Chapter 72: Desperate Defense of the Ruined Bastion
The abandoned outpost fortress was a frontline defensive fortification built during the early days of the catastrophe. Most of its walls had already been destroyed by the beast tide, leaving only a section of concrete wall over two meters high. The wall was covered with scaled beast claw marks and bullet holes, and rusted, broken rebar was piled at its base. Inside the fortress was a half-buried ammunition storage cellar that could serve as temporary shelter, but its entrance and exit were narrow; once blocked, it would be very difficult to escape.
"Everyone, move inside the ruined wall!" Lu Heng ordered loudly. "Take cover behind the wall and set up a two-sided guard. Su Qing, protect the recorder and hide at the cellar entrance. The explosives expert, guard the cellar passage and prepare explosives to block it. Lin Yan, you are responsible for sensing the movement of the large-scale beast swarm and disrupting their coordinated commands."
Everyone quickly took their positions, hastily organizing their defenses. The pain from their wounds continuously drained their stamina, and everyone's Sea of Consciousness was still exhausted from the underground battle. Old Chen leaned against the ruined wall, his long knife resting horizontally, his eyes fixed on the direction from which the beast swarm was approaching.
Before long, countless dark shadows gradually approached across the wasteland.
Dense ranks of scaled beasts poured out from the scorched depressions and rock piles from all directions, completely surrounding the small ruined bastion. The Ancient Progenitor issued unified commands remotely from underground, and the scaled beasts methodically arranged their formations, attacking in rotating batches rather than charging mindlessly in a massive swarm.
"They are being uniformly dispatched by the psychic network, and their coordination is very tight," Lin Yan said, standing at the highest point of the ruined wall. His third-tier Sea of Consciousness extended outward, and countless fine psychic threads scattered into the beast swarm. "I can cause localized interference to disrupt the coordination of small groups of scaled beasts, but my coverage is limited. I can't paralyze the entire beast swarm at once."
"Disrupting them in batches is better than nothing; it will ease our pressure," Lu Heng said, drawing his long knife and keeping a close eye on the first batch of scaled beasts charging up.
The first batch of over a dozen scaled beasts pounced at the ruined wall with low roars.
"Open fire!"
The two remaining short rifles fired brief bursts. The bullets hit the thick hides of the scaled beasts, but most only embedded shallowly. Only when a few hit vital spots like the eye sockets or throats did the scaled beasts crash to the ground. More scaled beasts stepped over the corpses of their companions and continued forward, their sharp claws scratching at the concrete wall, causing pieces of rock to constantly peel off.
Old Chen stepped forward, his long knife hacking down, dark green blood splattering onto the mottled wall. A veteran thrust his short spear straight forward, piercing the jaw of a scaled beast. But another scaled beast seized the gap, leaping up fiercely, its sharp claws aiming for the veteran's shoulder.
"Careful!" Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness stirred, and a psychic thread pierced into the command link of this scaled beast.
The scaled beast's movement suddenly stalled, and its pouncing rhythm was delayed by half a breath. The veteran seized the opportunity to dodge sideways, and his short顺势 (following the momentum) stabbed fiercely into its eye socket.
"It works!" the veteran panted.
Lin Yan continuously released psychic disturbances, creating brief pockets of chaos within the beast swarm's formation. Whenever a batch of scaled beasts coordinated a charge, he would pick out several key psychic receiving nodes in the formation, cut off their signals, and create gaps in the beast swarm's charge. The originally neat encircling offensive repeatedly developed breaches.
But there were simply too many scaled beasts on the wasteland. The Ancient Progenitor continuously transmitted commands, and the disrupted local beast swarms quickly received the signals again to reorganize their offensive. Lin Yan's psychic power was being consumed at a high rate, his skull aching unbearably, and his wounds kept bleeding with every movement.
"Lin Yan, don't overdo it. Reserve some psychic power to deal with emergencies!" Lu Heng reminded him while swinging his knife to slay a scaled beast that had climbed over the ruined wall.
"I know," Lin Yan nodded, slightly reducing the coverage of his psychic threads and prioritizing the interference of the scaled beasts closest to the wall, which posed the greatest threat.
The battle lasted for half an hour.
The squad's casualties worsened. A veteran's thigh was torn open by a scaled beast's claw; having lost too much blood, he could only curl up at the cellar entrance, relying on his remaining weak psychic power to barely protect himself. Everyone else was injured, and their ammunition was nearly exhausted. From now on, they could only rely on cold weapons to hold out. Many parts of the ruined wall had been rammed by the scaled beasts, and large chunks of concrete were on the verge of collapsing.
"If we keep stalling like this, we won't be able to hold out much longer," Su Qing said, clutching the recorder, her voice tense. "Can the driver at the depression receive our signal? Can reinforcements from Panshi City arrive in time?"
Lu Heng raised his hand to check his communicator. The screen was filled with chaotic electromagnetic interference, and he could only receive intermittent, weak signals.
"The underground psychic network interferes with wireless communications, making it difficult to call for stable support," Lu Heng said in a deep voice. "The driver has backup communication equipment and will try to send a distress message to the main city. But the outer beast tide is still fiercely attacking the bastion, so it will be extremely difficult to divert reinforcement troops. We can only try our best to hold out."
Underground, the Ancient Progenitor continuously received information from the wasteland battlefield through the psychic network.
It sensed that Lin Yan was constantly disrupting the coordination of the beast swarm, and the defense of the ruined bastion was far more stubborn than expected. The Ancient Progenitor no longer relied solely on the scaled beasts to take turns consuming them. It adjusted its tactics, ordering a portion of the scaled beasts to circle behind the ruined bastion and dig into the foundation, intending to directly push over this section of the concrete wall.
Lin Yan quickly detected the unusual movement of the beast swarm behind them.
"This is bad! The scaled beasts behind are digging at the foundation of the wall; it will collapse soon!" Lin Yan immediately informed everyone.
Lu Heng's heart sank, and he quickly scanned the battlefield. "Explosives expert, prepare the explosives and throw them at the cluster of digging scaled beasts behind! Lin Yan, focus your psychic interference on this batch of monsters behind to slow down their digging speed!"
The explosives expert took out an explosive pack, lit the fuse, and threw it fiercely behind the ruined wall.
Boom!
The explosives exploded in the middle of the scaled beast swarm, sending rocks and flesh flying. Over a dozen scaled beasts died instantly. The remaining surviving scaled beasts were briefly startled, and their digging actions paused for a moment. Seizing the opportunity, Lin Yan concentrated his psychic threads to continuously disrupt the commands of this batch of monsters behind, delaying their resumption of digging.
But the explosive reserves were already running dry, with only the last pack left.
The crisis had not yet been resolved. The foundation of the wall had already been dug into a deep pit, and the concrete wall kept shaking, on the verge of collapsing at any moment. Scaled beasts from all directions were still surging in, and the encirclement was tightening.
Just as everyone was approaching their absolute limit, the roar of engines came from the horizon of the distant wasteland. In the infrared field of vision, several military off-road combat vehicles broke through the dust and smoke, speeding rapidly toward the ruined bastion. The machine guns on top of the vehicles spat fire, and the scaled beasts intercepting them along the way fell one after another.
"Reinforcements!" Su Qing's eyes lit up, her long-suppressed voice trembling slightly.
Lu Heng let out a long breath, and his tense muscles finally relaxed slightly.
Sensing the arrival of the reinforcements, the Ancient Progenitor's dark gold vertical pupils churned with rage. It knew that continuing to throw in scaled beasts would hardly allow it to reclaim the evidence preserved in the recorder. Continuing to fight would only be a futile waste of the race's strength.
The Ancient Progenitor issued the retreat command.
The scaled beasts besieging the ruined bastion on the wasteland stopped attacking one after another and slowly retreated into the rock depressions and shadows, soon disappearing into the dark wasteland.
The combat vehicles stopped outside the ruined bastion. Several soldiers in combat uniforms jumped out, quickly securing the perimeter, while medics carrying first-aid supplies hurried toward the people inside the ruined wall.
"Major Lu! We received the driver's intermittent distress signal!" the leading officer shouted loudly.
"The evidence is here," Su Qing said, holding up the recorder in her arms. "We have successfully gathered evidence. There is indeed an intelligent Lizardmen Ancient Progenitor race underground, and the beast tide is entirely controlled by them."
The leading officer's expression suddenly turned solemn as he immediately took the device to protect it properly.
Lin Yan let out a sigh of relief, feeling as if all the strength had been instantly drained from his body, and he stumbled. Old Chen quickly reached out to support him. His psychic power was almost completely exhausted, and the dizziness caused by blood loss from his wounds swept over him.
"The mission... is complete," Lin Yan said in a low voice.
End of Chapter.
"Everyone, move inside the ruined wall!" Lu Heng ordered loudly. "Take cover behind the wall and set up a two-sided guard. Su Qing, protect the recorder and hide at the cellar entrance. The explosives expert, guard the cellar passage and prepare explosives to block it. Lin Yan, you are responsible for sensing the movement of the large-scale beast swarm and disrupting their coordinated commands."
Everyone quickly took their positions, hastily organizing their defenses. The pain from their wounds continuously drained their stamina, and everyone's Sea of Consciousness was still exhausted from the underground battle. Old Chen leaned against the ruined wall, his long knife resting horizontally, his eyes fixed on the direction from which the beast swarm was approaching.
Before long, countless dark shadows gradually approached across the wasteland.
Dense ranks of scaled beasts poured out from the scorched depressions and rock piles from all directions, completely surrounding the small ruined bastion. The Ancient Progenitor issued unified commands remotely from underground, and the scaled beasts methodically arranged their formations, attacking in rotating batches rather than charging mindlessly in a massive swarm.
"They are being uniformly dispatched by the psychic network, and their coordination is very tight," Lin Yan said, standing at the highest point of the ruined wall. His third-tier Sea of Consciousness extended outward, and countless fine psychic threads scattered into the beast swarm. "I can cause localized interference to disrupt the coordination of small groups of scaled beasts, but my coverage is limited. I can't paralyze the entire beast swarm at once."
"Disrupting them in batches is better than nothing; it will ease our pressure," Lu Heng said, drawing his long knife and keeping a close eye on the first batch of scaled beasts charging up.
The first batch of over a dozen scaled beasts pounced at the ruined wall with low roars.
"Open fire!"
The two remaining short rifles fired brief bursts. The bullets hit the thick hides of the scaled beasts, but most only embedded shallowly. Only when a few hit vital spots like the eye sockets or throats did the scaled beasts crash to the ground. More scaled beasts stepped over the corpses of their companions and continued forward, their sharp claws scratching at the concrete wall, causing pieces of rock to constantly peel off.
Old Chen stepped forward, his long knife hacking down, dark green blood splattering onto the mottled wall. A veteran thrust his short spear straight forward, piercing the jaw of a scaled beast. But another scaled beast seized the gap, leaping up fiercely, its sharp claws aiming for the veteran's shoulder.
"Careful!" Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness stirred, and a psychic thread pierced into the command link of this scaled beast.
The scaled beast's movement suddenly stalled, and its pouncing rhythm was delayed by half a breath. The veteran seized the opportunity to dodge sideways, and his short顺势 (following the momentum) stabbed fiercely into its eye socket.
"It works!" the veteran panted.
Lin Yan continuously released psychic disturbances, creating brief pockets of chaos within the beast swarm's formation. Whenever a batch of scaled beasts coordinated a charge, he would pick out several key psychic receiving nodes in the formation, cut off their signals, and create gaps in the beast swarm's charge. The originally neat encircling offensive repeatedly developed breaches.
But there were simply too many scaled beasts on the wasteland. The Ancient Progenitor continuously transmitted commands, and the disrupted local beast swarms quickly received the signals again to reorganize their offensive. Lin Yan's psychic power was being consumed at a high rate, his skull aching unbearably, and his wounds kept bleeding with every movement.
"Lin Yan, don't overdo it. Reserve some psychic power to deal with emergencies!" Lu Heng reminded him while swinging his knife to slay a scaled beast that had climbed over the ruined wall.
"I know," Lin Yan nodded, slightly reducing the coverage of his psychic threads and prioritizing the interference of the scaled beasts closest to the wall, which posed the greatest threat.
The battle lasted for half an hour.
The squad's casualties worsened. A veteran's thigh was torn open by a scaled beast's claw; having lost too much blood, he could only curl up at the cellar entrance, relying on his remaining weak psychic power to barely protect himself. Everyone else was injured, and their ammunition was nearly exhausted. From now on, they could only rely on cold weapons to hold out. Many parts of the ruined wall had been rammed by the scaled beasts, and large chunks of concrete were on the verge of collapsing.
"If we keep stalling like this, we won't be able to hold out much longer," Su Qing said, clutching the recorder, her voice tense. "Can the driver at the depression receive our signal? Can reinforcements from Panshi City arrive in time?"
Lu Heng raised his hand to check his communicator. The screen was filled with chaotic electromagnetic interference, and he could only receive intermittent, weak signals.
"The underground psychic network interferes with wireless communications, making it difficult to call for stable support," Lu Heng said in a deep voice. "The driver has backup communication equipment and will try to send a distress message to the main city. But the outer beast tide is still fiercely attacking the bastion, so it will be extremely difficult to divert reinforcement troops. We can only try our best to hold out."
Underground, the Ancient Progenitor continuously received information from the wasteland battlefield through the psychic network.
It sensed that Lin Yan was constantly disrupting the coordination of the beast swarm, and the defense of the ruined bastion was far more stubborn than expected. The Ancient Progenitor no longer relied solely on the scaled beasts to take turns consuming them. It adjusted its tactics, ordering a portion of the scaled beasts to circle behind the ruined bastion and dig into the foundation, intending to directly push over this section of the concrete wall.
Lin Yan quickly detected the unusual movement of the beast swarm behind them.
"This is bad! The scaled beasts behind are digging at the foundation of the wall; it will collapse soon!" Lin Yan immediately informed everyone.
Lu Heng's heart sank, and he quickly scanned the battlefield. "Explosives expert, prepare the explosives and throw them at the cluster of digging scaled beasts behind! Lin Yan, focus your psychic interference on this batch of monsters behind to slow down their digging speed!"
The explosives expert took out an explosive pack, lit the fuse, and threw it fiercely behind the ruined wall.
Boom!
The explosives exploded in the middle of the scaled beast swarm, sending rocks and flesh flying. Over a dozen scaled beasts died instantly. The remaining surviving scaled beasts were briefly startled, and their digging actions paused for a moment. Seizing the opportunity, Lin Yan concentrated his psychic threads to continuously disrupt the commands of this batch of monsters behind, delaying their resumption of digging.
But the explosive reserves were already running dry, with only the last pack left.
The crisis had not yet been resolved. The foundation of the wall had already been dug into a deep pit, and the concrete wall kept shaking, on the verge of collapsing at any moment. Scaled beasts from all directions were still surging in, and the encirclement was tightening.
Just as everyone was approaching their absolute limit, the roar of engines came from the horizon of the distant wasteland. In the infrared field of vision, several military off-road combat vehicles broke through the dust and smoke, speeding rapidly toward the ruined bastion. The machine guns on top of the vehicles spat fire, and the scaled beasts intercepting them along the way fell one after another.
"Reinforcements!" Su Qing's eyes lit up, her long-suppressed voice trembling slightly.
Lu Heng let out a long breath, and his tense muscles finally relaxed slightly.
Sensing the arrival of the reinforcements, the Ancient Progenitor's dark gold vertical pupils churned with rage. It knew that continuing to throw in scaled beasts would hardly allow it to reclaim the evidence preserved in the recorder. Continuing to fight would only be a futile waste of the race's strength.
The Ancient Progenitor issued the retreat command.
The scaled beasts besieging the ruined bastion on the wasteland stopped attacking one after another and slowly retreated into the rock depressions and shadows, soon disappearing into the dark wasteland.
The combat vehicles stopped outside the ruined bastion. Several soldiers in combat uniforms jumped out, quickly securing the perimeter, while medics carrying first-aid supplies hurried toward the people inside the ruined wall.
"Major Lu! We received the driver's intermittent distress signal!" the leading officer shouted loudly.
"The evidence is here," Su Qing said, holding up the recorder in her arms. "We have successfully gathered evidence. There is indeed an intelligent Lizardmen Ancient Progenitor race underground, and the beast tide is entirely controlled by them."
The leading officer's expression suddenly turned solemn as he immediately took the device to protect it properly.
Lin Yan let out a sigh of relief, feeling as if all the strength had been instantly drained from his body, and he stumbled. Old Chen quickly reached out to support him. His psychic power was almost completely exhausted, and the dizziness caused by blood loss from his wounds swept over him.
"The mission... is complete," Lin Yan said in a low voice.
End of Chapter.