Chapter 880: Combined Arms

"Commander! The last remaining holdout had been cleared in Tanzhou."

As the soldier entered the tent with the news, Xiaoyun had finished reading the notebook long ago.

"Good. Tell them to rest up early. The operation is going to be executed tomorrow morning as planned."

"Yes, sir!"

With the soldier out of the tent, Houqin quickly sat up from her seat before walking over and standing right next to him.

"Hey Xiaoyun, are you hungry?" Houqin quietly asked.

"Not really... You hungry?"

"Kinda. Just a tiny little bit."

After moving a few flag pieces forward inside the sandbox, Xiaoyun stopped and took out his phone.

It was already seven o’clock.

"What do you want to eat?" Xiaoyun asked.

"Um, I don’t know?"

"Then tell me when you make up your mind."

As Xiaoyun put his phone back down and shifted his attention back to the sandbox, Houqin couldn’t help but feel ignored.

"They over here... Then the airborne unit gets off here... Then the encirclement and the evacuation..."

"Haven’t you played this out in your head like a hundred times?"

Houqin’s question went unanswered as Xiaoyun’s eyes were still laser-focused on moving each individual flag on the sandbox.

"Artillery strike the enemy units... Followed by a swift armored unit and soldiers moving in from all four sides..."

"Xiaoyun..."

"Hm? You got what you wanted to eat?"

"Never mind. Can you just give me a bowl of fried rice?"

"Okay."

Within seconds, a bowl of fried rice appeared in Xiaoyun’s hand. He quickly handed it over as his eyes continued to look towards the sandbox.

"Can all the units really coordinate all of this in less than five minutes... Maybe this is too risky after all.

But I already prepared everything for this. I can’t turn back now... Am I really going to gamble on soldiers’ lives for the sake of speed?"

The more Xiaoyun looked into the strategy, the more he started to feel conflicted. It just felt so rough on its surface.

A plan that required the zombies to walk into a trap, where everything needed to go perfectly, or else...

Disaster on a level that he cannot comprehend or imagine. One that would put his commanding skill into serious question.

"But Yiming had already put his signature on this.... Both Yezi and Lingang both read it and agreed with it."

Xiaoyun froze for a second before a sense of clarity suddenly hit him in the head.

"Why am I faffing over this like Fei Tian?"

"You done rambling to yourself?" Houqin murmured as he stared into his eyes with a bored face.

"That was rude."

"Yeah, sure. Now can you give me a spoon or a pair of chopsticks? I don’t want to eat food barehanded."

After handing her a pair of chopsticks, Xiaoyun got up from his seat as he let out a loud yawn and stretched out his arms.

"I’m going to sleep early today. Make sure you close this tent."

"Okay."

---

The next day...

As the morning arrived, Xiaoyun and Houqin were both standing on top of an abandoned water tower with a pair of binoculars.

They were both watching from afar as a swarm of helicopters in the sky flew closer and closer to the skyscrapers in the distance.

"Commander, the first helicopter had made its landing. Seeking permission to continue. Over."

"You’re clear to continue. Over."

Within a matter of minutes, all of the helicopters flew away from the buildings, flying right over the water tower with their loud rotors.

"That was so loud..." Houqin complained as she slowly let go of her ears after the helicopter flew away.

"Is the artillery ready?"

"It has finished its test shot. Over."

"Fire in three minutes. Over."

As Xiaoyun put the walkie-talkie down, a loud, irritating noise suddenly started playing in the distance.

It was so loud that even they could hear it despite being miles and miles away from the skyscrapers that were making such noise.

"Commander, the zombies are starting to flood the streets."

"Good... Remember the plan. Stay on the rooftop and get ready to be evacuated."

Peeking through the binoculars, Xiaoyun could see a gathering of zombie hordes forming on the road.

"Weird."

"What’s weird?" Houqin curiously asked.

"The number doesn’t add up. There should be way more zombies than this... Where did they all go?"

"This is too little?"

Houqin was a little shocked by Xiaoyun’s answer, as through her own binoculars, there were more zombies on the streets than she had ever witnessed.

"They’re playing the noise at the most densely populated part of the city. Yet it looked more like zombies from a small town."

"Should we stop then?"

"No."

"Artillery ready, sir!"

"Fire immediately! Over!"

The moment the walkie-talkie ended, a loud noise could be heard coming from behind as a projectile flew into the sky.

Short and tall buildings alike started to collapse, followed by a massive amount of dust and rubble forming all around the cities.

"Start the evacuation process, and after five minutes, stop the shelling... All units, get ready to march in."

---

Somewhere in Zhuhai...

More and more buildings were quickly coming under fire. Gunshots could be heard coming from every possible direction.

Helicopters had emerged from the blue skies, flying closer and closer to the skyscraper’s rooftops.

"Everyone, get ready! We’re leaving!"

As the senior officer yelled out loud, all of the young soldiers immediately stopped firing near the edge of the building.

They started running back towards the center of the rooftop, where an elevated heating fan area was located.

"Sir! The south side is too close! We need grenades!" One of the soldiers yelled as he reached the edge of the elevated roof.

"Just throw it."

The soldier quickly threw his grenade before climbing up the elevated roof, causing an explosion below as the glass window shattered.

"Holy shit, how the hell did they climb the skyscraper this fast?" A young soldier yelled as he pointed to the side.

Everyone could see their fellow comrades shooting at zombies who had somehow managed to climb all the way to the edge of the building.

"Stop looking! Get moving!"

As a ladder appeared from the sky, the senior officer quickly waved the first soldier to go up before he took out his rifle.

"Fuck it! Everyone throw your grenades! Keep firing!"

With zero hesitation, the soldiers all threw their grenades and fired their bullets at every possible zombie head that peered past the edge.

"Sir! It’s time to go."

The last soldier yelled from above as the senior officer quickly climbed up the ladder, making it out just as the zombies overwhelmed the rooftop.

"God damn, that was close!"

"Praise the Buddha, never knew I started believing."

"I’m never signing up for air assault again."

Just as the four passengers on the helicopter casually chatted to each other, they suddenly got hard-swerved to the right.

"Mayday! Mayday! Helicopter 3 here! A spitter had damaged our fuel tank! We can’t make it back to the base!"

As the pilot yelled through the walkie-talkie in panic, all three of the soldiers could hear the beeping noises coming from the cockpit.

"Shit, shit, shit! What should we do?"

"We gotta get out of here!

"Everyone shut the fuck up! Pilot! How much longer can we fly for?"

"One minute! I’m going to emergency land near an open road as far away as possible!"

"Commander, w-what are we going to do?"

The senior officer peeked outside the window, only to see themselves surrounded by skyscrapers and office buildings.

Far behind them was a whole trail of zombies, ravenously following them as they flew closer and closer to the ground.

"When we land, we’re going to run that way... Colonel Jixi, 3rd Air Assault here. We’re requesting support near the Northern exit. Over."

"We’ll send support as fast as we can. Over."

As the walkie-talkie ended, the entire helicopter shook as the half-broken rotor barely managed to glide down onto the rough cement road.

"Pilot, you okay?"

"I-I’m fine."

Seeing the pilot struggling to take off his seatbelt, the senior officer quickly walked up with his knife to cut it off.

"Mingzi, carry the pilot." The senior officer murmured as he handed the half-conscious pilot over to him.

"Yes, sir!"

"Everyone out!"

---

"Commander, one of the helicopters had crashed... They’re still alive. I had sent reinforcements their way. Over."

"Affirmative."

As Xiaoyun looked through the binoculars, six helicopters had flown past the water tower once again.

"Six out of eight..."

"Xiaoyun, is everything going to be fine?" Houqin nervously asked, as she could hear the two Mayday calls on the walkie-talkie.

"Who knows... It’s up to them at this point."

"Commander! We have found the 5th Air Assault. What should we do with the helicopter on the road? Over."

"Blow it up and leave immediately. Over."

There was a pause on the other side as if they disagreed with Xiaoyun’s idea, but the message eventually came in.

"Affirmative."