Bloodthirsty Tank

"Form up! Again!" the captain roared.

The captain once again took on the role of the primary attacker, with Wang Ji coordinating the delay. Three minutes later, the captain was sent flying once more, while Wang Ji's combat blade landed squarely on the Black-Backed Ape's knee again.

It was the same spot, injury upon injury. The original inch-deep wound was now over two inches deep. "Crack!"

Wang Ji could clearly hear the mournful sound coming from the Black-Backed Ape's knee. The ape's agile, dodging form faltered for a split second. "Bang, bang, bang, bang..." A string of bullets bit into the beast!

The Black-Backed Ape roared, dodging rapidly.

From the rear, Li Dawei bellowed, "Hit its knee! Its knee is injured! Hit its knee!"

The Black-Backed Ape had taken at least seven or eight shots just now; while injured, they were not fatal. With the recovery power of a high-level Beast General monster, it would be healed in two days.

Only by focusing on the injured knee could they disable the Black-Backed Ape's speed advantage and finish it off with concentrated fire.

The sniper team leader looked troubled. "Battalion Commander, the knee is too small a target and moves too fast. I can't get a lock!"

Even with the damage to its knee, the monster's movement speed was still terrifying, exceeding 200m/s.

"Nian Kai! Spare no cost to create an opening!" Li Dawei ordered over the radio.

"Understood!" Captain Nian Kai roared. Ignoring everything, he charged toward the Black-Backed Ape, throwing his entire body into a collision while swinging his blade recklessly at the ape's neck.

It was a completely suicidal, mutual-destruction tactic.

"Boom!" The Black-Backed Ape took the blade, leaving a wound over a foot long, but it also slammed a heavy fist into Nian Kai's chest. "Crack, crack..." The sound of bones shattering echoed continuously; it was impossible to tell how many ribs had been broken.

But that single moment was enough; the Black-Backed Ape was finally stalled, and over three armor-piercing rounds struck the wound on its knee. The ape's leg buckled, and it fell to the ground. Instantly, a rain of bullets poured onto its body.

The Black-Backed Ape looked at Nian Kai, who lay motionless not far away, a flash of monstrous hatred in its eyes. It mustered its final strength to throw one last punch at Nian Kai.

"Captain!" the remaining men shouted in desperation. But it was too late to rescue him; they were powerless.

Suddenly, a figure that had been lying injured near Captain Nian Kai flashed forward, blocking the blow in front of him. "Boom!" The figure was instantly smashed into two pieces.

The Black-Backed Ape had no strength left, and under the impact of the final few armor-piercing rounds, it died completely.

Wang Ji rushed to the figure that had been torn in two. "Xiao Lizi! You... what are you doing!"

Xiao Lizi said intermittently, "Boss Nian is... is the Sharp Knife Battalion's main combat force! Without him... without him, it won't work! Him living... is more valuable than me..."

"To hell with your value!" Wang Ji's eyes were bloodshot.

"Ha... the book... I'll give it to you..."

"Get out of here!" Wang Ji finally shed tears.

Of the 15-man squad, four were dead, four were severely injured, and only seven were left who could stand and walk.

The Sharp Knife Battalion retreated once again along with the main evacuation force. However, Xiao Lizi's cheeky voice would never be heard again. Lao Bao became even more wooden and silent.

"Attention! A crocodile monster ahead! A Beast General-level crocodile monster! 3rd Company assault team, charge with me!" Lao Bao roared.

Only when charging could Lao Bao radiate endless vitality, the dead air in his eyes washed away by hot blood.

An afternoon passed. In the blink of an eye, another night went by. Wang Ji didn't know how many monsters he had killed alongside Lao Bao. It wasn't until the sky turned slightly bright that the Sharp Knife Battalion stopped to rest in place.

Wang Ji and a few soldiers huddled together on the grass and fell into a deep sleep in the blink of an eye.

When he opened his eyes again, the sun had already risen.

Wang Ji woke up just in time to see an elite five-man squad emerging from Battalion Commander Li Dawei's tent, saluting, and then driving away.

"Damn! What elite gear! Lao Bao, what are they here for?" Wang Ji asked.

Lao Bao replied in a dead, wooden tone, "Not sure. The 112th Division doesn't have gear like that. Most likely from the Jiangnan Military Region headquarters."

Li Dawei's expression was inexplicably serious, and he immediately roared, "Assemble! The whole battalion, assemble!"

The battalion had persisted until now with fewer than three hundred men left. When Wang Ji had just joined the Sharp Knife Battalion yesterday, there were over 600 people. And that didn't even count the constant stream of new recruits. If you really calculated it, the casualty rate in one day was 100%!

"We just received a difficult mission from headquarters. The Sharp Knife Battalion is tasked with wiping out a herd of mutated wild boars! These mutated boars are now called Bloodthirsty Tanks! It is suspected that one of them has reached the Warlord level. Whether they are boars or tanks, the Sharp Knife Battalion will chew them up! The whole battalion, move out!"

Wang Ji felt a shiver. "Bloodthirsty Tanks? A Warlord-level Bloodthirsty Tank monster! 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 Warlord-level monster. A single Warlord-level monster leads a herd of dozens of Beast General-level monsters. The reason they are named Bloodthirsty Tanks is because they are truly just like tanks.

On the evacuation route, it leads the herd to crush the evacuation convoys like tanks, turning all the vehicles along the way into meat paste and scrap metal! It's tragic!... Over ten thousand civilians have died or been injured because of these Bloodthirsty Tanks! The military region once used strategic cruise missiles to strike them, but they didn't kill it. They only killed dozens of Beast General-level Bloodthirsty Tanks."

"Then this time, can our one battalion handle it?" Wang Ji asked.

Lao Bao said firmly, "Since the higher-ups ordered us to fight, there must be a way to win! We can definitely do it! You have to know, they are building a super-large base city to the north. We can't let it escape again... otherwise, if it charges the walls currently under construction, how can the base city be built?"

"Battalion Commander, ahead is Big Stone Mountain!"

Li Dawei used binoculars to survey the terrain ahead. This Big Stone Mountain was the combat position selected by the higher-ups.

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

The political instructor nearby said, "According to reconnaissance drone monitoring, the Bloodthirsty Tanks are in a mud pond 5 kilometers to the south. It looks like they are preparing to charge along the highway, crushing the evacuation convoys along the way. The losses every time are particularly heavy! Battalion Commander, should we let the surrounding convoys change routes or pause?"

Li Dawei quickly arranged, "Pause? Pausing is waiting for death! Quickly notify the convoys on the road to hide on the side! Save as many as we can! We will establish a defensive position here at Big Stone Mountain; we must wipe out this herd of Bloodthirsty Tanks here! Behind us is the base city under construction!"

"According to the military region's think tank analysis, there is a 70% probability they will charge toward here along the highway!"

"But... there are many evacuation vehicles on the road that won't have time to evacuate..."

"No buts!"

At the mountain pass of Big Stone Mountain, a series of orders were issued. Each company dispersed.

"Rumble..."

Wang Ji finally witnessed the carnage of a Bloodthirsty Tank charge. Along the way, every vehicle was sent flying, crushed flat, and transformed into a mangled polymer of scrap metal and flesh. In this short stretch of three or four kilometers, at least hundreds of vehicles had been destroyed; in just a few minutes, casualties exceeded 2,000!

The mountain road leading into Big Stone Mountain was quite wide. Although flanked by cliffs on both sides, the four-lane road remained just as broad. In ancient times, this would have been the perfect location for an ambush. Before entering, one would naturally have to conduct reconnaissance. But beasts are beasts after all. Even if a Lord-level monster possessed intelligence comparable to a human, so what? Intelligence does not equate to experience, and monsters do not know how to scout.

As the herd of Bloodthirsty Tanks charged onto the mountain road, "Detonate!"