Dianyuan Defense

A cold voice came over the field radio. It was Li Dawei.

"Attack! Detonate!"

"Rumble..." At the end of the mountain road, the cliffs on both sides were blasted apart by a massive amount of explosives, completely blocking the road.

"Third Company, Third Company, block the road behind us!"

"Roger!" More than half the battalion's heavy machine guns, vehicle-mounted autocannons, and mortars were instantly deployed to block the road behind them. Sandbags that had been prepared in advance were stacked one by one, quickly forming a defensive line.

"Rumble..." The Bloodthirsty Tank herd was stopped by the landslide ahead, and immediately fell into chaos. Dozens of wild boar monsters milled about in confusion. The leader roared furiously and knocked away the disobedient monsters darting around in every direction. Only then did the herd gradually settle down. "Roar! Roar!" Then the Lord-level Bloodthirsty Tank led its herd around and charged back toward them.

"Boom! Bang bang bang bang..."

Bullets swept out in a dense barrage, as if they cost nothing. At the very front, the Bloodthirsty Tank stood four or five meters tall and stretched more than ten meters long, charging forward like a tank. Bullets and small-caliber rapid-fire cannons struck its body like tickles, merely scraping off a layer of skin. It deliberately rampaged forward, shielding the dozens of Beast General-level Bloodthirsty Tanks behind it.

But even its massive body couldn't protect them all from the dense rain of bullets. The Bloodthirsty Tanks behind it were constantly knocked down and killed, reduced to chunks of flesh.

"Roar!" The Bloodthirsty Tank went completely berserk and charged forward without regard for anything. Even it, a Lord-level monster, couldn't afford to let the rapid-fire cannons keep firing at it nonstop. One or two hits might not penetrate its defenses, but what about a minute? Two minutes? Sooner or later, it would be shot through and killed! It had to break through to survive!

Fire also poured in continuously from firing points on both sides. Along that stretch of mountain road, less than a kilometer long, only five monsters remained in the Bloodthirsty Tank herd, including the leader.

"How can this be? The autocannons fired in a crossfire, and all they did was scrape off a layer of skin? How is that possible?" the instructor said in disbelief, his face filled with despair.

"Mortars! Don't stop firing! Slow its charge!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"...

"Everyone! Build a defensive line behind Third Company and set up firing positions! One line every 200 meters! We have to stop it, even if it costs us our lives! Otherwise, we'll all be guilty! If there's no defensive line, use your own bodies!" Li Dawei had lost his usual composure and shouted at the top of his lungs.

After speaking, he solemnly took out a tube of emerald-green medicine. "Instructor! Go inject this into Nian Kai yourself! Give him this backpack!"

The instructor frowned. "What is this?"

"Don't ask! Nian Kai knows! Hurry! That's an order!" Li Dawei shouted sternly.

"Yes!" The instructor saluted and quickly left with the items.

The shells couldn't slow the Bloodthirsty Tank for long. In the blink of an eye, it charged up to Third Company's defensive line. Wang Ji only had time to grab Lao Bao and a mounted autocannon and dodge to the side.

"Boom!" The defensive line of sandbags and stones was smashed into flying debris in an instant.

Wang Ji and Lao Bao were caught in the shockwave and flung away in the blink of an eye. They flew more than twenty meters before slamming hard into a small ditch beside the mountain road.

"Rat-a-tat-tat..."

The rear defensive line hadn't had time to form. Only the firing positions made up of countless machine guns stood between them and the enemy. But the Bloodthirsty Tank paid them no heed, charging straight into the barrage.

"Boom!" The soldiers and their guns shattered into a storm of parts. A mist of blood filled the air.

"Boom!" The final defensive line was smashed to pieces as well.

Ahead, a lone figure stood straight in the middle of the road. It was Nian Kai! Somehow, after being injected with the medicine, Nian Kai had managed to stand up—and still had enough strength to fight.

"Everyone! Get down! Find cover and get down! Get down, now! Find cover!" Li Dawei shouted urgently over the field radio.

Wang Ji sensed something was wrong and quickly dug into the ground beneath him, making a hollow large enough to shelter him.

In the blink of an eye, the Bloodthirsty Tank charged up to Nian Kai. Excitement shone in its basketball-sized, blood-red eyes. It had finally broken through! The previous defensive lines hadn't held it back for long, and this last man...would be no different. It could knock him flying just as easily!

Nian Kai's eyes held a strange look—longing, reluctance—and finally, resolve. "Die!"

With the nerve response of a War General Level fighter, Nian Kai slammed the button in his hand at the very last moment before colliding with the Bloodthirsty Tank. "..."

First came a blinding white light. Everything around them—above, below, and on every side—turned a brilliant, snowy white! Only then came the shockwave and the flood of explosions. A mushroom cloud rose more than a hundred meters into the air.

"It's a nuclear bomb! A tactical nuclear bomb!" Wang Ji was utterly stunned. He remembered Lao Bao saying, "The cruise missile last time didn't even kill it..." "This time it'll work! If the people above say it will, they must have a way!"

"That really does the trick! Damn, a nuclear bomb!" Wang Ji pressed himself tightly against the bottom of the hole.

More than ten minutes later, when everything had finally settled, the survivors began climbing out of their holes, one after another. Those who hadn't taken shelter in a hole were gone. Even a miniature tactical nuclear bomb was still a nuclear bomb.

Only dozens of people remained alive, unsteadily making their way around the site. More than a hundred had died under the Bloodthirsty Tank's charge, and dozens more had been killed by the shockwave. The Bloodthirsty Tank herd had been wiped out, but the Sharp Knife Battalion had suffered heavy losses.

Two days later. Big Stone Mountain.

The seriously wounded had already been evacuated to New Base City in the departing vehicles. The remaining sixty-five men stayed at Big Stone Mountain to recuperate. As new recruits continued to arrive to replace the fallen, the Sharp Knife Battalion had once again returned to its full strength of four hundred.

"Sharp Knife Battalion, assemble!" ordered Li Dawei, his face covered in stubble.

"Mission: Hold Dianyuan! Departure: the night of the fourth! Everyone, move out with me!" Li Dawei said coldly.

Third Company. Of the familiar faces, only Lao Bao and Wang Ji remained. Lao Bao had grown even more taciturn. Wang Ji, meanwhile, had been promoted to deputy company commander and first platoon leader.

"Dianyuan? Lao Bao, tell me about it!"

In response to Wang Ji's question, Lao Bao said, "Actually, Jiangkou Town and Big Stone Mountain here both belong to Dianyuan County. This time, we're holding Dianyuan alongside other units of the 112th Division, building a defensive line to the north!"

To the north? Wasn't that all flatland? There was no natural cover.

Lao Bao said, "A hundred kilometers to the north, they're building the walls of New Base City! It's the hope of everyone in the Jiangnan region! So even if every one of us in the 112th Division dies and our bones turn to mud, we have to hold back the monsters! We can't let them damage the walls or disrupt their construction!"

Wang Ji fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded firmly. "Understood!"

After heading fifty kilometers north, the Sharp Knife Battalion arrived at a defensive line still under construction. Barbed wire covered the area, and with the help of heavy machinery, the trenches were five or six meters deep and more than ten meters wide. Anti-aircraft autocannons, heavy machine guns, and other firing positions were packed tightly together. Behind them, rocket-launcher vehicles stood bumper to bumper.

The Sharp Knife Battalion was assigned a one-kilometer stretch of the defensive line.

"Assign the 355 ordinary soldiers by company and platoon, and have them attack the monsters with conventional weapons! The remaining 45 Warrior-level soldiers will form special forces squads and work with the snipers, focusing on clearing out any monsters that break through the line. We can't let those monsters damage the defenses!"

"We must hold the Dianyuan line!" Li Dawei said in a chilly voice.