Chapter 229: Rapid Reinforcement

Chapter 229: Rapid Support

From Tianjin Gate to the Imperial Capital was a mere hundred kilometres; Chen Jian’s convoy covered it in just three hours.

By then the capital was already in chaos.

Swarms of civilians fled outward, the Holy‑blood kept order, yet even with every force of the Holy Blood Hall fully mobilized, halting the avalanche of disorder proved beyond their reach.

The city gates stood wide open; parents hauling ox‑carts draped every warm garment they owned upon themselves, the carts burdened with heavy grain and precious tools, while small children trailed the wagons, naïvely chasing and playing, unaware of the arduous journey that lay ahead.

Merchants had long secured steam locomotives from the Mechanical Cult, and fully armed mercenaries stood by the carts, butt‑stocking their rifles to drive away would‑be hitchhikers.

Scouts of the Holy‑blood surged out in waves, only to return stained in fresh blood and the gore‑splattered garb of their comrades.

The will to fight began to crumble; the already loose‑knit Holy Blood Hall revealed a fatal flaw in this crisis, and even the mighty Source‑blooders abandoned the civilians in a panicked retreat.

The dense crowd streamed southward, while Chen Jian’s convoy became the sole group moving against the tide.

Seated in the war‑horse vehicle, Chen Jian stared intently at the aerial footage streamed back by drones, then issued his orders:

“The 152 mortar need not enter the city; position it on the open ground outside, at the old Imperial Airport site.”

“All drones, launch immediately; keep constant surveillance on the monsters.”

“Deploy the 30A single‑tank forward, establish a line of defense along the Ming Tombs and Changping front.”

“Send the autonomous combat robots to the vicinity of Mangshan Tianchi, using flank fire to block the monster horde.”

“Class One of the Huaxia troops stay inside the city as the final line, intercepting any monsters that breach the urban perimeter.”

“Ji Xing, Li Shi, Xie Liu, Xu He, follow me forward.”

“We will conduct a decapitation strike; our mission is to eradicate every immobilized monster in the shortest possible time.”

“The monster horde is still twenty‑eight kilometres from the city, expected to enter artillery range in an hour.”

“The operation is set; everyone, execute at once!”

“Understood!”

“Copy that!”

At the sound of the command, everyone sprang into action.

Without hesitation, after establishing the honey‑comb network base stations, Chen Jian handed frontline command to Zhanlu, then leapt from the war‑horse vehicle, leading Ji Xing and a few others up onto the 30A, following Lei Jie in a rapid assault.

The guide, Xie Yuan, hesitated briefly, torn between reporting to his holy father or keeping pace with Chen Jian onto the tank.

“I’ll go with you!”

Xie Yuan declared resolutely:

“You have only five men; you’re hopelessly outnumbered!”

“We may not be able to hold the monsters head‑on, but if we’re only tasked with the final kill, that will be enough!”

“Agreed!”

Chen Jian nodded decisively, and more and more Holy‑blooded rushed onto the roaring war‑machine.

Smoke and dust rose in thick clouds; silhouettes of leaping hares and swooping hawks darted through the forest.

When the beast’s roar thundered across the plain, the shattered morale of the troops seemed to coalesce anew.

Chen Jian refrained from meddling in the Holy‑blooded’s command.

He knew that, lacking any knowledge of their fighting style, blind orders could be as useless as “move a machine‑gun nest five metres forward.”

He kept his focus on his own unit.

Half an hour later, after covering nearly ten kilometres, the 30A crew arrived near the Ming Tombs.

The autonomous combat swarm scattered at once, and under Zhanlu’s direction began constructing a defensive line near Tianchi.

Simultaneously, Chen Jian led his party westward, seizing the high ground at Dingling.

By then the monster horde had drawn within four kilometres of the northern mouth of the Ming Tombs pass.

It was the first time Chen Jian had witnessed such a dense swarm; the impact far exceeded any prior experience.

Several massive monsters squeezed through a gorge barely five hundred metres wide, their heavy footfalls and collisions echoing like war drums within the canyon.

The grotesque creatures unfurled fangs, claws, tentacles and jointed limbs, leaving behind a trail of viscous, foul‑smelling fluid and a wasteland of trampled vegetation.

A poisonous fog began to spread, cloaking the canyon as if the sky itself were being smothered.

In the mingled ash‑gray and violet‑red mist, plant stalks withered at a visibly rapid pace.

The harrowing sight sowed dread among the Holy‑blood gathered around Chen Jian, yet under Xie Yuan’s command they forced their fear aside, fanning out in squads to their assigned points, ready for battle.

“There are three target groups in total.”

“The first has entered the canyon pass; it should reach the artillery zone in twenty seconds.”

“152 mortar, prepare; load firing parameters.”

“30A forward, block them!”

“Copy!”

Orders given, the 30A surged like a comet.

At the same moment, Chen Jian followed close behind, leading a handful of Holy‑blood in a sprint.

Their aim was not the monsters before them.

To be precise, it was the half‑dead corpses of those monsters.

Ten seconds later the first explosion rang out.

“Boom!”

The kill‑burst bomb struck the canyon’s centre; the over‑pressure blast swept a slice of fog clean in an instant.

Immediately after, the drones opened fire.

8.6‑mm rounds fell like a violent storm, raising countless puffs of dust that glittered like rain‑splashed blossoms.

The monsters’ charge slowed instantly; the foremost beast, eerily reminiscent of the mother‑entity at Chuansha City, was cleaved cleanly of its forelimbs by a volley of large‑calibre fire and crashed down in the gorge.

“Tank cannon! Fire!!”

This is the moment.

The fallen monster’s body blocked those behind; the 30A tank executed a flawless glide, lowered its barrel, and aimed at the creatures less than five hundred metres ahead.

A tungsten‑core armor‑piercing round was chambered; the next second—

“Boom!”

The shell, bearing unmatched heat and kinetic force, pierced the monster’s flesh; meat exploded outward like tofu, bone shattered fragment by fragment under crushing pressure.

The projectile, capable of a twelve‑hundred‑millimetre penetration, sliced through the creature without hindrance; the greatest resistance it met was the unstable lateral force of the flesh itself.

After exiting the first monster’s back, the bullet careened sideways, striking the skull of a second beast.

Perhaps it was luck, perhaps inevitability.

In any case, that head—shaped like a leopard’s, with upright triangular eyes and teeth over two metres long—shattered under the colossal impact, erupting into a massive bloom of blood‑soaked fireworks.

The corpse crashed down, and there was no longer any need to reload.

Yet Chen Jian still pressed forward, delivering the foe's final journey with a single rocket launcher.

“Continue!”

Chen Jian's command rang out, and the second 152 mortar detonated almost in synchrony.

“Boom!”

The killing blast slammed straight onto the back of the third monster, which had no time to dodge nor retreat; as if struck by divine wrath, the slender‑limbed creature collapsed instantly.

Its bones shattered in an instant, its limbs splayed outward like flattened chairs at an exaggerated angle, while scarlet blood flooded the ground beneath like a torrent. “Boom!”

The explosion roared, and from the inside out the monster’s fragile body was pulverized.

A rain of gore and bone fragments fell, and Chen Jian darted beneath a towering tree, then issued further orders:

“30A tank, advance forward, eliminate the current target, then swing around toward Shaling to block the enemy’s second squad.”

“Adjust the 152’s bearing, lock parameters, and lay down suppressive fire toward Lotus Beach on the western side!”

“Everyone else, follow me! Use artillery cover to maneuver swiftly toward Juyong Pass!”

“There are only two monsters over there; stop them!”

“Understood!”

A chorus of crisp replies rang in Chen Jian’s ears; turning his head, he saw several Holy Blood warriors already springing into action after receiving the orders.

Clearly, their confidence had returned.

Having witnessed their own squad’s astonishing firepower and seen four monsters of at least fourth‑level stature fall under artillery after merely a glance, they realized this was not a hopeless battle.

What preparation?

What intelligence?

Firepower is everything!

The group surged toward Juyong Pass, and meanwhile the roar of the 152’s guns already echoed toward Lotus Beach.

The sprinting Holy Blood warriors stared in horror at the rising plumes of smoke in the distance.

They could not comprehend such efficiency.

A command for bombardment issued less than a minute ago—now the shells are already falling?

Compared with this squad, the Mechanical Cult’s proud “artillery array” reacts as slowly as a senile elder.

No wonder they had no means to strike back against this Chinese force.

——

But now there was no time for lament.

In the blink of an eye they crossed the five‑kilometer stretch, and when they crested the last ridge, two monsters loomed like mountains crushing down upon them.

“Spread out! Spread out!”

Xie Yuan’s pupils narrowed; as he shouted the command, several grenades and incendiary bombs were hurled.

Flames surged instantly, and at the same moment a pale‑green translucent fluid spewed from the monster’s maw.

“Acid!”

Xie Yuan cried hoarsely.

The next second, the acid rained down.

A faint blue smoke rose, drenching the unshielded Holy Blood warrior from head to toe.

He hadn’t even registered what had happened.

When his skin began to sear as if burned, he realized his fate was sealed.

The long blade was drawn.

Chen Jian once again witnessed the Holy Blood warriors battling a colossal monster, but this time, unlike at Chuansha, the charging warriors bore a resolve to die.

A slender steel cable flew from his hand, and the warrior vaulted upward, clinging to the beast and leaping with rapid grace.

Their agility was pushed to the limit; within mere seconds he had scaled the monster’s crown.

Then came a swift plunge.

“Bang!”

After a deafening crash, the warrior rose again and surged toward the creature’s belly.

Behind him, more Holy Blood warriors flung steel wires, seemingly intent on ensnaring the monster completely.

Their tactic took effect.

Yet the effect was minuscule.

Chen Jian understood their intent: against a poorly armored beast, their mobility could allow a few simple steel cords to trap it entirely.

Alas, this was no ordinary monster.

A slight tremor of its body snapped several cables apart.

The sweeping steel lashes, drenched in acid, struck a warrior who had no time to dodge, cleaving him cleanly at the waist in an instant.

The other Holy Blood warriors were forced to fall back temporarily.

Unprepared, their combat power was pitifully weak.

“Li Shi! Heavy machine gun!”

“Copy that!”

“Bang bang bang—”

The roar of the 301 heavy machine gun erupted, its large‑caliber rounds tearing the air.

Massive projectiles hurled straight at the already raging monster’s head, and as its movement slowed, the weapon rack behind Chen Jian sprang into action.

A recoil‑free cannon, a single shot to the soul.

“Boom!”

The monster’s abdomen burst open, but instead of blood, the acid stored in its ventral poison sac gushed out.

Chen Jian withdrew swiftly, evading the spray, and at the same time he had already aimed at the second monster that had broken through the Holy Blood line.

Aim, fire.

The rocket surged toward the creature, only to skim past.

The smaller monster vaulted high into the air, unfurling wing‑membranes from its armpits to glide forward, using extraordinary agility to dodge the certain rocket.

“Drone!”

“Understood!”

Fuxi’s voice rang in his ear.

The next second, two puffer‑fish‑shaped craft opened fire.

Bang—bang—bang—bang———

The 8.6 mm rounds could never match the destructive might of the 301 heavy cannon in Li Shi’s grasp, yet how could the creature’s fragile wing‑membrane possibly endure such a hail of bullets?

The monster was felled in an instant, crashing heavily onto the ground.

The Holy‑blooded surged forward, hurling a torrent of incendiary shells at the beast.

Chen Jian glanced back, and once he was certain the creature was utterly powerless, he turned and withdrew.

The monsters advancing from the Sand Ridge had been successfully blocked by Lei Jie’s 30A, but another horde was racing from Lotus Beach toward the Imperial City.

Their speed was astonishing.

A single 152 mm howitzer was woefully insufficient to stem their onslaught.

This pack of three beasts had already surged into the fire zone of the unmanned combat cluster near the Thirteen Tombs; Chen Jian had believed his deployment might slow their advance, yet they cunningly used the terrain to slip around the dense barrage.

The Imperial City lay less than a kilometer away.

In no more than two minutes they would be upon it.

Chen Jian watched as Holy‑blooded leapt from the walls, as if daring to block the inexorable monsters with their very bodies.

‘Xie Yuan! Order everyone to fall back!’

Chen Jian shouted the command:

‘Fire 107, nine rounds in unison! Annihilate them!’

(End of Chapter)