47: Arrived in Songshan Town!

Songshan Town lived up to its name.

On both sides of the roads on the outskirts of the town, craggy, evergreen pine trees were planted.

It was clear that the town was indeed of township scale, with a low degree of urbanization, mostly maintaining a rural style.

12:45 PM.

After the convoy drove out of a dense pine forest lining the national highway, they finally saw the general appearance of Songshan Town.

Buildings higher than five stories were rare; most were medium-sized buildings of five stories or less, along with low-rise bungalows.

1:00 PM sharp.

The military convoy stopped in an open area beside the national highway, about 1.5 kilometers away from the town.

The soldiers set up military tents and established a simple forward command post.

Inside the olive-drab tent, Lin Zhi and a group of platoon and squad-level officers gathered around a folding field table to discuss clearing and rescue tactics.

Looking at the officers standing straight by the table, Lin Zhi raised his hand.

"Please, sit."

*Shua—*

As Lin Zhi's voice fell, all the officers sat upright around the rectangular field table.

"Comrades, we will now begin discussing the operational plan for Songshan Town."

"This mission requires not only clearing the zombies within Songshan Town but also rescuing any possible survivors."

"In this regard, if any of you have suggestions, please speak up freely."

Lin Zhi sat in the commander's seat and asked everyone present.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan, the Platoon Leader of the reinforced Infantry Platoon, immediately spoke in a resonant voice.

"Reporting to the Chief, I have some suggestions."

"Oh? Please, Platoon Leader Chen Yuan," Lin Zhi said, looking at Chen Yuan.

A second later, Platoon Leader Chen Yuan stood up.

After scanning the room, his gaze finally fell on Lin Zhi, the Chief, before he spoke.

"If it were just about clearing zombies, the tactics would be very simple: nothing more than using fire coverage to clear large clusters of zombies, followed by tactical maneuvers to gradually clear areas with scattered zombies."

"But now we also need to rescue any potential survivors."

"Therefore, I believe the first step of our tactics should be to use uavs to scout Songshan Town, map out the general area, and mark survivor locations to avoid collateral damage."

Lin Zhi nodded at the suggestion.

"Yes, indeed."

"Platoon Leader Chen Yuan, I'll give you half an hour. Dispatch the uav team immediately to complete this task."

"Understood!" Platoon Leader Chen Yuan replied instantly, then called over the soldier in the Infantry Platoon specialized in operating uavs.

Within the original three squads of the Infantry Platoon, six rainbow-902 type uavs were allocated.

They had a maximum range of 15 kilometers, an endurance of one hour, a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour, and a reconnaissance altitude of 150 meters.

The area of Songshan Town was not large and was shaped like an irregular square; the rainbow-902 type uavs could completely cover the entire town.

Following the order,

*Buzz, buzz, buzz—*

Immediately, six small but sci-fi-looking uavs took off from the camp, flying toward Songshan Town at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

Two uavs were responsible for overlooking the entire Songshan Town from the maximum altitude, using their cameras to transmit real-time data and map the town.

The other four uavs, equipped with thermal imaging, hovered over the town at a low altitude to search for possible human survivors.

1:23 PM.

In just 23 minutes—less than half an hour—

The uav team had transmitted all the data required by the command room.

Inside the command room, a large electronic sand table displayed specific information about Songshan Town, even marking landmark buildings such as the Town Government, Town Hospital, Town Primary School, Middle School, Shopping Plaza, and so on.

Meanwhile, yellow dots flashing in certain areas or buildings on the electronic sand table indicated the possibility of survivors being present.

As for the red areas, their intensity represented the number of zombies in those locations.

Although the national network communications were currently paralyzed,

This did not affect Lin Zhi.

Because the military mostly used a separate military network.

Just like the current temporary command post.

The core communication tools in platoon-level command were shortwave or ultra-shortwave radios. They transmitted voice or encrypted data directly via radio waves, functioning as "point-to-point" or "networked" communication. They didn't rely on external network base stations, had strong anti-interference capabilities, and could work in environments without civilian signals, such as the wilderness or mountains.

You could think of it as a closed local area network.

Looking at the information on the electronic sand table, Lin Zhi couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder.

This was modern warfare.

It was like having a god's-eye view.

At the same time, Lin Zhi couldn't help but sigh.

From the information transmitted back to the electronic screen,

The yellow dots representing potential survivors in Songshan Town were very sparse; counting carefully, there were only about thirty. Some dots were dim, making it uncertain if there were signs of life.

For a town with a population of over ten thousand, the number of survivors was actually in the double digits.

The speed and infectivity of the zombie virus were truly terrifying.

However, it had to be said that the fewer the survivors, the faster they could clear the entire town, with no need for hesitation.

Pausing for a moment, Lin Zhi took out a tactical pen and lightly tapped it on the electronic sand table.

He looked at the officers present.

"Based on the information sent back by the uav team, I have a rough operational plan in mind."

"If there are any missing details, please feel free to add them, comrades."

"First, based on the estimated area and population of the town, we know that..."

"...since Songshan Town is a rural township, its area is relatively small compared to other towns, roughly 60 square kilometers."

"My operational plan is simple and consists of three steps."

"Step one: It is known that Songshan Town has two main exits, North and South, which are also the main roads connecting to the town center."

"Therefore, we can set up fire points at the North and South exits. We will split our forces equally: each fire point will have two type 99a main battle tanks, two dongfeng mengshi armored vehicles, and two Infantry Squads."

"The Gun-Launched Missiles of the type 99a main battle tank, using laser guidance, have an effective range of within 5 kilometers. With this dual-point fire arrangement, they can cover a quarter of the town."

"First, use uav reconnaissance to transmit location data, and have the type 99a main battle tank use Gun-Launched Missiles to perform a round of precision strikes on areas in Songshan Town where zombies are dense and there are no signs of life, effectively reducing the zombie population."

"Step two: Use noise to attract the zombies, splitting the horde in Songshan Town into two parts and drawing them to the North and South fire points for elimination."

"Step three: After the first two steps have cleared most of the active zombies in Songshan Town, we will enter the town from the North and South entrances simultaneously, meeting at the Town Government in the center to occupy it and establish a defensive position."

"Then, using the strength of four squads, we will search outward in all four cardinal directions to kill any remaining zombies in buildings and rescue survivors."

...