390: Base exposed

Tian Ming looked at Zhu Qing and smiled faintly, “Yes, but what you saw was my clone.”

Gao Shengqiang, who was beside him, frowned and asked, “The Alliance has a great god like you. Why don’t you directly participate in the war? How many fewer people would die that way?”

Qiu Qian took out a projection device and handed it to Gao Shengqiang. “If the Commander directly participates in the war, more people will die. You just came out of the base and aren’t clear on the situation. Familiarize yourselves with it. Go down. The Superpower Potion will be in place in four hours, and we’ll arrange for you to be injected then.”

Gao Shengqiang wanted to say something else, but Zhu Qing pulled him away.

Qiu Qian said to Tian Ming with a slight apology, “They’re new and don’t understand the rules. Commander, please don’t take offense.”

Tian Ming smiled and shook his head, saying, “It’s fine. This time, the Special Operations Group is out, and the Red Crystal Core is secondary. The main goal is to find the zombie gathering points behind enemy lines, and ideally, find a splitting type Corpse King. Otherwise, the zombies will be endless.”

Qiu Qian nodded slightly and said, “Understood. How is Zheng Haoyu’s second team doing?”

“They’re in silent mode, no news yet. There shouldn’t be any big problems. He’s very steady in his work, so no need to worry too much.”

The area under Jiang Chen’s jurisdiction experiences magnetic storms released by magnetic storm zombies. These magnetic storms greatly interfere with long-range communication systems. Aside from necessary communication, the Special Operations Group members who have infiltrated behind enemy lines maintain silent communication on the ground.

However, orbital satellites are unaffected. When Tian Ming deployed the communication layout, he used multiple frequency bands, making it highly resistant to interference. But personal devices are different; for portability and compactness, their receiving and transmitting power are very small, making them ineffective for long-range communication. They are basically for short-range communication of about one kilometer; beyond that, they are usually interfered with.

The Special Operations Group’s temporary stronghold also has high-power transmitters, but they only communicate briefly with satellites when the magnetic storm is weak, receiving information and then relaying it to Qiu Qian and the members’ personal devices.

Even so, if a personal device encounters a strong magnetic storm surge when powered on after infiltrating behind enemy lines, it can still burn out.

“Commander, do you want me to go find Zheng Haoyu?” Qiu Qian asked.

“No need for now. Keep them in silent mode. Don’t disturb them,” Tian Ming said.

“Now that the war has officially begun, I wonder if the base can withstand the zombie army’s attack.”

Tian Ming smiled calmly, “They haven’t even taken a single stronghold in one wave of attack. Don’t worry, the base has supplies from me. It’s not a big problem.”

Qiu Qian nodded. Although she had full trust and respect for Tian Ming, she also knew that war was cruel and nothing was absolute.

Gao Shengqiang and Zhu Qing were resting in the stronghold. They had become regular members of the Special Operations Group, and Qiu Qian specifically arranged for someone to guide them through the induction process.

Everything was as Zhu Qing had expected: if Tian Ming didn’t act, Jiang Chen wouldn’t act either. If the highest leaders of both sides participated in the war, there would be no winner. The current war was not for mutual destruction, but to decide who would be the future master of Blue Star.

After understanding the situation, Gao Shengqiang sighed slightly and said, “It feels very complicated.”

Zhu Qing, however, said, “The evolution trend of the corpse race is too fast, and they cannot be completely eliminated. Therefore, the current method might be the best. Without him, there might not even be a need for negotiations. Even ten years from now, humanity might not be a match for the corpse race even with the power of technology.”

Gao Shengqiang nodded slightly and said, “Yes, the corpse race is also learning, but their intelligence is limited. If their average starting point of intelligence was the same as humans, then there would be no need to fight; we would definitely lose.”

Suddenly, the entire bunker shook violently, as if under attack.

“Quick, get out of the bunker! Enemy attack…” The bunker’s broadcast alerted the two.

Zhu Qing and Gao Shengqiang reacted immediately and quickly fled. As soon as they came out, they saw the bunker entrance had been blown open, and a group of zombies rushed in.

Boom!

A rocket landed directly in the center of the zombie horde, sending them flying, with severed limbs and broken arms splattering everywhere.

Shortly after leaving the bunker, their newly issued semi-enclosed exoskeletons had already connected to the local combat command system.

Qiu Qian’s voice came through their earpieces: “The bunker has been exposed. There’s a Corpse King opposite us. Fight and retreat. First squad, you and I will cover the rear. Second squad, clear the way with firepower and retreat thirty kilometers south to meet at Tianyan Town.”

“First squad, copy that!”

“Second squad, copy that!”

Zhu Qing was startled and quickly pressed the earphone switch, asking, “Team Leader Qiu, which squad are we in?”

“You two newcomers, follow me!” As soon as Qiu Qian finished speaking, a map appeared on their tactical VR glasses, with a flashing red dot indicating Qiu Qian’s position.

“Let’s go, get closer.” Gao Shengqiang pulled Zhu Qing along. They immediately raised their guns and fired. A red beam shot from their weapons, directly piercing through the heads of three zombies.

“Holy cow, that’s powerful!”

Gao Shengqiang hadn’t expected the weapon in his hand to have such great power. Moreover, energy weapons had almost no recoil.

The VR glasses they wore projected a targeting system in front of their eyes, dynamically analyzing the most dangerous targets in real-time.

The entire projection interface, combined with the real situation, looked like playing a shooting game.

Teammates appeared green in their glasses, while zombies and other enemy targets were red.

With the enhancement of such equipment, even with only a low concentration Superpower Potion injected, their combat power increased exponentially.

“D-zone marked, high zombie density, requesting bombardment,” a teammate’s voice came through the combat channel.

“Understood!”

Buzz… Two small drones carrying special aerial bombs directly rushed towards the dense zombie horde.

Boom, boom, two consecutive explosions, flames soared into the sky, and the entire area turned into a sea of fire. Gao Shengqiang and Zhu Qing ignored the scorching heat rushing towards them and quickly moved closer to Qiu Qian’s position.

The temporary stronghold’s location itself was very hidden, situated in a mountainous area, serving as a water reservoir management room. A large number of zombies came from the north, where there was only one road, and the retreat path led into the mountains.

The Special Operations Group had limited weapons. Besides melee equipment and exoskeletons, the heaviest items were energy packs. These energy packs could provide two thousand high-energy laser pulses for weapons. The temporary stronghold’s main purpose was resupply and communication relay.

Now that this stronghold had been discovered, it meant that the Special Operations Group members’ actions had been exposed.

With a roar, the Corpse King appeared.

Its body was massive, its skin dark blue, and its entire body was covered in a layer of fine ice armor. Even from over ten meters away, one could feel the chill emanating from the Corpse King.

Qiu Qian’s voice came through the channel: “It’s an Ice Zombie. It can absorb heat, so laser weapons are ineffective against it.”

A member of the first squad stepped forward and directly shoved high explosives under the Corpse King’s feet, but as he approached within five meters of the Corpse King, his entire body visibly froze solid.

Bang! The Ice Corpse King slapped the stiffened team member into smithereens.