End of the World

To prevent attacks by corpse moths, the troops were equipped with short-range air defense equipment when they set out, mainly including the "Land Shield" system and the Type 95 combined missile and artillery system.

The "Land Shield" system actually transplants the close-in weapon system on naval warships onto army truck carriers. The close-in weapon system is a Type 730 close-in weapon system with seven barrels and a caliber of 7 mm. This close-in weapon system has an effective interception distance of about two kilometers. It is slightly insufficient when installed on a warship, but the firepower is definitely sufficient for the army.

The other Type 95 combined missile and artillery system is a special short-range air defense system for the Army. It is equipped with four 4mm anti-aircraft guns, two anti-aircraft missiles on each side of the turret, plus a 25mm machine gun, with full firepower.

As for the newer Type 04 and Type 09 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, the troops do not have many of them, so they are left in the shelter to look after the house. The Type 04 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is just an upgraded version of the Type 95.

The shelter was originally planning to disperse the anti-aircraft regiment's troops and reassign them to other units except for the necessary soldiers to operate the self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. However, when the corpse moths appeared, the shelter immediately recalled them.

This time, there is a battalion and a platoon of air defense forces following, and the platoon's equipment has been expanded to eight sets of heavy equipment. Due to the different organization, eight Type 95 anti-aircraft guns make up a platoon, and eight sets of "Land Shield" systems make up a battalion. The "Land Shield" is different from the Type 95 anti-aircraft gun, and the logistics and technical requirements are more stringent.

The "Land Shield" system remained in the temporary camp, and the 95mm anti-aircraft gun has been fighting with the troops. The maximum depression angle of the 95mm anti-aircraft gun reaches minus 5 degrees, and it can attack ground targets. It did not join the battle just now in order to defend against corpse moths and preserve limited ammunition.

When Wu Bin and his two companions saw the corpse moths attacking and no one was trying to stop them, they immediately returned to the pickup truck and drove to the vicinity of the 95 anti-aircraft gun. This place might be a little safer. No one from the air defense force paid any attention to the three men, so they had to prepare to fight off the corpse moths.

"Brother Bin, what should we do?" Dafeng looked out the window nervously. Sporadic gunshots were heard.

"Keep your eyes open. If any insects come over, give warning and kill them immediately!" Wu Bin said calmly. There are not many people here with the 95 anti-aircraft guns, so it will be safer because it will have limited attraction to the corpse moths. Conversely, if the anti-aircraft guns fail to intercept the corpse moths, the danger will increase.

As they were talking, the battle officially began. The Type 95 anti-aircraft gun took some time to prepare. The radar transmitting antenna on the top of the turret was erected and turned on to scan, providing target information for the fire control system.

Corpse moths have a large wingspan. Although they are terrifying, they do not have the ability to respond to radar waves. Generally speaking, air scanning radars have limited scanning capabilities for non-spacecraft. Computers can distinguish whether they are spacecraft or other flying birds based on the characteristics of the received reflected bands. As a result, corpse moths are marked as unidentified large birds on the radar display.

"Bang bang bang!" The anti-aircraft turret raised its head more than twenty degrees and fired. The firing rate was not high. Each vehicle was equipped with only about a thousand rounds of ammunition, which was divided evenly among the four guns, with only two hundred and fifty rounds. If one wanted to replenish the ammunition, they had to retreat to the rear.

The 25mm shells have great lethality to corpse moths, and their low speed makes them easily hit by anti-aircraft guns. Unfortunately, it takes only one shell to take away one corpse moth.

After the 95mm anti-aircraft gun opened fire, the pressure on the troops was greatly reduced and they were able to face the attack calmly.

However, there is always a loophole, and a small number of soldiers broke through the artillery blockade and attacked the defense line of the recruits. The recruits had never experienced this before, and many of them were about to collapse immediately. The defeated soldiers also attacked the defense lines of other troops, and the scene was chaotic.

"These idiots, do they think they can escape without eliminating the zombie bugs that break through the defense line?" A company commander's face was gloomy when he saw the new recruits attacking his team.

He immediately organized a dozen people to stop the new recruits from escaping: "Everyone return to your posts immediately, otherwise you will be punished by military law!"

The faces of the fleeing recruits changed. Before they set off, their respective superiors had warned them that anyone who retreated without orders would be shot.

But only a dozen people stopped the new recruits from becoming bolder. As the saying goes, no one should be held responsible for a crime. They just didn't believe that they would really dare to kill everyone.

The company commander knew what everyone was thinking by looking at their faces.

"Everyone listen up! If you take another step forward, you will be killed without mercy!"

But the recruits didn't seem afraid. They approached together. If they had half the courage they had now when dealing with the zombies, they wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses.

The two armored vehicles at the back knew the situation of the dozen or so people, so they turned their heads and drove in front of the recruits, pointing their heavy machine guns at all of them, as if they were ready to open fire if they disagreed.

The recruits took a step back, especially those in front of the machine gun, who were even more nervous. This thing could cut a person in half.

"I don't want to repeat myself a second time!" said the company commander with a murderous look on his face.

Under the coercion of force, the recruits had no choice but to return to their posts and cooperate with the troops to clear out the corpse moths that had broken through the line of fire.

There was also confusion in other new troops, but they were quickly suppressed by their respective commanders. However, there were more and more corpse moths in the sky, and it was difficult to defend with only eight Type 95 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. More and more corpse moths broke through the defense line.

The ground tank battalion was invincible, but as the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands. A battalion of tanks could not form a solid line of defense. There were loopholes everywhere and they were bypassed by some zombies.

Wu Bin and his two companions who were near the 95mm anti-aircraft gun also joined the battle to defend against the corpse moths, and more and more insects flew over.

"Brother Bin, it seems that there is no way out in front of us!" Dafeng knocked off a corpse moth and looked forward.

"These bugs are endless and the troops are under a lot of pressure!" Qiao Xinghua also said.

"Have you noticed? These bugs are all coming from the east. There are far more of them than what we saw at the dam, but that big guy has never appeared." After Wu Bin's observation, he found that the thing had been hiding. Could it be that it was controlling the other bugs?

At this time, the radar of the 95 anti-aircraft gun captured a new target. A large number of unidentified birds were flying from the west, but they were definitely not birds. It was time to attack from both sides.

"Why did so many of them suddenly appear?" The commander of the anti-aircraft gun vehicle was solemn. These things could not cause much damage to them, but it was different for the infantry.

"Maybe they flew too low before and avoided radar scanning." The operator replied. They were very familiar with the air defense radar of the 95 anti-aircraft gun. The scanning distance was about 40 kilometers, but that was the maximum scanning distance for medium-sized spacecraft. The scanning capability for small aircraft at low altitude and low speed was limited, not to mention targets such as corpse moths. You have to know that they are only a short-range air defense force. In the past, they were accompanied by special air defense radars to provide more accurate information, but now they can only rely on their own radar system.

"Let's fire flares!" said the commander, and then he communicated with the other vehicles. Half of the ammunition on the vehicles had been used up, but there was no sign of the end. He didn't know if they could hold on, so coordination was needed.

A fiery red flare shot up into the sky, which was a signal indicating that the air defense firepower was insufficient and reinforcement was needed. It was sent to the troops in the temporary camp, requesting support from the "Land Shield" system.

The temporary camp was not far from the battlefield, so they could naturally see the flares clearly and knew that the troops were in trouble. The "Land Shield" system was ready to enter the scene. The "Land Shield" used a heavy truck chassis, which was far less protective than the 95 armored vehicle chassis. It was destined to be at a certain distance and required infantry protection.

Major General Lu Yun sent out the entire battalion's "Land Shield". There was no need to leave air defense forces at the temporary camp as there were enough armored vehicles. The front line needed them more. The two armed helicopter formations that were originally on the outskirts of the air force base stayed away. If there were fewer insects, they could enter the battlefield, but it was better to forget about it since they couldn't finish off the anti-aircraft artillery units. The risk was too great.

The 95 anti-aircraft gun exchanged information with the "Land Shield". The 95 anti-aircraft gun was responsible for the east, while the "Land Shield" was responsible for the targets on the west. The "Land Shield" was equipped with a new radar, which was far more advanced than the 95 anti-aircraft gun. When the radar transmitted the target information back, the operators were stunned. The west was covered with dense red dots, and their scalps tingled at the thought that they were corpse moths.

"Brother Bin, there are a lot of bugs behind us!" As soon as Dafeng squatted down, he saw a large number of corpse moths rushing in from the western sky.

"Damn it, I'm being tricked!" Wu Bin's face was grim. "Get in the car and get ready to run!"

Just as the three men got on the pickup truck, the corpse moths that were about to arrive came under fire from one side, with an attack density greater than that of the 95mm anti-aircraft gun.

The situation was urgent, and the two prepared Type 730 artillery pieces opened fire first. The 730 artillery had a high rate of fire, which immediately suppressed the leading corpse moth insects, but its ammunition consumption was also high. Although the 730 was not firing at full speed, it still used up its ammunition within two minutes.

These two minutes were enough to suppress the corpse moths on the west side and buy time for the other 730 artillery pieces.

The joining of the "Land Shield" Air Defense Battalion into the battle made the troops on the front line breathe a sigh of relief. The east could still hold on, but if the west was allowed to come over, the consequences would be disastrous.