Chapter 424 - 215: An Invitation North, Cleaning the Battlefield, The Decision (Part 2)

Chapter 424: Chapter 215: An Invitation North, Cleaning the Battlefield, The Decision (Part 2)

"Although Jin City Base faces no immediate additional threats for now, I still have to guard against the Zerg Race entrenched in the surrounding area. I can’t possibly take too many of my subordinates on a thousand-kilometer journey north."

"Jin City is a full one thousand kilometers from the Capital. If we were to take the fastest, most direct highway, the route has almost completely fallen into Zerg-controlled territory. The journey would be fraught with danger..."

"Therefore, this proposal to rush north with reinforcements is extremely difficult to implement in practice."

General Chen took a deep breath. It seemed that Lin Feng and his Salvation Army were the best—and only—choice to save the Federal Capital from the Zerg siege.

Laymen see the spectacle, while experts see the method.

As a soldier who had personally served on the front lines, General Chen knew full well that Lin Feng’s strategy was a departure from large-scale conventional army operations. It was a system developed specifically to target the Zerg Race, one designed to compensate for humanity’s numerical inferiority.

In other words, Lin Feng’s precision-strike strategy was the best way to break a massive Zerg offensive.

A strategy like theirs, on the other hand—having a Tier Two Awakener lead a regiment or more of soldiers into a frontal assault—would get them instantly swallowed by the teeming Swarm.

Among the many generals in the Federation Army, General Chen had only ever seen similar ideas from one other person: the up-and-coming Colonel Qin Hu.

And Qin Hu had come from the remnants of the former Thirteenth Division—the very unit Lin Feng had taken over and reorganized into the now-invincible Salvation Army.

That was also why he had managed to secure an introduction through Li Ran, who was in charge of logistics.

Now, with the opportunity right in front of him, General Chen had to do everything in his power to complete his mission and secure their aid for the northern expedition.

"We can dispatch large military transport planes to ferry your rescue party."

"Departing from the military airfield in Huizhou and taking a detour through Yu Province, it will only take three hours to reach the frontline support airfield in western Jizhou."

Lin Feng nodded.

’The First Gene Battle Group and the Guard Battle Group members he planned on taking already possessed the ability to fly. The former group had grown Membrane Wings through Genetic Assimilation, while the latter could activate the Flight Mode on their Tiger Armor. So he wasn’t worried about the transport planes being attacked by the Zerg Race.’

But even with the problem of the long journey solved, Lin Feng wasn’t about to perform this good deed for free.

If the Federation’s high command and military could offer a sufficiently generous reward—even if it meant them simply hiring the Salvation Army to fight the Zerg Race—Lin Feng was more than willing to accept.

Considering the interests of both Jin City Base and himself, he didn’t agree outright. Instead, he gave a noncommittal reply:

"Very well. But this matter involves many moving parts, and this isn’t the place for such a discussion. We can discuss the details after we return. I also need to confer with the base’s senior leadership before making a decision."

Seeing that Lin Feng had shown no intention of agreeing, a hint of disappointment flickered in General Chen’s eyes. Still, he forced a smile and added:

"Then I thank you in advance, City Lord Lin."

"As for compensation, you only need to name your price. Even if you ask for missiles or nuclear bombs, we are willing to provide them..."

"I hope that for the sake of millions of survivors, you can save the Federation from the tragedy of utter devastation."

Lin Feng gave a slight nod, glanced at Li Ran, and said nothing more.

Li Ran immediately took the hint and led General Chen back to the delegation.

He then directed his Support Soldiers to coordinate with the Tier Two Battle Group in cutting the Giant Mandibles from the Zerg corpses on the field.

The battle itself had only lasted from just after eight until not quite nine o’clock, but cleaning up the battlefield—collecting and processing the Black Spine Living Zergs—continued until two in the afternoon, taking a full five hours.

During that time, to celebrate the great victory, Lin Feng made an exception and gifted each member of the visiting delegation a Black Spine Living Zerg, which would allow them to undergo Awakening after they killed it.

Some of them held only minor roles within the delegation; some weren’t even Awakeners.

Although Tier One Awakeners were a dime a dozen in the Salvation Army and Jin City Base, the same couldn’t be said for the rear safe zones. For the local factions isolated in their own territories, Awakeners were incredibly scarce, despite their advantages in manpower and weaponry.

They either had to spend a fortune buying Living Zergs from merchants like Hu Fei, or establish and hire specialized Zerg Hunting Teams to venture to the front lines.

But compared to the immense demand, these channels were but a drop in the bucket.

Aside from the small handful of individuals in power at the top of the pyramid, many of the people responsible for carrying out orders were merely Enhanced People, or even just ordinary humans.

Lin Feng’s gesture was not just to display his generosity. More importantly, it was to create an illusion for this delegation—people who could genuinely influence the decisions of their superiors. He wanted them to believe it was easy to get stronger by killing Zergs on the front lines, thereby encouraging more factions to join the fight against the Zerg Race.

Even if they didn’t engage in large-scale campaigns like the decisive battle for Wu City, the combined effect of numerous small-unit harassment operations could still stall the Zerg Race’s expansion.

This would also serve to obscure Lin Feng’s own standout achievements, diverting the attention of the Zerg Race Mother Empresses elsewhere.

Otherwise, in the near future, the plight currently faced by the Federal Capital—being besieged from all sides—would become the fate of Jin City Base.

Until Lin Feng advanced to the Tier Three Late Stage and possessed the strength to challenge several High-tier Zergs at once, he needed to keep as low a profile as possible, especially from the Mother Empresses.

He had to avoid being jointly targeted by the Zerg Race Mother Empresses from several different provinces.

Seeing the excited expressions on the faces of the delegation as they killed the Black Spine Zergs, a slight smile touched Lin Feng’s lips.

’Their companions who stayed behind, clinging to life and fearing death, must be kicking themselves right now.’

And once the accompanying press corps had also followed the Support Soldiers, killed a large number of Red-Armored Beetles, become Late-stage Enhanced People, and had a taste of the rewards...

...the entire battlefield in the Wu City West District was just about clean.

Most of the Zerg corpses had been swallowed by the Dreadnought Battleships, incinerated in their Power Furnaces, and converted into energy to replenish what the fleet had consumed during its high-speed journey.