Chapter 92: Base Integration (7)

“Marching past the city gate tower now is the provisional First Battalion of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. They are armed with shields made from modified security doors, full-body shields, and sharp-edged steel pipes.” This was the battalion Li Fengyi and the others had formed after clearing out the equipment from a repair shop. Apart from those killed or wounded, the survivors had now mostly risen to battalion-level posts and above, though the unit designation was still being kept. Their security-door shields were covered with every famous brand logo imaginable.

“Marching past the city gate tower now is the provisional First Regiment of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Under orders, they carried out their first expeditionary campaign and retook Dongba,” the announcer went on. “Along the way, they fought the battle to retake Sifei Park, cleared the Capital Airport Expressway, and opened the route to the Dongba Machinery Base...”

“Now passing is the Eighth Regiment of the provisional First Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. They were assigned to clear the Dongba Base,” the announcer said, giving special attention to Sun Xiaoshan. “Sun Xiaoshan, then Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Industry and Information Technology of the Beijing Special Working Committee, stood alone in plain cloth clothes with a steel-pipe gun and took on no fewer than six groups, more than five hundred zombies. He has therefore earned a place in the roster of humanity’s heroes of the apocalypse.”

Long Zhanhai was hiding behind a company boss on the city gate tower, utterly ashamed. So Sun Xiaoshan was one of those scholars who, once he started acting like a hooligan, unleashed a hidden little cosmos of his own. And to think he had once wanted to use him to make a show of force!

The boss turned to look at him. Long Zhanhai twisted his body like a twisted dough twist and hurriedly nodded, making it clear that yes, this was the man who had chased him all over the place, sending him running in chaos around the entire courtyard.

The boss sighed inwardly, thinking that he might as well ask the Special Committee to let his company resume operations. As for anything else, he had better not hope for too much.

In the mountainous districts of Mentougou and Huairou, government officials were drenched in sweat. At first they had felt the military was hopeless and the survivors in the mountains would not play along with them, so they had planned to rely on their political skills and secure a place in the Special Committee’s government institutions. With their heads full of political schemes, how could ordinary people, who had only been officials for a month or two, possibly be their match?

Now they realized how formidable things were. These Special Committee people seemed to have clawed their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. They were experts at mind games, and in the apocalypse, with more than a billion people competing for survival, they had still climbed to the top. But when it came to street-corner scoundrel tricks, they were not exactly professionals.

Following domestic custom, they were already preparing to transfer to the National People’s Congress or the Political Consultative Conference if they lost the political struggle—so long as the Special Committee agreed.

A rattling clatter rose up. “Marching past the city gate tower now is the first all-chainmail unit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Their standard equipment consists of full-body chainmail, oversized dog-leg blades, one-and-a-half-meter steel pipes, two-meter steel pipes, or broadswords.”

“When they fought at the junction of the Wenyu and Liangshui Rivers, they were invincible,” the announcer naturally omitted the fact that they had actually been driven back by zombies and camped on the Sixth Ring Road. “They were indomitable, and they achieved humanity’s first victory over a million-strong zombie horde.”

“Now passing the city gate tower is the 89th Division of the provisional First Group Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Their division commander is Du Shoufeng, currently the youngest division commander in the entire army.” Du Shoufeng lifted the military flag high as he led the troops through the city gate tower. “He led his troops to clear the square where the parade grounds are located in just three hours.”

Suddenly, a herd of roaring giant animals was driven forward: elephants, giraffes, wild asses, zebras, and the like—no cattle, however. A flood of red flags would have triggered a mass bull riot, something beyond their control. A great uproar broke out in the grandstand of the city gate tower, for this was the mysterious program they had prepared.

“This is the 18th Division of the city garrison forces of the provisional First Group Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army,” the announcer said. The 18th Division waved proudly at the crowd like animal trainers in a circus. “They wiped out the ferocious carnivores at the Beijing Zoo and domesticated the herbivores. These herbivores are large in size and yield a high amount of meat, making them a source of food for humanity in the apocalypse.”

“This is the 20th Division of the city garrison forces of the provisional First Group Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army,” came next, as a phalanx of caged rats passed by. “They have raised no fewer than a billion rats, each as large as a pre-apocalypse cat, providing meat for human consumption. This meat has passed quarantine inspection in full and can provide abundant nutrition.”

“Ugh!” Several invited staff members from the democratic parties vomited. They thought of the meat rations they had been issued.

“And now, here comes the 39th Division of the provisional First Group Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the unit that transformed into one body with three heads and six arms on the day the million-zombie horde attacked the city.” Through the city gate tower rolled a row of small flatbed carts, each carrying three soldiers tied together. They were rhythmically brandishing broadswords and steel-pipe guns in unison.

“Now driving various models of tanks and armored vehicles is the Tank Division of the provisional First Group Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Although their equipment is all old and worn—faulty Type 99 tanks restored from the Military Museum exhibition stand, or from the militia armory—the announcer’s script continued as a series of antiquated tanks belching thick black smoke rolled by. To prevent an accidental stall, they were even linked together with steel cables, so that if one broke down it could be towed to the roadside at once.

“They had only just driven out from the repair sites, exhibition stands, and storage depots when the million-zombie assault on the city began. These warriors, driving antique machines with no firepower at all, faced a million zombies without fear. They repeatedly crushed their way through the horde, laying the foundation for the final victory.”

Their vehicles were covered in zombie blood and flesh, and as they moved forward, bits of meat and froth still fell from the gaps between the wheels.

“This is the 1st Division of the provisional First Group Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.” Everyone’s spirits lifted. The first among the armies! “This unit was the first to be restructured with fully modern firearms.”

The 1st Division rode past in all kinds of armored vehicles, followed by an array of gun cars of every type, both towed and self-propelled. The Special Committee had brought over every armored vehicle it could gather to enhance the spectacle.

“In total, the provisional First Group Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army rescued three million surviving civilians and annihilated more than seventeen million zombies. The blazing fires of sixty-eight cremation towers burned for a full month!”

“The zombies had no military flags or insignia; otherwise, the enemy banners captured by the brave soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army would have piled up in the square!”

“Under the leadership of China, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is invincible! They will win new glory for the motherland and the people!”

“Now passing are the troops from the Mentougou and Huairou mountain districts of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.” Various latest-model tanks and armored vehicles rolled forward, wreathed in thin wisps of smoke.

“Their uniforms are spotless, and they are equipped with our nation’s newest main combat weapons. They are well maintained, and the vehicles still bear traces of grease.”