Chapter 102: The Recapture of Tianjin (7)

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The armored train kept starting and stopping, people constantly emerging to clear the way. Those fortunate enough managed to hang onto the reserved hooks, bracing against the zombie onslaught; the unlucky ones were dragged into the depths of the undead horde by the relentless pulling and tearing.

The machine gun ports roared intermittently, sometimes going silent, prompting people to crawl out and clear the barrels. The steel cable mail armor protecting the connections was repeatedly torn by the violent forces inside and outside, pieces falling off the vehicle, silencing the sounds forever.

The massive groups of zombies charged back and forth between the two battle lines again and again.

Dawn broke. Smoke billowed on both the north and south banks of the Ziya River; gunfire and artillery echoed as loudly as during the night. Empty ammo boxes and replaced gun barrels could no longer be sent back and were stacked in various places.

Heavy artillery positions had light and heavy machine guns mounted on the isolation walls, firing dense curtains of bullets.

The first line of defense had completely fallen; zombies surged toward the heavy artillery positions.

At 2:30 a.m. on August 11, 2015, Li Fengyi sat alone on the railing of the Jinshui River Bridge in front of the command post, his legs swinging in the air.

Li Qiang, already packing up at the Ziya River bridgehead, was preparing to retreat to the second line of defense. He urgently repositioned tanks—some retreating, others advancing—forming another defensive line ahead of the heavy artillery. The terrain was cramped; breaking through this line meant reaching the heavy artillery positions.

Li Fengyi’s guards had formed a circular perimeter around him.

“Why are we always helpless against large-scale zombie attacks?” Li Fengyi’s mind was filled with frustration. “We don’t want to be overwhelmed either, but the zombies keep evolving. I worry one day they might suddenly gain human-level intelligence. After all, they all originated from human bodies. If we think of the human brain as running on a Windows operating system, and the virus reformats it to a Linux system, I wouldn’t be surprised—the hardware is still there.”

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He jumped down from the railing, lowering his head as he paced in a circle. “The question is, when will they develop to that extent? There are already tens of times more zombies than humans now. If they could reproduce—though there’s no sign yet—biologically, they should have gone extinct long ago if they couldn’t. Humanity would be doomed. Even the industrialized assembly line of flesh and blood would be powerless. Especially now, when industrial production in the apocalypse is paralyzed and we're running on old reserves.”

“Director Li, cooling off here?” came a voice. It was Commander Liu. Returning to the No. 5 courtyard, he couldn’t find Li Fengyi, so he came looking.

“Commander Liu,” Li Fengyi called out, then sighed. “This is so hard to manage. We’ve used the most advanced weapons, heavy fire coverage, armored clusters, unprecedented density of firepower, yet we still can’t hold against millions of zombies. There are over a billion in the south, over a hundred million in the northeast. The zombies seem to be getting smarter.”

“Yes,” Commander Liu implied, “we still need collective wisdom. Didn’t the Transport Minister’s idea hold off the zombies for three whole hours? Plus, coordinating with Li Qiang’s front and rear attacks disrupted the zombies’ rhythm. Surely there are more professional suggestions out there. As leaders, we need to mobilize everyone’s talents.”

Fengyi asked Liu, “How are General Yue in the Mentougou Mountains and General Qin in Huairou doing at the military academy?”

“They’re reliable, always discussing zombie combat tactics with Principal Wang,” Liu replied. Seeing no objection from Li Fengyi, he added, “Let’s visit them at dawn.”

At 8:30 a.m. on August 11, the tank defensive line set by Li Qiang had been breached. Light and heavy machine guns mounted on the isolation walls of the heavy artillery positions continued to fire like raindrops, while zombies rushed into trenches hastily dug overnight.

Inside the former Beijing Armored Troops Academy—now a temporary military school of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army—the combat simulation room displayed a large electronic map on the wall showing the frontline situation in Tianjin. As reports came in, the map updated constantly, showing the black tide of zombies flooding the heavy artillery front.

Principal Wang and Generals Yue and Qin conducted military simulations. Tasked with forming a party group with these two former high-ranking officers, he held regular organizational meetings focused mainly on ideological work.

General Yue pointed with a laser pointer as he spoke to General Qin, “North of the Ziya River is an area surrounded by four rivers, 52 kilometers north to south and 36 kilometers east to west. The current situation calls for immediate riverbank deployments to gradually wear down the zombies.”

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General Qin sighed, “The zombies’ charging power is hard to stop. When they concentrate on one spot, they break through quickly.”

“This area has a unique characteristic,” General Yue shook his head. “It’s vast, with developed roads and plenty of open space. We can delineate firing zones—heavy artillery targeting the open areas, while other regions are covered by light and heavy machine guns. We segment and maneuver along the roads. Whenever the zombie horde moves, armored vehicles can be deployed from other directions to distract and wear them down.”

General Qin looked at him and sighed, disheartened, “The plan is good, but they don’t want us involved...”

“I said it before,” General Yue complained, “we shouldn’t provoke large zombie hordes now. Wait for the situation to clear up before counterattacking. Look at their battle plan—war isn’t fought on assumptions. They’ve set world records for fire density, yet the outer defense relies on just that one river...”

“All this talk about zombie evolution—do they really think tomorrow the zombies will be sitting at tables with napkins, forks and knives, eating us?” General Qin dismissed the propaganda as fear-mongering. “They just run faster and hit harder; they’re not competing for delivery jobs with us.”

Both General Yue and Principal Wang laughed heartily.

“The main problem is their sheer numbers,” Principal Wang explained with a smile. Over the past few days, he had been showing them around and explaining the various measures of the Special Committee, emphasizing that everything was under the Party’s leadership.

He continued, “Several rescued biologists have noted signs that zombies develop through mutations. Their brains were once human; it’s not surprising if they regain human-level intelligence. We can’t predict whether zombies will develop more physical strength or intelligence. If their strength surpasses humans and their intellect matches or exceeds ours... and since all organisms have reproductive instincts, if zombies can reproduce, humanity is finished. Of course, it’s also possible zombies won’t evolve that way, but we can’t take that gamble. Humanity is on the brink of extinction...”