Guo Zhun's shock at this moment was actually only a small part from the zombie siege.

More than anything, he felt regret, frustration, and heartache.

He regretted not completely annihilating Ye Fan, was frustrated that the heavy snow slowed down his troops, and heartbroken that Yan Zhihuan's forty thousand troops were considered a write-off.

He wasn't particularly afraid of the zombies, because in his view, if the Dawn Army's over ten thousand soldiers could hold off an attack from three million zombies, the seventy thousand he had deployed in Ice City, plus his returning sixty thousand main force, would ensure the zombies couldn't turn things around.

What the Dawn Army could achieve, the Liberation Army could achieve too.

But now he didn't have time. If he didn't go back, and Ice City really got breached, it would be all over.

Guo Zhun bit his teeth hard, grabbed the walkie-talkie, and gave Yan Zhihuan the final order again.

"Surrender to Ye Fan! Preserve your living strength; I will arrange for you to be redeemed soon."

On Yan Zhihuan's end, hearing Guo Zhun's words left him in despair.

He hadn't expected Guo Zhun, already twenty kilometers away from the battlefield, to still return to Ice City, a hard truth to accept after hours of strenuous fighting.

But at this moment, his fate was no longer in his own hands; he had no choice but to accept.

"Ye Fan, you bastard! You lucked out this time. Once I deal with the zombie threat, I'll settle the score with you today. Let's go!"

Guo Zhun cursed angrily, then got up, boarded the car, and led his team to retreat.

......

Ye Fan watched the Liberation Army, which had entered within twenty kilometers but then turned away, with some regret.

The reason he entangled with Yan Zhihuan and the others for so long was to use them as bait to lure Guo Zhun and his troops into the area.

The Dawn Army's artillery was ready, and even the armored vehicles were set to start. When Guo Zhun's artillery was fully in place, he would first hit the enemy's long-range forces, then launch an armored attack to completely annihilate them.

Unfortunately, at the most crucial moment, the zombies in Ice City acted.

Ye Fan had already discovered this through the spy satellite; the number of zombies in Ice City was probably approaching ten million, and this time, Guo Zhun was in big trouble.

Some generals in the Dawn Army were considering taking advantage of the situation to pursue, but Ye Fan rejected them.

"Ice City is in danger now. If we don't let Guo Zhun and his men return, the city might fall within two days. I don't want to see that happen."

After all, Ice City had nearly six million residents, and they couldn't just perish in a zombie siege.

Ye Fan was even worried that even if Guo Zhun's sixty thousand troops returned, they might still be powerless to turn the tide.

However, this confrontation wasn't without gain; they annihilated forty thousand troops and armored units from Ice City, severely weakening Ice City's potential.

Additionally, Ye Fan made another discovery — he found a Red Alert unit within Guo Zhun's forces.

He saw the white dot representing the Red Alert unit, and since Ye Fan hadn't sold any Red Alert equipment, there was only one possibility.

It was the long-lost armed mining vehicle, likely in Guo Zhun's possession.

This vehicle was initially left in Shengshi Jiangshan District of Coal City. Later, Ye Fan sent people to look for it but found nothing, implying someone had driven it away.

Now, it seemed to be with Guo Zhun, who, coming to attack Ye Fan, had brought the vehicle, which must be of great value to him given its armor was unrivaled, even by tanks.

Ye Fan wished to retrieve this vehicle, but it wasn't feasible now, unless a full-scale war broke out with Guo Zhun to prevent his exit, which wasn't a wise move.

The only Red Alert vehicles that could be unmanned driven were the self-destruct trucks, and Ye Fan couldn't control the mining vehicle to come back on its own.

However, within a ten-kilometer range, Ye Fan could remotely lock the vehicle and shut down the power system, rendering it immovable even with keys, wondering if there would be a chance to use this.

.....

Once Guo Zhun left, Yan Zhihuan immediately chose to surrender.

The largest human civil war province-wide thus ended with an anticlimactic finish.

In this battle, the Dawn Army only paid a light price to completely annihilate the Liberation Army's armored division and captured more than twenty-four thousand enemy soldiers, including over ten thousand wounded.

All remaining Liberation Army forces were either killed in battle, with limited formalities from the Dawn Army, who merely had bulldozers dig pits for burial on the spot.

All other prisoners and wounded were taken back to Dawn City, along with any repairable armored vehicles.

By the time everything was finished and they returned to Dawn City, it was already past ten at night.

Ye Fan returned to the official residence, opened the radar screen, and silently monitored Ice City's battle.

......

Guo Zhun's troops returned much faster than they had come, since the roads had been cleared. By the time they and Ye Fan's group reached Ice City, it was almost at the same time; they finally reached Ice City by midnight.

Along the way, many vehicles were wrecked, but no one dared to delay, continuing to advance urgently, as the situation on the battlefield was already extremely perilous.

When Guo Zhun arrived at Ice City, he didn't take a moment to catch his breath before heading to the Riverfront battlefield.

Upon arrival, he realized just how dangerous this zombie siege was.

Especially now that it was nighttime with poor visibility, relying solely on searchlights and flares.

In the skies, swarms of Mutated Birds hovered constantly, and the moment a flare appeared, Mutated Birds would swoop in to devour it.

This forced the soldiers of the Liberation Army to divert a lot of attention to protect the flares in the sky.

As a result, the firepower of the ground defense appeared weak, and facing the tidal wave of zombies, they seemed somewhat powerless.

The seventy thousand people he sent to stay behind, had lost over ten thousand in less than a day, with few wounded, because being injured in a fight with zombies meant infection, leading inevitably to death, unless one decisively amputated a limb, offering a chance at survival.

This was a huge difference compared to the Dawn Army, which not only had serum but also Three-star Soldiers who could avoid infection.

If the ten thousand and more casualties under Guo Zhun had the capabilities of the Dawn Army, at least nine thousand could have been saved.

Seeing the battlefield situation becoming perilously dangerous, Guo Zhun immediately issued the order for the naval forces to join the battle!

Along the Songjiang riverbank, the Liberation Army had naval forces and even a battleship.

However, the battleship was still docked at the naval port as the river was frozen, and most naval troops were resting in the city, unable to return to the battleship now.

With the battlefield situation critically urgent, Guo Zhun ordered the troops to press forward while commanding the navy to board forcibly with others providing covering fire.

The troops Guo Zhun brought back didn't even have time to catch their breath before quickly engaging in battle.

The firepower on the city walls suddenly increased, dealing significant blows to the zombies.

Countless tongues of flame sprayed out, clearing a large area of zombies along the riverfront, and the naval forces took advantage of this to board the battleship.

The navy had one battleship and three freighters converted into gunboats; although they couldn't move now, they were right at the center of the battlefield, ready to open fire once onboard.

Watching the troops board the warship, Guo Zhun felt triumphant.

"The zombies are nothing much; I brought back the main force and immediately turned the tide of the battle. With the battleship forming the first line of defense, they can't make any waves."

Sure enough, once the battleship crew were in place, the warships displayed powerful firepower.

The warships were equipped with many machine guns and autocannons, all of which were lethal weapons against zombies.

Even some of larger naval guns could fire shells across to the opposite shore.

About six thousand naval forces quickly opened fire, and the overwhelming firepower instantly created huge empty voids among the advancing zombies.

"Fire a few rounds at the opposite shore, let that Corpse King hiding wherever it is know that our Liberation Army is not to be trifled with!"

The naval guns swivelled, and a series of shots hit the opposite shore, causing several fireballs to erupt over there.

Ordinary zombies, and even mutated zombies, had no means against such warships; the hull was too high for them to climb in a short time.

Their claws and teeth couldn't penetrate the warship's defenses, and many zombies, attracted by the gunfire, circled the warships but found no way to attack.

Meanwhile, the warships continued to fire with impunity, and the people onboard were very relaxed.

Guo Zhun was still commanding from behind: "The warships are very close to us, when out of ammunition, we can easily cover and send supplies, or do an airdrop with helicopters; it's very easy. As long as the warships are there, our city is safe."

His joy didn't last long.

After a while, large swathes of black shadows rolled across the river surface.

Because of the distance, Guo Zhun and the others didn't pay attention, but when those shadows arrived, the crisis erupted instantly!

It was countless mutant rats!

These mutant rats were the size of large dogs, with incisors as long as fifteen centimeters; they braved the artillery fire and reached the warships' sides, immediately starting to gnaw at the hulls!

One rat, ten rats, a whole swarm of rats!

Soon, these freighters converted into warships were gnawed through by the rats!

Once a breach opened, countless rats swarmed in to quickly enlarge it.

Although the ice didn't cause it to sink, the hole soon grew large enough for a person to pass through!

One by one, Iron Armor and Agile Zombies, in such circumstances, easily broke into the warship's interior.

Also swarming in were countless enormous rats, numbering so many they quickly filled almost the entire warship!

Guo Zhun stood stunned on the city wall, listening to the rising and falling screams from the warships.

At two in the morning, the first freighter fell silent.

At half past two and two fifty, the second and third freighters also became ships of death.

The battleship held out a bit longer, enduring until ten to four, when all its guns fell silent as well.

In the final moments, Guo Zhun even saw many crew members come to the deck, and some ran to the masts.

On the deck, the crew were soon out of options, choosing to jump ship to escape.

But their bodies never reached the ground, caught by the zombie horde below, and torn to pieces instantly!

On the masts, with nowhere left to escape, those climbing up were targeted by Mutated Birds, pecked to death right on the mast!

Only then did Guo Zhun realize the strength of the zombie horde he always looked down on!

On his first night back in Ice City, before even reaching dawn, the naval fleet was annihilated, and the brutal assault on the city walls resumed.

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