Vol 14: Chapter 11-3.
“Stay strong! Only twenty minutes left!” Zheng shouted to the troopers.
He kicked a large rock that was four meters tall in front. The rock rolled down the incline like a road roller due to its size, crushing everything on its path.
People’s eyes followed the rock at this point. They hadn’t realized that Zheng kicked that rock down during this urgent moment. A normal person wouldn’t have such strength nor the bones to withstand the impact.
There was nothing that could stop the rock until it hit the tanker bug’s barrier. Its path was painted in green paste and blood from the bugs.
Zheng took a deep breath and shouted. “Continue throwing rocks. Even if we can’t kill them, we have to delay them! The rescue ships will be here in just over ten minutes. Won’t you feel it’s unfair if we die now?”
Yet, the troopers didn’t have bodies as strong as his. Twenty hours of continuous combat had exhausted them. And now they had to transport and throw rocks. These rocks were tough and heavy. A one-meter-tall rock would take three troopers to move. Their speed slowed down and the bugs slowly grouped back up. They moved up the incline meter by meter just like ocean waves. The numbers were mind numbing.
Zheng felt his heart getting colder by the second. He had stood in the frontline the whole time. The tanker bug began moving again. The rocks were effective against normal bugs but not tanker bug. He was getting more anxious with each step the tanker bug took.
Just then, Kampa and a trooper lifted up a rock but Kampa lost his strength and the rock fell on his leg. He cried in pain. Zheng immediately ran over and flipped the rock away. “How are you doing? Kampa, you still alright?”
Sweat covered the Russian man’s head. He said with a bitter smile. “I can’t continue anymore. I have no strength and my shin bone is broken. I am sorry to drag you down at this crucial moment…”
Zheng had long been aware that Kampa couldn’t keep going. He didn’t have the extra stats, didn’t have qi nor blood energy. The dragon blood only increased his body to two or three times that of a normal person. But he fought for almost seven hours here, giving orders while fighting on the frontline.
Zheng patted his shoulder. “No need to say these things, bro. We promised to stay alive together. Let me take care of the rest. You two over there, carry him to the center. Kampa, we will live!”
Zheng handed him a pack of cigarette. “Go take a smoke to suppress the pain.” Then he walked back to the frontline.
Even though he said those words, but could he really live on?
Zheng looked at the sea of bugs underneath and the troopers panting heavily on the sides. A weight was dropped on his heart. For several times already, he wanted to take out the Sky Stick and Tiger’s Soul and head straight to where the other team was then capture the brain bug.
“Are the rescue ships… not going to make it?”
He raised his head to look at the sky, then back to the mountain road. Since the troopers’ slowed down, the bugs moved in further. They slowly came back to the five-hundred-meter mark.
“Out of ammunition, Zheng. We killed thousands of hoppers but there are no bullets to take care of the remaining two hundred. I ordered a thousand people to head to the cliff and fight in close combat.” Xuan’s voice sounded in his mind.
Zheng was feeling numb as bad news came one after another. The tanker bug had moved past the two-hundred-meter mark, and the rest of the bugs followed behind them. His left hand was shaking. He could barely suppress the desire to bring out his weapon. The long hours of stress made him want to shred the bugs to pieces with destruction.
A loud boom came from above. Everyone raised their heads in reaction. Tens of large ships came through the clouds. These ships scattered and ten of them came toward this mountain top. The troopers were dazed for a few seconds before they cried with joy. The ships were like stimuli. The troopers moved and threw faster. The rocks couldn’t damage the tanker bug but they could delay the bugs. There was only one thing in their minds, delay until the rescue ships land!
Zheng let out a sigh of relief when he saw the rescue ships. Each one was large enough to fit in a thousand people. Which meant that they were safe as soon as they could get off the ground.
Xuan suddenly said through the mind with a cold tone. “Zheng! Hand out fifty magazines to fifty troopers. Have them come to the landing area! Hurry, these magazines are reserved for this moment. Everyone wants to enter the rescue ships in this danger but we can’t afford any riot!”
Zheng immediately sent fifty people over with the magazines. After the first ship landed, the rest of the troopers slowed down again. They turned their heads around. The tanker bug was at the sixty-meter mark.
“Don’t stop! Continue throwing! WangXia, fire a tactical nuke behind the tanker bug! Don’t back away. We will all die if you back!” Zheng yelled among the group then kicked a rock down.
WangXia fired a tactical nuke at behind the tanker bug. The barriers protected the bugs within fifty meters of it but the rest of the bugs were two hundred meters away now. The remaining fire on the ground also prevented the bugs from moving in for a while.
Despite what Zheng said, several troopers ran to the back. The second and third rescue ships had landed. People couldn’t stop their desire to escape in this situation.
More troopers soon followed. Zheng charged up with rage using the movement technique. He kicked the first ones that ran to the ground and stabbed one through the chest with the spider leg. “Anyone that runs are subjected to military execution!”
About forty troopers ran. They looked at each other then about a dozen charged at Zheng. To these people, he had no guns in hand, one of his arm broke, and his body was full of wounds. Yet, each person that came close to him got his head smashed by a kick. When they finally stopped in fear, there was over ten bodies on the ground.
“I said anyone who runs away die! Who the f*ck still wants to die?”
Zheng was raging inside. He stepped on a trooper that hadn’t died off and was groaning in pain then grabbed his head and pulled him apart. Blood splashed over his body. The rest of these troopers immediately ran back to the frontline and began throwing rocks. The fourth rescue ship landed.