Chapter 1 The Slaughter Begins

Watching the murderous-looking Fatty, Duan Lei couldn't help but laugh. The apocalyptic life of the past few months had turned this private business owner into a bloodthirsty beast.

However, Duan Lei didn't object. Although they could all see that those charging in the front were just ordinary survivors – their wooden sticks and stones made it clear they were cannon fodder, used to waste their ammunition.

Even so, Duan Lei had no intention of showing mercy. He agreed with Fatty; they should use heavy firepower from the start, scaring these people witless with blood and death, causing them to rout and impact the real combat personnel behind them.

Of course, scattering their own forces was impossible. Duan Lei had less than three thousand combat personnel. Spreading them out would make it even harder to withstand the enemy's attack.

Especially since Duan Lei knew these combat personnel weren't professional. Although they held the weapons and equipment he'd distributed, they were essentially no different from the club-wielding cannon fodder charging towards them.

Qingluan's strategy had always been development, not plunder. These combat personnel had only fought zombies; most had never killed a person.

Killing zombies and killing people were two completely different concepts. The pale faces of the warriors after the initial wave of cannon fodder was wiped out made that clear.

So, last night, after discovering the enemy was increasing their numbers and completely surrounding the manor, Duan Lei had already formed a plan!

After Fatty finished speaking, Duan Lei immediately laughed, "No need. We don't need to coordinate with them. What we need to defend is this area right here. Just contract the defenses!"

"Contract the defenses?"

Fatty was stunned, looking towards the distant walls. "Abandon the walls?"

"We have less than ten thousand people in total, with a fighting force of less than three thousand. What do we need such a large area for?" Duan Lei replied.

"Lei-ge! But if we only defend these few buildings, won't their forces become even more concentrated?" Tian Ya asked with some concern.

"That's exactly what I want!" Duan Lei laughed. "These people are just ordinary people. They were forced to charge in the first place. If we expand our defensive perimeter, not only will we lack the manpower, but they'll also be scattered. But if they're gathered together, they'll be harder to control!

"We want to use slaughter to make them fearful and panicked, right? So, the more concentrated they are, the more chaotic the scene will be, and the harder it will be for their armed personnel to maintain control!"

"Good idea!" Tian Ya's eyes lit up. "No wonder Boss told us to listen to you when she left. Lei-ge, your IQ is really on a different level than ours!"

"Alright, enough nonsense. Tell everyone in the residential buildings to hide well, stay away from the windows, and don't poke their heads out to watch the show!"

Duan Lei waved his hand. In truth, he had no choice. With so few people, and their most powerful weapon being the Space War Chariot, it was impossible to defend too much territory. The only option was to contract their defenses!

At this moment, the charging ranks were already approaching the manor's walls. Because Duan Lei had also driven the Space War Chariot back to the defensive position, even the manor's gate was undefended!

Because they hadn't been attacked, the fear in the hearts of the advancing survivors gradually faded. Furthermore, seeing how beautiful the manor was, they started thinking that this would be their future home, that they could live here, and they even began to get excited. Their battle cries grew louder, and their momentum increased significantly!

Finally, Lin Qiang's men reached the vicinity of the manor's walls. Since they thought the manor would belong to them soon, they didn't choose to destroy the walls. Instead, they formed human ladders or used other methods to climb over, then continued their advance!

If one could look down from the sky, they would see Duan Lei and his men in the center of the manor, surrounded by the manor's walls, which were then surrounded by Lin Qiang's men, and finally the yellow circle.

Lin Qiang's men surrounded the entire manor and maintained that encirclement as they charged, forming a massive ring of humans.

As they continued to advance, this initially thin ring began to contract and thicken!

"See? They don't dare to resist! Haha, charge forward and wipe them all out! This place will be ours!"

"Charge! We'll take this place soon! This will be our home!"

"Everyone, hurry up! As soon as we take the manor, everyone will have a feast today! And there will be wine and meat!!!"

"..."

Taking advantage of the manor's lack of resistance, Lin Qiang's subordinates began to shout encouragement, and the survivors charged even more enthusiastically upon hearing their words.

Before long, almost all of Lin Qiang's men had climbed over the walls and entered the manor, charging towards the area defended by Duan Lei and his men. Along the way, the crops that Qingluan and the manor's survivors had planted were trampled, as if a swarm of locusts had descended!

Some survivors saw the vegetable fields and thought that they would belong to them soon, wanting to avoid them. But the people behind them were too close, and they didn't dare change direction, fearing they'd be knocked down!

"Four hundred meters, three hundred meters, two hundred meters..."

Duan Lei watched the crowd, which was completely surrounding them, even sealing off every gap, approaching relentlessly, and mentally calculated the distance.

Now, they were also in a circular defensive formation, surrounding the few buildings where the non-combatant survivors were hiding, with the Space War Chariot in the middle of the buildings.

"Commence the battle!!!"

When the crowd was about eighty meters away from their defensive position, Duan Lei finally roared. At the same time, he reached out and pressed a button on the chariot.

"Shoosh shoosh shoosh shoosh..."

Instantly, a ring of egg-sized metal tubes rose from the top of the chariot, pointing straight to the sky. Immediately afterwards, dozens of small surface-to-surface missiles shot out from the metal tubes, soaring into the sky. Upon reaching a height of a hundred meters, they immediately turned and dove towards the ring of charging survivors...

Because the chariot was obscured by the surrounding buildings, and because the charging men thought victory was within reach, they didn't notice the chariot had launched missiles, and continued to charge madly forward.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

Guided by Duan Lei and controlled by the chariot's AI, the missiles landed with unparalleled precision in the middle of the charging ranks. And, Duan Lei didn't leave out any direction of the encircling crowd.

Flying earth and human flesh rose into the air amidst the explosions. At the same time, the manor's defending warriors, led by Fatty and the others, also opened fire on the enemy, and Lin Qiang's surprised and disoriented survivors were immediately sent sprawling...