Hans remained near the Construction Yard. He watched the clock slowly tick past 2 PM.

At that moment, his head slowly scanned from right, then to left.

The western flank died down after a short encounter.

The southern flank didn’t even have a taste of an action.

And the eastern flank—it went deathly silent.

On the Radar map, only blips of blue and green filled the screen.

The red dots that had once swarmed from the east vanished completely. Not even a single survivor could be found from his Radar.

I wonder how things are looking like there now, Hans thought. Should have been tough for them. I lost three Army Soldiers and ten Conscripts from this battle alone.

——

[ Troop Count ]

352 Conscripts (-10)

217 Army Soldiers (-3)

20 Attack Dogs

55 Scouts

20 Snipers

28 Engineers

26 Medics (10 females, 16 male pairs)

59 Machine Gunners

64 Guardian GIs

30 Missile Infantry

20 DASF Units

13 Guardian APCs

8 Vanguard MBTs

2 HMT-90 Hellhammer Artillery Tanks

——

Hans already guessed how he lost these troops. The existence of the biler gave him one; the addition of the thrower gave him two.

These artillery-like infected was a big problem in large-scale horde attacks.

Though they were easy to take down, but a thick layer of meat shields surrounding them would increase the difficulty.

I should be careful in my next set of plans, Hans breathed deeply.

These zombies will evolve if left alone for long.

He tapped his comms.

“Golden Eagle to Eagle One, give me a situation report.”

Static crackled briefly before Zolyah answered.

“Eagle One reporting, Commander. Eastern flank has been defended successfully.”

Her vision zoomed in to her scope; the crosshair slowly hovered over the mountains of corpses that formed.

“No enemy survivor detected. Do you have any additional orders, Commander?”

“Proceed with the clean-up ops. Golden Eagle, out.”

Zolyah exhaled slowly as the radio went silent. Her hands may have held tightly on the Barrett, but she truly was exhausted.

Hours of continuous gunfire drained her of her stamina. Even the recent two-star promotion refresh barely helped at all.

She settled her sniper rifle to the side and watched the silent eastern plains now bathed in blood and brass.

Below her, soldiers began climbing out of the trenches.

The once-pale grassland had turned into a dark carpet of corpses.

Mountains of infected filled the first ditch entirely.

The second trench was barely recognizable beneath layers of blood, broken limbs, and shattered earth.

Machine Gunners remained seated on the MG nets, their hands hanging loosely on the side.

A few smoking barrels cooled down, while some didn’t even heat up at all.

Mason lifted his M249 SAW with one hand and noticed the lack of drifting smoke. A long string of bullets cascaded from the feed tray.

It led to two more unused 200-round ammo belts on the ground. His battle experience has improved considerably—the first of Hans’s veteran MG units.

“Looking great there, mate,” another MG unit approached him.

“What do you think?”

Mason struck a pose—holding his M249 SAW with one hand while his other hand flicked to a rock sign.

“Don’t make me feel jealous,” the Machine Gunner clenched his fist.

“Haha, don’t worry mate. You’ll get where I am soon enough!”

Mason settled his M249 SAW under his feet, laughing loudly.

On the other side, the Guardian GIs leaned against the sandbags, stretching their sore shoulders save for a few.

Jack felt his steady palms, sweat scarcely wetting his clothes and gloves. A newfound strength drew all over him, further increasing the sharpness of his battle instincts.

Beside his deployed MK19 Grenade Launcher, six belts idly sat on the ground, untouched and unused.

“How’s the two-star promotion?” Victor, his GGI pair, approached.

“Feels great,” Jack grinned.

“How’s our ammunition loadout now?”

“For the Mark 19?” Jack glanced at the grenade belts. “Should be fourteen by default, but the Commander’s bonus extends that to twenty-one.”

“Eight hundred and forty grenades,” Victor drew a cold breath. “Second star only, yeah?”

Jack nodded.

One could imagine how many 40-millimeter grenades was that.

“We still have one more to go,” Victor tapped Jack’s shoulder. “Gather your equipment. Command says we got to pile those bodies before nightfall.”

“Sure.”

The second pair of every GGIs left their rear embankments and advanced forward.

Not far from them, a small group of Missile Infantry walked along the open ground.

Their launchers rested on their shoulders, inspecting the battlefield in case an additional wave attacked them out of nowhere.

Viktor knelt beside the ditch and tapped a charred launcher tube with his glove.

“How many missiles did you guys fire?” he asked.

“More than I can count,” Markus replied.

“Well, how many are left on yours then?” Viktor changed his question. His eyes drifted to the two empty launch tubes lay scattered nearby.

They were his.

Beside it, four more of them were filled with missile armaments ready to be launched.

“Three,” Markus said. “Out of twenty-four.”

“I got one more than you then,” Viktor asserted victory. “You clean; I watch.”

“Tsk,” Markus clicked his tongue and settled his launcher on the sandbag.

It was fun watching the fireworks blow off during the fight. Cleaning up afterwards wasn’t.

The infantry squads closest to the two trenches had already begun their cleanup operations.

The stench of death assailed their noses. The sight of endless corpses horrified their visions. But Hans’s troops had long grown numb to it.

Some bodies still twitched faintly and were met with another round of gunfire.

Others were prodded several times with a boot or rifle before the soldiers moved on.

Once the area was deemed safe, the next wave of troops stepped forward and began rummaging through the corpses.

Watches. Jewelries. Rings.

Anything with value to the Commander was taken.

If those infected could no longer serve any purpose in life, then perhaps in death they could still contribute something—funding the growth of the army that had put them down.

“Do they not have any mercy?”

Yunera watched the soldiers pilfer one valuable to another.

“Sister,” Kimmy stood by her side. “That is just how it works.”

“Works?” Yunera shook her head. “Even in death, these were still humans. They’re just unlucky they were turned by the virus. It doesn’t mean we have to disrespect them by doing something atrocious like this!”

“Sister…” Kimmy couldn’t find the words to rebuke Yunera’s argument.

“I want to stop them… so badly,” she clenched her shivering fists.

To her, what if those things were mementos? Gifts from their loved ones? Friends? Families?

Kimmy lowered her head.

The sounds of soldiers working continued across the plains.

Metal clinked in dull notes.

Boots dragged through the mangled flesh, barely a dirt mixed in. The occasional gunshot echoed whenever a twitching corpse was put down for good.

War had turned the battlefield into something mechanical.

It had become practical and cold.

“Sister,” Kimmy said softly. “That is their mandate. We cannot stop them even if we should.”

Yunera frowned.

“They will still take them,” Kimmy continued. “Just not here, not with our eyes watching.”

Her blindfold fluttered gently in the wind.

“The living need supplies. Ammunition, food, medicine, weapons, fortifications.”

She gestured toward the endless sea of bodies.

“All of that costs something.”

Yunera’s fists trembled.

“But these were people.”

“Yes,” Kimmy said quietly. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Kimmy added—

“And now, they are the reason the rest of us are still alive.”

Yunera looked away, tears slipping from her eyes.

Across the battlefield, soldiers continued their grim work. Mountains of corpses slowly shifted like a skewed graph as they were dragged into larger piles.

Engines of armored vehicles hummed quietly in the distance.

Far away, the ruined skyline of Grefort City stood silent beneath the fading afternoon sun.

And near the compound, Hans watched it all.

The battle may have ended. The city had not.

He folded his arms and gazed toward the endless buildings beyond the plains.

Somewhere inside that dead metropolis, countless more infected still waited.

Hans exhaled slowly. “This is only the beginning.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep