Chapter 193: Chapter 191: Welcome... Arrival...
"Kubo, kill me! Now!" Nagano roared at Kubo Shu, clutching his bitten arm.
His gun had just fallen into the flash flood and been swept away.
The fortification they were in was on relatively high ground and had not yet been submerged. But in the raging flash flood, many zombies had already started climbing toward them and could swarm them at any moment.
"Na... Nagano..." Kubo Shu’s whole body was trembling, and the hand holding his gun shook.
He’d never imagined the line would be broken so quickly, much less during a torrential storm and flash flood. And now, he was faced with the choice of killing Nagano!
He hadn’t been in the Self-Defense Force for long, but Nagano had always looked after him. He’d heard Nagano had a younger brother around his age back home. He just couldn’t pull the trigger...
"Damn it! Coward!" Nagano cursed. He then snatched the rifle from Kubo Shu’s hands, stuck the barrel in his mouth, grabbed the body of the gun with both hands, and placed his thumbs on the trigger.
He didn’t know how long it would be before he turned. Before that, he just wanted to die as a human.
’Goodbye, Father, Mother... and Yuuko.’
BANG! With the crack of a gunshot, the back of Nagano’s head instantly exploded, and his body fell.
"Nagano!" Kubo Shu screamed. He snatched the gun back and stared blankly at Nagano’s rapidly cooling body for a few seconds. Then, he raised the rifle and started firing frantically at the zombies that were continuously climbing up.
"You damn monsters, go to Hell!"
At this point, most of the defensive zone had been swallowed by the flash flood. Only scattered shouts could be heard. The spot where Kubo Shu stood had become a completely isolated island, where he could be swarmed and torn to pieces by zombies at any moment.
He swapped out several magazines, emptying his automatic rifle. Then he drew the pistol from his hip and continued to fire in controlled bursts.
At least before he was torn to shreds, he could kill a few more zombies and take them to Hell with him.
Just then, a series of sharp whistles tore through the air. The next moment, dozens of artillery shells exploded nearby, throwing up countless torrents of sand, stone, and muddy water, mixed with the severed limbs of zombies.
Apparently, the rear command had abandoned the first defensive line and was beginning to saturate it with indiscriminate artillery fire.
A relieved smile actually appeared on Kubo Shu’s face.
’Being blown to bits is better than being torn apart.’
The next instant, an artillery shell scored a direct hit on his fortification, instantly obliterating Kubo Shu along with dozens of surrounding zombies.
A 150mm howitzer shell’s shockwave typically generates 200-400 MPa of pressure within a 10-meter radius. The walls of a typical civilian building can only withstand a shockwave strength of 10 KPa.
Within a 20-meter radius of the explosion’s epicenter, a human body would be instantly pulverized. Within a 50-meter radius, countless shrapnel fragments would fly in all directions, leaving no chance of survival. Even zombies would be torn to shreds.
Even outside a 150-meter radius wasn’t safe; it was still possible to be maimed by howitzer shrapnel.
After sacrificing the entire first defensive line and parts of the residential areas, the rear artillery positions fired shells like they were free, bringing all infected and suspected infected zones into their range. They had finally, just barely, halted the zombie tide’s advance.
The losses, however, were incalculable.
In a command center temporarily set up in a hotel, acting Prime Minister Yoshikawa Hiroshi stared at the screen before him with a grim expression.
It displayed the real-time situation of the northern and southern defensive lines. On the surrounding split screens, there was live footage from the field.
Seeing the tragic state of the defensive positions, his eyes couldn’t help but turn red.
Beside him was Claude, the commander of the Eagle Country forces stationed in East Japan, who had just arrived from Hawaii.
Claude’s predecessor had been confirmed dead. After all, the Eagle Army’s command headquarters in East Japan, Yokota Air Base, was right next to Tokyo and had fallen during the first wave of infection.
"Mr. Prime Minister, the pandemic is far too severe. I suggest you seriously consider my country’s President’s recommendation. Use low-yield tactical nuclear weapons to create vacuums and halt the zombies’ spread. Otherwise, the entire Japanese Archipelago might be lost..." Claude said seriously. "As the epicenter of the viral infection, the heart of the quarantine zone, the Tokyo Region should also be abandoned outright. Using a large-yield nuclear bomb to cleanse it directly is a viable option."
The Tokyo Metropolitan Area has a population of 38 million. Although many people are still hiding in their homes and haven’t turned into zombies, the consequences if they were all infected would be unimaginable.
Claude added, "Also, the President has already exchanged opinions with the heads of the other four permanent members of the Security Council. They all agree on this option for the worst-case scenario and have offered to provide strategic nuclear missile support."
Yoshikawa Hiroshi couldn’t help but give a bitter smile. ’Offering gasoline while someone else is self-immolating... truly the consistent style of the five permanent members...’
Then, his expression turned solemn, and he said:
"On behalf of all of East Japan, I oppose this course of action. We have stabilized the situation, and things are taking a turn for the better... Even if the defensive line is completely lost, we absolutely cannot nuke the Tokyo Region!"
’The Commander is still there!’
’The safety of all of East Japan... no, the entire world, all of human civilization, rests on the Commander’s shoulders. If anything happens to him, it’s all over!’
"Mr. Claude, have the Pacific Fleet’s fighters assist with the bombing. I know it’s an outrageous request in this weather... but, I’m begging you."
As a defeated nation in World War II, East Japan doesn’t have any true bombers, only some fighter-bombers.
Claude nodded, then shook his head.
Although the probability of losing aircraft in this weather was extremely high, there was no other choice. The defensive line had to be held.
Just then, a communications officer nearby turned around with an excited look on his face and said loudly:
"Your Excellency the Prime Minister, Hua Country, Eagle Country, and four other nations have simultaneously announced that they have developed a serum that can delay the infection of the Evil Spirit Virus! They are preparing for mass production, and it can be put into use in about a few hours!"
Hearing this, Yoshikawa Hiroshi let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if a great weight had been temporarily lifted from his heart. At the same time, his eyes grew hot, and he was on the verge of tears again.
’It’s the Commander. This is the serum provided by the Commander!’
’With this, we don’t have to fear infection from the Evil Spirit Virus for the time being, and there’s no need to nuke everything.’
’Meeting the Commander is a blessing of three lifetimes!!!’
Sensing Yoshikawa Hiroshi’s emotional state, Claude smiled slightly, assuming he was just grateful for the timely appearance of the serum. He nodded and said:
"I’ll go give the bombing order."
A few minutes later, from air bases on the Japanese Archipelago and in the surrounding areas, fighter jets took off, heading into the typhoon over East Japan.
Although it was extremely dangerous, they had no choice but to carry out their orders, praying they wouldn’t crash...
...
"The Shizuoka-Nagoya line has been broken. The joint forces of East Japan and Eagle Country are retreating to the second defensive line and preparing for strategic bombing," Jingwei said to Shen Feng. "This typhoon is enormous. I doubt they can hold on."
Shen Feng nodded slightly, his mind racing.
’Zombies are terrifying and highly infectious, but they’re ultimately no match for a human army armed with modern weapons of mass destruction. They can only rely on this kind of weather to break through.’
’As long as they can survive this wave, once the typhoon passes, the human army can stabilize the situation and retake the lost territory.’
’And if all else fails, they can just nuke it.’
’Of course, that’s all predicated on the replicas of the Antiviral Serum being administered to everyone as soon as possible.’
Although the situation seemed to have reached its lowest point, Shen Feng knew it was more like the darkest hour before the dawn.
As long as the epidemic could be contained within the quarantine zone without spreading further, and a cure for the virus could be found in the time that followed, there shouldn’t be any major problems.
’The absolute deadline is one month.’
’I hope nothing else goes wrong.’
Shen Feng casually placed the two zombie heads of Mikiko and Tokugawa on the dissection table and said:
"It shouldn’t be a big problem. In the face of modern warfare’s firearms, flesh and blood are basically clay. You don’t even need headshots. A single machine gun bullet can tear a person in two, and one artillery shell can blast several hundred zombies to pieces. It’s enough to hold them back."
He then picked up a cranial bone saw from the side and said:
"I need to take a break first. It’s the middle of the night, I haven’t had a sip of water since I landed, and I’ve been busy for so long that I’m starving. Jingwei, can you get me something to eat?"
Jingwei giggled, seemingly in a much better mood, and said:
"Hmph, have you noticed you’re getting lazier and lazier? If I’d known, I would have brought over that silicone-mimicking android..."
As she spoke, she controlled several Nanomechanical Robots to turn and leave, heading for the hospital’s kitchen.
The components of the residual drug samples he’d brought back were also being analyzed. They were from the initial version of the virus and should be of considerable use.
Shen Feng skillfully cut open the skulls of the two zombie heads, opening them like lifting lids, revealing the two highly deformed brains inside.
Unlike the brain of the deeply infected individual from before, the brains of Mikiko and Tokugawa were mutated to an even greater degree.
Outwardly, they no longer resembled brains at all. They looked like two black sea urchins, their structures appearing extremely hard.
Their overall shapes were completely identical and highly symmetrical, as if they were the mutated brains of the same person.
Moreover, even though the heads had been severed, these two things still emitted faint electromagnetic pulses, forming a magnetic field.
Fortunately, it was weak enough not to cause any damage to Shen Feng’s Nanomechanical Cluster.
It was just that these things were too bizarre; there was no way they were the result of natural mutation.
It felt... designed.
Shen Feng couldn’t help but think of the movie *Alien*, where the extraterrestrial Engineer civilization designed the genes of both humans and the Xenomorphs.
’It seems I’ve missed something, but I can’t quite recall what it is.’
’What could it be?’
’Especially these electromagnetic pulses, and this brain mutation that looks like a radar antenna... I really can’t see the significance...’
Shen Feng frowned and quickly reviewed the events that had occurred after he went to Kanagawa, but he didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.
When he encountered the two highly mutated zombies, Tokugawa and Mikiko, there was the initial engagement, followed by the killing blow. The two chaotic zombies hadn’t said anything besides gibberish and expressing their desire for human flesh.
Their mutation level was too high, the infection too deep; they had completely lost any remaining logic and reason.
’Wait!’
’Their words!’
Shen Feng suddenly remembered something. This seemed to be the very thing he’d missed.
’Even if these zombies are highly mutated, they still possess their own inherent rules of behavior. That’s the most noteworthy detail!’
Shen Feng quickly recalled the words of the two zombies.
Although he hadn’t paid much attention at the time, his Silicon-Based Brain now had a photographic memory. It could retrieve video recordings of past events. Even though Jingwei had mocked it as being a dashcam, Shen Feng had still made the modification.
Soon, the scene that had just taken place on the street outside the Ota Elderly Care Home appeared in Shen Feng’s mind.
"...Meat... tasty meat... welcome... so hungry..."
"...Polite... want to eat... arrival..."
Welcome...
Arrival!