of Zhu Hong Business Association soldiers, under the cover of UAVs and tanks, were engaged in battle with a horde of zombies.
A strong wind had already picked up on the Battlefield, and the temperature in the wasteland had dropped below -20°C.
In such a low-temperature environment, human skin would suffer frostbite if exposed to the air for more than ten minutes.
If it weren't for the fact that these soldiers were all wearing Power Armor, they would never have been willing to come here to carry out the mission of gathering the Zombie Tide.
The Commander in charge of the scene was named Hu Kun, also a pre-Doomsday Imperial officer who had awakened in a Refuge.
However, unlike his current status, before the Doomsday, he was merely a third-line quartermaster responsible for logistics.
After awakening in the Doomsday, he was forced to become a Commander in charge of front-line combat.
Fortunately, he still remembered the theoretical courses he had studied at the military academy, and it was difficult to find a Commander with high-level military literacy in the wasteland.
Ordinary bandit gangs and mercenary groups would only perform simple fire suppression or order slaves to launch suicidal charges.
Therefore, after a few years, Hu Kun had surprisingly made a name for himself in Huai City.
At this moment, inside the command room of an N1 Tank, Hu Kun was staring at the virtual screen, analyzing the movements on the Battlefield.
For this outing, he had brought two hundred Zhu Hong Business Association soldiers in Power Armor, along with over forty accompanying armored vehicles and four UAV combat swarms.
Of course, the most important was the N1 Tank he was riding in.
The N1 Tank had a combat weight exceeding 288 tons, featuring a four-track suspension chassis, with four tracks distributed at the four corners of the tank body, capable of switching to a four-legged walking mode.
Its power came from two military-grade fusion reactors, and it was equipped with a plasma shield generator.
The main cannon was a 240mm multi-purpose electromagnetic cannon, capable of firing electromagnetic armor-piercing shells, EMP interference shells, special plasma shells, and various other types of ammunition.
Two eight-tube missile launchers were also installed on the rear left and right sides of the turret.
Secondary weapons included four unmanned Gauss rapid-fire cannons.
Due to the protection of the plasma shield generator, the N1 Tank did not need to be designed with a lower profile to compress its body.
When the tracks stood up, the vehicle height reached three meters, which also gave the N1 Tank ample internal space to accommodate more combat command equipment.
Although intelligent AIs have risen dramatically in the future, Battlefield decisions are still made by human Commanders; AI is only responsible for data allocation and reporting Battlefield situations.
Hu Kun picked up the water cup next to his seat and took a small sip; the hot coffee in the cup greatly invigorated him.
This was a rare good thing; if he hadn't been going out of the city for this mission, the Business Association President wouldn't have given him such a good thing.
Because a new outer city defense line needed to be built, Hu Kun brought his men to this location, less than five kilometers from the Shangqing City Wasteland, to intercept the Zombie Tide.
In two days, Hu Kun had already defeated over ten waves of various Zombie Tides.
These zombies continuously poured out of the wasteland, but fortunately, no Mutants with particularly high evolution levels had appeared.
Ordinary zombies and Mutated creatures were quickly eliminated by the soldiers outside the position under the assault of future weapons.
Just ten minutes ago, Hu Kun had just commanded his soldiers to eliminate a wave of Zombie Tide.
The Zombie Tide numbered over thirty thousand, and it was mixed with many Mutated creatures with energy values between 50 and 100, including a Mutant Tyrant with over 210 helium crystal points.
This type of muscular zombie, over three meters tall and covered in muscles, would be the bane of Power Armor in close-quarters combat, but the N1 Tank only needed one shot to tear its body apart.
The battle proceeded very easily, at least for Hu Kun.
So far, no casualties had occurred among the soldiers, and they could even take turns resting.
After each battle, a group of soldiers would leave the position to collect helium crystal from the zombie bodies on the Battlefield.
Most of these helium crystal would be handed over, but the soldiers would secretly keep a portion as their spoils of war.
The Commander also tacitly approved this behavior of the soldiers, as it was only right to give them some benefits for fighting outside in -20°C weather.
However, as a front-line Commander, the collected helium crystal would naturally pass through his hands first, and the benefits from that were considerable.
He had just connected with the rear, and the new defensive fortifications were expected to be completed tomorrow.
As long as he stayed one more day, he could return to his villa in Huai City.
Thinking of the three beautiful and delightful wives hidden at home, Hu Kun's heart began to stir restlessly.
'Drip, drip, drip, drip~ Warning, a large group of high-energy biological entities rapidly approaching!!'
The urgent electronic alert sounded.
Hu Kun almost dropped the teacup in his hand and quickly began operating the electronic screen in front of him.
The UAV responsible for reconnaissance transmitted the latest developments from the edge of the wasteland.
A group of Zombie Tide suddenly surged out from deep within the wasteland, numbering over fifty thousand and still increasing.
However, the data transmitted back by another UAV equipped with a bio-energy detector startled Hu Kun.
They were all Mutated creatures, not a single ordinary zombie, with energy values between 50 and 150, and several large individuals had energy values approaching 200, indicating they were on the verge of evolving into Mutants.
The Mutated creatures moved very quickly, running at a speed exceeding one hundred meters in ten seconds.
They were almost instantly about to rush out of the wasteland and reach Hu Kun's army position.
Without the slightest hesitation, Hu Kun immediately called for artillery support from Huai City.
Even in future warfare, artillery still plays an important operational role, and when dealing with a Zombie Tide, the effect of artillery bombardment is not significantly different from missile bombardment, and artillery shells are simpler and cheaper to produce.
Less than ten seconds after calling for artillery support, shells fired from the rear sliced through the air, crashing into the Zombie Tide with whistling sounds.
The soldiers who were collecting helium crystal had already received orders and returned to their positions.
Feng Jun nervously stared at the screen, as the artillery easily covered large areas of the Zombie Tide.
However, the Zombie Tide surging from the wasteland showed no signs of weakening.
Instead, more zombies poured out from the surrounding areas.
Hu Kun calmly marked the screen; he had already detected unusual information.
The Zombie Tide was surging from all directions towards his defensive line.
The number of artillery pieces was limited after all, and under continuous artillery bombardment, some Mutated creatures still broke through the artillery-covered area and began to surge towards the position in the wasteland.
The UAV swarm circling in the sky was the first to attack the breakthrough Mutated creatures.
The laser weapons mounted on the UAVs could cause effective damage to Mutated creatures with energy values below 200.
Without the soldiers needing to fire, the Mutated creatures successively fell on the wasteland during their charge, but this situation did not last long.
More and more Mutated creatures rushed through the artillery-covered area towards his position, including many large, high-energy Mutated creatures.
The soldiers began to pull the triggers of their weapons; laser beams, explosive rounds, and various weapons started firing at the spreading Zombie Tide.
Weapons mounted on armored vehicles and light tanks also began to fire successively, and Mutated creatures successively fell on the wasteland in front of the position.
Hu Kun's expression was grim; his N1 Tank had been maneuvering in the central position of the defense line.
The 240mm electromagnetic cannon was already fully charged and ready to fire at any Mutant with over 200 helium crystal points that appeared.
The battle continued from 10:30 AM until 1:00 PM, and the zombie horde never stopped its charge.
High-level Mutated creatures continuously emerged from the wasteland, relentlessly impacting the position Hu Kun was responsible for.
The battle had lasted three hours, and even the supporting artillery had temporarily fallen silent due to insufficient ammunition, but the Zombie Tide showed no signs of stopping.
Fortunately, the ammunition supply was relatively sufficient; relying on Power Armor and various weapons and equipment, the zombies were temporarily unable to breach the defensive line Hu Kun was responsible for.
However, Hu Kun had already made the worst-case scenario preparations.
He had already reported the current situation; if any anomaly occurred, he would immediately retreat to the newly constructed defense line behind him.
The new defense line was 90% complete, and reinforcements from the Blackwater Merchant Guild and the Red Hand Mercenary Group were already stationed there.
The UAV combat swarm had been constantly putting out fires; zombies basically had no anti-air capabilities.
When encountering enemies flying in the air, they could only be helplessly enraged.
Except for some Mutants with special evolutionary abilities, using UAVs to deal with zombies was a simple and efficient method for Feng Jun.
However, three consecutive hours of combat had caused many UAVs to malfunction.
After all, the manufacturing process in the wasteland generally prioritized functionality, and prolonged shooting operations caused the UAVs to experience fatigue and overload.
So far, no Mutants had appeared in this wave of Zombie Tide, but high-level Mutated creatures with energy values below 200 helium crystal points were constantly emerging.
Hu Kun felt as if these zombies were deliberately trying to deplete his soldiers' ammunition.
'Warning! High-risk biological target detected!'
'Warning! High-risk biological target detected!'
Two Mutants suddenly appeared in the UAV's reconnaissance field of view, with energy values as high as 350 helium crystal points.
"Is it a new Mutated creature?" Hu Kun said, looking at the image on the screen.
Two creatures, wriggling like mountains of flesh, emerged from the wasteland.
They showed no human form whatsoever, just two continuously squirming masses of rotten flesh.
Two asymmetrical eyes grew on the very top, and countless oral organs covered their bodies, constantly opening and closing with the wriggling of the main body, which was extremely disgusting.
"What a disgusting creature; have they even abandoned their human form after further evolution?" Hu Kun immediately issued the command to lock onto the targets.
"Looking at this disgusting appearance, it should be a specialized Mutant that has evolved special abilities, but unfortunately, it ran into an N1 Tank here," Hu Kun said, looking at the disgusting appearance of the flesh mountain on the screen.
The electromagnetic cannon locked onto one of the flesh mountains directly in front of the position.
The projectile whistled out, directly hitting the upper half of the flesh mountain.