The First Order

1254 A trump card to crush the defensive line
D−4.

Early in the morning.

The battle yesterday turned out much more brutal than expected, with the Northwest Army losing 12 positions in a single day.

None of the combat troops at these positions retreated. They had voluntarily decided not to retreat, but at the same time, P5092 did not allow them to retreat either.

P5092 had said to Wang Yun before, “If we choose to retreat each time we can’t defeat the enemy at a defensive position, where will the rest of the Northwest Army and civilians behind them retreat to?”

By standing firm on this defensive line, they could buy some time for their comrades. If they could not defeat the enemy, they would have to give their lives to hold them off.

It was just as P5092 had said to Zhang Xiaoman on two previous occasions: “What do you think war is about then?”

War was a fight with the goal of destroying the enemy’s forces.

Fortunately, Ji Zi’ang, who was in the vicinity of Position 317, had temporarily altered the terrain there. He almost overdrew his life force to create a mountain that cut across the path of the enemy’s mechanized troops. Otherwise, the situation would probably turn out even worse.

It had to be known that the southwestern forest was inaccessible to the mechanized troops.

Therefore, all of the Central Plains’ mechanized troops had assembled here to make an advance into the Northwest. The Pyro Company had not left behind too many weapons and equipment for the Wang Consortium to appropriate. Before they retreated, they destroyed everything that could be of use to the enemy. A single grenade was all it took to directly blow up the barrel of a tank.

However, the Kong Consortium and the Zhou Consortium practically surrendered without a fight. Those two organizations had really left behind too many resources for the Wang Consortium.

Ji Zi’ang understood the severity of the situation, so he knew he had to help P5092 hold off these mechanized troops.

Currently, Ji Zi’ang was fully exhausted. He was lying in the field hospital behind the command center and placed under the care of the nurses.

However, P5092 did not even visit him at the field hospital because he had no time.

Time was exceptionally precious to the Northwest Army at this moment.

There were only five days left. Currently, the Northwest Army was already having such a hard time just blocking the path of one group of enemy troops. But according to Hu Shuo, there were still about three other groups of the enemy’s troops making their way over.

In the command center, Wang Yun looked at P5092 and asked, “How much longer do you think the Dawn defensive line can hold for?”

P5092 thought for a moment and said, “Three days. If we’re lucky, it will hold for three days. On the third day, we’ll have to start our evacuation to Fortress 178 where our final battlefield lies.”

Wang Yun knew P5092 was someone who only spoke the truth. Therefore, the Dawn defensive line was really only defendable for three days at most. Even if they got extremely lucky, it would only hold for three days.

Facing such a large number of enemies, this did not seem like an unacceptable answer.

It was said that the Three Mountains defensive line was only held for three days. Including the previous few days, the Dawn defensive line had already exceeded the duration the Three Mountains defensive line had lasted.

However, there were still five days left. Would human civilization get destroyed in the final two days?

Currently, the soldiers at every defensive position were already extremely exhausted. This battle was different from all the others in the past.

It used to be that both enemy and friendly troops required time to rest. Therefore, even though it wasn’t easy to allocate, there would still be time to sleep. Amid a battle, it was still guaranteed they would get at least four hours of rest a day. If the situation of the battle was not too intense, they could even sleep up to six to eight hours.

But it was different this time. The artificial intelligence’s attacks seemed to have no end in sight. Although they had implemented rotational breaks at the defensive positions, how could they possibly fall asleep amid the loud gunfire?

Just today, there were already soldiers who suddenly fainted while walking. The Supply Division immediately tore up thousands of uniforms for everyone to use as makeshift earplugs.

In fact, under normal circumstances, soldiers should not be wearing earplugs when sleeping. That was because they would not be able to hear any urgent orders for them to assemble.

But there was really no other choice. If some of these soldiers did not get some sleep soon, they could really collapse.

…

The 3rd Division led by Zhou Yinglong was garrisoned at Hill 287 on Mt. Xigu at this moment.

The burly Zhou Yinglong was patrolling the defensive line with a worried look on his face. Then, a chance for a rare break finally arrived at Hill 287. The enemy had finally retreated like a receding tide.

Logically speaking, it was a good thing the enemy had retreated, but Zhou Yinglong knew things were not that simple. The enemy’s troops were all well-equipped, so there was no reason for them to suddenly retreat at a time like this. Therefore, something was definitely going to happen.

Zhou Yinglong’s adjutant followed behind him as they patrolled the defensive position. The adjutant said, “Commander, please go and get some sleep. I know you haven’t had any sleep in 30 hours already.”

Zhou Yinglong said calmly, “Why sleep so much when we’re alive? We can sleep forever when we’re dead. There’ll be loads of time to sleep in the future.”

The deputy commander was taken aback but did not say anything further.

Hill 287 was full of craters several meters deep. Some of the trenches at this position even collapsed after being bombarded by artillery shells.

When it was time to eat, the Northwest Army soldiers sat cautiously in the trenches and had a few bites to eat from their aluminum mess tins.

Everyone was feeling extremely hungry, but they just couldn’t gather up an appetite.

They had killed too many people and even witnessed their comrades getting blown up bloodily next to them.

But there was no choice. If they wanted to continue fighting the war, they would have to fill their stomachs first.

What used to be delicious had a waxy taste now as they chewed on their food. The soldiers could only move their jaws mechanically. These were the veterans who were able to overcome their trauma and maintain a mentality suited to fighting a war.

Zhou Yinglong looked at every one of the soldiers and saw their pupils constricting. All of them resembled devils at this point.

The prolonged period of tension caused everyone’s nerves to tense up, and such emotions directly affected their pupils.

Therefore, the difference between war represented in artworks was that everyone resembled a devil in a real one.

No one was innocent, but no one could be accused of absolute guilt either.

But at this moment, Zhou Yinglong’s adjutant suddenly said, “Division Commander, look out there beyond the defensive line!”

Outside Hill 287, Zhou Yinglong spotted dark clouds drifting over from the horizon.

Those dark clouds were moving extremely fast, and it was as though they had already gotten much closer in just the blink of an eye.

Those were not really clouds at all. Zhou Yinglong took out his high-powered military binoculars and had a look at it, only to see densely packed wings flapping as countless birds flocked together.

There were swan geese, cuckoos, yellow orioles, and wild ducks.

Zhou Yinglong suddenly realized that these birds had a common trait, and that was they were all migratory birds.

It was already autumn, so these migratory birds should have flown south to prepare for the winter. However, they were suddenly returning to the Northwest now.

Little did they know the artificial intelligence had found the best way to control the birds. All it needed to do was to find a place where these birds rested while on their migratory journey.

There was a wetland not far from the Wang Consortium’s Stronghold 61 that was suitable for birds to rest, with eight or nine such other migratory habitats scattered across the entire Central Plains. The migratory birds took a short rest in these habitats where they ate and drank for a short while before they were controlled by the artificial intelligence, never to fly south again.

Zhou Yinglong saw a huge hawk soaring towards those “dark clouds” in the sky at an extremely fast speed.

Initially, the majestic hawk dove into the “dark clouds” and scattered the advance guard of the flock. But a moment later, the birds in the flock, seemingly having their own duties, circled around the hawk and nipped its feathers off one by one.

In the blink of an eye, the hawk turned into a ball of energy and faded away into the sky.

Earlier, Hassan’s hawk had contributed greatly to the Northwest’s efforts. But in the face of absolute numbers, it was still a little helpless.

Zhou Yinglong looked at the sky in the distance and said with a sigh, “Wake all the soldiers. Fill your mags and get ready for a tough battle!”

Judging by the direction of the dark clouds, Hill 287 would probably be the first position to get attacked by an air strike.

Yesterday, when the artificial intelligence attacked Ren Xiaosu, Zhou Yingxue, and Yang Xiaojin, Zhou Yinglong was aware the enemy intended to cut off Mt. Xigu from the rest of the defensive support points and would make an example out of this place first.

However, he did not expect the other party would attack in an even more direct manner today.

This was the attack P5092 had speculated the artificial intelligence would launch today to crush the Dawn defensive line.

Zhou Yinglong could not even determine how many birds there were in the flock. When the birds that had mutated after The Cataclysm gathered together, it was as though a terrifying natural calamity that stretched across several kilometers had arrived.

On Hill 287, the heavy machine gun positions had all adjusted their shot angles. They were originally facing the foot of the mountain, but now they were all cushioned on sandbags and pointed to the sky.

There were not only heavy machine gun nests on the important position of Hill 287 but short-range anti-air artillery as well.
All of the soldiers held their breaths as they waited for the flock of birds to get closer. Zhou Yinglong sighed and said, “My superpower is totally useless here….”

Zhou Yinglong’s power was to summon a wild boar. But no matter how powerful a wild boar was, it could not encircle birds flying in the sky.

When the flock of birds was about to reach the sky above Hill 287, Zhou Yinglong gave the order to open fire.

In the early morning, the heavy machine gun’s bullets shot into the sky with a visible trajectory like red-hot pellets. But to everyone’s surprise, when the heavy machine guns were fired, the birds that were initially densely packed together actually parted several times.

And the gaps created were exactly where the heavy machine gunfire was targeting.

The gaps that opened up between the birds were very precise, with no wasted movements.

However, the speed of a fired bullet was still much faster than that of a bird. Even though the artificial intelligence had predicted the trajectory of the gunfire, it was unable to completely avoid it.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yinglong knew this was not good. That was because this attack clearly had much lower damage than he was expecting.

If the accuracy was only this low, the entirety of Hill 287 would probably not be able to kill these birds even if they finished expending all their ammunition.

In that case, Hill 287 would have to face the outcome of being overwhelmed by this dense flock of birds.

It was not only Hill 287 but also the second echelon of the defensive line at their rear!

“Short-range anti-air artillery, execute salvo fire!” Zhou Yinglong ordered.

Loud explosions boomed on the hill. It was so loud everyone thought their lungs would burst out.

The short-range anti-air artillery needed more preparation to fire than heavy machine guns. As the artillery shells broke the sound barrier after shooting out of the barrels, a three-meter-wide hole suddenly appeared in the “dark clouds” in the sky. The artillery shells penetrated through this gap in the flock of birds.

Amid the simultaneous firing of the short-ranged anti-air artillery, Zhou Yinglong quietly ordered some soldiers to take out thermobaric bombs from behind their bunkers to deal with these birds by means of high temperatures and hypoxia.

But even though the soldiers’ movements were very stealthy, the birds still managed to avoid the trajectory of the thermobaric bombs in advance.

Without making any contact, the warhead would not be able to trigger the fuse within the projectile. Meanwhile, the Northwest’s technological level was not advanced enough to support remotely-activated missiles.

Immediately after, even the enemy’s ground troops that had retreated earlier also began attacking Hill 287 again.

Moreover, even the large-caliber howitzers the enemy had not used against Hill 287 appeared. This meant the mechanized troops’ passageway near Position 317 had opened up. It seemed that the enemy’s ground troops who had retreated earlier had gone to clear the path for them.

Amid the commotion, Zhou Yinglong sighed to himself. Mt. Xigu was probably unable to hold for much longer.

His adjutant said in a low voice, “Division Commander, should we retreat? We can’t defend the position.”

Zhou Yinglong took a deep breath and said with a laugh, “You don’t know how ruthless that fella in command of the troops is. He’ll never allow us to retreat…. Besides, I’m not thinking of retreating either.”

“Division Commander, don’t you wish to return to Fortress 178 to see your family?”

Zhou Yinglong said, “After we’re victorious in the war, our comrades will bring my molar tooth back and place it under the copper bell in the square. I’ll naturally return to Fortress 178 then.”

An hour later, the flock of birds overwhelmed Hill 287 and started flying towards the second echelon of the defensive line behind the position.

Zhang Jinglin, who was busy at the field hospital, suddenly received news of Zhou Yinglong’s death. He fell silent for a moment with mixed feelings before wiping his hands and receiving the next patient.

The mention of Zhou Yinglong’s name was like a pebble that dropped into the lake of his heart. It only caused a ripple before he became calm again.

After the current group of wounded personnel were sent to the operating rooms, Zhang Jinglin quietly walked out to the field hospital’s corridor where he stood alone at the door and lit a cigarette while looking in the direction of Hill 287.

This was what wars were like. Due to the urgency of the situation, there wasn’t much time to reminisce.

After Zhang Jinglin handed over his role as the highest-ranking military commander, he did not sit idle. He chose to come to the field hospital and passionately serve as a medic. It seemed that this job was the most enriching and nostalgic to him.

By switching roles like that, he surprised many people. But Wang Fengyuan, who understood Zhang Jinglin the best, knew that Zhang Jinglin’s two greatest wishes were actually to become either a good medic or a good teacher.

…

In the command center, news of the fall of one defensive position after another spread. The flock of birds in the sky seemed to really have become the most powerful trump card that could crush the Dawn defensive line.

The atmosphere in the center turned extremely gloomy. The continuous wave of bad news of their comrades’ deaths seemingly crushed them on the inside.

At this rate, the Dawn defensive line would probably collapse before tomorrow.

Wang Yun suddenly said to P5092, “Your heart rate hasn’t fluctuated much, and neither has your body temperature. Aren’t you worried about the defensive line at all? The combat staff officers also went to consult Future Commander just now, but Future Commander said he doesn’t have any idea on how to deal with these birds for now.”

What Wang Yun was implying was that the person they could depend on most was also helpless right now.

Ren Xiaosu was not omnipotent. All of his gratitude tokens had been used to buy Proficiency Stones to increase the level of his Prosperous Northwest spell. Even the Explosive Poker cards he had previously drawn were used up when he went to fetch Qing Zhen from the Southwest.

Therefore, the future commander did not have any good ways to deal with the enemy in the air at this moment either.

Wang Yun’s power to control air was pretty good, but his power as a superhuman was not outstanding. His stronger point was still his memory, organization skill, and analytical ability.

P5092 glanced at Wang Yun. “Wait a little longer.”

In this command center, P5092 seemed to be the only one without worries.

Wang Yun was puzzled. “Wait for what?”

“Wait for the rain to arrive.” P5092 said, “I felt the weather suddenly turn chilly this morning. This means the cold front in the north has already arrived. The first autumn rain will be arriving soon.”

Wang Yun did not probe any further, but he still did not understand how the rain would affect those birds.

At Position 141, Luo Lan, Zhou Qi, Qing Zhen, and Xu Man were having breakfast around a campfire.

The surrounding Northwest Army soldiers had already moved into the trenches. As the second echelon of the defensive line, the troops at this defensive position were already informed that the enemy had breached the first echelon and was about to arrive.

Everyone was sinking into despair because they knew what was happening at the defensive line ahead.

They would probably never get to see their former good friends and comrades again in the future.

As the tense atmosphere spread across the defensive position, Luo Lan and the others appeared rather relaxed.

Luo Lan had specially gotten his hands on some heavy machine guns from the infantry brigade at Position 141 and distributed them to his 12 martyred spirits. At this moment, those shimmering martyred spirits were standing at the edge of the defensive line and planning to fight alongside the Northwest Army.

The sky darkened as a northeasterly wind started blowing into the mountains while the campfire swayed unsteadily in the wind.

Suddenly, a large, dark cloud floated out from behind the mountain in front of them. The flock of birds flew over the top of the mountain pass and headed towards Position 141.

Zhou Qi quietly looked up at the sky above him. After a long while, he said, “P5092 has pretty much convinced me.”

Qing Zhen nodded.

Qing Zhen, who was also a military genius, naturally understood what Zhou Qi was implying.

Previously, when P5092 specifically requested Zhou Qi to come to Position 141, they were still unsure of what plans the other party had for him.

After all, even though Position 141 was located at the front of the second echelon and was a main target of the enemy’s attack, there was no river there. There wasn’t even a small stream to be seen in the area, so what role could Zhou Qi possibly play?

At that time, P5092 only said that Zhou Qi would understand when the time came.

It was as though the other party was never worried their plan would fail. Even the weather was within his calculations.

As the cold front headed south, the clouds in the sky quickly condensed into water vapor upon encountering the cold air. Then the water vapor continued to condense and form into water droplets.

In the sky, a crystal clear droplet of water was leaving the clouds and drifting towards the ground. It landed on the soil at Zhou Qi’s feet with a plop, and a faint earthy smell arose.

Heavy rain was really coming.

Zhou Qi turned around and slowly walked towards the edge of the defensive line. The fine raindrops in the sky began to fall even faster, gradually forming a majestic curtain of rain over everyone’s heads.

But just as the flock of birds were about to approach Position 141, the drizzle seemingly turned into a sky full of stars and sharp swords.

The soldiers stood guard in the trenches.

Meanwhile, Luo Lan, Qing Zhen, and Xu Man waited at the rear of the defensive line.

Only Zhou Qi faced the surging flock of birds alone. He suddenly revealed his palm while his eyes were already a hue of blue.

Suddenly, the raindrops were stretched into needle-like shapes by an invisible force.

A million needle-shaped raindrops descended like lightning and pierced through the flock of birds stretching across several kilometers.

Rain, blood, and feathers mixed together as bird carcasses plummeted to the ground. The flock of birds had seemed like they wanted to retreat, but it was a little too late to do so now.

After the battle at the silt farm, Zhou Qi had become a demigod.

Luo Lan’s eyes revealed some sadness because he knew this was the last gift his third brother had left behind for them.