Bloodthirsty Tank

"Team up! Again!" the captain bellowed.

The captain took on the main assault once more, while Wang Ji helped slow the beast down. Three minutes later, the captain was blasted away again, and Wang Ji's War Blade struck the Black-Backed Ape's knee once more.

The same spot, wounded again. The original wound, over an inch deep, had become more than two inches deep. "Crack!"

Wang Ji could clearly hear the Black-Backed Ape's knee groan. Its nimble movements faltered for an instant. "Bang, bang, bang, bang..." A string of bullets bit into the Black-Backed Ape!

The Black-Backed Ape roared and dodged quickly.

Behind them, Li Dawei bellowed, "Aim for its knees! Its knees are injured! Aim for its knees!"

The Black-Backed Ape had taken at least seven or eight bullets just now. Though wounded, none of the injuries were fatal. With the recovery rate of a high-level beast general, it would heal in two days.

Only by focusing fire on its injured knee could they cripple the Black-Backed Ape's speed advantage and bring it down.

The sniper squad leader said anxiously, "Battalion Commander, its knees are too small a target, and it moves too fast. We can't get a bead on them!"

Even with its knee injury slowing it down a little, the monster was still astonishingly fast, moving at over 200 meters per second.

"Nian Kai! Create an opening, no matter the cost!" Li Dawei ordered over the radio.

"Yes!" Captain Nian Kai roared. He charged the Black-Backed Ape without hesitation, throwing his whole body into it as he swung his War Blade at its neck.

It was a suicidal attack, with both sides risking their lives in a bid to take the other down.

"Boom!" The Black-Backed Ape took a slash, leaving a wound over a foot long, but it also slammed a fist into Nian Kai's chest. "Crack, crack, crack..." The sound of bones breaking rang out in a continuous burst. No one could tell how many ribs had shattered.

But that was enough to finally slow the Black-Backed Ape down. More than three armor-piercing rounds struck its injured knee. The Black-Backed Ape's knee buckled, and it fell to the ground. In an instant, bullets rained down on its body.

The Black-Backed Ape saw Nian Kai lying motionless nearby. Overwhelming hatred flashed through its eyes, and it summoned the last of its strength to punch at him again.

"Captain!" the survivors cried out desperately. But they were too far away to help. There was nothing they could do.

Suddenly, a figure that had been lying injured beside Nian Kai darted up and blocked the blow. "Boom!" The figure was smashed in two.

The Black-Backed Ape had no strength left, either. Under the final few armor-piercing rounds, it died for good.

Wang Ji rushed to the figure, now broken in two. "Xiao Lizi! You... what were you thinking?!"

Xiao Lizi spoke in broken gasps. "Captain Nian is... is the Sharp Knife Battalion's strongest fighter! We can't... can't do without him! He's alive... he's worth more than me..."

"To hell with being worth more!" Wang Ji's eyes were bloodshot.

"Ha... the book... it's yours..."

"Shut up!" Wang Ji finally broke down in tears.

Of the fifteen-man squad, four were dead and four badly wounded. Only seven were still able to stand and walk.

The Sharp Knife Battalion continued its retreat with the main evacuation force. But this time, Xiao Lizi's annoying voice was nowhere to be heard. Lao Bao had grown even more withdrawn.

"Attention! Crocodile monster ahead! Beast general-level! Third Company's Vanguard Team, charge with me!" Lao Bao roared.

Only when charging into battle could Lao Bao come alive. The lifelessness in his eyes would be swept away by his fiery spirit.

The afternoon passed. Before they knew it, another night had gone by. Wang Ji had no idea how many monsters he and Lao Bao had killed. It was almost dawn before the Sharp Knife Battalion finally stopped to rest.

Wang Ji and several soldiers huddled together and lay down on the grass. In an instant, they were fast asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, the sun was already up.

Wang Ji woke to see an elite five-man squad emerge from Battalion Commander Li Dawei's tent. They saluted, then drove away.

"Damn, that's some elite gear! Lao Bao, who are they?" Wang Ji asked.

Lao Bao answered woodenly, his eyes lifeless. "Not sure. The 112th Division doesn't have equipment like that. Most likely they're from Jiangnan Military Region headquarters."

Li Dawei's expression turned grave, then he roared, "Assemble! The whole battalion, assemble!"

The battalion had held out until now, but fewer than three hundred men remained. When Wang Ji had joined the Sharp Knife Battalion yesterday, there had been over six hundred. And that didn't even count the new recruits they had kept taking in. If you counted them, their casualty rate over a single day was one hundred percent!

"We've just received a difficult mission from higher command. The Sharp Knife Battalion is to wipe out a herd of mutated wild boars! These mutated boars are now called Bloodthirsty Tanks! One is suspected to have reached Lord level. Whether they're boars or tanks, the Sharp Knife Battalion will chew them up! The whole battalion, move out!"

Wang Ji's heart lurched. Bloodthirsty Tanks? Lord-level Bloodthirsty Tank monsters! They've gone mad!

On the march, Wang Ji asked, "Lao Bao, how much do you know about Bloodthirsty Tanks?"

Lao Bao said woodenly, "The Bloodthirsty Tank herd is led by a Lord-level Monster. One Lord-level Monster leads a herd of dozens of beast general-level monsters. It's called a Bloodthirsty Tank because it really is like a tank.

"Along the evacuation routes, it leads the herd in a tank-like charge through the evacuation convoys. Every vehicle in its path gets crushed into a mess of flesh and twisted metal! It's horrific! The number of civilians killed or injured by these Bloodthirsty Tanks is over ten thousand! The military region once used strategic cruise missiles against them, but still failed to kill them. It only killed dozens of the beast general-level Bloodthirsty Tanks."

"Then can our battalion handle them?" Wang Ji asked.

Lao Bao replied firmly, "If command has ordered us to attack, then they must have a way to do it! We can definitely manage! You have to know, they're building a super-sized Base City to the north. We can't let the herd escape again... If it charges into the walls under construction, how are they supposed to build the Base City?"

"Battalion Commander, Big Stone Mountain is just ahead!"

Li Dawei took out his binoculars and surveyed the terrain. Big Stone Mountain was the position command had chosen for the battle.

"Where is the Bloodthirsty Tank herd?" Li Dawei asked.

The political instructor beside him said, "According to surveillance from the reconnaissance aircraft, the Bloodthirsty Tanks are in a mud pit five kilometers south. It looks like they're about to charge along the highway, crushing the evacuation convoy all the way. The losses are always especially severe! Battalion Commander, should we have the convoys in this area take another route or stop?"

Li Dawei quickly issued his orders. "Stop? Stopping means waiting to die! Quickly notify the convoys on the road to take cover by the roadside! Save whoever you can! We'll set up a defensive position at Big Stone Mountain and wipe out this herd of Bloodthirsty Tanks here! The Base City is still under construction behind us!"

"According to the military region think tank's analysis, there's a seventy percent chance they'll charge this way along the highway!"

"But... many of the vehicles on the road won't have time to get out of the way..."

"No buts!"

At the entrance to Big Stone Mountain, orders rang out one after another. The companies spread out.

"Rumble..."

Wang Ji finally witnessed the horrific destruction caused by the Bloodthirsty Tanks as they charged. Every vehicle along the way was sent flying or trampled flat, reduced to twisted metal and bloodied pulp. Over a mere three or four kilometers, at least several hundred vehicles had been destroyed. In just a few minutes, more than two thousand people were dead or wounded!

The mountain road into Big Stone Mountain was also quite wide. Though cliffs flanked both sides, the four-lane, two-way road remained wide. In ancient times, this would have been the perfect place for an ambush. Anyone entering would have had to scout ahead first. But beasts were still beasts. Even if a Lord-level Monster had human-level intelligence, intelligence wasn't the same as experience, and monsters wouldn't scout ahead.

As the Bloodthirsty Tank herd charged onto the mountain road, someone shouted, "Detonate!"