With a Mortal Body, Standing Shoulder to Shoulder with Gods

With a Mortal Body, Standing Shoulder to Shoulder with Gods

"Collecting monster corpses? That isn't something you need to do. There are people specifically assigned to that. Don't think it's just simple battlefield cleanup—it's extremely dangerous.

"Let's go see Old Chen first, then get some rest."

Seeing Qin Ming practically itching to get moving, Jia Hong refused without hesitation.

The battlefield might have been littered with monster corpses, but who knew whether some of them still had a breath left in them?

Using guns and artillery from a distance, a single soldier could easily kill large numbers of monsters. But once they got close, even an injured Beast Soldier Level monster could easily kill them.

Not to mention that many sea monsters possessed methods such as poison and electrical discharge.

Even professional battlefield cleanup teams often suffered casualties.

"How did you even think of cleaning up the battlefield? The place is covered in monster corpses and fragments. Every step you take lands in something wet and slimy."

"Squad leader, I studied biology at Jiangnan No. 1 Military Academy.

"Battlefield monster resource recovery was a required course in my major. I was even planning to write my graduation thesis on that subject."

Qin Ming shook his head and explained.

The original owner's Talent for martial arts had not been particularly good, yet he had desperately wanted to become a Martial Warrior.

That was because his parents had once been soldiers and had died in a beast tide.

He did not just want revenge or to hunt monsters. He wanted to end this disaster.

That was also the greatest dream of many people in this post-apocalyptic world.

There were only two ways to solve the monster problem completely.

The first was to become a Martial Warrior, a super Martial Warrior like Hong, the founder of the Limit Martial Arts School.

The second was to develop higher-frequency Laser Cannons!

The original owner had neither interest nor Talent in scientific research or researching Laser Cannons.

So in the end, he chose biology and specialized in researching monsters.

In truth, it was also preparation for hunting monsters in the future.

At this moment, it became Qin Ming's best excuse for wanting to clean up the battlefield.

This was not strange at all. Base 003 was not merely a War Base; it was also a research base.

Huaxia's most advanced Monster Research Institute and Laser Cannon research facilities both had bases here.

After all, this was the best possible testing ground.

"So that's how it is. I'll think of a way to submit an application for you. But forget it this time. It's your first time entering a battlefield, and you're too excited right now. That isn't good.

"If you really want to see it, wait until they've finished cleaning the battlefield and returned. You can go then.

"They'll have to bring everything back to the base for sorting and recovery anyway."

Jia Hong hesitated for a moment before speaking to Qin Ming.

People entering the battlefield for the first time often went to one of two extremes. One was fear; the other was Qin Ming's state—after fighting all night, he felt no fear at all, only excitement.

That was not a good thing.

If he really wanted to clean up the battlefield, it should wait until he had calmed down.

In Jia Hong's eyes, Qin Ming was currently in an overexcited state. Once it passed, he would fall into extreme exhaustion. Rest was what mattered most in such a condition.

"Alright!"

Qin Ming nodded and did not argue.

After learning that beast tides like this were simply part of Base 003's daily routine, he was no longer in a hurry. He would be staying at the base for quite some time anyway.

There was no need to rush over the next day or two.

Besides, he could wait until they brought the corpses back for sorting. As long as he got within a hundred meters, he could absorb every monster soul. Maybe he could even secretly acquire some flesh and blood.

"How is Brother Chen?"

After achieving his goal, Qin Ming asked.

The Brother Chen he referred to was Chen Tao, another sniper in the squad. During the battle, a Mutated Sailfish's bone spike had pierced his body.

As fellow snipers, Chen Tao had taken good care of the original owner.

"His life should be saved, but his arm..."

Jia Hong hesitated briefly and sighed.

That bone spike had completely torn apart his arm. If he had not received treatment in the shortest possible time at the War Base, he would almost certainly have died.

Jia Hong had spent three years at Base 003.

He had seen far too many scenes like this on the battlefield. Every sea monster siege resulted in losses. It was unavoidable.

The teammates around them also fell silent.

"There's no need to be sad. This is our destiny! Once you become a soldier, no one fears death! Besides, he only lost an arm."

Jia Hong patted Qin Ming on the shoulder encouragingly.

"Right! It's not bad to be able to retire safely. Come on, let's go see Old Chen first."

Zhang Heng said in a deep voice.

The silent atmosphere was broken. Under Jia Hong's lead, the group left the fortress and headed toward the field hospital.

Though War Base 003 was called a War Base, it was more accurately a small city, home to hundreds of thousands of soldiers, logistics personnel, Martial Warriors, and more.

It had everything: field hospitals, Martial Warrior Training Grounds, research institutes, small factories, and so on.

City 003, formerly Shanghai, was already the largest monster gathering site on the Eurasian continent, while War Base 003 stood on the Huangpu River.

It had to defend against the invasion of tens of billions of sea monsters while also guarding against land monsters, yet it had never fallen. War Base 003 could truly be called a super base.

Drawing on the memories in his mind, Qin Ming observed this city of steel.

To defend against flying monster attacks, aside from a few Laser Cannon defense systems, the other buildings in Base 003 were generally quite low.

All kinds of terrifying weapons could be seen everywhere in the base.

Large-caliber Heavy Artillery, Rocket Artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and more—the entire base was like a steel hedgehog.

No matter where an attack came from, it would face the base's full firepower. Even the two Beast Emperors of the sea had attacked this base before, yet neither had been able to do anything to it.

After traveling through the base for a while, the group arrived at the hospital.

Quite a few injured soldiers were receiving treatment inside, but the overall atmosphere remained quiet. After giving Chen Tao's name, they quickly found him.

After a night of bitter fighting, doctors had already operated on him, and he was out of danger.

He was simply still unconscious.

Looking at the empty space where one arm should have been on that muscular body, Qin Ming sighed inwardly as well.

Though he had transmigrated here, as a son of Huaxia, he held the highest respect for these soldiers.

In the original novel, Luo Feng had not joined the Military, so there were only sparse descriptions of the Military and Base 003.

But Luo Feng also knew that the reason most ordinary people could live peacefully in the base cities was because of the Military!

Even more so, because of these ordinary soldiers!

Martial Warriors?

Not to mention Huaxia—even across the entire Human Race, how many Martial Warriors were there?

Luo Feng's high school had only three Advanced Trainees.

For most people, merely becoming an Advanced Trainee was their goal.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Martial Warriors were one in ten thousand.

That was precisely why every Martial Warrior, no matter which faction they joined, including Junior Warrior Level Martial Warriors, could receive a villa.

But in truth, hunting in the wilderness was one thing.

When facing the charge of beast tides formed by millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of monsters, apart from a very small number of God of War Level and Beyond God of War Level Martial Warriors, the rest of the Martial Warriors were essentially useless.

For example, when the Level 3 rat tide erupted in the original timeline, all the Martial Warriors desperately fled toward the Military bases.

And that was only a Level 3 rat tide. If they encountered a Level 1 Beast Tide, then unless there was an Invincible War God like Luo Feng in the original timeline wearing the Black God Suit—

Under normal circumstances, humanity still had to rely on technology and firearms, such as Laser Cannons.

Without firearms, even if Martial Warriors hacked at a beast tide of hundreds of millions while the monsters stood still, they still would not be able to kill them all.

And the operators of these firearms were ordinary soldiers.

The bullets fired by a Firearm Battle General were no different from those fired by an ordinary soldier. They could kill monsters just the same, only with poorer accuracy.

In the original novel, Chen Gu, the vice-captain of the Fire Hammer Squad that Luo Feng joined, used firearms.

Chen Gu's weapons were merely a Heavy Machine Gun and a sniper rifle.

When a Martial Warrior went into the wilderness to hunt, there were many things to consider, such as logistics. They could not carry many bullets, and their firearms were not particularly powerful.

For instance, the M81 Model Machine Gun used by Chen Gu had a caliber of only seven millimeters and could fire fifty to three hundred rounds per minute.

That thing truly did not count as a particularly powerful weapon in the Military.

The Z-11 25mm heavy sniper rifle Qin Ming used far surpassed it in raw power, but such a sniper rifle was too loud, held only five rounds per magazine, and made logistical resupply troublesome.

That was without even mentioning the various heavy weapons within the base.

Unfortunately, firearms had enough power but lacked defense.

At long range, things were better. But once monsters got close, ordinary soldiers were bound to suffer terrible casualties.

Moreover, monsters also had long-range attack methods, such as the bone spikes of Beast Soldier Level sailfish or the venom of Bone-Eating Pythons.

When facing a monster's long-range attacks, Martial Warriors could dodge or block with their reactions.

But ordinary soldiers could not. They could only use their flesh and blood to endure it!

It was perfectly normal for a beast tide to cause thousands or tens of thousands of casualties.

To put it bluntly, the reason the base cities could hold on was because of the sacrifices of these ordinary soldiers.

With mortal bodies, they stood shoulder to shoulder with gods.

That was who they were!

Without disturbing the sleeping Chen Tao, the group quietly left the hospital.

Retiring due to injury might not allow him to live a particularly wealthy life, but he would at least have food and clothing without worry. Perhaps that was already the best possible outcome.

"Everyone has fought all night. Go back and rest first. We'll come see him again later. If anything happens, I'll notify everyone."

Jia Hong spoke.

"Yes!"