72: Start the mission, capture the town.

"Xi Xi... do you have... something for that Officer Lin..." As the voice trailed off.

Xi Xi saw the strange look in her mother's eyes at that moment.

Immediately, Xi Xi realized exactly what her mother was asking.

Her little face turned flushed all of a sudden.

"Mom, what are you talking about...!"

"Brother Lin Zhi is Xiaoxiao's brother, I only look at Brother Lin Zhi as a brother too!"

"...Never mind, maybe I'm overthinking it."

Seeing Xi Xi's intense reaction, Xi Xis Mother immediately said evasively.

However, her expression seemed as if she already knew something.

Fortunately, at this moment, Xi Xis Father glared and spoke up.

"Alright, why are we discussing this now?"

"What we need to do now is recover our health, then participate in labor, and strive to live a good life."

"Mm-hmm, Dad is right." Hearing this, Xi Xi hurriedly agreed.

She looked as if she didn't want to discuss this topic for even a second longer.

Xi Xis Mother could only smile and nod helplessly.

That's right, we don't even know what life will be like tomorrow, so who has the spare time to worry about such things now?

"Alright, it's getting late, let's go to sleep."

With Xi Xis Father's final word, the atmosphere in the room gradually calmed down.

Xi Xi's parents gradually lay down on the simple wooden bed.

As for Xi Xi, she exited the room and went to the one next door.

Because she had a good relationship with Xiaoxiao, when Platoon Leader Chen Yuan was arranging the rooms, he specifically arranged for Xi Xi's parents to be next door to her.

After returning to her own room, Xi Xi lay on the bed and covered herself with the quilt.

However, even so, she didn't fall asleep immediately.

In her mind, the words her mother had just spoken couldn't help but surface.

Thinking of her mother's teasing expression, Xi Xi felt her cheeks flush red.

A wave of shame and annoyance made her pull the quilt over her head.

As an intelligent person, even though she had no experience in romantic matters, Xi Xi knew that she might truly have developed some different feelings for Lin Zhi.

It was just that she didn't quite know how to face it.

If Xiaoxiao knew that she had those kinds of thoughts about her brother...

Thinking of that brother-complex Xiaoxiao, Xi Xi felt a wave of conflict and hesitation.

After thinking it over, Xi Xi couldn't come up with a perfect solution.

She could only wrap herself in the quilt and force herself to calm down.

She didn't know how long it had been before she finally fell asleep.

… The next day arrived quickly. Early in the morning.

Lin Zhi called all the officer-level personnel to the conference room to gather and began discussing the topic of expanding outward and rescuing survivors.

Facing the issues raised by Lin Zhi, officers such as the Company Commander and Chief of Staff held a heated discussion.

Finally, after a meeting lasting over an hour, their goals were finally finalized.

Although the location of Songshan Town was on the edge of the H City map, there were many small towns and townships around it, though they were not large in scale.

With the current strength of one Mechanized Infantry Company, it was enough to capture five small townships within a day.

If the main goal was rescue, towns were also a good choice.

At the same time, the military would be responsible for clearing zombies and rescuing survivors, while ordinary civilians would be responsible for tasks like transporting supplies.

Civilians could earn different points based on the importance of the supplies searched and brought back to the base, which could be used to exchange for better living supplies in the base.

This was a very good virtuous cycle for the time being.

Having made up his mind, Lin Zhi immediately had the entire Mechanized Infantry Company assemble on the square in front of the Town Government building.

Immediately, they set off in a grand procession, leaving the town to carry out clearing and rescue operations around the pre-planned town targets.

As for the defense of the Songshan Town Survivor Base, it was handed over to the Infantry Platoon where Platoon Leader Chen Yuan was located.

At 11:00 AM sharp, the Mechanized Infantry Company arrived at the first planned target. It was a small, modest-sized township.

Preliminary estimates placed the size of this township at around five thousand residents.

"First, send out the uav unit to use thermal imaging to mark locations where survivors might exist."

"Then, the Tank Platoon and artillery unit will conduct a round of shelling on the large zombie gathering areas outside the marked locations."

"After the shelling ends, the Tank Platoon and infantry fighting vehicles will lead the way, covering the infantry as they enter the town to clear zombies and conduct search and rescue for survivors at the marked points."

"..." After some discussion, the command post formulated an operational plan based on the town's scale and terrain.

Immediately, the entire company began to act according to the operational plan!

The Tank Platoon had a total of four type 99a main battle tanks; except for one left to guard the Songshan Town Survivor Base, the other three were all deployed.

The artillery unit carried two 82mm mortars to conduct curved-fire strikes on targets within 5.7 kilometers.

The uav was flying over the town, continuously transmitting potential survivor locations back to the electronic sand table at the command post via thermal imaging.

In half an hour, all survivor locations within the entire town were marked.

After transmitting this location data to the Vehicle Crew and artillery unit, instructing them to avoid these areas, Lin Zhi issued the order.

"Vehicle Crew and artillery unit, conduct a round of shelling on the zombie gathering points."

"Ten minutes later, ground forces will move into the township!"

"Understood!" Having received the order from their superior, in front of the artillery position formed by the Vehicle Crew and artillery unit.

A soldier held two flags, one red and one blue. The red flag was for shelling and ceasefire orders. The blue flag was for correcting impact points and adjusting firing parameters.

After receiving confirmation that all artillery units were ready, the commander waved the red flag directly.

"Fire—!"

A round of shelling, also called a volley, usually meant each artillery unit fired three shells in a short period.

The moment the commander gave the order, Thump—thump—thump—!

The soldiers of the artillery unit immediately placed the shells into the mortar barrels.

Several dull sounds rang out. Visible to the naked eye, the shells traced a curved trajectory across the sky, leaving a white trail, and slammed heavily into the zombie gathering points several kilometers away.

The 82mm mortar shells exploded. It could be clearly seen that on the electronic sand table, the red areas at the zombie gathering points were disappearing in large numbers!

The high-explosive anti-tank shells fired by the smoothbore cannons were even more powerful. In the footage transmitted back by the battlefield uav, one could see countless zombies being blown into severed limbs; the zombies in the central area couldn't even be seen as corpses, having been directly vaporized by the immense power!

After the round of shelling ended, almost half of the zombies in the town had been wiped out.

It was only a small township, with only about five thousand zombies to begin with.

As ten minutes passed, Lin Zhi issued the order to move into the township area.

Immediately, the team consisting of three tanks, four 04A infantry fighting vehicles, and over a hundred infantrymen entered the township in an orderly fashion.

Not long after, intense gunfire and various sounds of shelling could be heard ringing out from within the town!