Chapter Eighty-Eight: The Demonic Threat Outside the City and the People Within

"It is precisely because they all went to the mecha depot that I went to the demolition depot. Although the mecha unit is the main force, the demolition unit is no small matter either. If only the mecha unit has ammunition and the other units are short on supplies, the pressure on the mecha unit will only grow."

This time, Zhuo Xiaoyuan did not say much in response to Lu Xiaowei’s chatter; she also took the opportunity to explain it to the few people in the other truck. Although she had brought these people under her command by force, there were still plenty who were unconvinced. After all, Zhuo Xiaoyuan was far too young, and her junior officer rank was far from solid. A junior officer was usually a platoon leader. More than anything, she simply lacked seniority; she had graduated from the military academy and formally joined the army only a few months ago. For someone like her to command others into obedience was rare indeed.

As Zhuo Xiaoyuan spoke, Fu Jian had already started the truck and driven toward the demolition depot. When they arrived, everything was ready for loading. After Zhuo Xiaoyuan got out and registered the outbound paperwork, the depot staff began shuttling back and forth, loading ammunition onto the racks behind the truck. Mines, missiles, grenades, explosives, hand grenades. Nearly everything stored in the demolition depot was a high-powered explosive.

Fortunately, all of it came in specialized storage cases, so there was no need to worry about some absurd accidental detonation along the way.

The loading speed was astonishing. With the help of engineering-type powered armor, all the materials prepared in advance were packed onto the trucks’ rear racks. Loading both trucks took only five minutes.

“Set out.”

At Zhuo Xiaoyuan’s command, as she leapt back into the cab, Fu Jian started the vehicle and drove toward the south gate. Maple City lay in the eastern part of the continent, south of the central metropolis. By now, the demonic invaders had already occupied vast stretches of land in the continent’s southwest. The invaders attacking Maple City had largely come from the south, and thus the pressure on the south gate had always been the greatest. For that reason, logistical supplies were prioritized there; if any other sector needed resupply, orders would first be transmitted by radio before a shipment was dispatched.

From the logistics headquarters to the completion of loading took less than ten minutes. The trip from the warehouse district to the south gate would take about another ten. Under normal circumstances, twenty minutes was enough for a round trip. By the time the first convoy arrived, the second should still be loading supplies in the warehouses, and the third would not yet have set out.

First one convoy returned, then the second came, then the third departed. In a normal cycle, with the third group shuttling back and forth, a large batch of supplies would reach the south gate every ten-odd minutes. Each group had a considerable number of vehicles. A regular squad like Zhuo Xiaoyuan’s, driving two large trucks, was only one among more than thirty squads in the first group alone, not to mention over a dozen reinforced squads, each with three or four trucks. Each group numbered roughly five hundred people, together with more than a hundred trucks.

Because the warehouses were spread out, the arrivals of those hundred-plus trucks would be staggered slightly, creating a situation in which supply vehicles were arriving at all times. Under those circumstances, this transport pace would absolutely keep up with consumption. And there was still the fourth group reserved for emergencies.

Zhuo Xiaoyuan had thought so as well, but when she arrived at the south gate and saw the intensity of the battle there, she no longer dared to believe so confidently that the transport would keep pace. One after another, soldier-grade and commander-grade demons clambered up the towering city wall, only to be blasted back down by the mecha unit. Behind them, the soldiers of the demolition unit hurled grenades and fired shells from the city gate itself, striking the demons without even needing to aim.

Amid the thunderous impacts striking the city wall and iron gate, there was no doubt these were attacks from tank-class demons. The mecha unit, the demolition unit, and the long-range fire support unit all shifted their fire to concentrate on the tank-class enemies. Under the dense barrage, the tank-class demons did not hold out for long before their cores were shattered. But by then, the soldier-grade and commander-grade demons had already climbed the wall again. The front-line fighters were thrown back into frantic action.

When Zhuo Xiaoyuan helped carry supplies up onto the wall, she looked down from above and saw demons packed densely across the distance. They stretched beyond sight, as if boundless, as though connected to the horizon. Compared with them, Maple City, which had never been a small city to begin with, seemed as tiny as a pebble dropped into a pond. Such a scale of demonic horde could not help but inspire despair. There were likely far, far more demons here than in the world of the trial.

And yet, even in the face of this despairing tide, the soldiers on the front lines showed no intention of giving up. On the contrary, each and every one of them seemed to blaze with fighting spirit, frantically pouring the ammunition of their weapons into the enemy. Because they believed. They believed the demons could not breach the city, because someone had always been guarding it. It was you, it was me, and it was him. This city would be defended by all of us together.

“Hey, snap out of it. We’re heading back.”

Waving a hand to shake her subordinates out of their horror at the endless number of demons, Zhuo Xiaoyuan set down the supply crates and prepared to leave. She still had tasks to complete; now was not the time to be concerned with the demons. There were also wounded soldiers whose injuries were not too severe, or who had already undergone emergency treatment and could endure the jostling, and they needed to be taken to the medical support department for further care.

“Squad leader, you’re really calm. With so many demons, how long will it take before this ends?” Returning from their stupor, Lu Xiaowei once again tried to strike up conversation with Zhuo Xiaoyuan.

“How long?” Zhuo Xiaoyuan let a cold smile curve her lips. “Until every last demon is exterminated, of course.”

She cast one final glance at the demons outside the city, then led the way down from the wall. Her teammates looked at one another, then turned back once more to gaze at the horde beyond the city, a faint look of relief appearing on their faces as they followed after her one by one.

“Lu Xiaowei, Yang Xiayu, Shi Guo, Fei Tong. You four go to the back and take care of the wounded later. Two people in the front will be enough.”

As the medics helped one injured man after another onto the trucks—men with severed arms or legs, men seriously wounded but still barely able to endure the ride and needing to be sent to the medical department for treatment—Zhuo Xiaoyuan directly called out four names, assigning them to the rear of the two trucks to care for the wounded.

“Yes, Squad Leader.” The few who had once been unconvinced by Zhuo Xiaoyuan had, after witnessing the sheer number of demons and Zhuo Xiaoyuan’s composure, come to feel a measure of admiration for her. They now obeyed her orders quite readily.

“Old Fu, let’s go. Drive steady on the way back.”

Leaping into the passenger seat and pulling the door shut, Zhuo Xiaoyuan gave Fu Jian, in the driver’s seat, his instructions.

“No problem. Leave it to me, Squad Leader.”

As for his driving, Fu Jian was extremely confident. After all, he was an old hand with decades behind the wheel. He pressed the accelerator, and the vehicle rolled forward smoothly, heading toward the medical department.