The Final Battle

The Dianyuan Defense entered a white-hot state from the very beginning.

At noon, the sky suddenly turned pitch black. Wang Ji looked up to see a black cloud formed by endless flying monsters pressing down toward the north.

Terrifying!

In an instant, anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft cannons, and surface-to-air missiles shot toward the swarm like countless meteors, forming one brilliant firework after another. Blood rain and severed limbs fell in a downpour.

At the rear command post.

"We still can't hold them back!" A lieutenant general in the command post threw his hat down in anger. "Especially the high-level flying monsters!"

"Scramble the air force!" a hoarse, resonant voice commanded.

"Chief! Our fighters cannot go head-to-head with these monsters!" a staff officer said with grief. The losses of aircraft and pilots recently had been too severe.

The Chief said in a deep voice, "If the base city cannot be established, what is the point of keeping the fighters? What is the point of us staying alive? The entire Jiangnan region will fall! Scramble the fighters!"

"Yes!"

The 108 fighters from three flight regiments of a division all entered flight preparation status. Every pilot wore an expression of calm, as if they had already accepted their fate. They understood that the chances of returning to the ground were slim. Modern fighters were not designed to fight monsters; they had high attack power and speed, but their armor was too thin. Once entangled by a Commander-level monster, survival was nearly impossible.

"Take off quickly! Once airborne, climb to maximum altitude immediately! Do not get entangled with low-level flying monsters; it is not worth it! Ascend above 30,000 meters; low-level monsters cannot reach that high. Only high-level Commander-class monsters can follow you. Your mission is to inflict as much damage as possible on the high-level flying monsters. Even if it means going down with them!" The tower's orders were tragic and powerful, but the pilots' blood slowly began to boil. Since death was inevitable, they would die like knights. To die in the sky was a fitting end.

On the ground, countless flying monsters were falling continuously. Some were already dead, while others were still squawking. Wang Ji's 45-man special operations squad kept weaving through the chaos, harvesting the monsters that were still alive.

Finally, the monsters in the sky began to thin out.

"Rumble..." The ground monsters had arrived.

White exhaust trails streaked across the blue sky. Countless white trails sliced the blue sky into long strips. "Boom!" The earth shook!

It was a saturation attack by ballistic missiles. At this point, there was no concern for inventory or the impossibility of resupply. If the unfinished base city were destroyed by the beast tide, everything would be meaningless.

Following the ballistic missiles, a continuous, deafening shriek erupted—the sound of large-caliber artillery shells. Countless tons of ammunition were poured into a 30-kilometer arc in front of them.

A few minutes later, fewer than one in ten monsters remained alive to charge the defensive line.

"Ready! Mortars ready! Close-in weapon systems ready! Fire!" The twenty-centimeter-long, thumb-thick bullets of the CIWS, firing at a rate of 12,000 rounds per minute, raked across the first wave of monsters hitting the line.

"Boom!" Flesh and gore flew everywhere.

Even a high-level Commander-class monster could not withstand such a high-rate-of-fire barrage.

"Lord-class monsters! Thirteen Lord-class monsters detected!" the staff officer at the rear command post shouted. "We only have seven Warlord-level martial artists!"

"Hold them off! Have the seven Warlords hold the line! For the remaining six, have the super-intelligent computer calculate their trajectories for a saturation ballistic missile strike! For those six points, have the high-level Warlord squads prepare, and also," the Chief paused, "have the six Red Squads enter Level 1 readiness!"

"Chief!" the lieutenant general exclaimed in shock.

"Red Squads to Level 1 readiness! Await further orders!" the Chief said heavily.

Dozens of seconds later, the earth trembled. The roar shattered the clouds in the sky.

"Chief! At four of the six points, the Lord-class monsters have been heavily wounded! It is estimated that the high-level Warlord squads can hold them! The other two... were dodged by the monsters!" the staff officer's voice was low.

The Chief nodded. "As expected! The speed of Lord-class monsters is terrifying! Therefore, unless it is a high-yield nuclear bomb, it makes no difference whether we use conventional warheads or tactical nukes—because we can't hit them."

"That is why we need the Red Squads..." the lieutenant general sighed.

"Red Squads, move out!" the Chief waved his hand in sorrow.

Two squads led by high-level Warlords sped toward the two Lord-class monsters. The lead captains, both high-level Warlords, each carried a 100-liter backpack. Printed on the packs was a red warning symbol. They were small nuclear bombs. Humanity's most powerful tactical weapon.

A few minutes later, two bright lights erupted. Shortly after, mushroom clouds hundreds of meters high formed. Everyone on the battlefield couldn't help but look in that direction, their hearts trembling. Those were nuclear bombs—humanity's last resort.

Wang Ji couldn't help but think of Nian Kai. To kill a Lord-class monster with a small nuclear bomb, one needed at least a high-level Warlord. Only a high-level Warlord could barely get close enough to a Lord-class monster. Otherwise, even a suicide attack would be useless.

"Roar!" The monster horde finally pressed forward in full force.

Anti-aircraft machine guns were leveled to fire horizontally, and the soldiers' rifles fired without pause. The special operations squad could no longer act as firefighters, because every location was a fire, and monsters had broken through everywhere!

"Kill!" Wang Ji roared.

The strength of an Advanced Warrior-level was truly too insignificant on such a battlefield. It was like a slightly larger ant. Wang Ji didn't know how many monsters he had killed. He only knew that the comrades around him were becoming fewer and fewer.

"Boom!" A Blood-Eyed Blue Rock Bull suddenly leaped out of the trench, slamming into Wang Ji's squad. Two comrades in front were sent flying like straw, and then Wang Ji's vision went black, and he lost all sensation.

When Wang Ji woke up, he thought the simulation had ended and he had failed once again. But then, intense pain radiated through his body, and Wang Ji realized he was still alive.

Wang Ji pushed aside the monster carcass pinning him down; there were still faint sounds of battle on the field, but the major fighting had ceased.

"Oh! You're still alive?" A calm voice sounded. Wang Ji looked up to see Battalion Commander Li Dawei. Li Dawei's uniform was still crisp, with no signs of battle on him. Wang Ji suddenly thought of the old-regime officers. If he just added a pair of white gloves, the look would be complete. Wang Ji couldn't help but ask, "Battalion Commander, you are a martial artist too, right?"

"Yes! I am a Primary Warlord-level martial artist!" Li Dawei said with rigid, earnest precision.

"What is the casualty status of the brothers?" Wang Ji looked around; there weren't many left who could stand.

Li Dawei said, "In the Sharp Knife Battalion, there are 52 men left who can still fight!"

Beside them, a blood-stained hand suddenly reached out. "There's... there's me too!"

"Lao Bao! You're not dead!" Wang Ji crawled over and helped Lao Bao up from the pile of corpses.

"That makes 53!"

Wang Ji suddenly exploded. "You are a Warlord-level martial artist, and you just watched the brothers below fight to the death? Do you have any respect for the flag behind you?"

Lao Bao struggled to hold Wang Ji back. "Don't talk nonsense! The Battalion Commander is not that kind of person! On the battlefield, one must obey orders and follow commands!"

Li Dawei stroked the battalion flag of the Sharp Knife Battalion and said, "As long as I am here, and as long as the veterans of the Sharp Knife Battalion are still alive, the framework of the Sharp Knife Battalion remains! Our combat power remains! My standing here is worth more than killing a few monsters!"

"Worth more, my ass!" Wang Ji glared.

"The Battalion Commander is right!" Lao Bao suddenly interjected.

"Position 332, reinforcements arriving!" A loud broadcast suddenly blared. Logistics convoys were bringing in people temporarily conscripted from the rear, supplementing the various defensive lines one by one.

"The Sharp Knife Battalion needs 400 reinforcements!" Li Dawei shouted.

Over an hour later, the veterans, covered in smoke and blood, led the newly arrived recruits to reform into squads, platoons, and companies. Li Dawei stood before the Sharp Knife Battalion flag, calmly explaining combat discipline, tactical coordination, and the glorious history of the Sharp Knife Battalion.

A combat-ready force was assembled once again.

At dusk, the beast tide surged again, and the slaughter began anew.

I don't know how many battles they endured, nor how many times they received reinforcements. Whether they were new recruits or survivors who had been lucky enough to live, they fought desperately time and time again. No one flinched.

"Behind us are our families, our fellow countrymen. Fear is useless! Flinching is useless! Running away is useless! Monsters have no mercy, and they will not accept surrender! They will only kill us all. Therefore, we must fight! Even if we die, we must fight until the very end!" Li Dawei constantly boosted their morale.

Blood, severed limbs, and countless fragments of monster carcasses turned the defensive line into a muddy mess. Wave after wave of fighting continued without end.

I don't know how much time had passed; everyone had lost all sense of time. At a certain moment.

"It's over!" Li Dawei received a military order over the radio and suddenly muttered.

"It's over?" The surviving soldiers of the Sharp Knife Battalion couldn't believe it.

Li Dawei nodded with difficulty: "The walls of the rear base city are finished, and the defense systems have been fully installed! The defensive battle is over! We can withdraw!"

"Ah? It's over?... Wuwuwu..." The surviving brothers were first in disbelief, then finally burst into tears. The fighting had been too brutal. There were fewer than 30 brothers left standing, and every one of them was wounded.

The Sharp Knife Battalion helped each other as they began to withdraw. Their vehicles were severely damaged; after covering half the distance, they broke down and had to be abandoned. Fortunately, they were not far from the newly built base city.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."

Wang Ji was exhausted to the point of numbness. His reactions were sluggish, and it wasn't until he finally processed the sound that he realized a Two-Headed Black-Striped Python was right in front of them. The beast was only a few dozen meters away from the group.

The Two-Headed Black-Striped Python was a mutated intermediate-level beast general monster. Its body, a meter thick and over twenty meters long, possessed combat power that could even rival some high-level beast generals.

"Hiss... How are we so unlucky? We're almost at the base city, and we run into a monster like this," a soldier beside him said. Everyone was completely drained, and their heavy weapons had been left behind on the broken-down vehicles. They only had light firearms and a small amount of ammunition left.

Lao Bao suddenly shouted: "Focus fire! Aim for the heads!"

"Da-da-da-da..." The bullets struck the Two-Headed Black-Striped Python, barely piercing its scales but failing to inflict any real damage.

Instead, the Two-Headed Black-Striped Python charged over in a rage. As they retreated toward the base city, they had left all their heavy weaponry, including heavy machine guns, on the abandoned vehicles. They hadn't expected to encounter such a monster so close to the base city.

"You guys go first, I'll draw it away!" Li Dawei suddenly roared.

"What?" Wang Ji was startled.

Li Dawei suddenly said to Wang Ji: "Before, my survival had more meaning. Now, Wang Ji, your survival has more meaning than mine! You are only seventeen or eighteen. A seventeen-year-old high-level warrior who has even grasped the micro-level movement technique. You will definitely become a War God-level fighter! You will definitely become a pillar of the base city! Run! Lao Bao, take Wang Ji and the brothers and run! I'm afraid I can't hold this beast for long!"

Wang Ji was shaken to his core, glaring as he said: "What kind of bullshit 'more meaning'! You're just like Li An, both of you are talking nonsense! What kind of bullshit logic is that!"

Li Dawei tossed a shoulder badge into Lao Bao's hand. "This is Li An's military badge. Take it back to my sister-in-law. Tell her that her Li An didn't bring shame to the battlefield!"

Lao Bao nodded with red eyes and said: "Hurry, Wang Ji, the Battalion Commander has never been a man who fears death. Let's go, don't let the Battalion Commander's sacrifice be in vain!"

Wang Ji wanted to say more, but Lao Bao glared at him: "Obey orders and follow instructions!" With that, he forcibly dragged Wang Ji away, leading the others to retreat rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, the high walls of the base city appeared before them. Like a continuous mountain range, they stood ready to block the monsters outside.

"We're here! Finally, we've reached the base city!"

Ding! Instance: Dianyuan Defense, concluded. Main quests: 1. Cover the great evacuation; 2. Hold for 7 days; Completed.