It was a weird, small-looking dent. One that looked compressed and out of place in a large patch of tall grass that was supposed to be standing upright.
"The fuck is that?"
Reaching over to the side, he took out his detached rifle scope. Using it as a binocular, he soon noticed a very thin layer of footprints on the dirt trailing the dent.
"Shit!"
"Yo! I found the toilet paper."
"Hand it over to !"
As the yawning soldier quickly snapped the toilet paper out of his hand, the older soldier was a little confused by the sudden hurry.
"Don’t use it all, we only have three rolls... Why did you take your scope out?" The older soldier curiously asked, noticing the object attached next to his vest.
"I saw sothing in the distance earlier. Let’s go back and report it to the officer first."
---
"Colonel Zhen Ren, it seems like the zombies in the mountain had mostly stopped for now," An officer murmured.
"Thank god, we’re finally getting so rest for once tonight... Liu, how close is the road to finishing repair?"
"90% of the road had been fully cured. It’s just the very tail end that needs to be completed within today."
"Good news just keeps on coming. Everyone, get ready. We’ll not stop until we rest in Shuikou town tomorrow."
"Yes, sir!"
All of the officers looked excited, as they had been tirelessly guarding and repairing the road rather than fighting actual zombies.
"Commander! Commander! Our vanguard had reported hundreds of zombies gathering in the mountains again!"
Before the reporting soldier ran into the tent, one of the officers inside the tent imdiately ran off without saying a word.
"Looks like they want to give us one last present before we can leave... You’re all dismissed."
None of the officers answered Zhen Ren’s comnt, but they all saluted him before exiting the tent.
After just standing in the tent by himself for a minute, the sounds of gunfire could be heard far in the distance.
Zhen Ren remained seated, opening the tent window as he saw sparse gunfire from the road towards the distant trees and hills.
"Why would the zombies stay in the mountain?"
The question popped up in his head as he himself couldn’t understand it. In his mind, the zombies had always stayed in buildings or on the road.
Never once had he encountered a group of zombies that seed to stay in the mountains purposely, or nature in general.
"Is there sothing up there that’s attracting them? But then why would they co down to harass us afterward?"
For a second, the thought of sending troops deep into the forest appeared. But Zhen Ren quickly shook it out of his head.
"What the hell am I thinking?"
As Zhen Ren dismissed it, the gunfire began to die down in the distance. Soon, a ssage appeared on his walkie-talkie.
"All clear! The zombie ambush had been taken care of. Everyone on the Vanguard, remain on high alert. Over."
Looking towards the small hills that lead up to the large mountain far into the distance, a different idea popped into his head.
"Maybe I can do sothing about it..."
---
As the night set, a soldier suddenly knocked on Han Bang’s tent in the middle of the night.
"Commander, Zhao Ren had made an ergency request for Colonel Yan Lin’s support." The soldier reported.
"What does he need that for?"
Han Bang slowly got up from his sleeping bag, rubbing his eye before grabbing his gear and putting it on.
"Did he say anything about the reasoning?" Han Bang asked as he finally stepped out of the tent to talk to him.
"Um, he stated that the mountain still poses a high risk, and he can’t really advance towards Shuikou town without having soone else watch the flank."
Han Bang thought about it for a second before agreeing to it, as he didn’t really see having Colonel Yan Lin remain as a reserve.
"Tell Zhen Ren I agreed to it. But make sure he tells Yan Lin everything he knows about the mountain before they transition."
"Yes, sir!"
As the soldier headed over to the radio station, Han Bang let out a small yawn before a bad feeling suddenly popped up in his head.
"Wait! Cancel that idea! Colonel Yan Lin must stay here. Tell him the HQ must have at least a division to send to reinforce the actual ergency."
Han Bang let him go after seeing him nod his head. Standing in the cold wind, Han Bang quickly headed back into his own tent.
"I need to get so sleep... I need to wake up early for the Zhongshan eting tomorrow."
---
"What did General Han Bang say?" Zhen Ren impatiently asked as he stood right outside the radio operator.
The general had denied our request. He said he’ll only deploy her troops forward if it actually gets out of hand."
"Fuck sake. Whatever. Guess I’ll just scrap that whole idea."
As Zhen Ren disappointingly headed back towards his HQ tent, all of the officers were already waiting there.
"Bad news. One of you guys will be staying here to watch the flank. Everyone else will be going with us."
"I’ll stay."
As one of the officers raised their hand and volunteered, Zhen Ren was a little surprised before appointing him.
"Perfect. All you have to do is just watch it. If it gets out of hand, imdiately notify Han Bang first before ."
"Yes, sir!"
"All of you are dismissed. Get ready for tomorrow morning."
The officer all saluted Zhen Ren once again before heading out. The mont they left, Zhen Ren let out a small sigh.
"Damn it. I guess I’ll find it out after I reach Shuikou town..."
---
The next day...
"Welco, General Han Bang!"
"Morning."
As Han Bang exited his car, the sun was barely up in the sky as the two senior officers guided him towards the HQ tent.
"General!"
"Colonel Jixi, long ti no see... I rember the last ti we t, you were still an assistant to Major Yiming."
"Things happen fast... Ahem, everyone, this is General Han Bang. He’s the temporary joint-general of Jiangn and Zhongshan front."
As Jixi introduced Han Bang to two other Colonels in the tent, he soon noticed sothing that threw him off.
"Why are there only three colonels here? Where are the other two?" Han Bang curiously asked.
"We’re all technically under the 4th Army reserve corps... The other two colonels are under Lieutenant Colonel Wuli in the capital."
Han Bang didn’t question it any further as he looked towards the sandbox map, which showed their progress to be halfway done.
"You guys managed to do this much with this little man?" Han Bang asked, his voice sounding a little surprised.
"The majority of the land here is mostly an urban area with few zombies. The hard part is the densely populated city center and the southern tip beyond it."
As Jixi explained the situation further, Han Bang quickly realized why they had stopped exactly right before the Zhongshan tropolitan area.
"General Han Bang, we have been on the defensive for almost half a month now. We were wondering if you could convince the logistics departnt—"
"You guys had already tried it, right?"
"We did... But the response we got was that sothing was going on in the North that prevented them from coming south."
Within seconds, Han Bang imdiately realized what they were talking about, as it was the main reason why he took over Yiming’s original role in the first place.
"I’m afraid it’s not going to happen any ti soon until the situation in the north stabilizes fully.
You all can just remain on the defensive. If you need any reinforcent, I can send so of the forces from Jiangn here."
All three of them shook their head, surprising Han Bang a little. Still, he suggested an alternative proposal to them.
"Actually, I could also try to request one or two divisions from Lingang’s 3rd army corps over in Shenzhen and Dongguan.
Those two cities are already cleared anyway. I doubt they need that many soldiers to hold it."
"That will be great!"
All three of the colonels bowed down in gratitude as they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel in front of them.
"I can’t promise if the logistics departnt will agree to it, though. It’s still up to them if they view the situation on the east as a safety concern."
"That’s still more than what we can ever ask for. Thank you, General Han Bang." Jixi said warmly as he personally reached for a handshake.
"No problem."
After a few more minutes of chatting with the three officers, Han Bang quickly exited the tent before heading back into his car.
"Maybe I should move Colonel Yan Lin over to Zhongshan... It would balance the two fronts more evenly."
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. But he could tell from earlier that all three didn’t want to divert effort away from Jiangn.
"Commander Xiaoyun did say Jiangn was more important... Why is it more important, though?"
Sitting in the rear seat for a bit, an idea suddenly popped into his head.
"Is it because the nuclear reactor over in Taishan? That would explain it... No wonder so caravans were sent past the border a few days ago."
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